Website Development Issues Archives - Page 6 of 9 by Mark Murnahan

Suture Express, Inc. CFO Brian Forsythe Screws Wrong SEO

Brian Forsythe of Suture Express, a leading Johnson & Johnson Ethicon surgical suture supplier that promotes “cheap surgical suture supplies”, made a decision to rejuvenate the failing sutureexpress.com website. Naturally, he contacted a search engine optimization provider to suture the damage. In fitting with Suture Express’ core value of “cheap surgical supplies” he contacted a friend with whom he could make a great deal. What he did not realize is how much “cheap” can haunt a company, and especially as it involves selling surgical sutures and outright lying to the SEO provider and not paying him. Note: Stealing information from a search engine optimizer and website developer is not a good way to do more business. What amazes me is that some companies still fail to grasp the reach of the Internet or the power of truth against fraud.

Suture Express Cheap Johnson & Johnson Surgical Sutures? Yes Cheap Surgical Supplies!

Brian Forsythe claimed that Suture Express paid $150,000 to build sutureexpress.com and admitted that they made some pretty big marketing mistakes. Forsythe set out to make it right, but only made it worse when he contracted with a skilled SEO and did not pay the bill. The prior costly marketing mistakes made by Ed Kuklenski, Suture Express’ CEO at the time of the $150,000 disaster yielded only $50,000 gross revenue in the following year according to Forsythe. Forsythe stated that customers had refused to use their website and that it was too slow and ineffective in meeting the Suture Express customer needs and expectations.

It seems that cheap did not fit the bill in this instance, so the fax machine is still the primary method of taking orders. Forsythe claimed that the CEO, Ed Kuklenski had refused to present the proposed budget for site redevelopment, search engine optimization, and social media marketing services to the board for approval. Forsythe cited that since Ed Kuklenski had previously made too big a mistake on the website development that it would shame the CEO to request further money to rectify the mess. Instead, the company CFO, Brian Forsythe, decided to structure payments toward the proposed services in smaller amounts that would each come under the limit that must be approved by the board. Forsythe signed what was to have been the first of multiple contracts and claimed that payment had been sent. Brian Forsythe lied, the checks never came, and he stopped taking calls.

Is Suture Express a Fraud?

I am not an attorney, but what Brian Forsythe did on behalf of Suture Express as the CFO would probably stand out bad in any court of public opinion. Not only did Forsythe agree to a series of contracts to circumvent his board, he also signed a contract and said that the check was in the mail.

With a signed contract in hand and the Chief Financial Officer’s word that the check had been sent, it seemed safe to produce a report and a plan to achieve Suture Express’ Internet marketing goals. I provided the report, and Suture Express received the benefit of initial plans to improve their search engine ranking. Again, I am not an attorney, but I do recall hearing terms like “Theft by Deception” and “Fraud” somewhere. I am not sure what legal terms apply, but in any case, good business ethics do not seem to be this company’s strong point.

Beating the Surgical Suture Supply Competitors

Suture Express’ ill-considered plan to one-up the competing surgical supply companies had all the making of failure from the very beginning. Stealing from a top-level SEO just sealed the deal. This should be no surprise from a company that claimed to produce between six and seven hundred million per year in revenue (you believe that, right?), yet bragged in their marketing about using duct tape to fix an office toilet seat rather than buying a new one. That is how cheap they are, and they are proud of it. Ladies, can we hear from you on this topic? They are using duct tape to fix a toilet seat, but spent $150,000 on a website that does not work and irritates customers. Sorry ladies of Suture Express, the money for your toilet seat is at sutureexpress.com. Go there when you need to pee, like the rest of the surgical suture supply people around the world.

I am I kidding? No, they actually used the duct taped toilet seat in their marketing. Sure, people having surgery and hoping to live through it probably want that kind of “cheap”. That makes up for wasting $150,000 on a website, for certain.

