Urge Marketing

The Case For Local Search

admin — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 03:40:24 +0000

When you need a product or service, what are the ways you choose where to shop? For example purposes lets say you need a roofer after a storm. Do you pick up the phone book? Or search online? Well, I hate to break it to you, but the phone book is dead and not coming back. If you are like most people, you Google it! It’s simple, fast and effective. You can find exactly what you need, read reviews and get the contact information in a matter of seconds.

Research has proven that people are searching for local businesses online at an alarming rate. Here’s some stats for you from Google:

DID YOU KNOW?

o 97% of people with online access will research products and services online before they make a purchase. 74% of these searches are local searches.
o 55% of all local searches are done with an intent to buy. o Of all local searches, 8 out of 10 call or visit a store and 60% of those result in a purchase of some kind.
o Google controls 87% of all searches daily. 1/3 of all google searches are local.

What does all this mean? That the vast majority of people are searching for local businesses online and YOU HAVE TO BE THERE. It’s no longer something you can wait on. You either have to be there or you can expect less customers. That simple. I’m putting ALL of my current clients and my other personal businesses on it because of the power behind it. Wouldn’t it be great for when people search for your product or service online, you pop up on the first page of results? You’d get more business and credibility.

I have a small exercise for you… See where you are. Type your industry type and then your area. For example you might type, “Dentist Louisville” or “Italian Restaurant Kentucky.” See where your business pops up. See where your competitors pop up.

So how do you get there? If you want to get to the top of Google in local search, you have to know SEO or Search Engine Optimization which can be a grueling and painful process. For local search, Google uses an algorithm to determine who gets to the top. It’s based on a number of things together, reviews from other websites, citations, links, etc. If you get it right, you can get to the top within a matter of a few months.
Or if you want to hit the easy button, you can go through a map listing company that knows exactly how to do it already like www.getmaptraffic.com.

Either way, the bottom line is you have to get on there. Whatever you do don’t wait on it. Do it now.

What does Google Maps/ Local Search look like?

admin — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 15:04:08 +0000

There’s been a lot of buzz about local search and I’ve been emailed about 700 times asking what it is. So I made a quick video to show you what it looks like and where you need to be on it to be effective. Enjoy!

Find out how you can rank higher in google maps and local search by going to http://www.getmaptraffic.com

Website Mistake #2: Delusional Expectations

admin — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 14:11:00 +0000

Last time, in our series on website mistakes, we talked about no tracking. Another fatal mistake you can make is the “If I build it they will come delusion.” Remember that movie, Field of Dreams? There was a saying, If you build it, they will come. In cyberspace, it’s pure BS. People won’t come unless you promote the heck out of your site. Just because you are online with a website, does not mean customers will suddenly appear. Even with SEO (search engine optimization), you still have to promote it and get it out there! Write articles related to your industry for local newspapers and magazines with a drive to go back to your site, promote it on your social media channels, use local search and other websites, buy banner ads and pay per click. Don’t be a Kevin Costner. Know that you have to get your site out there in order to see results.

Until tomorrow!

- DB

Website Mistakes To Avoid #1

admin — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 16:21:38 +0000

Since there are 11 days until Christmas and I’m feeling generous, each day I’m going to release a mistake you must avoid in order to have an effective website. It’s my little Christmas gift to you. You can find them right here on our blog! Be sure to check back each day for the next one. : ) Merry Christmas!

Here we go:

Website Mistake #1: No Tracking:

I have seen tons of business owners that have spent tons of money on a fancy looking website and wonder why they don’t get any sales! If you don’t measure your results, how will you ever know if what you are doing is effective? You need to see whats working, what isn’t and make adjustments with that information. Optimize your site, try new tactics and test it with tracking solutions. Here’s a huge tip: Install Google Analytics on your site. It can tell you how long people stay on your pages, which pages they look at, where they are from, etc. If you have a website that people don’t spend more than 3 seconds on, how can it possibly be effective? It’s a priceless tool that is a definite must have for ANY website. Personally, I track everything. Each individual blog post, splash page, etc. I want to know if people are reading my content or clicking away. I test new headlines, offers etc and know what works and what doesn’t. I don’t guess. I know. All because of tracking. This information can be invaluable to you. Make sure you track your site.

Check back tomorrow for another useful mistake you want to avoid.

