DETROIT, MICHIGAN – The best thing about having a news site is I get to shoot my mouth off and speak freely. Try doing that on a press release. You can never truly speak your heart and don’t get me started when it comes to quotes. I’m going to just jump right into it….  Look, I get a lot of emails from famous online marketers who swear by, “Stepping In Front Of The Web Traffic”.

I’m not kidding… that is what these people tell me. I got emails on top of emails and they are all saying the exact same thing. That is the hip thing to do right now. Just literally buy some software and ---- step in – unannounced in front of all these traffic streams on Google+, YouTube.com and other forms of social media. They continue to tell me that if I put my web site link in front of these people I will get web traffic…. A lot of it… and I will be overwhelmed and this can translate into sales. They got photographic proof of their bank statements and they are impressive.

Most people out there are shaking their heads no. I try everything and although this sounds great in theory many of these software programs are garbage and do not work. OR…. They do work and the instruction manuals are poorly put together. For the life of me I couldn’t figure out how to get Traffic Elixir to work properly. I even got tech support and it never worked out for me. Now I see programs popping up for YouTube and they are all telling me to do the same thing. “Just Step In Front Of Web Traffic and The Sales Will Come…. And So Will The Web Traffic… !!!!”

Now here is some truth for you. A lot of these Google+ communities are run with some kind of moderator and they will not tolerate your little spammy messages on them. They actually kick you out and block you. Just go ahead and try it and let me know how it works for you.

I can understand the theory of jumping into existing traffic streams but eventually this method of attaining traffic is going to get rejected by Google. The algorithms will change and you will be back at square one again trying to figure out the never ending problem of getting web traffic. But do you know what the REAL problem is?  ITS YOU….   Most businesses are slothful enterprises that do next to nothing in the means of story telling.  Worse, most businesses have no stories to tell….

So Where Do You Get Really
Hot Targeted Web Traffic?
YOU BUILD IT

The  PROBLEM is that we now live in a voyeuristic story culture where people will spy on your company FIRST before they decide to do business with you. If you are running 10% off coupons and expecting the phone to explode off the hook then you’re in for a lonely and terrifying surprise. Nobody will be clamoring over each other like in the movie, “World War Z” and beat your door down to do business with you. Oh no chicken little, oh no…. far from it. Stories are everything.

I got rejected from this web traffic program recently, (it’s actually happened a couple of times) because I study everything – and the famous marketer heard about who I was. He refused to service me and said that he wouldn’t be able to teach me too much. When he asked me how I create web traffic I told him about the extensive amount of writing I do and the kind of networking I do and he said, “You are creating the most expensive web traffic around… you are building it.” He went on to explain that he buys cheap web traffic and that is how he gets around his traffic problems.

But did you know Google is starting to delist websites that have too much phony web traffic? They are looking at unusually high bounce rates and will take the sites off the SERPS, (search engine result pages). If that happens to your one website… I am going to assume that you only have one web site…. That is going to tank your business. And it’s happening to thousands of people daily.

·         35% Of All Purchased Web Traffic Is Fake

·         Google Is Cracking Down On Fake Web Traffic

·         Web Traffic Companies Will Send Bots To Your Site,
and Not Every Hit In Your Counter Is A Real Person

·         83% Of All Companies I Consult With Mismanage Their Web Traffic

So build your empire, build your company and establish your position on what your company is all about. And by that I mean to ask, “How Well Do You Really Know Your Audience?” Most people don’t know their customers or what they are looking for. Very few businesses have a culture. Worse, they never know. A lot of companies I consult with refuse to even enforce a simple email sign up list policy. So money continues to walk out the door after every random purchase and in store visit.

Getting a person in the door is expensive. Getting them to come back takes some effort and this is something that many companies refuse to do. Maybe it’s not knowing what to do, maybe it’s not in the job description and not the employees responsibility. Eventually this is all going to topple down on the business owner.

WHAT ABOUT THE SERPS? Is Being Number One Still Important?

Search engine optimization is important and being number one in your field is important. That is always going to be the case but you know what’s even more important? Your connection to other businesses and tangent markets is important for lead sources. Keep in mind this is different for every business. But you want to align yourself with businesses that compliment what you are all about.

So if you running a hair salon here is what you need to be connected to:

SALON – MAIN BUSINESS
Connect to – nail salon, wedding planner, clothing boutiques, club promoters, jewelers

Then the other thing you want to consider is what do these kind of people like to read about?  That particular market follows pop culture, popular music, trending videos, and what ever is happening at the moment. They are really into the – “Now”. They don’t care less about your 10% off coupon and certainly will not rack up miles on their car to drive across Metro Detroit just to save a few bucks.

