Podcasts about changescape web

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Best podcasts about changescape web

Latest podcast episodes about changescape web

Marketing Guides for Small Businesses
Top Marketing FAQs: Expert Answers for Small Business Success

Marketing Guides for Small Businesses

Play Episode Listen Later May 9, 2025 54:28


In this episode, the Marketing Guides team answers the top marketing FAQs we hear from small business owners every week. From lead generation to budget planning, social media to SEO, this episode is your go-to guide for getting clarity on the marketing questions that matter most.

Marketing Guides for Small Businesses
Special Guest - Erin Perkins: Attract More Customers with Accessible Marketing

Marketing Guides for Small Businesses

Play Episode Listen Later May 8, 2025 48:48


In this insightful episode, guest expert Erin Perkins joins the Marketing Guides to explore how small businesses can attract more customers by making their marketing more accessible. From website design to email structure and social media content, Erin walks us through practical strategies that make a difference—and increase customer loyalty and visibility at the same time.

Marketing Guides for Small Businesses
Building Your Brand: Creating Connections, Driving Loyalty

Marketing Guides for Small Businesses

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 13, 2025 54:57


Building Your Brand: Creating Connections, Driving Loyalty What does it take to build a brand that resonates, inspires trust, and creates lasting connections? In this episode, we dive deep into the art and science of branding with a focus on defining your “Why,” understanding your audience, crafting compelling stories, and maintaining consistency. Whether you're a seasoned business owner or just starting out, this episode will equip you with actionable insights to elevate your brand and make a lasting impact. Start building a brand that matters today! Here's the questions we'll look at and answer: What Is Branding and why does it matter?Where do you start when developing a Brand?How does understanding your customers and crafting a unique value proposition that factors into Branding?What does it mean to Write and Live Your Brand Story?How Does Brand Consistency Build Trust and Loyalty?What are some Branding Do's and Don'ts? Learn more from the marketing guides: • Changescape Web: https://changescapeweb.com/ • Tylerica Marketing Systems: https://tylericasystems.com/ • Dental Marketing Heroes: https://dentalmarketingheroes.com/ • Outsourced Marketing Inc.: https://www.outsourcedmarketing.ca/

Marketing Guides for Small Businesses
How to Use AI for Customer and Sales Support

Marketing Guides for Small Businesses

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 3, 2025 50:21


Episode 216: How to Use AI for Customer and Sales Support AI is revolutionizing the way businesses operate, and customer and sales support are no exception. In this episode of the Marketing Guides for Small Businesses Podcast, we explore how small businesses can harness AI to enhance their customer interactions, improve response times, and streamline sales processes. Whether you're considering AI for FAQs, appointment booking, or automating review requests, this episode will guide you through the possibilities and help you avoid common pitfalls. If you're looking to leverage cutting-edge tools without overwhelming your team, this episode is packed with practical insights to help you get started. What You'll Learn in This Episode: • The role of AI in customer and sales support • How AI can speed up response times and improve customer satisfaction. • Examples of AI tools that are transforming customer support for small businesses. • Key AI applications for small businesses • Automating FAQs to handle common customer inquiries. • Using AI to streamline appointment booking and follow-ups. • Leveraging AI to manage and solicit Google reviews effectively. • How to implement AI without overwhelming your team • Tips for seamless integration into your existing workflows. • How to choose trustworthy tools and advisors to guide your implementation. • Why AI isn't “set it and forget it” • The importance of monitoring and maintaining AI tools for optimal performance. • How to ensure your AI implementation aligns with your business goals. • AI as a competitive advantage • How businesses that adopt AI now can gain a significant edge over competitors. • Real-world examples of how AI is helping small businesses grow. Call to Action: If you're ready to explore how AI can transform your customer and sales support while avoiding the common mistakes, our team of marketing experts is here to help. Contact one of our trusted marketing guides today: • Changescape Web: https://changescapeweb.com/ • Tylerica Marketing Systems: https://tylericasystems.com/ • Dental Marketing Heroes: https://dentalmarketingheroes.com/ • Outsourced Marketing Inc.: https://www.outsourcedmarketing.ca/ Don't let AI overwhelm your team—let's work together to create a strategy that enhances your customer and sales support while driving results!

Marketing Guides for Small Businesses
Small Business Survival Guide: Marketing Strategies for a Tough Economy

Marketing Guides for Small Businesses

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 27, 2024 53:40


Episode 215: Small Business Survival Guide: Marketing Strategies for a Tough Economy When the economy tightens, small business owners often feel the pressure to scale back on marketing. But did you know that tough economic times offer some of the greatest opportunities to outshine your competitors? In this episode of the Marketing Guides for Small Businesses Podcast, we dive into how you can not only survive but thrive during a challenging economy. Learn why doubling down on strategic marketing can be a game-changer and discover creative, budget-friendly strategies to stay visible, engage loyal customers, and capture market share. What You'll Learn in This Episode: • Why cutting marketing budgets is a mistake during tough times • How staying visible during downturns sets your business apart. • Examples of companies that thrived by maintaining or increasing marketing efforts. • Budget-friendly marketing tactics that deliver big result • How to maximize free or low-cost digital tools like social media and email marketing. • The role of local SEO in ensuring potential customers find your business. • The power of customer loyalty and retention • Why existing customers are your best asset during tough times. • Tips for building stronger relationships through loyalty programs and personalized engagement. • Creative ways to stand out from your competition • How to develop and communicate your unique value proposition. • The importance of storytelling in connecting with customers on an emotional level. • How to make data-driven decisions to maximize ROI • Metrics to track during an economic downturn. • Tools to measure marketing performance and identify high-impact strategies. • Leveraging partnerships to amplify your marketing efforts • How collaborations with other small businesses can expand your reach. • Strategies for forming strategic alliances that benefit both parties. Call to Action: If you're ready to make your marketing work harder and smarter during tough economic times, let our expert marketing guides help you craft a winning strategy. Whether you're looking to improve customer retention, optimize your online presence, or explore creative new tactics, we're here to help. Reach out to one of our trusted marketing guides today: • Changescape Web: https://changescapeweb.com/ • Tylerica Marketing Systems: https://tylericasystems.com/ • Dental Marketing Heroes: https://dentalmarketingheroes.com/ • Outsourced Marketing Inc.: https://www.outsourcedmarketing.ca/ Don't let a tough economy hold you back—contact us to create a strategy that helps your business thrive!

Marketing Guides for Small Businesses
Content Marketing For Local Search: Focus On The Problems You Solve For Your Customers

Marketing Guides for Small Businesses

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 24, 2023 50:22


Dive into Episode 163 as we embark on a comprehensive exploration of content marketing's key element - the problems you solve for your customers. Ian, your host for today, is joined by Ken and Paul, our seasoned marketing experts, to unravel why customer-centricity should be the foundation of your content strategy. Why should businesses align their content with their customers' pain points? Ken sheds light on the value of solution-oriented content and how it sets businesses apart as industry leaders. Meanwhile, Paul dissects the SEO implications of addressing customers' problems, highlighting the invaluable advantage of aligning with user intent and search queries. Whether you're crafting content for your website, social media, or other platforms, the consensus is clear: addressing specific problems leads to authentic engagement, loyalty, and improved search visibility. Moreover, Ken and Paul delve deep into actionable steps, from tapping into customer feedback to leveraging social media insights, ensuring your content is not only problem-solving but also SEO-friendly and unique. If you're seeking a fresh perspective on content creation, aiming for relatability, relevance, and resonance, this episode is a goldmine. For more details and resources, visit our Marketing Guides websites at: Outsourced Marketing Inc: https://www.outsourcedmarketing.ca/ Dental Marketing Heroes: https://dentalmarketingheroes.com/ Changescape Web: https://changescapeweb.com/ Join us in this episode to decode the intricate dance between problem-solving content and a successful marketing strategy. Because in the end, understanding and addressing your customer's problems is the cornerstone of meaningful connections and sustainable business growth.

Marketing Guides for Small Businesses
Guest - Andrea Vahl - Facebook Ads Expert, Speaker, and co-author of Facebook Marketing All-in-One for Dummies.Podcast 162

Marketing Guides for Small Businesses

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 17, 2023 49:58


In Episode 162, we delve into the intricate world of Facebook and Instagram Ads with none other than Andrea Vahl, a globally acclaimed expert in the field. Are you puzzled about whether these platforms are the right advertising mediums for your venture? Struggling with ad placements, targeting, or navigating Facebook Ads' maze-like interface? Andrea, co-author of "Facebook Marketing All-in-One for Dummies" and "Facebook Ads Made Simple", joins our hosts Ken, Ian, and Paul to address these challenges and more. With an astounding $6M in ad spend management under her belt, Andrea's insights are invaluable for any small business. From setting up a campaign and choosing the right ad type, to optimizing your budget, targeting effectively, and even evaluating your ROI - this episode promises a comprehensive guide. And as an unexpected twist, did you know Andrea is also a stand-up comedienne? So, expect some humor-laden golden nuggets! Dive in and unlock the potential of Facebook and Instagram ads for your business. For further insights and resources, visit https://marketingguidesforsmallbusinesses.com and learn more about Andrea at www.andreavahl.com. Discover more about our marketing guides at: Changescape Web: https://changescapeweb.com/ Outsourced Marketing Inc: https://www.outsourcedmarketing.ca/ Dental Marketing Heroes: https://dentalmarketingheroes.com/

Business by Referral Podcast
Episode 118: Digital Strategies That Make You More Referrable!

