Archive for the 'Management' Category

Using the internet for business development is easier than it was in our fathers generation. Contact information for people is everywhere. You just gotta know how to find it, and then know what to do with it once you have it.

It’s like fishing. You’re just fishing for new business. Sit back, relax, and enjoy.

For efficiency, you should set-up a process. A process which you can execute smoothly and quickly. You need to remember that this is a numbers game. So the process will help things move along quickly, yet smoothly.

Discovery process: How do you get the email? How do you find the right person to contact? Your goal is contact (via DM), and/or to find their email address.

1) Read about a company in the news, or get a list of companies from a trade show, or a list of companies from an association.

2) Linkedin & Hoovers are great for discovering who the right person is.

3) Use Google, Facebook, and Twitter to research the individual. Once you found the right person, follow them on Twitter. If they follow you back, you can communicate via Direct Messages. The same applies for Linkedin & Facebook.

Use Google to search for [email @companyname.com] to find the email format the targeted company uses. Use Google News to discover current events about the company you are researching. And, it might even mention something about your contact person. Then you’ll be better able to customize your email.

4) Use Domain Tools, and look for the email contact for the domain. This might not be your contact, but it could reveal what the company email format it. Then, once you find the right name on Hoovers or Linkedin, just send them an email using that format.

Writing the email: People don’t want to read more than 1 short paragraph about a stranger trying to sell them something. Get your message across in a few sentences. And, list your contact information, in your email signature. Make sure to include a link to your website, and possibly a social media site or two. Start by using that email as a base template to build on.

Personalize each email as best you can as it pertains to the potential client and any information that you discovered which may be beneficial in mentioning.

The structure of your email could contain 3 components.
- A short intro of who you are
- The benefits of using you.
- Close the email with 1 question, asking for a phone call.

Ask for the call. If they’re interested they’ll respond to your email. If they don’t respond, move on. Keep up a good momemtum. The object here is quantity. You’re fishing, and you need to cast out a lot of bait to get a bite. It’s all a numbers game. Keep plugging away at it. Eventually, you’ll contact someone that is interested in whatever you have to offer.

The Phone Call:
Start out by sending the email. Don’t be tempted to use the phone for the initial contact. Email seems to be less intrusive & less threatening. If people are interested, they’ll respond. Don’t be pushy. Be real. Be yourself. And, DON’T SELL too hard.

If you are very knowledgable about your subject, then sit back relax and enjoy the call. Ask questions, offer advice. But don’t giveaway the farm. Ask for the business. Be gentle though. Nobody likes pushy people.

Thats it. Happy hunting!

Photo Credit: Josh Sommers

When things go as expected, everything sails along smoothly and everybody is happy. But, whaddya do when things go other than expected? There’s nothing worse than entering into a business agreement and you discover it’s not what you expected. It’s not good for the consultant, it’s not good for the client.

If your SEO Proposal contains elements of a scope document, you can manage client expectations…and your expectations. Below are some things you might want to include when drafting your next proposal.

Objective(s):
Get this straight. This should be one of the first questions you ask the client. Knee jerk answers are high rankings. If they say that, then ask probing questions. Objectives are almost always based on traffic and revenue. But it can be branding and engagement. Engagement meaning how many pages view, time on site, time on page.

Methodology/Process
You should have a process that can be easily understood. The client will want to know, “what’s next?” A methodology can play a valuable part in managing expectations. My full site optimization consists of 5 components to my SEO Methodology:
1) Keyword Analysis
2) Technical SEO Analysis
3) Content Analysis
4) Link Development
5) Traffic Analysis

Dependencies.
What resources do you need from the client. Your need to accesss their web analytics shouldn’t come as a surprise. Will you need ftp access also?

Deliverables
Will you be providing recommendation documents, ranking reports, etc? Will you be doing the actual code changes? Will you implement or make recommendations? How many pages will you be writing the tag copy?

Project Plan
Most clients want to know how long it’s gonna take to complete each stage of the process. What’s the timeframe for each step? How soon will you complete each component of your methodology/process? Create a project plan that contains dates which you’ll deliver each component. Answers to these questions can alleviate stress, and is a great way to manage client expectations.

Measure of Success:
These should be reflective of the campaign objectives. What will be the metrics to measure SEO success? In many situations the success metrics are:
1) First page Search Engine rankings.
2) An increase in overall visitor Traffic to your website.
3) An increase in Revenue per keyword

Payment:
Do you get a retainer? Will payment be made after the first deliverable? Is payment contingent of performance? Do you need to send an invoice, or will a Paypal link suffice? Can the payment be wired directly into your bank account?

