What tools do you use to improve website visibility, engage visitors, and increase conversions? I break successful websites into those three areas of importance: visibility, engagement, and conversion.

Let's say you do some email marketing, have a corporate blog, use search ads, and build up your backlinks in order to increase visibility (see my post about website chauffeurs).

Once visitors arrive, you use a web content management system to keep your site updated with engaging and relevant content.

Then, when converting visitors into leads (or paying customers) you might post a form that gets stored in your CRM database, added to your email marketing database, and then you might send both yourself and the lead an email response.

I calll this cloud marketing. Just like cloud computing, cloud marketing utilizes the power of disparate applications and tools connected on the Internet. This is the "all of us is more powerful than just one of us" mentality.

Cloud marketing is expensive because it still requires developers to programmatically connect all the tools so they talk nicely to each other. Over time, though, more and more tools will be connected easily because of standards. Just like RSS, I envision a day when we can point one application to another and they will auto-discover eachother's features and be able to talk without the need of a contracted programmer. This will not only lower the cost, but also give smaller businesses a better ability to compete with the big guys. Here's one Indianapolis firm that's already doing it - 5Buckets.

NOTE: Here's proof of how fast the Internet moves. I started this article in November and didn't finish it for a variety of reasons. At that time, there wasn't much on cloud marketing and there definitely wasn't a Wikipedia entry. Now, however, there is. Started on December 1st - here it is: cloud marketing.

One of the first things you notice about a website is the color palette. The colors of your site can determine the 'mood' of your site. This is one of the most dominating elements of a website's first impression. The first step in designing a good website is choosing complimentary colors (i.e., colors that get along). We've all seen color swatches at the hardware store offering a small collections of colors that 'go well together.' This is important for setting the mood or theme of a room. Your website is no different. 

The following websites are GREAT resources for finding colors that blend well together:

1. www.colorcombos.com
2. www.colorblender.com
3. www.colorschemer.com
4. www.colourlovers.com

Color is used to evoke emotion. Consider the following examples. Which site is soothing and gives you a sense of warmth and which is loud and gives you a headache?

Well balanced color is essential to consistency and flow in a website. This was the reason we created "strict colors" within Marketpath CMS. With strict colors enabled, website content managers need not worry about matching colors on their own. We add your website's unique palette of colors to the editor so keeping your content consistent is a snap!

We have integrated Google Analytics right into Marketpath CMS. You can now learn more about where your visitors come from and how they interact with your site. You'll get the information you need to write better ads, strengthen your marketing initiatives, and create higher-converting websites. Learn more about the benefits directly from Google.

Google Analytics replaces the default 'Visitor Tracking' panel within Marketpath CMS and opens up in its own tab. If you're interested in knowing what your website is doing, call us today at 800-657-7786. Integration of Google Analytics is included with any Marketpath CMS account.

One of the things that can help distinguish your website from your competitors is how often you update your content. We all know this, but yet some of us still find it difficult to make changes.  This might be the rationale behind Google putting stock into how recently and how frequently a site is updated.  Google prides itself on giving searchers the most relevant information available, which a lot of times will translate into the freshest information available.  Google will rank sites that administrators care enough to make changes to higher than their stale counterparts. 

Now obviously, Google isn't ranking sites soley based on frequency of updates, however it is one piece of the overall equation.  In my opinion, it is the easiest piece of the overall SEO equation to put into action.  Invest in a good content management system and swap out a picture or two every once in a while, blog about news worthy events, add a landing page that correlates to a new ad campaign.  Make your website work for you.  It's easy with the right tool.

Maybe it’s my design background or the fact that I grew up in the back of a print shop but this is a sensitive subject for me. I was taught typographic conservatism by my grandfather who once told me that in print, you never use more than two typefaces. And if you use two, make sure they are in the same font family; e.g., sans-serif with sans-serif, serif with serif, etc. In most cases, this is no different for the web. There is a fine line between typographic variety and font clutter.

In a recent update of Marketpath CMS, we implemented stylistic limitations for two reasons: 1) maintain design consistency and uniformity; 2) simplify formatting for our users. Like form and function, there is a balance between giving too many options and simplifying the process.

