Adwords is Paid Advertising on Google
Unlike organic search results, which are based on Google’s opinion of how well your website matches the terms of a search, Adwords results are paid ads. The ads appear above or to the right of Google’s organic search results, as well as on other sites.
You can pay per impression (when your ad shows up) or per click (when somebody clicks on the ad to visit your web page). For 90% of our clients, pay-per-click [PPC] is the best way to get a good return on your marketing investment. You only pay when someone clicks on your ads. Besides being instant (as soon as your campaign is approved, you can start showing up in search engine results), PPC ads can be limited to certain geographic areas, so you don’t pay to advertise to people who would never come to your business.
Who Should Use Adwords?
Almost everybody! It used to be that if your organic search results were good enough, you could avoid PPC ads. However, the web has gotten so competitive that it really pays to have as many signposts as possible. So, the obvious reasons for PPC ads are that: (1) more ads means more potential listings on search results; and (2) more potential visitors to your site.
But there is another very important reason to consider a PPC campaign: to help narrowly define the keywords and phrases for your marketing efforts. Our experts can research what keywords are used to find products and services like yours, but the best specific data comes from the process of monitoring which keywords are actually driving visitors to your site. Ads and keywords that bring the most visitors are the ones you should be focusing your other digital marketing and SEO efforts on.
How Do We Do It?
Our first step is determining what people are generally searching for when they’re looking for products or services like yours. One tool we use is the Adwords Keyword Planner. This allows us to enter a few primary description words (like “auto repair” or “family dentist”), and produce a lengthy list of what terms people in the US are actually typing into Google. We work through the first 50 or 100 of those terms to develop a set of words or phrases for your website.
Our second step is to review the list of core keywords with you. We determine the highly precise list to focus on and monitor for SEO. Depending on your account, that could mean as few as 3 keywords or as many as 20 or more. Together, we narrow down the longer list and come up with your “core” keywords. We use these in “4-in-1 optimization,” “link anchor text,” and in our social media and other efforts on your behalf.
Our third step is to monitor your results. If you’re not using PPC ads, we monitor traffic to your site, the search terms used to find you, comments on your social media posts, blogs, and so forth. If you are using PPC ads, we monitor the click through rate so we know which keywords are getting the most interest. We constantly monitor your ad text to make sure it is compelling, truthful, and that it aligns with your market niche and your target clientele. The goal is to learn exactly what people are typing into Google to find you, and what to show them so make sure they know how wonderful you are. Even tiny changes in ad text can make a big difference, which is why we have to pay close attention to your results.
Our final step is actually not a single step, but a process. If keywords or phrases are getting you good numbers of visitors, we try to find more places to use them. We also try similar terms to see if we can get you even more good results! If some aren’t getting good results, we improve them ... if that doesn’t help, we remove them. Our SEO experts are never satisfied with “just good enough.”
For truly meaningful results in today’s ultra-competitive marketplace, the process of test & measure, improve or remove should go on for as long as you stay in business. If you’re involved in the process, too, you can learn a TON about the mindset of your customers ... and that’s priceless!
So, What Should You Do?
Even if your website frequently appears at or near the top of the organic search results, we recommend using a PPC campaign. It’s an important part of a well-balanced marketing plan, and the only way to get instant search results. Contact us today to discuss whether a PPC campaign* makes sense as a part of your marketing plan!
*By the way, there are PPC ads available on Facebook, Yahoo! and a variety of other platforms. Depending on your marketing goals and budget, many of these may be a good fit for your business!
877-815-6974
MichiganSEOGroupWhere You Thrive Online
Monday, December 21, 2015
Thursday, December 17, 2015
I WANT A NEW WEBSITE!
I Want a New Website!
(And, oh yeah, I also want to be number on on Google…)
We actually get this kind of request fairly often, both here at SEO Ann Arbor, and at our sister company, Network Services Group.* New clients, or potential clients who’ve just decided they want a new website, often seem to emphasize things in a way that’s almost exactly opposite to the way we would emphasize them.
