Boulder County Business Do's and Dont's

Ok, if you found this article on a search engine website looking for ways to improve your business, trying to get more customers through the door, or your salesman printed this article for you on his lunch break , then you just answered my question. And yes, your advertising sucks! Congrats!

There are a lot of simple mistakes small business owners make when it comes to advertising for their business. Here is my list of the biggest mistakes I see every day as owner of Signdealz:

1. Spending free cash on Yellow Pages: This one is easy! The days of the phone book are dead, and if someone is telling you different then they are trying to sell you a phone book advertisement! Run directly to the restroom and dump $4000 dollars down the toilet and flush it! You just saved $2000! Don’t worry, you can thank me later! If they say “Hi I am from Yellow Book and I know how to put you at the front of Google and other major search engines” they are lying to you. They are using the same sales pitch and business model a drug dealer uses when conducting business. It goes like this.... The manufacturer, usually in Columbia, manufactures the product (Cocain). He then sells it to a distributor who then marks it up, and sends it to a transportation company (Mule), who then marks it up, and sells it to a broker/dealer, who marks it up, and then sells it to a mid level boss, who marks it up, then it goes to the street dealer, who marks it up and he/she sells it you your sorry ass. Guess what, you overpaid! The phone book business model is built on an old system just like the drug dealer, they have middle managers they have to pay, senior VP’s who get a cut, and that poor dumb bastard they sent to sell to you a ad that back in the day was worth $6000, but now is a thinned out version of the original, because that business model dont work no more folks. The problem is you don’t know shit about the future of the internet so get back in line!
2. No web presence: Look if you don’t have a website or it's all flash because your buddy designed it, then just go ahead and burn your building to the ground (if you own it), buy gold with the insurance money, and go to Vegas and marry the first person you meet, it’s far quicker and less painful than a bankruptcy. Im shocked you found this article, most likely it was copied for you by a friend or co-worker, which is why I put it in the intro. You can thank your friend later too!
3. You don’t understand Search Engine Optimization (SEO): I put this one at number three, but it might be number one. If you don’t understand the importance of SEO for your business and how to optimize your website for Google, Bing, and Yahoo, then you’re already behind the next 18 year old pimple faced punk who is about to take your customers (ME). SEO is about content. It’s that simple. If you have a website and it has 10 pages that you never change, well, let’s just say your fucked. Google is ranking websites based on how relevant your content is to your user base and those who access your information. It makes complete sense, why should someone who uses the Yellow Book Bastards get a better placement than me because they hired a bunch of programmers from Mumbai to create a lot of crap articles linked to my website from ghost blog domains? Well, thank god the geniuses at Google are constantly finding ways around advantages that huge corporations have over us small business pioneers. This amazing design algorithm allows you, the small mom and pop  shop from a little town in Ohio to compete with Wal-Mart, at least on a local level. The other great thing about the way Google handles SEO is you will start seeing less crap from advertisers taking up all the space from relevant content on the first page! This is awesome and I have already started to see this take place on my website. Say goodbye to all the crap and say hello to everyone who deserves to have a spot on the first page of Google rankings!
4. Paying for Clicks: This is the same racket used by Phone Book pushers, but it’s Google’s way of collection revenue from the lazy. If you don’t blog or publish new content on your website then just pay for your clicks. However, as competition grows in your market in natural search, expect to see that investment dwindle quickly.
5. Not getting educated: Look, I of all people know how difficult it can be to get out there and learn something new when you are running your own company. However, if you don’t get outside your own view of reality, then someone will create a new one behind you, get you drunk one night and leap in front of you while you recover from all your fun the night before. Read books, blog articles, and magazines that focus on marketing and advertising technology. Educate yourself on how to change the way you see your competition, your customers, and yourself. Shit, if your staying up till 1 AM in the morning working, you better be making it worth it. There are a lot of people depending on you to pay your taxes! Don’t let them down!