Suture Express Cheap Sutures Acquired by “Diamond Castle Holdings LLC”

In what I can only imagine as a panic, Brian Forsythe and key operatives in the Suture Express marketing team decided that after costly failed attempts at selling surgical supplies online, they had to do something to advance their cheap surgical supply company. Instead of doing business with integrity, such as honoring a signed contract with the SEO, maybe the best thing to do was to sell the company again. I imagine it to sound something like this:

“Let’s sell Suture Express again! Selling a surgical suture supply company seems to work well. It has worked before, and to heck with Suture Express’ reputation, this is millions of dollars. We can buy a new SEO with that kind of money, and the new shareholders will never know better. Shareholders don’t get the Internet anyway.”

I can actually kind of expect this kind of logic from these people, because the company who purchased Suture Express in January 2010 is named Diamond Castle Holdings LLC. Really, a diamond castle is what people want to build when they buy cheap surgical supplies, right? Diamond Castle acquired Suture Express in a leveraged buyout from Code Hennessy & Simmons LLC. Does anybody want to guess the shareholders of Code Hennessy & Simmons LLC and Diamond Castle Holdings LLC? I’ll bet we can find some pretty classy cheap surgical suppliers in there somewhere. I can imagine the pride they all shout about at the shareholder meetings. Can you make up a good cheer to suit this?

Ethicon Surgical Supply Truth, with Suture Express

What I know today answers a lot of questions of how America’s health care system is in shambles. I waited well over a year from the time that Brian Forsythe at Suture Express told me directly that a check was in the mail before I decided to share the truth. I never wanted to battle with the huge health care industry or to hurt a one-time friend who suckered me into it. In over a year of waiting for that check to arrive and watching Suture Express being sold twice for millions of dollars each time, I had to shake my head and wonder what went wrong. There were many instances when I missed what I knew as my one-time friend, Brian, who had served as the CEO, CTO and CFO of Suture Express, and any other position he could regain in the next sale of his company. He gained millions of dollars by selling a company and effectively reselling it multiple times. Some people call this genius, but some people would call him a conman. I did not judge him, because I knew him as a friend who came to me when he needed to market a company that had made huge and costly mistakes.

I should explain that Brian Forsythe was one of the people I credit the highest with my learning to drive race cars. I met Brian when I was learning to master driving Corvettes. As you can imagine, I trusted Brian Forsythe. We have been just a few feet apart in our Corvettes at 150 miles per hour and taken high speed turns where mistakes count dearly. I don’t do this with people I do not like or respect. After all, I have a family to come home to.

Brian Forsythe Porsche Club and Corvette Race Car Driver

Brian is an amazing race car driver, and he instructed me in driving to the absolute limits a Corvette can withstand. He has been in a car with me at 150 miles per hour and has coached me when I placed 4th in a competition with top drivers from all around the world. He was the guy who once said “Mark, you made the quantum leap today, and you will never see that much improvement in your driving skill again.” He was also the guy who consoled me as I frantically worried that I had finished a time trial at less than my capability. He had been timing me and assured me beyond my tears that I had done a smashing job. Yes, race car drivers are close like brothers, so it actually does trouble me to say how badly this man conducts business. It means that I will never see my friend on a racetrack for fear that he will treat human life the way he does his business … like a true liar and cheat.

Yes, you read it correctly, and I will defend it in a court of law … Brian Forsythe of Suture Express is a liar. I cannot say how often he does it, but I can prove multiple instances of Brian lying to a friend, so you go ahead and make your judgments how you like. I always figured that if a man will lie to his friend, it is generally a reflection of how he will treat people in business as well.

My opinion is that Ed Kuklenski, Brian Forsythe, Kurt Rall, Steve Boyer, and the rest of the executive team and marketing staff at Suture Express probably could have done well to just own up to their contract instead of selling out the little guy who just wanted to help his racing buddy.