Professional Agreement
It’s professional to have a contract. Either consult with an attorney, or write your own. There are plenty of templates out there. Personally, I use a very basic 1-pager. My brother is a bankruptcy attorney in Philadelphia, and he gave it the once over. (Yes, that’s a little link love;-)

Setting Limits:
You might want to add a clause in your agreement regarding phone calls. What happens if a client decides to call you a few times every single day? You could be a nice guy and take the call. But, that’s really not the most efficient way to manage your time. It’s interruptive. Perhaps a weekly status call is appropriate, and anything urgent can certainly be addressed on an impromptu basis. Restrictions can actually add to the value of a consultant.

Firing the Client:
Hopefully, you never have to do this. But there might come the time when you have a client that demands more than is realistic. Or, is calling/emailing daily making demands. Then it may be time to fire the client. But, if you do fire a client, do it nicely. It never pays to burn bridges.

I once had a halloween costume client. One month before halloween they wanted to optimize there site. I did my analysis, provided recommendations, and they implemented the plan. But, after 2 days they decided to remove my recommendations and try his own ideas. Waited 2 more days, and then, called me in a panic. I told them to change it back because it needed a little more time. This scene repeated itself every 2 days. The client was such a ball of stress, and extremely impatient. I couldn’t take it. I called him after 2 weeks and told him that I suddenly got too busy and needed to hand-off the account to a colleague.

That’s kinda like if the doctor told you to put cream on your rash twice a day and it’ll be gone after 1 week. But, after one week you go back to him and complain the rash still hasn’t gone away. He asks you, “Have you been putting the cream on twice everyday. You say, no only in the morning. He’d tell you no wonder you still have the rash. You don’t listen. Bad patient.

That’s a horrible situation for both the client & the consultant. And, I hope none of you ever get into that situation. Hopefully, this post will help prevent such a situation from ever happening to you.

Final thoughts
Having a defined timeline, and scope document presents you in a much more professional manner, and minimizes any confusion. Use your scope document to manage the client’s expectations upfront.

Having a good relationship with the client is worth it’s weight in gold, and can’t be under-emphazised. When the project is sailing on-time, and on-plan, you’ll have a much more harmonious relationship. And, isn’t it nice when your clients start referring other clients to you.

I asked 2 questions via email to a few thought leaders that specialize in the fields of Search Marketing, Social Media, Reputation Management, and Internet Marketing.

1) Should a CEO’s Blog need approval from legal before posting?
2) What if it’s his personal blog? Would the same hold true for opinions, forecasts, etc regarding his industry?

Kevin Lee - CEO of Didit:
“CEOs are constantly interviewing with analysts, press and making speeches at conferences, all of which are documented. They should be well trained in what can and can’t be said. A blog is no different and “legal” should not need to babysit the CEO online or offline. However, if the CEO has proven him/herself to be a loose cannon, perhaps some second party should advise on blog posts as well as during interviews.” Buy Kevin’s Book“The Eyes Have It”.

Andy Beal CEO of Marketing Pilgrim says, “Best not. Have legal help draft up guidelines of what CEO shouldn’t say–anything material–then let him use own due diligence.”

My preference is to not force a CEO to have each of his posts reviewed by the company’s legal department. There are many reasons to avoid such a step, with slowing down the conversation and removing personal tone of a blog post being the most important.

Instead, I would advise a CEO to sit down with his legal and public relations team and craft a general blogging policy that includes guidelines of what the CEO will and won’t discuss. This allows the legal and PR teams share their expertise and counsel, while giving the CEO freedom to post as and when he’s inspired.

How much should a CEO hold back in his blog posts? That depends on the size and status of a company. A small, privately held company CEO can raise his profile by being edgy or critical in his posts. Meanwhile, the CEO of a large, publicly traded company would be wise to be more reserved and consider the ramifications of what he has to say.

What if it’s his personal blog? Would the same hold true for opinions, forecasts, etc regarding his industry?

“Absolutely. The CEO of a company is the CEO 24/7 and even an opinion expressed on his personal blog could be construed as the official stance of the company he represents–despite any disclaimer he may have to the contrary.”

Buy Andy’s new book:Radically Transparent: Monitoring and Managing Reputations Online.

Chris Winfield -CEO of 10e20 says:
“Depends on the company…if its going to be anything worth reading - then NO, the CEO should know what he should or should not say. If he doesn’t - he shouldn’t be blogging. Noone is going to read it the other way.

Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Land says:

I guess I’d say that if you’re at a company where legal clears any type of publication, then yes, a blog falls under that. But if legal doesn’t clear each and everything that the CEO says or writes, nope!

