new clients for the fun new year . . .

dec 28 @ 12:11pm we have been so bad this year at updating everybody on our clients and their wins throughout the year that they let us be a part of . . . so here goes: American Home Fitness, who was our very first client and made this whole company a possibility (thank you so much for that!), let us build them a new site that allows for a better UI in the store and is a lot more customizable than what we were able to do the old wordpress site. along with that we had a great in-store holiday season that was heavily pushed from the website. but the biggest win that we had with them (in our eyes) were their SEO results. we were able to get them into the #1 spot for 7 of their keywords and first page for all but 3 of their keywords. so if you're in the michigan area and needing some exercise equipment, american home fitness is the place to go.

our next client that we have to talk about is precision roofing. they gave us a shot to run their SEO and rebuild their website. for their SEO results, we have the #1 position for the keyword of 'residential roofing' as well as first page rockingness for all but 3 of their keywords as well. their new site has generated a ton of new leads (because their site can now be found) that (i hope) has turned into new more sales for them.

our newest client, at industries, is having us build them a new site (which is about ready to launch) and run their seo. we look forward to having a great relationship with them and getting all of their keywords up on the front page.

kc metro ford man let us run with their SEO and we were able to increase his sales by about a consistent 50% each month once the SEO started doing it's work.

what to look forward to in 2014?

well, our client minor wreck express, after building them a new site in 2013, is going to let us shoot and run their very first commercial. though we are only planning on releasing the commercial digitally at first, we know that it is going to bring a lot of new revenue to the company. the treatment and script has already been taken care of and all we have to do now is shoot the darn thing.

our amazing client and partner company opal epm has helped us set up a new client meeting for a new possible relationship to build. events to come to you when they come to us.

i think that's it.

2013 has been a great year for us, it was our first and we made it through stronger than when we started . . . so we're thinking that we're going to be around for a while. hope that everybody is fine with that.

now for the personal side of what 2013 has brought us. jason got married and i was the best man in the wedding which was more than a fun time and jason and his wife found out in november that they are expecting their first addition to the family in july. for me, the most child in the world was born - gavin. every single day he brings me more joy than i could have ever thought could be possible . . . thank you gavin. and because of him, i started this great company which has given me the chance to do what i really love . . .

and we're out . . . happy new year!

havikmarketing.com

christmas, holidays, yadda yadda yadda . . .

dec 26 @ 8:22pm

ok, so we've lived through the holidays . . . well, we still have new years, but that's not here nor there for right now (i don't really call that a holiday, honestly . . . mainly just a reason for some people to get together and drink - which is pretty awesome i guess, but i'm getting a little too old to go out and drink all night . . . this parenthetical statement has gone on too long), this is mainly about what i've noticed over the christmas holiday season. so, being in marketing and advertising, we have noticed a little bit of a shift in the practices of a lot of the bigger companies out there - they have started to try and be funny in all their ads. which i think is great, i know that there are a ton of great companies out there that have some great minds in their think tanks that can come up with great new, funny ads. but the thing that stuck out the most was all of the ads that were trying and failing miserably. when did it happen that people are too focused on the bottom line to not have a sense of humor? don't want to mention any specifically, but there are large companies out there that have the bank-roll to run an add that is pretty funny and if it flops, oh well. but it seems like they are trying to be too careful to not really push the limits and put out some really funny pieces. we all remember the 'shipped my pants' ad from k-mart . . . that was pretty hilarious, and it pushed the envelope on what was currently being shown. so what don't more people do that?

going to have to talk about ourselves for a moment . . . sorry. when we have a client that wants to put out a commercial, the first thing we tell them is that we are going to is come up with a treatment that will probably make them feel a little uncomfortable at first because we aren't really going to focus on any products they sell, talk about the company at length, etc. we develop something that is kind of out of left field but is going to leave some sort of reaction or feeling with the viewer. if you look at how many auto shops, car detailers, local restaurants, etc that are around; if one were to make a traditional commercial, that channel is getting changed quickly. prime example are car dealerships. can there be one dealership commercial without a man standing in a car lot yelling? please? let's start to think outside the box guys.

all i'm trying to say is that there are many more options out there than sticking to what has been done already. cut your own path . . . push the limits . . . some other saying that's been over used. the 'shipped my pants' campaign along with the at&t campaign with the dude and little kids did something awesome . . . they didn't focus on one thing about the company, it brought the viewers attention in and then made them laugh, then gave the sales pitch. simple . . . isn't it? so if you're a company out there that is wanting to do a commercial, don't try and come up with a treatment or script yourself, work with somebody that you think is 'a little out there' . . . it will pay off, trust me.

