SEO | Marketing In Lima Ohio

The Action Is In Columbus

2011-11-15T08:44:00.000-05:00

SEO Columbus Ohio

As you can see in the chart on my post SEO Ohio, "SEO Columbus Ohio" is one of the major phrases searched on by those interested in finding out info on or about SEO in Columbus Ohio. There are an average of 590 searches done each month on "SEO Columbus Ohio" from within the United States. For an SEO expert such as myself, that only works with a few clients at a time, it's a decent amount of people doing searches.

I do the nitty gritty work of SEO. The down in the trenches type work. You want traffic for your website, I deliver traffic. If you are a business in Columbus Ohio and are only interested in clientèle within the Columbus area, I don't target people in Denver. If you want people in Denver....you get the point.

Columbus Ohio SEO Marketing Services

Do you want a results oriented SEO campaign? Or are you looking for a salesman to go to lunch with? Maybe have a few drinks, do a little schmoozing? Didn't think so. You are probably like me, I like to earn money. Socializing is great, let me give you some results, then we can get together and celebrate!

Chance are, if you are reading this, you found a link to this site or this article somewhere on the Internet. You found it because getting traffic using SEO in Columbus Ohio, is no different for myself than getting traffic for your website and your particular industry.

The problem is, most businesses that have a website have either had incompetent people working on their SEO or no one at all. Kind of a bold statement, makes me sound arrogant, but hey, it is a true statement. How do I know that this particular statement applies to those practicing SEO in the Columbus Ohio area? I did a simple search:

The above pic is a screenshot of the number one site on Google for the search terms "Columbus Ohio SEO". (as of the day I wrote this article) It is a landing page, not a business. Don't you think it strange that with all the established marketing company's in Columbus Ohio, many specializing in SEO, that the number one site is a landing page?

While many businesses owners may have never heard of SEO before, it is actually a very competitive field with thousands of active professionals. Most of these SEO professionals have not been working for regular brick and mortar type businesses though. I believe that most SEO professionals actually are independent and work on their own projects, projects similar to the landing page mentioned above. Most people that learn SEO are not salesman so historically it has been a lot easier for someone to use SEO to earn a living off of affiliate programs than it has been to convince business owners and managers that they should pay for SEO Services in the Columbus Ohio area or elsewhere.

I am very competitive and like to win. The challenge of taking a website with low traffic and making you a happy client by improving the traffic to your website is what gets me excited! If you are in need of "SEO Services in Columbus Ohio" or elsewhere in Ohio or Indiana, give me a call 567-712-4211, I would love to help you out!

SEO Ohio

2011-11-14T17:14:00.000-05:00

Most business owners and many corporate managers in Ohio have never heard of SEO. Yet SEO "search engine optimization" can be very important in building your business here in Ohio. If your business has a website, blog or any other presence on the Internet, then you want that information to be found by clients and potential clients.

What someone like myself, a person that specializes in SEO, will do for you is to develop a program that will optimize your Internet property. The goal being to get to the front of a search in the search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing. As most find out pretty quickly, just having a website does not mean you will have traffic to that website. Depending on your business you may need a lot of traffic in order to justify the website. A business like mine needs minimal traffic as I can only handle 4-5 clients at a time.

Taking into consideration the amount of traffic needed, we next have to look at the competition. Are there other businesses with websites in your niche market that are competing against you? How aggressive are those businesses being to get to or stay on page one of a search? As with everything else in life, the stronger the competition the harder the work is to take them out and push your business to number one.

The next thing I look at are the keyword phrases that people actually are using to find things related to your niche market. I look for search terms that are currently being used but also have to understand what is going on with your market to try and figure out what may be important keyword phrases in the future. Using my particular business I did keyword research on the following terms:

Search terms (4)

Keyword	Competition	Global Monthly Searches	Local Monthly Searches

ohio marketing	Low	12,100	12,100
ohio seo	Low	4,400	2,900
ohio social marketing	-	-	-
ohio social media marketing	Medium	110	110

Having done keyword research on the above terms using a Google tool, I got back the following 50 similar or related phrases that people search for when interested in SEO in Ohio.

Keyword ideas (50)

Keyword

Competition

Global Monthly Searches

Local Monthly Searches

Keyword	Competition	Global Monthly Searches	Local Monthly Searches

ohio marketing jobs	Medium	1,600	1,300
seo columbus ohio	Medium	720	590
columbus ohio seo	Medium	720	590
marketing columbus ohio	Medium	2,900	2,900
marketing firms in columbus ohio	High	320	320
ohio seo company	Low	590	590
marketing companies in cleveland ohio	High	210	210
columbus ohio seo company	Medium	110	110
newark ohio seo company	Low	73	58
newark ohio seo	Low	140	110
marketing firms in cleveland ohio	High	170	170
marketing internships in cleveland ohio	Medium	58	58
ohio internet marketing	Medium	590	590
seo ohio	Low	4,400	2,900
search engine marketing columbus ohio	Medium	28	28
ohio sports marketing	Low	260	210
columbus ohio marketing	Medium	2,900	2,900
marketing jobs in ohio	Medium	1,600	1,300
internet marketing cleveland ohio	Medium	91	91
ohio web marketing	Medium	170	140
cleveland ohio seo	High	110	110
marketing firms columbus ohio	High	320	320
ohio search marketing	Medium	210	170
marketing jobs cleveland ohio	Medium	260	260
hunter marketing columbus ohio	Low	140	140
marketing jobs in columbus ohio	Medium	480	480
marketing jobs columbus ohio	Medium	480	480
columbus ohio marketing jobs	Medium	480	480
marketing jobs in cleveland ohio	Medium	260	260
marketing companies columbus ohio	High	390	320
internet marketing ohio	Medium	590	590
columbus ohio marketing firms	High	320	320
marketing firms cleveland ohio	High	170	170
ohio search engine marketing	Medium	140	110
seo cleveland ohio	High	110	110
rdi marketing milford ohio	Low	140	140
online marketing ohio	High	210	210
internet marketing columbus ohio	Medium	140	110
marketing cleveland ohio	Medium	1,300	1,000
marketing jobs in cincinnati ohio	Medium	140	140
marketing jobs ohio	Medium	1,600	1,300
marketing services columbus ohio	Medium	46	36
marketing ohio	Low	12,100	12,100
marketing internships cleveland ohio	Medium	58	58
marketing company columbus ohio	High	320	260
universal marketing group toledo ohio	Low	46	46
marketing jobs cincinnati ohio	Medium	140	140
marketing dayton ohio	Medium	590	590
worldwide marketing columbus ohio	Low	73	73
marketing agency columbus ohio	High	140	140

The above list of keyword phrases gives me an idea of what most people are searching for when trying to find out something about SEO in Ohio. I also learn how stiff the competition is when advertising with Google on those keywords and the average searches done each month for those phrases, both globally and within the United States.