The typical conversation is all about the design and the bells and whistles these clients want on their new website – “I want a white background, be sure to use mauve and chartreuse on the sidebar, and I definitely want a slide show of photos on the home page where I can feature all the ideas I have about my services.” We spend an hour or two making sure we understand the outline of what they want so we can get our designers to rough out something for them. Then, usually near the end of the meeting when everybody’s standing up and maybe even halfway out the door, the new client says something like this: “oh, and by the way, people are going to find my new site on Google, right?”
Whoops, what did you just say?
Folks can’t be blamed for this approach. After all, we’re the website and SEO professionals, and the people we meet at work are usually very good at the things they do to make their own companies run. But we’re here to tell you (and explain why) you should take a few moments to understand why the conversation should probably be fundamentally the opposite of what we normally experience. It should go something like this:
“I Want to Be Number One on Google!”
“What’s it to going to take to get there?”
and…
“Do you think I need a new website as part of the process?”
Here’s why: the process of designing and building most websites is relatively simple, involves a limited amount of data, can usually be accomplished within 90 days or so, and usually has a specified, finite fee.
On the other hand, the best website in the world has very little chance of becoming prominent on Google without some serious SEO and other sustained efforts. The process of getting a client’s website or web pages to appear prominently in the search engines – and then at or near position one on Google – can be very, very complex, can involve many different kinds of effort, cannot be accomplished in a set period of time, and requires lots of work by professionals on a continuous basis (which means there’s a recurring monthly fee).
It's more than just a website, it's all about a "healthy online presence"!
Besides those points, it’s important to realize that simply getting to a top position in Google and the other search engines is not a guarantee that your business will get a lot of traffic, leads, or sales. At least two other things have to come together before you start seeing real results. The first is what we call a “healthy online presence.”** That means you have compelling content that truly appeals to the kinds of visitors you want, posted in relevant places, with a sufficient number of links back to that content from other website, blogs, and social media.
The second is that you have to have a way to engage your visitors so they either come back again, stay in touch with you, contact you, or actually make a purchase or use your services. That means a high percentage of people who visit your website should get real value out of the experience. Ideally, you give them a way to share their contact information so you can continue to add value to their lives. That way, when the time comes to meet with you or to actually buy your products, they’ll have already developed a good idea of how helpful you are.
One of the hardest jobs we have (and you can get a huge jump on your competition if you make this leap with us), is helping our clients learn to think like their customers, not just sometimes, but continuously and continually in the course of doing business. It’s so much easier to think about what we’re doing and what we offer (heck, we’re often guilty of it, too) than it is to truly think about what our customers need and how we can offer it in the most helpful manner possible. And yet, we have to engage in exactly that process to be effective on the internet. There are so many options for almost every idea, product, or service that if we fail to communicate in a truly customer friendly way, we’re almost guaranteed to lose out to our competition.
Don’t make this mistake! If we end up working together, or even if you end up finding other website or SEO professionals you prefer to work with, remember to do everything in your power to figure out what your ideal customers want, how they want it presented, and how you can provide those things better than anybody else.
So here’s a quick summary:
Ask not what it takes to build that new website you want. Instead, let’s sit down and figure out together what makes your ideal customer tick. We’ll determine what to offer, how to offer it, and figure out if there’s anything you’re not already doing that you could be doing to really hit it out of the park. We love success and we have a pretty good idea of how to get most businesses there. If that’s something we can work on with you and help you achieve your dream of a successful, growing business and an abundant life – which would mean you do well, we do well, and your customers are very well served – then you may be a good fit for our professional services!
There’s only one way to find out, and that’s to get hold of us. Don’t wait … we’re very busy and we’d hate to find out that you’re losing business to your competitors … who happened to call us first! Feel free to email or call today at 877-815-6974. We promise not to yell at you if the first thing you say is “I Want a new website!”
