Websites, Search Engine Optimization SEO, Training Internet Consulting New Homes Marketing

Facebook Profiles Changing to Timeline

2012-01-27T10:24:00.000-06:00

Facebook announced January 24th that Facebook profiles are being replaced with Facebook Timeline.

Facebook Timeline was introduced last September at the annual f8 conference in San Francisco. In December, Facebook began giving users the opportunity to switch over and 'try out' the new Timeline system. Facebook Timeline offers several new features and a visual layout including life events in the form of photos, status updates and wall posts along a 'timeline'.

The Timeline can be appended, edited, added and updated for any past year showcasing when users joined Facebook, were born, married, graduated or entered into relationships. Photos of past events on the Timeline may be added to enhance detail or tag others involved just as the current Facebook offers.

Facebook has not yet specified an exact date the roll out will be complete but they have expressed it will be in the next few weeks meaning February. Users will be notified when they login that they have 7 days before the account will change to Timeline enabling a 'test drive' of the new system before it converts permanently. During the 7 day period the profiles appear to OTHERS as the classic Facebook profile. Only the user can see the new Timeline profile until it converts.

Once accounts have been converted to Timeline there is no going back, the Timeline is the new profile page. Facebook advises you take the time to review the new Timeline and choose what you want to show and what you want to hide (by selecting to “hide” or 'delete" a story or by clicking on the Activity Log icon).

A few things to prepare for Timeline include:

1. Choose a Cover Photo: The Cover is a large image that will show up at the top of the new Timeline profile behind the thumbnail photo of you (profile photo). The Cover Photo must be a larger image, think of it like the Desktop Background on your computer - it can be anything you prefer that represents your mood, life, work or family.

2. Manage and update the Activity Log: The Activity Log is list of everything on your timeline plus activity from the apps, games or websites you use. The LOG determines what shows up on your timeline so edit whatever you do not wish to showcase to the world or select individual items to change visibility settings. To find a specific story or type of story, simply filter by content type or application. You will also find your pending posts here and can quickly approve new content tagged by your friends.

Timeline is not ready for all mobile users although it does appear on Facebook for iOS version 4.1 (or later), iPhone and iPod Touch and Android (version 1.8.1+) devices. Facebook remains one of the top locations for off-site SEO generating links and traffic to websites with the largest daily user base on the Internet.

If your business needs expert Social Networking setup, training or Social Media Marketing contact the Social Marketing Experts at www.InternetBuilderConsulting.com 816-842-7774 or visit us online at www.SocialMarketingBuilders.com to select the Social Marketing Package for your needs today.

Internet Advertising Continues to Grow

2012-01-19T11:15:00.003-06:00

Internet advertising in the US has hit new highs reaching $7.88 billion in the 3rd quarter of 2011, a 22% growth from the 3rd quarter of 2010. Although Internet Advertising has increased significantly and remains the fastest growing segment of advertising it still has a relatively small portion of overall advertising at 15.9%. The December 2011 report from Zenith Optimedia shows Internet Advertising will increase its share of the global ad market from 15.9% in 2011 to 21.2% in 2014.

The leading Internet Advertising categories are: search (49%); display related (37%) - including banner ads (23%), digital video (6%), rich media (5%), and sponsorship (3%); classifieds (8%); referrals/lead generation (5%); and email (1%).

Top Internet Advertising Category Leaders

Search Engines

Google is the dominant leader in the search market with 83% of US total Internet Advertising spending and 82% of US pay per click share. Google has 65.5% of overall US search volumes, according to a July 2011 report from Marin Software. Data from eMarketer illustrates that Google’s search revenues reached $8.83 billion in the US in 2010, representing a 71.4% share of the $12.37 billion market. Yahoo 10.4%, Microsoft 10.2%, and AOL 2.3% followed, meaning that the top 4 web properties controlled 94.3% of all search advertising revenue in 2010. This year, eMarketer projects search revenue to grow almost 10% and hit $13.59 billion.

Display Ads

Facebook will bypass Yahoo in US display revenues in 2011 to become the largest seller of display ads, with Google remaining in the #3 spot, according to June 2011 analysis from eMarketer, which estimates Facebook’s share of US online display ad revenues to grow to 17.7%, up from 12.2% in 2010. Together, the top 5 ad-selling companies are projected to control almost half of the $12.33 billion display ad market this year, up from 45.1% in 2010 and 38.3% in 2009.

Yahoo had the highest display revenue of all search engine companies in 2009 and 2010, has a small decline in 2011 along with AOL which remained the fifth place. Facebook and Google have both more than doubled their market share since 2009.

Internet Advertising continues to be the #1 source for reaching more customers, expanding or maintaining brands and 'networking' with others. If your company needs expert Social Network Marketing, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) or websites contact the Internet Builder Consulting team at 816-842-7774.

Internet Builder Consulting - Websites, SEO, Consulting & Social Marketing

Social Marketing Builders - Building BETTER Social Networking & Social Media Marketing

Google Makes Suggestions for Search & Bounce Rates

2011-12-22T01:56:00.001-06:00

Google makes search suggestions when users begin typing based upon the number of similar searches made. For example, the Google Search Suggestion for the phrase:

"White People Stole My Car" showed the following recommendation:

"Did you mean: Black People Stole My Car" as the attached screen image shows.

Google has adjusted some of the suggestions such as this or simply removed suggestions that may be taken improperly. The way the system works is it suggests phrases or words based on the higher volume of those searches. That means that there are more searches for "black people stole my car" than for "white people stole my car" thus when the search was made Google suggested the higher volume related search.

Google tracks everything that everyone using Google does from search phrases and keywords to time spent on a page before clicking back to Google again. Google considers a lower bounce rate as part of the algorithmn used for ranking websites. This means that if an Internet User finds a website on Google and clicks on it but spends only a few seconds and clicks back to Google there is a lower rating given to that website by Google for the fast bounce rate. A click from Google to a website where the Internet User spent 30 seconds to several minutes would be rated higher and potentially rank higher in search results because of it.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
Internet & Technology Expert
www.InternetBuilderConsulting.com - Building BETTER Websites, SEO & Social Marketing since 1995
816-842-7774 Office

On Page Search Engine Optimization is Critical to Success

2011-12-20T19:29:00.001-06:00

There are two distinct areas of Search Engine Optimization in terms of a website. The most important aspect is the on site optimization provided with proper construction of a site while the second is off page optimization. Off page optimization includes creation of links TO the website from other websites, portals, social networking and blogs. When a website company designs and develops a new website the way it is built, technologies incorporated and content all affect how a website will rank on Search Engines.

Keywords with on page optimization activities rank over one page higher in search results. Properly optimized websites rank11 positions higher than other websites (there are 10 positions on every page). Template websites often miss out with on page optimization due to the limitation of structure, duplicate content used for hundreds or thousands of other websites and lack of flexibility to properly perform on page optimization. Template websites will often cost less then also usually rank lower on search engines which lowers the number of potential customers who view the website.

A nice looking website is only as good as the number of people it reaches no matter how much or how little it costs. The latest tools for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) include Social Networking, Social Optimization and expanded off site optimization. New websites must include on site, off site and social optimization to be successful with over 50% of Internet Usage now attributed to Social Networking. Facebook and Twitter are the two main areas to focus on for social network links and referrals while others such as LinkedIn, MySpace, Google+ and MerchantCircle increase online reach when setup and properly optimized.

Make sure any new online marketing includes the TOTAL PACKAGE for success - leaving any aspect out is like buying a new car without the tires...it may cost a little less but it will never get you where you would like to be!

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
www.InternetBuilderConsulting.com
816-842-7774 Office

QR Codes, Mobile Bar Code Scanning & Usage

2011-09-10T12:41:00.003-05:00

QR Codes (Quick Response Codes) have gained in popularity with the increase in Smart Phone or PDA Phone usage. Nearly any phone with a camera can now scan and interpret a QR Code providing buyers with instant access to websites, advertising messages, photos or anything on the Internet.

QR Codes are similar to simple one dimensional bar codes used in stores everywhere with a two dimensional (2D) capability that holds thousands of characters. Bar codes can only hold up to 20 characters limiting their effectiveness while the 2D QR Codes can store complex data and perform a wide variety of actions when scanned such as:

Instantly visit website links
Initiate text or SMS messages
Show maps and directions
'Like' or visit facebook pages and social networking
Send emails
Place calls
Run applications or programs
Instantly perform actions designed to inform, assist and entice buyers

The example QR Code to the right is a link to www.InternetBuilderConsulting.com which can be scanned with a Smart Phone, Android phone, Windows phone, Blackberry, iPhone or thousands of other devices. QR Codes have been popular in Japan for more than 10 years, the US Market is just now expanding use. Airports are now using QR Codes to check people in for flights, coffee shops can use QR codes to place and pay for orders. Real estate companies use QR Codes on signs at homes for sale to instantly provide an 'online brochure' and photos of listings.

June 2011 over 14 Million Mobile Users in the US scanned a QR Code on their mobile device. Of those 16 million scans 60.5% of them were done by males and those with a household income of $75,000 to $100,000 were 18.6% more likely to scan a QR Code. The majority of QR Codes scanned came from magazines with 49.4% followed by product packaging at 35.3%, scans from websites were 27.4% and 23.5% scanned codes from posters, flyers or display kiosks.

Use of QR Codes will continue to expand as more consumers realize the potential for instant information, payments, check-in and time savings.

Contact the Internet Builder Consulting experts for more details on how your business can take advantage of QR Codes, Social Marketing, SEO and websites at 816-842-7774.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
Internet Builder Consulting - Building BETTER Websites, Social Marketing, SEO and Technology Solutions since 1995

http://www.InternetBuilderConsulting.com

Google+ Facebook and Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

2011-07-14T16:13:00.001-05:00

Since 2010 Facebook has been the #1 referrer on the Internet with more daily users than Google. Twitter and Myspace have sat on the sideline for the most part as Facebook widened the gap while Google quietly recruited Gmail users to setup Google Profiles. In 2007 InternetBuilderConsulting.com setup our first Google Profile and began setting up Google Profile pages for customers as part of our Social Marketing packages.

It was clear there was a reason for Google Profiles outside of just having a small page of information hosted on Google. The Google Profiles were updated this year with a very 'Facebook' looking format showing a profile photo top left and a similar layout. Recently Google began offering Gmail and Google Profile users Google+ and the +1 button to 'rank' websites and webpages. Before getting into Google+ and the +1 button I will cover why it is important to use these and how they will impact Search Engine Rankings.

Google is the # 1 Search Engine yet Facebook has taken a significant amount of traffic away through the built-in search using Microsoft Bing.com to power search results. Social Marketing is a critical requirement of any effective Search Engine Optimization campaign with Facebook, LinkedIn, Myspace and other social networking pages typically showing up in the Top 10 search results on Page 1 of any search engine.

Search Google for Builder Consulting and several of the Top 10 search results are social networking pages setup to market and promote the business. Google, Yahoo and Bing publicize the inclusion of social networking links to websites as part of the algorithm used to determine how high or low to rank websites. This means that links FROM social networks to websites increase the ranking of the websites when done properly.

Google already ranks websites higher due to links from Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and other social networks. Now that Google has their own Google+ and +1 options the websites that are listed, linked and +1 the most often will receive higher placement on the Google search engine. This is already in process if you are using Google+ since any website that someone within your 'Circles' has recommended will already show up with their photo and information directly below the website listing in search results.

Now that it is clear Google+ and the new +1 feature will affect website rankings we can look at what Google+ and the +1 features are. Google+ is basically Google's version of Facebook with the following main features:

Online profile with a description, contact information, places lived, work details and links
Photos & Photo Albums(integrated with Picassa)
Circles (Groups of Friends and contacts similar to Facebook friends)
Stream is the same as a News Feed or Recent News on Facebook showing you updates from the people you have added to your Circles
Hangouts (online meetings using video and chat)
Sparks (feeds and updates by interest such as sports, autos, movies, etc.)

Join Google+ by invitation only at this time or you can visit the website at www.Plus.Google.com and request to join. To join Google+ you should setup a Gmail account since Gmail accounts are receiving premium VIP admission to the system at this time.

Once you sign up for a Google+ account you can start customizing your profile, adding links, contact information and begin connecting with others.

What you place on your profile is completely up to you as long as you remember that the LINKS area should include any/all of your websites, Blog's and associates you would like to promote online.

Once the basic profile has been setup you can start working on your 'Circles'. A Circle on Google+ is unique to all social networks since Google permits anyone to add anyone else to their Circles without permission. Adding someone such as Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Steve Jobs will permit you to view what they are sharing publicly similar to following someone on Twitter. It does not put your information on their Stream unless they choose to add you to their Circles. Other social networks require the people you connect with to confirm and permit you to connect while Google has set Circles up with a much wider reach.

When setting up Circles you can define ANY type of Circle you want and name it anything you want such as Friends, Customers, Prospects, Family permitting you to organize your contacts into logical groups. Once Circles are setup you can search for and add ANYONE using Google+ to any of your Circles and follow anything that contact choose to share publicly. If you would like to BLOCK specific contacts from viewing your content or information there is a default Circle for BLOCKED you may add them to which makes you invisible to anyone in that Circle.

Once the profile, links and circles are setup your ready to start using Google+ and learning how it works as Google continues to develop new features.

Questions, comments or if you would like an expert consultation on Websites, SEO and Social Marketing be sure to contact us www.InternetBuilderConsulting.com or 816-842-7774

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson

Internet & Technology Expert

Internet Builder Consulting - Building BETTER Websites, SEO & Social Marketing Solutions since 1995

Android Mobile OS has 54% of Smart Phone Usage

2011-05-06T16:49:00.000-05:00

In the first quarter of 2011 devices running the Android mobile OS had 54% of the total mobile market impressions. Google Android had twice as many impressions as the second place Apple iOS (iPhone Operating System) with 26% followed by RIM Blackberry at 17%.

Windows Mobile OS phones ranked significantly lower tied with the Symbian and Other category at 1%.

The latest numbers continue to illustrate the tremendous gains Android made in the market strengthening it's place as the leading mobile OS. It is important to track mobile OS usage to ensure online marketing, PPC and your mobile website are optimized for the widest audience (Android, iOS and RIM).

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
Internet Builder Consulting - Building BETTER Websites, Social Marketing, Mobile Websites & Internet Marketing since 1995
816-842-7774 Office & Expert Consultations

Consumers & Online Buyers Are Tapping Into the 'F-Factor' of Social Networking

2011-04-27T09:16:00.000-05:00

Consumers are increasingly tapping into their online social networks of friends, fans, and followers to discover, discuss and purchase goods and services, according to analysis from Trendwatching.com. The consumer trend analysis firm calls this trend the “F-Factor,” with the “F” standing for friends, fans and followers.

Social Sources Become Trusted

As a result of social networking and other online communication technologies, consumers can now use trusted sources they know to obtain information about products and brands, rather than rely on third party advertising or perform extensive first hand research.

Trendwatching.com advises that consumers have always relied on word-of-mouth advice from friends, relatives and associates, but modern technology is greatly accelerating its development as a major influence of purchase decisions.

Facebook Dominates the F-Factor

The F-Factor is currently dominated by Facebook, according to Trendwatching.com. As of April 2011 Facebook has 500 million active users spend more than 700 billion minutes a month on the website and every month more than 250 million people engage with Facebook across more than 2.5 million external websites.

2010 Facebook data shows the average user clicks the “Like” button nine times each month and February 2011 Ad Age/Ipsos data shows 3/4 of Facebook users have liked a brand.

Consumers ‘F-Discover’ Best of the Best

Trendwatching.com has broken down five key ways the F-Factor influences consumer purchasing decisions. The first, ‘F-Discovery’ involves consumer desires to own or experience the best of the best and their desire for serendipity, excitement, interaction and community. People are curious and interested in what their friends and contacts think, do, eat, read, listen to, drive in, travel to and buy, because this will often be similar to how they want to think, act and buy.

Thus consumers are embracing communities, tools and apps that allow them to dive into and discover selections from friends, fans, followers, and so on.

Consumers Want ‘F-Rated’ Products

Consumers sometimes enjoy finding the best of the best through discovery; they are increasingly able to access personalized recommendations and reviews on something they know they want to purchase. Research from trendwatching.com shows more and more websites will automatically serve up friends’ recommendations, ratings and reviews next to goods and services that people are researching.

‘F-Feedback’ Makes Recommendations Personal

Anonymous reviews aren’t always what consumers need or want; they can lack relevance and context, and consumers with many options sometimes just want an unambiguous or finite opinion. F-Feedback involves consumers actively disclosing their purchasing intentions and reaching out to their friends and contacts for personalized feedback.

Trendwatching.com further advises that with more and more consumers increasingly viewing their online reputation as something to enhance as well as just protect, the quality of answers on Q&A services is rapidly improving.

F-Together Makes Shopping Social

While group buying platforms such as Groupon are revolutionizing local, consumers typically do not know the other members of the group that they are buying with. So, while consumers get to leverage the power of the web to benefit from better deals, the actual shopping experience frequently lacks the F-Factor. Consumers have strong incentives to share certain purchases, especially for F-Factor-friendly experiences such as buying event tickets where consumers can now automatically invite friends to a concert or movie right after purchasing a ticket.

F-Me Individualizes the F-Factor

Trendwatching.com refers to the trend of personalized products and services based on the activities and output of one’s social network as ‘F-Me’. This includes services that turn a user’s Facebook page into a daily newspaper and a user’s Twitter feed into a published journal.

Look for ‘Twinsumers’ and ‘Social-lites’

Both of these types of online consumers were identified by Trendwatching.com in December 2010 as critical to spreading positive word of mouth recommendations. Twinsumers are consumers with similar consumer patterns, likes and dislikes, and who are valuable sources for recommendations on what to buy and experience while ‘Sociallites’ are consumers who consistently broadcast information to a wide range of associates online.

Social Networking and the integration of social factors with websites, online marketing and eCommerce are imperative in any Internet Initiative today. Contact Internet Builder Consulting and the Social Marketing Builders social networking experts to build a BETTER website or Social Media Marketing solution today at 816-842-7774.

Robert ‘Dot Com’ Jackson
Internet Builder Consulting – Building BETTER Websites, Social Marketing & Consulting since 1995

Americans Are Doing More Search Engine Queries & Yahoo/Microsoft Gain 31%

2011-04-14T18:18:00.001-05:00

Internet Users in the US conducted more search queries in March 2011 than they did in either the prior month or prior year, according to new comScore qSearch data. In March 2011, US web users conducted almost 18.9 billion search queries, up 12% from 16.9 billion in February 2011 and about 23% from 15.4 billion in March 2010.

Yahoo & Microsoft Gain 31% in Search Queries

Among US core search providers, Google sites ranked first with 12.1 billion searches, followed by Yahoo sites with 3.4 billion and Microsoft sites with 2.6 billion. Google’s search total was up 10% month over month from 10.9 billion and 21% from 10 billion year over year.

Yahoo posted very strong month over month growth of 17% from 2.9 billion searches and year over year growth of 31% from 2.6 billion. Microsoft reported 14% month over month growth from about 2.2 billion searches and also about 31% year over year growth from 1.8 billion.

As the number of Internet Users and Search Queries continues to increase it is increasingly important to have an effective optimized website with a Social Marketing campaign in place. Facebook now has more daily traffic than Google thus a website alone is only reaching half of your potential clients without effective, optimized Social Network Marketing.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
Internet Builder Consulting - Building BETTER Websites, SEO and Social Marketing Solutions since 1995
Social Marketing Builders - Professional Social Networking Setup, Marketing & Management

816-842-7774 Office

Are Text Messages and Social Networking Harming Relationships?

2011-03-17T21:47:00.002-05:00

Remember when call waiting was considered 'hang on, there might be someone else more important on the other line' in terms of communication? Consider a few years ago what you did when you wanted to hang out with your best friend or family. Did you go see them only to spend your time together texting other people or playing on some social network paying more attention to someone else than the person you claimed to want to be with? The way technology has connected everyone is also the way technology is separating everyone. If you go to bed with your husband, wide, boyfriend, girlfriend or significant other and then instantly pickup your laptop or cell phone to make sure you let other people know you are thinking about them or worse yet respond to inquiries or requests from other people while you should be paying attention to YOUR life and your relationship then you have lost.