When people tell the truth, there should be no harm to the person reporting it. Fairness is subjective, but factual data should never hurt. The day that the truth becomes damaging to the truth-teller, is the day I will give up and stop doing business. If you do not like the truth, stop reading my blog right now, because you would probably not like me. If you are in the Ethicon surgical sutures supply industry, the truth may either upset you, or it may delight you. In the end, it is only the truth.

I wonder how Diamond Castle Holdings LLC’s shareholders will feel about their acquisition. I don’t wonder too much, because I think if anybody facing a life-saving surgery knew that their sutures were building a diamond castle, that their holdings would perhaps include holding their breath and waiting for some surgical supplies by a company with more integrity. Really … Diamond Castle Holdings? Are you kidding me? Is that part of the big healthcare reform thing we keep hearing about?

How many people here on my blog want to finance a Diamond Castle when they get sick and need a doctor to stitch them up?

A Surgical Supply Question for Johnson & Johnson

Do you generally do business like Brian Forsythe at Suture Express? I wonder if you can sell any sutures that can stitch up this surgical marketing mess Brian and his coworkers made. I really wonder how Johnson & Johnson looks at companies promoting their Ethicon line of surgical sutures in this way. Will I get any answers?

About Surgical Suture Suppliers

I doubt that surgical sutures suppliers are all so shady. I would be delighted to assist a suture supply company like Ethicon by Johnson & Johnson, Suture Direct, Novartis, Angiotech, MPS Medical Supply, DemeTech or others.

I would like to add that I do not often say unkind things about companies or friends. This is an instance where I believe that it is in the public’s interest and that Suture Express’ shareholders, prospective customers, and even competing surgical suture suppliers should know what happens when you treat people with dishonesty. Especially the ones who already proved they know their way around SEO. Just see my comment on the article “Ethicon Sutures: Endo Surgical Sutures” to see what I mean.

Bounce Rate? What is a Bounce Rate?

The bounce rate of a website, or of any given page, is an important measure of whether you have captured a reader’s interest enough to click and visit another page on your site. It is more important to some types of sites than others, and is often dismissed by considerations of the ratio of returning visitors to new visitors, but it should not be ignored. I know a lot of people understand bounce rate, but I still thought it was worth blogging about because you should hear it from somebody, and maybe I will give you a different angle on this.

Does Bounce Rate Affect Search Engine Rankings

The answer is no … and yes. Although bounce rate is purportedly not used in the ranking algorithm of Google or other search engines, some people will still try to insist that it is. I have heard arguments that even if Google used it, they would keep it very secret because it is too easy to cheat in the ways people have cheated to have higher Alexa rank. I think it is worth considering what Google has to say about bounce rate, and how true it is. According to Google’s Matt Cutts, it is “Spamable and noisy” data, and I agree. There are many things that can cause a higher or lower bounce rate that it is not useful as a single measure and requires other factors to become useful data. The ways that bounce rate can affect search engine ranking are outside of the search engine algorithms, and come down to how useful your site is to people and if it is not useful, they are probably not linking to it. Bounce rate is a symptom and not a cause.

Bounce Rate Factors

Bounce rate is subject to many different diluting factors, and a good example is Wikipedia. If I search for something and I find the answer at Wikipedia, I will likely not visit another page in that same browser session, thus creating a “bounce” for Wikipedia. This is an example of a high bounce rate being a good thing, because I did not need to click around to find my answer. I found it, Wikipedia’s job was done well, and I will still return often. There are a lot of things which may cause a high bounce rate, and it is not all bad. This does not mean you can ignore it, though.

You really should not ignore your bounce rate, because it can still play a role in your SEO efforts and make a difference in your rankings for other reasons. For example, if your bounce rate is on the rise but your site has not changed, it would be best to determine why before you start losing people’s interest any further. Is the information less relevant than it once was? If so, you really should pay attention to this. If people lose interest, they will probably stop returning to your site, linking to your site, and sharing it with others. If it is a blog, maybe you need better content, or maybe the content is so good that they come back every day to read more. Whatever the instance, you should be measuring this and know the answer. An important measure is not only whether the bounce rate is high or low, but whether it is changing.