*By the way, both companies design and build websites. Network Services Group (NSG) typically gets website requests from the companies that are already using its I.T. services. Here at SEO Ann Arbor, people are more likely to call us specifically because they’ve heard we build websites and do extremely effective S.E.O. There’s a lot of crossover between our two companies because, basically, when you find people who are incredibly good at what they do, it makes sense to stick close to them.
**Actually, our friend Charly Caldwell said that before we did. Charly’s one of the pioneers of internet marketing and has helped us tremendously as we’ve built up our abilities to rock out success on the internet!
(And, oh yeah, I also want to be number on on Google…)
We actually get this kind of request fairly often, both here at SEO Ann Arbor, and at our sister company, Network Services Group.* New clients, or potential clients who’ve just decided they want a new website, often seem to emphasize things in a way that’s almost exactly opposite to the way we would emphasize them.
The typical conversation is all about the design and the bells and whistles these clients want on their new website – “I want a white background, be sure to use mauve and chartreuse on the sidebar, and I definitely want a slide show of photos on the home page where I can feature all the ideas I have about my services.” We spend an hour or two making sure we understand the outline of what they want so we can get our designers to rough out something for them. Then, usually near the end of the meeting when everybody’s standing up and maybe even halfway out the door, the new client says something like this: “oh, and by the way, people are going to find my new site on Google, right?”
Whoops, what did you just say?
Folks can’t be blamed for this approach. After all, we’re the website and SEO professionals, and the people we meet at work are usually very good at the things they do to make their own companies run. But we’re here to tell you (and explain why) you should take a few moments to understand why the conversation should probably be fundamentally the opposite of what we normally experience. It should go something like this:
“I Want to Be Number One on Google!”
“What’s it to going to take to get there?”
and…
“Do you think I need a new website as part of the process?”
Here’s why: the process of designing and building most websites is relatively simple, involves a limited amount of data, can usually be accomplished within 90 days or so, and usually has a specified, finite fee.
On the other hand, the best website in the world has very little chance of becoming prominent on Google without some serious SEO and other sustained efforts. The process of getting a client’s website or web pages to appear prominently in the search engines – and then at or near position one on Google – can be very, very complex, can involve many different kinds of effort, cannot be accomplished in a set period of time, and requires lots of work by professionals on a continuous basis (which means there’s a recurring monthly fee).
It's more than just a website, it's all about a "healthy online presence"!
Besides those points, it’s important to realize that simply getting to a top position in Google and the other search engines is not a guarantee that your business will get a lot of traffic, leads, or sales. At least two other things have to come together before you start seeing real results. The first is what we call a “healthy online presence.”** That means you have compelling content that truly appeals to the kinds of visitors you want, posted in relevant places, with a sufficient number of links back to that content from other website, blogs, and social media.
The second is that you have to have a way to engage your visitors so they either come back again, stay in touch with you, contact you, or actually make a purchase or use your services. That means a high percentage of people who visit your website should get real value out of the experience. Ideally, you give them a way to share their contact information so you can continue to add value to their lives. That way, when the time comes to meet with you or to actually buy your products, they’ll have already developed a good idea of how helpful you are.
One of the hardest jobs we have (and you can get a huge jump on your competition if you make this leap with us), is helping our clients learn to think like their customers, not just sometimes, but continuously and continually in the course of doing business. It’s so much easier to think about what we’re doing and what we offer (heck, we’re often guilty of it, too) than it is to truly think about what our customers need and how we can offer it in the most helpful manner possible. And yet, we have to engage in exactly that process to be effective on the internet. There are so many options for almost every idea, product, or service that if we fail to communicate in a truly customer friendly way, we’re almost guaranteed to lose out to our competition.
Don’t make this mistake! If we end up working together, or even if you end up finding other website or SEO professionals you prefer to work with, remember to do everything in your power to figure out what your ideal customers want, how they want it presented, and how you can provide those things better than anybody else.
