Craig Rentmeester's Blog

Announcing Project LOO for Locally Owned and Operated Businesses

I wanted to let everyone know that I have created Project LOO, in conjunction with the launch of  Relevante Marketing, my newly formed internet marketing agency for SMBs.

What is Project LOO?

The goal of Project LOO is pretty straightforward. Build out Web sites and creating internet marketing systems for locally owned and operated businesses throughout the United States to make them more competitive.

Side note: LOO stands for Locally Owned and Operated.

Why is this Important?

While the recession may be over from a technical standpoint, independent businesses are still feeling the effects of high unemployment, translating into less sales than in year's past. 

Local search presents a huge opportunity for small businesses to grow their customer bases profitably, and be able to compete with national chains and franchises that have millions of dollars to spend on these services. In addition, studies have shown the decline of print directories and local newspaper as business information starting points, and the continued increase in local search.

Project LOO combines these data points into a call to action for locally owned and operated businesses; Your customers are acting differently, and you need to adapt your marketing to compete.

Project LOO by the Numbers

I want to work with 40 locally owned and operated businesses in 2010, in 40 different cities, to build 40 custom internet marketing systems. I plan to spend up to 40 weeks on-site (1 week per client).

Helping out the Local Community

I am willing to sacrifice my free time by traveling on site to each business to get each system off the ground. As such, I'll be spending money at local restaurants, coffee shops, bars, hotels, gas stations, etc.

I will hire local web designers, as needed, in each city to help me with each project.

The Offer

By working with 40 different businesses, I will be able to keep the price affordable for small businesses.

The cost for a primarily non-e-commerce related Web site will cost $4,000. This package will fit services-based businesses looking to increase leads, and retailers and restaurants looking to increase in-person traffic. The fee includes everything, including my time, freelance designers pay, travel, living, technology, 1 year of hosting, and 1 year of Web site maintenance.

The cost for a relatively small (~ 75 products) e-commerce site is $8,000. The higher fee is in place because I will need to hire more developers, at a higher rate, and there will be more prep work involved.There will also be more maintenance involved.

In addition, all 40 businesses will be promoted on the Project LOO web site, in any press releases, and via Project LOO's twitter account -- @ProjectLOO. 

Kickoff Contest

To kickoff Project LOO, I am giving away one Internet Marketing Package. All applications received by December 15, 2009, will be eligible.

I Need Your Help

With any new project or business, it's tough to get the word out. I have never asked for anything in return from my readers, but now I am. 

Think of your favorite local restaurants, dry cleaners, mechanics, etc. Do them a favor, tell them about Project LOO.

Tell a Small Business Owner

If you know of a small business in your city that doesn't have a presence online, tell them about Project LOO. It's an affordable and easy way for them to become competitive online. 

Promote Project LOO on Your Blog, Tweet about Project LOO, Post a Link, etc.

Visit the Support Page at ProjectLOO.com to learn more about what you can do to help me out. 

Sponsorship Opportunities

If you know of someone in charge of sponsorships at an airline, hotel or rental car company that might like to sponsor Project LOO, I can lower the costs  for each local business by partnering with these types of companies. I'd be willing to promote them on the Project LOO Web site, via Twitter and via any press releases or interviews related to Project LOO.

Thanks for reading, and helping me out. I truly appreciate it.

Thanks,
Craig Rentmeester

The Simple Difference Between Web Designers and Internet Marketers

The simple difference between a web designer and an internet marketer is this:

A Web Designer cares about what the visitor encounters upon interaction.

An Internet Marketer cares about what the visitor does upon interaction.

The difference is clear and increasingly important.

Both parties are useful, but I'd argue that the internet marketer is more important to generating measurable business results.

How to Make a Twitter Background

Now that I'm on Twitter, I needed to make a background recently. You'll notice I tried to keep the same style as my personal site. 

Where I Started

Here is a link to helpful article from Croncast on how to make a Twitter Background. There is one misprint in the article. You have about 200 pixels  to work with for branding, rather 80 pixels as stated in the article.

I made mine in Adobe Photoshop (see below), and you can download the free trial here, after creating an account, if you don't have it already. 

Reference Files for You for Free

As a nice gesture, I've decided to upload my finished image in JPEG and PSD format so you can use mine as reference for creating your own background.

Click here to download the zipped folder containing my working files.

Looking for Feedback

What do you think of my background?

Follow me on Twitter: @CRentmeester

Link: Google Caffeine

Google is re-working its search engine with a work-in-progress called Caffeine.