The point is that life is about who you want to spend it with and what is most important to you not what everyone else is doing. If you are compelled to spending every opportunity to check out what others are doing instead of trying to make your life, your family life, your relationships and your situation better than you have lost yourself to technology. Social Networking is key in the point of being 'social' in that you have to conduct yourself with respect, professionalism and communicate in the same fashion that you would in real life. If you met someone socially for dinner or drinks and then spent your entire time ignoring them while talking to other random people then would you consider that a good social relationship? Odds are you would say no, we like to be with people who want to be with US while most people would say someone who ignored them to 'socialize' with everyone else is someone nobody would want to be around.

This being the case why do people still feel the insane need to continue ignoring those they love and care about to text, email or respond to others? If someone is important to you then show them by giving them your undivided attention. What the person you met 3 weeks ago is doing for dinner is not more important than your relationship with your child, spouse or family. It's time we woke up, grow up and decide who and what is most important in our lives then conduct ourselves accordingly. I am not advocating the demise of texting or social networking but I am advocating prioritizing it to keep what is important first...and I live and breathe technology!

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson

Women & Teenagers Text Significantly More than Men & Other Age Groups

2011-03-17T18:29:00.000-05:00

Nielsen Company data from Q4 2010 shows women send and receive an average of 30% more text messages (717 for women, 552 for men) and 12% more calls made (181 calls for women and 161 calls for men). No surprise the 'teenage' group of 13-17 year olds lead the way in texts with an average monthly volume of 3,276 messages sent or received in a single month.

Teens use of text messaging is nearly double the next highest age group of 18-24 year old users. Older adults (age 65 and older) send the least with an average of 46 messages per month. In terms of cell phone calls Adults age 18-24 are nearly tied for usage with 24-34 year olds at 202 and 201 calls per month respectively. The trends show teenage usage of technology continues to improve while it may contribute to lower 'satisfaction' in terms of personal communication.

This also illustrates the importance of SMS advertising and mobile websites for businesses wanting to reach millions of users via cell phones. Contact Internet Builder Consulting for an expert mobile website consultation, SEO or Social Network Marketing.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson

Internet & Technology Expert

Internet Builder Consulting - Building BETTER Websites, Mobile Marketing and Technology Solutions since 1995

816-842-7774

Facebook Changes...Again - No 'Comment Button' and New Options

2011-03-16T18:45:00.000-05:00

Facebook is constantly in flux, if you have seen 'The Social Network' it illustrated how the website has teams of people constantly revising, adding or removing options. Today everyone awoke to the loss of the 'Comment' button required to post any comment, note or link to facebook.

The 'Comment' button was removed to make facebook simpler though thousands of people are accidentally posting messages early because they hit the 'enter' button to space down but it now posts the message. Facebook gave users a work around for this enabling people to 'edit' posts and comments though it will take some getting used to for many users. Until this change Facebook Users could push the 'enter' button to move a line down when posting a comment or add a space between lines. To space down a line users now need to hold the 'Shift' button down while pushing the 'Enter' button.

Another feature added earlier this month is the 'Use Facebook asYour Page' option enabling anyone who is an administrator of a page to post comments on pages or walls. Previously there was no clear delineation as to if your post would be made as a page or from your personal account when you were logged in.

Not all change makes things easier though this methodology has been the norm online for years so it will soon be accepted by Facebook users. Contact the website and social marketing experts at Internet Builder Consulting to setup, optimize or build you a better website and social media marketing.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
Internet Builder Consulting - Building BETTER Websites, SEO and Social Marketing Solutions since 1995
816-842-7774 Corporate Offices

Microsoft & Bing Search Engine Has the Largest Search Growth

2011-03-03T17:40:00.000-06:00

Microsoft Sites, mostly representing the Bing search engine, reported 13% growth in US explicit core search queries between December 2010 and January 2011, according to comScore qSearch data. Microsoft’s explicit core search queries rose from about 1.97 billion to about 2.22 billion.

Nearly 17 billion explicit core searches were conducted in January 2011, a 3% increase from over 16.4 billion in December 2010. Google Sites ranked first with 11.1 billion searches (up 1%).

Yahoo Sites came in second with 2.7 billion (up 4%), followed by Microsoft Sites, Ask Network with 576 million (no change) and AOL Network with 296 million (5% decrease).

Google Sites accounted for 64.6% of total core search queries conducted in January 2011, followed by Yahoo Sites with 17.9% and Microsoft Sites with 12.8%. Rounding out the top five total core search query providers, Ask Network comprised 3.1% of total search queries, followed by AOL Network with 1.6%.

While all total core search query growth among the top five providers was moderate at best, Microsoft had the best rate, almost 7%, rising from 12% to 12.8%. In contrast, Google’s share grew by less than 1% (64.3% to 64.6%). Yahoo lost about 5% of its share (falling from 18.8% to 17.9%), Ask.com and AOL lost small share percentages.

It is important to track search engine traffic, usage and trends to know where potential customers and buyers are looking online. To effectively search engine optimize a website and market website companies must stay ahead of the trends and place customers in front of potential buyers. At Internet Builder Consulting our Search Engine Experts have led the way in SEO, Social Marketing and Website Development since 1995 with more than a decade of instructing classes on the subjects nationally.

Contact Internet Builder Consulting today for an expert consultation at 816-842-7774

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
Internet & Technology Expert
www.InternetBuilderConsulting.com Websites, SEO, Social Marketing & Consulting since 1995

Google Android is the Top New Smartphone Platform Mobile Applications

2011-03-03T12:09:00.000-06:00

The Google Android smartphone platform has surpasses the iPhone and all other smartphone platforms such as Windows Mobile, PALM and Symbian in little more than 1 year. Growth rates are expected to continue with 29% of the application developers planning on development for Android compared to only 8% developing for the iPhone.

RIM Blackberry still holds the top percentage of overall users with a 12 year head start on the Android platform. Numbers from the latest Nielson report show 28% of users planning on upgrading to a smartphone are likely to select Android while only 13% prefer the RIM Blackberry. The demand for Android applications and significant growth in user base is something website developers need to address for mobile websites and smartphone use. Internet Builder Consulting mobile websites are 100% Android compatible making them future-ready for any customer planning on reaching the significant number of mobile users.

Contact the mobile website developers at Internet Builder Consulting for an upgrade to your website or a new mobile website to reach millions of smartphone users today!

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson

Internet & Technology Expert

www.InternetBuilderConsulting.com - Building BETTER Websites, SEO, Mobile Websites & Social Marketing since 1995

816-842-7774 Corporate Offices

Facebook Increases It's Lead, MySpace Still in 2nd Place with Other Social Networks Gain Ground

2011-02-18T15:33:00.000-06:00

Social networking leader Facebook continued its momentum as it added millions of new users and people spent more and more of their time on the site, according to a new white paper from comScore. “The 2010 US Digital Year in Review” illustrates that Facebook accounted for 10% of ALL US page views in 2010, and three out of every 10 (30% ) US Internet sessions included a visit to Facebook.

In addition to its tremendous increase in users Facebook grew significantly across nearly every performance metric in 2010. Facebook’s US audience grew to 153.9 million in December 2010, an increase of 38%, as it became the fourth-most visited online property, reaching nearly three out of every four US online users each month. Engagement metrics fared even better, with Facebook’s total time spent surging 79% year over year to 49.4 billion minutes and total page views growing 71% to 76.8 billion.

Facebook Increases Both Younger and Older Users While 'Young Adults' Decreased Slightly

The comScore analysis of visitors to Facebook and Twitter showed shifting user demographics during the past year. Facebook saw its 35-54 year old share of visitors decline 9% from 39% to 35.4%, while the younger than 18 segment increased 12% from 9.9% to 11.1%, while users 55 and older about 17% from 11.3% to 13.2%.

Twitter.com, meanwhile, saw a roughly 24% gain in the share of 18-34 year olds visiting the site, but those younger than 18 declined 46% from 17.5% to 9.5%. comScore analysis suggests this shifting composition may partially reflect a shift among younger Twitter users towards other communication vehicles and third-party Twitter apps.

In 2010 Facebook saw an significant growth in the number of people using Facebook, visiting more frequently, and viewing more content on each visit.

Myspace Continues to Lose Ground but Still Remains the # 2 Social Network

MySpace still maintains its hold on the number two ranking in the social networking category with 50 million visitors in December 2010. The total audience declined 27% and time spent on the site declined 50% over the previous year.
The business focused social networking site LinkedIn emerged as the third largest in the category with 26.6 million visitors in December 2010 Meanwhile, number four Twitter climbed to 18% to 23.6 million visitors in December 2010.

A few new social networking sites improved this year, as Tumblr.com surged 168% to 6.7 million monthly visitors and Formspring.me rose in popularity among younger social networkers and grew more than 1,000% in the past 12 months.

Another worthwhile statistic to note indicates that 90% of Online Users visit social networking websites every month. Social Networking websites accounted for 12% of the TOTAL time spent online in 2010 with the average online user spending more than 4.5 houses on social networking websites each month.

Integration of social media marketing and use of social networking for SEO, online marketing and brand management is imperative for any business today. Contact Social Marketing Builders today for a no-cost expert consultation on Social Network Marketing, SEO and online marketing at 816-842-7774.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
Internet, Social Marketing & Technology Expert
Internet Builder Consulting - Building BETTER Websites, Social Marketing and SEO Solutions since 1995
816-842-7774 Corporate Offices

Friends with Benefits

2011-01-21T09:56:00.000-06:00

All knowledgeable website and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) firms include Social Marketing as an intricate part of any website solution. A website that is not properly Search Engine Optimized is useless and any Search Engine Optimization campaign is incomplete without Social Marketing. The key aspect of Social Marketing is communicating 'socially' to engage, entice and interact with others rather than simply pushing a message out through a one sided conversation.

Online or offline it is important to connect and make 'friends' with others of similar interests, in the same industries and market to the proper prospective customers. In either situation a one sided conversation will result in lack of results and likely loss of friends or connections. The key to success is making 'friends with benefits' who will connect, communicate and produce online success. Facebook separated the 'News' and 'Most Recent' last year to determine which items are considered important while others are simply 'updates'. The reason Facebook changed this was to determine what information will be fed to Search Engines and what information is simply shared with only the people directly connected to each other.

Facebook is the # 1 source of referrals on the Internet today with more daily usage than all other websites and search engines including Google. Search Engines have adopted their criteria and ranking algorithms to include information from social networking websites and online classifieds such as Craigslist in search results in real time. The way information posted on Facebook is determined to be NEWS or just a Recent Update is determined by a simple hierarchy of criteria with the basic principles being:

1. How many friends or connections you have
2. How much interaction your friends or connections have with what you post
3. How much interaction do your friends or connections have with others
4. Is the post made on a Personal account or properly setup Page
5. The format and content of what was posted is important

This means that no matter how much you post on facebook it will not matter unless your 'friends' interact with what is posted. If you have one 'friend' who constantly comments or likes your post it will dilute the interaction leading to lack of results thus you must have several 'friends' who interact on a regular basis to see real benefits. Everything posted must be properly formatted and ideally done through a Page setup for your business, product or service. Pages receive higher value ratings than personal accounts do and how the Page is setup affects how well it will rank when people search.

Facebook is the # 1 source of referrals today, buyers are using Facebook to connect with sellers but the most important aspect is the effect on Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Content and posts from Facebook will show up on Search Engines when setup and marketed properly providing a double benefit if you have the right friends.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
Internet Builder Consulting - Building BETTER Websites, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media Marketing and Virtual Tours since 1995
816-842-7774 Office

75% of US Consumers Now Have High Speed Internet Enabling Higher Bandwidth Website Content

2011-01-15T15:12:00.001-06:00

One of the historic limitations of online marketing has been bandwidth or lack thereof. Until recently nearly 1/2 of the Internet Users were locked into dial-up or slow Internet connections incapable of online video, many FLASH animations or other high bandwidth activities.

A recent study shows three out of four connected US consumers already have high-speed Internet, and another 5% will definitely or probably purchase it, according to new data from the Nielsen Company. The recently completed “State of the Media 2010″ indicates HDTVs are the next most commonly owned emerging technology device, with 46% of connected consumers owning one and 10% saying they will definitely or probably purchase one.

Other emerging technology devices with a relatively high rate of ownership among connected consumers include digital video recorders (35%) and handheld multimedia devices (20%).

Websites are typically developed with the 'lowest common denominator' in mind to ensure that a potential visitor or buyer on a website with low speed Internet, an older computer or even a smaller monitor will still be able to access, view and navigate the website without difficulty.

With the continued drop in technology costs most connected consumers now have the ability to see and enjoy high bandwidth content such as videos, virtual tours, online video chat and animations. This will permit website developers and online marketers to take advantage of advancing technologies and reach a wider audience than ever before.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
Internet Builder Consulting - Building BETTER Websites & Social Marketing since 1995
816-842-7774 Office

Make it Better Because You are There in 2011

2011-01-03T12:01:00.000-06:00

There is no secret that the economy is 'challenging' with a high unemployment rate, businesses closing, lower real estate values and the myriad of things that come along with a recession. What makes the difference between success and failure is how each of us perceives these challenges. Every day we awake with the choice to accomplish something, improve our environment, assist someone else or waste the opportunities of the day unhappy about a situation, person or other item outside of our personal control.

I have always shared with friends, family, co-workers and customers that my key philosophy in life and business is to "Make it better because you are there". The poor economy affected our business with 26 long time customers closing their doors in the past two years. Rather than being upset about a bad economy our company choose to enact our very own 'Stimulus Program' for customers who are struggling where we invest in our CUSTOMER by paying for all or part of their website hosting, online marketing, support and updates to help them retain the # 1 most effective marketing tool they have (their website and online marketing). In addition to customers who we know are struggling the Internet Marketing & Social Marketing Teams are doing extra marketing for ALL customers to ensure those who are healthy remain healthy (without charging for the work). I doubt most of our customers are even aware what we are doing for them because it is an internal directive to help so we have not informed most of them!

We can make a difference and help the companies who helped us grow by INVESTING in them rather than participating in the recession by turning off their primary lifeline to new business online. It costs more in the short term to pay for services out of our pocket but I believe in the long term it is a wise investment for everyone. Somewhere in the past 50 years companies pulled away from loyalty or doing what was right to focus on doing what was best for the bottom line. When times are tough and money is tight it is hard for some to imagine doing anything to help themselves much less help others but those are the times it is the most important. No matter how bad our situations may be there is ALWAYS someone in a worse situation who will make the choice today to improve themselves or their lives.

There are opportunities every day if you are willing to make the paradigm shift from 'things suck' to 'lets make things better'. Spend time to contact customers who are late on bills and ask "What can we do to assist?" instead of demanding payment or disconnecting their services. Reduce bills at work and home then reinvest that money in your customers and with the people who need help more than we do. If you have a warm home, a vehicle and a job than be thankful for that and help someone else who does not. Internet Builder Consulting created intern programs for unemployed single mother or fathers with children to support so that while they look for employment they are in the business environment learning new marketable skills and making some money to buy food. No matter how small or large the effort simply get up each day committed to improve, assist or learn something new. Refuse to participate in the recession, never let negative or depressing thoughts lead your actions or attitude and always try to make it better because you are there.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
Internet & Technology Expert

Internet Builder Consulting - Building BETTER Websites, Social Marketing & Internet Solutions since 1995
816-842-7774 Office

If you need some ideas consider movies such as It's a Wonderful Life or Pay it Forward illustrate simple life lessons about helping others in need and making it better because you are there.

Mobile Websites Increase Reach & Instantly Informs Onsite Buyers

2010-12-21T15:30:00.000-06:00

In a slow consumer market companies must find ways to reach buyers outside of traditional methods. Real Estate buyers have come to expect instant information 24/7 from the Internet with the natural progression of this being the 'mobile website'. Internet Builder Consulting built a content management mobile website for Greater Missouri Builders, a leading St Louis residential and commercial developer which instantly updates at the same time the primary website is updated using the exclusive BuilderAdmin.com content management system (CMS).

Commercial and Residential listings, locations, floorplans, photos and details are now instantly available online to prospective buyers via any mobile device, iPhone, PDA, Blackberry or Android phone. Every community or location has the mobile access address clearly posted so on site buyers have instant information, lead generation and content at their finger tips.

In addition a bar code scanning system was implemented enabling REALTORS or real estate agents to scan the bar code to be taken instantly to the appropriate area of the mobile website for viewing. Years ago MLS lock boxes began using bar codes and scanners to provide access to homes or properties to a large majority of agents have this capability to now access websites using the same tools!

Another successful tool used by Greater Missouri Builders are the YouTube powered new home community walk-throughs. Integrating Social Media with existing videos enabled the builder to provide video walk throughs of properties online and with the mobile website like this Chesterfield New Home Community YouTube Video.

Contact Internet Builder Consulting today to see how our teams of experts can build a BETTER website, mobile website, Social Media Marketing or other technology solution for your business!

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
Internet Builder Consulting - Building BETTER Websites and Online Solutions since 1995
816-842-7774

Google is Buying Twitter - Blogger.com Has Twitter Favicon

2010-12-20T17:43:00.000-06:00

There has been quite a bit of speculation and talk about Google buying Twitter although I have not seen anything solid until last week when all of the Google Blogger.com accounts had Twitter Favicon icons on them for two days. I verified this for customer and internal Blogger accounts from multiple computers then searched online for a formal announcement after verifying the Twitter icons on Google Blogs.

By Monday December 20th the Twitter icons have mysteriously disappeared from the Google Blogger accounts though anyone paying attention to Blogger last week could not have missed the two days that Google displayed Twitter Favicons. April 2009 the rumor was that Google was intent on buying Twitter no matter what the cost and with Facebook now having more daily traffic than Google it makes sense that Google finally made the move into Social Networking.

We announced in 2008 that Google Profiles appeared to be the first level stages of Social Networking for Google Users with 'friends' and 'Followers' connected to user profiles, photos, blogs and other items. Expect Google to announce the purchase of Twitter soon and make sure you let everyone know where you heard it first!

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
Internet & Technology Expert
Internet Builder Consulting - Building BETTER Websites and Online Solutions since 1995
816-842-7774 Office

The Internet's Top Sources of Referral Traffic are Social Networks

2010-12-17T21:27:00.000-06:00

Social Networking is about MORE than just connecting with others online. As Internet Builder Consulting has said for years (NAHB IBS 2006, 2007 and Bob Schultz Training 2007, 2008 & 2009) an important key to online marketing is link weight and referral traffic. A recent study we found posted on ReadWriteWeb.com showed the importance of Social Media Marketing with Facebook listed as the # 1 source of referral traffic online.

Recently the wife of a client who is now in charge of his marketing demanded all of the Social Networking accounts and Social Media Marketing be turned off and because she believed it was "worthless" even after the value of referral links was explained. Just because someone does not understand or appreciate something does not mean it is worthless - read the article below and decide for yourself on Social Media Marketing!

Top Referrers of Traffic

For the purposes of this analysis, referrers have been segmented into different categories in order to more easily compare traffic. For example, there is no use in comparing Google to Flickr since they are not categorically related. If we're making a determination which search engine to focus on, Flickr would not be in the mix - and if we're looking for a photo hosting site, Google would not be in the mix. The four main referral categories that drive virtually all traffic are: Search Engines, Media, Social Bookmarks and Social Networks.

Social Network Referrers

Perhaps the one result that was the most surprising is the Social Networking category. Although Twitter seem to be the talk of the town, Facebook is the 900 pound gorilla when it comes to actually driving website traffic, sending nearly 7 in 10 visitors from the Social Network category. LinkedIn comes in a distant yet still respectable third place.

