Too many businesses are losing money online or spending it unnecessarily, and too often it's the result of lies, scams or well-intentioned but woefully inept consultants who promise the moon but don't know how to deliver. Here are some things small business owners should watch out for to avoid getting scammed and some good advice on how to make better decisions for their website, SEO, social media marketing, mobile marketing and PPC.

1. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
The Good, Bad & Ugly
of Internet Marketing
By Kathy Long

2. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
Interludeclick to enjoy

3. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
Why am I
on my
soapbox?

4. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
Why?
• Scams
• Lies
• Well intentioned, but
misinformed

5. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
True
“If you pay peanuts, you get
monkeys."

6. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
True
“If you pay premium, you
get peanuts."

7. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
5 Essential Elements
for Online Success
• Messaging
• Website
• Visibility (SEO)
• Social Media Marketing
• Mobile
• PPC

8. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
Messaging

9. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
Messaging
Your messaging lets the person
receiving your message know how
your offer will help them, why
they should choose you over
others, and why it’s worth
spending money on.

10. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
• No competitive analysis,
therefore no differentiator
• No value proposition
• No consideration for customer
• Not evident enough
• No call to action
Bad & Ugly
Messaging

11. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
The Good
Messaging
• You have what I need!
• You really can!
• You’re better!
• I know what to do!

12. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
Messaging
Value Proposition
Differentiator
Proof Points
Call to Action
All for the right person at the right time.

13. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
Messaging Framework

14. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
Messaging Framework
Click to
download

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Example
Chiropractor

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Click to view

17. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
Click to view

18. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o mClick to view

19. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o mClick to view

20. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
Give interior pages
the same importance
• Blog should be
integrated with
the rest of the site
• Calls to action
should be there
• Messaging about
who you are
should be there
Not
Good

21. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
$10K a month on PPC
ads that led women
to this page on
keywords:
• Endometriosis
surgeon
• Endometriosis
treatment
• Endometriosis
pictures
• Endometriosis
symptoms
Poorly converting home page

22. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
More targeted
messaging resulted
in cost per
conversion drop from
$350 a to $169
Better converting home page
Addresses the pain immediately.
You say, “I’ve come to the right
place.”

23. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
More targeted
messaging resulted
in cost per
conversion drop from
$350 a to $169
Better converting home page
Sets the differentiator and value proposition.
You say, “I found the best. They
have a solution that works.”

24. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
Website

25. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
Website
Your website lets the visitor know
how your offer will help them, why
they should choose you over others,
and why it’s worth spending money
on. Messaging uses words. Your
website takes those words and places
them into design and layout.

26. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
Bad & Ugly
Website
• Pretty trumps purpose
• Ugly
• Message isn’t clear
• No consideration for customer as buyer
and user
• Suffers from “technologyitis”
• No visibility

27. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
The Good
Website
• Professional looking
• Message is clear
• Each page ‘speaks’ to a specific
audience
• Great usability
• Can be found online
• As good or better than competitors

28. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
Website Cautions
Your website is your most important
marketing vehicle, so…
• Pretty is is not as pretty does
• The kid next door may be clever and
may be artistic, but doesn’t know your
business, and doesn’t know marketing

29. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
Website Cautions
Your website is your most important
marketing vehicle, so…
1. Everyone says they do SEO
2. Free / $0
3. Free DIY website builders from Intuit,
Godaddy, etc. are limiting
=

30. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
Website Scam
Selling it as custom but using
packaged templates
“The sad truth is that the designer probably
bought (or downloaded illegally for free) that
template for $30, modified it for an hour or two,
then was trying to submit it as his own custom
web design and sell it off for about $2,000.”
http://www.rickydeez.com/web-design/web-template-scam/

31. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
Well-Intentioned
Selling you on custom when a
template will do…
Custom Template

32. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
Building a website from
scratch without a template
is like rebuilding your
house to get new carpet.
Rarely do you need that.
Well-Intentioned

33. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
Template

34. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
Knock-
off

35. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
Template

36. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
Knock-
off

37. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
DIY?

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39. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m

40. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m

41. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
Should you DYI?
Know your competition.
Know your strengths.
Are they equal?
Then you can try it yourself with a
Self-hosted Wordpress + theme

42. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
DYI?
Understand that it’s going to
take you a LONG time.
Is your time better spent making money
and letting someone else make YOU
money?

43. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
Pro Sites
(not always all they’re
cracked up to be)

44. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
Beautiful! Functional! But what if I need to call them?
Did our tax dollars pay for that?
http://www.milwaukeepolicenews.com/

45. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
Beautiful! Non-Functional. Suffering from technologyitis
http://www.jacquico.com/

46. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
This site has
almost no custom
design, and yet a
few SEO tweeks
and more
substantial
messaging
tweeks, had her
phone ringing off
the hook in 5
days!

47. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
• The Essentials of Web Design That Works/
• Web Design Elements: Examples And Best Practices
• Neuromarketing: How Your Brain Sees Your Website
• 12-annoying-things-about-your-website-that-drive-
people-away/
• Website Design Essentials: Define Your Site’s Purpose and
Goals
• Web Design Essentials – Discover the Ingredients That Will
Make Your Website #1
• What Constitutes Good and Bad Web Design?
Web Design Resources

48. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
SEO

49. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
VISIBILITY
Your website needs to be found
by your customers online
wherever your customers are
looking for services like yours.
That may be the search engines, a
phone app, a directory, Facebook,
and more.

50. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
VISIBILITY
Press #1 to
claim your free
Google listing.

51. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
SEO Scams
• Telemarketers promising
you first page
• Ads for
TopSEOs.com
• Linkbuilding for
$49 month
• 100 backlinks
a month

52. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
SEO Scams
• Your website submitted to
50,000 online directories!
• Your website submitted to 500
search engines!
• Guaranteed first page listing!

53. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
Beware of over optimization.
We not only serve patients in Los Gatos, we also welcome
patients from Los Gatos and Los Gatos, San Jose, Campbell,
Cupertino, Saratoga, Santa Clara .

54. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
SEO firmed getting sued
Search engine optimization company The Rainmaker Institute,
which markets its services to law firms and bills itself as a "law firm
marketing provider", has found itself on the receiving end of a RICO
lawsuit for providing SEO services that violated Google's webmaster
guidelines.
The Rainmaker Institute charged Seikaly & Stewart of Farmington
Hills, Michigan, $49,000 for optimization services to increase their
firm's visibility in Google.
http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2287006/Attorneys-File-RICO-Lawsuit-Against-Law-
Firm-Marketing-Company-for-Spammy-SEO-Practices

55. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
SEO Scams
From a well-known, successful SEO
company…
This is their promise:
“We ensure that any backlinks we acquire for you are related to your website and
are highly relevant in order for you to attain the greatest, maximum exposure.”
(reworded so it can’t be tracked out of respect for the firm, hoping they changed their “evil” ways)
This is the result.

56. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
Beware of those promising the moon

57. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
Beware of pushing
out CRAP for content
to get SEO benefit
(backlinks)
http://www.velocitypartners.co.
uk/featured-post/crap-the-
biggest-threat-to-b2b-content-
marketing/

58. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
Good SEO can’t be cheap.
• SBSM Mailbag: How Best to Charge Small Businesses for SEO Services?
• SMALL BUSINESS SEO: COSTS, EXPECTATIONS & REALITIES
“I generally wouldn’t trust an SEO company that only charges
$300/month. $300 is closer to the hourly rate, not the monthly
rate, for a good SEO consultant. An SEO that’s only charging
$300/month probably isn’t doing much for you, doesn’t
understand the true value of his/her time, and may have a
very basic, limited definition of what SEO is.”
Matt McGee, Top Local SEO

59. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
Good SEO can be cheap
depending on:
• The Vertical
• The Competition
• The Location

60. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
How to hire
an SEO
http://www.portent.com
/blog/seo/how-to-hire-
an-seo-company-2012-
edition.htm

61. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
Think about ROI, not cost.
If you spend X and get back 3X or
5X or 10X, the actual amount that
X is really doesn’t matter.

62. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
Rules of the game
• Educate yourself! Do your
reading & listen to experts.
• Stay one step ahead of the
competition.
• CHASE CUSTOMERS NOT RANK!

63. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
Make sure you have a smart
consultant who understands
how to win the game.
This?
Or this?

64. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
Just don’t go to
sleep!

65. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
“If you want to wow the
search engines, you have to
wow your customers. Build a
site that they want and can
use.”

66. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
SOCIAL
MEDIA

67. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
The Bad & Ugly
Social Media
• No one is liking a “muffler repair”
Facebook page
• Competing against Fortune 500 for
airplay
• Very time consuming
• Difficult to build a following and get
engagement
• No obvious ROI

68. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
The Good
Social Media
• Builds trust
• Helps with SEO
• Gives your customers a chance to
meet the “real” you
• Build relationships with customers
• Increased visibility

69. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
SOCIAL MEDIA
“Hands down, the biggest mistake
small businesses are making on
social media is not using social
media.”
Steve Strauss author of Small Business Bible

70. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
SOCIAL MEDIA
bad decisions

71. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
You hire the proverbial
“kid next door.”
• Doesn’t know how to respond to
problems.
• Does not represent your business well.
• Doesn’t understand the medium.

72. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
They hired
someone
inexperienced,
could have
been a
teenage, or it
could have
been the
business owner.
What’s
missing?

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74. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m

75. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
Uh oh.
Trouble
brewing.
Reputation
at stake.

76. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
Good
reputation
reclaimed.

77. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
Before you hire a Social
Media “Expert”
From 10 Questions You Should Ask Your Social Media Expert, Guru or Wizard
Great questions to ask before you hire!

78. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
Beware the buy 10,000 Twitter
followers for $60 scam.

79. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
• Stop thinking you need all those
followers.
• A few who ENGAGE with you is
better than thousands who don’t.

80. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
Be social!
ENGAGE!

81. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
Don’t treat all
social media
platforms the
same.
http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/201308221735
00-10486099-storytelling-in-2013
“See now most people treat social
media as a ‘distribution channel.’ They
think ‘oh, I’ll make a Facebook post or a
Tweet that links back to a form on my
website.’ They’re looking at social as
just another way to blast you with the
same shit…
The trick here - the way to truly
succeed and provide value - is to lean
to natively story tell on each platform
and respect the psychology of what
makes a Facebook user different from a
Pinterest user and more different still
than an Instagram user.”

82. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
Don’t buy into the “you
need to be everywhere”
hype.
You only have so much time. Use it wisely.
Pick one platform, the one where your
customers are.

83. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
Identify your ideal community.
Be there and be there for
them.
1.Who are they?
2.Where do they hang out?
3.What do they talk about?
4.What questions do they ask?

84. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
“Companies should
focus more on how to BE
social, and less on how to
DO social media.”
http://www.convinceandconvert.com/social-
media-strategy/social-media-strategy-in-8-
steps/

85. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
Wait! You said no one is liking a
muffler repair FB page. But what about
Brimfield Police?

86. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
Mobile
Marketing

87. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m

88. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
One third of the New York Times
traffic is coming from mobile
devices. Mobile visitors are
reading content sitting on the bus,
riding up elevators, and waiting in
store lines.

89. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
59% of
searches
in Yelp are
now on
mobile
devices.

90. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
Facebook is now
the #2 mobile
app for local
search behind
Google Maps.
This puts it ahead
of Mapquest,
Bing, and Apple
Maps. Yelp isn’t
even in the top
five.

91. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
Mobile Websites
The dilemma
Responsive?
Dedicated?

92. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
Dedicated:
$10 - $25 a month or
one-time cost to have
it built
Responsive:
$1000’s
to build

93. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
Dedicated Mobile Site
Mobile Site Options
• Quick to build
• Quick to load
• Easier to navigate.
• Less clutter.
• Convert better.
• Designed for visitor on the go.
• If you have this and another site, you
must maintain 2 sites.

94. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
Responsive
Mobile Site Options
• Much more difficult to build even with a
responsive template
• Harder to implement design and not as
flexible
• Slower to load
• Complete content for all search queries
• Google prefers all content be on one site.

95. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
Responsive
templates
If you’re building
a new website,
absolutely settle
for nothing less
than responsive.
Best of both worlds?

96. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
Best for local businesses
Best for informational sites

97. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
BIG MISTAKE!
Make sure every page on your site is
accessible to mobile users. If you
have 2 sites, one dedicated to
mobile, don’t
redirect all
queries to
mobile
site.

98. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
BIGGER
MISTAKE!
Not having a
mobile-
optimized
site!

99. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
Be Aware
1. Some Wordpress templates already have mobile
functionality built in. No need to spend extra!
2. Wordpress plugin exists that creates a mobile
version of your site for you.
3. If you go with a mobile site service like
Dudamobile, you still have to build it and you may
make the wrong decisions. Sometimes cheaper to
go with a developer, pay the cost upfront,
eliminate the monthly fee and get it done right!

100. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
Paid
Advertising

101. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
Google Adwords PPC
“I don’t need the SEO.
I do get orders, from
“xyz” getting my site
on page 1 of Google
results.”
She not only
needs SEO, she
needs help with
her PPC!

102. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
$10K a month on PPC
ads that led women
to this COMPLETELY
IRRELEVANT page
on keywords:
• Endometriosis
surgeon
• Endometriosis
treatment
• Endometriosis
pictures
• Endometriosis
symptoms
Remember this?

103. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
PPC requires strategic thinking and
lots of A/B testing and massaging of
ads and landing pages, always trying
to increase the ROI.
Don’t make the mistake of
thinking it’s good enough.

104. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
And don’t make the mistake
of forgetting about mobile
advertising.
Do a search for a local business on
your phone. What do you see first?

105. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
Bottom line –
Whatever kind of marketing you
do should not be costing you
money, it should be making you
money. And if you hire right,
that’s what you’ll get.

106. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
Overwhelmed?
Remember if you’re in a
crowd, being chased by a
bear, you only need to
be…

107. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
…one step ahead of your competitor

108. w w w . k a t a n d m o u s e . c o m
Web Design
SEO / Local SEO
Social Media Marketing
SEOcial
Mobile
PPC
www.katandmouse.com
408.647.2327
www.facebook.com/katandmouseo
Twitter: @katndmouse