If I worked for you I would generate a list like this for your business. I would then use this information to research and develop articles optimized specifically for your needs, to be put on your website, blog and in other places on the Internet. These articles would be used to tell the search engines and the public, that your website in an authority on your specific market or industry.

Anchor Text Links

I also create anchor text links on specific search terms relevant to your business, linking these search terms to relevant content on your website. The anchor texts links give strength to the page they are linked to. In a good SEO campaign we want internal anchor text links from within our own website and external anchor text links coming into our site from other websites.

Depending on the competition in your specific market it can take anywhere from a few weeks to a year to get a website on page one of Google in any specific search. SEO is an ongoing process because like anything else in business, there is always someone else out there that wants to be number one.

Job Wanted SEO | Social Meda Marketing

2011-11-10T20:51:00.000-05:00

I am interested in a job in the SEO and Social Media Marketing field in Ohio or Indiana. I recently started this blog to prove that I am pretty good at SEO and I know my way around when it comes to social media marketing. As I write this, the articles on this site concerning SEO and social media marketing are only a couple of weeks old. I had originally sent out a few resumes to company's that I thought might be interested in my skills. I did not get a response back right away so started this site to showcase my skills. It is one thing to write a fancy resume saying that you are a guru or expert in SEO and/or specialist in Social Media Marketing, quite another to prove it.

As I write this I am on page one of Google for the keyword phrase "Ohio Social Marketing". I am a dominant force for keyword phrases for my local hometown Lima Ohio. Lima Ohio is located in Allen County and with a county population of almost 100,000. Key phrases I rank high in are; Lima Ohio SEO, Lima Social Marketing, Lima Ohio Marketing and other various combinations of relevant search terms. I am also starting to show up in searches for relevant search terms that include Indiana in place of Ohio. Impressive if you consider that there are a multitude of marketing firms, probably thousands within these two states that should be dominating the search engines but aren't and I have only been trying for two weeks (as of Nov. 10, 2011). Simple question, if they are not doing a good job for themselves, will they or can they do it for you?

Maybe you are the owner or manager of a marketing company in Ohio or Indiana and your own people have dropped the ball. Maybe you need to hire me to get your SEO (search engine optimization) program shifted back into high gear.

I am willing to work as an employee or as a freelance consultant depending on the situation, work required and compensation. I can commute within parts of Ohio and Indiana or would be willing to relocate if necessary.

Resume

J. Michael Warner

306 W. Main St.

Cridersville, OH 45806

567-712-4211

jmichaelwarner@yahoo.com

Profile

Competitive and aggressive individual that works well alone and as a team player. I am self disciplined and tenacious.

Professional Experience –

Started and ran numerous blogs and sites using Wordpress, Blogger, Nuke Evolution and XOOPS.
Although not a programmer I have a working knowledge of how to use snippets of HTML, Java and other hacks to improve the looks of a site and the on page layout for SEO purposes.
Planned for and implemented link building strategies to increase link popularity and gain visibility on search engines.
Conducted market research to find competitive keywords and long tail key phrases.
Used Google Analytics and other analytical traffic monitoring sites.
Developed and implemented Social Media strategies using Linkedin, Twitter and now am working on building a large network with Facebook and YouTube
Conducted research on competitive websites to find weaknesses that I could capitalize on.
Creating content for websites including articles and press releases that scored well in the search engines and gained traffic.
Article submission to social bookmarking sites like Digg, Reddit, Stumbleupon and others.
Well read with a diverse knowledge on a multitude of subjects and an avid curiosity about learning new things.

Political Coffeehouse – www.politicalcoffeehouse.com

Publisher

2007-2009

The primary author and publisher with articles published on a daily basis.
Built a 3,000 strong national political group to go with the site utilizing Linkedin
Used SEO and Social Media to grow the site and make it popular with conservative and libertarian politically active people
Was able to motivate other writers to contribute quality articles for free to the site.

Sold the site and the Linkedin group that went along with it in 2009

Some of the websites I currently run. These sites are fairly new, but all are getting traffic.

The Political Coffeehouse

J. Michael Warner Info Site

LimaLand News

Employment

1984 – 1994 - U.S. Army

Korea, Germany, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Georgia, North Carolina and Colorado

I am a combat veteran and was a Combat Engineer that also worked as a Supply Sergeant and Training NCO. I graduated the Primary Leadership Development Course and the Basic Non Commissioned Officer Course, as well as the Special Forces Assessment Course.

1994 – Present

I have worked mostly as a self employed carpenter and handyman since getting out of the Army. My best year I sold over $400,000 in home improvements with most jobs averaging about $3,500. The most employee's I had at one time was 15. I currently work by myself and am trying to transition out of this type of work and get into marketing.

2007 – Present

Westgate Entertainment Center

I have worked as a cook for Westgate during the winters over the last few years and during the summers worked for myself.

Schooling

In the Army you get promotion points for attending school. I attended numerous classes at the University of Maryland campus in Germany including Accounting, Business Law, Psychology and Political Science. I also took various classes at Central Texas College.

Is SEO Important For Your Business

2011-11-10T10:09:00.000-05:00

Did you hear about SEO, search engine optimization, recently or have you known about it for a while? In talking with business owners in the Ohio and Indiana area I have found that many are unaware of SEO or what it means for them. If your business is going to have a presence on the Internet, website, Facebook, Linkedin etc., then you want people to find that presence.

Let's say that you own a bowling alley in Lima Ohio or a car dealership in Wapakoneta Ohio. Most likely you have a website, most businesses do these days. Your rational for having the website could just be the that everyone else has one, so in order to compete your business must also. But just by having the website are you truly competing? Not if people can't find your website! So at some point you decided to compete and had a website built for your business. Now you have to make another decision. Is your really cool website an ego booster or a competitive weapon in your marketing arsenal?