How Bounce Rate is Calculated

Bounce rate of a website is calculated based on the total number of visitors of only one page in a session divided by the total number of visits to the site. Because it is based on a “session” there are several ways a bounce can occur. Things that can cause a bounce are clicking a link to another site, closing the browser window, clicking the back button to try their search again, or a session timeout, which could mean they just left your page open and went to lunch.

Don’t Bounce Me Just Yet!

I did mention the ratio of returning visitors to new visitors. If you have a high bounce rate, but you still have a very high number of returning visitors, it is easy to be relaxed about this. There are a lot of instances where a high bounce rate can still be a sign of potential improvements, such as emphasizing a further call to action. If you give people a reason to stick around right now, you will also improve your chances of a return visit, that they will bookmark your site, subscribe to your blog, or better yet, share it with friends.

The bottom line is that if you are not doing all that you can to make your website more useful, you are leaving the doors open for the competition. Knowing your bounce rate and knowing why it is high, low, or on the move can be a good step in the right direction.

By the way, while you are here, you may like to take a look at my “Recent Articles” listed to the left of the page. I would also invite you to visit the list of articles in my blog archive. I have worked very hard to make it useful for you.

Blog Tools for Non-bloggers and Bloggers

Whether you have a blog of your own or just read blogs, these are tools to help you to become more efficient and have a better look at the information that is important to you.

The tools I will outline here are for both non-bloggers as well as bloggers. I say non-bloggers, but only to suit the people who have this mysterious idea that because they only read and comment on blogs that they are not still a blogger. If you participate in blogs, I hate to break it to you, but you are a blogger! Blogs are made up of an originating author, and all of those other authors who come to share their view and create the dialogue of a blog.

Whichever you are, or even if you are just a casual reader, I want to give you some really useful pieces of information to help you receive more benefit from blogs and to make the information more manageable. These will not take a lot of time to implement, and it will be worth the time you spend. Do not just drop this information off in your bookmarks and wait until you forget it. If you use these tools as described, my guess is that you will start being more efficient right away.

Some of these are very basic and you may know them, and some may be unfamiliar to you. I will start with a couple essentials that most bloggers know, but yet their readers may not. If you are a blog author, you also will want your readers to know this information in order to receive greater value and usability from your blog. In any case, whether you have your own blog or you are a reader and commenter, these are very useful and provide benefit to any blogging efforts.

Blogging Tool One: Gravitar

Gravitar.com – This is very basic, but many people still ask how to have their picture show up when they comment on a blog. The answer is a Gravitar. Gravitar is free, and very simple to set up. All you need is a picture and an email address. Gravitar is a globally recognized avatar that is recognized by the email address you use when you submit a comment.

Blogging Tool Two: BackType

NOTE: This information about BackType is now outdated. They changed things since I published this article. BackType can still be a useful tool, so check it out anyway.

BackType.com – What are people talking about? Are they talking about you, your industry, or other interests? BackType will help to keep you informed about things people are saying in blog comments and social media venues. For example, here is a BackType search for “Murnahan” … my last name. I like to know if something shows up there!

BackType provides other beneficial functions too! BackType aggregates a user’s comments across many blogs and social networks and puts them in one place. It is a great tool for finding discussions about topics or people you want to keep up with. You can track specific people, and also track your own comments. BackType uses the Web address you enter when you comment on a blog to aggregate the data. If you sign up, you simply enter the Web addresses you use when you make comments on blogs in order to claim your comments. Then it allows you to determine whether it is a legitimate comment or somebody claiming to be you. An example is if you take a look at my BackType profile, you can see comments I have made on many blogs, and also follow a link to join in the discussion.