Rant Sidebar: Every night before bed, I pray to the Gods of typography that the typeface 'Comic Sans' is wiped from the face of the planet.

Take a look at this URL from newegg.com - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822140118.  Do you have any idea what the product is before you click on it?  Unless you're really good at memorizing item numbers, probably not.  Not only is this URL not attractive to humans, search engines like Google place an emphasis on the URL when looking for keywords.  Walmart is guilty of the same problem.  http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=10290815 is a link to buy dog food, but how would anyone know? 

Based on the URL rewriting work I did for blogging, I'm now applying it to our new e-commerce module - Marketpath StoreFront.  Like blogging, StoreFront will be an add-on for Marketpath CMS.  Our version of the same Walmart page would look like http://www.walmart.com/pets/dogs/dogfood/purina-beneful-healthy-radiance.  Much better.  This will no doubt be a future trend in online stores as it helps redefine SEO for e-commerce.

This morning I discovered Kyle Lacy's video blog.  Kyle is a social media evangelist who owns an online marketing company in Carmel, IN, and he has definitely been one of the key people who have shown me the ropes with social media.  Kyle's 'Vlog' (actually I hate that term - I'll stick to calling it a video blog) is fantastic, because he seems to be differentiating it from his standard text blog.  In his traditional blog he discusses various online topics, marketing topics, interesting posts on other blogs, and really anything else that he finds interesting.  His video blog is a bit different, in that it is dedicated to helping business professionals understand how to use social media to effectively impact the bottom line.  So the question remains..... Why do I need one? (or better yet why do you need one?)

Let's look at another example.  If you were visiting the greater Indianapolis area and you were to search for a local liquor store on google, there is an excellent chance that you would find Greenfield Liquors on the first page for most keywords.  The reason they consistently score so highly is that they have invested a great deal of time and money in their online presence with Smaller Indiana and their Compendium Blog.  One of the most interesting things they do on their blog is to include drink recipes.  More interesting still is that they use video in conjunction with the recipes and actually SHOW you how to utilize the liquors they sell.  So..... Why should you be doing this?

Video creates a TON of value for your customers (and potential customers)!  Kyle Lacy is providing a valuable resource for business professionals who are seeking to learn more about social media.  At the same time he is establishing himself as an expert in his field (actually he probably has already accomplished that, but the vlog can only help).  The folks at Greenfield Liquors are providing an awesome service to their customers as well; they're teaching them how to better enjoy the products they buy.  The fact that they are providing this service (and the fact that it helps them rank so highly on google) means that people looking for high-end liquor will be much more likely to buy it from them. 

Basically what I'm getting at here is that video is a great differentiator for your blog and for your organization.  While I don't have a date set in stone, I have been planning on launching a video blog for a while now and it IS coming.  So kudos to Kyle and Greenfield liquors for giving me an awesome topic and doing such fine work with their online marketing.  Keep it up!

I've been actively involved in social media for about 4 months now and I'm just in a bit of conundrum.  How much is too much?  At some point I find that I've spent so much time commenting and posting comments and opinions that I just don't have anything new to say.  I don't have time to spend all day searching the internet for new things to write about, but I don't want to fall behind my social media peers.  How do they do it?

I am very happy, however, that Lorraine Ball introduced me to friendfeed a few days ago.  Friendfeed has allowed me to combine all of my social media in one place via RSS feeds.  For those who were unable to see Scott Abel's web 2.0 seminar at the blogINDIANA conference a few months ago, an RSS feed is basically a standardized format for syndicating content anywhere on the web.  It certainly makes it easier to manage blogging, microblogging, and all of the other incarnations that help me stay connected, but there is annother purpose that actually purtains to this blog.

I love feeds for SEO.  When you think about it, feeds are really the perfect no-work high-value addition to a website.  They are available on basically any topic you can think of (if it's out there, someone is willing to put their 2 cents in about it), and they provide your site with new content on a consistent basis.  My friend Aaron Douglas first taught me how to use RSS for SEO a few months ago and his advice has been invaluable to me.  Luckily, most CMS platforms like Marketpath allow for easy integration of feeds.