- DB

Dump Your Duds

admin — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 15:38:04 +0000

If you want to get where you want to go, you have to Dump Your Duds. Your duds are clients, people and friends that are going to hinder your success or keep you from moving forward. They might be close friends, family members or even your old fraternity or sorority members. It’s anyone that does not encourage you to become more. This was something I have had to learn the hard way. I held on to for a long time to my duds thinking they were my friends. Truth be told they really weren’t. They were encouraging me not to do something worthwhile and it took me along time to realize it.

In my opinion, a true friend wants to see you succeed. They encourage you to become great. They want to see you become more. It took me a while to see that my duds didn’t want this for me. They didn’t want to see me succeed. They wanted me to stay the same or worse, fail (some even attempted to sabotage my results). Hugh Macleod puts it this way, “Great ideas alter the power balance in relationships. That’s why great ideas are initially resisted.” You will become like the people you spend the most time with. Do you want what they have? If you don’t, then you need to surround yourself with people that have what you want. Do your friends encourage you to be the best you can be? Or give you permission to stay the same? I don’t spend time with those people anymore. I surround myself with folks that want to see me become great. They encourage me to become more than I am. And I do the same for them. It has made a huge difference in my life and my results. Do this: Write down everyone you spend the most time with. Are they positive towards your goals, or negative? It’s time to dump your duds.

There are two types of people, anchors and motors. You want to lose the anchors and get with the motors because the motors are going somewhere and are having more fun. The anchors just pull you down. – Wyland

You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. – Jim Rohn

Time Management Is The Key To Your Success.

admin — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 13:33:53 +0000

Time is one of our most precious assets. It’s a limited resource that no matter what we do, you can never get lost time back. Once a minute has passed, it’s gone forever. Time is what can determine your success or failure. Just about everyone I know claims they don’t have enough time in the day. Yet how is it that high achievers with ten thousand times more stress and responsibilities are able to get more accomplished in a single hour with the same amount of time as a homeless person with no responsibility? We all have the same amount of time. We each get 24 hours in a day. No more. No less. Your results in life are dependent on what you do with your time. Do you spend your time watching countless hours of television? Or do you read a book that can better yourself? Do you spend all of your time going out on the town and being hungover the next day, or do you put in the time to accomplish a step towards your dreams? One of my mentors, Dan Kennedy has a great quote:

The degree to which you achieve peak productivity – will determine your success.

You can never buy more time. Time is a priceless commodity. You only get 24 hours in a day, but you can reallocate your time. You can change your habits to gain more time for what you need to accomplish. The other day I was talking with a man that claimed he had no time to do anything different. I asked him to walk me through his day. He got up at 5 and watched the news, drank coffee, read the newspaper then went to work until 5ish, then had to eat supper. By then, he was so tired from work from earlier he had to rest a bit and usually watched the news again. Then he would visit with the family, work a little on projects, watch TV and take care of what the kids had going on like sports and homework. By that time the day was gone. He had no free time he claimed. I noticed two problems with his theory. His watching the news and television was sabotaging his results. 3 plus hours a day to be exact. Better yet, he watched the same news broadcast twice in one day! If he only paid attention to the news once a day for no more than one hour, he would free up 2 hours a day. That adds up to 730 hours a year equally a total of 30 full days. A whole month over the course of a year was spent watching the news that he had already seen earlier that morning. Wow. A full month he was missing out on by simply watching less news and reallocating that time towards his goals. If you want to get where you want to go, you have to audit your time. Make a list each day and write down exactly what you did. I’m sure you can find things to cut out or make more productive. If you audit your time and become more productive, you have a much higher chance of success.

There Is No Easy Button

admin — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 17:09:13 +0000

It seems a lot of people are looking for the easy button for their lives. They want to hit a button and have their lives instantly fulfilled overnight. I hate to break it to you but there is no easy button to achieve greatness in anything. To get where you want to go it’s going to take work. Serious hard work. I think Americans see musicians and actors all of the sudden pop up out of nowhere and become famous and wealthy. They think that it can be done instantly. What we don’t see is the years of hard work that got them to that tipping point that they broke over. All achievers put in hard work into getting there. There was some magical chant or potion that made them that way, they simply put in the time to get where they wanted to go.

Dan Kennedy has a great quote: “I’m an overnight success after 20 years.”

