“Slow and steady wins the race.”

But, in today’s fast paced internet world – is that still the case?  Does slow and steady still win?

I would say yes.

Over the years we have helped many, many clients increase their sales via increasing their online impact or “empire.”  I want to share with you one such story.

Two years ago we created a website and started releasing coupons on that website every month or so.

We have seen an increase in traffic every month for those two years and now we are at a 6x increase in traffic from where we started.

How?

By just being consistent in delivering content to our users.

So, if you aren’t consistent and need help, contact Fonder Consulting.

Don’t worry!  Here are a couple tools to help you out.

ColorZilla FireFox plugin

ColorZilla is a free FireFox plugin that will allow you to grab the color from any web page.  This is a great tool to help you match a base color to a graphic or to a web page that you like.

ColorZilla

Color Schemer Online

Color Schemer Online is a free tool that will take one color and create an entire palate of matching colors.  Also, it allows you to darken and lighten the color scheme with the click of a button.

Color Schemer Online

Here’s what I do.  I find a graphic or website that has a color I like.  Then, I use ColorZilla to grab the HEX value for that color (“AF235B” for example).  Finally, I pop onto Color Schemer and paste in the HEX value and click the “Set HEX” button.

And by magic – a nice set of colors for me to use is displayed.

This tutorial is a supplement to that training.

Have you ever thought that a graphic would really add some “pop” to your website, or thought that you wanted to create a graphical advertisement to link to a specific area on your websites.

Well, now you can do that with PowerPoint 2007.

Actually you can do this with almost any version of PowerPoint, but the location of the buttons and the screenshots would be different.

1. You need to change the “Page Setup” to match your desired image output size.  To do this, take the pixel width and height of your desired graphic and divide by 72.  So, if you want to create a standard “wide skyscraper” ad – which is 160 pixels by 600 pixels – you would make your PowerPoint page: 2.22 inches by 8.33 inches.
2. Now you can drop in any graphic or text that you need to create the ad.  Don’t forget to use the cool PowerPoint 2007 clip art files and formatting options.
3. Finally, do a “Save As” and select “Other Formats” – in the file type drop down box select the .jpg file type.  After you click “Save”; click “Current Slide Only.”

Here is an example.

One seldom touched social marketing vertical is blog aggregators.

A blog aggregator is, at its core, a blog search engine; but instead of “spidering” for content it relies on blog writers to deliver content to it.

But, what most blog writers don’t realize is that you have to create an account and “claim” your blog in order to get good placement in searches.

So, if you have a blog then start creating and account and claiming your blog on these, top two aggregators: Technorati and Bloglines.

If you are leverage long-tail tools like blog aggregators then contact Fonder Consulting today.

To research your potential customers and find out their thoughts and opinions on various topics in your vertical market.

To do that you had to hire an expensive market research firm – wait a couple months – then find out the results.

No longer, just use Twitter.

Because Twitter community where its users share their thoughts on any subject in real-time you can do a search and find out what people are saying on topics in your vertical.

Let’s say that I am selling mattresses.  I would go to Twitter and just type in “mattress” and have a window into the thoughts of consumers on the topic of mattresses.

Oh yeah, this is in real time.

So, take a minute, and look through the Twitter “window” and see what you see.

If you have done any research on search engines and how they work you know that a search engine relies on the copy or text on the web page to know what that page is about.

Google can’t listen or watch your video to know what the page is about.

Google can’t look at your images.

Maybe someday (optical character readers are getting better), but right now it is the copy or text on the page that search engines consume.

Because of this there is a phrase in online marketing – “Content is King.”  It is a spinoff of the old business adage – “Cash is King.”

But is content really king?  How can you be sure?

You can be sure the same way Woodward and Bernstein uncovered the Watergate scandal.

Follow the Money!

• YouTube – free video sharing – Sold for over $1.5 Billion
• Bebo – free photo and video sharing – Sold for $850 Million
• MySpace – free community – Sold for $580 Million
• How Stuff Works – free content – Sold for $250 Million
• Photo Bucket – free photo sharing – Sold for $250 Million

Enough said.  Create content and you too can be king in your marketplace, for your business, in your world.

Now! Build Your Own Professional-Looking Website in 60 Minutes or Less Without a Web Designer or Programmer

Plus, You Don’t Have to Know a Lick of HTML Code – Here’s How YOU Can Do It Right Now…

Websites, websites, websites!!! Any business that does not have a professional-looking website in today’s business economy has already doomed their business to failure. Point Blank!!!

Truth be told, your business can’t even look at growth in this Web 2.0 society without one… How else will your prospects, who are looking for your products and services, find your business online if you do not have a website?

But I know and feel your frustration when it comes to websites…

In fact, like me, you probably have some BIG questions, right? Questions like:

• How do YOU get a professional-looking website with all the bells and whistles without paying up the wa-zu?
• How do you use it to position YOU as “The Expert” in your industry and how do YOU market your products and services online to your target market?
• And most importantly, how can YOU not be held hostage at the mercy of a web master who’ll charge you monthly just to make the tiniest changes?

All legit questions right? Well, with our system you don’t have to worry about any of that… Really!

See, no other system on the market today turns the tables on web designers and put you in the driver’s seat for a successful internet strategy…

No other system on the market today offers you a quick, easy, and straight forward method for creating professional-looking websites – “at will.” As well as, teaching you how to find and obtain your own domain and hosting – all without draining your bank account as dry as the Arizona desert.

