Erich Stauffer

Tag: Indianapolis

  • Introducing a Brand New Way to Market Your Business

    Grow Your Business Organically

    A lot of SEO companies market how they will promote your business online using Internet marketing and online advertising techniques, but Erich Stauffer noticed a gap between where promotion stops and business begins and so we used social media management to not just promote your business, but grow your business.

    Digital Marketing Strategy

    We’ll work with you to create a comprehensive strategy to marry your business brand, vision, values, products, and services with traditional outdoor, radio, TV, and yellow page advertising alongside social networking and social spaces like Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and other technologies like apps for the iPhone and Android phones.

    SEO is Not Enough – Content Marketing

    It’s no longer enough to have a top-ranking website in Google if your web site is not converting traffic, your story is not consistent, and you are not creating lasting relationships with customers. Erich Stauffer can help you to do all three with content marketing.

    Social Media Management

    We are excited to offer social media management to help your business organize and streamline their marketing efforts with a consistent message that is in-line with their mission, vision, and values. We believe so strongly about this product that we would be happy to take you out to lunch to show you how it works in a one-on-one session. Are you interested in learning more?

  • The First Day of the Rest of My Life

    While the title of this post sounds a little dramatic, today I did turn in a resignation letter to my day-time job.  The job was well paying and secure.  I had friends and freedom there, but it wasn’t what I was passionate about and the moment I thought I could get away to do what I was passionate away, I did.  It wasn’t an easy decision though.

    A week ago I asked God how I should be spending my time to create revenue.  I decided to fast for 7 nights, skipping supper each night to pray instead.  By the end of the week, my wife and I both came to the same conclusion.  It was time to leave.  After that, our ideas of how things should go slightly differ.  She wants me to spend some time looking for another job and I want to take care of my current customers and build my own business, but I have a feeling I’ll do a little bit of both.  I’ve already informed a couple of old jobs I had that I would be willing to work for them again when needed.

    My wife is pregnant with our fourth child.  We don’t yet know what the sex is or how many there might be or whether or not we’ll have insurance.  My hope is that the path God led us down includes provisions for all of that and as long as I continue to pray and follow that path.  I have goals and plans to focus on the Indianapolis web design business, Growmotion, and Cost Publishing, my blog network, while doing contract work for an Indianapolis computer repair firm and Watershawl [a web design and SEO company I ran from 2007 to 2012].

    I don’t know what the future holds, but I have just under four weeks left at my current job to start finding out.  I have to figure out how I’m going to structure my day working at home, how much time I’m going to spend with my family playing, teaching, and eating, and how much time I’m going to spend resting and reading.  There are a lot of unknowns, but one thing is for sure, today is the first day of the rest of my life, but then again, every day is.

  • Erich Stauffer Helps Local Candidates Reach the Voting Public

    Erich Stauffer Helps Local Candidates Reach the Voting Public

    Erich Stauffer, Inc. is excited to announce a web design and online promotion special to help local candidates during the 2010 campaign season.  Our experienced and local team wants to be sure that you reach the maximum number of potential voters during your political campaign.

    A professionally designed website will let your voters know about who you are, what you stand for, how you will serve them if elected, where you will be for specific events during the campaign, and even be a 24-7 secure donation gathering tool for your campaign.

    We make the process simple by having you fill out a short questionnaire on your time to get all the information we need to build your website.

    With a professionally designed website, you and your campaign team can promote your candidacy with confidence.  Let our team do all the technical work for you, so you can spend your time meeting with the people who will vote for you.  Get started on the road to victory today with your team at Erich Stauffer.  We can’t wait to serve you.

  • Indianapolis Colonics; Colon Hydrotherapy from Beauty from Within

    Colonics, which are colon cleansings, according to Indianapolis colonics Beauty from Within should be done on a regular basis for proper internal hygiene. At Indianapolis Colon Hydrotherapy they believe that true beauty starts from inside the body. They say, “The road to vibrant health is achieved by assimilating maximum nutrients from living foods while eliminating cellular waste through a warm , gentle, sterile water cleanse.”

