Author: Jeremy Harrison
After 18 years with Clear Channel Communications as a sales and marketing executive, Bryan Lefelhoc announced today that he is stepping down. The Ashland resident accepted a marketing consultant position with Spire Advertising, a 4-year-old website design and internet marketing firm in Ashland, Ohio.
Ohio Bankers League learns about search engine marketing
Last week I had the chance to present at a marketing seminar sponsored by the Ohio Bankers League in Columbus. The topic was "How to Transform Google Searchers into Customers."
Organizing your website content
One of the most important steps of a website design process is determining how you will organize your content. Your goal should be to consolidate your content into no more than 7 top-level navigation sections. Each of these top level sections can have sub-pages... even sub-sub-pages... but even with tens of thousands of pages, you should be able to organize your content into 7 sections or less.
SEO: Why Links Matter
Whenever we design a website for a client, we do a lot of search engine optimization work - to help ensure that Google and the other search engines can find the content. However, the structure of the site is only half the battle. Once your site is structured the right way, it's extremely important to get inbound links that point people back to your website.
Spire is hiring another web designer
Spire is hiring. To keep up with growing demand, we want to hire another exceptional web designer.
A tale of two Super Bowl Ads
The most effective Super Bowl ad this year was, in my opinion Google's ad called "Parisian Love." It was so simple that anybody could have created it with their computer. Yet it told a clear story, demonstrated their product, and pulled at the heart strings of viewers. Well done Google, well done.
Dockers Free Pants Super Bowl Ad Backfires – Their Website Can’t Keep Up
Planning to promote your company in a Super Bowl commercial? Better make sure your website is ready to handle your offer.
Spire’s new 2010 website design
We've been busy launching new websites for our clients, but finally carved out the time to launch the 2010 edition of the Spire website.
Third, final internet marketing seminar expected to sell out soon
If you haven't heard, we've been leading a series of Internet Marketing seminars in partnership with the Mansfield Area Chamber of Commerce. The first event was December 3 -- it sold out in less than 2 weeks. The second event was January 13 -- it sold out in less than 3 days! The final opportunity to attend will be Thursday, February 4 from 8:30 AM to 11:30 AM.
Today’s Internet Marketing Seminar in Mansfield, Ohio was a success!
We had a full house at this morning's internet marketing seminar in Mansfield! Thanks to the Mansfield Richland Chamber of Commerce for hosting the event and promoting it to their membership.Today's event booked up in under a week and there were more than a dozen people on a waiting list.
The College Graduate’s Guide To Finding a Job
When I went to college in the late 90s, there was an attitude among some of my classmates that a college diploma would be like a "golden ticket" to finding a great job. I suppose that was the case at some point, but it surely wasn't true in the late 90s.Today, college graduates are negatively affected more than any other demographic with this economy.
Get $500 worth of consulting for $75 at our internet marketing seminar in Mansfield
It's official. I'm tag-teaming with my friends at the Mansfield-Richland Area Chamber of Commerce to present an internet marketing seminar at the Mansfield Chamber Conference Room. I'll be presenting three 1-hour presentations on the latest topics like lead generation, online sales, search engine optimization, email marketing & social media.
Spire: The meaning behind our company name
Many people have asked us why we chose the name Spire for our company.While the word "spire" is not frequently used in the United States, you probably already know that it refers to the top of a building that comes to a point. Church steeples are an example of a spire, and you'll see spires on many skyscrapers in major cities around the world. Just as a spire helps a building stand out among a crowd, we do the same thing for the companies we serve.
iPhone 3G: Copy and Paste is Not a Benefit
I'm not sure what Apple marketers are trying to accomplish with one of their new Apple 3G commercials. The ability to copy and paste is not a benefit, or even a feature worth spending 30 seconds promoting on television.
Billy Mays Leaves a Positive Example for Sales & Marketing Pros
Billy Mays was found dead in his Tampa, FL home Sunday morning, possibly connected to a blow to the head he received the night before onboard a US Airways flight. As a marketing professional, I am saddened by the loss. Mays was a man of character. He gave our profession a positive example, in a field that's often overshadowed by manipulative people who will say anything to make a quick buck.
Do you know what are people saying about your company on social networks?
Do you know what people are saying about your company? The rapid growth of social networking has both simplified and complicated things all at the same time.Our only challenge used to be making sure people said positive things about our companies when they talked to their friends.Now we have to keep up with the techno-savvy people too -- the bloggers, reviewers,YouTubers, twitterers, facebookers, and much, much more.
What do people see when they “Google” Your Name?
Has your name been "Googled" recently? I bet it has - whether you realize it or not.Now you can control what people see, by setting up your own Google Profile. Like a scaled-down Facebook page, Google's profile gives you a chance to enter some basic information about yourself, add photos, schools you attended and a few other things.
Getting Things Done with Google Apps: 6 months later
In November I wrote about my system for getting things done. Now, 6 months later it's time to review successes & failures of the system I talked about. Some of the things I was doing worked very well, and have become a permanent part of my organization system. Other parts haven't worked as well as I'd hoped. Let me review both.
Spire’s New Web Design Postcard Hit Mailboxes This Week
Our new postcard hit mailboxes this week - discussing how we can help businesses generate businesses in the recession without spending a fortune on advertising. The postcard is below. We also invited recipients to watch our free video on recession marketing strategies, available here.