Business by Referral Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 29, 2022 47:17


Meet Ken Tucker Ken works with clients to define and implement effective digital strategies to grow and improve their businesses. Whether it's Social Media, Search Engine Optimization, Content Marketing, or Online Branding, Ken has experience. Ken taught one of the first Social Media Marketing Classes for college credit in the US at the St. Charles Community College. Background: BA in Philosophy, MPA in Public Administration Changescape Web has developed Marketing solutions for Painter Digital Marketing, Roofer Digital Marketing, and Restaurant Marketing. Changescape Web has been selected as a Top Website Agency and a Top SEO Agency by UpCity for the last several years and is one of the top 10 largest website design firms in St. Louis. StoryBrand Certified Guide, Business Made Simple Certified Coach, Master Duct Tape Marketing Certified Consultant, Duct Tape Marketing Professional, Amazon Best Seller, and podcast host - local leads.me/guidespod   Virginia and Ken talk about The power of Story Brand Marketing Mistakes we make when creating messaging How to get your marketing right  Why you need a digital presence The BEST way to produce content How to make your website more effective? What digital strategies are ideal for solo entrepreneurs Key Takeaways You need a clear message Make your client the hero of your marketing Social proof is huge! Video is the next best thing to meeting someone in person Marketing is about transformation How do your customers Think about what you do?   Connect with Ken: Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/changescape Website: Changescapeweb.com LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/changescape_2 Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/changescape  Ken would like to meet: Ivan Misner

Marketing Guides for Small Businesses
Busting Myths about Yelp - with Alexandra Lieberman

Marketing Guides for Small Businesses

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 20, 2022 33:49


As an online directory and resource site for people looking for businesses, Yelp is a true powerhouse. But, there are also many myths about Yelp that lead business owners to miss out on using it as an opportunity for growth. Our guest this week is Alley Lieberman, Partner Account Executive, Yelp Inc. Alley joins us to help dispel many of the common myths about Yelp, like that Yelp is only for restaurants or that good reviews are removed for no reason. Alley will also show you how you can take control of your Yelp page to capture a new audience and level up your business.   Before we get started, in full disclosure, Changescape Web is a Yelp Advertising Partner. In this episode, you'll learn: Why the following are myths about Yelp and what the truth is instead:  Yelp is only for restaurantsYou have to pay to drive business from YelpAd spend positively influences Yelp reviewsOnly people with the Yelp app see your Yelp pagePeople just go to Yelp to complain What the difference between Google and Yelp is in terms of searching for businesses The biggest mistakes that businesses make with their Yelp Profile What Yelp ad products are and how they help your business Best practices for creating your Yelp profile

The Comeback Show
Reinvent Yourself Through Failure | Ken Tucker

The Comeback Show

Play Episode Play 26 sec Highlight Listen Later Feb 1, 2021 24:51 Transcription Available


It's never comfortable to change, but “change is here to stay” and it provides the greatest opportunities. It can often feel like failure when you're in the midst of change because there's so much fluctuation, but that “failure” is what actually creates transformation. Our guest Ken Tucker, founder of Changescape Web, has always had a hunger and passion to learn and grow. 15 years after starting his company, he shares the secrets to failing fast and learning quickly as well as how to embrace failure as a process that precedes success. LINKSchangescapeweb.comFacebookInstagramTwitterLinkedInYouTubePodcast

Yeukai Business Show
Episode 250: Ken Tucker | Strategic Marketing Tips for Growing Your Business

Yeukai Business Show

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 18, 2020 28:57


Welcome to Episode 250 of the Yeukai Business Show. In this episode, Ken Tucker and I discuss how local businesses can grow using strategic marketing to increase your return on investment. So if you want to learn how to effectively use tools such as search engine optimization and sales funnel system to generate clients fast, tune in now! In this episode, you'll discover: Duct Tape Marketing System to identify your ideal costumer and to analyze your competitionsImportance of creating a marketing system to fuel your businessNecessary steps that you can apply right nowThe best way to overcome difficulties that come from running a business About Ken Ken Tucker is an expert in Strategy base marketing whose accomplishments include: Founder of Changescape Web, a Digital Marketing and Website Design Agency specializing in comprehensive integrated marketing strategies and campaigns for small and mid-sized businessesSpecializes in search engine optimization, website design, reputation management, social media marketing, lead generation, email marketing and marketing automation.Digital Marketer Certified PartnerMaster Duct Tape Marketing Certified Consultant and Duct Tape Marketing Professional Services Marketing Expert Certified ConsultantInbound Marketing Certified Professional (since 2010) and SEO for Growth ConsultantDirect-Response Copywriting Specialist and Customer Value Optimization Specialist Certified Consultant More Information Learn more about how you can improve your results with strategy-based marketing: www.changescapeweb.comhttps://twitter.com/changescape?lang=en https://www.facebook.com/Changescape/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/kentuckerweb/  Strategy Base Marketing Links & Mentions From This Episode: Amazon Author Page: Ken Tucker Thanks for Tuning In! Thanks so much for being with us this week. Have some feedback you'd like to share? Please leave a note in the comments section below! If you enjoyed this episode on business growth strategies, please share it with your friends by using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of the post. Don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic episode updates for our "Yeukai Business Show!" And, finally, please take a minute to leave us an honest review and rating on iTunes. They really help us out when it comes to the ranking of the show and I make it a point to read every single one of the reviews we get. Please leave a review right now. Thanks for listening!

Business Sustainability Radio Show
Episode 269: Content Marketing for Blue Collar Business with Ken Tucker, Owner of Changescape Web

Business Sustainability Radio Show

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 21, 2020 23:13


On this episode Josh spends time with Ken Tucker, owner of Changescape Web. The discuss content marketing for blue collar businesses.

Marketing Guides for Small Businesses
How America’s privacy laws could significantly impact small businesses

Marketing Guides for Small Businesses

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 14, 2020 29:38


We talk about how America’s privacy laws could significantly impact small businesses. We're joined by a couple of guests - Donata Kalnenaite and Hans Skillrud from Termageddon. Privacy on the internet has become a big deal, and there have been several laws passed at the federal and state level that impact the collection of even something as simple as a name and email address. If your website has a contact form, you need a privacy policy! Termageddon helps its customers avoid privacy related fines and lawsuits via its Privacy Policy generator. If you have a website collecting as little as an email address via contact form, you may be required to comply with an ever-growing list of privacy laws. Termageddon removes this hassle by monitoring privacy laws for you and updating your Privacy Policy whenever the laws change.   Donata Kalnenaite is the President of Termageddon, a licensed attorney and a certified information privacy professional. She also serves as the Newsletter Editor of the American Bar Association - ePrivacy Committee and as the Chicago Chair of the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP.org). Donata often volunteers at the Illinois State Bar Association holding courses on the General Data Protection Regulation where she teaches other attorneys on the importance of privacy and what Privacy Policies should contain. In her free time, Donata enjoys bee keeping, hunting for morel mushrooms and walks with her fiancé and two dogs. Hans Skillrud is the Vice President of Termageddon, overseeing sales & marketing. Hans ran a 12-person web design agency in downtown Chicago for 7 years, and sold it in March of 2019 to focus all of his attention on Termageddon. Like Donata, he too enjoys bee keeping, hunting for morel mushrooms and walks with his fiancée and two dogs. Yes, they are engaged to be married in October 2020! Changescape Web is a Termageddon Reseller.

Paint ED Podcast
Why Your Online Presence Matters with Ken Tucker

Paint ED Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 24, 2020 11:41


Is your search engine optimization where it needs to be? Are your Google and Yelp reviews an accurate representation of you? Is your social media following stagnant? Digital marketing is vital to your business and you should use it to your advantage. Ken Tucker of Changescape Web is trying to fit ‘total online presence’ into the vocabulary of anyone who runs a business. You can find this PaintED Talk, and access other EXPO session recordings at pcapainted.org/blog/painted-talks/ To learn more about PCA and become a member visit pcapainted.org/membership/join/

Paint ED Podcast
Getting Your Google-My-Business Up To Speed with Ken Tucker

Paint ED Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 10, 2020 20:55


Now is the time to get your marketing where it needs to be! You need leads filling up the sales funnel, and you need them now. Ken Tucker from ChangeScape Web chats with us about one of the best sources of leads generation out there: Google My Business. This is how people find you in internet searches, and Ken shares updates about changes you need to be aware of since the arrival of COVID-19. Catch the full webinar with Ken about building your Google My Business profile on Thursday, April 16 at 3 pm CT. Go to pcapainted.org to register, or register here: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3757283425872766987 Learn more about ChangeScape Web at ChangeScapeWeb.com or PainterSEO.com.

Paint ED Podcast
Communications and Marketing During COVID-19 with Ken Tucker

Paint ED Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 19, 2020 21:27


On this episode of Paint ED, we talk with Ken Tucker of Changescape Web about what your company’s communications and marketing should look like during this time of economic change. It’s not easy determining what your messaging should convey, especially when people are uncertain about so much. Ken Tucker discusses with us who you should be communicating with, the tone you should use, and when/where to communicate effectively. While this may not be an appropriate occasion for hard-sells, it is still a time of opportunity to build trust and lay a foundation for future growth, while still providing services for people who need the work done now. Besides, as Ken reminds us, people are going to spend plenty of time indoors thinking about the changes they want to see around them in the future. It’s not all bad! Learn more about Ken and Changescape Web at www.painterseo.com

Paint ED Podcast
Online Marketing Map with Ken Tucker

Paint ED Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 7, 2020 19:23


Get ready for an amazing opportunity to get your arms wrapped around online marketing. Ken Tucker from Changescape Web is here to talk about everything you need to know to make sure people are finding you online and you are converting leads. It’s a pretty big topic, and that’s why Ken is leading a Workshop at the Expo about it. He’ll be helping attendees build a Master Plan to help them level-up their online marketing strategy. He’ll discuss website conversions, content development, social media marketing, Google My Business…you name it. Don’t miss the EXPO Workshop where you can build a Master Plan and brainstorm with other business owners like yourself in the group work portion of the workshop. Register at PCApaintED.org/expo Learn more about Changescape Web at changescapeweb.com, or painterseo.com

Marketer of the Day with Robert Plank: Get Daily Insights from the Top Internet Marketers & Entrepreneurs Around the World

Ken Tucker is the founder of Changescape Web (www.changescapeweb.com), a Small Business Marketing and Website Design Agency specializing in comprehensive integrated marketing strategies and campaigns for small and mid-sized businesses. They build websites that generate customers. Specialties include search engine optimization, website design, reputation management, social media marketing, lead generation, and marketing automation. Ken tells us how a small business owner can beat a large national chain by having more flexibility and using local apps instead of local SEO. Ken and his team specialize in providing 12 month social media campaigns to drive traffic back to websites. Previous Guest Appearance: MarketerOfTheDay.com/533 Ken Tucker's Site 

Paint ED Podcast
Content Marketing For Local Search With Changescape Web with Ken Tucker

Paint ED Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 16, 2019 26:08


What is content marketing? How does it work? Who creates the content? Where do I put it? Answers to all these commonly asked questions and more, on this episode of Paint ED with Ken Tucker of Changescape Web. Ken talks with us about how content marketing differs from other forms of marketing, and he discusses easy ways you can start building content and creating a presence online that draws makes the bots work for YOU to bring you more business. Find Ken’s new book, Content Marketing for Local Search, by searching for it on Amazon, or find it directly at csweb.me/ContentBook (case sensitive).