So, even though I sometimes feel like there's nothing left to say and my well is dry, at least there is still a format that allows me to continue the social media journey.  For more information on using RSS feeds on your site feel free to contact me on smallerindiana, facebook, myspace, friendfeed, linked in, plaxo, twitter, letsmakeitrain, mwmcmusic, or by email.

It's so beautiful when a plan comes together.  For example, I'm heading down to Terre Haute this evening for a long weekend and my buddy Weir's wedding.  There are lots of elements I've got to have in place it order to be sufficiently prepared.  I need to pack, gas up the car, coordinate with everyone else who's going, pick up my guitar amp from a friends house, and all of this has to be done in time for me to arrive in Terre Haute at a descent hour this evening.

When it comes to planning it's all about organizing a lot of little details so that they come together to form a cohesive whole picture.  Here's one example as it applies to marketing.  A new restaurant called Zing opened here in downtown Indianapolis a few weeks ago.  I first learned about it from their unusually branded sign that they posted in front of the building about a month before the opening.  A few weeks later I received an email announcing the opening.  I hadn't opted in to their mailing list so my interest was starting to grow.  Then, a few days later at a networking function my friend Brian Graham mentioned that he was doing their marketing, and that he had opted me in for the email.  Interesting, I thought.  As the weeks before the opening came to a close, I kept hearing about it more and more.  Guess what I was doing on the day they opened.  Yeah, I was there.

My point is that it takes a lot of careful planning in order to reach new customers.  It takes several 'touches'.  Your email marketing might not be enough, but your email marketing + your search engine optimization + your direct mail campaign + your outside sales + your referrals will end up paying huge dividends.  It's true that you can buy word-of-mouth, but it's worth a lot more if you earn it.  You earn it by planning smart and executing flawlessly.  Good luck.

Jeff Bowe, blogger and author of INFOCUS Selling, writes about how to captivate attention in one sentence. Jeff discusses developing an effective framing statement, the quintessential elevator pitch, and that you should develop your statement around just one burning issue. Adding any more will simply confuse your contact about what you do.

Most of us have been cornered at one time or another by someone who can offer anything and everything and will spend an hour tellling you about them all. By the end of the conversation you have no clearer idea of what they do and how they can help you. Clear as mud.

Now let's take a peek into the mind of Malcolm Gladwell from his book "Blink."  One of the experiments that Gladwell discusses was carried out by a researcher named Sheena Iyengar. Iyengar setup an experiment that involved selling jam at an upscale grocery store. Sometimes she sold six different types of jam and other times she sold twenty-four. Shoppers were allowed to sample each jam. The natural thinking behind this would lead us to believe that the more choices shoppers had, the more likely they would be to find something that closely matched their tastes. As a result of the experiment, the opposite was true.

Iyengar found that 30% of the shoppers who sampled from the six choices ended up making a purchase and only 3% of shoppers with twenty-four choices made a purchase.  This is a huge discrepancy that certainly proves, in the case of buying jam, that the more choices a shopper has, the less likely they are to buy.

Marketers have heard this type of suggestion for years - "Don't try to be everything to everyone. Focus on just one product or service." Yes, we want people to know about everything we have to offer, but telling them about all of it (especially in our first meetings) will only confuse them and lead them to checkout quickly. 

Many of the world's most successful businesses focused on one product or service, delivered it extremely well, and dominated their market. Often, once they began spinning off brand-extensions of their highly successful core product or service (variations), they experienced declines in sales and market share. Too many choices.

Lately, I've had discussions at my office that ended with looks of confusion and information overload. My first question is "Too much jam?" The world's marketing, advertising, office conversations, dinner talk, and many other forms of communication suffer from the "too many choices" or "too much information" plague.

Let's keep it simple folks.

i'd like to wholeheartedly thank Erik Deckers for hosting the bloggers roundtable yesterday at the Brugge in Broadripple.  I always get excited when a lot of individuals who I communicate with online get together to talk in person.  One of the interesting conversations we had was about the inclusion or exclusion of comments on your blog.  Kyle Lacy argued that simply by allowing comments and opening the floor for discussion the blog was a success.

