Mike Farney

Competitive SEO Siren Song

by Mike Farney on April 7, 2011

Do you ever sit in front of Google searching for your website listing under your favorite keyterms?  Do you feel a sense of anxiety when you notice your competitor ranked ahead of you on those keyterms?  You do?  Great.  Now STOP doing that!

We have countless customers who create unending agnst by endulging in the competitive seo search.  Look there is nothing wonrg with being competitive as long as it makes sense.  The problem is the search “strategy” that results from the comepetitive search often doesn’t make sense.  Here is an example.  I recently had a customer come to me and tell me that Keyterm X was a term they needed to be found on because their competitor was on that page and that they knew, for a fact, that their customers search on this term.  Althoughboth of these assertions might partially be true, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you should do something about it.

Here are some questions one should ask themselves before that act on such an anecdotal theory:

  • What does my Keyword Research tell me.  Is there high search engine traffic with low competition?
  • Is the keyterm something I actually sell (i.e. “fringed tulip bulbs”) or is a broad term that has cross-industry meanings (i.e. “Bulbs”, flower or light?) that has a low probability of converting (sale)?
  • Do I already have a good understanding of the keyterm traffic that is already coming to my site?  Am I doing everything I can to make sure that the content on my site helps that traffic convert or bounce (leave) off my site?  Most of my customer’s site generatoe over 3/4 of their traffic and online sales from Long-Tailed keyterms (i.e. “tulip flower bulbs”)
  • If I do find a broad keyterm that is relevent to my business and I think I can compete for it do I really have an understanding of what my competition is doing to drive traffic and rank to their site?  (i.e. ad spend, direct mail, email markeint, etc.)  It may seem like you are comparing apples to apples but really you might be competiting with someone who may be outspending you 10:1.  That may be wy they have a crappy looking web site but get “good rank”.

What most don’t realize is that they already have a large amount of qualified traffic coming to their site but they do little to make sure it converts.  Some of the reasons visitors “bounce” off those page are:

  • Not enough information to make a decision.
  • No call to action.  “How to Buy”
  • Price or Shipping is not competitive
  • Content is not relevent to their search.  (I want light bulbs not flower bulbs)

So what have we learned today?  Go with what you know not what you think you know.  What are my web site analytics telling me?  If you follow the competitive SEO siren song thinking you can OPTIMIZE your site to get ahead of your competition on a couple keyterms, I can promise you, you will be disappointed.  Be smart about where you want to rank and be seen in the search engines, develop a plan, then execute it.

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Do You Know CPR?

by Mike Farney on December 14, 2010

Although CPR/AED Awareness Week is the first week of June, Cazbah in conjunction with its customer, Cardiac Life Products, is training and certifying its employees on CPR and AED.  Why have we decided to do this at Cazbah?  In October 2010 I participated in the Black Diamond Duathlon in Victor NY.  The Duathlon is a challenging race that requires participants to run 2 miles, bike 10 miles, and run 2 miles most of which is off road.  The events of this race led me on a path to seek training for CPR and to see how many others I could get to participate.  Here is my story:

On the day of this event I was standing at the starting line where the event coordinator announced that none of the participants were to have cell phones, ipods, or anything with headphones.  I quickly ripped off my headphones but decided to keep my iPhone with me.  I started the race strong with the two mile run but once I got on my bike things started to slow down for me.  I was not having a good ride.  It seemed like everyone was passing me.  Finally I got to the transition area for my final two mile run.  My legs felt like stone but I trudged on.  The last two miles took me down a narrow trail through some woods.  At this point there were runners passing me in the other direction on their way to the finish line.  About a ½ mile into my final two miles another runner and I came across a middle-aged man lying in the middle of the trail unconscious.