BackType is free and it can be very useful without signing up. However, if you want to claim your comments across the Internet, you can sign up for BackType here. Since BackType is not all-inclusive, I will share a couple more comment aggregation services.

Blogging Tool Three: Disqus

Disqus.com – Pronounced “discuss”, it is as it sounds … it is about discussions. Disqus does more than many users will realize, and I want to clarify a couple things to help you understand it. You do not need to have a Disqus account to comment on blogs that use Disqus and you do not need to have a blog to use Disqus, either! Note that Disqus just works just like any common blog comment system if you do not log in.

Disqus has a couple of very different purposes. One function of Disqus is that it works as a commenting platform and is used by some really popular blogs such as Mashable.com, and of course aWebGuy.com.

It seems that Disqus gives some users the impression that they must log in using an account to comment. This is not the case at all, but it does allow users to log in and comment using other social media profiles if they choose. It can also optionally share your comments on social networks so your friends can see what you have to say. There is no need to log in! That is just an option, and even if you are logged in, you decide whether to share the comment on your chosen networks.

Another great function of Disqus is that it works as a comment aggregation and threading platform. As an example, here is my Disqus public profile. Notice that you can reply to blog comments, view the context of blog comments, and follow a link to the blog where the comments were made. That is just downright cool, don’t you think? Imagine how much easier it is to keep up with the conversations you participate in with tools like Disqus on your side. Of course, Disqus is not used on every blog, so I have more cool tools for you!

NOTE: You may find more detailed and up-to-date information about Disqus in my more recent article titled “Why Disqus May Be The Best Social Network of 2011”

Blogging Tool Four: Intense Debate

IntenseDebate.com – This is a service similar in some ways to Disqus, but also different in many ways. I use it to keep up with a handful of other writers’ comments, and I also use it for sharing comments. You can see what my Intense Debate profile looks like to get an understanding of the service. An example of the use of Intense Debate as a commenting system in a blog is found at this tech blog where I also write. Intense Debate can help you keep up with more conversations … this is a good thing!

Blogging Tool Five: Google Reader

It may shock many bloggers to realize how few people are using feed readers efficiently, or using them at all. Sure, some bloggers and active users of blogs are totally prepared and see every piece of information they wish to consume. The truth is that a lot of people are still clueless about what that little RSS icon means. REF:

If you are not clear on this, I will simply explain that RSS is used in about everything from cat food to stock quotes. An example I put together to make this point is in an aggregation of feeds from some of my various blogs and other social networks. I call it the Murnahan Online Activity RSS Aggregator. Beware that it may load a bit slowly due to the many feeds it pulls from, but it makes a good point for how RSS (really simple syndication) works.

If you want to put all of the data that is important to your work or other interests in an easy to manage place that you can absorb, you need a good feed reader. Google Reader is the reader of choice for the masses, and with good reasons. There are many RSS feed readers available, and many that work just great. I use a few of them, and for different purposes, but most of my RSS feeds reach me using Google Reader. If you are not using Google Reader or another good feed reader to keep up with what your industry is doing, you are missing a lot!

Spend some time and get familiar with Google Reader. Use it and click every button until you feel comfortable with how it works. I could write a book on this, but in the interest of helping you today, I suggest starting by opening your eyes and taking some time to improve your efforts with this little jewel.

Blogging Tool Six: FeedBurner

How many people do you think a blog turns away each day because when somebody unfamiliar with RSS clicks on the RSS feed and finds either a bunch of XML code or a styled-down version of the blog and does not know what to do with it? The answer is “a lot of them!” For example, if you use Google Chrome, which is quickly growing in popularity, a standard feed just comes across as XML code.

FeedBurner by Google clears that all up and offers users a simple link to subscribe in whatever reader they like, or to subscribe by email. FeedBurner is simple for a blog owner to implement, and simple for the reader to use.

More Blogging Tools

There is a big world out there, and I cannot list everything in one blog post. I hope that these few tools will help you or somebody you know to be more efficient and prepared to deal with the massive information of the Internet.