I was told by someone in the restaurant business the other day that SEO and owning a website is a waste of time. Really? There are over 11 million searches conducted on the Internet every month for the search term restaurants. Do you think these 11 million people are looking for shoes? Might be they are looking for ideas for where they want to eat. The search engines get them to your website, your website gets them to you. I get your website to the search engines.

Assuming that you really want a competitive weapon in your marketing arsenal, that is where I come in. As an expert in SEO I evaluate your web presence and put together a plan to help you dominate the search engines for the key words or phrases that best suit your business. Based on your company's specific needs I come up with a plan and then implement that plan. That plan, put into practice, will enable potential clients, who may have never heard of your business before, to find your business on the Internet.

This process of putting you on page one of a search using Google, Yahoo and Bing is not an anonymous process. Since I have a pretty good Internet presence myself, my in-box is inundated daily with offers to get me to the top of the search engines. Most of these marketing offers are from unknown entities (who obviously don't bother to check what kind of business I am in, LOL) in India, Pakistan and other emerging third world countries. Nothing wrong with someone in another country trying to build a business for themselves, but honestly, most of it is spam and trying to sort the wheat from the chaff would be impossible.

Why should you hire me to do your SEO work? I am going to come to your bowling alley or restaurant or whatever business you are in. I am going to get to know you and what makes your business unique. My marketing is not cookie cutter, it is uniquely tailored to the business I work for. You can't get that from an unknown entity sitting in India. The other reason you should hire me is that unlike that unknown entity or the other marketing company's that may be approaching you, I actually am ranking on the search engines for the very business I am in.

Think about it, if a marketing company in Ohio or Indiana approaches you to sell their "SEO and Social Media Marketing" services, how can they get you a good ranking if they can't do it for themselves?

As I write this, this particular website is ranking high in the search engines for the following terms:

Lima Ohio Marketing
Lima Ohio Social Marketing
Lima Ohio Social Media Marketing
Ohio Marketing
Ohio Social Marketing
Ohio SEO
Ohio Search Engine Optimization

I am also starting to get pretty good rankings in Indiana for similar search terms. Good rankings despite hundreds, if not thousands of marketing companies all located in Ohio and Indiana competing for the same business! Give me a call!

Marketing With Social Media

2011-11-09T11:38:00.000-05:00

Advances In Social Media Marketing

Get on the net! Your business has to be on the Internet! You have to market using social networking! Social Media Marketing is where it's at!

Whether your business is located in Ohio, Indiana or anywhere else, that has been the battle cry for the last few years. A lot of business owners have jumped on board the Social Marketing gravy train. Much to their dismay, the gravy could not be found and the train was moving so fast they thought they were going to fall off! Sound similar to your experience?

If you are the manager or owner of a business in Ohio or Indiana and have faced this situation, then you are not alone. Believe it or not, most major corporations have had similar flawed experiences. Social Media Marketing is a field still in its infancy, but it seems we are now finally starting to advance past the hype and fluff and glean some solid knowledge on what works and what does not.

ROI Of Social Media Marketing

Businesses typically like to measure results. When it comes to marketing, the ROI or return on investment, is the typical way a marketing program is graded to determine whether it was a waste of time and money, or a real winner. Since the advent of Social Media Marketing, marketers have been telling business owners and managers to throw out the ROI. Social Media Marketing Guru's claim that in their world of butterfly's and rainbows typical marketing theories can be thrown out the door. We have to engage our audience, communicate with them and become part of the greater group without openly trying to sell anything. While I consider this bull, it is easy to realize one of the reasons this theory cropped up, spam. Some so called marketing experts don't know how to do anything more than repeatedly post thousands of messages all over the Internet saying "buy my crap"!

So the question most have is: Can I get a return on my investment if I involve my company with Social Media Marketing? If so, how is that return measured?

Measuring Success In Social Media Marketing

From the book "No Bullshit Social Marketing" we get the:

7 Business Drivers of Social Media Marketing

Enhance Branding and Awareness
Protect Your Reputation
Enhance Public Relations
Build a Community
Enhance Customer Service
Facilitate Research and Development
Drive Sales and Leads

Enhancing Branding and Awareness

The Westgate Entertainment Center in Lima Ohio. Westgate is known as the premier bowling facility in Lima. When it comes to restaurants in Lima, many don't even know that Westgate has a full service restaurant, Lima's own "Char Grill Restaurant". This despite years of advertising using print, TV and Radio.

In the traditional methods of advertising the business tells the world what they want it to hear. Sometimes they are not listening! Over the last year or so Westgate has enhanced their marketing program to include Facebook. The conversations on the Westgate Facebook page runs from talking about bowling scores to pizza to Ohio State Football scores and more. Westgate employees as well as customers regularly post conversations. There is a lot more that can and will be done, but the branding of Westgate as the premier entertainment facility in Lima Ohio is under way. More and more people in the surrounding area are becoming aware that Westgate is more than a bowling facility with the best pizza in Lima Ohio.

Protect Your Reputation

Ever go to one of those sites that rate businesses? If you own a restaurant you are probably well aware of the proliferation of these sites on the net. Where would you rather your customers leave comments about you? On a site in which you have some control of the conversation and can respond? Or some anonymous site you have not heard of before?

If your clients are actively engaging with you on your Facebook page or your website and there is a problem, that is where it will be addressed. Not some anonymous site, leaving a thousand people to read the complaint before you ever find out about it, if your ever find out about it. Your community gets to hear the complaint, read how you took care of the problem, your reputation is protected.

Enhancing Public Relations

Beyond the normal activities associated with Public Relations your involvement in Social Media Marketing will have some added benefits. If you do a search on Google or Yahoo for search terms relevant to your business where do you stand? Any charlatan can show you a search using your specific business name and show that you rank high and hopefully on page one. That kind of depends on the commonality of your business name. The real question is whether or not your will rank on page one in a search using key words or phrases that most people use when searching for a business like yours.

Back to the example of the Westgate Entertainment Center. If you do a search on "bowling Lima Ohio" you find that Westgate is on page one of a search. Kind of a no brainer to get ranked well for that term, since there are only a couple bowling alleys in the Lima Ohio area. But how about a search for "restaurants Lima Ohio". Westgate's Char Grill Restaurant is buried way back in the search results. Someone has dropped the ball! By actively participating in social media marketing, talking about the Char Grill Restaurant and getting lots of links (SEO) for pages concerning the restaurant, public relations is enhanced. Public relations is enhanced because more people are talking about your business.

