Everyone understands your business and what you do, right?  Not so fast.  If it takes a long winded and convoluted discussion, replete with customer stories and abstract examples, your potential customers/clients/patients probably glaze over before you’re done.  HINT:  If they’re nodding, glancing around, or not interacting then they’re just not that into you.  You KNOW your business will be a great fit for a lot of people, but how do you get through to them?

Explainer Videos take on the task in two minutes or less, turning your complex story into an engaging message.  Some of the best ones are animated. You know, cartoons.  They capture our attention and engage our child mind; the one that goes “Ooooooh.” and is open to new stories and adventures.

Why do YOU want and need one now?

1)  Be seen as Brave and Innovative.  It’s still early enough that you will be seen as clever and forward thinking.  If you wait on this you’ll be an also-ran.  Notoriety and notice is GOOD.

2)  Simplify your story.  You know your business so well and want to tell people so badly that you puke it all over them at any chance you get.  Really.  Make it short and sweet so people can say “Oh, I get it.” and self select themselves as your customer (or self-eliminate, which is also valuable).

3)  Get Found.  Search results are MUCH better for Websites with Video.  HINT:  Who owns Search Algorithms AND YouTube?

4) Genuine Content.  This story will be told by someone other than you.  Deal with the fact that a consultant can Name That Tune In 5 Notes and deliver your business message.  It’ll be a fresh voice telling the tale from a new perspective.

5) USE IT EVERYWHERE.  Your Website, Facebook, Google Places, Twitter and all your other Social and Digital Demand Generation efforts should all feed each other.  The Explainer Video serves that master.

Example:  Here’s a great video from Entrepreneur Country and Google (surprise) soliciting contest entries.

Go Big Guys.  As Rico Andrade at TechCrunch points out

“Quality matters.  While you may now be tempted to grab your camcorder and record a video of your product, the production quality does matter.”

So if you’re going to do this, and you should, get in touch with a firm that Creates Your Message.  They’ll need to understand your business first, which takes conversation and time (well spent).

So you want your business to be found on the web?

You can spend a fortune on SEO services, optimizing your web content and trying to lure other websites to link to yours, or paying for Google, Bing, Yahoo and Facebook. These are valid and important parts of business strategy on the web, but  they’re also time intensive disciplines that distract you from your original objectives. What was the original objective?

I want to be found quickly,  ahead of my competitors.

This is the motivating goal; you want to “rank” ahead of the competition, draw the most traffic, by being the most blatantly obvious choice and option for your customers. Ideally, you want to do this as economically and simply as possible. Heroik Media is now offering new service called FPE (First Page Exclusivity) that guarantees your place on page 1 of organic search results on Google for your city. Period. For an affordable monthly price, you get a little slice of search simplicity. It’s performance based and guaranteed. You only pay for it, when it lands you on page one. This is but one of the many tools we use to enhance web presence and to empower our clients.  Check it out here.

Where are you Pouring Your TEE ?

We help business by having them evaluate their work through the lens of return on TEE (short for Time, Effort, and Energy). Improving your search engine ranking becomes an elusive cat and mouse game that requires constant attention. The formulas change and with them your ranking thus requiring more TEE (Time, Effort and Energy). The costs of keyword advertising campaigns and SEO services can rack up quickly. For small-medium businesses, and business managers who’d rather be doing other things, FPE is a clear and simple choice.

The Perks of FPE

Before FPE, there was an unmet need for simplicity and affordability in the world of  Search Engine Marketing. Here’s how FPE meets that need:

• Puts your business will be on the First Page of organic search results on Google for your city.
• Exclusive to your business in your city. Your Business will be the only one of it’s type that we work with in the Cities you’ve selected. It won’t be offered to local competitors. However, FPE is offered on a  first come first served basis.
• Often, your business will be listed more than once, enhancing the relevance, prestige and credibility while bumping your competitors down or even off the page.
• It’s guaranteed to work. You don’t pay until your business appears on page 1 of search results. 
• Scalable: Start with one city or go for all the cities in the region, 
• Saves Time Effort and Energy by providing a simple solution to get you on page 1, without the hassle. 
• Affordable: As little as $200 a month per city with a 12 month commitment. $250 per month/per city

How do YOU Search?
Search remains the most useful tool in the hands of the customer, locating products and services at the time they are wanted. An educated consumer not only looks for the product, but increasingly wants to get it locally so they can see it and be assured of support. ‘Hyper-local’ includes the trend of adding location to our searches. We’ve all added location to our criteria; having State, County and most especially City adds validity and convenience to the results. Many of us have smart phones that we use to search for businesses based on our location. This trend is growing.

First Page Relevance

Being on the first page  of search results is critical to business these days. Showing up more than once, and with enhanced listings, dramatically increases the likelihood that customers will choose your company. The secondary benefit is that when you take up more of the first page listings there is that many fewer spots for your competitors. People that see the information that matches their quest seldom move to the second page of search results, putting your business at a further advantage.

Location & Exclusivity

FPE is a serviced based on city (or cities) and capitalizes on the local and hyper local search trends. When you sign up for the service, you are offered exclusive rights to the service for your type of business in that city.