There is one giant unknown in this area, however. Many Twitter users access the service through applications instead of via Twitter's website. These applications do not report http-referrer data to Web servers, which makes it impossible to tell where the clicks originate. The same can be said about traffic driven by mobile apps (including Facebook).

All of the other players in the Social Networking category cumulatively amount to less than 3% of inbound website traffic.

Social Bookmark Referrers

Social bookmarking sites are also extremely sought after sources of traffic, with the highest profile member of the group being Digg. Interestingly, this is another case where a smaller source seems to receive a disproportionate amount of attention, since StumbleUpon drives nearly double the traffic to websites.

Another surprising standout in the Social Bookmark category is YCombinator's Hacker News site, which drives 12% of the traffic in this category. Reddit and Del.icio.us drive 5% and 2%, respectively. Interestingly, SlashDot (the grandaddy of them all) drives close to 0% of traffic to the sites Woopra measures - although webmasters still call the rush of traffic that can take down a website a "Slashdotting".

Search Referrers

In the Search Engine space, perhaps the only surprise is the absolute dominance of Google when it comes to actually driving traffic to websites. For example, Experian's Hitwise published a press release setting Google's share of the search market at 72% in May 2010. However, Woopra is seeing 92% of search visitors originating from Google.

This begs the question: Where does the discrepancy lie?

Is the Hitwise data set more representative of the whole?
Are there more searches taking place on other search engines that don't result in click-throughs to websites?
StatCounter's Global Stats seem to closely mirror Woopra's data.

Regardless of the reason, what we do know is that focusing attention on optimizing for Google search is absolutely the right thing to do. (Here's the official Google SEO starter guide.)

Media Referrers

The media referrer category is reserved for sites that focus on various forms of multimedia, including images, video and audio. These sites are often overlooked as a source of traffic because they are destination sites; however, media sites can also drive large volumes of traffic.
As an example, world-famous HDR photographer Trey Ratcliff posts travel photos on Flickr, and includes a simple link back to his site in the description of each image he posts.

This technique generated nearly 13,000 pageviews on StuckInCustoms.com in April alone.

What's more notable is that Flickr is not the dominant referrer in the Media category. YouTube drives 900% more traffic to websites than Flickr. This is accomplished the same way, via links in the description of the video.

Amazingly, 99% of referrer traffic in the Media category comes from only four providers: YouTube, Flickr, Last.FM and Vimeo.

Lessons Learned

The only question we are trying to answer with this analysis is where it makes sense to focus resources and attention in order to drive traffic. So here's what we know:

Search engine optimization specifically targeting Google's index is key. Working hard to satisfy other search providers probably won't pay off as much as spending the time elsewhere - like Facebook and Twitter promotion.
If multimedia isn't part of a site's strategy to drive traffic, it should be. Adding photos to Flickr and videos to YouTube will not only pay off in terms of adding content for your brand, but will also drive eyeballs to your site.
Sites that are not seeing traffic from Facebook, Twitter, or both, are missing out on a major traffic-generation source. Additionally, if the balance is not in Facebook's favor, you are likely under-utilizing this channel.
Don't waste time promoting your site on any Social Media network other than Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. Your time is better spent elsewhere (like YouTube or Flickr for example).
By all means, submit articles to Digg in the hopes of making it to the homepage, but more importantly make sure articles work their way into StumbleUpon, which can bring a larger, more sustained and less server-crash-creating stream of traffic.
For those looking to more accurately track Twitter click-throughs, some service providers such as Bit.ly enable tracking of short links. The bad news is that the tracking is not aggregated into existing Web analytics provider data.
This analysis doesn't take into consideration back-links (which Web authors should pursue whenever possible) because on the aggregate they do not drive global traffic. However, links from related or high-traffic sites can not only dramatically increase site traffic, they can positively impact search result listings.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
Internet Builder Consulting - Building BETTER websites and Online Marketing since 1995
Social Marketing Experts and Social Networking Builders for business
816-842-7774 Office

Internet & Technology Used More by Higher Income Buyers (Your Target Audience)

2010-11-30T13:55:00.000-06:00

Higher-income Americans have higher rates of internet and other technology usage than Americans of lower incomes, according to new data from the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

Almost All Higher-income Americans Use The Internet

Currently 95% of Americans who live in households earning $75,000 or more a year use the internet at least occasionally, compared with 70% of those living in households earning less than $75,000. Even among those who use the internet, those with higher incomes are more likely than those with lower income to use technology. Out of the 95% of higher-income internet users:

99% use the internet at home, compared with 93% of the internet users in lower brackets
93% of higher-income home internet users have some type of broadband connection compared to 85% of the internet users who live in households earning less than $75,000 per year. That means 87% of all those higher income households having broadband high speed internet at home
95% of higher-income households own a cell phone compared to 83% of lower income households

The Income Gap Applies to a Wide Variety of Technology Usage

Higher-income Americans are also more likely than those in lesser-income households to own a variety of information and communications gear including:

79% of those living in households earning $75,000 or more own desktop computers, compared with 55% of those living in less well-off homes.
79% of those living in higher-income households own laptops, compared with 47% of those living in less well-off homes.
70% of those living in higher-income households own iPods or other MP3 players, compared with 42% of those living in less well-off homes.
54% of those living in higher-income households own game consoles, compared with 41% of those living in less well-off homes.
12% of those living in higher-income households own eBook readers such as Kindles, compared with 3% of those living in less well-off homes.
9% of those living in higher-income households own tablet computers such as iPads, compared with 3% of those living in less well-off homes.

Wealthier People Use E-Commerce and Make Purchases Online

Significantly more higher-income Americans are conducting e-commerce activities than members of other income groups. Solid majorities of higher-income internet users research products (88%), make travel reservations online (83%), purchase products or services online (81%), perform online banking (74%), use the internet to pay bills (71%), and use online classified sites such as Craigslist (60%).

The Wealthy Also Use Government eCommerce

Overall 82% of internet users (representing 61% of all American adults) looked for information or completed a transaction on a government website between December 2008 and December 2009, according to an earlier
study from the Pew Internet & American Life Project. However, high-income internet users are much more likely than those with lower levels of income to interact with government via online channels.

For example, 91% of internet users earning $50,000 or more a year get information or complete transactions on government websites, compared to 76% of those earning less than $50,000 a year. The largest disparity by income exists in the practice of going online for data about government activities. Fifty percent of internet users earning $50,000 or more a year do so, compared to only 31% of internet users earning less than $50,000 a year.

People with the highest incomes are shopping online to make purchases, research future purchases and 95% of them in ALL age groups are using the Internet. To reach online buyers and sell more for your business contact Internet Builder Consulting for a BETTER website, Social Network Setup or Social Media Marketing and Search Engine Optimization today by calling the office to speak with an Internet & Technology Consultant:

816-842-7774 or Request a Website, SEO or Social Marketing Consultation Online.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson

Internet Builder Consulting - Building BETTER Websites and Online Marketing since 1995

Social Marketing Builders - Building BETTER Social Networking Solutions for Business

816-842-7774 Office

Social Networking to Reach 38 BILLION by 2015

2010-11-23T23:26:00.001-06:00

Combined advertising and promotional spending for Social Networking will hit $38 billion by 2015, roughly 440% more than the $7 billion projected for 2010, according to a new white paper from Borrell Associates.

Social Networking Promotion Spending to Grow 380%
Breaking the combined social network marketing spending stream into advertising and promotional streams, “The Social Networking Explosion: Ad Revenue Outlook” projects that $5 billion of total $7 billion (about 71%) social network marketing spending in 2010 will consist of promotional expenditures.

From 2010 to 2015, social network promotional spending will grow about 380%. In 2011, it will grow 40% to $7 billion, and then slow down to about 14% growth in 2012, totaling $8 billion, However, social network promotional spending will then double to $16 billion in 2013, and continue rapid growth the next year, increasing 31% to $21 billion before slowing again with 12.5% growth to $24 billion in 2015.

Social Networking Advertising Spending will Grow 600%
Although Borrell data shows social network advertising spending will remain at lower levels than promotional spending through the next five years, the total growth rate will be an even higher 600%. In 2011, social network ad spending will grow 200%, from $2 billion to $6 billion, putting it on close to an even keel with promotional spending.

Ad spending will remain close to promotional spending in 2012, rising almost 17% to $7 billion. In 2013, ad spending will once again lag behind promotional spending, growing a very healthy 43% to $10 billion. Growth will then continue at a still impressive 20% pace to $12 billion in 2014 and 17% pace to $14 billion in 2015.

Consumers are Fueling Social Network Marketing Spending Growth
Borrell analysis indicates the rapidly growing marketing spend in social networking is fueled by wildly climbing consumer use of social networking services. The paper cites data from comScore which says Facebook alone had more than 100 million unique visitors in the US last December, out of 400 million registered users worldwide.

The average Facebook visitor came to the site 27 times during that month, almost once a day. As of the end of 2009, one hour in every nine spent online was spent on a social network site. More than two-thirds of the nation’s largest businesses recruit new employees through social networks, and 13% more plan to start this year.

To have professional Social Networking built for your business, product or brand contact the Social Network Marketing Experts at Social Marketing Builders or call 816-842-7774 today to speak with an expert who can setup, manage and expand your business online with social networking for as little as $350

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
Internet Builder Consulting - Building BETTER websites since 1995
Social Marketing Builders - Building Expert Social Network Solutions for Business
Corporate Offices 816-842-7774

Google Launches Hotpot Local Focused Search with Social Integration

2010-11-17T10:12:00.000-06:00

Google Places added a new social element called Hotpot that allows you to make recommendations that are then shared with your friends or contacts. Hotpot is integrated with Google Places, getting business owners to claim their listings to help Google build their efforts in the online Yellow Pages space, while using social networking to build reviews for their products.

You can add reviews on your smart phone by using Google Maps for Mobile and Hotpot also has its own Twitter account with a likely tie in for users to Tweet their reviews. Google shared on their Blog last month that about 1/2 of their search traffic was locally focused "More than 20 percent of Google searches now have a local intent, and it's clear that finding information about what's immediately around you is important.... With Google Hotpot, we're excited to take local search to the next level by making it more personal with recommendations powered by you and your friends".

Yahoo has a similar system called Yahoo Local for several years which also launched social integration features at the Web 2.0 conference November 2009. Microsoft stated that 53% of searches were of local focus on the Bing search engine thus the Big Three have all seen the value in expanding locally focused content. Buyers are searching with a local focus to find local companies and services on the Internet - is your business setup on the local business directories? Contact Internet Builder Consulting today to have our experts setup your local listings online and integrate or setup business social networking for you at 816-842-7774.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
Internet & Technology Expert
Internet Builder Consulting - Building BETTER websites, Social Marketing and Search Engine Optimization Solutions since 1995

Young Adults Spend More Time on Internet than All other Media

2010-10-04T19:31:00.001-05:00

American young adults spend more time online than consuming other forms of media, according to [pdf] a new study from Edison Research.

Web Time Doubles Radio Time
“Radio’s Future II: The 2010 American Youth Study” indicates that during an average day, Americans age 12-24 spend two hours and 52 minutes on the internet, making the web the media format American young adults spend the most time consuming. Television closely follows with a daily average of two hours and 47 minutes.

Listening to the radio came in a distant third with a one hour and 24 minute daily average. With a daily average of one hour and 10 minutes, video games closely trailed radio, followed by talking on the telephone (one hour and four minutes). Time spent reading magazines and newspapers is negligible.

Radio Time Once almost Tripled Web Time
Media consumption habits among American young adults have changed dramatically since 2000. The study indicates that during an average day in 2000, Americans age 12-24 spent two hours and 43 minutes listening to the radio, the highest amount of time spent consuming any media listed and almost double the time they spend with radio today. Television followed closely behind at two hours and 37 minutes, similar to its current result.

Talking on the telephone came in a distant third at one hour and 44 minutes, slightly more popular than today. The internet only accounted for 59 minutes of an average day, meaning American young adults spent close to three times as much time consuming radio as they did consuming the internet.
In somewhat of a surprise, video games only accounted for 42 minutes of an average day, while reading magazines and newspapers had expectantly low time totals.

Internet Has Highest Percentage Spending More Time
Unsurprisingly considering results of the previous questions, the internet ranked as the media format with the highest percentage of American young adults saying they are spending more time consuming it today than one year ago (48%). Telephone followed distantly with 28% consuming it more today, in turn followed unexpectedly by radio (27%). Going to the movies was the only media format that 20% or more of American young adults said they are consuming more today than one year ago (20%).

The trend for all media usage continues to show Internet (including websites, search engines and Social Networking) growing at a faster pace than any other media in history. It took nearly 20 years for television to reach the same market penetration as the Internet did in less than 3 years.

Contact Internet Builder Consulting Online today or call us at 816-842-7774 to see how you can reach more buyers and sell more using the Internet with a professional website, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) or Social Network Marketing.

Internet Builder Consulting - Building Better Websites, Search Engine Optimization and Social Network Marketing

Bing Search Engine is Now # 2 Ahead of Yahoo While Google Remains # 1

2010-09-16T14:09:00.001-05:00

In August 2010, MSN/Windows Live/Bing Search overtook Yahoo as the number two search engine in the US for the first time, according to new data from The Nielsen Company.

Bing Search Share Rose 30% from 2009

MSN/Windows Live/Bing Search held a 13.9% share of US searches in August 2010, narrowly beating Yahoo, which slipped to third place with a 13.1% share.

However, looking back to July 2009 gives a fuller picture of the divergent paths being taken by MSN/Windows Live/Bing Search and Yahoo. While Bing increased its US search share by an impressive 30% from 10.7% between July 2009 and July 2010, Yahoo decreased its share by a substantial 18% from 16%.

Google is Still #1

While longtime leading US search engine Google is no doubt paying close attention to Bing’s fast ascent since its June 2009 launch, Google still dominates the US search market by a comfortable market.
Google held 65.1% search share in August 2010, up 1% both month-over-month and year-over-year. It is also worth noting that Microsoft Bing officially started powering part of Yahoo searches starting in August 24, 2010. If Bing-powered search in August were combined pro-forma, it would represent a 26% share of search.
On a year-over-year basis, Ask.com significantly increased its search share growth rate while AOL experienced a substantial negative growth rate, but both providers still only account for about 2% of the total US search market each.
Bing Makes July Inroads

Google lost slight monthly US search market share to Bing in July 2010, according to recent data from Compete. Google maintained its dominant hold on the US online search market in July 2010 with 10.46 million queries, good for 72.9% of 14.34 million total queries. While this marked a 0.6% year-over-year improvement from 72.5% in July 2009, it was a 1.1% month-over-month decline from 73.8% in June 2010.

Third-ranked Microsoft (which primarily reflects the Bing engine) appears to have stolen some of Google’s monthly traffic. Bing recorded 1.52 million queries in July 2010, earning 10.6% market share. This was a 3.1% month-over month improvement from 10.3% share in June 2010 and more impressively, a 21.1% year-over-year improvement from 8.7% market share in July 2009.
Second-ranked Yahoo appears to have lost yearly share to Bing, although its monthly share increased. Yahoo reported 1.87 million queries in July 2010, 13.1% of the total market. Yahoo’s share rose 3% from 12.7% in June 2010 but fell 16.8% from 15.7% in July 2009.

It is time to start looking at Microsoft as a player in the search engine forum once again with adjustments made to Pay Per Click and SEO campaigns to focus on Google, Bing and Yahoo.

Contact Internet Builder Consulting for your professional consultation on Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Internet Marketing or Website Development today at 816-842-7774

There are Still Opportunities, Buyers and Customers to Help

2010-09-14T10:25:00.000-05:00

I read an article by Jeffrey Gitomer this week about the economy and how part of the problem with the poor economy is the number of people and businesses that BELIEVE things are terrible. The fact is that we all create our own 'personal economies' by choosing what we do every day as we awake. Do we spend money and stimulate the economy, do we go to work with a bad attitude because we are not making more money, do we consider that the customer who is having a hard time paying the bills needs our help or do we consider them a bad debt and what are WE going to do each day to make things better?

We have dozens of customers who are paying slow, trying to find ways to keep the doors open and need our help so we made the decision as a company to pay some of the marketing costs or hosting for many of them. The choice, as I see it, is that we can help be part of the solution for a customer or help put the last nail in the coffin by turning off a website or their online marketing which is the only true opportunity for them to continue doing business and reach customers. Work with customers to do anything to keep that website live even if it means paying a portion of the bill for them. This policy upset our accounting department but the choice is to help customers survive or let them fail and our choice will always be to do whatever we can to help make things better.

This includes the new 'Social Marketing' where we have expanded to provide this service for many struggling clients at little to no charge since it is another opportunity to expand the brand and reach new customers. Put yourself in the shoes of the customer and ask yourself what you would do or need if the roles were reversed. Do not take for granted that the customer understands the value you provide for them. Make VERY sure your company is differentiating, creating innovation and solutions and that the companies or people you work with are aware of how it benefits them. Find ways to save customers money, lower prices for a few months to help struggling customers even if it means you may lose a little because it is the right thing to do (even if it is technically bad business to lose money).

Things are bad but they can get worse if everyone does not pull together and start doing what is right instead of what has the most profit. Call customers, email them and ask what you can do to help before ever turning off services and understand there will be some that simply cannot survive no matter how much you help. There are still opportunities, buyers and businesses who need what you sell or what your customers sell so make sure to keep the websites on, stay informed, innovate and lead by example to succeed.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
InternetBuilderConsulting.com - Building BETTER websites, Social Marketing and Online Solutions
816-842-7774 Office

The Technology Behind the Website Matters - Is Your Online Business Built on Free Shareware?

2010-09-02T11:38:00.001-05:00

The technology used behind a website matters in terms of performance, security, license (are you legally licensed to use it) and cost. Many entry level web designers are using a shareware (free) tools rather than standardized development tools and languages that are much faster and more reliable. Typically this is done because someone has not had any legitimate training or invested nothing in the framework, servers and hosting.

Bakers would not bake a cake with sugar you found sitting on the side of the road or builders would never build a new home with scrap wood from the dump so why would any legitimate website company charge someone to build a website using free software they do not own and have no license to sell?

Know the difference and only accept legitimate licensed software such as .NET, ASP, SQL & Oracle with structured ongoing development, security, updates and legitimate license for customer use. Entry level programmers and less skilled companies will often learn using shareware though most experienced qualified developers will build a BETTER website using legitimate software from Microsoft, Oracle, and other well known companies.

Next time your business is considering a new website be sure to ask what the website company uses to build the website - if they are selling you FREE shareware with security flaws then thank them and find another company who is willing to invest in your security and hire experienced qualified programmers and a company that invests in top level solutions to support your business.

Google Fonts Expands Web Friendly Fonts for Online Text Enhancements

2010-08-02T19:22:00.005-05:00

Netscape opened up the use of fonts on the Internet in 1995 with the new font tag. For years after that there were only a small number of 'web friendly fonts' available for website designers and developers to use when integrating text throughout a website. Search engines prefer text thus a better optimized website includes the appropriate use of text for heading, titles and content which is often not as visually appealing as an image could be. Graphics designers have often made beautiful websites incorporating what appears to be text in an image because it provided unlimited font usage improving the visual appeal of a website but reducing the potential for higher rankings on search engines.

Universal web friendly text fonts were limited to a small group including Arial/Helvetica, Georgia, Times New Roman, Verdana and Courier until recently. This summer Google announced a collection of high quality open source web fonts in the Google Font Directory, and the Google Font API. With the Google Font API, using these fonts on your web page is almost as easy as using the standard set of so-called “web-safe” fonts that come installed on most computers. The excerpt below from the Google Code Blog outlines the basics:

The Google Font API provides a simple, cross-browser method for using any font in the Google Font Directory on your web page. The fonts have all the advantages of normal text: in addition to being richer visually, text styled in web fonts is still searchable, scales crisply when zoomed, and is accessible to users using screen readers.