Best of all, no other program on the market today maximizes FREE web tools, guides you step-by-step, and gives you a plug-n-play marketing strategy to explode your business success, while at the same time, shortening your learning curve by over 250 hours – guaranteed!

In fact, if you wanted to set up your own website with all the bells and whistles of a Fonder Consulting Business Blog / Website, using old as the hills design strategies, not only would it cost you a mint, but you’d also have to pull a rabbit out of your hat to get it to work right the very first time…

Don’t believe me?  Check for yourself.

I know personally ‘cuz I’ve been pulled through the ringer just like you… Tell ya what, call up your nearest web designer and ask for a quote and see what comes back to you.

Ask them about features our system already has. Features like:

• A push-pull method of automatically communicating with search engines like Google, MSN, and Yahoo. This powerful feature allows you to experience higher search engine rankings without even trying…
• A powerful password protected backend to manage information like posts, pages, themes (the actual look and feel of the business blog / website), comments, audio & video, categories, and so much more.
• An off-the-charts content management system that automatically archives and stores information. It’s like having your own personal filing cabinet on the web.
• A tracking system to see who is visiting your website and what search phrase did they type in to find you.
• A one-of-a-kind plug-in management section that allows you to continue to add functionality to your business blog / website – all for FREE.
• A simple method of creating your own graphics without PhotoShop or any high-priced software packages – just using software that almost every business already uses.
• A talk back system which allows your prospect & readers to post comments about information you published
• Plus much more…

BIG WARNING: Be prepared to give your arm and your leg as a down payment to your webmaster!

Plus, watch them quote a monthly fee that’ll siphon money from your bank account every time you want to make the slightest change… The choice is yours.

Or… Throw one up yourself and have fun editing it! If you have time to learn HTML, PHP, or any other code language – have at it.

OK, so how much is your internet
success and time worth to you?

I don’t know about you, but for me, TIME IS MONEY! And if I can streamline successes in my business, then I’m all in.

So now I bet you’re wondering, “How much is this going to cost me?”

One thing that I believe every customer wants when landing on your site is proof that you know what you are talking about.

They want something for nothing.  And do you know whrat I say?  Give it to them!

I know this goes against your inner shrewd business person, but trust me (come on, was that well played) this works.

One of the best ways to prove that you are at the top of your industry is to give away helpful hints in the form of a blog (see our tips section).

But to get the most bang for you buck you need to make sure you couple your blog articles with Article Marketing.

Article Marketing is a simple concept, you take the articles or tips that you have written and allow others to put them on their website.  Here is the catch, they have to keep your links in their articles.

Here is a quick step-by-step to get you started doing Article Marketing.

1. Create an account on GoArticles.com.
2. Write a unique and helpful article pertaining to your industry.
3. At the bottom put a line like: “My Business is a leader in My Industry and you can find out more information at: mywebsite.com.”  Of course replace My Business, My Industry and mywebsite.com with your business, industry and website.
4. Link those three phrases to your website, so for example:  Fonder Consulting is a leader in online marketing and website creation and you can find out more information at: http://FonderConsulting.com.  Notice how my business, industry and website are all linked.

Now your article, with links to your website will not only be on GoArticles.com but many other websites that display their content.

To launch an innovative online marketing plan like Article Marketing give us a ring.

NOTE: If you want to submit your articles to more than one place just use your favorite search engine and search for “article directory” – there are tons.

Have you ever gone to a site and took one look…  Then decided to leave because you just didn’t know where to click.

I call this “click freeze” where the user just doesn’t know what to click on, so they click on the back button and leave.

How can you avoid this?  By having a clear definition of online success and filtering the user toward that successful goal.

I know we have all heard the phrase “always be closing” – well – the same thing is true on your website.  Always be funneling your user toward that close.  Keep in mind that a close on your website may not be a sale; no matter what it is – funnel, funnel, funnel.

Take this website (FonderConsulting.com), on every page we are funneling you toward our contact page.  Why?  Because our success metric is either having you call us or fill out the form.  We want to talk to you.

Homework: Go to your website (if you don’t have one, we can create a website for you) and take note of how many times and where on your site are you “closing” the user.

Here is an obvious funnel: Stop scratching your head, contact Fonder Consulting now and have us create a website that funnel in sales. Too over the top?  Maybe.

NOTE: If you want an extreme example of “click freeze” go to: HavenWorks.com

I would say the most common question that is asked of me is: “How do I get my website on the first page of Google – FAST?” I always respond with Google AdSense. Google AdSense is the program that displays the paid advertisements on the right side of any Google search results pages. They are quick and easy to set-up and in minutes you can be on the first page of Google.

Do you know what the second question is… “Well how do I do it for free?”

That is where Google Local comes in. Google Local provides the Google Map results that show on the first page of any Google search result page. They are usually presented in a “lettered” list with little red “push pin” icons on a map to show you all the listings.

Did you know that these listings are 100% FREE? Did you know that with these listings you can list many informational items on your business such as: phone number, website, description, hours of operation and even coupons. All you have to do to get listed in Google Local is follow the steps outlined in this “how-to” manual.

Do you need a website for your small business, ask me how to get off the ground.