Paint ED Podcast
Using Instagram To Get More Business With Ken Tucker

Paint ED Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 13, 2019 26:28


On this episode of Paint ED, Ken Tucker of Changescape Web chats with us about how painting businesses need to be marketing on Instagram. Ken teaches in schools and has authored three books now related to online marketing, so when he says you need to get your Instagram account up to speed, then it’s probably good advice. Ken talks with us about why Instagram is dominating social media platforms, and he shares specific ways you can start improve marketing on your business’s account. Also, we’re happy to announce that Ken is releasing his new book on September 26th, Content Marketing for Local Search, and the PRE-SALE is happening now on Amazon. If you pre-order the Kindle version before September 26, it’s only $0.99! Learn more about Ken and Changescape Web at www.painterseo.com.

Paint ED Podcast
Getting Your Business to Show Up on Google Maps with Ken Tucker

Paint ED Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later May 10, 2019 21:33


On this episode of Paint ED, Ken Tucker of Changescape Web chats with us about how to get your business to show up on Google Maps. Hey, I know you’ve heard us talk about online marketing again and again, but it really is worth your time and attention. I mention it in the podcast, but when a white pages directory was recently dropped in front of my door, my kids played with it like it was some relic from the past that hardly made any sense to them. More and more people are searching for services online, and it’s only going to increase with the next generation of businesses and homeowners. Stay ahead of that curve, and take the advice of people like Ken who are willing to help you get started on building, at the very least, a solid online presence so people can find you. Don't miss our webinar with Ken Tucker of Changescape Web about how to get your business onto Google Maps! Listen and learn on our podcast about how to get more business online, and click here to join the full webinar where you get your questions answered with the expert next Wednesday at 4 pm CT. https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/2812109137724339211. Learn more about Ken and Changescape Web at www.painterseo.com.

Stop Riding the Pine
Ken Tucker Next Level Digital Marketing Strategy | Ep. 206

Stop Riding the Pine

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 30, 2018 24:52


Ken Tucker Ken Tucker is the Founder of Changescape Web, a digital marketing company that empowers small businesses to be found online. He is also a StoryBrand Certified Guide, a certified marketing consultant and a certified inbound marketing professional. “If your website doesn't convey what you do within 3 to 5 seconds, you run the risk… The post Ken Tucker Next Level Digital Marketing Strategy | Ep. 206 appeared first on Bottleneck Distant Assistants.

Moving Forward (
MF 177 : Ken Tucker on Moving Forward with Your Online Reputation

Moving Forward ("always be moving forward!")

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 10, 2018 23:06


Ken Tucker is the founder of Changescape Web (www.changescapeweb.com), a company dedicated to helping businesses manage their online reputations. Today, Ken will share some great tips on moving forward with your online reputation. More at www.bemovingforward.com. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn @Bemovingforward The Corporate Cliches Adult Coloring Book is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble online: Just go to Bit.ly/corporatecliches

The Bulletproof Entrepreneur
Ken Tucker Teaches You How To Grow Your Small Business Using Tried & True Marketing Principles

The Bulletproof Entrepreneur

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 25, 2018 35:39


Ken Tucker is the founder of Changescape Web (www.changescapeweb.com), a Small Business Marketing and Website Design Agency specializing in comprehensive integrated marketing strategies and campaigns for small and mid-sized businesses. Specialties include search engine optimization, website design, reputation management, social media marketing, lead generation, and marketing automation. Ken is a Master Duct Tape Marketing Certified Consultant, an Inbound Marketing Certified Professional (since 2010), and an SEO for Growth Consultant (stlouis.seoforgrowth.com). Ken is the author of Social Media Marketing for Restaurants and co-author of Reputation Management (Marketing Guides for Small Businesses). This compact guide explains how to create and protect your online reputation. Ken created and taught one of the first college credit Social Media Marketing classes in the US at St. Charles Community College. He has taught a course on Content Management Systems. He serves as Co-Chair of the St. Charles County Chambers of Commerce Technology Committee.

Business Sustainability Radio Show
Episode 148: Online Review Management

Business Sustainability Radio Show

Play Episode Listen Later May 21, 2018 20:52


On this episode Josh speaks with Ken Tucker from Changescape Web. They discuss online review management and ways to market your business through social media and reviews.

Be Real Show
#126 - Protecting your Brand with Ken Tucker

Be Real Show

Play Episode Listen Later May 8, 2018 32:15


Ken Tucker is the founder of Changescape Web, a Small Business Marketing and Website Design Agency specializing in developing comprehensive integrated marketing strategies and campaigns for small and mid-sized businesses across the US. Specialties include search engine optimization, website design, reputation management, social media marketing, and lead generation. Ken is a Master Duct Tape Marketing Certified Consultant, an Inbound Marketing Certified Professional (since 2010), and an SEO for Growth Certified Consultant. He provides strategy and training in the Duct Tape Marketing System and Social Media as well as offering a complete range of marketing, advertising and consulting services. Ken is a co-author of the book Reputation Management (Marketing Guides for Small Businesses). This compact guide explains how to create and protect your online reputation.   Connect                                                                                       Twitter – https://twitter.com/Changescape Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/changescape Linkedin – https://www.linkedin.com/in/kentuckerweb/ Google+ – https://plus.google.com/+Changescapeweb Youtube – https://www.youtube.com/user/changescape Website – https://changescapeweb.com/   People Mentioned Barack Obama – https://twitter.com/barackobama   Resources Thrive Themes – https://thrivethemes.com/   Books The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles: https://goo.gl/Ervi9S

social media google real brand protecting seo small business specialties small business marketing paul bowles ken tucker duct tape marketing system changescape web website design agency reputation management marketing guides
Marketer of the Day with Robert Plank: Get Daily Insights from the Top Internet Marketers & Entrepreneurs Around the World
533: Rework and Clarify Your Marketing Message, Refine Converting Language, Reputation Management and More with Ken Tucker

Marketer of the Day with Robert Plank: Get Daily Insights from the Top Internet Marketers & Entrepreneurs Around the World

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 23, 2018 27:14


Ken Tucker is the founder of Changescape Web. Most businesses struggle to be found online. Changescape Web builds websites that generate customers so businesses can grow and thrive. Specialties include search engine optimization, website design, reputation management, social media marketing, lead generation, and marketing automation. Ken is a StoryBrand Certified Guide, a Master Duct Tape Marketing Certified Consultant, an Inbound Marketing Certified Professional (since 2010), and an SEO for Growth Consultant. Ken is the author of Social Media Marketing for Restaurants and co-author of Reputation Management (Marketing Guides for Small Businesses). Ken created and taught one of the first college credit Social Media Marketing classes in the US at St. Charles Community College. He has taught a course on Content Management Systems. He serves as Co-Chair of the St. Charles County Chambers of Commerce Technology Committee. Resources Changescape Web (agency) SEO for Growth Consultant Social Media Marketing for Restaurants Reputation Management (Marketing Guides for Small Businesses)

Senior Living Sales and Marketing's Podcast
Episode 2 Reputation Management and Local SEO with Ken Tucker

Senior Living Sales and Marketing's Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 8, 2018 37:55