Getting started using the Google Font API is easy. Just add a couple lines of HTML to create text like the Tangerine Font below:

The Google Font API hides a lot of complexity behind the scenes. Google’s serving infrastructure takes care of converting the font into a format compatible with any modern browser (including Internet Explorer 6 and up), sends just the styles and weights you select, and the font files and CSS are tuned and optimized for web serving. For example, cache headers are set to maximize the likelihood that the fonts will be served from the browser’s cache with no need for a network roundtrip, even when the same font is linked from different websites.

These fonts also work well with CSS3 and HTML5 styling, including drop shadows, rotation, etc. In addition, selecting these fonts in your CSS works just the same as for locally installed fonts, facilitating clean separation of content and presentation. Now text can be as pretty and visually appealing as image content online making the Internet better one website at a time.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
InternetBuilderConsulting.com - Building BETTER websites and Online Marketing since 1995
816-842-7774 Office

A Few Things Lindsay Lohan and the Rest of Us Should Learn from Life & Jail

2010-07-21T16:57:00.003-05:00

The first thing everyone should learn is that Life is Not Fair.

Next we should realize that Life is What WE make of it. Each of us gets up every day and makes the choice to act, react and conduct ourselves in a positive or negative way.

Americans grow up watching movies about the 'underdog' who fights for what they believe is right and usually wins. In school we are all taught to be 'individuals', 'do what we believe is right' and to 'think for ourselves' yet in the real world that type of behavior tends to cause misunderstandings and other issues. People who do things differently than the rest are typically very successful or scorned in the public eye for being out of control or wreckless or even crazy. Brittany Spears became famous because she was an individual with talent yet when she had relationship problems, stress from life and reacted in her own individual way she was crucified by the press. Another individual who won fame and failure is Frank Lloyd Wright who designed 532 homes, museums and buildings in his lifetime.

Frank Lloyd Wright is recognized as one of the most innovative and talented architects in the world yet in his day he went bankrupt, was arrested multiple times spending various lengths of time in jail and only later in life, near retirement, was he able to find peace with his individuality. Lindsay Lohan, an actress who decided to ignore a court order, was sent to jail for her belief that she was an individual that did not have to comply with what the judge ordered. People who succeed from their individuality tend to have problems because of their individuality. Some overcome those challenges and succeed while others are willing to sacrifice everything for what they believe. Joan of Arc was so convinced of her beliefs that she preferred to die rather than renounce them. Nikola Tesla was a famous inventor who was so eccentric and convinced that his ideas were right, leading to conflicts with investors, partners and competitors, that he was shunned as a 'mad scientist' for years until he was later recognized as a genius.

We live in a world where TMZ (a show about what other people are doing and what kind of trouble they are in), Big Brother, the Bachelor & countless other shows about OTHER PEOPLE are watched by millions of people every week. Human nature is to be inquisitive and people tend to be envious, jealous, amazed, motivated or thrilled by watching the success or failure of others. Too much emphasis about what others are doing instead of focusing on how each of us can individually improve our lives or the lives of those around us helped lead to economic and social failure. I contributed to this by purchasing several $500,000+ homes, cars, boats and other toys when I first became a millionaire. I grew up watching MTV Cribs and felt that since I had earned the money I should spend the money and live just like the people on TV while sharing the wealth with everyone around me.

I decided it was time for a change after years of friends and family borrowing cars that never returned (usually wrecked), having neighbors upset about one of my 5 younger brothers and sisters throwing a party while I was out of town, having the police show up at my door at 6AM because my younger brother 'borrowed' my Hummer to go 'off roading' in suburban neighborhoods around my home eventually finding myself in court defending my 'lifestyle'. During this time I made an effort to help others by helping charities, donating computer equipment, websites, cars, volunteered time, bought my employees cars, expanded the company to one of the top 10 in Kansas City and generally tried to do what I believed was right in life and business.

One morning I awoke to a call from a woman I had dated 13 years prior demanding $50,000 because she 'knew I was rich' after reading an article about my success and business in the paper. She told me that her husband found out that I was legally responsible for their son because I had taken her to court 13 years earlier to declare paternity and never filed to have it overturned after finding out it was not my child and dropping my case. The first thing I did was contact a lawyer who confirmed that the State of Missouri has a two year limitation to overturn paternity or adoption claims before it become permanent (regardless of biological determination). I believed that if I took her back to court there would surely be a judge that would see this as the scam it was so we filed another case and went back to court.

I never expected this, my plans were to head back to the office after court knowing justice had prevailed yet now I was sitting at the court house waiting for the sheriff to take me away. Jail was not what I expected, since I had no criminal charges and no record I was placed in the Trustee area with bunk beds, two large LCD TV's, fridge, microwave, snack shop and a bit of freedom (basically an adult daycare you were stuck at). I felt I was right and I felt that fighting for what was right was worth it until one of the guards suggested I move to Mexico as he informed me that a contempt charge has no bail and no release date...meaning I was there until the judge decided she wanted to let me go. The worst part was that nobody knew where I was and there was no way to contact anyone because all of the phones are pre-paid collect call only.

While I was there I saw that all businesses or operations have the same challenges and many of us take our lives for granted. I met people who could not read or write and spent time helping them write letters to family, court or their lawyer. There were people there without hope, that had been in the system for years only to be released with no home, no job and no way to support themselves so they always ended up back in jail from turning back to what they knew best, crime. All of the Trustee's were assigned to various jobs starting out in the kitchen where they prepared 900+ meals three times a day. Each person had a specific specialized role to perform starting with cooks, then line prep, one person fed trays to the line while one person placed silverware, another added side dish 1 followed by side dish 2 then as the line was 'pushed' the main course would be added followed by dessert, etc. until it was complete when the 'catcher' would stack and load the trays.

I hated working in the kitchen, there was no leadership, things fell apart immediately whenever a single person did not perform their job function properly and when anyone failed it caused everyone to fail. First the people in charge would constantly argue over how things should be done as they screamed at the poor Trustee's who made any mistakes. There was always someone who either could not or would not do the job forcing all 12 people to stop while staff yelled again causing constant turmoil, disorganization and problems. Any business or operation without strong leadership is destined to fail. People need direction, authority and motivation from a leader they respect and trust otherwise things fall apart. The other universal lesson I saw was that a business is only as strong as it's weakest link. No matter how good 11 of the 12 people on the kitchen line were at their task they were unable to accomplish anything when a single person they relied on did not perform.

In the website business it does not matter how pretty or nice looking a website is if nobody can find it on Search Engines. A nice looking properly search engine optimized website without reliable hosting is a failure because if the hosting company or servers are unreliable then the website goes down. If the website is pretty, found on search engines and hosted by a reliable company but the content is out of date or not easy to update then it is a failure because inaccurate information will upset customers. The people who build, update and market the websites must work together in the same fashion to build a better website through expert contribution at each step of the process.

Being forced to 'take a vacation' to the 'adult daycare' was a wake up call, a change in paradigm where I accepted that life is not fair and it is not my role to prove that it is. I realized that the situation I was in was worse because I felt I had to make a statement and stand up for what I believed in. The short time I was gone seemed like a lifetime but it helped give me perspective I doubt many other successful business owners will ever have. A few other things came to light during this time ranging from other website companies jumping on the situation to try and profit by sending false information claiming my company going out of business intended to scare our customers into hiring them. I found out who the valuable, loyal staff were and who was capable of performing under pressure and I am happy to say our best people stepped up to the plate and made things happen even with a few mistakes.

My heart goes out to Lindsay Lohan as she finishes her first night in jail hopefully realizing that, even though she may have disagreed with the court order, it would have been better to swallow her pride and accept it. It took me sitting in jail for contempt of court to finally realize that success is something you know individually based on what you have done to make your life and the lives of those around you better. Appreciate the good in life and the people around who love and support you at home or work. Make the decision every day to be positive, help others and help improve life because any time wasted on negativity or things you cannot control is time that can never be recovered.

Success is not how much you have, where you live or what others think of you. It IS nice to have a few toys or comfortable place to live but never let those material things or stubborn beliefs in right and wrong get in the way of simply making the world a better place to be.

Business is good, life is good and I appreciate all of the customers, staff and friends.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
Internet & Technology Expert (and former Trustee)
http://www.builderconsulting.com/ - Building BETTER websites and online solutions since 1995
816-842-7774

Google Keyword & Search Engine Optimization Tools

2010-06-15T15:52:00.000-05:00

When trying to optimize a website for higher Search Engine Rankings or working with a Pay Per Click campaign there are several invaluable tools every business needs. The Google Search Based Keyword Tool is an online application developed by Google providing worldwide or regional reporting on specific search terms, week-to-week numeric values of search volumes, Pay Per Click (PPC) competition and budgeting which integrates with existing Google AdWords PPC accounts and much more...and it's free!

The official Google explanation of the service 'What is the Search-based keyword tool' is:

The Search-based Keyword Tool generates keyword and landing page ideas highly relevant and specific to your website. In doing so, the tool helps you identify additional advertising opportunities that aren't currently being used in your AdWords ad campaigns. The tool goes one step further by tailoring the keywords and other data (such as the amount of competition for the keyword, the suggested bid, and more) based on your language or country/territory settings.

Based on your URLs, the Search-based Keyword Tool displays a list of relevant user queries that have occurred on Google.com (and on other Google search properties, such as google.co.uk) with some frequency over the past year; these suggestions can be found under the Keywords tab, in the New keywords related to (site) section. In the Keywords related to your search section, you can see a broad list of keyword ideas that are also relevant, but aren't necessarily based on your site.
The keywords are also organized by category. Click any category to expand and view its subcategories. If applicable, you'll also see the keywords organized by brand names.
Important note: We can't guarantee that these keyword suggestions will improve your campaign performance. Additionally, we reserve the right to disapprove any keywords you add to your campaigns. You're responsible for the keywords you select and for ensuring that your use of the keywords doesn't violate any applicable laws or our Terms of Service.

Try it out or ask your Internet Marketing Provider if they are using this invaluable tool

http://www.google.com/sktool

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
Internet & Technology Expert
www.InternetBuilderConsulting.com - Building Better Websites and Online Solutions since 1995
Office 816-842-7774

Online Advertising Not Always Transfering Online Surfers to Sales

2010-01-05T00:17:00.002-06:00

MIT Study Debunks Online Ad Advantages

Online advertising can be much better at targeting certain demographics than its traditional media counterparts. But as more competition enters the space, these advantages do not automatically translate into greater profits, according to a new study from the MIT Sloan School of Management.

MIT Sloan Assistant Professor Alessandro Bonatti said that marketers who think they can get better results at a lower cost by advertising on the Internet instead of through more traditional media should consider all of the avenues available to them before making a decision. The same search and other technology that enabled advertisers to target particular audiences is also creating greater online competition for the same audience, thus reducing the profitability of advertising on any targeted website, he said.

The Paradox of Too Much Choice
“We know that newspapers have a very limited ability to target audiences,” said Bonatti, who worked with Yale University economics professor Dirk Bergemann on his research into the issue. “Specialized magazines can do better, while Google has a very good ability to target who’s browsing each page. So while online advertising certainly has the potential to drive out traditional advertising, it does not necessarily follow that online advertisers will make more money.

“That depends on the concentration of the online advertising industry,” Bonatti added.
The bottom line? As technology keeps improving, more and websites will be able to sell narrow products to very specialized audiences, diluting the profits that can be made through specialized advertising. “Instead of competing for one large pool, one big market, you will have price war in each targeted segment as the slice gets more and more narrow.”

“The paradoxical result,” Bonatti concluded, “is that the better the technology, the lower the profits for advertisers. You can make a lot of money through super-powerful targeting if you are a monopolist, but not in a competitive market.”

Vertical Networks
Bonatti’s findings take on greater relevance as vertical and hyper vertical ad networks continue to proliferate, MarketingVOX reports. According to Adify’s Vertical Gauge for Q309, brand advertising CPMs for various verticals - namely food, real estate and entertainment - posted quarter-to-quarter increases in 2009 and are performing well.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
913-814-8844 Office
Always keeping on top of the online marketing news and trends since 1995
BuilderConsulting.com - Building Better Websites & Online Marketing Solutions

Facebook More Important Than Sex

2009-11-11T11:59:00.000-06:00

Like it or not the pornography industry has led the growth of the Internet since day one. Sex has been the top searched word on the Internet since the Internet started but the world is changing. The constant expansion and use of Social Networking has finally overtaken the top spot as the most searched term.

Twitter has seen the most month to month growth (see Blog post on Social Media here http://buildersocialmedia.blogspot.com/2009/10/almost-20-percent-of-internet-users.html ) but Facebook is now the top searched word on the Internet worldwide. The Internet has grown up and touches the daily lives of nearly every person through Tweets, Social Networking, Email, Search Engines, Online Classifieds and entertainment.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
BuilderConsulting.com - Building Better Websites and Online Marketing Solutions since 1995
913-814-8844 Office

The 40th Birthday of the Internet Born at UCLA in 1969

2009-10-30T19:07:00.000-05:00

In 1969 UCLA professor Leonard Kleinrock sent the first message from his computer at the school to another computer at Stanford Research Institute. Kleinrock was trying to create a login starting up a remote system which crashed after only two letters and lo! producing the first Internet message. The Internet was born with the simple data message sent between two remote networked computers progressing to the millions of daily connected users today.

The creation of the internet, email, chat and social networking has been a significant influence on the lives of billions of people worldwide over the past 40 years. Most Internet users consider the Internet to be a new invention not realizing the basis of the Internet started 40 years ago. Google now recognizes over 1 TRILLION pages for it's search engine making it more difficult each day to be ranked in the 'Top 10' search results.

The Internet progressed from the initial remote computer connection to the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency which created ARPAnet for defense communications. In the 1970's Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCPIP) was developed for networks to 'internetwork' which spawned the name 'Internet'. In 1983 TCPIP was accepted as the official protocol further progressing the Internet as a universally accepted means of electronic communications.

After 1983 the number of connected computers expanded and new networks outside of ARPAnet were created to connect computers worldwide. In 1989 Tim Berners Lee proposed an inter connected network to share documents and files via a Internet initiating the first Web Browser. Within five years the world was using a web browser to search connected computers information or documents followed by the Web 2.0 term for later sites such as Facebook, Flickr, MySpace and social networking.

Few realize the power of the Internet with 40 years of development contributing to the World Wide Web used today. At once there are millions of people connecting, communicating and collaborating every minute of every day worldwide.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
BuilderConsulting.com - Building Better Websites and Online Solutions since 1995
913-814-8844

Ability is Greater than Money

2009-10-06T17:41:00.000-05:00

Ability is greater than money because it can be neither lost or stolen.

If you study the lives of very successful people you will find that they rarely climb to the top of their business or profession and stay there without challenges. They often climb to the top and falter several times during their careers but they know that the one thing that got them where they are, their ability, is always there to help them reach the top again.

Your ability is the one thing that you exclusively own; no one can ever take it from you.

The economy and business today continue to be challenging yet those of us with true ability to provide solutions will succeed. Builder Consulting builds better websites, our unique ability is to place websites on search engines and build long term successful relationships with customers who become partners.

What is your unique ability that will help you succeed in good or bad times?

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
BuilderConsulting.com - Building Better Websites and Technology Solutions since 1995
913-814-8844 Offices

Tweeting for Business & Other Social Media Marketing

2009-09-22T02:33:00.000-05:00

There has been a tremendous amount of hype the past few months about social networking, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn.com and dozens of other websites designed to connect socially. One primary item lacking is a Return on Investment (ROI) analysis to determine if the social marketing is a fad or truly valuable to a business. In terms of the messages being shared they range from "I am selling something" or "I am writing an agreement" to perfectly valid news and information about business, websites, marketing and life.

Next there are the groups of people working together who all connect with you and share the SAME message at the same time bombarding people with an endless ongoing stream of Tweets and Facebook updates and annoyances. The people and companies using social media marketing to just throw anything up and hope it helps are doomed to fail. Nobody wants to be sent the same message from 10 different people within 20 seconds; never have your entire company or marketing agency send the same message out within any short time. If there is a valid observation, business idea, success story (not that you are writing a contract, that is narcissistic and not going to impress anyone) then be sure to Tweet away.

Consider posting ideas that improve the lives or business for customers and friends. If you have a business and personal account try to keep them somewhat separate; it is ok to be friends with clients but not ok to bombard either with inappropriate photos or messages. A friend in the computer industry recently published his Facebook profile and connected with numerous clients and new prospects online only to realize later he has place 'I LIKE BEER AND WOMEN' as the only interest listed in his profile. It was an oversight where he was being sarcastic rushing through the profile setup but it came across as unprofessional, he changed it.

No Matter What...restrain the urge to post or publish junk or useless information or things that do not apply to your target audience or company just because you have nothing else to share. There are days that need no social media marketing, it is better to share pertinent interesting information that people will read than to just post something to say you did. Twitter is great for entertainment and shopping, there are MILLIONS of people following actors and public figures who share all types of random thoughts from bathroom breaks to drinking coffee that some people apparently find interesting. Rather than posting similar items without any potential for ROI consider linking social networking accounts so they all update at the same time.

Cross linking the accounts permits the sharing of valid interesting information (and some junk, we all do it) without spending every day logging into dozens of websites trying to remember username or password hoping someone might find what you shared worth reading. Since I setup and began to actively post valid information I have had two new legitimate (paying) business customers come from Facebook. Checking the hundreds of followers on Twitter I noticed most of my x-girlfriends, a few people I fired, some other local website companies hoping they might learn how to get a website listed on search engines and dozens of other people I am sure will become stalkers in the near future...no paying customers yet but what the heck it's free!

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
BuilderSocialMedia.com - Building Social Media for Business
BuilderConsulting.com - Building Better Websites & Internet Solutions since 1995
913-814-8844

Large or Small, Personal or Business, You Know Your a Success When...

2009-08-07T15:03:00.009-05:00

Throughout history the people who made the most difference, changed the world, brought about innovation, social expansion and created everything we take for granted today were loved and hated. Consider Microsoft, undeniably the most influential company in history in terms of computers and software used by hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Chances are you are reading this Blog on a computer using Microsoft Windows or Microsoft Internet Explorer and sent email using Microsoft Outlook or Exchange today.

Do a quick search for the term 'Microsoft Sucks' and 42,200,000 (over 42 million) search results are displayed starting out with a website dedicated to 'Why Microsoft Sucks'. To date the Microsoft Office is the # 1 selling office productivity software in the world, Internet Explorer is used by 98% of all businesses and still there are more than 42 million results about 'Microsoft Sucks'. Can anyone name the company that created Open Office, the free 'imitation' of Microsoft Office that has been around since 1999? The company does not come to mind, they now offer Open Office in more than 80 languages worldwide but nobody knows who they are because it is just a cheap imitation of Microsoft Office who came first and dominated the market (Sun Micrososystems developed Open Office).

Next think about what Susan B. Anthony went through in her quest for Women's Suffrage (the 19th Amendment, right to vote) being arrested by the US Marshall Service, jailed numerous times, expelled from her Union, called a 'harlot', 'unpatriotic' and many worse things. She stood up for what she believed in, what was right and equal for all people and changed the world. In her time she was hated by most men and a significant portion of the female population for pointing out inequities in society and dedicating herself to changing them. Move on to one of the most well loved and most popular leaders in history with a 98% popularity rating in his country, Adolf Hitler.

As unlikely as it sounds, Hitler was extremely popular throughout Germany at the start of his power and throughout the initial war. Hitler utilized the emotions of the German people who felt they had been oppressed and taken advantage of after World War I using national pride, promise of change and most significantly propaganda to influence Germany to follow him. This technique has been used throughout history by scandalous people or companies to sway others to their views when they were unable to obtain influence or compete through legitimate means.

Ask yourself how is it that companies that have done so much to improve and influence our lives are so hated by so many or women like Susan B. Anthony that dedicated their lives to helping others obtain a fair vote in society could be so despised? Neither history or any of us remember the people who never made a difference or caused any 'waves'. The companies and people who take the initiative, put themselves at risk, create change and influence life or business as we know it are the ones everyone loves, or loves to hate. When I officially started my business back in 1995 I made little difference, nobody knew who I was or heard of Builder Consulting and life was easy.