What is so great about blogs?  People have been writing down their opinions for hundreds of years.  The result of this can be found in most any library.  A lot of people find it a little boring.  What separates these authors from bloggers is the communal aspect.  Comments!  How many time have you read a blog post and then scrolled through the comments to find that they were far more insightful and interesting than the original post.  That's what happens when people collaborate.  Amazing things happen!

Now, Marketpath's CMS software certainly allows for either inclusion, exclusion, or monitoring of comments.  We provide this as a choice to customers, because we realize that everyone has different needs (using the blog format for news is one example).  Some companies simply blog for SEO.  Should they allow comments?  Why is it so hard to be transparent!?

This is a corporate blog post.  Right now I am writing with the intent that our search ranking will improve and that my customers or future customers will have this content available as a valuable resource AND I DO ALLOW COMMENTS!  If I speak about my opinions on my industry they are just that; opinions.  I am opening a forum for discussion with whomever might read this.  If I'm lucky enough to have a readership, then I owe it to that readership to let its voice be heard.  FREEDOM TO THE PEOPLE!

I'm a big fan of search.  That may seem obvious, but when we consider how far we've come in the last few decades, it really is outstanding.  Search engine optimization is obviously good for business, but when you consider it in the context of the consumer it really is very important.  You have to look at the search market just like any other market.  It's always going to be difficult to get any group of people to do anything unless there is money in it.  It would be impossible for google to properly index the web if sites didn't take the proper SEO precautions.  With that in mind, there are literally hundreds of SEO guidelines and tools available to ensure that your site can be found.

I'm a huge fan of website grader.  My favorite part about this tool is that it takes into account lots of different types of content and then ranks your site on a scale of one to a hundred.  This is supposed to somewhat accurately decide how well you will rise through the search rankings.  I especially like this site because it takes into account how much of any given SEO strategy you are using.  For example, if you have a lot of links, but are weak in other areas you will still rank favorably, because links are important.  If you are using blogging as a tool for inreasing your search rankings, then it takes the ranking of your blog into consideration.  It's also nice, because it provides simple and measurable steps that you can take to get it right. 

I like to think of the web as a kind of 'economics of information.'  It's very similar to actual economics, except that instead of money you pay in knowledge.  Now, of course you can pay good money for SEO knowledge, but the beauty of it is that much of the good information is already available for free.  SEO can be a bit of a crap shoot, but if you are representing yourself honestly there is no reason to believe that anything is impossible.  Web 2.0 is here and there is MUCH more content than there once was.  There is really a world for everyone here, and proper SEO practices will ensure that the best content for you rises to the top.  Some terms are indeed very competitive.  This competition keeps the web healthy.  It's a big pie and there's enought to go around.

Just two days after I post about Microsoft IE8, I get an alert that Google has announced their new web browser, Google Chrome, will be available in beta for download September 2nd. If you're not familiar with the term 'beta', it is basically a testing release before the official '1.0' is added. Read the official notice from Google.

From a consumer perspective, hurray! I do like having a choice..... but not too many. Too many choices and I just get confused and easily cheated by imposters and me-toos (ok, I don't get cheated with software much because I am a developer by trade, but my Grandmother does... and my parents, and my sister, and my cousins.... I hope you get the point). So, now I can use Firefox (the champion of people who dislike Microsoft), or I can use Internet Explorer (the standard built-in browser for Microsoft Windows), or Safari (the Mac OS built-in), or Google Chome (a wonderfully simplistic, yet powerful browser - I'm sure). Of course, there are a couple others, but they barely register as a blip in the browser usage radar.

From a developer/marketer's perspective, I am a little annoyed. Building rich and dynamic cross-browser websites can be a challenge, even though development has improved a lot over the last 5 years. There are still inconsistencies, mostly with Javascript and CSS (style sheets). Developing cross-browser websites is sort of like putting up a billboard that can only be read by people in certain types of cars. If you drive a BMW it appears perfect.  If you drive an '84 Chevy Celebrity (like my first car) the billboard shows a big red X. It's challenging to get the message right for everyone.