Roy Barker speaks with Ken Tucker about reputation management and local search engine optimization SEO. Ken is the founder of Changescape Web and specializes in search engine optimization, website design, reputation management, social media marketing, lead generation, and marketing automation.  Ken is a StoryBrand Certified Guide, a Master Duct Tape Marketing Certified Consultant, an Inbound Marketing Certified Professional (since 2010), and an SEO for Growth Consultant (stlouis.seoforgrowth.com). Ken is the author of Social Media Marketing for Restaurants and co-author of Reputation Management (Marketing Guides for Small Businesses). Ken created and taught one of the first college credit Social Media Marketing classes in the US at St. Charles Community College. He has taught a course on Content Management Systems. He serves as Co-Chair of the St. Charles County Chambers of Commerce Technology Committee. www.changescapeweb.com stlouis.seoforgrowth.com coloradosprings.seoforgrowth.com https://changescapeweb.com/online-reputation-management/ Also, visit Ken’s Amazon page: https://www.amazon.com/Ken-Tucker/e/B06XT3FDG5/ Ken's recommended reading is Building a Story Brand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen Amazon Link: https://www.amazon.com/Building-StoryBrand-Clarify-Message-Customers/dp/0718033329/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1523237552&sr=8-1&keywords=the+story+brand Below is a complete transcript.    Roy Barker:         Hello, everyone. This is Roy Barker with episode three of the Senior Living Sales and Marketing Podcast. Today, we are fortunate enough to have Ken Tucker, the Founder of Changescape Web, which specializes in search engine optimization, website design, reputation management, social media marketing, lead generation and marketing automation. Ken is a story brand [00:00:30] certified guide, a master duct tape marketing certified consultant, and an inbound marketing certified professional and an SEO for growth consultant. Ken is the author of Social Media Marketing for Restaurants and co-author of Reputation Management. Ken created and taught one of the first college credit social media marketing classes in the U.S. at St. Charles Community College. He has taught a course on [00:01:00] Content Management Systems and serves as a co-chair of the St. Charles County Chamber of Commerce Technology Committee.                               Ken, welcome to the show. Ken Tucker:        Thanks, Roy. I'm glad to be here. Roy Barker:         Appreciate you taking time out of your day. There's so many great subjects that you're an expert in I would love to talk about. I think we're probably gonna have to end up having you come back again to address some of these, 'cause the two that have been on my mind this last [00:01:30] week, that I really think that you can speak to, are going to be the reputation management portion and the local search engine optimization. Of course, as you know, in the senior living industry, reputation is everything because we take care of people's loved ones, and so somebody getting a bad review or bad word of mouth going around can be very detrimental to the stream of prospects coming in. Then [00:02:00] also, some of our markets are getting more and more crowded and they're getting more and more noisy. So, making sure that we can tune in on the local search engine optimization is gonna be key to growing occupancies for our industry going forward. So having said all that- Ken Tucker:        Yeah, absolutely. Roy Barker:         Having said all that, let's start out with the reputation management piece. We talked a little before the show, and I guess [00:02:30] I see this as becoming more critical that, back in the olden days of the internet when reviews were created and all these different services out there like Yelp, that had reviews, it seemed that my opinion was to help the next consumer, whether I liked it or not, maybe talk about the good points, the bad points. But if I went out and had a one off bad experience at a place, I probably wouldn't take the time [00:03:00] to come home and write them a really bad review. But I feel like as we've progressed, that reviews have become a lot more punitive, and maybe I was having a bad day, maybe the company that I was at, whether it's a service or a product, maybe they were having a bad day. We just didn't gel, and so now I rush home to write a bad review. Or even worse, I've heard cases of businesses [00:03:30] that have actually been held hostage by customers saying, "If I don't get more than what we bargained for, then I'm gonna leave you a bad review." And some businesses are so dependent upon these that they end up having to give in and meet their needs to get a good review, or at least not get a bad review.                               So, kind of what are you seeing out there and what is your take on that? Ken Tucker:        Well, yeah, I mean everything you mentioned is certainly [00:04:00] as possibility. And it's a real shame, you know, that people are being very punitive about things. Look, everybody's gonna have a bad experience from time to time. You know, and everybody's gonna deliver less than stellar service from time to time, it's the reality of things. I think that, you know, one of the important things that we see is, first of all you've got to be monitoring the reviews that are coming in about your business. If there are no reviews about your business, [00:04:30] that's a strong indicator as well because you're allowing somebody to fill in the void with what they think their perception is. And the reality is, if there are no reviews and your competitors have strong reviews, they're gonna assume that nobody cares enough about your business to write a review about your business. So, we strongly recommend businesses take control over their own reputation management, and doing that through what we call building [00:05:00] a review funnel.                               So a review funnel is certainly gonna give you monitoring capability to see what people are saying, but it's gonna give you a place to drive people to, to write a review and also have the ability, that you know, if somebody comes in and like you said yesterday, they could have been one of your greatest champions and today they had a bad day or a bad experience or something happened with the care that, you know, is maybe more complex [00:05:30] that you need to have a conversation with them but they immediately ... Look, it's emotional, right? So they feel like they need to go out and do something. Roy Barker:         Right. Ken Tucker:        So, when they go to this review page, if they give you three, or the way we set it up frequently is on a five-star rating system, if they give you three stars or less, they actually are gonna get a popup window that comes up and it's actually a request for feedback to say, "We're sorry you didn't have a great experience, what [00:06:00] can we do to help?" And that's gonna be an email that's gonna be sent to the business so that they can address that concern. They're not gonna be taken to a review property, such as Yelp or your Google My Business page or Facebook.                               If they give you a four or five star rating, then it's going to take them to those review sites that you've deemed are important for your business, for people to go write reviews and they can be healthcare specific or they could be general directories. [00:06:30] And then people can go through ... But you already have a pretty good idea, I kinda refer to it as a review gate, where somebody is gonna click on, you know, that based on the number of stars they're gonna give you, they're gonna be taken to a popup that then has, okay here's my Google link, here's my Facebook link, here's my Yelp link, here's my Healthgrader's link or whatever's appropriate, and then they can go from there. That way [00:07:00] you're kind of intercepting those experiences where people need to vent before they're actually gonna go out there and write a review.                               Now, there's absolutely nothing you can do if people go directly to your Google My Business page or your Yelp page and they go write that review. In that case, but if you do take control over the process and you drive people to this review page, you're gonna have a little bit more [00:07:30] control. Roy Barker:         Okay. Ken Tucker:        So, that's one thing. Roy Barker:         Okay. Ken Tucker:        I guess the other thing is, you know, when somebody does go out there and write a less than stellar review about your business, we always recommend that you respond to those reviews, but be really careful about that. Actually, when you look at ... You know, what Google is wanting to see right now, is it wants to see response to every single [00:08:00] review that's out there, whether it's positive or negative. If it's negative, what we recommend a business do is they go out and they say, again, "We're sorry you didn't have a great situation, your feedback is important to us, let's talk about this." And then take it offline and give them either a customer service phone number or a customer service email address, and then take the rest of that conversation offline. Roy Barker:         Okay. Ken Tucker:        When you do [00:08:30] that, you might have the ability to talk things through, you're not gonna be in this nasty back and forth situation where everybody's gonna see everything going back and forth online. Some of that may happen, right? But take it offline. And then some of those customers might be willing to go back in, if you explain the situation, if you address their concerns, and maybe they're gonna change their three-star rating into a five-star rating. And maybe they're even gonna say, "I was really frustrated at first, but these guys worked [00:09:00] with me, they helped me understand the situation. They took care of my needs and my family's needs and all's good." Roy Barker:         Right. Ken Tucker:        So you can turn a less than stellar situation into actually a positive customer experience. Roy Barker:         Yeah, 'cause I think that's- Ken Tucker:        And customer service opportunity. Roy Barker:         I think a lot of times that, I think you hit on a point, a lot of times they just want to be heard, and if I have a bad experience and while I'm at the store or restaurant, if I try to address the [00:09:30] manager and I don't feel like that they were paying attention or that they really cared what I was saying, then you know, I think that's when people go home frustrated and really all they wanna be is heard. If they could be heard and addressed, then that goes, to me, that goes a very long way in solving the issue. Ken Tucker:        Yeah, yeah. Roy Barker:         But as far as on a company website, you have a lot of control over seeing reviews that people write and [00:10:00] that message and being able to address them easy. I guess the tricky part to this is there are so many other places that people can go say something derogatory about you or your business, is there a compilation where you can find all of these at once? Do you just google your business name and hope that it comes up? Or are there like a registry of review sites that you can look at to know where to go [00:10:30] exactly look for this? Ken Tucker:        Yeah, there are a couple of things. So first of all, if you just let reviews happen, they are going to skew toward the negative. It's just human nature, when we have a bad experience, we feel like we've gotta go on a mission and protect other people, right? So, and it seems like it motivates us more. Study after study after study shows that if you just let your consumers or your customers [00:11:00] write reviews as they are having their experiences, they're gonna skew to the negative. So that's another reason why we really recommend the business take control over their reviews and go out and ask happy, satisfied customers to go write reviews. They'll write a review for you but you need to ask them and you need to develop a process and a system to make it super easy for that to happen. Roy Barker:         Right. Ken Tucker:        So that's certainly one component. There are some management tools that are out there that will allow you to monitor [00:11:30] what people are saying about your business online. For one, I would recommend setting up a Twitter monitoring system using a tool like HootSuite for @ mentions or conversations about, either by brand name or by your business name or even important caretaker's names. You could do that in a tool like HootSuite very effectively, [00:12:00] and monitor Twitter conversations. Roy Barker:         Okay. Ken Tucker:        But in terms of specific reviews, there are review monitoring systems that are out there as well, and some of those are gonna monitor all review systems that you want to sign up for. In other cases, and this is kind of where reputation kind of merges into a little bit more local SEO flavor. [00:12:30] There are all these directories that your business gets listed on and some of these directories also allow people to write a review.                               As an example, Citysearch is a directory that your business may be listed on, even though you never actually go out there and create it, Citysearch is gonna build a listing of all of the local businesses that it can find through whatever algorithm it's pulling from, whether it's pulling from the Secretary of State office, which in Missouri where I'm based, [00:13:00] that's where businesses are listed when we create our companies and we establish our businesses, the Missouri Secretary of State's office lists us there. City Search might pull from there, it might pull from Google or Bing search results, it might pull from other directory systems that are out there. So, it's gonna have a record of your business and if somebody does a Google search and they find your name, they might find the Citysearch listing and that's where they may go write that review. [00:13:30] So, if you have a directory management system in place, then it is going to notify you every time somebody goes and writes a review on any of these general directories that are out there like a Citysearch. Roy Barker:         Okay. Ken Tucker:        Now, if you're in the healthcare specific industry, there are healthcare add ons that you can buy that will monitor the reviews that people are doing on the healthcare specific directories. Also, there are just [00:14:00] review monitoring tools specifically that will look for those as well. Roy Barker:         Okay. Yeah, and it kinda goes back to the old adage, and this has been many years ago, but the saying used to be that a happy customer told one of their friends, where a dissatisfied customer told eight of their friends. Ken Tucker:        Yeah. Roy Barker:         I don't know if that still holds true with those numbers, but it's typically right. It's harder to get ... Happy customers feel like that they were supposed to be happy and [00:14:30] so that's really, unless they have an over the top experience, they don't really reach out and try to put that message out there. Where if you have a bad experience, it seems like nowadays, everybody wants to let everybody know that. Ken Tucker:        That's correct. But if you ask people, who you know are happy customers, and you make it really easy for them, you give them a review link and say, "Here, go to this place and write a review for me." You tell them what the process is gonna be like, they [00:15:00] are more than happy, most of the time to go and do that. Now, there are certain industries where people are gonna be less willing to do so, and you know, I mean, if you're a Certified Financial Planner, obviously, by regulation, you can't even ask people to go do that. Roy Barker:         Oh, okay. Ken Tucker:        But most businesses can, and they really need to because online reviews right now, in combination with the quality and consistency of the way the business is listed on [00:15:30] these online directories, is the number one factor for a local search. Roy Barker:         Okay. Ken Tucker:        Especially online reviews though. And so, when you look at online reviews, there are a couple of different things that are really important to keep in mind. One is, the overall, really probably three things. Number one is, what is your composite rating? That's certainly gonna be a factor. So if you had 10 reviews, what is your overall [00:16:00] composite rating score? Could be 3.8 out of a five-star rating. Or it could be a five out of a five-star rating or whatever. So that composite review score's important. The total number of reviews on particular review sites is important. So if you have five reviews and your competitor has 25 reviews on a particular review site, that's maybe gonna tip the scale for your competitor instead of yourself. Then [00:16:30] the third thing is what we refer to as review velocity. This is where you're getting a constant stream of people writing reviews about your business. It may be great. Maybe two years ago you went out and you got 15 reviews on Yelp or your Google My Business page. Those are typically the two sites that are going to show in local search results most prominently. But you haven't done anything since. Google [00:17:00] is gonna see there's a point of diminishing returns if you're not continually getting that stream of reviews. So that's another reason why it's really important to develop a system of going out there and asking consistently for high quality reviews. Roy Barker:         Okay. Ken Tucker:        You want to keep those reviews coming in. When you do that, especially ... You know, the number one review site in my mind, bar none, for a local business, where if you're delivering care in a local market, is to create a Google My Business. So if you haven't done that [00:17:30] already, go to google.com/business and create that and claim your Google My Business page. That is absolutely paramount. Then, once that page has been created and you claimed and you're managing that page, then you want to start to drive