Move forward 15 years and hundreds of websites later to where Builder Consulting has been recognized as the Best Place to Work by the Business Journal twice, received 119 local and national 'Best Website' awards, created the industries first content management system (BuilderAdmin.com), presented hundreds of educational classes worldwide and still conducts business without a single salesperson needed. Last week alone six 'hate emails' from the owner of a company that started up in the same city 8 years after Builder Consulting using a name that is eerily similar to ours. The week before an email was forwarded from someone in Tulsa stating they were told 'Robert Jackson is slimy' (really...I take showers daily) and last month a company in Texas became a customer after another website company told him 'watch out for Builder Consulting' prompting him to research our company and become a customer.

Success, we finally made it! Builder Consulting has changed the way the industry markets online, created the websites, software and solutions others are now trying to imitate and continues to be years ahead of the herd. Customers love us for the success and solutions and other companies hate that they cannot compete no matter how many bad things they say!

The people and companies that make the most difference are those we all know, love, like or love to hate (TMZ is one of the top rated shows). You or your business has made it, you know your a success when the same happens to you!

What similar experiences have you had, did you notice an increase in this type of desperate activity as the economy slowed?

BuilderConsulting.com - Building Better Websites & Technology Solutions since 1995

Need to Rebrand, Adapt or Change? Look no Further than KFC

2009-07-29T08:49:00.007-05:00

Kentucky Fried Chicken was founded in 1952 by Colonel (Harland) Sanders though the idea goes back to the 1930's. During the Great Depression Colonel Sanders began selling fried chicken out of his gas station eventually coining the marketing phrase "finger lickin good'. Over the next 40 years the company became famous worldwide with more than 36,000 locations. Two key aspects brought about the name change from one of the world's most recognized fast food names, Kentucky Fried Chicken, to the short KFC acronym.

First and most important is the health food craze that swept the nation dramatically reducing sales for 'fried food' and anything else considered fattening or unhealthy. Health food stores such as Whole Foods sprung up everywhere, consumers began counting calories and the word 'fried' became a bad word. Subtly starting to re-brand Kentucky Fried Chicken to KFC eliminated the instant, in your face reference to unhealthy fried food bypassing the fickle consumer aversion to fried foods partially. Jump to present day and KFC released Kentucky Grilled Chicken making the transition of the fried, unhealthy image to a clean grilled (I.E. healthy) image.

The second reason was a little known move by the State of Kentucky trademarked the state name 'Kentucky' requiring anyone using the word to pay licensing fees. Kentucky Fried Chicken began the re-branding process to KFC within one year of the action and recently worked out and agreement with the State of Kentucky for use of the trademarked word again. Kentucky Fried Chicken saw sales and profits plummet when society changed then adapted and changed to succeed. The change was an active process over several years starting with the simple use of an acronym simultaneous with the longer Kentucky Fried Chicken name for the first few years.

Next came the drop of the longer name using KFC as the primary branding and advertising message followed by the most recent Kentucky Grilled Chicken to complete the transformation to a healthy (or least healthier) fast food experience. A company as large as KFC could not accomplish this overnight, it required years of planning, effort, marketing, branding and consistent messages to the public to change perception. Many people were not even consciously aware of the change yet it happened and now a company doomed to fail as healthy food popularized has emerged as a strong leader once again. The same must happen for businesses today in the challenging economic times. What worked before does not work today, buyers are using social media such as Facebook or LinkedIn to connect with sellers and each other.

No longer are traditional advertising or business models applicable for success, all sellers must adapt to the new terms of buyers in both message and product. Former messages of strength are no longer valid in today's economic times ("xyz builders...building homes since 1940..."). No matter the industry the market has changed and everyone needs to adapt for the change to succeed. If KFC can do it in 109 countries at more than 36,000 locations than any you can do it at your business under your leadership.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
www.BuilderConsulting.com - Building Better Websites since 1995
913-814-8844

Size DOES Matter

2009-07-20T19:26:00.007-05:00

Last week a new client came to Builder Consulting asking for help updating the 3 year old website built by another website company. The customer shared they were impressed that every time they contacted Builder Consulting someone was able to instantly assist them and the completed project of transferring the website was done in a day. Discussing this further the customer said he had been calling and emailing the current website company for more than two weeks never once reaching anyone, having a return call or email response.

The customer elaborated further that the other website company had four (4) full time sales people and only one (1) full time website developer with no programmers, no website hosting staff, no project managers and no customer service staff. Apparently the few people who worked at the other website company were all out of town trying to sell more websites at a trade show leaving nobody to help customers or make updates for websites already built. The inherent problem with companies like this is they will sell far more than they are capable of completing to pay salespeople commission and keep closing new business without any regard to service or results after the sale.

If a website company only has a handful of website developers the chance is they are busy building websites for new customers the salespeople are selling without any time to assist current and past customers. Any company selling websites or online marketing without a full time staff (NOT a single person or two trying to keep up with new work) is not going to be capable of properly servicing, updating, developing new systems or solutions and researching the constant changes in online technology for customers. Builder Consulting builds websites with a team of 8 to 10 experts working together in addition to the full time support and website updating staff to handle most requests within 24 to 48 hours.

When asked why the other website company was selected years ago the customer simply said they had a great sales pitch and a list of companies they had worked with....but he had never verified any of the information and only found out after the fact that the website company was unable to support him after the initial sale. When it comes to online solutions there is no capacity for any single person or even two or three people to design, develop, program, publish, support, update, manage and plan for future needs of customers. It takes a team of experts and when it comes to online development, if you want it done right, size DOES matter.

Consider if someone was attempting to build a home along out of the back of a pickup truck and then decided he could make more money by hiring 4 people to go sell homes for him. If the 4 salespeople were successful it would matter little how good the lone builder was because he would be unable to properly build the foundation, frame the home, do all plumbing, frame the home, complete the drywall, electrical, roofing, paint, lay the driveway then decorate the home alone or even with 1 or 2 people helping - the same thing applies to building a website - it cannot be done properly without a team of experts. After the home or website is built there MUST BE a strong experienced support team to follow up, assist and maintain everything otherwise it is like having the best billboard in town hidden in your basement!

The Builder Consulting teams of experts typically complete 20 websites each month with an average start to completion timeline of 4 to 6 weeks. Once the websites are completed and published Builder Consulting markets, manages, updates and maintains each website with a priority for CURRENT CLIENTS above new business resulting in a 93% customer satisfaction and retention rate unheard of in the website industry. Find out how true customer service and results can work for your company and contact Builder Consulting today for an expert consultation.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
BuilderConsulting.com - Building Better Websites and Online Solutions Since 1995
913-814-8844 Offices

It's Hard to Go Back on Poor Online Marketing Decisions

2009-07-06T17:09:00.014-05:00

In traditional marketing a bad decision about an ad layout lasts only as long as the current issue. When it comes to the Internet a poor decision or uneducated choice can have lasting implications on success of a business. Something placed on the Internet is easily found years later, even if it was deleted or only online for a short time. Conversely something found online today may not be easily found tomorrow if the wrong decisions are made or a disreputable online marketing company is used.

Any true online marketing expert understands the value and importance of 'link weight' pertaining to website visits from potential buyers and how a search engine ranks a website The higher the ranking by a search engine the more times a website will be seen and visited by potential customers and conversely if a website is not ranked well it will never be viewed or visited by potential buyers. Google has published the fact that a primary website ranking algorithm for ranking websites is how many other websites link to a website and what the value of those websites is. This was best illustrated in the 2004 Presidential Election where Democrats placed links to the George Bush profile on thousands of websites with the term 'miserable failure' resulting in George Bush being the 1st item shown on Google when users searched for 'miserable failure'. If a website has dozens of other highly valued websites linking TO it then Google considers that website of higher value and ranks the website higher in search results.

The same works in reverse meaning that a website with several highly ranked websites linking TO it will be perceived as lower value if those other websites no longer link to the website. Search Engines often consider this in terms of companies going out of business or offering less valued or less important services. When a Search Engine tracks links moving from one website to others the link weight is lowered for the negative links being moved away thus lowering the ranking and reach of the website. The result of this is much lower traffic often resulting in less leads and lower sales instantly without a simple solution to repair. An unfortunate example of this was a website Builder Consulting built for a Tulsa home builder that went from less than 400 users per month to over 4,000 monthly user visits (potential buyers visiting the website).

When the company hired a new marketing manager she decided to cancel all online marketing and move the website to a new website company she liked with disastrous results. Builder Consulting had steadily increased the website traffic to an average of 2,200 unique users (buyrs) visiting per month. After the new marketing director changed the website to a new website company the website had a 92.08% decrease in unque buyer visits in less than one month to a low of 161 visitors to the website; less than it had ever been in more than a decade. The significant changes made to the online marketing led to a catastrophic result for the customer in less than one month that will not easily be resolved with several months effort.

There may be another change in marketing ahead when the owner of the company finds out his website is down 92.08% simply because of a poor choice made that caused the company to lose 92% of potential client visits to the website in less than 30 days. Little things have a large affect online, watch out for anyone promising unrealistic results or unquantifiable actions since there are far more bad online marketers than there are good ones.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
BuilderConsulting.com
913-814-8844 Corporate Offices

Going Green Takes Common Sense & Effort

2009-06-25T04:23:00.004-05:00

Going Green is huge these days, though many people fail to realize that living green is quite easy when common sense is used. The Federal Government has been advertising 'unplug to save electricity' for months touting the fact that anything plugged into an electrical outlet draws power constantly even when turned off. The fact that the electricity used amounts to an average of 3 cents per month per item plugged in is not shared because most consumers would simply feel that a few cents makes no difference yet combine 3 cents by millions of people worldwide and it adds up much faster.

Devices such as the Voltbolt (www.TheVoltBolt.com) solved this years ago with a simple power strip that locks to disable all power instantly while also providing security and anti-theft deterrence with a locking key to secure devices to the power strip and disable power instantly at the turn of the key for about the price of a normal power strip. Using reclaimed building products from companies such as Seldom Found Arhitecturals provides unique items to accent home or business while recycling wood, stone, brick and other materials that often end up in land fills.

Electricity costs more during the day so laundry and dishwashers should be run at night or after 6PM when most electric rates go down. Water and other utilities often work in the same method charging more for peak production times (8-6) thus a bit of common sense used can reduce monthly bills tremendously. Builder Consulting utilizes Green Production through working in multiple shifts with staff at the office late into the evening and early morning when power consumption is less costly and more efficient...and it serves customers worldwide from 7AM to Midnight most days improving customer service while working Green.

Use LCD monitors rather than old tube monitors which consume 50% less power and have a brighter, crisper display that is easier on the eyes. Be sure to recycle the tons of wasted paper at offices using it for note taking, internal printing and recycle programs. Rather than throwing away old computers simply upgrade them and donate to charity as Builder Consulting has done for years providing needy or low income families with computers instead of landfills.

Going Green continues at home making sure not to let water run when brushing teeth or turning off the lights when not in use and replacing all light bulbs with those nifty new high efficiency light bulbs that use 70% less power. Little things such as turning off the lights in a bedroom or bathroom when taking a shower during the day make a big difference when millions of people make the effort. During the hot and cold times of the year set the thermostat to an average temperature and do not adjust the settings to wide ranges (no more than 1-2 degrees change) since significant adjustments increases heating or cooling costs by up to 20%. If your home has a garage only open it when required since the heat or cold coming into the garage will creep into your home raising the heating or cooling costs significantly. There are countless common sense ideas for Going Green we may all use on a daily basis to save money and the environment.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
BuilderConsulting.com
913-814-8844 Offices

Netextinct - Business, Services & Items the Internet is making extinct

2009-06-23T03:21:00.007-05:00

Netextinct –adjective
1. no longer in existence; that has ended or died out: travel agencies are quickly becoming netextinct.
2. no longer in use; obsolete: a netextinct business
3. having ceased operations; no longer active: an extinct business due to the Internet

The Internet provides millions of people instant access to information, products, services, friends and constantly evolves as a child coming of age. With the apparent benefits there have been those affected by netextinction replacing their business model or service with the click of a mouse. Consider when was the last time you called a travel agency to book an airline ticket? Online classified ads are up 500% while newspapers fail or close their doors daily. Car dealerships now accept that most buyers have researched prices, makes, models and know more about the vehicle they want to purchase (due to the Internet) than the salespeople making the classic 'used car salesperson' obsolete.

These businesses have become netextinct; victims of the ecommerce (another word that never existed before the Internet). What other businesses or services would you consider to be netextinct or in process of netextinction?

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
BuilderConsulting.com - Building Better Websites Since 1995
913-814-8844 Corporate Offices

Building Better Social Media Networking, Marketing, Blogs & Websites

2009-06-16T22:35:00.001-05:00

Nearly 33% of active Internet users utilizing social networking sites every day,* social media sites are your greatest strategic asset to attract new customers and build brand awareness and instantly communicate a message to clients worldwide.
The time required for small- and mid-sized businesses to create and maintain just one social network profile (experts say about 32 hours per month), launching and nurturing a complete campaign that brings success across multiple channels is a challenge.
Builder Social Media builds strategic, comprehensive social media solutions so you can focus on your core competencies while we focus on ours - building effective, affordable, and on target social media campaigns to maximize your marketing ROI while saving you time and money.
The average in-house social media expert costs $84,000/year, including salary, benefits and taxes, our solutions save you 90% and more than 13,000 hours per year while delivering the same results.
Want better results? Go beyond the profile.
Anyone with an Internet connection can set up a profile on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Plaxo, Blogger, Activerain or Fast Pitch but there are specific methods that are more effective and Builder Social Media knows how.
If you want it done right, partner with Builder Social Media
Builder Social Media will build your Social Media Marketing working with your team to deliver the right conversations and captivate your audiences while saving you time and money, protecting your brand, and maximizing your marketing investment. With time-saving, affordable social networking solutions from Builder Social Media, there’s no reason to miss out on these tremendous new business opportunities that can:
• Establish, build, and maintain quality customer relationships
• Position you as an industry leader and a Subject Matter Expert in your field
• Create high-quality back links to your website to boost your Search Engine ranking efforts
• Protect your online reputation and brand. We can reserve your name on the top social networks before your competitors do it for you.

visit us online at www.BuilderSocialMedia.com today to find out how you can reach more people online by building social media marketing that works!

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
BuilderConsulting.com
913-814-8844 Offices

Some of the many benefits of Insomnia...

2009-06-10T01:21:00.004-05:00

As far back as I can remember I have been unable to sleep much, it first felt like a curse yet looking past the sleepless times there have been tremendous benefits. Throughout schooling I would use the time to read books, magazines and when I had read everything in the house I started to log onto my father's workstation and learned how to work with Bulletin Board Systems (BBS). Social Media is not a new invention, we were doing the same things using BBS in the early 1980's with man bulletin board systems surviving today.

It was a place to share information, comments, play games, read about others and the information they posted (sound familiar...maybe kind of like Facebook or Myspace). Everything back then was simple text, we created images with dots and dashes after the wonderful sound of a 1200 baud modem dialing, the handshake and then connection. I would guess the majority of Internet Users today have never heard a dial-up modem connect or have gone through the transition from 1200 baud to 2400 to 56K to high speed and now higher speeds. I was caught using the EXPENSIVE IBM Workstation provided by EDS for my father but I never learned because I never slept and it was always something new or interesting to learn.

Forward over 20 years later and I still spend nearly every night from whenever I arrive home until 3,4 or 5 AM on the computer. I have several computers in the house, two laptops in the bedroom (so I always have one in reach) enabling me to spend 100+ hours each week learning on the Internet. Add to this the PDA cell phones with Internet Connection, the wireless cellular EVDO high speed modem and dozens of computers, servers and workstations at the office and I now appreciate Insomnia. There is always a benefit to every experience, sometimes it may take years to truely see but if we have the patience and determination things become clear.

It has been a busy day, maybe I can get to bed by 4 AM tonight after some more time online...

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
www.BuilderConsulting.com - Building Better Websites Since 1995
913-814-8844 Office

Understanding Pay Per Click PPC Search Engine Marketing

2009-06-08T18:27:00.009-05:00

Search Engine Marketing through use of Pay Per Click (PPC) ads is an effective method of placing any website in front of prospective clients without having to optimize or market the website. Companies with new websites, extremely old websites or websites which offer multiple services in multiple locations are best serviced through use of pay per click marketing. Search Engine pay per click marketing (Google AdWords, Yahoo Search Marketing, Microsoft bCentral) is typically setup with a daily and/or monthly budget for the marketing campaign.

In traditional advertising marketers charge for a specific location in a magazine or newspaper in hopes that someone saw the advertisment based on a distribution number created by the company selling the advertising. This left much to be desired since the company selling the advertising was the same company providing the customers with the 'distribution numbers' estimating how many people might see the magazine or newspaper and hopefully view the advertisment inside of it. There was no true way to judge how many people saw the advertisment or what the return on investment was for the ad campaign. Online advertising, specifically pay per click (PPC) changed things with the pay for performance method of costs.

With PPC advertising a company only pays when the advertisment they show on the search engine is clicked on and a prospective customer is taken to the website to view the customer. When a customer simply views the ad on a search engine, without clicking, then there is no cost to anyone. Advertisers may setup a daily and monthly budget to spend for ads in addition to individual bids (yes bidding similar to ebay) for each search term or keyword phrase. A company or individual may bid for a particular phrase or set of keywords to have their advertisment show up when a search was done for those words on a search engine. The benefit is that advertisers pay for exactly what they receive while the detraction of bidding on keywords is that competitors can instantly outbid each other driving the costs up dramatically.

This means that ten companies may bid for the keyword phrase 'Kansas City Website Companies' all spending $1 per click to show up in the first ten advertising locations on a search engine. When ten more companies decided to bid on the same set of keywords they outbid the first companies for $1.50 per click or 50% higher cost per click. When the first set of companies see they have been outbid and their ads are no longer showing then they bid $2 a click or 100% more for the same traffic. Bidding sometimes becomes extremely competative when people or companies target a specific keyword phrase with no limit on how high the bidding goes for each click.

The benefit of Pay Per Click is that companies never pay for the branding/marketing aspects of having online users view the ad unless the online user actually clicks on the ad (thus pay per click). Online marketers sometimes neglect taking the time to search for the best 'bang for the buck' when setting up PPC accounts for clients. Builder Consulting spends several hours consulting with the customer to determine the top keywords and phrases then sets a specific budget for each term based upon the overall monthly goals and cost per click likelyhood of a return on investment. Keep in mind that any account setup with a daily and monthly budget will not show all ads all of the time.

The rate at which ads are shown is based upon budgets, likelyhood of the ad delivering a click (more effective ads are shown more often), the number of advertisers paying for each search term and the remaining balance of a budget for each advertiser. Any individual or company can setup pay per click advertising in a matter of minutes, setting it up properly to requires experiance and an understanding of the overall concepts, goals and technical aspects of the systems to provide a true return on investment.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
BuilderConsulting.com
913-814-8844 Offices

Microsoft Bing.com 'Decision Search Engine' & Reaches # 2 Position

2009-06-08T16:11:00.004-05:00

June 1st 2009 Microsoft launched the new 'Decision Search Engine' intent on improving the way search results are displayed. Commercials on national prime time TV show people speaking random words associated with what others asked them as a way to illustrate the frustration of search results on many search engines. Microsoft launched a YouTube channel with the new search engine to share advertisments www.YouTube.com/Bing An example of this includes a commercial where a wife asks about 'Hawaii' and the husband begins saying all types of words that have to do with Hawaii such as 'Hawaii 5-0', surf lingo and other items that would commonly come up on a search engine related to Hawaii.

The Bing.com search engine looks at the context of what users are searching for and then makes a decision on which search results make the most sense to display. With the launch of the new Bing.com search engine Microsoft overtook the # 2 position behind Google temporarily jumping ahead of Yahoo.com with 16.28% of the market share. Yahoo moved down to 10.22% of the market share with Google remaining at 71.47% of the search engine market share according to StatCounter reports June 4th.