Build A Community

All of this activity builds a community for your business. People are actively talking about your business and participating in conversations about your business. The don't even work for you and they are openly promoting you and becoming involved with your business activities! Every year Westgate does a fund raising effort to help people in need in the Lima Ohio area. What started with a few employees has now grown to a community wide effort that was recognized in the local paper last year. Westgate has learned how to become a family. A family that not only includes the owners and the employees, but also the vendors and the customers feel like family.

Enhance Customer Service

Let's say you own a really nice restaurant in Ft. Wayne Indiana. Family comes in, has a meal, pays and leaves. Later that day on your website or Facebook page the comment pops up, worst steak I ever ate, taste like burnt leather. By addressing the problem right there in public, you show the world that, although mistakes happen, you run the kind of business that makes things right.

Facilitate Research and Development

By using questions and polls you can find out what will be most interesting to your potential clients and current clients. Innocuous questions can be used to gauge public sentiment on any variety of ideas you have for your business. Social Media Marketing can be an effective way to research and develop as well as an inexpensive one.

Drive Sales And Leads

What every business wants, more sales and leads. A simple example of this is that if you own a business that periodically experiences slow days or slow hours of the day, you can capitalize on social media. By developing a social media network you can announce specials during that slow time and bring in more business. Last winter Westgate made periodic announcements on slow days that gave really great deals on pizza and bowling. The announcements were made on Facebook. The bowling alley experience tremendous surges in business when the announcement were made. Just one example of driving sales. In the video above Jason Falls talks about how a simple conversation his mother had with a fellow on Facebook that turned into a bunch of sales for the fellow, who just happened to install remote car starters.

What Are Keywords

2011-11-06T21:58:00.001-05:00

Keywords and Key Phrases

What are keywords and key phrases and why are they important to my business and your business? Keywords and key phrases are the search terms people use to find what they are looking for on the Internet.

Let's say that you are now in the business of marketing, want business in Wapakoneta Ohio and your business name is J. Michael Warner SEO and Social Media Marketing. A potential client, who does not know you, is going to do a search on the Internet looking for someone that specializes in SEO and social media marketing in the local area. What will they search for? They will not search for you, using your company name because they do not know you. They will do a search using "keywords" or "key phrases" that best describe what they are looking for.

In this situation, if they do a search for the keyword "marketing" most likely they will not find anything useful as that, most likely, will not give them the name of anyone local. If they do a search for the key phrase "Wapakoneta Social Media Marketing" they stand a better chance of finding a local company.

Popular Search Keywords and Key Phrases

So what are the most popular keywords and key phrases that people use when searching for your business? There are a few different ways to find out what keywords and key phrases are useful. One of the sites I use for research is the Google Adword tool. Obviously it only gives results for searches in Google, but Google averages over 65% of all searches.

Google Adwords Tool

Simply put the search terms in the box for the word or phrase that best describes your business. The Google keyword research tool will then give you 100 search keywords and key phrases that people use when searching for terms associated with your given terms. If you are not in a bigger city then there is a chance that if you include your city name in the search, that you will not get any results. That does not mean that no one does any searches in your local area for your services, just that the number is to low for Google to keep track of.

Keyword and Key Phrases

I have keywords and key phrases, now what?

You use the keywords and key phrases on your website and on your social networks. Throughout this article you will notice the liberal use of the words "keywords" and "key phrases". By using these words numerous times throughout the article the search engines determine that this is what the article is primarily about. The general idea is to use the key phrases more times than any other phrase on your page or in your article. Search engines are not smart, they only know what you tell them. If your page or article is about elephants and you only mention elephants one or two time, the idiot search engines will not rank your page for that word, no one will read your web page and you will have wasted your time. Some may say that if a keyword is used to many times it will make the article sound kind of spammy. That is the fine line a one must walk in order to insure your key phrases are found found by the search engines and your audience is not turned off by the key usage of these words and phrases.

Keyword and Key Phrase Usage On Social Networks

When naming your business page on Facebook and Twitter one has to find a balance with what your actual business name is, what you do and what the best keywords are for your business. If you notice the name of this site is SEO | Marketing In Lima Ohio. My Facebook page is Social Media Marketing Lima Ohio. Both titles are key phrases that tell what I do and are geared for popular searches. I actually played with the words a few times on Facebook to get it just right. The title of a page in Facebook can be as long as one likes, but if you advertise on Facebook the limit for a title is 20 characters including spaces.

Facebook Ad

By putting a popular key phrase in my title that also explains what I do, I stand a better chance of scoring well with the search engines and ranking my pages high for my keywords. Facebook is indexed by the search engines. When doing a search using the Facebook search bar, the results returned will only be for the keywords used that show up in the title of a page. Twitter works a lot better. Searches on Twitter will return results that actually make sense. So if one does a search on the key phrase Social Media, any Tweet with that phrase will show up in the results.

One of the things I have learned in life is that listening to what a person says or writes about is sometimes worthless. Worth less, that is than watching what they do and the results from those actions. Proper use of keywords and phrases is one part, albeit an important part, of insuring your website scores well with the search engines and resulting in your website or social network getting traffic. What you do with that traffic...well, that is food for thought that we will explore in another article.

Should I Hire A Marketing Company For Social Media Marketing

2011-11-06T08:40:00.000-05:00

Are There Any SEO | Social Media Marketing Company's Available

Two or three years ago if you lived in a small town like Wapakoneta, Findlay Ohio or even Muncie Indiana, chances are, no one local specialized in SEO and Social Media Marketing. As the popularity of Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and other social networks evolve, it becomes easier to find "experts" in SEO and Social Media Marketing. In the larger cities like Seattle a few years ago, there were hundreds of SEO and Social Media Marketing Experts, now there are thousands.

Are There Any Competent SEO | Social Media Marketing Company's Available

This question is a little harder to determine. As any competent business person knows, just because a salesman has memorized his presentation and smoothly gives it, does not mean the end product will be of high quality.

Case Study

I was talking with a local bowling alley owner a while back. The bowling alley has a website, but the owner complained that nothing really seemed to be happening with it. Every week the owner met with his marketing rep for an hour to go over his advertising program including TV, radio and marketing on the Internet. After 10 years of owning a website he had only 29,000 visitors. His Facebook page had maybe one hundred likes, mostly employees.