You can preview it here.

Notice, the preview does not have any AdWords ads, which would surely be included in a launch version. 

In my quick tests of Caffeine, the results weren't much different, with LinkedIn pages appearing higher than normal. Other than that, most rankings were changed very little (1 spot), if at all.

Tip of the Hat for the Notice: LifeHacker , Techtree

Now on Twitter

I've succumbed to the pressure and joined Twitter.

You can follow me @CRentmeester

I will try to keep the overlap between my twitter activity and blog content to a minimum.

Innovative Shopping Breakthrough or Web 2.0 Gone Wild?

Zugara, a company I'd never heard of before today, launched a preview of a service that may become a mainstay for internet shopping.It uses augmented reality and motion capture to allow shoppers to preview clothes before they buy them.


Read the Full Release

Credit: Story found via Guy Kawasaki on Twitter.

How to Get Listed in Google Shopping Results?

This question has come up a lot lately.

Answer: Google Base

Steps to Take
Create a data feed in XML or TXT format.

Your product listings will remain active for up to 31 days. After that, just re-upload your feed and your products will be published again.

Hint: Click on the links above to learn more.

How I Quickly Built an e-commerce Site

As I mentioned in my previous post, the goal of this post is to inspire you to take a calculated risk and build a Web site you've thought about, but ‘haven’t found the time to build’. This post is describing a recent project I took on with my Dad.

Background

We needed a quick and dirty e-commerce site to showcase 50-60 scooter parts that my Dad has available for sale that fit various brands of scooters, primarily made by Dayang, Honda and Yamaha. 

Below you’ll learn about how I got started, the tools I used, and how I influenced search engine rankings by implementing proper on-page SEO items.

Please forgive my grammar, as I am writing this piece for speed as well. I'm hoping to edit it later on.

 

Built for Speed

Since this project wasn’t billable, and it’s not planned to be a long-term business, I tried to cut corners when possible. Also, scooters and mopeds are seasonal by nature, so finishing the site to allow for earlier rankings eased my fears about using shortcuts.

Buying a Good Domain

I bought the domain at the end of March for this site. Before buying it, I used five tools to help me compare search data. 

The five tools I used were:

1. Google’s Traffic Estimator

2. Adwords Keyword Tool

3. Free Keyword Research from Trellian

4. Keyword Difficulty from SEOChat

5. Keyword Difficulty Tool from seologs

To be able to compare the data quick and effectively, I set up an Excel spreadsheet with search data in columns and the corresponding search term in rows from the five data sources. I recommend this for both SEO research and keyword-based campaign research. It allows me to scan quickly for keyword opportunities. 

Using this data, and keeping in mind commonalities of the Web site content I was going to publish, I decided on MopedandScooterParts.com, which I was surprised was available.

Creating Content

To start, I got pictures of each part using a digital camera, with each part featured on a white bed sheet for easy editing in Photoshop. 

With the images, I also received corresponding descriptions and prices for each part.

Once I had this information, I had 80-90 percent of the Web site content. Now, it just need to be coded.

 

Payments

To save time, I decided to use PayPal for the shopping cart function. For this site, the transaction fees are reasonable (1.9% of the sale price + .20 cents per transaction).

 

Hosting

I already had Web hosting through Dreamhost, which is cheap, at $97 per year. (dreamhost affiliate link). Also, since I had the hosting package, Dreamhost allowed me to purchase a domain for free for the first year ($10 savings).

 

Software Used

I used Photoshop for deleting background noise from images of the parts for sale, and Dreamweaver for HTML/CSS coding.

I also used Dreamhost’s built-in HTML editor for minor HTML tweaks along the way.

 

Web site Building tools Used

I used CSSEZ to help me create a base model for the CSS stylesheet. It was tweaked slightly, but about 80% of the work creating the CSS was done in a WYSIWYG environment versus a coding environment, which allowed me to work much faster. (see CSSEZ version and the final version).Contrary to what this site states, these CSS you create can be used without WordPress or MoveableType.

I used HTML Playground for a reference when I forgot some HTML/CSS lingo. 

I used XML Sitemaps to help me create a quick and dirty sitemap in HTML and XML. It took some minor tweaking to the code to make the HTML Sitemap respectable. This tool saved me a ton of time, though.

I used FormLogix web forms since I don’t know MySQL, but wanted to grow an e-mail newsletter subscription list. Now, it seems that FormLogix puts Google Ads on pages where its forms are used, which is lame and a deterrent. When I created mine, they didn't do this.
 