out havikmarketing.com

random thoughts today . . .

i have been thinking all day today about how you work and what that does for you rather than just sitting there and working. what do i mean? well, when i come into the office and start working and don't really have a goal for the end of the day (or even in the next 10 min) i find myself air-drumming or watching tv more than actually working. even though i have my kanban in front of me (i'll explain a kanban in a second), i will stare blankly at it as if i'm watching lizard lick towing. but if i come into the office with that one specific goal (can be only one) i start on that and as i'm working new things come across and i start rocking those out, next thing i know it's 2:00pm and i haven't even eaten yet. why is that? i just get focused on working and get into the groove of the music i'm playing (glassjaw right now) and let it flow.

i know that sounds a little 'duh', but it really does help when i have a focused goal at the beginning of the day. one of the things that really helps me is using my kanban. a kanban is something that was developed somewhere in asia (i think - but that's not important) to help with the flow of work. it's a simple three column table you have in your office/cube (wherever you work) so you know what you have to do. the three columns are very simple: 'to-do', 'doing', 'done'. i used to use post-it notes with tasks written on them before i went completely digital. but if you have a whiteboard or open space in your office, you should try it. each time you think of a task or project that you have to do, write it down (or if you're digital, type it out), put it in the 'to-do' column, finish what you're currently working on, move your current task over to 'done', move your next task over to 'doing', and then start working again.

not only does this help you know specifially you have your plate, but it is also visible to everybody else in the office so when they walk over to you and you're nose deep in your compy they can look at your kanban and see exactly what you're doing - but we know there'll still be people that come over and inturrupt . . . jerks. by having this board up and in front of you and visible for everybody, you become more accountable for what you have to do, others will know what you're doing, and you'll be a little more organized throughout your day.

now, why would you not just throw away your finished tasks? good question. there is a sense of accomplishment with moving the task from 'doing' to 'done' (try it, you'll see) and even more, when you're finished for the day, you can look at your board and see what you've done for the day and it will help releave some of that pent-up stress you might have taken home with you.

so back to my original point, how you work is so much more important than actually just working. by having even that one goal (the thing you left in the 'doing' column over night) when you walk into the office and getting started, you'll get into your work quicker, knock it out sooner, and feel better at the end of the day.

i'm out. havik marketing

we like to ramble . . . yep

well, we've finally done it. we've changed our site . . . a third time. what's wrong with that? well, there is the idea that you clients might get annoyed with having to figure out the new navigation every couple of months - but we here think change is good. why do we think that? well, we keep getting new opportunities to try new design ideas out on ourselves before we attempt (and screw it up) on our clients. plus, the whole seo thing kind of rules. believe it or not, the more you update your site, the better your results will be. now we said update, not completely change. so we keep going a little overboard with it, but bare with us. we are still new and still growing and trying to find our true voice.

we think that we have found it here with this new design . . . but give us a coupel of months, we might change our mind. havik marketing

don't be the last

to get your business to have seo work done on your site. the sooner you get started with have seo work done on your site, the quicker you are going to see great results. i know this sounds a bit sales pitchy, but there are so many benfits to having seo work done that you'd be remiss to not to get it going and getting your site ranked. here's the reason

well, several. . .

did you know that the split of people clicking on ads or on the search results is roughly 65-35 (i've also heard 70-30). is it really that big? well, ask yourself, when was the last time you clicked on the search results?

for some reason, there is this stigma that the ads up there are bad . . . typically with the older generation. this bad taste comes from the introduction of ads (or pop-ups if you remember the beginning of those things) and advertisers engaging in horrible practices of spamming, email bombing, and virus delivery. so now, some people don't even want to click on those ever. so why are you wasting your money on ppc ads?

with most of the population focusing on the search results for their information, why haven't you started your seo campaign?

most companies believe that it is too expensive or belive they can handle it on their own. well, let me tell you, it's really not that expensive (with some companies) and unless you have about an extra 10-15 hours a week dedicated to only seo, you really should leave it up to a professional. plus, with the pros you're going to get better results quicker.

so don't be the last person in your area to start an seo campaign . . . i can almost assure that your competitors have already started theirs. havik marketing

wordpress vs custom

so there are so many people asking me about using wordpress and doing it themselves as opposed to having their site custom built and maintained that i just had to write this down for everybody. using wordpress as a platform is not that bad of an idea, if you know what you're doing that is.