So here’s a quick summary:
Ask not what it takes to build that new website you want. Instead, let’s sit down and figure out together what makes your ideal customer tick. We’ll determine what to offer, how to offer it, and figure out if there’s anything you’re not already doing that you could be doing to really hit it out of the park. We love success and we have a pretty good idea of how to get most businesses there. If that’s something we can work on with you and help you achieve your dream of a successful, growing business and an abundant life – which would mean you do well, we do well, and your customers are very well served – then you may be a good fit for our professional services!
There’s only one way to find out, and that’s to get hold of us. Don’t wait … we’re very busy and we’d hate to find out that you’re losing business to your competitors … who happened to call us first! Feel free to email or call today at 877-815-6974. We promise not to yell at you if the first thing you say is “I Want a new website!”
*By the way, both companies design and build websites. Network Services Group (NSG) typically gets website requests from the companies that are already using its I.T. services. Here at SEO Ann Arbor, people are more likely to call us specifically because they’ve heard we build websites and do extremely effective S.E.O. There’s a lot of crossover between our two companies because, basically, when you find people who are incredibly good at what they do, it makes sense to stick close to them.
**Actually, our friend Charly Caldwell said that before we did. Charly’s one of the pioneers of internet marketing and has helped us tremendously as we’ve built up our abilities to rock out success on the internet!
Monday, December 14, 2015
What on Earth is an "Opt-In"?!
We’ve talked before about the need for an “opt-in” of some kind. That’s a method where we offer something that visitors to your website might want (an “incentive”), so they share their email address with us. We've used this approach with many of our most successful clients.
We urge you to let us create an opt-in for you!
We’ve seen again and again that it’s an important part of a robust online presence, and it really helps us get the message out there that you care. In the long run, that’s very valuable for building your brand and getting you more qualified customers!
How it works:
1. We offer an incentive of some kind – a handy guide, a white paper, a coupon.
2. We create a button or other place on your website that tells people they can get the incentive by sharing their email with us.
3. Once we get the email, we have an automated system in place to follow up with them and share more useful information.
4. Customers learn that you are good at what you do and that you are abundant.
5. When they need services like your, they think of you in a positive way!
Why we need it:
In the course of our work, we've seen that many visitors will come to a website, but most leave, right away or after a minute or two. You have no way of knowing who they are or reminding them what you do. Some are potential clients, but they may leave and forget about you. If you think about it, that’s a loss that should make you feel the pain of missing out on business that you really deserve to get.
On the other hand, if they claim your incentive, you have a fighting chance to get their business, and make all your effort on website design, blogging, social media, and opportunity scouting worthwhile!
What we need from you:
1. First, just say “yes!”
2. We’ll suggest some ideas for the opt-in and VVVS sequence.
3. You let us know if the ideas seem okay, or suggest others.
4. We create the draft of the whole sequence.
5. You approve the draft or suggest changes.
6. We implement the opt-in and automated VVVS sequence.
7. You start building a list of potential customers who think you are awesome!
It may seem like a bit of trouble, but many of our clients have been very successful using this approach as part of their overall marketing strategy. Imagine what just one or two more customers or clients per month could mean to your bottom line!
If one of your competitors is using it, you will likely see their business growing as clients chose them instead of you. You don’t want that to happen, and neither do we!
Give us the okay. We’ll get to work, and try to keep it as simple as possible for you!
We urge you to let us create an opt-in for you!
We’ve seen again and again that it’s an important part of a robust online presence, and it really helps us get the message out there that you care. In the long run, that’s very valuable for building your brand and getting you more qualified customers!
How it works:
1. We offer an incentive of some kind – a handy guide, a white paper, a coupon.
2. We create a button or other place on your website that tells people they can get the incentive by sharing their email with us.
3. Once we get the email, we have an automated system in place to follow up with them and share more useful information.
4. Customers learn that you are good at what you do and that you are abundant.
5. When they need services like your, they think of you in a positive way!
Why we need it:
In the course of our work, we've seen that many visitors will come to a website, but most leave, right away or after a minute or two. You have no way of knowing who they are or reminding them what you do. Some are potential clients, but they may leave and forget about you. If you think about it, that’s a loss that should make you feel the pain of missing out on business that you really deserve to get.
