I seems that things have changed a little since 2006 when I was going through the motions of the then successful businessman. Only a small company I might add but then money has never been my point of focus or main motivation. No I am a man that likes to pursue the more artistic side of life, it leaves us skint but we get by.
All those years ago my successful venture didn’t really need a large budget for promotion. My then marketing plan consisted of local add’s in the yellow pages coupled with business cards, word of mouth and excellent customer service. I have no doubt whatsoever that at that time there were those who were already well engrossed in the digital takeover of the modern business mind, but hey it never seemed to affect me.
Maybe I was oblivious to the new online surge I don’t know, but what I do know is that last year when I left Uni as a mature 1st Degree Graduate I had a kind of firm business plan in mind and I say kind of, because it seems now that I was somehow still living in a kind of pseudo past memory time warp. I thought I had all bases covered but how very wrong I was.
Online marketing was a concept that was unheard of at the University which I found strange, but then I was a degree student and I was supposed to be doing all my own research, my tutor would say to me, I’m not here to teach you, this isn’t school you do your own research. Research I did but I was still researching around the old ways of marketing. I was researching around what I already knew. It wasn’t that I was afraid of change I just thought that the old ways still applied and in some respects they do. Did I somehow miss the immortal words ” online marketing “or was it maybe that even a modern University curriculum had somehow missed the point and they were still living in the past.
Facebook, Linked-in , Twitter wahh these were names that I thought only the geeky monitor head gadget boys were wrapped up in and in no way I thought did these places need to affect me, I had been a businessman, I knew what I was doing, my plan was solid and I would rocket into the heavens with my years of pre developed wisdom, yeah right Darren.
Then it happened
On one fine sunny morning early last year. Sat eating my cornflakes and looking across at my wife ” who by the way looked like something half eaten after being dragged around the street on the back of a cart ” I love her really but the mornings not her best time ” .
Suddenly a broadcast on the local radio covering a promotion, mentioned the number of visitors that had hit their site ” thousands ” the words rang through my head thousands! I exclaimed as a Kellogg’s lodged in my throat, but this was no ordinary flake.
Now writhing around on the floor clutching my throat like demented politician trying to strangle himself, the tears streaming down the side of my face not for the fact that I was choking no, 21 unique visitors a week I was not being elevated to the likes of John Chow more deflated to the level of an ameba. Had I so totally missed the mark that I may well not of even existed, I would probably be more significant had I taken retreat in a Buddhist monastery for seven lifetimes and fasted on nettles. Things seriously had to change.
After recovering from the self strangulation episode It was time to go and see the one. The him above all others the all seeing web guy Paul. Paul was a graduate from Hull University in programming and development so he knew a thing or two about the web. I discussed with him my predicament and he helped me to open the window to the world of online marketing ” albeit only a little “.
The problem was with my outdated knowledge and implementation of marketing, there was still place for all I had learned but its fundamentals needed updating. After years of my site being online the penny had finally dropped ” no one was visiting my site “. Well what did I expect? I thought that at that time 3 unique visitors a day was somehow a sign sent from heaven, God was really looking down on me 21 unique visitors whoopppee. SEO , content and Google if I dare say those immortal words. My vow was to propel myself into the modern marketing world head on, my life’s mission, my golden chalice. I will learn marketing myself and I will make it work and so the journey began.
What the hell kind of a name is Google.
I never really knew what Google was until a short while ago. In my naivety I thought it was just a box that searched for things, like a computer program. Little did I know how wrong I was.
As I researched further I began to realize that Google was like a living breathing thing, with real people behind it “happy people” apparently Google reported revenues of $8.58 billion for the quarter ended March 31, 2011 any wonder there all happy!.
I think I need to keep Google happy…
In my early website days
In my early days of website building and promotion it was easy ” I didn’t actually know anything then about what I was doing” getting listed in Google and having a few souls visit my space I thought was great, having a reasonable quality of work would pull the customers in, by God I may as well have been trying to throw darts in my own eyes and still see afterwards.
Oh those were the days ” oblivious ”
Apparently though my skepticism may have been Ill founded as apparently Google is my friend. Google has a special sum for people like me, well so I read somewhere in a book by some big important marketing expert.
Its called an Algorithm
Now I remember these from school ” wow “, I’m happy to forget these as well.
Here is an explanation of the algorithm from Google:
Great am I glad that’s sorted…..Now I understand the complexities, all I need to do is implement this into my site and voila.
To be continued: