A Squidoo Lens for Local Business Websites in Scranton and Beyond

Along with blog posts like this one, having as many alternative ways to find your working Web page is a very important part of SEM -- Search Engine Marketing. One very effective way to add to your marketing efforts besides having websites is a Squidoo lens that points to your business. Along with the "social networking" exposure, Google loves Squidoo!
    Local searches for products, services and the like are actually outperforming "Yellow Pages" type publications and other print advertising. Plus, websites for local businesses that are keyword optimized and don't come across as "spammy" to the spiders can outrank major business directories in the SERP's (Search Engine Result Pages). This includes social networking site pages like Squidoo lenses.
    A local business located right across the street from me got a rude shock when he viewed his latest edition of the Yellow Pages. The listing misspelled his company name in the display ad, the alphabetical listing and the White Pages listing, too! A "hat trick" of mistakes that can't be repaired until the next edition, next year. With a Squidoo lens, if you goof it up, fixes are a snap and get published immediately!
    If you're a marketer who uses an online presence to promote your business (just your websites) and you don't know about Squidoo -- shame on you! You're leaving money on the table, dude! If you haven't tried to promote your business online in any fashion and want to try yourself without committing to a website, hosting, fancy content or paid SEO services, try a lens! Click on the title of this post and you'll be whisked away to Squidoo's lens on this subject. You can get more info about your online presence for both local, Scranton business websites and everywhere else here: http://money-making-websites-llc.com/index.html

Local Websites, International Reach -- Niche Website Creation

It's a bit tough to hit the streets and approach local businesses about building a website if you don't like "cold calling." Unless you have an existing relationship or a referral from a current client, you may very well be treated like a salesman. The fact is, you're a fellow business owner who happens to make websites that make money.
    Looking at this from a different perspective, there's a way to do this business on an International level -- target a niche of businesses and specialize in building websites for each local area you can reach. Think about this: if you pick accounting, for example, you can seriously consider making a website that's SEO friendly, powerfully directed with a call to action and with backlinks from authority websites for just about every locality in the world! Further, you can develop sub-niches like business accounting, personal finance, tax accounting, etc., for each area. Obviously, there's more to business than accounting. Find a niche for yourself that has these sub-niches, and you'll be golden!
    Here's how I'm starting to develop this business model: Money-Making Websites, LLC. If your online business efforts are not up to your expectations, may I suggest you explore this method of monetizing your knowledge, expertise and experience with helping a niche of businesses get online with a direct marketing approach.

Local Small Business Websites in Scranton, PA, Made by a Marketer!

If you have a local "brick and mortar" business (in Scranton, PA, for example) and a website built by a designer who wins awards for design, be afraid -- be very afraid! While your site may look beautiful, can people find you in Google for your products or services? If your designer doesn't really understand SEM (Search Engine Marketing), chances are when people search for what you sell locally, your competition's websites come up first.
    Think about it. If you train German Shepherds as guard dogs, what will people see if they go to a search engine and type in "guard dogs Scranton", for example? Even if they find you, does your Web page have a call-to-action for your readers? It's more likely your page just "We We's" all over them: "We do this and we do that and we are great, etc." Go here for a test of your Web page's customer-centric focus. Just a simple change from being self-referential to other oriented can make your online presence more attractive to people looking at your business's websites for the first time.
    How about getting your readers to contact you? Do you give a phone number that's actually answered by a person who specializes in helping people? Could you use the email address, phone number and mailing address of your readers? You'll need to have an effective way of capturing that information in a way that doesn't scare off readers. After all, giving up your email address to the wrong folks means tons 'o spam.
    Fortunately, there's a solution for local business owners in my area -- me! Marketing savvy + connections to Web professionals = a great way to make your online efforts profitable. You don't even have to be in Scranton, PA, to benefit from this kind of optimization of your business's websites. Pay a visit to my International portal for this service over at Money-Making Websites, LLC.
    Oh, yeah -- if you're an IM pro who doesn't do this kind of thing for local businesses, you're leaving some serious cash on the table (that's IM speak for, "You're an IDIOT!")

Zeroed in on a Web host.

After some serious searching, I've decided to give my money to HostMonster. At first, BlueHost looked good, but a blog entry from a guy who researched the two found out they are the same - except HostMonster is bigger, faster and with newer equipment for less money. A no-brainer.
     It’s $6.95/mo. if you sign up for the two year package. Okay, it’s all payable in advance, but there’s no contract and you can receive a pro-rated refund if you decide it isn’t for you. Plus, you not only get unlimited domains for free (no fee, yearly or otherwise, as long as you're with them), they have a blocking feature that prevents the nosy from finding out who owns your domain. There’s a ton of features available, so check ‘em out at the link below V.
     CLICK HERE TO SIGNUP FOR HostMonster.COM NOW, and I'll pick up some change for recommending them. Also, feel free to give feedback if you're already using them. UPDATE: I've been using them for a while now, and I've got no complaints. Customer service has been good. When I had questions about certain things not working, they "intuited" I had been playing around with settings better left untouched.