Changes were made in who was running the company's Internet marketing efforts. Now a year later the Facebook page is doing a little better with more interactivity concerning the local community. The website is still dead, mostly due to little effort being put into it. The owner is still undecided about want he wants to do about it.

If you want to move forward with an aggressive marketing plan that uses the Internet, you must first make that decision. As with anything else in business, a half hearted effort is not worth doing at all and a waste of time and money.

Should you decide to move forward and market on the Internet you need to hire someone that can prove they can actually perform in the field of SEO and Social Media Marketing. Whether you are located in a small town like Wapakoneta or a larger city like Indianapolis Indiana your initial research should be the same. Do a search using Google, Yahoo and Bing using keywords such as "Wapakoneta Ohio Social Media Marketing" or "SEO Muncie Indiana", inserting your own city and state of course. If a company or person is on page one of the search, then chances are they are fairly competent. This is a highly competitive field and it is not necessarily very easy to get on page one of any particular search. You want your business to be on page one, so hire a company that understands how it is done. Keep in mind, depending on how competitive your area is for certain search terms, getting on page one of a search could be a lengthy process. The marketing firm may have spent a few years getting to page one and probably constantly working on staying there.

Marketing on-line takes effort. It is not an advertising medium for putting up commercials and jingles, you have to be committed to providing quality content and interacting with your clients and potential clients. You have to provide information about your business to your marketing manager, interact on your social networks and encourage your employees to interact on your social networks. In interviewing someone to do your on-line marketing for you, make sure that they will also commit to doing the work. Establish clear goals and a plan of action. Anyone can get thousands of "likes" to your company Facebook page or Twitter followers almost overnight. Insure that the marketing firm you hire is willing to do the work building quality not quantity.

A competent SEO and Social Media Marketing firm or manager should be able to do a couple of things well. They should be able to get you found on the Internet and build you a following that will that will insure when people need your products and/or service, your company is the first one they turn to.

The Advantages To Marketing In A Small Town

2011-11-04T07:39:00.000-04:00

Living, doing business in and marketing to a small town in Ohio and Indiana can be advantageous in ways that most probably don't think about. I grew up in the Lima Ohio area, traveled the world and then moved back here. After living in places like Juneau, Denver, Seattle, Germany and Korea, one gets used to a lifestyle and action that is not normally found in the agricultural areas of Ohio and Indiana. A common complaint is that the small towns are behind the times. Seattle had thousands of coffee shops before Lima had one. Now we have four coffee shops.

The big city did the market research, proved there was a need and want for the coffee shop business, at no cost to anyone in Lima Ohio. A few smart business minded people see an opportunity and now Lima has coffee shops. The coffee shop business is just a small example of how a business person can take advantage of "market research" conducted in the big city.

As I write, this all across the world the methods used to advertise are changing. Marketing plans are being rewritten to include marketing on the Internet. While in a bigger city like Seattle this is more of the norm, in our area...not so much. That is changing and those that take advantage now will reap the benefits, those that don't will be left in the ash heap of business history!

From eMarketer "US mobile ad spending will grow 47% in 2012, reaching $1.8 billion, as marketers seek to capitalize on rising smart device and mobile web adoption. As on the desktop, search and display (banners, rich media and video) are emerging as the dominant mobile ad formats."

Smart phones are proliferating everywhere! Your potential market that is on-line, is growing by leaps and bounds.

In this graphic by comScore we find some valuable information that disproves a common myth. It is not just young people that are spending a lot of time on the Internet. The category for 45-54 year olds actually have the most action, with an average of 39.3 hours spent on-line per month.

Where are consumers spending their time while on the Internet? As shown in the above graphic, Facebook is winning the war! The average person is spending 16% of their time on one particular website, Facebook.

Do you think maybe your business should be on Facebook?

With the proliferation of smart phones and tablets you can now market to people wherever they are. No hoping they will go home and watch TV, read the newspaper, listen to the radio or open that coupon book. Advertising is a little more complicated as it is no longer a one way street with the advertiser telling the consumer. Marketing plans today are interactive with communications going in many directions. Advertisers communicate with consumers and on the same platform interact with each other. The businesses that do this well will dominate the competition.

SEO | Social Media Marketing Program Part II

2011-11-03T14:23:00.000-04:00

This is the second part of a series explaining my SEO and Social Media Marketing Program that I now offer to the Lima area as well as in Ohio and Indiana. Click here to read part one first: SEO and Social Media Marketing Program

Marketing Discussed During Initial Consultation

Marketing Goals

In order for me to perform as a consultant for your business, you must first understand and articulate to me what your goals are for our relationship. I need to know exactly who your target market is. It can't be everyone. What are the demographics of the market you are trying to reach? If you don't already have goals that you can explain to me, then I can't represent you. If you can articulate your marketing goals to me, then I can put together an aggressive marketing program to help you accomplish those goals. So, during our initial consultation be prepared to explain to me your company's mission statement as well as your marketing objectives and goals.

In defining those goals many will say that they want a lot of followers on Facebook or Twitter. I can get you thousands of followers on either social network within hours to days. The problem is, they will not result in a dime in new revenue for your business. Anyone can buy followers for any specific social network, it is an industry in itself.

What you want are qualified followers. People that are interested in what you have to sell or may be in the future. In the Lima Ohio area there are now around 50,000 people on Facebook. If you are a local lawyer, car dealer or bowling alley, you may not be interested in marketing to people outside of this geographical region. If not, it does you little good to have 1000 followers of your Facebook page from India. Every business has different needs and based on the needs of the specific business I will do two things, make sure you can be found on the Internet and build a quality interactive fan base for the business.

Integrated Marketing

In order for your SEO and Social Media Program to work we must integrate it with all other aspects of your marketing plan. Any print media, radio and TV advertising you do must include info on your website, blog, Facebook and Twitter accounts. At a minimum it should include the Facebook logo so people know that you have a Facebook page. Info leading to everything else will be there for them to find.

In our weekly meetings let me know and show me, what advertising you are participating in. That way I can compliment it and promote it. If you do pay per click or any other advertising on the Internet, let me know what you are doing so I can also compliment that.

Call me 567-712-4211 and let's get started building you new exciting SEO and Social Media Marketing Program!