people to go write reviews to your Google My Business page. Now, this is the page that's gonna show up on the Google Map result. So if somebody were to type in Senior Care, Chesterfield, Missouri. You're gonna get a Google Map [00:18:00] result nine times out of 10 when you type in that geographic location in combination of a product or solution or a service that you're looking for. Being able to show up on that Google Map result, they're typically showing three results of businesses. That is the most important real estate that any local business can probably be listed on. So online reviews on [00:18:30] your Google My Business page are the most important thing to be able to make that happen. Roy Barker:         Okay, great. You were talking about when we were proactive and we can send our customer or our prospect a link. Then once we get it and we can see that it's a four or five, then we have the ability to, I guess push that out to the Yelps and the Google My Business to help be a little preemptive, is that correct? Ken Tucker:        [00:19:00] Well, it doesn't work quite that way. What happens is you can send people to a page, either on your website or a third party page, there are pros and cons for both. But you can send them to that page, a review page, and they fill out the number of stars. You can actually set that page to have a stream of reviews that have been written and you can set the threshold to say I only want to stream four or five-star reviews back on to this page, and then people can click [00:19:30] on the star rating and if it's three stars or less, they're gonna be asked to provide feedback that's gonna be emailed to somebody in the business so that they can respond to that. If it's four or five stars, they're gonna be presented with which review sites you want them to go write the review for. Roy Barker:         Oh, okay, okay. Ken Tucker:        There's no system, and honestly, Google and Yelp and all of these different review sites, they want users to be logged in. So, [00:20:00] if your customers don't have Yelp accounts typically, I wouldn't drive them to Yelp, and I wouldn't drive them to Yelp anyway because Yelp wants people to do it in a very organic way. Yelp is the one directory system where you just kind of have to let reviews happen. You better be monitoring your Yelp reviews for sure. But you really can't take control over the Yelp process because Yelp actually will penalize you for doing that. Roy Barker:         Okay. Ken Tucker:        [00:20:30] But most of the other directory systems that I'm aware of, in fact all of them, you have the ability to control and drive people to go write reviews. And Google is absolutely king, so that's where I would send people first. But they're gonna have to log in with a Google account to be able to write a review, and that's for authenticity purpose. Google wants to see there's a real person that is actually out there writing a review. Now, an individual can have 30 [00:21:00] Google email addresses and there's nothing you can do to prevent that and they may create a bonus email address just to go write a review. There's nothing you can do to stop that or control that. But if somebody is abusing the system, there are ways to try to get Google to adjudicate the process and clean things up. Roy Barker:         Okay. Ken Tucker:        It's a painful, tire, it takes a lot of time and it's a big hassle, but sometimes you can do that. Google [00:21:30] will do it if the review came from an employee. Roy Barker:         Oh, okay. Ken Tucker:        You know, where an employee was disgruntled and they went out there and wrote something negative about your business, you can go to Google and they will help you address that. Roy Barker:         Okay. Yeah, I've read a lot more press recently about people beginning to fight, not the companies, but the Googles and the Yelps trying to put policies in place to help alleviate [00:22:00] fake reviews or get them off quickly before they damage somebody's business. Ken Tucker:        Yeah, yeah. I mean, there are stories out there, and actually I work with a web property where people reported a listing that I work with and manage, saying it wasn't a real business and so Google took the page down. So you have to go back [00:22:30] and you have to prove, yeah, you're a real business entity doing business at that physical location. You might have to provide a picture of a name on a sign that shows you're operating out of that business and send that to Google before they'll establish your Google My Business page again and let you manage it and have it verified by Google. And we've also, I've got some marketing colleagues of mine that I know have had people [00:23:00] where their competitors go in and write really nasty reviews about a business and they're not real customers. Roy Barker:         Oh, wow. Ken Tucker:        And so, but you know, those things, while it's unfortunate and it's a drag on your overall composite rating, you know, I think if you go through the process and you respond to those reviews and ask to take it offline, most people, they're smart enough to when they read a review, [00:23:30] they're gonna have a pretty good idea of whether it's a bogus review or not. Roy Barker:         Right. Ken Tucker:        If they see that the business actively cares and they're trying to go out there and reach out there and address frustrated customers, that's gonna speak volumes. Honestly, when you look at the younger people, they don't trust a business that only has five star reviews often times. Because they just don't see that as authentic. So, [00:24:00] it's not the worst thing in the world to have a three-star review. But I think you can say a lot to the world if you go out there and address an experience that somebody had when they gave you a three-star review and say we want to try to make things better for you. Roy Barker:         Right. Yeah, I think that just goes with there's always gonna be problems in life, it's the way that you handle them is what shows the real character of the person or the business. So that makes a lot of sense. Ken Tucker:        Yeah, absolutely. Roy Barker:         So [00:24:30] now, as we've talked about this reputation management, it seems like it is tied a lot more closely to local search optimization than what I had thought. So, in the senior living business, some of these markets are getting very crowded, a lot of competitors. The one thing that I talk a lot about is that this isn't [00:25:00] like the old days where somebody just sees a sign in the front yard and they walk in and they don't know anything about the business. Probably 80 to 90% of either perspective residents or their adult children or loved ones will go out and research the different communities so when they walk in, they not only know a lot about you, but they also know a lot about your competitors. So how can a [00:25:30] local brick and mortar business stand out in the local search area? Ken Tucker:        Yeah, online reviews really are the first most important step that I think a business needs to take. You know, one of the things that's happening is, this is not answering your question directly, but I'll come back around to it. Google has this project called Google Lens and it's basically gonna give you the ability [00:26:00] to point your phone at a business and if it can find that business and recognize that business online, it will present the reviews and it will show you the reviews right there just by you holding your camera and pointing it at the business. So, online reviews are really, really important.                               Now having said that, my experience is that most franchises and most national players, they really hamstring their local service providers [00:26:30] because they do not allow them to create an effective local presence. And by local presence, you should have your own website, it should be optimized for the services and the locations that you do business with and that you support in those communities and those different suburban areas and things like that. Most of these large providers that operate on the franchise model, they don't let [00:27:00] their local business create a local presence.                               Building a website, optimizing that website for local search phrases, so don't just operate for generic phrase like senior healthcare or assisted living or things like that. Optimize it around the local phrases plus the geography that you're serving. Then, build an online presence [00:27:30] that includes getting in these local directory listing services, like I mentioned Citysearch, local.com. There are literally hundreds of these different sites, most of which you'll never hear of or even have a chance to come across. But what they do is they send signals, especially when you're, and this is a really important point, it's called name, address, phone number. When your name, address and phone number are exactly [00:28:00] the same, and I mean exactly the same, on multiple of these different directory sites that are out there, those all send signals to Google and Bing and the other search engines, this is the correct, up-to-date, accurate information about your business. So if you have multiple phone numbers, you need to pick one that's your primary phone number, it needs to be on your website, it needs to be in these directory systems, it better be on your Google My Business page exactly the same [00:28:30] way. If you've moved recently and you used to work down the street or across town, but your physical address has changed, you're probably gonna have problems with some of these directories in the way you're listed.                               So, going in and cleaning up the way your business is listed is a really important thing because even an abbreviation of how you might spell street or suite, like if you're in an office suite. If you abbreviate it on one [00:29:00] site and you spell it out on the other site, that's enough to create some confusion and all of that confusion and all of that bad and inconsistent data hurts your rankings in search. So, when you go in and you clean all this up, you're sending a signal to Google and Bing, but Google's really the king, that you're paying attention to the way your business is listed online, you're updating it and you're making sure that it's accurate.                               [00:29:30] Those things right there are huge. Your Google My Business page and these other directories, building a strong online reputation and then having a website that you can actually truly optimize for local search. A lot of these franchise providers and big corporate providers that have maybe a presence in a local market, what they do is they'll give their franchisee a single page, and they don't give them very much editorial control over what they can really do [00:30:00] from a search engine optimization. So I'm very confident that most of your independent and smaller players in any market have a great opportunity to out perform these big national companies if they take control of their own local search. Roy Barker:         Okay. So what about name changes. Every now and then we may have, this is the ABC Assisted Living Community and then they go through an ownership [00:30:30] or management change and then they become the XYZ Company. So, when we talk about all these components for the local search optimization, how difficult is that to make that transition to get the new company name and face associated with the address and kind of get up to speed on that? Because I have had that happen before where a business has changed hands and I'm out looking [00:31:00] for Joe's Hamburger Shack and now it's Manny's Hamburger Shack, but on Google it's still with the old listing. Ken Tucker:        Yeah, so there are a couple different ways that you can handle that. I'm a really big fan of using a management tool that will allow you to manage and control and update everything from a single console, a single website, including locking down the name, address, phone number records [00:31:30] and actually scanning and removing duplicate listings that might be confusing to the consumer. So you can go that route. It's obviously a more expensive route, but it gives you the ability to actively manage and control and update content and push it out to multiple sites all at once from a single site. So it could be a real effective powerhouse for you locally.                               But you can also go through [00:32:00] a manual review process and find ... There are tools out there, as matter of fact, there's a tool in the footer of my website that you can run a free business listing scan and they'll go out there and scan 70 different websites and show you how your business is listed there or whether your business is even listed there. So you can go through that and once you identify those sites, you can literally go in and manually claim them and update them. It's a labor intensive, time consuming process but you can do it that way. If your only capital that [00:32:30] you have to spend is somebody's time, then that may be the reality of what you have to do. But if you can afford to spend a little bit of money using a tool and having a system in place to take care of that, that's a great way to go.                               The last way that you could do this is through doing what I would call some kind of a citation blast strategy where you could go use a tool like Brightlocal or moz.com, and they give you the ability to create a record of your business with the accurate information [00:33:00] and then it will do a one time push out there to these different directory listings. The downside of that is if you have changed your name or you've changed your physical street address, there's a chance that that data will be overwritten by the algorithms over a period of time because you're not gonna be able to find and remove all of the bad data. But there are pros and cons and we try to help everybody [00:33:30] understand if they can get away with a cheaper solution versus if they've had a situation where they really need to have a full time regular managed directory system in place. Roy Barker:         Okay, great. That sounds like great advice. Well, Ken, we're gonna wrap it up for today. I do appreciate your time very much. Like I said, there's so many topics that I think we could cover, I would like to invite you back for a future show- Ken Tucker:        Okay, I'd love that. Roy Barker:         To cover a few more of [00:34:00] these, like the marketing strategy, lead generation, things like that. But before we go, do you have any SEO or marketing related books that you would like to recommend that you've read lately? Ken Tucker:        Yeah, you know, I'm a big fan of Duct Tape Marketing, which is, it's a book that was written several years ago but it's great for a business to help understand what they need to do to put a local, I'm [00:34:30] sorry, a small business marketing strategy in place. The most recent book that I've read that just has a wow factor to me, so much so that I went and got certified to be able to consult using their methodology, is a book called StoryBrand. It's basically about, it's using storytelling, but it turns storytelling on its head a little bit from the traditional way that marketers tend to talk about it. Most marketers talk about [00:35:00] story, in terms of the brand being the hero. StoryBrand focuses on the customer being the hero and the brand is the guide that has a plan that helps them achieve the outcome that they want to desire. So Story is really powerful because it's the way humans have communicated for thousands and thousands of years. So when you can do that, you can really clarify your marketing messages when you [00:35:30] look at if from a storytelling perspective. I would encourage everybody to take a look at that book. It's really easy to read, it's a fast read, and it's really powerful. Roy Barker:         Okay, great. Thanks. I will reach out and pick that one up myself. So, if somebody wanted to reach out and get a hold of you, what are some of the best methods to contact you and learn more about you and your services? Ken Tucker:        Yeah, so we actually have three different websites. We have [00:36:00] stlouisseoforgrowth.com. That's stlouis.seoforgrowth.com. We have coloradosprings.seoforgrowth.com and we have changescapeweb.com. Changescapeweb is our main company website. From there you can find our contact information. You can find us on most social media using the handle @changescape. I've written a couple of books. One on Reputation Management and one on Social Media Marketing for Restaurants, [00:36:30] which has a lot of information that I think is highly relevant really for any brick and mortar type of business. You can find those on Amazon if you just do a search for me as an author, you'll find those two books there.                               Then, the last thing I would say is if anybody wants to learn more about reputation management, I've got an online webinar that people can watch [00:37:00] at their convenience. I also mentioned this free business listing scan tool. If you go to my website, changescapeweb.com and you go down to the footer, there's gonna be a column that you'll see in the footer called free stuff and there are links there that you can sign up to watch the online Reputation Management webinar or run that business listing scan to see if your business has any bad data out there. But you need to get cleaned up. Roy Barker:         Okay, great. Thanks for all the great information and [00:37:30] I'll be sure and include all of that in the show notes as well. Ken Tucker:        Okay, awesome. Thank you. Roy Barker:         Yeah. Ken, again, thank you so much for your time and all the great information. Look forward to speaking with you again in the near future. Ken Tucker:        Absolutely. Thanks so much for your time, Roy. I really enjoyed it. Roy Barker:         You bet. Ken Tucker:        All right, take care. Roy Barker:         All right, yeah. Until next time, well have a good afternoon, thanks.    