100% Natural and Organic - Where do People Click?

We’ve trained our brains to ignore and filter out the paid ad results we see on search engines. The top natural or organic listings become our first choice. FPE ensures that you are on the first page of organic results. That’s right- it’s even green. For more information, click here.

Originally posted @GetHeroik.com

How did SEO become a four letter word? It seems to roll off scorched tongues of businesses who have been burned; paying through the nose for services that fail to land their websites on page one. It seems the SEO industry and Google/Bing algorithm folks are chasing each other in circles. When the SEO people learn a new way to optimize your site, the search engines change the rules,  business rankings slip, and the SEO folks pass the buck, without taking responsibility. The endless cat and mouse game creates a persisting headache for businesses looking to attract customers on the web.

To avoid the headache, many businesses avoid SEO altogether, choosing instead to focus on authentic content. There hasn’t been a headache free business model, until now. For less than a fifth of the average monthly cost of  all of these SEO services, you can get guaranteed position on page one of search results on Google. Isn’t this the original goal/objective that businesses wanted from these SEO services in the first place? How about something that just works for a fraction of the cost? There is a new model out there for this search results, called FPE, First Page Exclusivity.

How big is the SEO headache? let’s measure in dollars and take a look at average cost range for SEO services out there. Take a look below:

Average SEO Cost Breakdown

If we take the median pricing for both First Page Exclusivity, and the average of mid-range costs of your standard SEO engagement, analysis, retainer, link building, content development, etc., here’s how it stacks up with FPE.

On annual price alone, we see that FPE is less than one-fifth the cost of SEO. Now, let’s compare performance. How reliable is your typical SEO effort to keep you on page one while you’re paying them to do it? The answer is appalling- if you’re stuck in a typical SEO contract.

Since First Page Exclusivity is performance based and guaranteed, meaning, if you’re not on page one, you’re not billed, we can clearly see a performance discrepancy between SEO services and the FPE service.

So, clearly, it’s time to eliminate the headache, call your SEO guy and say “Page One Now!”  Ask for a First Page Exclusivity. Below are the terms and key phrases you’re looking for from your SEO firm.

What does First Page Exclusivity mean?

• Guaranteed position on page one of  organic search results (not paid ads) for Google for at least 3 of your 15-20 keyword or you don’t pay that month. Period.
• Exclusive service to your business (or category) for your city. Why pay an SEO company that is also working with your competition? Demand exclusivity.
• Multiple entries on search results to add to your prestige and (BONUS) bump your competitors down or even off the list.

Oh- and if you can’t get it for under $6,000- Go to this website and see if the listing(s) you want are available for the city(ies) you want. If you don’t want to go through the headache of negotiating these terms with an SEO firm who’s not offering these features out of the box, click here, Get Started Now with FPE.

Originally posted @GetHeroik.com

References:

SEO MOZ

Eli Pariser explains in The Filter Bubble: What the Internet Is Hiding from You, how big companies, specifically search engines like Google, are personalizing search results based on your individual activity. So now, if you Google your self/business for example, you’re likely to see yourself climb the charts so to speak, but this isn’t what the rest of the world sees in their search results. So you may be fooled into thinking that your business is in good standing in terms of Google ranking, without realizing you are nowhere near page one of the search results for your primary category and keywords.

For example, a plumber may search for a plumber in Arkansas on Google and then find himself and click on his own link repeatedly. Doing this trains Google to present you with that result higher on the list. Again however, when the rest of the world does the same search, the plumber’s listing may be in a completely different page/position altogether. So how do you assess your real Google rank? I would say Scroogle yourself, but they have since shut down the Scroogle service.

So here are some search engine alternatives to use to determine your true ranking and get around the personalization/ filter bubble.

Duck Duck Go – Easy Search. Great Site. Bubble free.

ixquick – Tracks very limited information.

Start Page – Same as ixquick but better name.

Google Chrome Incognito Mode- Google Chrome users can create ‘Incognito windows’ to dodge cookies and tracking but this can lead to other complications. For most of us, duckduckgo and ixquick are the best way to go.

If you’re curious about the Filter Bubble, I recommend checking out Eli’s Ted Talk and watch the video below.

Also checkout:

The Filter Bubble Website

http://donttrack.us/ – Very short visual kids story style lesson about how Google tracks your search terms.

Hey all, we’ve added a big, visual, iPad friendly Chonicles View to the Get Heroik  , our blog and online collaboratory. Click here to check it out or choose “Chronicles” on the main menu at the top of the page.  The purpose of the Chronicles view is not only to give you a way to bask in the glory of all the epic articles we post, but also to provide you with a way to visually browse content. In the Chronicles view, Each story has a featured thumbnail, title, and a few words to help you quickly skim and navigate to the content you want.  If you scroll down to the bottom of the page, you’ll see there are more pages to choose from. It’s a small, straight forward addition, but simplicity too can be empowering. We’re trying  new things to make it easy to mix, match and choose your own adventure here, so give the Chronicles view a try and send us your feedback.

We’re always open to suggestions, so please feel free to comment.
- The Heroik Team
info@getheroik.com
@getheroik