Microsoft has launched several new cutting edge technologies in the past few months including Photosynth.net enabling users worldwide to combine images creating extremely detailed 'video like' 3D images online. What remains to be seen is if the Bing.com search engine will be a long term competitor with Yahoo.com or Google.com using intelligent search results and new technologies.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
Internet & Technology Expert
BuilderConsulting.com - Building Better Websites & Online Solutions Since 1995
913-814-8844 Office

Online Classifieds Usage Double Since 2005

2009-05-29T18:18:00.004-05:00

According to the latest Pew Internet Research study nearly 50% of all Internet users are using online classifieds. Forty-nine percent of online adults surveyed said they have visited sites like Craigslist, Kijiji and Oodle, up from only 22% in 2005. The study says that 9% of Internet users visit these sites on any given day, compared with 4% four years ago.

Online classifieds are particularly popular with 25 to 44 year old Internet users, more than half of whom use Internet classifieds, while just under half of 18 to 24 year olds and 45 to 54 year olds 49% and 48%, respectively use online classifieds.

Those figures fall for users over 55 with 35% of 55 to 64 year olds using classified websites, while 26% of Internet users over 65 do.

Use of classified sites also increases with income and education, with online adults earning $50,000 or more, as well as college graduates, considerably more likely to have visited them. The Pew Research study highlights the growing importance of online classifieds to Internet users and reflects the changes in the audience for classified ads in terms of those who place them and those who make purchases using online classified websites which devastated a key revenue source for traditional newspapers.
Craigslist is by far the most used website in the United States. In March 2009 all classified websites averaged 53.8 million unique visitors, up 7% from February. Craigslist alone had 42.2 million unique visitors in the month of March (out of the total 53.8 million total users). Newspaper classified revenue fell from 17.4 Billion to $10 billion over the same period with real estate classifieds down 52% since their peak in 2006. Total Internet ads revanue for newspapers in 2008 was $3.1 billion according to the Newspaper Association of America.

Just as past studies of online users have shown, adults living in households with incomes of $50,000 or more a year are significantly more likely to visit and use classified ads sites than lower earners. More than half (56%) of higher income Internet users use sites like Craigslist, compared with 47% of those making $30,000-$49,999 and 42% of those making less than $30,000 a year. In addition, online adults making $50,000 or more are more than twice as likely as those earning less than $30,000 a year to use online classified ads on a typical day.

The Internet continues to be the strong point in business and live with the numbers clearly showing adaptation by the average user.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
www.BuilderConsulting.com
913-814-8844 Office

It's a GREAT Time to Buy...Almost everything from cars to homes to websites

2009-05-29T11:47:00.006-05:00

After everything the economy, people and companies have been through it seems that everyone deserves a reward for making it through the challenges. Today, homes are being sold for pennies on the dollar, mortgage rates are low, a classic muscle car can be found for a few thousand dollars (watch Barrett Jackson Auctions sometime), Walmart has 'lower price' signs everywhere and you can buy a new car for almost nothing. Anyone who made it through the past two years without losing everything is in an incredible position to buy anything.

There are foreclosed homes for sale in the Kansas City market for as little as $10,000-50,000 without structural or major work required; other real estate professionals share it is the same in most places. Older areas of town have homes with mortgages where unfortunate people paid for 20 years then lost the home. This means the balance on the loan is only what remains from the purchase price 20 years ago after payments have been made for 20 years and the home appreciated. Hence a home valued at $50,000 in 1979 may have appreciated to a value of $75,000 with a remaining loan balance of $15,000 when the home was foreclosed so the bank can only sell it for the balance of the loan (foreclosing on homes is not to be for profit above the loan balance).

It is a great time to buy investment property, rental homes or even an extra home downtown for those nights the drive back from cocktail hour seems too far! Homes are not the only excellent deal, search on Ebay Motors or Craigslist anytime to find $80,000 supercharged Jaguar Luxury Sedans selling for $10,000 in perfect running condition. Less common vehicles such as Austin Martin Ultra-performance sports cars that sold for $144,000 a few years ago are selling for $25,000 when the people who blew their money on such luxury items now need the cash to pay bills. There is something very wrong and something very right about this transfer of assets though it did create opportunity.

Invest in yourself and your business, have a new website built to reach new customers, take advantage of social media and networking. Everything done today returns your investment in the future so get ahead of the competition now while business is slow, but increasing and consumer confidence is improving.

If you have the money stashed away or happen to be one of the well performing companies it is a great time to look for a new office building, a car, LCD TV or investment properties. The economy was hurt when consumers became scared to spend money, buy a home or invest but the time has come to correct this and get a great deal at the same time. Invest in real estate, buy a nice car, take someone out to dinner and help make things better while enjoying life in the process!

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
www.BuilderConsulting.com
913-814-8844 Office

Being Posative Leads to Success...in Business & Life

2009-05-29T02:51:00.006-05:00

I have considered writing about this for several weeks though until today I felt it was more of a personal mission than a Blog worthy message. When I arrived at work today there was an email from a builder in Texas inquiring about website services and online marketing. The email had the company name, website address, phone number, name and details of when the builder wanted a new website launched (60 days) so I picked up the phone and called him to find out more about his business and how we may assist.

The first questions I ask anyone is "how did you find our company?" to which his reply was "another website company trying to sell me a website gave me your name". He further elaborated that the sales person from the other website company had been so persistent and gone on for weeks about Builder Consulting that he simply had to go look us up on the Internet and find out what would cause someone to be so insecure they had to name another company, by name, as someone they "better not work with..." although he had never heard of our company or mentioned our name previously.

After spending a few minutes online researching website development firms and specifically our firm since he had been told by a sales person NOT to contact us he was comfortable enough to send an email request through one of the 12 websites he found pertaining to our company to speak with someone himself. When we spoke he was clear about his business needs and goals, inquired if we knew the other company (at which point I shared I knew who they were but would rather speak about how Builder Consulting can provide solutions than gossip about another firm) and we proceeded with a 30 minute conversation about his business.

By the end of the conversation the company on the other end of the phone became a customer requesting an agreement to begin working with Builder Consulting. He stated openly that the other company he had been speaking with was so negative and focused on why he should not work with other companies, while our conversation was simply about his business needs and what Builder Consulting would do to assist him.

The culture of a business or individual shows clear to others, short term gains may be made through negative marketing or slanderous claims about companies that may be considered competitors but those gains will never last. When a company we have never spoken with contacts us and becomes a customer simply because someone was so scared of trying to sell their work based on quality, service, results and innovation then it becomes quite clear that happiness in business and life ultimately determines success.

If an individual or business needs to say bad things about another to sell their products or services then they simply must not have a good enough product or service to be sold on its own standing - most companies are smart enough to realize this.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
http://www.BuilderConsulting.com
913-814-8844 Office

Building Better Websites and Technology Solutions Since 1995

Back to the Basics...Sales & Marketing First

2009-04-28T01:44:00.015-05:00

The past week has been spent speaking with marketing directors, sales managers and consultants about their Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, ActiveRain and other online social networking accounts. One sales manager shared and email from marketing firm outlining a several month long marketing campaign done by creating a fake person on Facebook intended on tricking buyers into coming to see homes for sale. The email shared that several people had agreed to be be Facebook friends with the fake person and even attended a party at a new urban condo unit. There was no information on how people reacted when they found out they had been tricked into visiting the community by a salesperson though the email did share say the marketing had lots of buzz until it was shut down by Facebook for violating terms of use and creating fake accounts. Are legitimate marketing professionals now Twittering for customers or spending months on fake online profiles creating fake people to trick buyers into viewing their products or location?

Would someone who was tricked into visiting a home by a fake person on a fake online account be the best prospective buyer? What ever happened to generating leads and sales through marketing? What happened to connecting with buyers through legitimate methods such as a well developed and search engine optimized website or effective targeted email marketing followed by personal calls to prospects to help generate interest. There are home buyers out there and the majority of buyers are using the Internet to search for homes, legitimate buyers are looking for a home for the best price not trying to be entertained or invited to a party. Multiple opportunities to reach buyers and share a message is good though quite a few marketing firms seem to be focusing efforts on random items online tools or Tweets while forgetting the basics of Sales and Marketing!

Build a better website, buy online advertising to put yourself in front of prospective buyers where they are looking then focus efforts on Twittering and creating online areas to chat with someone in hopes they may buy something. Back to the basics, the basics changed moving away from newspaper and print ads to the Internet Super Highway where you can reach more buyers and sell more...if the basics are done properly.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
http://www.BuilderConsulting.com
913-814-8844 Offices

Hallbrook Pays Lawyers $25,000 to Ensure Hallbrook Real Estate is Not Ranked #1 on Google

2009-04-28T01:32:00.004-05:00

An excellent example of what not to do involves a group of lawyers representing a development group who charged their customer $25,000 to make sure they were not on the first page of Google. Yes, you read correctly that the lawyers helped their real estate customers make sure they were not listed on the first page of a search engine in the middle of a terrible real estate market and only made $25,000 for doing it. The Hallbrook subdivision is an upscale neighborhood in Leawood Kansas minutes South of Kansas City. Homes for sale and real estate in Hallbrook are listed by several real estate companies with ads listing the spectacular Hallbrook Real Estate or Hallbrook Estate Homes for sale.

A local real estate company wanted to promote the homes and real estate they had for sale in the Hallbrook subdivision through a website to reach prospective buyers searching online. A small Search Engine Optimized marketing website was built incorporating the words Hallbrook Real Estate in the domain name (website address) listing homes for sale in Hallbrook and local area attractions. The website also featured on the home page links to the Hallbrook Country Club, Hallbrook Realty Team and other real estate companies with listings for sale in the Hallbrook subdivision. Within weeks the website was ranked # 1 on Google attracting the attention of someone at the Hallbrook Office Center or Hallbrook Country Club.

Someone somewhere was upset that the word Hallbrook was being used to sell real estate for sale in the Hallbrook subdivision. The first contact was a letter from a lawyer demanding that the # 1 ranked website be taken down because Hallbrook was a word used in the company trademark. The website was taken down for a short time to be sure nothing wrong was being perpetuated through use of the word Hallbrook to list real estate for sale in the Hallbrook subdivision. A quick search on Google showed 41,115 notations of the term Hallbrook Real Estate including dozens of similar websites that were not ranked on the 1st page of Google. A call was made to the lawyers representing Hallbrook Office Center sharing that the # 1 ranked website also linked to their client's website sending prospective buyers while clearly noting the website was not affiliated with any of the Hallbrook entities.

Months went by without further communications until a huge packet of legal paperwork was delivered to the website hosting company (Builder Consulting) from Lathrop & Gage lawyers. A lawsuit had been filed claiming use of the word Hallbrook was a violation of the trademark held by Hallbrook Country Club and Hallbrook Office Center. Lawyers from Lathrop and Gage shared that nearly $25,000 had been spent for the lawsuit demanding the # 1 ranked website listing real estate for sale in Hallbrook be taken down requesting that NO FURTHER marketing for the Hallbrook subdivsion, homes or real estate ever be done.

To be clear, lawyers from Lathrop and Gage wanted written agreement for their real estate clients that the # 1 ranked website on Google sending buyers to the Hallbrook subdivision be taken off the Internet in addition to confirmation that no future marketing would be done pertaining to Hallbrook. This seems completely contrary to everything a real estate company would need and want but for small $25,000 legal fee it was so agreed.

The lawsuit was dismissed, the website is no longer live and Hallbrook real estate sales are down 288% which is no surprise with the aggressive anti-marketing campaign in full force. Interesting to note when the case first came up the website was offered for sale for $1,000 at which point Lathrop and Gage shared the customer had already spent almost $25,000 on the case so they were not interested in buying the website...it would have been MUCH cheaper to just buy the website and keep the # 1 ranking on Google!

There are long term ramifications of immediate actions, begin with the end in mind!

Coldwell Banker Kansas City Loses the Online Buyer

2009-04-06T16:40:00.013-05:00

Everywhere today there are signs of failure, countless articles on various ideas for motivation, reaching more customers or just staying in business. Along the same lines it is important to note where companies, marketers and salespeople have gone wrong even with the best intentions. Starting this online illustration off is a group of Coldwell Banker offices within a particular region who were sold the idea to 'turn off' all of their websites and individual online marketing to use only one website they could all share.

In terms of search engine marketing a website should be considered an online billboard where a single billboard is only capable of reaching a small target audience on a specific location of the road. If buyers drive home on the road your billboard happens to be located then you have the opportunity to present your message to those buyers. Anyone who drives home another way or lives in another part of town will never see the billboard nor will they ever have a chance to see your advertising. A website works much the same way in that a single website will never rank very well or be listed very high in a wide range of buyer search results.

Search Engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc.) rank websites higher or lower based upon the content, traffic, number of links and related websites and even website locations. Thus a single website will never be 'everything to every search engine' and will never rank highly for more than a few specific search terms or keywords. With Coldwell Banker offices abandoning ten (10) individual websites for the local offices that previously contained specific information for each region or area to all share a single template website the local offices lost the ability to prospective reach home buyers, sellers and relocation customers on search engines. The intention may have been to share resources or lower marketing costs but the result was a loss of 90% of their potential online reach within all search engines.

One of the specific Coldwell Banker offices hosted the website at our website hosting facility with an average monthly Unique Users (unique visitors or prospective clients) of 4,400 and 882 active home buyers who had created accounts within the website to search for or save homes for sale in the local market. The monthly investment to maintain the website was $150 which equates to 3 cents per unique user (potential customer) per month before considering the 882 active buyers who created an account on the website.

The website was ranked # 1 on Google and Yahoo for specific search terms pertinent to the locations of offices such as 'Coldwell Banker Overland Park' or 'Coldwell Banker Kansas City' branding the company to thousands of home buyers and sellers every month (important to note there are several Coldwell Banker offices in the area but this website showed up #1). The website was turned off, all 882 active customers with home search accounts on the website were kicked off without notice and the website is no longer ranked on any search engine within the first two pages.

Somewhere along the way a salesperson from a website design company sold a local Coldwell Banker Relocation office on the idea that they should design a single website for all of the local offices to share. Maybe the idea was to save money, maybe they wanted to try and compete with Reece and Nichols who typically has 50% of the local market listings and uses one website or maybe it was just so the relocation company could get a fee for every single home sold by any local Coldwell Banker office. Whatever the reason was the local Coldwell Banker offices lost a tremendous opportunity to reach more customers through their individual websites (online billboards) and proved there is more than one way to lose business in a tough market.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
Internet * Technology Expert
http://www.builderconsulting.com/
913-814-8844 Office

Social Media Tools for Easy Online Marketing

2009-03-24T09:20:00.003-05:00

Some of the best places to market today are FREE, more classified ads are placed daily on Craigslist.com than any other website except Ebay (who happened to buy Craigslist) while there are dozens of other similar websites used for online ads. Most users simply post an ad online using the basic ad creation tools built into each classified ad website causing the ads to blend in with others easily. A way to augment your online ads is to create a 'webpage' using HTML and external image hosting yet this requires some level of website design skill, the software and time to develop the ad; most people will not take the time to do this.

Another solution is to use the excellent online tools, What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) HTML Editors that create the webpage for you through a few basic steps. One such website is vFlyer www.vflyer.com enabling customized online ad creation for Real Estate, Rental/Leasing, Automotive/Cars and Marketing Companies. Setup of an account and basic flyers is FREE with a small paid subscription service available for those who post multiple ads each month.

Another online website with FREE social media marketing tools is Easy Auto Sales www.EasyAutoSales.com specifically setup for for automotive ad creation, classifieds and posting. The Easy Auto Sales website incorporates unique tools such as Facebook integration, history of buyer/seller ads, creation of custom HTML for posting the ad on other websites and direct feeds to many search engines showcasing any auto posted within the website to buyers on Yahoo and Google FREE of charge. Functionality includes online community forums of automotive questions, car clubs and vehicle research.

Last but not least is the Postlets Classified Ad Creation and Marketing website www.Postlets.com primarily focused on real estate ad creation while incorporating tools for cars and trucks as well. The unique feature of Postlets is that the ads created are marketed directly to all of the following top social media websites for FREE once the ad is completed:

	craigslist
	Facebook
	FrontDoor
	Google Base
	HotPads
	MySpace
	Oodle
	Trulia
	Twitter
	Vast
	Zillow

The basic Postlets account is FREE enabling full access to the website, ad creation and basic marketing tools. Enhanced options create a complete website for online ads with enhanced marketing for each of the individual posts at a nominal charge of $5 for one, $40 for 10 or $75 for 25 ads including the website and marketing. That equates to $3 per ad at the bulk rate which is much less expensive than newspapers or other online paid advertising websites.

To request additional information on other online marketing, social media or website development contact Builder Consulting www.BuilderConsulting.com

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
Internet & Technology Expert
Builder Consulting - Building Better Websites with Results Since 1995
913-814-8844

Does Social Networking Bring Business?

2009-01-29T15:52:00.006-06:00

Several educational offerings about Social Networking were offered at the 2009 NAHB IBS in Las Vegas this month sharing a wide range of ideas. Many different options were shared with direct examples of builders, real estate professionals and companies marketing via social networking groups. Myspace.com, Ning.com, Facebook.com, Activerain.com, LinkedIn.com and dozens of others portrayed an endless list of options to share a message.

The difficult aspect of social networking in marketing is correlating any resulting leads or sales. Any additional opportunity to reach prospective customers or place an 'online billboard' is beneficial yet there seems to lack a single direct method of converting social browsers to buyers. Most social networking websites are provided free of charge so a return on investment only includes the time required to collect, publish and update the information on each of the portals.

Marketing is either targeted or not; social networking is the new hot marketing idea (even though it has been around for years) though it has not yet been refined to a targeted marketing tool. Anyone considering the launch of a social networking marketing campaign should first start with a Blog followed by one or two of the thousands of other social marketing portals to practice upon. Blogs have always been well liked by the search engines so they are an excellent proven opportunity.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
BuilderConsulting.com
913-814-8844

Is it Blogging or Bragging - there is a difference

2009-01-26T03:23:00.004-06:00

Do you ever feel like some Bloggers suffer from a since of direction or creativity? After reviewing dozens of blogs around the country from self proclaimed professionals you find several who have a post with useful information followed by a blog bragging that they sold something to someone. Anyone who mistakenly subscribed to that type of blog would be greatly disappointed to see Blog posting about some trade show or who got hired since that information belongs on the company news area or on a Blog dedicated to company news.

Consider if the Wall Street Journal went from publishing useful news one day to only publishing information about some new printing machine and the great people they have on staff the next day - No News and a clear lack of focus. Most often this type of random blogging is done by bloggers with a lack of content or ideas to simply 'show' they have posted something...anything...desperate to keep new content. Keep online content consistent, consider how a prospective client may perceive the content of a blog and never post junk in place of valuable information just to show your doing something!

Online users looking for information on a Blog will be disappointed to find a blog full of bragging.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
http://www.BuilderConsulting.com
913-814-8844 Office

Good Rules and Ideas to Live or Work By...

2008-12-16T19:24:00.009-06:00

Day to day it seems there are far too many people who take themselves much too seriously while neglecting to realize there is more to life than making more money or worrying about what others are doing. Realistically we are all capable of doing anything we desire (within reason, I will never be an NBA star or run a 4 minute mile) as long as we are willing to put forth the effort. In that spirit I wanted to share a few quotes or ideas that have helped create our company and my personal focus in life...