What if it’s his personal blog? Can he still write his opinions, forecasts, etc about his industry?

” I think you’d need a lawyer to say. I imagine that he could comment generally on his industry but anything deemed relevant to shareholders would need to be shared through official company channels and perhaps filed with the SEC.”

Here is a variety of CEO blogs:
Rob Norman - CEO GroupM Interaction.
Bob Parsons - CEO of GoDaddy.
Richard Edelman — CEO of Edelman
Greg Hartnett - CEO of BOTW (Best of the Web).
David Neeleman - Chairman of JetBlue Airways.
Jonathan Schwartz, “Jonathan’s Blog” — CEO of Sun Microsystems.
Mark Cuban, - Owner of the Dallas Mavericks.
Robert Lutz, “Fast Lane” — GM vice chairman
Matt Heaton - CEO of Bluehost

It’s interesting to look at the different styles, conversational tone, and strategy of each of these CEO blogs. Also, some have taken the time and resources to build out a highly interactive and usable blog platform, while others are satisfied with the the basics of Wordpress.

For example, Rob Norman who works for a large agency has not leveraged his blog to showcase the talent of his agencies. Heck, it’s not even on his own domain. He doesn’t link on his blogroll to any of his agencies. Nobody comments. No Social Media icon buttons. A little scary for the CEO of a conglomorate of interactive agencies.

As opposed to Bob Lutz’s GM Blog. The GM “Fastlane Blog” has a Twitter feed, Blogroll, prominant RSS subscribe buttons, recent entries, Digg buttons, plenty of comments, and just looks great.

In my opinion, if the CEO is going to start blogging, it might as well look great and adhere to as many of the Best Practices of Blogging as possible. Especially if the CEO is the Chief Blogger.

In Summary:
The components that make for a great CEO blog:
1) Prep from legal and corporate communications.
2) Development team ( Project Mgr, Graphic Designer, Programmer).
3) Sticking to the same Best Practices of Blogging as everyone else.
4) The drive, desire, and passion to be a blogger.

Client Services Team structures vary based on the scope of the engagement, and the size of an organization/agency. But a Search Marketing team typically contains some allocation of the following roles:

Director of Search – Oversees the SEO Strategy, PPC Strategy and client relationships.
Associate Search Director – Leads the implementation and strategic direction of the search campaigns.
Search (or Campaign) Manager – Oversees day-to-day campaign operations. Key point of contact for the client for day-to-day campaign issues.
Search Account Executive – Manages tactical work on paid search engagements.
SEO Manager – Communicates with client on overall SEO strategy and tactical initiatives.
SEO Analyst – Develops in-depth technical recommendations on SEO programs.
SEO Associate Analyst – Supports the SEO Analyst.

Depending on the size of the organization, one person could have multiple roles in one position. Also, the names may change. Such as a Search Evangelist, Search Engineer, Campaign Manager, Global Director, VP of Search, etc.

A typical job description for an “SEM Campaign Manager” could look like this:

QUALIFICATIONS:
- Experience in online advertising.
- Experience using Microsoft Excel & Powerpoint.
- Solid understanding of Paid Search (Pay-Per-Click campaigns).
- The individual should have excellent research, analytic, presentation and communication skills.
- The ability to conceptualize account structure, and create new campaigns.
- Knowledge of 3rd party conversion tracking & bid management tools (i.e., Omniture, Atlas, Dart, SearchIgnite, etc)

RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Execute SEM documents such as: Keyword generation & segmentation, Forecasting, Insertion Orders, Ad copywriting, & Performance Reporting.
- Creating, implementing, tracking, analyzing and optimizing Paid Search campaigns.
- Utilize successful bidding strategies and effective keyword management of pay-per-click search engines including Google Adwords, Yahoo! Search Marketing, MSN Adcenter, Ask.com and others.
- Actively make recommendations and formulate testing structure for keywords, ad copy, landing pages and position to optimize campaign to achieve designated performance objectives.
- Optimization of bid management strategies to acheive performance objectives.
- Manage relationships with search engines.
- Provide detailed analysis and reporting of key metrics with analysis & optimization recommendations.
- Work with cross-functional teams (internal & external).
- Ad copywriting for paid search listings.

I know that I’m straying a bit from the core topic of this blog, which is SEO and SEM. But, I think it’s very important to discuss business basics from time to time, rather than just focusing on Strategic and Tactical issues revolving around Search Engine Marketing.

So, this is the 3rd post in the series from Evaluating Ad Revenue Potential, and Questions to Ask When Buying a Web Business (Sphunn).