If your website is not dynamic, i.e. contains no Javascript, then you will likely be fine. The challenge is with rich sites - those websites that have put a lot of time and effort into improving the user experience. There will most likely be compatibility issues and you will need to fix those as soon as you can.

Google has a huge following. To many people, they are still the underling that develops cutting edge software. Once Chrome is released in beta, you can count on a ton of people trying it out - if not adopting it entirely. This means you need to test your corporate websites, landing pages, micro-sites, and customer applications.

Google is pretty good at releasing quality software, but I have seen several applications in beta that were buggy. If Chrome gets adopted by a large number of consumers, I hope they have worked out most of the kinks.

I think viral mareting is pretty much the coolest thing in the world.  You do something cool, you post it online, and a few days later it has spread all over the web, you're famous, and (hopefully) the cash starts rolling in.  The problem with viral marketing is that it's so difficult to figure out what's going to be a hit.  Sure, I submitt my blog posts to digg.com and link back to my blog whenever I post anything on the web, but this is hardly viral marketing.  It takes a certain EDGE, a certain out-of-the-box thinking that makes it worth sindication.

For my buck, the two most powerful viral marketing tools on the web are youtube and digg.com.  Youtube is fantastic because it is so easy to imbed videos on other sites.  This creates a syndication engine that exposes your content to an exponentially large audience.  I post it on youtube, everyone sees it there, some of them embed it in their blogs, websites, social media, etc. and before long everyone's seen it.  The problem with youtube is that there is so much content that it takes something extremely funny, shocking, impressive, etc. to inspire sindication.  The problem with most businesses is that they are beyond reluctiant to put something edgy out there for fear that it will make them look bad.  Unfortunately you have to have the guts to reap the rewards.

I must admit that I don't know exactly why digg.com is so freakin awesome, but it totally is.  I could spend days there!  Apparently a lot of other people do to, but I don't personally know that many.  It's more of a community within a community, and it's one that I've fully embraced.  For those who are unfamiliar, digg is basically a forum for posting cool stuff that you find on the internet.  You post it and then anyone else who likes it can 'digg' it, and the more diggs a post has the better it's supposed to be.  Digg seems to work a little bit slower than youtube in a viral sense, but the content is way better.  If you've got hours to kill digg is awesome.   My favorite digg submissions are the 'top 10' lists.  You pick the top 10 best or worst or whatever of any topic you like.  In fact, I'm currently working on my own 'internet marketing' top 10 list.  Feel free to help me out with some suggestions.

Well is it?  At last weekend's blogINDIANA conference Chris Baggot of Compendium Blogware argued that the blog is the perfect search result.  He argued that it is in google's best interest to provide information that people want.  Now I love to blog.  I find it fun and therepudic and extremely enjoyable, but I don't necessarily believe that a blog entry the most relevant organic result on any given topic.

That's not to say that I'm angry.  I'm glad that my old friend google loves blogs so much, because it helps me rank for many of the terms that are relevent to my business, but I have to think that if I were searching for 'indianapolis corporate blog software' that I would rather be taken to a page that had definitive information on the topic, not some random blog entry written by someone like me.  I know that google's love affair with the corporate blog is good for marketers, but is it good for the consumer?

With that in mind, how long can google's blog obsession last?  How long before blogs are relegated to the types of specialty blog searches of the past and what will those who have invested heavily in the blog as a marketing tool do if it someday goes away?  I don't have the answers to these questions, but for now I'm glad that my blogs are tops for search.  I'll rest easy knowing that a full featured content management system with blog technology is doing its job by positively impacting my marketing stra 

Two of the biggest elements of marketing are focus and creativity.  Focus is important because you want to stayed focused on particular marketing tasks, but it is also important because your overall messages to prospects and customers need to stayed focused on your core product or service offering.  Creativity is important because it takes a creative mind to put out quality, relevant, and purposeful content that stays inline with your focus.

Get Sleep - Stay Focused

How do you stay focused, especially if you are a small business owner?  There are probably millions of topics related to this but I'm going mention only one.  I finished an article in Fortune Small Business Magazine titled "Make Sleep Work For You." The article talks about how important 7-8 hours of sleep each night is to everyone. Our society is based on this "burning the midnight oil" idea where we think if we put in more hours, we get more done.