SEO | Social Media Marketing Program

2011-11-03T10:16:00.002-04:00

J. Michael Warner | SEO and Social Media Marketing Program

I am now marketing my services in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Social Media Marketing in the Lima Ohio area and will travel up to 120 miles to market for businesses in the following areas and all points in between:

Upper Sandusky Ohio
Springfield Ohio
Bellefontaine Ohio
Marysville Ohio
Delaware Ohio
Bowling Green Ohio
Toledo Ohio
Middletown Ohio
Ft. Wayne Indiana
Muncie Indiana
Columbus Indiana
Elkhart Indiana
Kokomo Indiana

Initial consultation for SEO and Social Media Marketing

I charge a $250 initial consultation fee paid up front. For this fee I will sit down with you and we will discuss your current business activities on the Internet. If you have a website, blog or on-line social network we will discuss the performance that you have experienced so far. We will discuss your business plan and what your goals are. I would like to take a tour of your business, meet a few of your employees and generally get a feel for what your business is all about.

I only market for one company in an industry in any particular geographical area. So if you are a company like Fed Ex, then I will not be marketing for any other company in that industry. If you own an automotive dealership then I will not be marketing for any other auto dealership in your town. As I pointed out in my article "The Future of Marketing in Lima Ohio", I produce results! If you are contacting me then your business has not yet experienced the results you desire.

Most businesses have had sales people show up at their door trying to sell similar programs. If the sales pitch sounds good and the price is right, you went with their program. The problem is that most of the sales people traveling around Indiana and Ohio are better salesman than they are as performers in the SEO and Social Media Marketing field. This was readily apparent to me when I found out that after two weeks of working on this site I was already on page one of a Google and Yahoo search for the search term "Lima Ohio Social Marketing". There are numerous businesses in the Lima area now competing in the marketing and social media marketing field. Yet a relative newcomer bypassed them with ease in the search rankings with only two weeks of minimal effort.

At the close of our initial consultation we will decide if we want to work together on your Internet marketing program. Should we decide to proceed the minimal upfront charge for setting up your new Social Media Marketing Program will be $1500 with a minimal monthly charge of $1,500. Larger businesses in highly competitive industries, with more complex requirements cost more. Basically the cost is comparable to a few ads in the local newpaper or some TV advertising. The difference is that my work will be in use for years to come.

What the Social Media Marketing Program Entails

I will evaluate your current website and give advice on how to better optimize it for the search engines. I will set up a blog using Wordpress for your business. You will be required to have your webmaster link to the blog on your main website with a navigational button. Preferably make the blog a sub-domain of your website. I will either take over or set up a Facebook account, Twitter account and other social networking accounts as they apply to your business model. I will create articles and conversations that are relevant to your business, industry, clients and potential clients. These articles and conversations will take place on your blog and social networks.

Once a week I will meet with a designated person at your business for one hour. In that meeting we will discuss what your business in doing, what events and activities are coming up. Social Media Marketing is a very personal process. Your clients need to feel like they have a relationship with your business. I make sure they find you and I create that feeling.

I don't do long term contracts so you may end our relationship at any time. If you continue with my service for a minimal time of 6 months, everything I create for your business is your property and will be transferred to you at any time. If you cancel our arrangement prior to the end of the 6 month period all the work I do is mine to do with as I please.

I will only be representing a few business with my Social Media Marketing service. Give me a call, Mike at 567-712-4211, let's discuss your needs and find out if we can do business together.

Click here to read Part II of my SEO | Social Media Marketing Program

The Future of Marketing in Lima Ohio

2011-11-03T07:56:00.003-04:00

Lima Ohio Marketing

In all reality this article is about marketing anywhere, you could be in Seattle just as easily as Lima Ohio. The old methods of marketing are out and the new methods are in. What are the old methods, well posting flyer's on trees announcing the revolution are definitely out, LOL. Rumor has it that modern day revolutionary's are using the Internet and doing quite well considering all the new leaders in the Middle East!

Here in Lima Ohio most business people have had exposure to the social networks like Facebook, but most use the social networks for personal networking and not for business. Most marketing plans implemented in the Lima Ohio area use the old fashioned advertising like print media newspapers, TV, radio and coupons. The sad part of this scenario is that the "marketing guru's" in the Lima Ohio area still have not figured out what to do about the Internet.

It is not enough just to have a website and a Facebook page. Many business people that I have talked to all are experiencing the same thing. They have a website, but no traffic. They have a Facebook page, but don't know what to do with it.

A little background on me. I have studied "marketing on the Internet", "SEO" and "social media marketing" for about 6 years. I have built sites with traffic way beyond what most local Lima businesses experience. In fact the Westgate Entertainment Center has had as much traffic in the last ten years as I experienced last month on a brand new site I built. Another fact, I have the most Twitter followers of anyone in Lima Ohio, and that is just on one of my many Twitter accounts. I can build traffic to your website and help you build a large social network, when you get tired of the good old boy network, give me a call!

So, your company has a website, but no one visits your website? I started working on this site and adding marketing articles for the Lima Ohio area about a week or so ago. If you do a search on "Lima Ohio Social Marketing" in Google you will see that today I am on the first page in the 2d and 3rd position.

The same results can be found in a Yahoo or Bing search. You could be reading this article a day after or years after I wrote it. Chances are the search results will not be the same.

Marketing Companies in Lima Ohio

What does this tell you about the rest of the marketing company's in the Lima Ohio area. Many of them have a lot of clients, your business may even be one of them. But if a newcomer on the scene is able to take over the first page of a search concerning their business, what are they doing for your business? Have they put you on page one of a search using important key words for your business? Can they keep you there if your competitor hires me?

It is one thing to be a great salesman, but someone has to deliver. I deliver!

Who Can You Market To On The Internet

As you can see in the above graphic by Pew Research, 78 percent of Americans use the Internet. Compare that to those who read newspapers:

The comparison in the rise of Internet users and the decline in newspaper readers is similar when we look at all forms of old line advertising venues. My theory is that within the next five years print advertising venues like coupon books and newspapers will disappear as more and more people get comfortable with using the Internet for finding deals. Radio is in decline as more people use MP3 files to listen to music. TV is expensive and no guarantee that an advertising program on TV will result in any sales.

If a company markets on the Internet correctly they will have a marketing program that has longevity. Unlike a coupon in a coupon book or an ad in any other venue, once published on the Internet, your promotion will be there for eternity unless you remove it or the Internet gets shut down.