How the site ranks

Right now, the site ranks in positions 1-3 on both Yahoo! and Google for phrases including the word Dayang and the name of a specific part we have for sale, which is roughly 60-70 percent of the content. (sample search 1, sample search 2, sample search 3).

 

How Did I Achieve Strong Search Rankings?

Right now, the site doesn’t have many in-bound links, which certainly is not helping it for difficult keyword phrases. However, one thing working in my favor on this project is that there aren’t many online content providers for after-market Dayang Scooter Parts.
 

Also, each page of the site has a strong focus on targeted keywords. Keywords for each page are included in the: 

• Page Title
• Directory Name (so they appear in the URL)
• Header Tags
• The site description and Domain contain targeted keywords
• Meta Data (descriptions and keywords)
• Anchor Text
• Image File Names, Alternate Tags and Titles

 

Other Tools

Google Analytics – monitor site traffic, usage, referring sites, etc.

Google Webmaster – monitor search rankings, inbound links found by Google, upload a sitemap, etc.

Yahoo! Site Explorer – to check competitor’s links and my links.

 

Some More Things to Consider when Building or Redesigning a Web site

1. Information Architecture – This didn’t really apply for this site because there was only going to be around 60 pages. However, breaking content into clear classifications that allow for search engine indexability and navigation is critically important with larger sites (250+ pages).
2. Link structure – This also wasn’t that important due to the limited number of pages. Since no one item is extremely preferable to sell than another, I tried to keep the link architecture as evenly weighted as possible. However, if you want to rank in a competitive market and you don’t emphasize the pages you’re hoping to rank via extra internal links, you’ll have trouble.
3. CSS vs. tables. – If you use a Web design firm and they build your site using nested tables, you’ll have bigger maintenance bills, more search engine concerns and slower load times.  
   

Future Plans

In case you’re interested with how I plan to proceed going forward, I listed a few measures I plan to take below.

I plan to build a Squidoo page about Dayang scooters, because there is not a lot information about them. Squidoo has a high PageRank, and providing relevant content will help us pick up some link juice. Hopefully the lens will pickup and refer some traffic as well.

I hope that we can post PDF versions of various scooter owners’ manuals.

I will be analyzing existing competitors Web sites for opportunities to pick up links from the same sources. 

Depending on the time it takes to implement, I may add a Google Checkout option in combination with an AdWords account. For now, we’ll see how PayPal works out.

If you have any questions about something I left out, please e-mail me.  

For additional site-building and SEO Help

Download my on-page SEO e-book to help you improve your Web site’s rankings.

Coming Soon: How I built a 60+ page E-commerce Web site in under 40 Hours

As you may have noticed, I recently added a sidebar banner advertisement to my blog about a Web site called Moped and Scooter Parts.

It's a project I was working on the past few weeks (which has kept me from blogging).

It's somewhat of a joint venture involving my Dad and me.

I plan to put together a report that outlines:

• what tools and resources I used to built this Web site in under 40 hours
• how it ranks in the top 10 search results for most relevant keyword phrases,
• miscellaneous details about the web hosting service I am using, software used, costs, etc.
• other useful tips about Web site building. 

I'm hoping it will help inspire others that haven't 'found the time' to build a Web site they've thought about.

Look for it next week.

Impressive

37Signals points out this fascinating video. Check it out.

You don't need big budgets to create something entertaining and remarkable.

Contact us pages and the (real) Exit Rate

Here's something I have been wondering about lately as I rework my company's Web site into a more user-friendly, visitor-converting marketing machine.

Why do companies only have a web form on the 'contact us' page?

Yes, it funnels everyone through the same system and allows your database to grow. But, it also turns people away; people that may want to talk with a sales agent before pulling the metaphorical trigger on their next purchase.

If your company only has a form on its 'contact us' page and you're wondering how to monitor its performance correctly, keep reading. Otherwise, I suggest opening the lines of communication and providing options for visitors to get in touch with your company.

One metric that companies should look at is the exit rate from the 'contact us' page. By exit rate, I don't mean people that leave the site after reaching the contact us page. After all, the contact page is a goal or end destination. However, only monitoring entrances to 'contact us' page isn't telling the whole story.

To monitor my version of the exit rate correctly, simply have the form setup so that the input data is sent to an e-mail alias, install an analytics package to monitor 'contact us' page entrances and check for disparity. Another metric worth studying is the amount of time spent on that page. If a form takes the average individual 35 seconds to complete (do a sample with coworkers to determine this), and the average amount of time on the page isn't within 15 percent of that either way, then you're turning people away too often.