Studies have proven otherwise.  When we consistently get too little sleep our bodies respond accordingly by losing our ability to focus.  This results in a subpar level of work and could even lead to fatal business decisions. The health disadvantages are also numerous. The World Health Organization has studied this so much that they have considered making sleep deprivation a carcinogen.  Studies show that a lack of sleep leads to an increased chance of diabetes and cancer and weakens your bodies immune system. Wow! 

Sleep is good. Get your rest and you'll be able to maintain a higher level of focus, make complex decisions easier, and even feel more energized throughout the day.  Some businesses actually put sleep rooms in the office so workers can take mini-naps throughout the day.

Generate Creativity

Being creative can be a huge challenge if you can't find your focus or inspiration. I don't remember where I read this but a simple trick you can use is to exercise for a short period of time just before you have to put your creative talents to work.  Exercising creates a higher level of activity in the brain and results in your ability to comprehend the bigger picture and piece together the fragments.  Sometimes I hit the stairwell and do a full flight or two to get the blood pumping. It really works so I encourage you to try it.

Being well rested and throwing in some exercise can help you produce higher quality marketing material in a shorter amount of time.  This helps me in my writing and planning activities. Now, if I can just find a better way to improve my visual creativity I'll be all set.

The Marketpath crew had a fantastic time at blogINDIANA this weekend. I particularly enjoyed the presentations by Doug Karr, Scott Abel, and Chris Baggot.  People who know me already know that I was pretty much totally addicted to blogging, but now it's even worse.  Now I have about a thousand new ways to justify my obsession.

The really interesting thing about the conference was how much I didn't know.  For example, I didn't know how secluded I've been in the blog community.  Granted, at Marketpath we mostly blog for SEO purposes, but I now have a sincere desire to increase my blog readership.  I am a content management expert and it's my job as a serious blogger to establish myself as such in the blogosphere.

The primary theme that I took away with me after the weekend was 'transparency'.  Many of the speakers spoke on the topic.  Bloggers must be real.  They must be honest and forthright, because if your credibility is damaged, there is no way to get it back.  By the way, for those of you who don't know, in the picture above I'm the tall guy with the shaved head standing in the back.  The rest are the other guys in the Marketpath crew.  Thanks so much to all who participated in the conference this weekend and God bless.

Today, I am at the blogINDIANA conference learning about different blogging topics and also promoting our product, Marketpath CMS.  It's interesting, even now, how many home-grown web content management systems there are.  We knew this when we began building our product.  We knew that home-grown CMS's would be our largest competitors. 

One benefit of the home-grown CMS is that the relationship to the developer, the company who built it, is very personal. It has tremendous value because the customer is working with a vendor they trust.

The disadvantages of the home-grown CMS are in system maturity, features and benefits. Every home-grown CMS I've seen is immature.  It lacks the full-scale development and quality assurance required to deliver a quality product from which end users derive their return on investment.  Additionally, most larger changes (like adding a new page) require intervention from the original developer. Keep your fingers crossed they are not on vacation or too busy on another large project to assist for another 6 weeks.  Believe it or not, that happens a lot.

What we are recommending is that instead of trying to build a home-grown application that is limited in functionality, become a reseller of a mature web content management system. We have a program in place that allows resellers to make a nice return on every new customer.  And the return is recurring every year. They get the benefit of a mature content management system that is always growing in features and benefits, and offers the expertise of the vendor behind it. Do it right, go with a pro.

What would you give to be the best?  What would you do to establish your company as the premier expert in your field?  Sadly, the answer to these questions is often 'not much.'  Why is this?  Why are phrases like 'it sells itself' still in our vocabulary.  I am often baffled by stories of the pet rock and grey goose vodka (it typically scores well bellow cheaper vodkas in blind taste tests).  These companies made millions off of marketing alone. 

I'm definitely not saying that you should ignore the quality of your product offering or turn your back on innovation, but your marketing should be given just as much consideration.  Olympic athletes train with absolute conviction and total dedication.  That's what it takes to be the best.  Too many business owners are so afraid of making a bad decision that they're left with indecision and indecision is what drives people crazy!