On the other hand, if they claim your incentive, you have a fighting chance to get their business, and make all your effort on website design, blogging, social media, and opportunity scouting worthwhile!
What we need from you:
1. First, just say “yes!”
2. We’ll suggest some ideas for the opt-in and VVVS sequence.
3. You let us know if the ideas seem okay, or suggest others.
4. We create the draft of the whole sequence.
5. You approve the draft or suggest changes.
6. We implement the opt-in and automated VVVS sequence.
7. You start building a list of potential customers who think you are awesome!
It may seem like a bit of trouble, but many of our clients have been very successful using this approach as part of their overall marketing strategy. Imagine what just one or two more customers or clients per month could mean to your bottom line!
If one of your competitors is using it, you will likely see their business growing as clients chose them instead of you. You don’t want that to happen, and neither do we!
Give us the okay. We’ll get to work, and try to keep it as simple as possible for you!
Thursday, December 10, 2015
Our Ideal Client Communication
Our Ideal Client Communication
“We believe in helping people achieve their dream of a successful, growing business and an abundant life…starting today!” We do this by employing a vast number of website design, internet marketing and SEO strategies and tactics. However, our work is not done in a vacuum!
We need consistent communication and content from you to maximize your success. We encourage you to think of your SEO specialist as an extension of your team.
We design your SEO campaign to work best for your particular customers, products, and services. Your expertise in your business and your knowledge of your customers’ needs is invaluable to us. Here are a few examples of the kinds of information you can help provide:
• Phone calls – who is calling or emailing you, and what are they asking for? – Let us know, early and often!
• Upcoming sales and events: If you have a big sale or open house planned – Let us know!
• Cancellations: If an event or promotion is cancelled that we’ve advertised for you – Let us know!
• Conferences and community service projects: Your staff “Races for the Cure” or attends a special conference or training session – Let us know!
• New products or services: You change your hours, launch a new product, recall a product, or find a new use for it – Let us know!
• Awards and recognition: If you or a staff person becomes a member of an organization, your business receives accolades, or the baseball team you sponsor wins a tournament – Yep, you guessed it! Let us know!
• Industry news: You recently read any interesting trade journals or blogs related to your business – Let us know! [and please provide us with a link or copy of the article]
• Staff news: You hire a new employee, an employee retires, or other notable events occur like marriages, certifications, graduations, babies, etc. – Let us know! Are you noticing a theme yet?
• Customer testimonials or reviews. Stories about customers are worth their weight in gold. Your staff went above and beyond to help a customer – Let us know!
Are you wondering what a staff change or a community service event could have to do with your SEO campaign? For getting the word about your business out there, ALL news is good news! We can add your keywords into almost any content. Not only that, any “feel good” or personal news will tend to attract more human visitors via social media, especially if you provide us with photographs!
Speaking of photographs, when you have an event, it’s really, really important to designate someone to take photographs (with permission) of happy customers to post on social media and your website. We’re serious! It would be wonderful if you would assign someone the task of taking photographs and ONLY taking photographs, to make sure photos don’t become an afterthought.
The more you “Let us know,” sooner rather than later, the more successful your campaigns will be!
“We believe in helping people achieve their dream of a successful, growing business and an abundant life…starting today!” We do this by employing a vast number of website design, internet marketing and SEO strategies and tactics. However, our work is not done in a vacuum!
We need consistent communication and content from you to maximize your success. We encourage you to think of your SEO specialist as an extension of your team.
We design your SEO campaign to work best for your particular customers, products, and services. Your expertise in your business and your knowledge of your customers’ needs is invaluable to us. Here are a few examples of the kinds of information you can help provide:
• Phone calls – who is calling or emailing you, and what are they asking for? – Let us know, early and often!
• Upcoming sales and events: If you have a big sale or open house planned – Let us know!
• Cancellations: If an event or promotion is cancelled that we’ve advertised for you – Let us know!
• Conferences and community service projects: Your staff “Races for the Cure” or attends a special conference or training session – Let us know!