If it took you 5 years to achieve all of your dreams would it be worth it to dedicate that time? Of course! There is another saying I live by: “I will dedicate the next few years of my life towards achieving my goals so that while others have to work to survive, if I choose to I can be permanently lazy.” If you want to be successful in anything, put in the time. Make the dedication. As with most things in life, you get what you put in. Put in the work and time, you’ll get there. Don’t put in the time, you won’t get much in return.

Will You Do What It Takes?

admin — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 16:21:08 +0000

People do things based on their hierarchy of their values. You never have time/money for things lowest on your values, but you always have them for the things highest on your values. It’s interesting to me that some people will say they want something, but won’t do what it takes to get there. Recently, I spoke with a lady that told me that she wanted to get started in a business for herself to make more money. She was excited about starting, but didn’t have the startup money yet. Week after week she told me she was almost ready but it just kept dragging out longer and longer. It was always something new going on. Every week she would say she would have it by next Saturday, then when Saturday would come, it was back to next Saturday. Before long a few months had passed and she was no better off than she was before. The business really wasn’t on her list of priorities. It wasn’t high on her hierarchy of values. A few days ago she came back to me said, “I’m sorry I really want to get started, but I just don’t have time or the money.” She always seemed to have money to go out on the town, see great movies, buy cool stuff and spend time partying, but never had the time/money to actually do something worthwhile for her future like building a business for herself. Her priorities were screwed up. Here she was telling me how much she needed a change in her life, but she wasn’t willing to do what it took to get there. If you want to do something great, it has to be high on your hierarchy of values and become a priority. Otherwise, you’ll never get there. Found the audio clip below on this subject and thought you might find it interesting. Enjoy!

Americas Got Crabs

admin — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 15:36:31 +0000

Heard an interesting fact about crabs the other day by my buddy Brian Bellville. Apparently, its hard to catch a speedy crab but easy to keep track of them once you have them because of their instinct to “pull each other down.” Once you have at least two crabs, you just put them in a box. A crab by itself could easily just climb out, but if there is another crab there, he will reach up with his claw and pull the first crab back down before he can get over the edge. They don’t help each other in their frantic escape to regain their freedom. They do the complete opposite. It’s as if they can’t tolerate another crab escaping or rising above their level without them. So these crabs keep pulling each other down and none of them escape their captivity and get where they want to go.

Sadly this happens with people too. It seems that it is part of human nature to envy those who get ahead of us. Many people try to pull others down either through sabotage or verbal criticism. It’s unfortunate that this happens because it keeps weaker minds from pushing further. I believe that we should do the opposite of what crabs do. Instead of attempting to hold another back, why not lift them up? Give praise instead of criticism. We should support each other’s efforts. Personally, I enjoy seeing someone succeed, even if it’s faster than myself. It often encourages me to do better. There is a great quote I read the other day:

“Where you see valid achievements or virtue being attacked, it’s by someone viewing them as a mirror of their own inadequacy instead of an inspiring beacon for excellence.” — Vanna Bonta

Many people out there are like the crab. They attempt to hold others back because of their own mediocrity. Why should we look at others success as negative? Why pull another down for achieving something great? If someone is succeeding, that person has a chance to better the world in some way! We should look at their example as inspiration to better ourselves rather than an excuse to criticize for our own inadequacies.

It Takes More Than A Dream

admin — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 15:36:44 +0000

If you want to achieve something great, it is going to take a whole lot more than just a dream. It takes hard work. It takes an unshakable determination to succeed. I believe you must start with a dream, but most importantly, you must have action to move towards your dream. You cannot wait around for your dreams to somehow materialize. Hate to break it to you, but they never will without action from you. Without it, they are simply thoughts and pipe dreams. You must be willing to step up and put in the work that it is going to take to actually get there. I think that is why so few actually get where they want to go. They wait around for something to happen to them as if someone is just going to one day pop out of nowhere by and say: “Here you go!” then hand them their dream on a silver platter. It doesn’t work that way, yet that is the plan of so many. Average people dream of great accomplishments. Extraordinary people stay awake and do them. Dreams of bettering your world are just the beginning to your adventure. You have to learn to make progress and TAKE ACTION to accomplish your dreams.

“The critical ingredient is getting off your butt and doing something. It’s as simple as that. A lot of people have ideas, but there are few who decide to do something about them NOW. Not tomorrow. Not Next week. But today. The true entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer.” – Nolan Bushnell (founder of Atari and Chuck E. Cheese’s