Now my job is to consult with people about their online marketing.  I know that marketing decisions are sometimes hard to make.  How much should you spend on search marketing and SEO?  How much should I dedicate to web design?  Should I pay a consultant to monitor the content on my site and blog?  These are not easy questions to answer, but we must have the courage and conviction to face them.  The only way to truly grow your business is to pick a plan and stand by it with total conviction.  Go for the gold.

I thought of several titles for today's post.  "All my eggs in one SEO basket"  "Count your search chickens before they hatch" even "Humpty Dumpty had a great SEO fall"  Why? Because I got complacent.  I never considered that I was vulnerable.  I never considered that the world was plotting against me.  Let's face it, I just wasn't smart enough to see what I was up against.

I know that the content in my blog gets indexed by Google.  As most people can tell you I'm totally obsessed with my blog right now, so naturally I've been blogging about the importance of corporate blogging and neglecting other keywords like SEO.  Consequentially, we no longer rank as high as we used to for SEO.  I'm upset.  In fact I'm down right mad.  I want my ranking.  I had it.  I worked for it.  Now I've lost it.  Let me set one thing straight Mr. Google;  we are search engine optimizers.  We are SEO experts.  We have something to say about search marketing.  Is that enough key words for you?  Can I have my 1st page ranking, please?

Let this be a lesson to all you corporate bloggers out there.  Don't put all your eggs in one basket.  Spread your topics out over all aspects of your business, or your competitors will gain ground.  You will sacrifice all that you've worked for.  You'll be forced to whine and cry like I am.  You'll end up down on your knees begging for Google's forgiveness.  Heed my warning.

It is with great excitement and enthusiasm that I  hereby declare that my softball team, the Bourbon Street PoBoys, extended its undefeated record to 6 and 0 last night by defeating the CSO Architects 14 to 1.  Although myself and Marketpath's own TJ Furman both played admirably, there was another unsung hero on the field last night... the magic bat.

You see, ever since the PoBoys first took the field six weeks ago, we've been using the same bat.  It was a $15 bat that was purchased at Meijer.  Though the Meijer bat served us well for five undefeated games, there was clearly room for a better bat.  Last night our salvation came in the form of a beat up and very old bat that was probably produced circa 1987.  Unbelievably the PoBoys hit the ball better than they ever have before with all ten players getting on base.

I know what you're thinking.  How the heck is he going to relate this to marketing or content management or SEO or any of the other topics he usually rants about?  Well the lesson here is that sometimes a small change can yield unbelievable results.  The bat the PoBoys used last night was only marginally better than the Meijer bat, but it was just enough to make a huge difference in their performance. So I implore you; be bold in your marketing strategies.  Try new things.  Add new content.  Your next home run may be just around the corner.

Blog Indiana 2008 is a 2-day conference for both experienced and new bloggers alike. Sessions will include topics such as blogging for beginners, using blogs in your business, monetizing your blog, political blogging and more advanced topics. In the past, most blogging and technology-related conferences have either been too expensive or too far out-of-state. Blog Indiana 2008 seeks to bring a low-cost, high-value conference to Hoosier bloggers.

Blogging regularly is a great way to increase search engine visibility and engage website visitors.  Blogging should be easy and yield positive results.  This is why we built a blogging component right into our content management system, Markeptath CMS.

Sign up for the conference now to better leverage blogging and improve you website ROI. 

I just wanted to take a minute to discuss the upcoming Blog Indiana Conference on August 16 and 17 at the IUPUI Campus center in downtown Indianapolis.  Check out the website.  I'm super excited for the event.  I think it's 50 bucks to attend and will feature awesome speakers and discussions about the state of the blog union.

One of the reasons I'm so excited is that as most people know I'm relatively new to the blogosphere, and I'm extremely interested in what the leaders in the blog world have been doing all this time.  I've been amazed at how our SEO marketing has been affected by our blog strategy.  It's also a lot of fun.

The other reason I'm so excited is that Marketpath CMS will be one of the sponsors of the event.  I'm thrilled to be attending and to see how the future will unfold for this fantastic social media.