  • Indianapolis Web Design and SEO Consulting

    Erich Stauffer is primarily an online marketing firm that uses two primary tools to promote your business or brand on the Internet. The first tool is your web page, which tells users about your business, allows them to interact with your business, or is setup to sell things for your business. The second tool SEO, or search engine optimization, which helps drive traffic to that website. The two tools are not mutually exclusive, however. The best SEO techniques involve improving the wording or layout of the web site and as well as promoting the site from outside using link-backs.

    Although relatively new techniques come out all the time to adapt to the methods search engines like Google use, content is still king. The easiest sites to market are those with lots of text about the company and the products or services they offer. Many times, businesses choose to hire copywriters for the sole purpose of helping to write articles for the website. These articles are either about the company or about a product. Another reason for using a copywriter may be to write objective press releases. Press releases are usually one of the best methods to get the word out about a new product or promotion and are a key to any SEO plan.

    If you would like more information about Erich Stauffer, about web design and seo in general, or about web design and seo in the Indianapolis area, please visit erichstauffer.com.

  • SEO Terms – By the way, what does SEO stand for?

    When I first got into web design, I didn’t even know what SEO was, let alone stood for. If you’ve stumbled upon this article you might already know that it stands for search engine optimization. This refers to the process of improving search engine results, which leads to our next SEO term, SERPs. SERP refers to search engine results page(s). The number your site is on that SERP is your PR or page rank. When the term is smashed together with no space it is a Google registered trademark. You might also see the term PR5 or PR4. Search engines give greater credibility to sites with links from PR1-PR5 websites. PR, as noted before stands for page rank and the number indicates the rank on that page (1-10). A PR1 website is the number one website for a given search term, for example.

    If you choose to get help on your Internet marketing, how do you decide which SEO firm to go with? Erich Stauffer, an Indianapolis SEO firm writes that, “web design built around search engine optimization,” is something to look for in a SEO firm. SEO is more than just in-bound links. The website has to have good content and a good structure. Are you using H1 tags on every page? Strong tags instead of bold? Are you adequately using your description and keyword meta tags? Are you using tables or DIV tags to organize your information? Can your web page be viewed on a mobile device? Have you submitted your website to ODP? If you do nothing else, please do this last step as the ODP, the Open Directory Project, is the most important step in your SEO or Internet marketing campaign.

  • A Tale of Two Entrepreneurs

    Ever wondered what difference a website can make to your local business? This is a story Patrick Neeman told about two business owners he knew personally.  One friend thought his local business was okay without it, while the other followed the path online.

    Neeman said to his first friend, “Why don’t you have a small website for your business?” This friend runs a small business where his clients spend their money with him on a discretionary basis — that is, it’s for entertainment purposes.  They have to physically visit his business location to use his services, and even though he could sell merchandise online, it makes no sense because most vendors could beat his prices.

    “Looking around his office, he had some computer from the prehistoric era that had dial-up and nothing else. He would never, never really embrace the web like he needs to generate business from it,” said Neeman.

    The other friend, Bob The Chiropractor, just started his business recently in spite of the recession. He runs a chiropractic business, but Neeman met him previously at a marketing company and said, “He’s really a businessman that happens to be a chiropractor, instead of the other way around.”

    Because of the nature of his business, the customers also have to come in to use his services and it’s extremely local. Bob’s really embraced the web, and it shows. In fact, Neeman doesn’t even list the URL – he invites you to type in “Bob The Chiropractor” at Google.

    How well is he doing?

    He’s doubling the size of his office because he’s overbooked. End of story.

    Neeman writes, “Not everyone should get a website, because like any marketing activity, to do it truly well you have to embrace it, and it does take some extra effort. But if you put in that effort and do it right, the rewards can be tremendous.”

