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Chris Breikss recalls hir first 10 years in business as a start-up digital marketing agency and some of the obstacles that he had to overcome. The presenation is from a 1 hour webinar that is archived at http://www.6smarketing.com/10-things-ive-learned-the-hard-way-about-the-internet/
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www.6smarketing.com
www.6smarketing.com
About Me
• President, 6S Marketing
• Founded 6S in 2001
• Expert in SEO, SEM, and Social Media
• Speaks at, sponsors and attends industry events across North America
• Chris got married last month (Dec. 2011 in St. Lucia)
Chris Breikss
www.6smarketing.com
Our Team
• Skilled, dedicated and industry-savvy team of 25 employees
• Project managers have 4 to 10+ years internet experience
• Worked on 500+ projects
• BC’s Top Ten company to work for in 2010
6S Marketing
www.6smarketing.com
And Now…
www.6smarketing.com
Being #1 in Google Isn’t the Answer
• Well it’s pretty good but…
• You can’t be #1 for everything. Is your top keyphrase the right one?
• Need to have a good website in order to convert business
• Clearly describe your products or services
• Look at your Google Analytics reports
• bounce rate, conversions
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SEO Work-A-Rounds Don’t Really Work
• Get 100ish words of keyword rich text on your home page
• Flash intros with HTML site background work-a-rounds suck
• Custom CMS that don’t allow for title tags don’t work
• WordPress based sites are awesome for online marketing! Drupal too… (.NET even)
2
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Don’t Spam• Allow people to get on or off your lists
• MailChimp is our favourite SMB email system
• Silverpop for lead nurturing
• Salesforce.com for CRM
3
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Renew Your Domain 10 Years in Advance
• If you are still in business in 10 years then, great!
• 6Smarketing.net was jacked!
• Print all domain and hosting info and put into a fireproof safe at your mom’s
4
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Change YourPasswords Often
• Nothing worse than getting hacked
• Our phone system was hacked
• Upgrade your WordPress website
5
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Don’t Dress Like a Bum
• Just because you work in the Internet
• I wear an un-tucked dress shirt (Hugo Boss), dressy jeans (7 For All Mankind), semi-casual dress shoes (Aldo) and a nice sport coat.
• It’s called “The Uniform.”
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Get Your Home Based Business Out of Your Home
• Meet with clients in an office setting; people will take you seriously
• We got out in 13 months
• Posted “Office space wanted” signs
• We once had a TV crew in our “home office”… awkward
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Don’t Help Friendsfor Free
• They won’t value your product or service if you give it away for free
• OK to discount <30%, but don’t lose money or go below cost
• You can’t eat contra
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Don’t Hold Out for“The Big Payday One Day”
• Pay yourself fairly with a respectable salary
• Banks won’t lend you money or give you a mortgage if you don’t make money
• Set goals. By year 2, I want to be making $60k
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Don’t Let Others Take Advantage of You
• Get signed contracts
• Business done on a handshake is old skool
• Small claims court is not hard to win if you have signed paperwork and its under $25K
10
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Things ChangeQuickly
• People used to say “How do you have time for email?? The notifications pop up and distract me, and I drop what I’m doing…”
• Sound familiar? (Hint: every social media tool)
• In 2000 (10 years ago) very few people knew what Google was
11 Then Now