I would like it very much if you will provide your comments about these blogging tools or add additional suggestions that others may find useful.

Blogging Improves Intelligence and Here is Proof!

It may sound obvious to you that blogging improves intelligence. After all, if you are using your brain more, it will get stronger. What is not so obvious are the many ways it can make you smarter. Blogging can increase your business intelligence, expand your creativity, provide you with a better perspective on the intelligence around you, and more. Much relies on how you use it, and I am here to help you get smarter, so stop scanning and start reading!

Blog Reading and Commenting is Blogging Too!

When I say blogging, I do not just mean sitting down at your computer to face the arduous task of writing something enlightening for a bunch of imaginary readers each day. I do not mean chugging coffee from early morning until the sun revolves around the earth another time. I do not mean the kind of brain exercise that burns you out after a week, or the huge expenditure of time that full-time writers invest. Get that out of your brain right now, because I want to put some more useful thoughts in there.

When you use blogging the way I will describe it here to boost your intelligence, you will have more creativity to share. Creativity and knowledge are not finite resources. When you use them more, you have more to use.

Community Intelligence Benefits of Blogging

Maybe you have heard the term “blogging community”, but do you really see it as a community? If you do not see blogging as a community, you may not be approaching it right. There are a lot of little blogging communities, and they make up the “blogging world”. There are many great connections to make in that blogging world, and it is best to recognize this fact.

Where are these blogging communities? There are established blogging communities, and then there are less formal blogging communities of people who just seem to read the same blogs and get to know each other with blog commenting and expanding on topics in conversations. Examples of established formal blogging communities include Blog Catalog and Technorati. These communities also stretch into the deepest reaches of that long list of social networks that I have placed on the left side of my blog.

Less Formal Blogging Communities

I am far more engaged in the less formal blogging communities which I have come to know by responding to authors and other blog commenters. Even if I do not communicate with them each day, week, or even month, these are people that have become familiar to me and people with whom I have become familiar. It is a loose community of bloggers that I have come to know and enjoy. Some, but not all of them have their own blogs. When I get to know them by reading and responding to their comments on a blog, I often come to read their blog and find out more of their opinions. The same thing works in reverse, too. If people are interested in what you have to say, they will often want to know a bit more about you.

Notice that most blogs have a place to include your website address when you add a comment, thus creating a link to you show who you are. If you are making useful contributions and provide good input on a topic in the blog’s comments, people use those links! It is a fantastic way to meet others and build relationships, whether for personal or business purposes. It is also an extremely useful way for people to come to know you!

I have found that when I blindly venture out to find new blogs, I discover a lot more horrible writing than I find intelligence. Conversely, when I look to my communities, I find people with viewpoints and writing that interests me and stimulates my thoughts.

As you discover and step into a community of blogging, you can grow your confidence with a greater sense of security that what you are reading will benefit you. These are the blogs where you will learn at the best pace, because they make you think about something of interest to you. When you are stimulated by the content, the rest starts to come much easier.

Are you feeling smarter yet? Keep reading and get those brain cells pumping some iron. I will get to the proof that it makes you more intelligent, be patient.

Blogging Doesn’t Just Mean Writing Blog Posts

It should be obvious by now that a person does not have to master a language to be a blog writer. It offers a very low barrier of entry for writing, so there are a lot of novice writers. They are still learning, and with a lot of dedication they may get really good at it. Jumping into writing frequent blog posts can be intimidating, time consuming, and it can hold some hard lessons. There must be an easier way for non-writers to improve their skills and get their brains in shape for producing better content.

Most people are not born as great writers. In fact, many people with advanced college degrees are still terrible writers. It seems that many people dread writing, so it should be no surprise that they never became good at it. It horrifies some people to imagine coming up with something to write about and then putting it into a proper structure for public consumption. Do not worry about it … blogging does not mean you have to do a lot of writing! However, it is best to do some writing in order to receive the best benefits and expand your talents.