    View the full article to find out How to Make the Web Work for Your Business in 5 Steps.

  • The Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki

    Guy Kawasaki was part of Apple’s Macintosh team. He helped develop the computer and although it became a huge success, much of the rest of Apple wondered at the time why resources were being taken away from the Apple II, the current product leader. This lead Guy to one of his core themes, “Kill the cash cow.” He has this in common with Jim Collins who has a similar saying, “Sell the mills,” which refers to Scott Paper Company selling their paper mills in order to directly compete against Proctor and Gamble.

    The Art of the Start is not Kawasaki’s first book, nor has it been his last. Rules for Revolutionaries came before and his most recent book is Reality Check. Although all of Kawasaki’s books deal with the entrepreneurial spirit and development, The Art of the Start is a no-bull how-to manual for getting any business, school, or church off the ground and running. The very first chapter lays out the five things any organization needs to do to start. All you have to do is follow them.

    The following is an excerpt from the FAQ section at the end of the first chapter:

    Q. When should I worry about looking like a real business, with business cards, letterhead, and an office?

    A. Make business cards and letterhead immediately. Spend a few bucks and get them designed by a professional or don’t do them at all. Ensure that the smallest type size is twelve points. An office isn’t necessary until customers are coming to see you, or you run out of space for the team.

    Q. Do I need a Web site?

    A. Yes, particularly if you’re going to raise money, serve lots of customers, change the world in a big way, and achieve liquidity. Customers, partners, and investors will look for your Web site from the very start.

  • 10 Effective Marketing and IT Solutions for Small Businesses

    10 ways small businesses or entrepreneurs can use their new website to expand their business – not just their online presence.

    Promote your website.

    Create social spaces on web 2.0 places like Facebook, Myspace, & Youtube. Create content that attracts visitors, then link to your site to draw traffic to the products and services you offer. Content is king so the more articles, blog posts, pictures, video, and information you post, the more people will land on your site and ultimately patronize your business. Even if you don’t decide to use these web 2.0 services, we recommend creating accounts there to reserve your brand name and prevent others from using or abusing it. An easy, but effective way to promote is to ask peers in your field or related fields to link to your site. This gives legitimacy to your website and helps boost search engine rankings. Periodically review your primary keywords. Are your customers finding you using these keywords? Adjust if necessary.

    Be the master of your domain.

    Do you have a new domain that you would like to create email addresses for different parts of your company or for your staff? Think of internal and external uses for email using your new domain including distribution lists that might benefit your business. Decide if you’d like to manage your own email or have someone else do it for you. There are hardware and software solutions for both options if your business has the need. There are also ways to use your domain to store documents safely and securely online. Make your staff more productive by sharing documents and setting up a wiki using your new domain. Create a sub-domain to install a CRM package like SugarCRM or BaseCamp or online applications like Microsoft Office Live or Google Apps. Create a sub-domain like “remote” and configure remote access to your office PC or server – get secure access to your desktop or server from anywhere, as easy as typing in a website address.

    Prepare for growth.

    Create processes for what you’ll do when you get an email from your website. Be prepared for when you get them. Decide what information you want to collect from your website using the web form, the analytics, or via phone call, and then create a privacy policy. Users may want to know how their information is collected and used online then post this privacy policy. Some online advertising programs like Google Adsense require that your site have a privacy policy posted with specific verbiage. Check with your vendors to see if they require that your site have a privacy policy. In addition to creating a privacy policy, you might want to consider creating a customer resource management (CRM) tool to store the information you collect. This can be as simple as a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, Google Sites, or SugarCRM. You’ll want to know who your customers are and where they came from.

    Manage your ROI.