The Business Credit and Financing Show
Explosive Marketing, SEO, and Website Strategies to Rapidly Grow Your Business

The Business Credit and Financing Show

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 13, 2018 44:48


Ken Tucker is the founder of Changescape Web (www.changescapeweb.com), a Small Business Marketing and Website Design Agency specializing in comprehensive integrated marketing strategies and campaigns for small and mid-sized businesses. Specialties include search engine optimization, website design, reputation management, social media marketing, lead generation, and marketing automation. Ken is a Master Duct Tape Marketing Certified Consultant, an Inbound Marketing Certified Professional (since 2010), and an SEO for Growth Consultant (stlouis.seoforgrowth.com). Ken is the author of Social Media Marketing for Restaurants and co-author of Reputation Management (Marketing Guides for Small Businesses). This compact guide explains how to create and protect your online reputation. Ken created and taught one of the first college credit Social Media Marketing classes in the US at St. Charles Community College. He has taught a course on Content Management Systems. He serves as Co-Chair of the St. Charles County Chambers of Commerce Technology Committee.   During This Show We Discuss… How powerful social media marketing can be for your business How effective social media marketing is for businesses who advertise locally and nationally  The best marketing strategies for local businesses What business owners can do offline to grow their business Great strategies that combine both online and offline marketing What duct tape marketing is, and how it works The most effective ways to market in today s business environment  The keys to having a great website 3 things every great website should have… but most do not  How effective SEO and SEM are when it comes to increasing search engine traffic Basic things everyone should do on their site to improve SEO How you can get a free review on the strength of their website SEO now The importance of having a positive online presence when it comes to your company s reputation And much more…

Vroom Vroom Veer with Jeff Smith
Ken Tucker – Build websites that Generate Customers

Vroom Vroom Veer with Jeff Smith

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 12, 2018 61:04


Ken Tucker is the founder of Changescape Web (www.changescapeweb.com).  Most businesses struggle to be found online. Changescape Web builds websites that generate customers so businesses can grow and thrive. Specialties include search engine optimization, website design, reputation management, social media marketing, lead generation, and marketing automation. Ken is a StoryBrand Certifed Guide, a Master Duct Tape Marketing Certifed Consultant, an Inbound Marketing Certifed Professional (since 2010), and an SEO for Growth Consultant (stlouis.seoforgrowth.com). Ken is the author of Social Media Marketing for Restaurants and co-author of Reputation Management (Marketing Guides for Small Businesses). Ken created and taught one of the frst college credit Social Media Marketing classes in the US at St. Charles Community College. He has taught a course on Content Management Systems. He serves as Co-Chair of the St. Charles County Chambers of Commerce Technology Committee. Ken Tucker Vroom Veer Stories Lessons learned from running for office and not winning; most folks were nice Changed major in college from chemistry to astronomy; and finally landed on philosophy Worked with the Army, Air Force, and DOD as a project manager on software development projects Amazing opportunity working with a DOD budget on business development First attempt at business learned the "skin in the game" lesson; no DOD budget Didn't really fit into a stereotype in high school; trended toward nerds, but was an ambassador Changescapeweb is version 5 of his business; continues to evolve and grow Ken Tucker Connections www.changescapeweb.com LinkedIn Facebook Twitter

Business Coaching with Join Up Dots

Business Marketing Expert Ken Tucker Reveals Why Going Local Can Be A Goldmine My guest today, on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots free podcast interview is a man who is a master at taking a clients business and growing it beyond anything they could do on their own. He is the founder of Changescape Web, which focuses on integrated small business marketing solutions in the St. Louis and St. Charles metro area. This includes Online Marketing Solutions: WordPress Websites, HubSpot Internet Marketing Software, Email Marketing, Social Media Marketing Management & Training, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Online Lead Generation and Lead Nurturing, Landing Page Creation, Social Media Contests and Promotions, Event Based Marketing, Local Search, Content Marketing. Now what is interesting is how they do this of course, but also how they support the growth of both their clients and their own personal growth through several extremely strong values that they stick to. 1) Helping our clients become wildly successful. 2) Building strong, lasting relationships with our clients. 3) Ongoing commitment to both professional and personal growth and development. 4) Supporting our communities and causes that we care about, both locally and globally. and 5) Having fun! As they say It's become something of a cliche to say that people should love what they do, but at Changescape, we really do! Every day presents new challenges and opportunities to meet them. It's a lot of fun (and very rewarding) to discuss a problem one of our clients is facing, and then developing and implementing a campaign to solve it. Our passion for our work motivates us every day. So what is it about the local community that inspires him greatly, instead of hitting every corner of the world like so many of the entrepreneurs that appear on Join Up Dots? And where did he start first? Creating a blueprint from himself that worked, or learning it as he went by building the business as the testing ground for everything? Well lets find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots with the one and only Mr Ken Tucker. Show Highlights During the show we discussed such weighty topics with Ken Tucker such as: Why becoming unemployable in your own business is more often than not the correct stance to take for huge success. How most people do not niche down deep another in their business to truly understand what and who they are offering services too. Connecting with you local Chamber of Commerce is a great place to start understanding how local business operate, and of course connect with the right kind of people that can help your business. and lastly…. Ken shares how the big growth of his business have occured when he has separated himself from it fully to breathe, think and review without disturbance.  

Contractors Secret Weapon Podcast
Ken Tucker Important Local Online Strategies 261

Contractors Secret Weapon Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 15, 2018 33:59