Reading and commenting on blogs is often a great way to find out just how right or wrong your thinking is before you apply it to your own brilliant literary works. I should note that I spend a lot more time reading and commenting on other blogs than I spend writing my own blogs. It makes me stronger as a writer and it gets the hamsters in my brain jumping.

Very Few Bloggers Are Brilliant 100 Percent of the Time!

Don’t worry; you do not always have to be brilliant. I think it is a huge fear for a lot of people that if they don’t have something brilliant to say that they don’t say anything. Fortunately for you, there is a burning desire to become more intelligent. This brings me to the point about proving that blogging makes a person more intelligent.

Maybe I stimulated your thoughts on how to engage in blogging as a community, or how discovering thought provoking friends can be a benefit. In any event, you read this and you are now aware of another viewpoint … my viewpoint. With that viewpoint and the others expressed in the comments to this article, you will have just a little more understanding of the world around you and how people think.

Most importantly, you can surely see the enormous benefits to using blogging as a communications tool, and how two-way communications can be far more beneficial to learning than only one. Now if you want the best proof of how blogging improves intelligence, add your comments and learn about other reader’s viewpoints. That is where the real proof comes in. Just watch what happens when all of my brilliant readers get to communicating!

Here are some delicious tater chips for your enjoyment. Many SEO / Internet marketing and non-SEO people alike took notice of my recent article on how to sell SEO (and compare SEO). It is a pretty important topic for anybody hoping to do more business using the Internet. So, I thought I would write a piece on how to market SEO, but as before, this is not just for the SEO and Internet marketing folks. Whether you sell SEO services, fishing lures, or potato chips, this article can help you, too.

Don’t get confused just yet if you are not in the fields of sales or marketing. This should help to get your thoughts in the right place, too.

Sales and Marketing Are Not The Same!

I want to get this point clear first. Sales and marketing are so often intertwined that some people just look at them as the same thing. Please pay close attention. Sales and Marketing are not the same thing!

People in the fields of sales and marketing often realize this, but even they will get this mixed up a lot of times. Sure, the two disciplines of selling and marketing both have the similar focus of driving more dollars into your pocket with super-fantastic return on investment (you know, ROI). If you seek the definitions in many places, you may even find these two terms to be very similar. The truth is that they are different … they are vertical, but not the same. I can tell you that many salespeople know a similar amount about marketing analytics as their marketing counterpart knows about being bitten by that dog that answered the door on the last sales call.

Some people have called me a great salesman. They clearly missed something, because I actually kind of stink as a salesman in some ways. I give them the proof they want, but I am not about to grovel to the lowest bidder … that is just not my style. If I have to ask somebody to buy what I do, I consider it a failure in my marketing. This is because if the marketing is done right, the sale should be nothing but the fun part. Really, if somebody wants a big sales pitch, I just tell them to get a pen handy so I can have them call some of my customers … or even better, read more of my blog.

So argue if you must (that is why I allow your comments), but let us look at this as Internet sales being when somebody clicks your “buy” button or rings your phone, while marketing involves the sequence of events that led up to that wonderful (huge beam of light coming from the sky and angels singing) click that made your cash register ding.

Vertical Market? Guard your Wallet!

I do not like those industry terms people toss around just to sound smart or to throw the customer off long enough to grab their wallet. I have made fun of this in the past, because it is often designed to obscure the message just enough to distract a smart and hard working person who just doesn’t have a reason to know everything about cytology, acetaldehyde dehydrogenase, or how to bring more customers to their business.

If you are not a marketing person, you may not understand a vertical market compared to a horizontal market, or a skazmodic market. OK, I made that last one (skazmodic) up just for fun. You are not expected to know everything about marketing. Seriously, nobody knows everything about marketing, and the majority of the world’s population has another discipline to focus on. Should a dentist know as much about marketing as a marketer knows about dentistry? Not at all, but I can tell you that either of them is just as important in whether you eat or not. Without good marketing, most of what you know in this world would look a whole lot different.