How To Social Media Market

If your marketing program involves other forms of advertising I don't discourage that, if it is working for you stick with it. On the other hand I have talked to many advertisers that complain that they spent thousands on this form of advertising and the return on investment was negligible.

Your marketing program on the Internet should be a long term project. Your company needs a website and/or blog. A website is usually static and changes very little. A blog can be updated adding new information on a continuous basis. The blog is interactive in that your customers or potential clients can leave comments and you can reply to those comments. When it comes to the social networks most business to consumer company's should be on Facebook and interacting with clients there. If you are a business to business company then you should be on Linkedin and Twitter.

The bottom line is that if you are going to be in business in the Lima Ohio area then you need to position your business in such a way as to take advantage of marketing on the Internet. If not, your competitors will and you could be left in the ash heap of businesses that made the wrong decisions and no longer exist.

What Is Social Media Marketing

2011-10-31T07:31:00.001-04:00

Social Media Marketing

Social Media Marketing is the method used to build traffic to a company's website or on-line property as well as build interactivity between the company, clients and potential clients, through the use of social media sites. This interactivity is used to build brand loyalty with the end user of a company's products. Social Media Marketing provides open communication between the company and consumer as opposed to older marketing methods that provided advertising the consumer viewed or listened to, with no ability to interact with.

Why Social Media Marketing

Remember the commercials by Oscar Meyer with the little boy on the dock singing about his bologna, "My bologna has a first name, it O S C A R, my bologna has a second name........" If you grew up in the United States you can probably finish the jingle. Occasionally a truly great marketing plan is put together and brilliant advertising is produced. But the problem with this type of advertising is, should there be some type of problem with the advertising we find out when it ends up a failure. The company does not find out until thousands to millions of dollars have been spent. Unacceptable by todays standards.

I am not saying that a company using Social Media Marketing will never waste money on marketing and advertising again. What Social Media Marketing means for your company is that you can now communicate, observe communications and react quickly to good news and bad concerning your marketing efforts.

Let's say that you own a furniture store in Lima Ohio. Your traditional methods of advertising have been TV commercials, radio advertising and print advertising in a Lima newspaper. Using these traditional methods of marketing the only way you have to gauge public interest is by the traffic coming into your store. A successful advertising campaign causes an up-tick in traffic to your store and hopefully an increase in sales.

Now we switch to the modern method of marketing, Social Media Marketing. Social Media Marketing does not just consist of advertising campaigns. Social Media Marketing is daily communications between your furniture store, auto dealership, bowling alley or any other business and your customers. You now have the ability to communicate with your customers as well as evaluate what they are saying not only to you, but each other. This ability to monitor and communicate with your social network will allow you to quickly react to good news and bad as well as adjust your advertising campaigns to better suit your market.

On Line Marketing In Lima Ohio

2011-10-30T08:47:00.002-04:00

For those interested in Online marketing in the Lima Ohio area over the last few years, there have not been many people or businesses to turn to for help. There are plenty of businesses that provide traditional marketing programs with advertising on the TV, radio and in print media. Online marketing on the other hand has not received a lot of attention here in Lima.

I am now seeking to help change all of that and bring a level of online marketing expertise to the Lima area that formerly did not exist. An example of that expertise is probably driving a few people crazy that are reading this article. That is the use of the keywords in the key phrase"on line marketing", I spelled it "online marketing". So for those who have not already left the page thinking I am illiterate I will explain myself.

I use software tools to do research in order to find out what, among other things, people are doing searches for. In my research I have found out that an average of 450,000 people each month are doing searches on Google for the key words "on line marketing". An average of 673,000 people are doing searches on "online marketing".

When marketing online it is always best to take advantage of misspellings as well as the correct spelling of a word. Not something that your normal marketing or advertising rep will tell you here in Lima Ohio.

When analyzing the keywords that people search for I don't just look at the numbers, I analyze the numbers. It is kind of like playing chess. I have to think of what effect the moves I make will have on a multitude of entities. If I used only the misspelling "online" any business person reading this article with a decent education will dismiss me as an idiot that could not possibly help his or her marketing program. If I only spell the words "on line" correctly then I get less traffic from the search engines. By combining the use of both spellings in this article I get more traffic from the search engines and get to show off one small piece of my knowledge in on line marketing.

Search Engine Optimization Lima Ohio

2011-10-29T03:27:00.002-04:00

Does your company have a website here in the Lima Ohio area? When you do a keyword or key phrase search for your industry, does your website show up on the first page of Google? If not, you need "Search Engine Optimization"

What is SEO or Search Engine Optimization? Very simply, SEO is the art of getting your website found! Think about it, why have a website if no one can find it?

Let's use the example I started in my article on "Marketing in Lima Ohio", in that article I mentioned marketing a bowling alley in Lima Ohio. Now, if you have a bowling alley in Lima Ohio and someone does a search for your business name, finds your website, clicks on it, they end up at your website. But what happens if they do a search for "bowling Lima Ohio"? Do they find your website? or a competitors website? Or an article I wrote about bowling or whatever?

That, my friends, is why you need SEO or search engine optimization. As an expert in SEO what I do is look at the on page layout of the various pages of your website and recommend changes that your web master should make to better optimize your website so it can be found in Google, Yahoo and Bing searches. Then I implement a plan to give your website strength, strength so that it will go to number one on the Google search engine and stay there!

If you have a business in the Lima Ohio area or north western Ohio area and your website is not on page one of the search engines, call me J. Michael Warner 567-712-4211. I will take a look at your website and come up with a SEO "Search Engine Optimization" plan that will allow you to blow away you competition!

UD4VSXJNNZ5K

Practical Social Media Marketing In Lima Oho

2011-10-29T02:23:00.001-04:00

If you have a business in the Lima Ohio area and don't have a web presence or social media marketing program, now is the time to get started! The problem most business owners have is in deciding how extensive of a social media marketing program to invest in and who should run it.

Based on my observations of small businesses in the Lima Ohio area, many business owners have to many people involved in their marketing program. If a small business is using numerous people or company's for marketing and advertising, it would be best to treat all entities as members of your marketing team. Instead of meeting each advertising rep on an individual basis, hold meetings in which you require all people involved with your marketing and advertising to be present. After a few meetings you will find out who the best performers are on your team, then you can cull the laggards from the pack.