• New products or services: You change your hours, launch a new product, recall a product, or find a new use for it – Let us know!
• Awards and recognition: If you or a staff person becomes a member of an organization, your business receives accolades, or the baseball team you sponsor wins a tournament – Yep, you guessed it! Let us know!
• Industry news: You recently read any interesting trade journals or blogs related to your business – Let us know! [and please provide us with a link or copy of the article]
• Staff news: You hire a new employee, an employee retires, or other notable events occur like marriages, certifications, graduations, babies, etc. – Let us know! Are you noticing a theme yet?
• Customer testimonials or reviews. Stories about customers are worth their weight in gold. Your staff went above and beyond to help a customer – Let us know!
Are you wondering what a staff change or a community service event could have to do with your SEO campaign? For getting the word about your business out there, ALL news is good news! We can add your keywords into almost any content. Not only that, any “feel good” or personal news will tend to attract more human visitors via social media, especially if you provide us with photographs!
Speaking of photographs, when you have an event, it’s really, really important to designate someone to take photographs (with permission) of happy customers to post on social media and your website. We’re serious! It would be wonderful if you would assign someone the task of taking photographs and ONLY taking photographs, to make sure photos don’t become an afterthought.
The more you “Let us know,” sooner rather than later, the more successful your campaigns will be!
Monday, December 7, 2015
Why Web Hosting Matters!
Why Web Hosting MattersHere at SEO Ann Arbor, we offer to host our clients’ sites with a service we call “Business Class Web Hosting.” Actually, to be accurate, the hosting is done through our sister company, Network Services Group, LLC. To be even more accurate, we actually require 99% of our SEO clients to use NSG hosting. Why, you might ask, are you guys so particular about web hosting?
Thanks for asking. I’m bout to tell you!
But first, let me share a typical story we hear from callers and potential clients on an almost weekly basis. The names have been changed to protect the evildoers and their helpless victims.
“My Website Keeps Going Down, Help!”
Yesterday, we got a panicked call from somebody at NicePantsDude.com (their office is only about two miles from ours). Their site was been down all day, and it's back up and running now. Their web guys say it was caused by a DDoS attack directed at SoftMembrane. Apparently they (The Bird Brain Group – NicePantsDude’s web developers), are using a hosting service called CheapAssHost, which appears to be one of those "pay us $8.50 per month to host your site" companies like GoDaddy or 1and1. Just for reference, we typically charge people $300 per year to host their sites. It’s not really a profit center for us because of the costs involved in maintaining our robust, redundant services, but we offer it for a variety of reasons, a few of which we’ll explain below. By the way, a good friend of ours who has a highly effective website and SEO business in Florida charges $85 per month for hosting ($125 per month for hosting both a website and blog), and it’s worth every penny.
CheapAssHost appears to have their servers hosted at SoftMembrane. SoftMembrane (formerly MyOrbit and now owned by HCN) is actually where NSG has several of their servers, though the NSG servers were unaffected by this supposed DDoS attack.
There are plenty of companies that charge $8 per month (or less) for hosting, and, at first glance, that sounds really good. In fact, when Don Prior first started NSG back in 2001, he signed up with a couple of them. After all, why go through the expense and hassle of setting up your own servers, paying the monthly fees to a data facility (hundreds or even thousands per month) when you can pay as little as $3 per month per site?
The fact is, they seem to work pretty well, especially at first glance. You pay your $8 for the first month, and voila! You have a website that works... most of the time. It turns out, however, that those sites had an odd habit off slowing down at random times or not submitting form data properly, and of course if you call to talk to someone, you are talking to a "script reader" who, when you get down to it, really knows nothing about web hosting or servers. So paying $8 per month makes a lot of sense, but only if low cost is more important to you than having a site that works all the time and having access to good support.