What is Twitter?
Question: "So what is twitter, I signed up tonight, is it just a spin off of myspace and facebook but with a business twist?"
The Best Advertising Investment in a Recession
In a recession, consumers are less impulsive, so your business needs to find new ways to reach your customers. AdWords offers a simple way to do so that won't empty your wallet.
Are You Paying a Monthly Fee to List Your Business on Some Website? Read This.
Bottom line, if you are paying one or more monthly fees to have a listing on somebody else's website, please consider the three powerful alternatives explained here.
New Google AdWords Tool for adding quotes and brackets to your keywords
If you do pay-per-click campaigns, you probably know that one best practice is to add brackets and quotes to your keyword list - which makes them a phrase match or exact match. It's simple, but repetitive and time-consuming to do that by hand -- especially if you have hundreds of keywords for each ad group as I do. Here's a simple tool my team just created to help me convert my keyword lists on the fly.
Chevy Silverado’s “Man Step” Ad Turns Ford’s New Feature on its Head
If just one of the big 3 automakers would make it through this economic mess, it would be Ford, in my opinion. That said, I got a chuckle out of a Chevy Silverado commercial I saw today. It was targeted at Ford F-150.
The Ultimate Remedy for a Bad Case of the Recession
I just finished a new postcard that will be released next week in response to the recession. The headline matches the blog title. The ad copy says the following...
A Brilliant Marketing Lesson from a Christmas Tree Farm
Most folks know that to get more revenue out of their customers, they should sell add-on products. However, some well-crafted add-on products not only give you more revenue at the time of the sale -- they practically GUARANTEE that you will get more repeat business.Here's a perfect example.
Our new SpireCMS video demo is now online
As promised yesterday, the new SpireCMS video demo is now complete. I've included a small-window version below, or you can click here to view it in a larger window.
Want to sell more products & services? Use photos & video.
I recently met with a prospective client who I'd never met. When I walked in the room, they said -- "I know who you are -- I saw your photo on your website." Yet when I described the powerful Content Management System that we have to give customers complete control over their content, this prospect didn't realize we offered that, even though I talk about it quite a bit on our website.I don't fault this person at all. It simply reminded me that many people are visual learners...
Beware of this search engine optimization rip-off…
One of our SEO clients forwarded me an email they received from "Global Vibrations Inc" in Washington DC. Here's an excerpt...
Update on Archway Cookies
In October I blogged about some bad news -- the sudden closing of Archway Cookies here in Ashland Ohio.Late last week we learned that Lance Inc. -- the Charlotte-based company who bought the assets of Archway Cookies -- will be reopening Archway cookies.
Snow Trails’ new website helps create buzz for opening day
Snow Trails Ski Resort opened this weekend for the first time in the 2008-2009 season. It was great to see how they used their new website to promote the opening weekend.Spire launched their new website on November 6. In just five weeks since the launch, the new website has hosted nearly 50,000 visitors, and more than 500,000 pages viewed.
Getting things done with Google Apps, Jott & Salesforce.com
Our business has grown quickly over the past 18 months. One challenge has been finding the right system for email, schedules, to-dos and new business leads to handle our growth and keep things organized.Here's what we've done so far to get organized, and what I'm looking at to make the system better.
How to double your revenue with email auto-responders
Imagine if you could walk up to the prospective customers who are looking at your company's website and ask if they're ready to buy. What would they tell you? In fact, if you asked every website visitor -- how many do you think would be ready to buy your products or services right now... today... right on the spot? If you're selling expensive products or services, it's probably no more than 3%. So what are you going to do with the 97% who "walk out" of your "online store" without making a decision to buy?
New Landing Page Design Should Increase Sales for Our Client
We've been working with the inventor of a North Carolina-based golf swing trainer since we designed & launched his website last Spring.We started assisting with marketing strategy late this summer, and while we had some early challenges, a lot of good things are finally starting to come together. Here's what we're doing:
Archway Cookies Closing Hits Home – Let’s Keep Ashland Someplace Special
My prayers go out to the families affected by the recent closing of Archway Cookies. I’d like to issue a challenge to my neighbors here in Ashland. I believe there are more than enough talented, hard-working people in this area to create more jobs than our community has ever seen. The secret to creating those jobs...
Did you receive our postcard? This blog post is for you…
If you are a member of the Ashland or Mansfield Chamber of Commerce, you will be receiving our new postcard sometime this week...
Twitter for Business Use: I’m Giving it a Week…
I've been aware of Twitter for a while, but have never been terribly impressed. Cool for personal use, but businesses are raving about it being the next big thing, and I've just never seen the marketing benefit to using it.
Spire is #1 for “Ohio Website Design” in Google’s 10-Pack
I've been kind-of quiet about our ranking up until now, because I thought it was a fluke. What I found is great news for small local businesses who think they can't compete on the search engines.
First Blog Post
Hello! My name is Jeremy Harrison. Welcome to my new blog! My role at Spire (aside from the normal things that go along with owning a business) is helping small business owners improve their marketing effectiveness.
Spire CMS v2.0 Can Make Your Website More Search Engine Friendly
If you're an existing Spire customer, you know how powerful and easy to use our Content Management system is. However, we haven’t been resting on our laurels...