From the perspective of a person that works primarily on Social Media Marketing and SEO I have noticed that a lot of business advertising in the Lima Ohio area does not appear to be well coordinated. It is better to sit everyone down that you want involved in marketing your business, then develop and implement a workable marketing plan. Depending on your budget this could include print advertising, TV advertising, radio advertising, a well laid out website that is optimized for the search engines and a social media marketing program that encourages clients and potential clients to interact with your company.

A practical marketing program should include giving your company a presence on the web and a "social media marketing" program. Why have a social media marketing program? My theory is that most business owners and managers strive to make their business the best it can possibly be and the best in their particular business sector. Lets take bowling as an example. If you wanted to be dominant for "bowling in Lima Ohio", you are going to have to have a strong business plan that includes a strong marketing plan. Given the size and scope of the different businesses involved with bowling in the Lima Ohio area if you want to be number one your business will have to stand out from the rest of the pack. So if all the rest of the bowling businesses in the Lima Ohio area are already involved in print advertising, radio and TV plus have a website, how can your bowling business go one better? The answer is simple, but not one bowling business in the Lima Ohio area currently is doing it. You must do the same thing on the Internet that you do at the bowling alley. You must interact with the customers!

How many times have we heard the stories about the original owner of a business that practically lived there, knew everyones name and was always socially interacting with everyone? My theory on social media marketing is that is the same way you will win on the Internet.

A few years ago when I first got involved with building websites and started working on trying to build website traffic, I always submitted articles I had written to a certain social media site. Due to the topic of the articles I was writing I always got a response from a few specific individuals among others. Given that they always seemed to read my articles and comment on them, I did the same with the articles they submitted. After a few months of this activity I started wondering about the level of activity my new found friends seemed to have on these social media sites. At first I thought that maybe they were retirees. Then I started doing research on everything these individuals were doing. Turns out what I originally thought was individuals socially interacting with me, was actually teams of marketers. By liking my articles and the articles submitted by others like me, and communicating with us, they were able to create traffic to their company's websites. A very smart social media marketing plan!
When I viewed the stats on a couple of the websites employing this strategy, there was an obvious upward trend in traffic and time spent on the websites.

So, the key element for building a practical social media marketing program whether you are in Lima Ohio or anywhere else, must include ways for your potential clients and current customers to communicate with you and each other. This site provides an excellent example of how that is done. You can leave comments in the comment section, follow and communicate with me and each other on Twitter or on Facebook. Social media marketing at its best, right here in Lima Ohio!

SEO | Social Media Marketing Theory in Lima Ohio

2011-10-27T19:43:00.002-04:00

I come into the field of SEO theory (search engine optimization) and social marketing media theory from a different avenue than most people that are in marketing. Most in the field of SEO or Social Media Marketing are college graduates with degrees related to marketing. But alas!!! Like many a brilliant mind before me, Benjamin Franklin, Bill Gates and hundreds of other great men who did not graduate college, neither did I. And I, like many of these men, have done a lot of reading, studying and practical exercises that gives me not only a swollen ego, but a vast array of knowledge in the fields of economics, business and yes, marketing. More specifically in the subjects of SEO Theory and Social Media Marketing Theory.

I recently read a report produced by IBM, "Chief Marketing Officer Study". IBM interviewed over 1700 Chief Marketing Officers to find out the performance status of their company's web and social networking activities. Prior to reading the report I guessed that most corporations are not doing well with Social Media Marketing or SEO. My theory was that the field is still to new and the normal corporate structure to ridged to be doing all that well. Turns out I was right. Did not spend a dime or have to talk to over 1700 people and came to the same conclusion that IBM came to.

Here in the Lima Ohio area I talked to a few small business owners over the last couple of years and they have the same problem the larger corporations have. They have this gut feeling, helped along by the media, that they should be "on the net" and participating in the on-line social media but don't know how to go about it or know of any specific marketing theories that tell them how to actually participate in a profitable way.

Since SEO Theory and Social Media Marketing Theory is something I have studied and participated in for the last six years I decided to hang up my shingle and start helping other businesses.

As a consultant now in the field of SEO and Social Media Marketing Theory here in the Lima Ohio area I am available to help a few businesses with their on-line marketing efforts. I do like to tell people up front, do not call me unless you are willing to let me run or start and run, your website, blog and your online social network. You must also agree to put your Facebook and Twitter information on every piece of marketing and advertising material that you have published, print, radio and TV. If you are not willing to do that, I am not interested, don't call me. You can still read the articles I write and recommend, you will just have to figure out how to come up with the time to do the work.

So....for those interested in hiring an inspired, well read and creative SEO and Social Media Marketing professional in the Lima Ohio area, give me a call at 567-712-4211.

Mustard Porkchop Marinade

2011-06-09T18:50:00.000-04:00

Just ate some of the best pork chops ever! I came up with this marinade for pork chops that is absolutely delicious! (Note to self, take a break from eating next time and take a picture)

1/2 cup of Kraft Zesty Italian dressing
1 heaping tablespoon of horseradish mustard
1 heaping tablespoon of brown spicy mustard
pinch of salt
pinch of pepper
pinch of thyme

Combine ingredients in a 1 gallon plastic storage/freezer bag. Put in a couple pounds of pork chops and marinade in the refrigerator for a day or two. I do it for two days. Grill the chops at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes until lightly browned. While grilling, brush the marinade on the chops. Will make the the best, moistest, tenderest pork chops ever!

Bulgogi Kalbi Marinade

2011-06-09T08:15:00.000-04:00

One of my favorite foods in all the world is Korean Kalbi, impossible to make without a good marinade for the meat. The meat generally used for Kalbi is beef short ribs cut Korean style. In my area that is impossible to get so I use rib eye steak cut thin (1/4"). If you live in an area with a Korean grocery then you should be able to get short ribs. For Bulgogi I use leaner cuts of meat, usually just a roast cut at about an eighth of an inch, fairly thin.

Bulgogi/Kalbi/Beef Marinade

1 cup Sugar

2 cup Soy Sauce

1 can 7 up *not diet

Crushed/Diced Garlic... Use what you feel would be right

1 teaspoon ginger powder

2 cans Pineapple juice( you know those little cans)

Black Pepper - couple pinches

1 Kiwi Blended skin removed

1/4 of a white onion blended ( make sure its a white onion for the right flavor)

I marinade overnight. You don't need to cook this one but make sure you do it in a large container because that is a lot of stuff in one container.