We've seen this happen with our clients’ sites too. National Sandwich was originally hosted with Craftwerk Solutions. Their site had an odd habit of timing out or crashing a couple times per week right around 6-7pm when everyone went home and started ordering sandwiches. We transferred it to NSG servers and … the problems stopped! The NSG servers even survived their super bowl ad. We've had people transfer from GoDaddy or one of the other commodity hosting companies and the comments we get are usually something like this: "gee, it sure is nice to have reliable email for a change!"
Within a couple months of starting NSG, Don quickly decided that having sites that work most of the time – and not having full control over his hosting environment and servers – probably wasn't the best recipe for success. He bit the bullet and purchased servers that NSG controls, and all the problems went away. NSG spends a lot of time and money setting them up, hosting them at a data facility, and maintaining them so they continue to run well. They have servers in multiple data centers, so that if one blows up (don't laugh - it actually happened) they can switch to the other. They backup to one another, and also to servers at NSG world headquarters here in Ann Arbor.
Losing Your Site Can be Bad, Okay?
It's not that our servers never go down. But it has happened pretty rarely, and NSG goes to great lengths to make sure that they would be able to recover from a failure and get people back up and running on another server relatively quickly.
Price is what you pay. Value is what you get. So think about that the next time someone asks why our web hosting costs so much. $8/month for a site that works most of the time … it doesn't sound so good when you say it like that!
Or as one of the great minds at NSG puts it:
“One thing people need to realize is that when we host their sites, it represents the shortest possible path between the people who care about what’s happening with their site and the people who can really work the magic to make things happen if there's a problem or if they need something special. With canned hosting providers, there's a very big gap there.”
Our focus, first and foremost, is relationships. We market SEO Ann Arbor in part on the fact that our clients can sit across the desk and yell at us – if the need is there. What happens most of the time is that they sit across the desk and tell us how much better their websites, social media, and blogs are doing now that we’re helping out. Whether they’re shouting insults or heaping praise on us, it’s always better – both for them and for us – because of the direct connection. We care about their success, and if they aren’t our friends when we first meet, many do become friends, so we have a vested interest in seeing them succeed.
It’s truly a joy to be around people who are wired to work hard and help others succeed. That’s one of the biggest intrinsic rewards of what we do. And because we spend a lot of mental energy on “getting it right,” we’re lucky enough to be around a lot of those people. So, remember this the next time you’re thinking about whether to go the “cheap” route or the “good” route: price is what you pay. Value is what you get. If you’re after price, think GoDaddy, 1and1, or another discount hosting service. If you’re after value, think quality, think local, and think SEO Ann Arbor!
Thanks for asking. I’m bout to tell you!
But first, let me share a typical story we hear from callers and potential clients on an almost weekly basis. The names have been changed to protect the evildoers and their helpless victims.
“My Website Keeps Going Down, Help!”
Yesterday, we got a panicked call from somebody at NicePantsDude.com (their office is only about two miles from ours). Their site was been down all day, and it's back up and running now. Their web guys say it was caused by a DDoS attack directed at SoftMembrane. Apparently they (The Bird Brain Group – NicePantsDude’s web developers), are using a hosting service called CheapAssHost, which appears to be one of those "pay us $8.50 per month to host your site" companies like GoDaddy or 1and1. Just for reference, we typically charge people $300 per year to host their sites. It’s not really a profit center for us because of the costs involved in maintaining our robust, redundant services, but we offer it for a variety of reasons, a few of which we’ll explain below. By the way, a good friend of ours who has a highly effective website and SEO business in Florida charges $85 per month for hosting ($125 per month for hosting both a website and blog), and it’s worth every penny.
CheapAssHost appears to have their servers hosted at SoftMembrane. SoftMembrane (formerly MyOrbit and now owned by HCN) is actually where NSG has several of their servers, though the NSG servers were unaffected by this supposed DDoS attack.
There are plenty of companies that charge $8 per month (or less) for hosting, and, at first glance, that sounds really good. In fact, when Don Prior first started NSG back in 2001, he signed up with a couple of them. After all, why go through the expense and hassle of setting up your own servers, paying the monthly fees to a data facility (hundreds or even thousands per month) when you can pay as little as $3 per month per site?