Every person that gets to the form and doesn't fill it out is either:

• a lost opportunity.
• someone who called your      competitor, whose communication options better suited their style.
• an unqualified lead --      someone in either the research or interest phase of the search buying      cycle.

Personally, I'd rather have the sales team disqualify an opportunity, rather than a static form.

Tip: If you're going to use forms, make only the bare minimum number of fields required.

Jigsaw Site Review

Recently I learned about, and started using, a great site called Jigsaw.

What is it?

Essentially Jigsaw is a shared database that you can use to find and retrieve contact information.

How it Works?

With Jigsaw, you can get people's contact information either by paying for it, by updating contact information for individuals or by adding your contacts to the database.  When you add or update contacts you get points that can be used to retrieve other contacts from the database.

For signing up they give you two free contacts.  You also get points for referring new members (see below).

Why Would You Use Jigsaw?

Jigsaw comes in handy for me when my company's CRM has out-of-date information for someone.

CRM Integration

Currently Jigsaw is intgerated with Salesforce.com, Oracle and Siebel.

Jim Fowler, CEO of Jigsaw, told me they're in talks with Act about integrating Jigsaw. He also said that Maximizer CRM systems is on Jigsaw's radar. 

(How cool is it that the CEO of Jigsaw monitors Technorati for blog coverage, comments to bloggers and responds to questions from bloggers within 24 hours?)

Sign Up

If you want to become a member, use this Jigsaw referral link so I get some points. :)

SEO E-book Available for Free Download

My SEO e-book is now ready for downloading, viewing and sharing. (see below)

The e-book is 18 pages.

It provides straightforward advice for entrepreneurs new to  search engine optimization. It may also be of great benefit to those in marketing, public relations or advertising as well.

It features an example of a page that is properly optimized for the search term "sore throat". Using the example, I point out certain aspects of search results as well as the underlying code that corresponds to the optimization advice.

The e-book also features resources that will allow for quicker implementation.

While improving on-page SEO items alone does not guarantee higher search rankings, the advice lays the foundation for proper search engine optimization of your site.

The book is free of charge. In return, I just ask that you do one of two things.

1. If you read the book, please provide feedback via e-mail or through this survey.
2. If you learn something new about SEO from the book, pass it on to a friend.

Download

We Have a Web site. Now What? Part 1.   SEO-E-book    (PDF)

How to Save the PDF

Once you've opened the PDF, click on 'File', then click 'Save Page As'. A dialogue box should appear that will allow you to save the PDF to your hard drive.

Reminder

I will be working on the second part of the series that will focus on off-page SEO items such as PageRank, inbound and outbound links, and visitor behavior. If you'd like to be notified when it's released, send me an e-mail.

Ad Age - Search Marketing Report

Here is a report I found from Advertising Age related to SEO and search marketing. The report came out in November, 2007, but the information is useful nonetheless.

Some interesting findings from the report:

Web-based Search

• Search Marketing Click Through Rate (CTR) = 11.5 percent in 2007.
• Google accounts for 56.5 % of U.S. searches, compared to 23.3% for Yahoo!.
  
  • Google search share up 9.9% (YOY)
  • Yahoo! search share down 6.5% (YOY)
• The percentage breakdown of the number of Words per Successful Search Phrase:
  1 word      21.68%
  2 words    25.00%
  3 words    22.03%
  4 words    14.33%

Mobile Search

• There are 31.1 million mobile Internet users, 75 percent of whom use mobile search as well (23.3 million).
• 22% of all mobile phone users use mobile search.

Opening Up

At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Comcast announced its plans to release a device called "AnyPlay", a portable DVD/CD Player that will allow users to record and playback up to 60 hours of footage from cable TV using DVR technology via a docking station of sorts.

(see right for a picture of the AnyPlay from CNet, click to enlarge)

The device is being co-developed by both Panasonic and Comcast.

More on the AnyPlay device from CNet  and Reuters.   

PC World has Comcast's chief executive Brian Roberts quoted as saying,

"The era of closed cable is over and the era of open cable is here."

Talk about a (great) shift in mindset.

After Verizon announced its plans to open its networks to other cell phones later this year there is a definite shift in thinking taking place amongst executives at cable and cellular companies.

Rethinking your strategy, leveraging your assets and trying to serve your customers better is a great way to get ahead of the competition.

More of the same is usually a losing strategy.