Ken Tucker Important Local Online Strategies, Specializing in comprehensive integrated marketing strategies and campaigns for small and mid-sized businesses across the US. Specialties include search engine optimization, website design, reputation management, social media marketing, and lead generation marketing automation Hey, this is Dave Negri with Contractors Secret Weapon. Today, I have a fun guess. There's going to be a lot of fun. His name is Ken Tucker. He's the founder of Changescape Web a Small Business Marketing and Website Design Agency specializing in comprehensive integrated marketing strategies and campaigns for small and mid-sized businesses across the US. Specialties include search engine optimization, website design, reputation management, social media marketing, and lead generation marketing automation. And Ken is a Master Duct Tape Marketing Certified Consultant, an Inbound Marketing Certified Professional (since 2010), and an SEO for Growth Certified Consultant. Ken is the author of Social Media Marketing for Restaurants. Coauthored Reputation Management (Marketing Guides for Small Businesses) and this compact guide explains how to create and protect your online reputation. Awesome. This is really awesome. Ken, I just you know thanks so much for being with us and being willing to share your expertise. Thanks, so much Dave, I look forward to it. Cool. Just how did you get started in this crazy business because it's ever changing, ever moving and is no slow pace to it at all, is there? No, not at all. So, I actually started my company in 2005. Prior to that, I had been in the software development business and I had worked on some very large projects for the Department of Defense. I started my company largely focused on the Information Technology Business, Dave, that I had done a lot of web application development and not necessarily marketing websites that business you know business web applications I should say. But I, because I ran an entire division of the company. I had to be responsible for my own marketing and so we took on that role we actually built a team of marketing consultants in India to help us supplement what we were doing here in the U.S. And so, when I started my company in 2008. When the economy took the downturn we just decided hey what do we like to do the most and when we have the most fun with. And we found that that was doing the website design work and then turning that into you know all of the other cool things that you get to do as some digital marketing agents. That's cool cause then you get to see and get to help people and you get the result. Like me and most people they just say oh I want to see the results. I have no crazy idea. Yeah exactly. And you know that's the thing I love about anything that you do from a digital perspective you get. Yes, you can measure and track just about everything. And sometimes there's too much data. Sometimes there's a lot of noise. And you know in terms of data and information that you get that really doesn't mean that much for your business. But at the end of the day if you do it right you can have a lot of accountability. As a matter of fact, I think it's the most accountable way that I know you know to do marketing. Right. Like you said you get that track and see, you get to see what works, what’s not working or and then you can tweak it a little to see and get it to work better or scrap it depends on how many overall applications. Yeah absolutely. And you know one of one of the things that I know, IBM, kind of became famous for after they became kind of the monolith and they had to reinvent themselves when they moved into the digital space. They, you know, they basically developed a strategy of failing quickly. Yeah. Because you're never going to be able to build a perfect solution. So, the goal is having these, have these little experiments you know. Continue to make progress. Be prepared to constantly adapt and change and you're constantly improving and so I kind of liked that model. I mean I don't know that I like necessarily failing, nobody does. But the reality is you're never going to you're never going to know if you're accomplishing anything if you don't have some failures along the way. And we all, we all have those. Right. And the important thing is what do you learn from it. How do you incorporate it and make it better and how do you seize those opportunities? And I think that's one of the biggest challenges that I think most business owners have is that of course, no one likes failing and like you said. But the key thing is to try multiple things at once and instead of one thing to see if it works and then finding out it doesn't work. And then slowly you move on to the next thing and that will drive you crazy in itself. That's right. You don't know obviously you want to set up you know environments that you know and experiments that you can track and monitor you know. I mean when I talk about failure I'm not talking about the catastrophic system. I'm talking about you know like if you were running a Facebook ad for example or Google AdWords Campaign. You know the first month of that is you're going to gather a lot of information that you better be taking and reinvesting the knowledge that you're learning to tweak and optimize that the performance of that ad campaign. And if you do that you're going to be rewarded because your ad is going to perform so much better. The reality is it's hard to make a decision and it's hard to get something set up perfectly from the start. And so, you know you definitely need to think about the structure of when you're when you're moving forward in any event whether it's a Web site design, whether it's copy that you have on your homepage, or call the action button on your homepage. Measure or track it. See what behavior is happening and be prepared to change it. And you know the great thing is there are so many inexpensive tools and solutions that a lot of people can do it themselves. A lot of people may not ever want to mess with that, but you know there's plenty of technology out there for all levels of users. Right. Yeah, I agree. And it's just it's just creating habits, is really all that is. Whether it be five or 10 minutes I mean going into your you know Google Analytics just check see what's going on and little stuff like that. But I agree with you. And it's even I mean it's all forms of marketing because nothing works perfectly out of the case. Yeah. That would be nice because there would be oh I can do it the first time and I think that’s what gets people frustrated that they can't get to a point where they want it to work so bad the first time that they say well it doesn't work and a lot of that I think has to do with the mindset of I need to work. Now. They're not planning for the future. You know what I'm saying. Yeah. Yeah absolutely. And so much of digital you know I mean there are some things that are very immediate and direct but a lot you know we're like the example from search engine optimization perspective, that you know that can take quite a bit of time to really optimize and you get to the point where you work at what you have it working the way you want it to. You know so. So, I think it's important also to strike that balance and you know one of the things that's interesting you know is I often think you know think coming from a software development background I come from my mindset is I think about software development like I think about building a house. OK. You know where you have blue clear blueprints and you have you know different diagrams for you know your different contractors you know the electrical contractors and plumbers and all kind of stuff. Well, you do software very much the same way when you do it on a large scale and especially you know for Department of Defense where you're building software and if that fails people you know people's lives are at stake. Right. Well, I don't see marketing any different than that. And so you know I think it's really important to have some kind of a system that you use to create all of these different blueprints and have these understandings in place, in these different systems in place to be able to build an effective overall marketing system that does kind of start to break down a little bit in that analogy and that application on the marketing side is you know if I'm if I'm hiring somebody that's building a window for me I want them to get that pretty accurately measure that building. And so that's really where I think best practices and experience come into play. You know in the world of marketing we can't be as precise as a lot of you know a lot of contractors and home builders but you know with best practices and with marketing automation and things like that where we can build repeatable systems and components, it helps us to you know to get much closer to that. Right. And one of the cool things about the digital marketing and like you said earlier is that it's almost instant gratification in a sense. If you can get it you know you may not get the exact results you want but you can spend a little bit of money to find out if that concept is even going to work. Then you can add onto it because now if you took it into the old school way which would be EDDMM or Letters, and stuff like that then you've got to wait months sometimes to find out if just because you got one word that's wrong, you've got to wait months. But with digital, bingo it's like almost instantaneous, isn't it? Yeah, it is. That's a great point. I think it gives you the ability to create a lot of really inexpensive experiments to find success. And you know it's a fraction of the price of a lot of the old traditional types of things that we used to do in marketing. Right And then a lot of times you know I'll suggest to guys, to your social media when you Google AdWords or your Facebook ads and put them together see how they work and if they pull well. Now design a postcard off of that information and that. Yeah. And instead of reversing it. So now you've already done a little bit. And you run it by hundreds and even thousands of people. And now you can ___ and do your mailing if you want to then send them back to the website or whatever the case may be. Yeah absolutely. As a matter of fact, I'm a big fan of Integrated Marketing Solutions. It's not all about digital. You make a great point. I mean you can use. You can do use digital messaging to find out what resonates most effectively. But you know take it take another step, and incorporate some other different type of touch point. For example, every door direct mail I mean you could do a targeting of a Facebook ad for based around the zip code or when you go overlay and every door direct mail campaign with those mail routes that line up pretty well with that zip code area. And now you're touching people from a marketing perspective in a couple of different ways. You know not everybody learns and not everybody responds in the same way. So, you'd be very receptive to a digital message. Other people want to have that tactical or that tactile physical touch you know and being able to read a postcard or a direct mail piece of what is sent to them. So, I think there's a lot of opportunities and honestly, I think that's a huge missed opportunity for most people. They picked one thing they do it and they don't they don't compliment it and they certainly don't create enough touch points to really have the effectiveness. You know it takes seven touch touches typically from a marketing perspective to be effective. Right. And when you when you balance digital and you know and some of the more traditional styles, you can really cut your costs substantially. Oh, that's an interesting topic. Yeah well here's the here's the thing that I was thinking about and I just wanted to see what you think. I think that a lot of guys don't. There's a couple of reasons why they don't do both. One is that they don't think about it. And second is I think maybe most people think of marketing as an expense instead of as an investment. Saying they don't track it. So, if they tracked it then they would know what type of return they are getting, or any at all. Yeah, that’s exactly right. You know I also, I mean I look at advertising it's easy to kind of fall into the trap of thinking that that is an expense and that is it. There's no doubt it is an expense I mean you are laying out cash in return. Right. But you know, and the other thing about you know paying paid advertising is that it only works for as long as you keep continuing to do it. As opposed to now there are two really true investment strategies with digital too I think where you make an investment in building your online reputation where you're getting quality reviews about your business. You're putting content on your Web site and optimizing that content. When you do those things. You know even though you're paying for that maybe one time to create a piece of content and put it on your Web site. Every piece of content that you do that for, it turns into a long-term investment in your business. So, not everything in digital is measured in the same way either. Right. But they also have different returns and different timeframes that they return. Right. Yeah because your blog post on your content is never going to go away. That's right. And it will always be there and you know. Yeah. Just like when we do our podcast, all the interviews go back go up on anchor so it keeps rotating in and out all of the time. So, it's always replicating and it's always there. Yeah. So, I want to ask you this question because most of our listeners are contractors okay. Local Search Engine Optimization. I know that's really it should be a big focal point for most contractors. What do you think about that? Yeah absolutely. You know I think that from a strategy perspective I think it's really important for a business to be honest with themselves. And if they're not prepared to spend money on a monthly recurring basis there is no end there. Their goal is to be found online from their Web site. Through to search engine optimization. I'm not talking about a paid advertising strategy. I'm talking about building a website and having your Web site start to rank consistently Businesses need to be really honest about that. Some businesses honestly can't afford search engine optimization. And so, they're better off developing a referral marketing program or you know doing advertising campaigns here or there. But I think you know them from every contractor I think would benefit from a local SEO’s strategy. As a matter of fact, it gives the independent guys an opportunity to outperform some of the larger companies. Then you look at search engine optimization there's a very localized set of tactics that you would want to do what we refer to as local SEO. And that would be where somebody is typing into a search for a plumber in a particular location. And so, number one. the number one ranking factor right now appears to be the quality and consistency and currency of online reviews. And so, developing a review funnel where you're constantly getting a stream of high-quality reviews where you're responding to those reviews whether they're positive or negative ads. Google's paying attention. The other review sites are paying attention if people are writing reviews and you don't acknowledge those. You're losing opportunity there. So, it's really important to respond to people who are writing reviews. And if it's a negative or a record review I recommend everybody still reply but try to take that offline and say we're sorry to never get experience. Contact us at this number. This email we want to make it right. Right. But after that, you know the other thing that a lot of businesses could take advantage of is you know it's not obvious at all but there are all these different Web sites that are directory listings that point back to your business. And there are literally hundreds or thousands of these directories. They all carry. Not all of them but a lot of them carry tremendous domain authority which is you know a trust factor when Google sees your business as listed on a site like CitySearch for example. You know that that carries a lot more weight. And if a small business association of 10 businesses all got together and created a website for themselves, they decided to link to your Web site. They're probably not going to have the same main authority as CitySearch so having your business what we refer to as the name address phone number record, consistently, exactly the same as in as many of these directory listings as you can be a really big deal because it just provides a tremendous amount of trust to the search engines and it's a very powerful thing. So, I typically talk about reputation management program where it's a combination of reviews and directories. One of the biggest problems with businesses online is there's so much bad data out there. There were bad phone numbers or bad physical addresses. You may have changed your name. You may have brought on a new partner and as a result, you changed your name. Maybe you used to work out of your house. Now you have an office you work out of. You know look those are all captured at one point or another whether you whether you do anything or not that information is being put on websites. And so, it's important to take control and ownership of that. So that's fine I would go back to something you said a little bit earlier about the contingency of about name address telephone number because I know that there are guys that have in the past because they think well let’s say carpet cleaner and I do carpet cleaning and let’s say Joe’s Carpet Cleaner. OK. But on one directory put Joe’s name as Carpet Cleaning and another directory says I'm going to buy Joe's famous Carpet and Upholstery Cleaning. That's a no, no? It is because it introduces potential confusion to the search engines, one. But it also introduces confusion. You know with potential searchers. Consumers who are looking for a company and maybe they get referred from a friend by one name and so they go you'll look them up online and they find that their information and they are like I'm not sure it's the same company. So, you know it's one is you know more about a user experience related issue. But the other is a search engine related issue. Now, humans, we can probably make a judgment call and say you know those names are close enough to where yeah that's probably the same company I'm going to go ahead and give them a call. The search engines don't operate that way. They don't necessarily have the sophistication to say these are the same company. And so, you've just eroded the confidence that a search engine has in delivering the search results. And when you think about it if Google consistently delivers search results that are not what somebody is expecting when they do those searches. They're going to stop using Google and they're going to go start trying being or you know a variety of other search engines that are out there. That's Google's number one job is to deliver the highest most quality and most relevant and accurate search results that it can for you know based on what people are typing into those searches. So, don’t go changing things around. Whatever you start off with. Stick with that. Everything is the same, your name, your address, telephone number, and if you have to change and you've got to go back and throw those directories and change everything, don’t you? You do. It's really important to do. And the other thing is, keep in mind that you know these are going to be created whether you do anything or not. So, it's important for you to go and do an audit. You know they are going to pull from you know where you were. Every state you know wherever you put your business license information. When you register as a business with that city or state, where they're going to have a record of that, that somebody, some Web site is going to pull that data from. And so even if you're like for me you know when I started my company it was Changelandscape, now it's Changescape Web. Part of my challenge was I found that a lot of people thought we were in the landscaping business because of the name. So, I wanted to be really obvious that you know where in the web space. And so, I have a Doing Business ads but my company is still technically you know and certain Web sites it's still listed as changscape. So, I actually have some management tools that I used to go out there and run some business scans to see how my business is listed in it. And you know you can either sign up for subscription services where that you can control that data or can do a regular push to that data or at least make it give you a central console so that you know you can go in and periodically just do a quick check yourself to make sure that that information is still accurate and up to date. But it is very important to do. The access it's got to be something fluency in there's got to be consistency so that you get to get the maximum exposure from Google that you can possibly get. That's right. And you know the good news is if you if you decide to take that on I guarantee it the majority of your competitors are not. If you do that that you know just by doing that could be the thing that puts you know over the top and helps you show up on those search results especially on the Google map results. Yeah because I know that you know just getting there on the first page of Google. I know it's important and but I know with the map and the local and the views I think everyone needs to if nothing else really spend their time in getting reviews from their customers Yeah absolutely. And you know not all review sites are equal. So, a lot of a lot of you know the folks that listened to this podcast. You know they like Home Advisor or thrummed or Angie's list or is probably pretty important. And yes, they are important. But keep in mind that there are a lot of solutions that are out there and a lot of tool vendors that give you a view capability that will build a review profile for you and you spend a tremendous amount of time getting reviews that are listed there but they're not the same as being a having a review on you know some of the industry-specific sites and especially not the same as Google. Right. You know Google is such a fundamentally important review site for every local business that that is the first place I would ask people to go write reviews and just you know it's kind of a shame because I see a lot of people who have done a lot of really hard work and they've done the right thing to go get a lot of customer reviews. They're just putting them on websites to really make an impact for them. And so, I really strongly encourage everybody to go do that was with Google. You have to be careful in the way that you get reviews on Yelp. That really needs to happen much more organically but Yelp reviews are important for almost every business. And when you look at the reviews that are pulled in on being search results it's pulling from Yelp. So, because Bing doesn't have a native Review feature. Oh ok, I never knew that. Yeah. And the interesting thing, as a matter of fact, I was with somebody not long ago and they were talking about a kind of Google paperclip. And they go you know this is kind of interesting for everyone out there that Bing pays per click is cheaper and all your it's all Microsoft. So, it's going to Bing first unless you change it over to default in Google. Yeah, that’s the point I mean Bing still gets about 25% of all search traffic. Yeah. So, it's less competitive from an advertising perspective. And you know, there maybe I mean depending on the demographics of you know your typical customer you know if they're the type of customer that they buy a computer and they never change any settings the default search engine may very well be Bing because they may not ever know when they buy a brand-new computer it's from launch edge Microsoft's browser and that's going to return Bing search results unless they go in and make that change. So, it's important to understand who your customer is and you know I we certainly encourage and also search engine optimization techniques are a little bit different on Bing and a lot of people forget all about that if they're going to do. So, we think it's important to absolutely consider Bing. Wow. This has just been a ton of information. It’s really been awesome. Is there any last minute thing like in the back of your mind that you want to share with our audience that did not get a chance yet. Yeah absolutely. So, Google has just as matter of fact it's in 17 cities right now. It's called Google Local services ads. It used to be called Google Home Services Ads. Now, this is going to impact plumbers, electricians, track contractors, garage door service companies, and locksmiths. And what's happening is this is a new brand-new advertising program that Google, as a matter of fact, it's coming to St. Louis by the end of the year. So, they're rolling it out to an additional 13 cities. It's in most of the major metropolitan areas right now as of the end of the year. It's been you know 30 total cities. It's a paper lead strategy. They're going to dominate the very top of the page. They're going to have a listing of three rectangular listings at the very top followed by the Google ad words followed by the Google map results and then you're going to have your organic search results. And so, anybody who is in any of those affected industries, I really strongly encourage you to learn about those. It's I think it's you know it's going to be a really interesting thing. I was talking to you know a person from Google the other day about setting this up for one of our customers. And in the St. Louis market it's going to be a ten dollar per lead price which is not bad. That's really reasonable. Yeah. Yeah and you know it's you're only going to be charged if somebody takes a very specific action from that ad so they can click on the ad to go read more about your business. But you're only going to be charged as one of these businesses if somebody places a phone call and Google's going to give a call tracking number so they're going to know that somebody called that number sends a text message or fills out a form on the on the page that they'll be taken to when they click on the ad.  So, if your them if you are it you have the ability as a plumber or any of these you know to pick your geographies that you want to show up for. And also, to pick the set of services for your locksmith and you don't want to get calls at 3 o'clock in the morning because somebody locked themselves out of the car. You don't have to turn on that that that specific category of this Ad. So, I think the important thing is that it's a paper calling out not a paper clip. That's right. Yeah And it's going to dominate the top of the page for the five industries I mentioned which again are Garage Door service companies, Locksmiths, HVAC, Electrical, and Plumber Yeah, That’s pretty awesome. So how can how can our guest get in touch with you? So our Web site is  www.changescapeweb.com  and we actually have a blog post that we just add to the Google Local services ads that people might want to check out should be on our homepage right now. And we're on social media with the handle changescape for Facebook.Com/changescape or on Twitter Instagram @changescape. Very cool cause we'll put all that stuff in the show notes when it when we get this whole thing up and running and ready to go. OK. awesome I appreciate that.     You may visit the website of Ken Tucker for more details below:   www.changescapeweb.com www.facebook.com/changescape   Twitter and Instagram: @changescape   You may also contact this number for more details: 636.549.8745         There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the web site and pick up the free download.   4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers   If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast email my assistant Shell at Shell@contractorssecretweapon.com   and she will send you our guest sheet.       Our sponsors     Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now? Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information.       http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money      How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. Radius Bomb sends out hyper targeted, laser focused postcards using a map while sitting in your under ware at your kitchen table then go to http://contractorssecretweapon.com/radiusbomb      Painting Contractors, get up to a 24% better response rate just for having the right memorable telephone number 1-800-PRO-PAINTER.Check out your area before someone beats you to it and it’s not available. https://www.1800propainter.com/  