Here is another example:

ROOFING – MAIN BUSINESS
Connect to – community websites, community coupon sites, DIY sites, landscaping businesses, deck building businesses, window businesses, fence business etc.

Instead of trying to spam existing businesses you will have to create content that other people will want to use, share and distribute to others. Can you do that? If not, you better find someone that can write some content that you can use to solicit business with. Stories are everything. You are surrounded by what you create.

Make sure it’s fresh and refreshing. If I have to read another one of your John Lennon, Helen Keller or Morgan Freeman quotes I am going to jump out a window. We need new words, new analogies don’t just borrow from other people and try to sustain a profitable business off the generosity of some other wordsmith. Create your own brand and establish your own culture. It’s important. There is nothing more important that creating content that you can pass on and share with other people. The ability to change minds, and to alter the course of your own destiny belongs in your hands. Do not compromise your profit potential by being completely bland and ordinary.

The worst businesses I worked with in the past were jewelry stores and parts wholesalers. These guys are usually selling their products based on the cheapest price or the best deal. Can’t toot your horn too loud there and there isn’t much of a story to pass on.

·         People Love Stories

·         People Surf The Web To Be Entertained First

·         Our Culture Is Fixated On Pictures

·         People Love To Pass Stories Onto Other People

Breaking format helps. Even a lot of the markers that have flooded the scene in recent years have subscribed to the 400 word formula when it comes to content. They believe that you must stay within the 4oo word limit when it comes to web content. This is based on the press release guidelines when you use a professional service. But when you have a website that rule goes out the window and in fact it is the longer articles that get indexed first on Google. This is even more of the case when the content is original and it comes from you directly.

I read some time ago that Google only indexes 14% of all websites based on content. I personally think that number is a lot higher than that. But let’s suppose for a minute that is true. You know a lot of websites out there right now are nothing more than glorified business cards with nothing but an address and a phone number. There is no news going on there. Rarely if ever do these websites address anything that is happening in the community or in a niche group.

Keep in mind that these businesses do very little but toot their own horn about how great they are. This is echoed in social media. When that happens there is no chance to introduce a new thought, joke, or idea and the company or brand becomes dull. People stop caring and shuffle off to the next shiny new thing. In this economy you need to be flexible and allow some amount of human interest in your company. If you are sticking to a strict blueprint of what your brand is all about and staying steadfast to a  10% off coupon type of regimen you are destroying your business.

So to summarize here is what you must do:

·         Mix A Fair Balance Of Human Interest

·         Stay Topical With Current Topics

·         Tell True Stories

·         Make Your Business Relatable To Others

·         Show Case Studies  And Invite Conversation

·         Write Articles Larger Than 400 Words

·         Create Better Sales Offers

·         Connect To Tangent Markets

·         Hire A Good Content or Copy Writer

·         Make Sure Your Stories End Up In Multi Social Media Channels

If you follow this guideline you will be able to attract better people for your business. Make sure you create a solid story that you can stick with in your business. Remember people are surfing the web for entertainment and are looking for information that is useful.  They want to look over your shoulder first before they ever call you and this is very important to remember.

Ted Cantu
July 2014  -- HOT METRO FINDS

“A VISUAL ASSAULT: REM Dissected Scene By Scene

The bottom video was shot in 1989 and is the closest thing I could find to what the original show opener was like in 1987. This was a departure for REM as much as it was for the audience. Just when you thought you knew the band they changed on you in a new and exciting way. It would take some time to recognize them once again. In the case of, “Document” the album had to grow on me. I noticed this sort of thing happening with the Smiths too.

There was one sequence in the video, not shown in this edition, when the words – “Want” and “Need” come on screen. The words flipped interchangeably and morphed into a strobe that said, “Need Weed” and I remember the crowd going a bit wild over that. This was Ann Arbor after all. There is some talk about the set list being accurate. I do not believe, “Orange Crush” or “Pop Song 89” was performed in 1987. Those songs were released after REM went to Warner Brothers. “Document” was the last album created under the I.R.S. Records label.

There is another version of, “The One I Love” done on the live tour. Stipe starts out with a slow intro and for a minute I thought the whole song would be done slow. It then kicks into the tempo we all know. The stage was also bathed in an eerie red light. How this song got perceived as a love song I’ll never know. It was about a sick love obsession.

Over the years I hear the young kids go, “Oh who cares about that stuff, REM was long before my time.” Trust me, you wish you were there. This show was nothing but historic.

REM: AND THE BIRTH OF ALTERNATIVE RADIO --- ANN ARBOR, MI 1987

Read about it here....