This morning I met with the president of annother web technology company who specializes in SEO.  He informed me that in the last year they began turning down all web design work.  I see this all the time.  One week a web design shop, the next they've specialized in one specific area and refuse design work.  In other cases I'll hear 'We're trying to get away from web design.  It's still our bread-and-butter but we really would like to focus on...'

What's a guy supposed to do with this info?  We've got a designer on staff, but we focus primarily on CMS.  Should we outsource all our design and focus solely on content management?  Is design something we should be 'getting away from.'  All the success stories I hear are about so-and-so who gave up web design to focus on such-and-such and now has hundreds of high value clients.

I think this trend is excellent.  It elimiates competition for web design and allows us to focus on our highest value offering.  There will always be design shops who can handle the lower budget projects that are sure to be out there, but the specialists can keep their margins high and focus on innovation.  Some days it may seem like we're splitting the web into a million pieces, but in the end new technologies will be developed, price points will become competitive, and our clients will be that much more effective in the marketplace.

Last night I joined thousands of other parrotheads to witness the Indianapolis performance of Jimmy Buffet and the Coral Reefer Band, and I came to an interesting epiphany; as much as I've always enjoyed his music, Jimmy Buffet is not a musical genius.  He is, however, a certified marketing genius.  What is the key to his success?  I argue that all of the success that Jimmy Buffet has ever had can be directly attributed to FRESH CONTENT!

Think about it.  The great thing about Jimmy Buffet is that he's always doing something new.  For example, at last night's show his big new push was for Landshark Lager, a new beer he released this year which is very similar to Corona.  You can bet that there were hundreds of signs, t-shirts, banners, hats, etc. plastered all over everything and everyone in the arena.

Imagine if the promotional memorabilia wasn't at the venue.  Imagine if JB wasn't promoting the new product on his website.  Do you think there would have been anywhere near that amount of hype?  Absolutely not!  Every business changes.  It's the only way to stay relevant in the market.  Your website marketing must reflect your most recent activity.  Your search engine optimization should be kept as up-to-date as possible to make absolutely sure that people looking for your company find it, even if you're not quite as famous as Jimmy Buffet.

As I was sifting through all of the usual news stories on CNN this morning, I came across one that piqued my interest (thanks, Dave).  There is a new search engine in town.  Started by a couple of ex-Googlers, 'Cuil' has launched in the recent days and has a new, and perhaps better, method for indexing and ranking websites.  Cuil's idea is that popularity of a website shouldn't be the dominant factor to whether a site can be found or not.  Their philosophy is this:  relevant content matters. 

They aren't tracking users, counting links, or being picky about who gets indexed and who doesn't.  They have indexed over 120 billion pages so far, and you can expect that number to grow pretty quickly.  Cuil has the idea that the internet has grown, search should too. 

If content is in fact becoming king, then it has become very apparent that having a way to manage that content is extremely important.  An easy-to-use content management system can take away any frustration that updating a website can cause.  No longer does it need to take an hour to make a change, with the right system (Marketpath CMS, hint hint) it can take only a few seconds.  If I have said it once, I'll say it again, providing relevant and up to date content can be the difference in driving traffic to your website.      

Legs are important to most people, animals, and tables.  Legs are not important to the Higgly Town Heroes.  I have asked my four year old son repeatedly, 'How do they get places?'  He doesn't understand the question.  He says they just do.  Good enough, I suppose, for an animation and a four year old. 

But what about your wine?  Does your wine have good legs?  Many people think legs are a great indicator of a great wine.

What about your Internet marketing initiatives.  Do they have good legs?  Here's another way to ask the same question.  Does your Internet marketing program have a solid foundation with which you can measure, analyze, and make adjustments as necessary?  Can you measure website ROI?  If you said 'no,' then you are like most businesses that are trying to leverage the web as a marketing tool. 

A good place to start is with a marketing firm that will help you plan and establish baseline goals.  Most website development or design firms are not marketing firms.  Sure, they can build a killer website, but when it comes to getting a true return on investment, you need to have a strategy, a game plan, or..... good legs.  Be sure to select a partner that can help you build a strong foundation so you can measure true ROI.