    Any other advertising you are doing on billboards, radio, TV, or print should be pointed back to specific, non-linked pages on your website in order to determine the ROI on those advertisement investments. Use analytics to see what pages your customers or potential customers are visiting to determine how they got there. See what pages people are entering your site through and which ones they are leaving and how long they are staying on each. This way you can adapt your website and improve performance. If you are not getting the results you desire, review your call to action to see if users are responding to it. Is it clear what the site is asking them to do? Protect your brand and know who is talking about and/or linking to your website by setting up alerts to notify you when someone writes about you online or links to your site.

    Update your marketing.

    Does your old image or brand not reflect your new website? You might need to update your branding and/or logo to match the look and feel of your new website. Update any signs, business cards, or marketing materials, especially business cards with your new website’s address. If you are promoting your business on Twitter, Facebook, or Myspace, you might consider adding these websites as well. Be discriminate, but don’t hide them either. Transparency is a hot business trend in 2009 and may continue into the future. Creating a dialog with the customer is important, but its not enough to expect them to converse with you on your website, you have to go to where your customers are. And for the most part, your customers are on social spaces like Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter.

    Keep your website fresh.

    Your website is new now, but that won’t always be the case. Customers expect a website to change its content over time. When you have news, post it to your website. When you have sales or begin selling a new product or service, post it. This will help keep your business looking fresh and alive. A general rule is to change something on your website’s home page or primary landing page at least once a month. An easy way to do this if you don’t have much news it to change out pictures or video. Content on your social spaces is more strict and should change daily. A stagnant social space can sometimes do more harm than good so make sure to keep it updated and you will reap the rewards from engaged customers and brand loyalty.

    Save money.

    You may have paid a newspaper or head hunter to help you find top talent before. Now you can use your website to collect résumé’s or post jobs online. You can also use your website to do market research testing the popularity of a product or service before you buy inventory or hire a new staff member. Use analytics and promotion to help you tease information out of the content you post. In this way you will save money from buying and promoting a failed offering until you find the one that truly has a market. Save even more if you’ve used a market research firm for this type of service in the past.

    Make money.

    This may or may not be the primary goal of your website, but you now have a platform for selling products or services directly to customers online – just as you would over a physical counter in a store. You can have the ability to accept credit cards on your site or through services like Paypal or Google Checkout. You can also use part of your website for affiliate referrals which pay you when someone signs up for something on another site. This is a form of an advertisement and if you were inclined to add that, there are options to sell space or work with major partners like Google as an additional way to generate capital for your business.

    Rethink location.

    Now that you have a website, how might you use it to expand your business’ footprint? What products or services did you not offer before because of location? You might want to reevaluate decisions you’ve made in the past in relation to your physical location. Now that you have a website which is not necessarily restricted by where it is on a map, how does that affect your business model? Does this allow you to broaden your market? Does it allow you to consider setting up a franchise or sales offices elsewhere? Taking this thought experiment to the next level, could you create premium content about how you do what you do and either offer subscription-level service to those who need the information or even write a book about it?

    About Erich Stauffer Web Design and Promotion

    At Erich Stauffer, we believe that, the keys to a successful business are organization, accountability, and execution. This is a philosophy that we not only practice internally, but expect our clients to hold us to as well. Client Service is our #1 priority, and our team of professionals will work with you to design and promote your website to achieve your vision of a successful business.

    Erich Stauffer delivers exceptional solutions for your business:

    • Professional web design to keep visitors and gain customers
    • Web promotions to attract visitors
    • Web Analytics to show a return on your investment (ROI)

    We are an Indianapolis firm serving the entire Midwest region and beyond. We offer web design and development services for all types and sizes of businesses.

    Don’t have a website yet? There’s no better time than now to invest in the future success of your business. An attractive website is a critical component of success for any business. At Erich Stauffer, we can create, update, and maintain your website. Our company also offers other valuable services such as:

    The next step is to contact our Sales Manager who will arrange a time to have an initial consultation. We look forward to discussing how to help make your vision of a successful business come to life through the power of the web. After all, “Our Business is Helping Your Business.”

    Get a free quote today!