Local Business Leaders
Social Media Marketing for Restaurants: What's Working Right Now

Local Business Leaders

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 9, 2018 23:24


Ken Tucker is the founder of Changescape Web, a Small Business Marketing and Website Design Agency specializing in comprehensive integrated marketing strategies and campaigns for small and mid-sized businesses. Specialties include search engine optimization, website design, reputation management, social media marketing, lead generation, and marketing automation. Ken is a Master Duct Tape Marketing Certified Consultant, an Inbound Marketing Certified Professional (since 2010), and an SEO for Growth Consultant (stlouis.seoforgrowth.com). Ken is the author of Social Media Marketing for Restaurants and co-author of Reputation Management (Marketing Guides for Small Businesses). This compact guide explains how to create and protect your online reputation. Ken created and taught one of the first college credit Social Media Marketing classes in the US at St. Charles Community College. He has taught a course on Content Management Systems. He serves as Co-Chair of the St. Charles County Chambers of Commerce Technology Committee. Links to resources, websites & offers mentioned during the show: Changescape Web Social Media Marketing for Restaurants St Louis SEO for Growth Ken Tucker on LinkedIn Changescape Web on Facebook

Small Biz Power
E005 Lead Generation and Protecting Your Online Business

Small Biz Power

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 18, 2017 53:24


Do you want lead generation tactics for your small business?  Fellow Duct Tape Marketing consultant, Ken Tucker of Changescape Web, is full of 'em.  He kicks off the episode with some great tips and an interesting look into his background, including a run for office.   The second half of the show features Danielle Liss, a lawyer at Hashtag Legal.  Danielle has carved out the most interesting niche, focused on influencer marketing professionals and online business owners.  If you are a blogger or running any kind of online business, make sure you've taken the necessary legal steps to protect it.  Danielle details a plan. For more details and transcript visit Radetich Marketing & Media.