After failing to get a response from the fallen man I handed my iPhone to the other runner and told him to call 911.  While 911 was triangulating our position through my phone a wave of despair hit me.  I was pretty sure this man had gone into Cardiac Arrest but I could do nothing about it because I had not been trained in CPR.  I could feel him fading and it seemed like he was about to die in my arms.  Then after what seemed like an eternity a cardiac nurse, who was running in the race, came upon us and immediately started CPR.  While she was administering CPR an Ontario County Sherriff who was directing traffic for the event showed up at the scene with an AED  (Automated External Defibrillator) and attached it to the victim.  The AED shocked the man and the AED unit told the nurse and two other runners, who were trained in CPR and had shown up on the scene, to continue administering CPR.  Shortly after this we were able to get the victim off the trail to an ambulance that was waiting to take the victim to the hospital.

This gentleman spent a couple days in a medical induced coma and had a couple stents put in to his arteries.  After being brought out of his coma he has made a slow but steady recovery.  More details about this victim and this story can be found on The Messenger Post Newspaper website.

After participating in this intense experience I decided that I never wanted to have that awful feeling of helplessness again.  I told my story to one of my customers, Cardiac Life Products, who told me they would be happy to train me on CPR.  In fact they would be willing to train anyone at Cazbah who is interested.  The Cazbah Management team quickly embraced the idea and encouraged me to tell my story on the company blog and to set aside some time in our busy work day to get certified in CPR / AED.  When completed there will be 10 Cazbah employees who will be trained and certified in CPR and on AED operation.

I hope this story moves you to get trained in CPR and even on an AED.  Chances are you will get to use that training at least once in your life.  Please don’t be a helpless bystander.  I can tell you that it is not a good feeling.

Cardiac Life Products Training Resources

Cardiac Life Products
Bob Wynne describing the CPR and AED products and services
from Cardiac Life Products and why they are so important.

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Online Patience is a Virtue

by Mike Farney on September 28, 2010

Remember the late 90s TV commercial where a group of employees are standing around a computer, turn on their e-commerce web site for the first time and orders immediately start to pour in? So many in fact they don’t know how they are going to fulfill all those orders. That ad was probably one of the most effective yet destructive ads ever produced. It was a destructive ad because it permanently convinced the American public that Internet commerce was immediate and infinite. Most believe even today that every online market is endless, and that the only limitation is technology itself (i.e. How do we trick Google). Over 10 years later I continue to be amazed at the number of customers who come to me with that notion.

The French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau once said, “Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.” Patience and understanding is what I preach to my customers.  Patience because sustained online success takes time – Understanding because there are very concrete steps one should take to be successful online.

Does this sound familiar? “I don’t know what happened. I hired a web firm(s) to build my site, but once they were done I never saw any online business.” We hear this one a lot. Truth of the matter is that companies usually have some form of online success (usually increased traffic) shortly after they launch their new site but are completely unaware of it, lose patience, and give up their effort.

Below is an analytics traffic graph from one of my customers. It was not until the fourth month after they launched their new site with us that this customer started to realize the hard benefit (sales) from our consistent hard work. Although time frames for online success vary, it is not uncommon for companies to stop working and give-up on their web site after not seeing immediate results. With our assistance this customer kept at it and the hard work paid off.

Even though patience is critical to success, so is understanding what makes a successful web site. We recommend focusing on the following:

* Identifying your UVP (unique value proposition)
* Content Development
* Search Visibility
* Targeted Traffic
* Conversions

So when you decide to work with a new web company do yourself a favor and make sure you speak with an Internet Marketing professional from that company at least once every month. Be sure to spend some time understanding what is happening with the traffic on your web site through some form of web analytics. Analytics will help you understand where you are making progress and where you need to work harder on your site. This will lead to online success that will inspire you to continue to learn and grow your site and business.

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Video Value

April 15, 2009 Blogging

TweetFor years now my customers have asked me about video on their websites and how that medium might be used to compliment their products and services sales. Until recently, I have always been a bit cautious because of the time and cost of producing videos versus the benefit received from such a marketing activity. In [...]

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