So you may ask, what is a vertical market? Let me break the term “vertical market” down for you. If you are selling fishing lures, it is a vertical of fishing supplies, which is a vertical of outdoor sports. Other vertical markets are camping supplies, and hunting, but fishing lures will probably never be a part of aircraft repair (and if so, please choose a different airline).

Wikipedia includes the description of a vertical market as follows:

“The activities of participants within any given vertical market are typically similar in that they aim at solving the same or similar problems. These markets are typically competitive, due to the overlapping focuses of the products and services that are provided to the customers.”

Love Your Vertical Market … I Do!

In the SEO profession or in any market, I suggest falling in love with your vertical market. Get to know this market and it will not take very long to realize that your vertical market is chock full of mutually-beneficial assets. With this considered I use SEO as my example. Surely you can see how SEO is a vertical of website design, web development, web hosting, technology, marketing, advertising, and more. These are markets for the SEO professional to consider as their friends. Yes, vertical markets are your friends! Do not mistake this, because if you do it will hurt your bottom line whether you sell SEO / Internet marketing, fishing lures, or potato chips.

Any marketer worth the water they are made of should be highly aware of the vertical markets of their clients. Sadly for marketers, as so many marketers seem to be fighting for the same dollars, they forget about their own vertical market. For example, I am a search engine optimizer (SEO), but if you think that means I do not work very closely with other SEO, you must think I am totally stupid. These folks are my closest allies, and often my best clients. That is because as with any industry, we each have specific skills and when we put those skills together, we get a whole lot more accomplished. Digg.com is really not a huge piece of my own personal work, but you can bet that I know a whole bunch of people to who leverage it massively. On the other hand, I have somewhat of a whacky way of producing content with massive appeal. I mean, I produce really great results with things I come up with after a gallon of coffee and a pack of cigarettes. I do all of the things an SEO does. I create content, I am a programmer of about every known language, I have wicked skills with incoming link production, I am highly active in a squillion social media venues, I write for a good handful of blogs, and so many other things. So am I out to grab up the whole market by myself? Heck no! Not at all, because the more meat on the bone for those friendly competitors, the more food is on my table, too.

This, my friends, is vertical marketing at its best. Never think you are so amazing that you should try to do it all by yourself. The best SEO people know where their marketing talent lies, just the way the heart surgeon knows that he doesn’t want to perform vasectomies.

Horizontal Market … Oh, Beautiful Sunrise!

If the sun rises with your horizontal market, there are still some pretty huge things to consider. If you are trying to sell your product or service to anybody and everybody, you do so at your own demise. Trust me … no wait … I hate that term, because it implies that I have been lying to you all along. Don’t trust me … just go find out for yourself how miserably you will fail at trying to reach the hundreds of millions of people who desperately need what you offer if you can just tell them all about it. Let me know how that went after you spend hundreds of squillions of dollars on that campaign. Just be sure you set a couple squillion aside for when you are ready to do it the right way.

Consider the massive potential customer base of a potato chip company. They must have a really easy marketing plan. All they have to do is tell everybody who eats potato chips how good their product is, right? Wrong! If this was the case, you would probably never see a potato chip company advertising that their product is fat-free, in earth-friendly packaging, cheesier than the rest, low salt, in a nice can so the chips don’t get broken, or any of the other things that segment their market based on targeted desires.

To the SEO / Internet marketing people reading this:
Let’s think about that vertical market and start working together.

To the rest of you:
Call me right now so I can get my vertical market to talking about targeted reasons that your potato chips taste so amazing.

Wow, did you see that coming? I have something that anybody with something to market needs, but I am calling my vertical market to action. It is fancy how that works, isn’t it?

Category: Website Development Issues