Once you identified a web business for sale, and have entered into the due diligence process, it’s time to evaluate the current financial data, and create some of your own.

So, here’s a handy Cash Flow Spreadsheet template (download) to use, or keep as a reference. Additionally, CCH has a Family Monthly Budget Worksheet (download) that will probably be of interest to many readers.

It’s important to get both the revenue and the expenses to determine whether or not you want to pursue the web business. It’s better to be a little conservative in forecasting, than to be optimistic. Bankers like to see realistic numbers also, just in case you need to go that route.

This is a continuation of my previous post regarding Evaluating Ad Revenue potential.

Technical Questions:
1) Can you get a login to the Backend?
2) Is the site and/or software framework Scalable? Open source?
3) Will there be Technical Support available after sale?
4) What database is used? Eg: SQL?
5) What programming languages are used?
6) Is it on a dedicated server? Webhost?
7) Are there any bugs?
How many hours/day does it take to maintain the site?
9) What is involved in the daily maintenance? Tasks?

Business related Questions:
1) Financial info? Cash-flow sheet? Tax returns? Balance Sheets? For the last 5 yrs?
2) Are they doing advertising for the site now? If so, how much $, and where? Cost/month?
3) Are they willing to finance any portion of the sale? Perhaps, $X amt upfront, then another amount as a % of profits per month. Perhaps, inflate the sale price as an incentive.
4) What is the legal structure of the business (is it a sole proprietorship, partnership or corporation)?
5) What are the reasons for selling?
6) How is the business doing?
7) Any outstanding liabilities?
Any lawsuits?
9) If you buy the company, insist upon an asset only sale. So you buy the assets, and the seller retains liability for a specified period of time.
10) What are some competitive sites?
11) Do they have any contracts with others for advertising or otherwise? Are all contracts current?
12) Web Analytics. Do they use any? Monthly Visitors? PageViews/Visitor? Top referring domains?

These are some initial questions to ask to get some basic due diligence.

After your first serious meeting with the ownership, you should request:
1) The login in info to the Web Analytics.
2) The financial data like cash-flow sheets from the past 12 months (ideally 5 yrs).
3) A login to see the backend.

As a rule-of-thumb, I wouldn’t speak about your intended enhancements or marketing of the website with the present ownership. Because, they might not like what you have planned, and squash the entire deal. Or, it could give them the idea, and they pull-back from the sale, and implement your idea.

Depending on how sophisticated the web business is, you might want to consider a professional business valuation.

When the time is right, engage a good attorney & good accountant.

Every manager has their own management style. I kinda relate my style similarly to how I manage my children.
For example, if my 4 and a half year old son did something he shouldn’t have, I might call him over, have him sit on my knee, and tell him that he is good at this, good at that, and good at the other thing. And, how much I love him. But….I really didn’t like what he did to his sister a moment ago. And, tell him, he’s better than that. He’s a good boy.

In business, it’s different but similar. I think the best policy for a manager is never to lose their cool, and always be gentle with their words. Nobody wants to be talked down to. During a performance review, if someone is weak in a certain area(s), then start the conversation by telling them how good they are in other areas. Always look for the good. Don’t just wait for review time to praise employees. Always look for the good, and be generous with praise ( all the time). Most people want to feel appreciated, and valued. Even if the employee has several areas that need improvemment, just pick one or two to begin with. Because you don’t want to overwhelm them. And/or make them feel like complete losers, or like they are in danger of losing their job. Focus on 1 or 2 areas of improvement, and rock n roll with it. If you try to improve them in too many things at once, then you could just frustrate them, and set them up for failure. So, stick with one or two areas of improvement. You’ll both be happier.

The review might sound like this: Ya know Johnny, you’re great at this, good at that, and good at the other thing. But…it seems like you need some improvement in *blank*. Get Johnny to agree or disagree. Most likely, he’ll agree.

Then, chart out a development plan. Use SMART goals. Set up a process. And, don’t worry if he hasn’t become an expert by the next review. As long as Johnny is showing progress, you’re both in good shape. He’ll keep getting better, and appreciate you as a caring manager and most likely be a more productive employee. He’ll also respect you more as a manager. In my opinion, employee development is very important.

Most people do not want to be micro-managed. Depending on the experience level of the employee, some people a manager will just need to delegate to, while others he/she will need to be more hands-on. This component of managing is called Situational Leadership.

Some managers will use the fear factor in an attempt to motivate employees. Personally I think that’s horrible. It might work in the short term. But, nobody wants to work in that type of environment. In my opinion, positive motivation is much healthier .

Or, just forget about everything I wrote above, and live a goal-free life.