The quality of a persons life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence regardless of their chosen field of endeavor - Vince Lombardi
Make it Better Because You are There - Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
You can be anything you want to be when you grow up
Start with the End in Mind - Stephen Covey
There are no Problems, Only Solutions waiting to be discovered
Your either part of the problem or working on the solution
What Can We Do Today to make it better than yesterday
Learn Something New Every Day
The only thing life that is consistent is change - Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
Whatever position you have earned in life always strive to be your very best
Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, the thrill of the creative effort. - Franklin D. Roosevelt
It is neither wealth nor splendor but the tranquility and occupation which give happiness. - Thomas Jefferson

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
http://www.BuilderConsulting.com Building Better Websites with Results since 1995

Researching Google PageRank and Link Weight (geeking out tonight)

2008-10-10T00:30:00.000-05:00

PageRank is basically a website popularity rating, and a websites PageRank is determined by the inbound links from other websiteson the internet. A PageRank can be as low zero (0) to as high as ten (10). Google’s algorithms determine a website’s PageRank by dividing the PageRank for each of the inbound linking webpage by the number of outbound links on each of those webpages, factoring in each page’s PageRank, and then summing the results for all inbound links.

PageRank is Similar to Voting

PageRank considers each link a ‘vote’ for the webpage linked to. But unlike the normal voting process of “one person equals one vote”, the Google algorithm considers the votes of webpages with “more” (PageRank or shares) to have a greater influence or value. a link from a webpage with a PageRank of 7 is more valuable than a link from a page of PageRank 3; exponentially more valuable as I will outline below

The 80/20 Rule Online

Because of the nature of the Internet, a small number of webpages have a tremendous number of inbound links, and a large number of webpages have few links. Those with more links get higher PageRank

The value of PageRank is on a logarithmic scale increasing exponentially. Assuming that the base PageRank of 1 has a value of five (5), the value of a webpage link would be this:

Example:

Hypothetically a website obtains a continuous link from Builder Consulting’s home page (http://www.builderconsulting.com/) while the Builder Consulting home page contains about 70 outbound links and has a PageRank of seven (7).

There are a total of 50 other inbound links with the average PageRank for the webpages linking in is three (3) and those webpages have an average outbound link count of 10. From this, let’s calculate PageRank:

Builder Consulting’s Available PageRank per outbound link:
78,125 / 70 => 1,116

PageRank value contributed by 50 other sites:
125 * 50 / 10 => 625

Total PageRank value:
1,116 + 625 => 1,741

Looking it up in the table, the resulting PageRank for the home page is four (4)

The Three ‘P’s of Inbound Links for higher PageRank

As with the three ‘L’s of real estate, the three ‘P’s of inbound links are: PageRank, PageRank, PageRank! Note how in the above example the 50 inbound links of PageRank 3 offered less PageRank than the one (1) inbound link from BuilderConsulting.com with PageRank of 7.

Below is an example of what it would look like with base two (2) through ten (10)

Depending on the logarithmic base, PageRank fluctuates between four (4) and five (5) for this hypothetical example. However, starting with a logarithmic base of five (5) the one Builder Consulting link overpowers the 50 others! And because pages with a PageRank closer to 10 are listed higher in Google’s search engine results.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
http://www.BuilderConsulting.com
913-814-8844 Offices

Building Business through Social Networking

2008-09-30T15:22:00.000-05:00

Nearly everyone has heard of Myspace, Youtube and the other social networking giants even if they may not yet have an account. Mentioning Myspace to older relatives instantly brings the thought of Dateline 'To Catch a Preditor' yet that is far from the actual truth as to what social networking websites are about. The Web 2.0 ideology brings to light the true social medium of the Internet connecting millions of people worldwide sharing ideas, information and products 24 hours a day 7 days a week 365 days a year.

The Internet now contains more than 500,000,000 domain names (website addresses) with hundreds of thousands more registered each week. Somehow companies continue to believe that 1 (one) single lonely website is going to be ranked high enough to reach all prospective buyers in all potential areas. Simply put one website cannot be everything to every search engine and the odds are a single website without any outside help will not be ranked well online. One option to improve the odds is using social networking websites to place the website address, company information and products or services on thousands of places worldwide.

One of the most popular business focused websites is http://www.linkedin.com/ enabling users to join for free, setup a professional profile, experience, website links, contact information and even testimonials. The Linked In website provides an online directory of business contacts, feeds content (your information and website) to search engines and functions as an online resume. Myspace http://www.myspace.com/ is typically known for teen and young adult visitors though more than 1/2 million visitors are over the age of twenty five (25). Builder Consulting setup a Myspace account years ago http://www.Myspace.com/BuilderConsulting and posts new websites launched, updated information, contacts and connects with other industry professionals worldwide.

Facebook http://www.facebook.com/ or Ning http://www.ning.com/ and YouTube http://www.youtube.com/ are other viable online sources for social networking. Whenever video is used on your website use YouTube to host the video, add your keywords and embed the video within your website. This provides double duty by freeing up resources on your website and reaching millions of potential customers using YouTube. This video from Mike Brown of Brown Midwest has been viewed dozens of times on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lauDSiZ_hN0 while also being featured on the home page of the company website http://www.brownmidwest.com/.

KEEP IN MIND that unlike traditional media or marketing what is posted online tends to stay online. Search engines cache information and webpages meaning they download and store the content on their servers to provide the fastest results for search queries online. Consider how many millions upon millions of websites are online then consider how fast the Search Results are shown when using Google or Yahoo. The search is being completed within the directory of pre-searched and ranked websites stored by the search engine. A search engine does not truly search the Internet; it searches the pre-determined list of websites and rankings already stored.

Social Networking Websites tend to be free but the content is still a reflection of your company, services and products. Ensure anything posted online accurately and professionally markets a business; online users will include or exclude your company based upon the ease of use, access to information and overall feel from your website or any third party source.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
http://www.builderconsulting.com/
Building Better Websites & Online Success Since 1995
913-814-8844 Corporate Offices

How Do You Run a Business in Tough Times?

2008-09-29T12:54:00.000-05:00

Turn on any television or visit any news website and there are a dozen instances of how bad the economy or real estate industry is doing. Every political campaign promises change while the next minute every campaign is running the same old negative campaign ads bashing the opponent. When things get tough every business owner has to address tough decisions on how to create new opportunities, motivate employees AND customers, where is the best return on investment for marketing and what kind of attitude to have.

Attitude is not everything yet it is a personal decision made each day that will make or break a company. If business is slow it is easy to blame others for making the economy bad or competitors for taking your business or even employees for not performing as well. Any or all of these items may have merit and should be addressed professionally as needed.

In a round table meeting after the Midwest Builders Show last year a retired builder angerly shared that the main reason he felt his company had failed was competitors copying his floorplans and then selling them cheaper than his former company. After the meeting two other local builders vocalized their opinions that poor customer service, constant delays and excessive spending resulting in higher sales prices for homes were more likely the reasons behind the business failure. The failed business owner had spent more time focused on what his competitors were doing than adjusting budgets, addressing ongoing quality problems and correcting the fundamental issues within his business that led to the eventual closure.

Companies cannot continue to do business the same old way expecting different results when everything has changed. Tough decisions need to be made on where the best Return on Investment comes from in marketing, materials, supplies, employees, training and future plans. One of the first things Builder Consulting did when the markets slowed was to sell the enormous Hummer H2 SUV's that guzzled gas and felt like overly lavish expenses when most of our customers were facing difficult times. Many other aspects of the business were adjusted, staff were cross trained and Builder Consulting invested a significant amount of money to support customers having the most difficult times.

Builder Consulting paid for the website hosting, updates, marketing and hired additional customer support professionals to communicate with customers on the best way to reach buyers. Training classes are offered each week to teach customers how to most effectively utilize the website, understand the traffic, follow-up with buyers and make updates using the 24/7 online updating systems. Not all customers facing challenges have made it though it was not due to lack of effort or attempts to help as a partner rather than a vendor. Accountants and other business owners say that when someone cannot pay then it is best to cut losses, disconnect services and move on. Our philosophy is if someone is having a difficult time than the worst thing anyone could do is kick them while they are down and stop the only changes they may have at improving business through reaching buyers online.

It may not be the best way to run a business when considering cash flow or income but it is the right thing to do. Somewhere along the line people and businesses stopped considering what is right and wrong and began thinking only of income; what other companies are doing instead of how they may improve their business and chose what kind of attitude they wanted to have.

Challenges and issues will always be part of business, how we act, react and work through them is up to us. Make the decision to take the high road, help others in need, focus on the positive instead of negative and make things better because you are there.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
http://www.builderconsulting.com/
913-814-8844 Office

Website Beauty is Only Screen Deep

2008-09-01T01:52:00.000-05:00

As the Internet and technology continues to expand there are literally thousands of 'website designers' with a wide range of knowledge, design and development skills. Most of the website designers have graphics design backgrounds, they make things pretty without much understanding of how a website should work, flow or ranks on a Search Engine. Beauty is only screen deep means that a beautiful website, maybe your beautiful website is only truly beautiful if the world is able to locate and view it outside of where you see the website on your screen.

The misinformed website companies or Search Engine Optimization (SEO) experts who believe that a website needs SEO after it was completed or that old websites can have SEO work 'added' are selling snake oil not results. SEO is not something a true Search Engine Optimization expert does, it is an ongoing limitless method of backend website coding, formatting website content properly, link weight, directory insertions, manual ongoing submissions of webpages and so much more. Everyone claims to 'do SEO' or Search Engine Marketing (SEM) yet very few truly understand what that really means or how to accomplish anything past adding META Tags to the website. The results speak for themselves when customers have had pretty websites built by other website companies who 'do SEO' only to find none of the websites are being found on Yahoo or Google as expected. One such Kansas City Builder/Developer had been using a local website company who even outlined in the website agreement that SEO was included yet after the website went live it never showed up anywhere even when searching by the company name.

After two websites were produced Johnnie Adams Homes http://www.johnnieadamshomes.com/ hired Builder Consulting to redevelop the community websites and a new development/building company website. The investment spent with the other design company was lost yet the results from having all four of the new websites built properly were clear within weeks. All of the new websites are listed on the 1st page of Google, Yahoo and MSN when searching by name, location, product or community reaching thousands of buyers every month. The old website designed by the former website design company actually won Best Community Website Award yet it never once reached a buyer or helped sell a home because it could not be found online! Beauty is only screen deep, a website should be cosmetically pleasing yet balanced with the tools, code and true Search Engine Optimization to ensure the pretty website is a pretty selling tool.

Anyone can create or copy a pretty website, the cosmetic portion is the easiest to produce but the backend toold, content management systems, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems and code structure makes the website successful. Do the research to find companies with real estate experiance (not just selling websites to real estate, someone involved who understands the industry, customers, MLS, etc) and better yet locate a website design company who knows how the Internet workd AND how to build websites because that is the only way to be successful online.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
http://www.builderconsulting.com
http://www.WebsitesForBuilders.com
http://www.builderwebsitedesigns.com
913-814-8844 Office

SEO, SEM, PPC What the Heck?

2008-07-29T00:51:00.000-05:00

In the past few months it seems that anyone and everyone has become experts at Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM). One such website designer shares that they are the SEO Experts because anyone looking for homebuilder websites will find their website design company listed #1. A strange idea since the people searching for homebuilder websites are more likely looking for someone to build a home than a website company. This example illustrates an extremely valid yet often overlooked point that not all traffic is good traffic online.

Website companies offer Search Engine Marketing (SEM) services such as Pay Per Click (PPC) using Google AdWords, Yahoo Search Marketing and other paid advertising with the same lack of understanding costing customers thousands of dollars in worthless marketing. Search online for Atlanta New Homes and a builder from Oklahoma (does not build in Atlanta) was listed in the top 3 paid listings for a cost of nearly $4 a click because their SEM company did not setup the marketing properly. When the monthly reports come in the Search Engine Marketing company shares with the customer that they spent the budget and gained whatever number of visitors to the website. What was missed by the SEM company and the customer is the fact that the budget was spent bringing unqualified traffic to the website. The website company managing the Search Engine Marketing may never realize the mistake and the customer is likely satisfied at the increase in traffic to the website.

The inherent problem with companies claiming they 'do SEO' is that Search Engine Optimization is not something you can just 'do'. To properly Optimize websites for Search Engines there are literally dozens of key aspects that must be properly completed, many outside of the website development process. Just because everyone is familiar with the term and every website design company claims 'they do SEO' does not mean they even understand what the terms mean much less how to provide the results. If you are considering hiring someone for SEO or SEM ask the prospective companies what their target audience is and go search for them online, ask for and check referrals, verify the provider has multiple websites using the very same SEO and SEM services they offer and understand that not everyone is able to provide what they claim.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
http://www.BuilderConsulting.com
913-814-8844 Corporate Offices

Listen and Understand to Succeed

2008-06-25T20:37:00.000-05:00

No matter what type of business you are in or what your role within the business the most important thing you can do to succeed is to listen better. There is little in life more frustrating than being forced to explain something multiple times because someone was not listening or did not take the time to understand what was being communicated.

I had a recent appointment to have new tires put on a company vehicle and spent the first 20minutes trying to explain to the shop that I needed 17 inch tires put on the car instead of the 15 inch tires they were trying to sell me. The clerk was quick to explain that the computer shows 15 inch tires are right for the model and year of the car. The car did come with 15 inch rims and tires that were taken off and replaced with 17 inch after market rims over two years ago.

The tire shop clerk was trained to go by what the computer said, but not to listen to the customer of what to do when the computer was wrong. After the shop finally seemed to understand that the car needed 17" tires they took the keys, filled out a form and asked that I wait an estimated 45 minutes for the work to be completed. After close to an hour the poor shop clerk came back explaining that they were unable to install 17 inch tires because the computer says 15 inch tires are what should be installed so if they put on any other size tire the company could be liable for lawsuits.

That seems like a stupid policy but I can accept whatever rules the shop comes up with but I will not accept wasting over an hour because nobody took the time to listen and understand. I will never go to that shop again, they have lost our business forever. Listening will increase sales, solidify customer loyalty, bring referrals, improves office communications and helps business succeed. Beyond listening is making sure you understand what is being requested or at the very least what the person is trying to accomplish. People do not always communicate well, sometimes what we hear is not what what the other person says.

The most important part of communication is truly understanding what the other person is really telling you. SLOW DOWN, repeat back what you believe the customer, co-worker or prospect is asking and be sure to over communicate whenever something is unclear. No matter what the problem there is a solution and that solution may simply be to understand what the other party is trying to share so you are able to provide the right solution.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
http://www.BuilderConsulting.com
913-814-8844 Corporate Office

Understanding Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

2008-04-23T09:13:00.001-05:00

The expansion of Search Engine Marketing (SEM) companies who charge an ongoing fee to manage Pay Per Click (PPC) marketing designed to bring traffic to a website has led to more confusion for customers. Recently a prospective customer in Florida was told by a Search Engine Marketing salesperson from another company that their 5 year old website should not be upgraded because they would be able to get more traffic to the website through a 6 month contract for pay per click advertising. The current website is not listed on any of the search engines with a HUGE FLASH SPASH page, out of date information, difficult navigation and little opportunity for buyers to make a buying decision online.

The salesperson went further in telling the customer that they were 'putting the cart before the horse' by fixing the website before obtaing more traffic to the website. The salesperson is either uninformed or dishonest in his proposal and claims to the customer since driving more traffic without an effective website will not generate any more sales nor provide the website with any chance of being listed on a search engine without having to pay for the listing. Since the Search Engine Marketing company is paid by managing the ongoing paid advertising it makes sense for them to advise the customer not to invest on an effective website that would begin showing up online without having to pay for clicks. Pay Per Click (PPC) is an effective short term solution for new websites to bring traffic, visits and inform the search engines of the website content.

PPC works similar to an online auction (think ebay) where each company or marketing firm out bids the competitors for the top spots. This means that the cost will ALWAYS increase while the results will continue to decrease. The focus of marketing companies sell paid listings and search engine marketing is to ensure the customer always has to pay them to obtain traffic on the website rather than having an effective website that reaches customers through Search Engine Optimization. What most website and online marketing companies are missing is that they will not lose money by helping the customers reach more buyers on a search engine without PPC. If the website is developed properly with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) it will reduce the monthly costs for customers delivering a more effective long term reach. The initial loss of advertising income will be offset by the long term relationship and business from the customer who will need another website or related services in the future.

The other EXTREMELY BAD affect of search engine marketing and PPC management companies is the lack of understanding or accountability to the customer. The marketing companies usually have little to no understanding of the customers business or target audience. A builder in Kansas has been paying the website company that built the current website for search engine marketing each month. The builder only builds homes in Kansas City Metro (KS/MO) yet the website company setup paid marketing nationwide so that anyone looking for new homes or a builder for any city in the country will see the paid listing for the Kansas City builder. Specifically the builder who ONLY builds in Kansas and Missouri is paying for advertising in Georgia, Oklahoma, California and all 50 states because the search engine marketing was setup wrong by the website company!

The website company also has a link on the HOME PAGE of the customer's website to the website traffic reports for all of his competitors to see. When reviewing the reports they only show the number of visits and overall traffic to the website not where the traffic is coming from. This means the customer will never know that they are being charged to market homes in California or Georgia because the report does not include this information and the marketing company either does not know or does not care. To see this specific example visit www.AtlantaNewHomesandBuilders.com then view the GOOGLE ads rotating at the bottom of the page often showing a builder in Oklahoma and a builder in Kansas City along with the local Atlanta ads.

When marketing online consider the long term goals, what opportunity is being presented to buyers when they reach the website and what common sense tells you.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
http://www.BuilderConsulting.com
Building Better Websites Since 1995
913-814-8844

Return on Investment (ROI) from Online Marketing

2008-02-01T12:24:00.000-06:00

In 1999 Yahoo went public and quickly became the top Search Engine used by millions of Internet Buyers worldwide. Microsoft Network (MSN) and America Online (AOL) were the top competitors with little heard about Google. Move forward to 2008 and Google has become an adjective "Do You Google?" or "Google it" commanding 60% of the online searches. Naturally businesses and Internet Marketing companies spend the majority of online budgets on Google AdWords pay per click advertising. Yahoo Search Marketing and Microsoft bCentral are often overlooked or ignored missing millions of potential buyers.

The largest is not always the best and marketing dollars should be invested where the best Return on Investment will be accomplished. Advertisments for 'Kansas City New Homes' on Google AdWords can cost up to $3.85 per click reaching 60% of the online users. The same advertisment on Yahoo averages $1.31 per click with 18% of online users. with a mere 14% of online users Microsoft bCentral advertising will cost $1.12 per click. A monthly budget of $500 would give:

129 clicks (potential buyers) from Google
381 clicks (potential buyers) from Yahoo
446 clicks (potential buyers) from Microsoft bCentral

Others considerations for online marketing are demographics and usage - consider that Yahoo became the top Search Engine 8 years ago and remains the top destination for finance and business users. Google has the largest porportion of teenage users making it perfect for marketers wanting to sell IPOD's, concert tickets or Teen Magazine. Researching the demographics to ensure your marketing dollars are reaching the proper audience is more important than the total number of users on a specific search engine. Pay Per Click alone is not an effective long term marketing solution. Pay Per Click is effective for targeted traffic with a set budget yet will constantly cost more for less results or traffic as others bid against you for the top spots.

Developing a professional website incorporating the key aspects of design, Search Engine Optimization, navigation, usability, content, purpose and one-click call to action opportunities is the best overall solution. Investing more in expert website services will reduce the costs required for constant paid listings when your website shows up naturally online. Websites listed through pay per click that are poorly designed or ineffective are PAYING to exclude themselves from buyers!

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
http://www.BuilderConsulting.com

Search Engine Optimization Guidelines

2007-06-28T19:42:00.000-05:00

When planning and executing an effective Internet Marketing and Search Engine Optimization program it is important to understand that Search Engines often change rankings within their directories. A Search Engine (Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc) is simply a database of pre-approved website listings. This means that your next Google Search only shows the results of the websites that have previously been added and ranked in the Google Database Directory of websites!

When Google, Yahoo, MSN and the other search engines add new websites to their directory your website ranking will be affected. If there were 1 million new websites added to the search engine directory this month it is likely to move the rank of your website in the Search Results. Sometimes the website may rank higher while other times the addition of large numbers of new websites may bring the website rank down. When executing an effective Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing campaign remain focused on the long-term advantages and goals when the rank of the website changes each month.