The fact is, they seem to work pretty well, especially at first glance. You pay your $8 for the first month, and voila! You have a website that works... most of the time. It turns out, however, that those sites had an odd habit off slowing down at random times or not submitting form data properly, and of course if you call to talk to someone, you are talking to a "script reader" who, when you get down to it, really knows nothing about web hosting or servers. So paying $8 per month makes a lot of sense, but only if low cost is more important to you than having a site that works all the time and having access to good support.
We've seen this happen with our clients’ sites too. National Sandwich was originally hosted with Craftwerk Solutions. Their site had an odd habit of timing out or crashing a couple times per week right around 6-7pm when everyone went home and started ordering sandwiches. We transferred it to NSG servers and … the problems stopped! The NSG servers even survived their super bowl ad. We've had people transfer from GoDaddy or one of the other commodity hosting companies and the comments we get are usually something like this: "gee, it sure is nice to have reliable email for a change!"
Within a couple months of starting NSG, Don quickly decided that having sites that work most of the time – and not having full control over his hosting environment and servers – probably wasn't the best recipe for success. He bit the bullet and purchased servers that NSG controls, and all the problems went away. NSG spends a lot of time and money setting them up, hosting them at a data facility, and maintaining them so they continue to run well. They have servers in multiple data centers, so that if one blows up (don't laugh - it actually happened) they can switch to the other. They backup to one another, and also to servers at NSG world headquarters here in Ann Arbor.
Losing Your Site Can be Bad, Okay?
It's not that our servers never go down. But it has happened pretty rarely, and NSG goes to great lengths to make sure that they would be able to recover from a failure and get people back up and running on another server relatively quickly.
Price is what you pay. Value is what you get. So think about that the next time someone asks why our web hosting costs so much. $8/month for a site that works most of the time … it doesn't sound so good when you say it like that!
Or as one of the great minds at NSG puts it:
“One thing people need to realize is that when we host their sites, it represents the shortest possible path between the people who care about what’s happening with their site and the people who can really work the magic to make things happen if there's a problem or if they need something special. With canned hosting providers, there's a very big gap there.”
Our focus, first and foremost, is relationships. We market SEO Ann Arbor in part on the fact that our clients can sit across the desk and yell at us – if the need is there. What happens most of the time is that they sit across the desk and tell us how much better their websites, social media, and blogs are doing now that we’re helping out. Whether they’re shouting insults or heaping praise on us, it’s always better – both for them and for us – because of the direct connection. We care about their success, and if they aren’t our friends when we first meet, many do become friends, so we have a vested interest in seeing them succeed.
It’s truly a joy to be around people who are wired to work hard and help others succeed. That’s one of the biggest intrinsic rewards of what we do. And because we spend a lot of mental energy on “getting it right,” we’re lucky enough to be around a lot of those people. So, remember this the next time you’re thinking about whether to go the “cheap” route or the “good” route: price is what you pay. Value is what you get. If you’re after price, think GoDaddy, 1and1, or another discount hosting service. If you’re after value, think quality, think local, and think SEO Ann Arbor!
Katie Rocks it at SEO Ann Arbor!
SEO Ann Arbor specializes in helping get the word out about businesses and what they do best. Whether it's website design, digital marketing, social media management, search engine optimization, or content that lives in the "sweet spot" between what you do best and what the world really, really wants, together with the great people who work at SEO Ann Arbor, we can help!
Thursday, December 3, 2015
Quick Reminder - Website Design Tips
Good website design keeps visitors on your site longer!
- Have a clear headline! Headlines and phrases in bold stand out to make your message clear.
- Images are important! Friendly faces and photos that represent you and your company belong on your home page. Showcase your company’s personality.
- Make your purpose clear! If people can’t figure out what you do, they won't stay.
- Make navigation easy for visitors. Stay away from headlines like “why work with us”, “what we do”, and give easy choices like "Contact Us!" and "Discounts!"
- Avoid clutter! Too many links, photos and graphics can confuse your visitors.
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