Keep these 5 guidelines in mind when assessing search engine optimization efforts:

1. Content Changes on the Internet
Websites are updated, new text may be added, new images or pages may be developed and content changes on the website. Other websites are also changing and updating content to improve their rankings which may affect where your website is listed even if you make no changes. Any and all changes made to the website may affect the ranking at any time.

2. Search Engines Constantly Change and Evolve
Every Search Engine is constantly trying to improve the Search Results for users online. The algorithms or programs used to determine how a website is ranked are updated and modified frequently affecting how your website will be listed.

3. Size Does Matter Online
Websites or marketing pages with a single page and links to other websites are often ranked low or even excluded from Search Results. Since all pages of your website contain different text and content every page added over time can affect rankings. The QUALITY of the content is more important than the quantity since a properly developed and optimized website will always rank higher. When expanding the website keep your primary phrases and keywords in mind and be sure to incorporate them.

4. Inbound Links from Other Websites and Directories
In an ongoing attempt to exclude marketing websites the Search Engines have given higher rankings to websites which have more links TO the website from other websites considered to be of high value. This means that having a link to the website from website not listed in the directory or another website ranked poor does nothing while a link from a highly rated website that has been online for many years will improve the rank of YOUR website!

5. It Takes an Expert
Search engine optimization is an art developed over years of experiance and research. Knowing what search engines share data with others, how the cross linking works, what content and design affects rankings and how to properly submit a website and webpages to the thousands of directories is extremely time consuming. Search engines are constantly changing ranking methods and adding new websites which requires ongoing research and tracking by consultants and SEO experts.

Searching online may be discouraging when other websites rank higher than yours that have apparent deficiencies such as lack of content, no keywords in the title or META tags and a limited number of pages. Sometimes the rank of a website makes no sense considering the known standards used to rank and sort Search Results.

Often times the age of a website (how long has the website been online and ranked in the directory) and number of other websites with high ranking that link to the website can provide a higher rank for a poorly designed older website over a properly designed new website...at least until the new website adds creditability.

Not all websites are created equal and neither are the thousands and thousands of inferior website designers who lack true skill and understanding of the Internet. Make sure your website is Search Engine Optimized and keep the long term goals in focus as you see the webite rank differently over time.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
Internet & Technology Expert since 1995
http://www.BuilderConsulting.com

Building Better Websites for Home Buyers

2007-04-21T20:57:00.001-05:00

Having been in business for over 12 years building over 600 websites nationally we have had numerous customers request music, audio and video to automatically play on their websites. While many website design companies do this without thought (the customer asked for it) few consider the problems this will cause the customer. Statistically speaking having music or video automatically start on websites will lose business since the large majority of Internet Users consider it annoying.

Technically having music or video on a website will keep 58% of all potential home buyers from ever viewing your website since they are still using Dial-up internet connections which cannot properly facilitate this. Many website designers fail to focus on what their customers customer is looking for when creating a home builder website nor the technical numbers.

Home buyers want a visually and cosmetically appealing website that downloads fast and is easy to navigate so they can find a new home. Anything else is a distraction that loses the customer and the potential sale on a real estate website. When Internet Users want to be entertained they visit www.YouTube.com and even that website does not automatically play music or videos until the customer requests!

The overwhelming majority of home buyers who visit your website are doing so at their office during the week. Considering this fact most of the home buyers who visit a website at the office that starts playing music from their work computer will instantly turn the website off so not to be caught. Builder Consulting spends between 20-30 hours a week (myself and our Internet Marketing staff) researching online usage trends, technical changes, home buyer studies and Search Engines to ensure the websites we build produce the proper results for the customer.

Below are a few articles and feedback on the use of audio/video on websites:

Business Community comments and information about music on websites:
www.startupnation.com/pages/community/forum_posts_SEO.asp?TID=322&PN=4&TPN=1

Nifty new service from Yahoo enables consumers to provide direct feedback and answers to questions such as music on websites:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070113153650AABqZMz

What other website companies say about music on websites:
http://www.oakridgewebdesigns.com/musicweb.htm

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
http://www.BuilderConsulting.com
913-814-8844 Office

Integrating the Internet with Traditional Marketing

2007-03-26T23:50:00.000-05:00

Real estate has always been about Location and the number one location for reaching home buyers today is the Internet. Studies from the NAHB and NAR attribute as much as 86% of all new home buyers using the Internet as a primary resource when searching for a new home or builder. Less than 10% of the marketing budgets today are spent on the Internet. Integrating the Internet with traditional marketing continues to be a challenge even the largest builders or real estate companies find daunting.

Browse through any local newspaper or magazine and you will find a real estate agent with a full page ad featuring a huge self portrait, small images of homes for sale, a phone number and maybe a tiny line of text with a website address. Read a few more pages to find an ad for a beautiful new home community listing the Community Name in large print across the top, photos of the area, prices and a phone number but no readily available website address. Advertising offline needs to focus on driving buyers online to your 24 hour 7 day a week Internet Sales Center.

Most Internet Users will use a Search Line to type a community, builder or location name (i.e. Kansas City New Homes). If the Search Results do not display your website then you just lost the opportunity to sell that buyer a home. The Internet is being used to exclude as much as include you based upon locating your website and delivering it properly to the buyer. Home Buyers are searching for information online that is quickly displayed, organized, cosmetically appealing and consistent. Websites should be attractive but understand attractive does not mean effective on the Internet. Nationally only 42% of Internet Users have high-speed Internet leaving 58% with slow dial-up connections to view websites.

A pretty website designed with FLASH movies, music and large high-quality photos will never reach 58% of the people using the Internet. Internet Buyers have ADD typically waiting less than 20 seconds for content before moving on. There is nothing more annoying than to finally locate a website only to be presented with the ‘Loading’ (please wait a few minutes to see our website) screen.

Consider next the home buyer who has high-speed Internet who decided to look for new homes before bed on their laptop. With their husband or wife sleeping beside them a website blaring loud music awakens their spouse so they immediately close the website moving on to another. Many marketing or advertising methods are used simply because it is the way things have always been done not because they produce results. Billboards deliver a split second visual message which is effective for branding but difficult to deliver a message.* Home buyers were using the Internet twice as much as a newspaper by 2003 while the money spent on newspaper advertising was over ten times what was spent online. **

Old habits are hard to break; our industry will not change marketing habits overnight although you can start small and work your way into the Digital Age. Place your website address prominently on all advertising, business cards, company vehicles, signs, letterhead, community handouts and floorplans and every email you send out.

Integrating websites with offline marketing is extremely important keeping in mind that online buyers are not looking for entertainment; they are looking for a place to call home.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
www.BuilderConsulting.com

*NFIB 3/14/2002 “Should You Advertise on Billboards”** NAR 2003 “Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers”

New Home Specialists Expert Sales Training & Education

2007-03-08T00:27:00.000-06:00

Recently ranked in the Top 50 Most Influential people in Real Estate, Bob Schultz and The New Home Specialists are THE leading experts for new home sales training, sales management training and real estate.

Visit the new website at www.NewHomeSpecialist.com and be sure to bookmark their BLOG http://newhomespecialists.blogspot.com/

NAHB Reports Sales Slow but Inventory Drops

2007-03-06T23:13:00.000-06:00

Posted from NAHB.com 3-4-2007

New Home Sales Slow in January, But Inventories Drop
Following gains in November and December, new single-family home sales dropped 16.6% in January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 937,000 units, 20.1% below the pace of a year earlier, the Commerce Department reported last week.
Despite January’s decline, which followed an upward revision for December, new single-family sales remained in the narrow range that has persisted since the middle of last year.
"The falloff in new-home sales in January largely reflected a return to more normal weather conditions, following a weather-related increase in sales late last year," said NAHB Chief Economist David Seiders. "NAHB's monthly surveys actually have been showing modest improvements in builders' confidence regarding home buyer demand since last September."
"The new-home sales statistics continue to show a lot of month-to-month volatility, but the pattern has been fundamentally flat since the middle of last year," Seiders said. "The market is being supported by solid gains in employment and personal income, as well as by a historically low interest rate structure, and we expect those supports to be well maintained as we move forward. Furthermore, builders continue to use both price and non-price incentives to bolster sales and reduce inventory," he added.
The inventory of new homes for sale edged down in January to 536,000 units, the lowest since February 2006 and equivalent to a 6.8 months' supply at the January sales pace.
Nearly 33% of the inventory was comprised of completed homes for sale; 51% consisted of homes still under construction and units with permits that were not yet started accounted for 16% of the inventory.
Completed homes were on the market for a median of 4.8 months in January.
Homes sales declined in January in all four regions of the country.
Sales were down 37.4% in the West, 18.7% in the Northeast, 9.7% in the South and 8.1% in the Midwest.
The median price of the new homes sold in January was $239,800, slightly higher than the previous month but 2.1% below a year earlier.
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Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
www.BuilderConsulting.com websites to reach more buyers and sell more homes!

Your attitude can make or break your success

2007-01-24T00:48:00.000-06:00

When you walk into a store to buy something, what do you expect?
Most people expect to encounter someone friendly and helpful, to be served in a timely manner, to be given a fair value, to be presented with a good product and to be thanked -- whether or not they make a purchase.

But typically, you get a mechanical welcome, with someone feebly asking, "Can I help you?" In some situations, you may encounter clerks who tell you what they can't do for you, versus what they can do. They use the word "policy" in explaining why they can't help you, and they seem unable to understand that just because the store is out of an item, that doesn't mean you don't still want it or need it. Or that you'll go to a competitor to get it.
Many companies have multiple locations where the products are the same, but the service is not recognizable from place to place. One may be fantastic, while the other may be pathetic. Such inconsistency can make or break a business.
Companies spend millions of dollars on advertising, branding, merchandising and every other element of marketing. But if there are people involved in the business, marketing means nothing unless those people are great.
I often ask people in the working world, "How's it going?" I get disappointing answers such as, "Just three hours to go." Or "Thank goodness it's Friday."
What kind of statements are those? What does that tell you about what kind of employees they are?
When you go to a hotel, a $50 million business rests on the shoulders of the front-desk clerk. That's the first impression you have. In a retail business, it's no different. The advertising may get you to come into the store. But from there, it's all about the retail clerk.
What is your company like? Do you have employees who hate their jobs? Do you have workers with an attitude?
Here's what you can do:
1. Set the example by being your best and doing your best.
2. Hang around with the winners, not the whiners.
3. Create best service practices and have everyone implement them.
4. Conduct weekly, internal positive attitude training.
5. Look at the best companies in America for practices you can adapt and adopt.
6. Do your best at everything, every day.
6.5. Work on your own attitude.
Anything less than the best is unacceptable. But here's the secret: Don't do it for your company -- do it for yourself.
Real winners are few and far between. And making yourself one is a choice.

Every day we strive to do better, learn more and make a difference - if we may be of assistance with your website, Search Engine Optimization or technology let us know www.BuilderConsulting.com

Confusion in a Cooling Market - Bob Schultz

2006-11-30T12:32:00.000-06:00

CONFUSION IN A COOLING MARKET
By Bob Schultz, New Home Specialist Inc.

A cooling housing market is no longer a threat lingering somewhere in the future. It is here. Even national builders like KB Home and Toll Brothers are starting to see the effects.

"There are signs that consumer demand in the U.S. residential housing at current prices is softening," The Wall Street Journal quotes a recent KB Home report saying.[1]

The News-Press, in Fort Myers, Florida, reported that Toll Brothers said new orders in the first quarter fell by 21 percent, and that The National Association of Realtors said home sales in 2006 are expected to fall from last year.[2]

The good news is that you can still succeed in a cooling market. But you must have a clear understanding of how the market works in times like these.

A cooling market is a confused market.

Buyers are confused. They suddenly see prices dropping or leveling, when they are used to prices rising. They aren't sure if they should take advantage now, or hold out for better deals later.

The marketplace itself is confused. Interest rates have risen, and continue to rise. Some builders are offering huge incentives to get prospects to buy. There are more re-sales. The market is over-saturated with properties that investors are trying to flip. These conditions have reduced potential buyers' sense of urgency.

"There's virtually no sense of urgency, and buyers can take their time considering multiple properties," says a recent South Florida Sun-Sentinel article[3]. The News-Press quotes housing analyst John Tomlinson saying that, nationally, "The higher-end buyers are beginning to realize they don't have to rush in - that maybe if they hold out prices will moderate."

Builders are also confused. In some places, when the market was at its hottest, prospects were offering more than 100 percent of the listed price for a home. The market was so hot that many people were buying houses within a day or two of first looking. It has been a builders' market, and, suddenly, it is not. Builders don't know what sorts of measures they should take - should they discount their homes? Build fewer of them? They see a need to lower prices, and in many cases they can afford to do it, but they are also afraid that doing so will signal market weakness and discourage people from buying.

The salespeople who work for builders become confused. Their sales slow down. They don't get them as quickly or easily as they are accustomed to. They think their builders should be lowering prices, offering incentives and spending more money on advertising so they can continue to make sales as easily as they did when the market was hot.

To thrive in a cooling market, you must not be confused.

We know that the market never drops to zero. What is occurring now is a process of market corrections. The market has been unsustainably hot, fueled by low interest rates, investors and an extreme sense of urgency because of quickly rising prices. Houses have appreciated by as much as 30 to 40 percent in some areas over the past three or four years. Now, interest rates are increasing, investors are backing off, and market corrections are adjusting the housing market back to a more natural, sustainable state.

The fact that the market is cooling doesn't mean it is turning into a bad market. It is simply returning to normal. Imagine that the average yearly temperature over a period of centuries in a given area is 75 degrees. Suddenly, the average temperature in that area jumps to 115 degrees. It stays there for a few years, and then begins to fall. If the average temperature the next year is 95 degrees, are you going to say that it's abnormally cold? Of course not. It has just been abnormally hot for a few years, and now it is returning to normal. The same thing is happening with the housing market.

As the market changes, you must identify which things you can and can't control, and then learn how to improve on the things that you can control.

You can't control interest rates, but you can control people's perception of interest rates. You can't control what the competition does, but you can control what you do - presentation and sales skills, Follow-Through®, appointment-setting, how your models look, etcetera. You can't control what the articles in the newspaper say, but you can control what you put in the newspaper. You can't control the weather outside of your sales office, but you can control what kind of environment people experience when they come into contact with you.

As the market changes, there will be less traffic to convert, so you must work to increase conversion ratio. Make every prospect who walks through your door count.

Even though buyers are confused, if they show up at your sales office, they are at least thinking about buying a new home. It is your job to un-confuse them. Have a solid, planned presentation to help guide them through the buying process. Cause them to think it through. Get them to recognize that, even though interest rates have risen, they are still the lowest, on average, that they have been in 50 years. Help them to realize that interest rates are probably not going to fall soon, and are likely to continue rising. Point out to them that construction costs are going to continue to increase because of oil prices and hurricane damage. Make them understand that now is still a better time to buy than later - that their buying power will never be greater than it is right now.

You can use the following script:

"Mr. & Mrs. Homebuyer, with interest still the lowest that have been, on average, in nearly 50 years, and with rapidly rising costs of construction, due unfortunately in part to the recent hurricanes and oil prices, your buying power for a brand new home will probably never be as great as it is today. Consequently, the only thing that waiting to acquire a brand new home might accomplish for you is an erosion of that buying power."

(Pause)

"And I'm sure that you don't want to have you pay more than you need to own the home you want, do you?"

Below are some other specific things you can do to succeed in the confused market:
1. Maintain strong, thorough knowledge of your marketplace. Research the re-sale market. Track the following re-sale information on a monthly basis:

. How many listings go unsold
. How many close
. The average sales price
. Average sales price as a percent of listed price
. Average days on the market prior to selling
2. Look at trends. As the market cools, there will be more re-sales than before, and they will stay on the market longer. How many re-sales and investor sales are available? At what rate are they selling compared to normal market absorption (the average over the last 12 months)? You can use this information to estimate how long it will take to sell your inventory. Also note the names of the Realtors® who are selling the re-sales. They can help you. If they sell something in your price range in your market, you can reach out to them and get to know them, and they may be able to sell some of your homes.3. Cut back your operating costs. Look at every aspect of overhead. Identify areas where you can you consolidate, and do so.
4. Compare your prices with other selling prices in your marketplace. You may need to rework your product. You might need to downgrade the specs of some of your models. As interest rates increase, even gradually or marginally, people's buying power decreases. They can no longer afford to pay the same prices that they could afford when rates were even slightly lower, because monthly payments are higher. You may need to reposition your product to be more in line with current sales prices.
5. Assure prospective buyers that your market is a strong market. Never let them think that it is weak. Always tell them that business is incredible. Don't ever let them suspect that you may be struggling. Be a beacon of clarity and reassurance when everything else is confusing to them.

In an extraordinary market, it is easy for ordinary salespeople to look like very good salespeople. But in an ordinary market, it takes hard work to be an extraordinary salesperson. As the market becomes more ordinary, many salespeople will get out of the business and go back to doing what they did before the housing boom. But those who keep a clear focus, stay informed about their marketplace, perfect their presentation and practice diligent follow-through will continue to succeed even in tough times.

Bob Schultz, MIRM, CSP, is North America's foremost new home sales and management expert. He is the author of two best selling books, The Official Handbook for New Home Salespeople and Smart SellingSM Techniques. His company, New Home Specialist Inc., is a full service management consulting and sales company, producing books, manuals and systems for home builders, developers and Realtors. Bob and his hand-selected facilitators present custom sales training programs, management seminars and strategic business planning retreats throughout North America. For information about how to increase your revenue, visit www.newhomespecialist.com or call us at 561-368-1151.

[1] "KB Homes blames declining orders on cooling market". The Wall Street Journal. Feb. 14, 2006. P A2.
[2] "Builders' stocks take hit". The News-Press. Fort Myers, Fla. Feb 8, 2006. Pp D1, D3.
[3] "S. Florida housing market cooling off as demand wanes, some sellers are cutting prices". South Florida Sun Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.: Feb 11, 2006. P 1A.

Reaching Buyers Through the Internet

2006-11-30T11:15:00.000-06:00

The real estate market today is slower than previous years and doing 'the same old' thing simply does not work. People are still buying homes, interest rates are low, housing prices are excellent and there ARE buyers out there. The media continues to portray doom and gloom for the real estate industry while many trying to sell a home are confused about what to do or how to reach those buyers currently looking for a home.

Buyers Use The Internet -

With the housing boom many website companies created ineffective websites and nobody noticed. Simply building the home was enough to sell it so builders, real estate companies, communities and the entire industry never had to analyze the effectiveness of their website. An example of this is Foxfield Village new home community in Olathe Kansas where two websites were developed by two seperate website companies for the different phases. Search online for Foxfield Village and you have the following results with # 1, # 3, # 4, # 7 top search results are all websites by Builder Consulting to market Robben Development townhomes in Foxfield Village:
http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=A0oGki90Fm9FPx0Agnml87UF?ei=UTF-8&fr=slv7-&fr2=sfp&p=foxfield+village

A website produced by another company for the same community does not show up AT ALL - even when searching for the community name. Having a properly developed and marketed website is far more important than simply having a website. If you build it they will NOT come, it still remains that Location Location Location is key even on the Internet.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
www.BuilderConsulting.com
913-814-8844

Atlanta New Homes and Atlanta Builders

2006-10-24T11:46:00.000-05:00

Atlanta (HOT...lanta) remains a strong competative building market with many local and national builders in the area. A new website launched to showcase, rate and provide information about Atlanta new homes communities, Atlanta builders and Atlanta real estate at www.AtlantaNewHomesandBuilders.com with featured Atlanta communities, Featured Atlanta builders, Atlanta Mortgage Companies and much more.

Similar websites are live from the same network in Kansas City www.KansasCityBuilders.com or St. Louis at www.STLBuilders.com

Please provide some feedback on ideas and development options you would like to see in these new homes marketing websites.