i can't count how many times i've visited a site for a client that they built themsleves and there are dead-links, mis-matched fonts, no alt's on images, etc. etc. etc. there are many things that go into a website that are very important that if you don't know what you are doing can be detrimental to the look and most importantly, your seo results.

so what do you do? there are a couple of options. i could easily just say 'have us build you site', but that's not what this blog is about. if you're planning on building your own site, make sure you do a little bit of research first. utilize the crap out of wordpress' support page. it's a lot of reading, but it's very well worth it. if you start to get confused, or eyes start to go crossed, there are a couple of other really great resources out there that'll help you learn how to code. try w3schools.com as a great source for some simple (to complex) coding help. believe it or not, as easy as wordpress has made making websites, there are a couple of things that you'll still have to code if you truly want a customized site. also, if you are wanting to get a little deeper into the coding world after you've started out, take a look at codecademy.com as a place to learn everything from html - python.

but, i've gotten a little off subject. why is it better to have a custom site built sometimes? when you have somebody create your very own site, you have the complete freedom for the site to do what you want it to. also, most of us programmers and designers have the skills to put in some good seo mojo while building the site, so if you're a brand new company, you'll have a little bit of head start. however, it does cost more money to have your site custom built. so that's the drawback of it.

so, you just have to ask yourself, do you want custom designs or less expensive. your call. havik marketing

ppc vs seo

this has been such a hot topic lately that i cannot help but write it out for everybody to read before going and trying to do either themselves or paying somebody else to do it for them. here we go. if you are a company that sells products in the store or on the web, then you are definitely in need of ppc.

why is that?

with a ppc campaign you'll have an extra sales person that never sleeps and (if you have the right campaign running) follows your possible clients around the internet even after they've left your site. most people hate that (it's called remarketing or retargeting), but it defineitly is worth it if you have a product that are constantly purchased by the public. products like golf clubs, workout accessories, shoes, etc. can be perfect items for these retargeting campaigns. but i ramble.

so having a good ppc campaign can help you sell more things. but what if you don't sell things, you're more of a service based company? well, even though there are good arguments to have a ppc campaign running no matter what, making sure you have a good seo campaign is the most important. when you have a service based company (plumber, electrician, roofer, mechanic, etc.), what do most people go to first when they look for these companies? the reviews. and the more reviews (positive and negative, but mostly positive) you have listed and linked from outside sources (yelp, google, angies list, service noodle) the higher your ranking will be - which means the more people are going to click on your company and give you a call to see if you can help them.

and here's another thing - take it for what you will - the click split for seo vs ppc is 65-35 (also heard 70-30). so 40% more of people are clicking on the search results vs the paid results.

you make the call . . . we can't tell you where to put your money, but we will be there to help when you decide. havik marketing

Our First Blog Post

So, now that we are a fully up and running business, we needed to get ourselves a great blog up and running. I figured that the first blog would be about the importance of having a (good) website.

Everybody knows that you should have a website, but a lot of people are going to services like 1&1.com, Web.com, GoDaddy, or some other type of quick website builder - which is good if you're just trying to get your site up and running. But, there is a drawback with using features like that. Yes, you'll be able to have your site up, but they aren't usually good with having a good SEO return on them. Unless you know what you're doing with building websites, you are going to be lost in the vast amount of sites and companies that are also in your industry and area.

So how do you fix this?

Easiest answer is have your site built by a professional - but that does cost money, and not a lot of people can afford a custom website. So, you might want to look at using something like Wordpress.org to build your site the way you like it. Wordpress is a very easy to use service that has a lot of good SEO plugins to help your site be found after you've made it the way you like it.

But, even in doing that, you're stuck in a little bit of a sticky situation. Just having the good plugins really isn't going to get your site up to the top of the rankings. There needs to be continual work done on the site for SEO to get your site up in the rankings. The old way of getting your site up quickly (meta tags) is over. With Google's way of doing rankings, it's a lot harder for smaller companies to get to the top. What we always use is what we call the "6-Pack Rule" - If you go to the gym regularly and eat right and all that fun stuff (have good SEO work done), you're going to get yourself a sweet 6-pack (top rankings) - but as soon as you quit going to the gym (stop SEO work), your 6-pack is going to go away (rankings slip) and to get the 6-pack back, you're going to have to work doubly as hard.

So, one of the first things we always suggest for companies to do when they start, is get yourself a good website and have SEO work started on it right away and always budget for SEO work to be done each month.

There are some books explain the best SEO practices that you can checkout if you are wanting to do it yourself, but be ready for about a good 5-10 hours a week dedicated solely on SEO work.

Keep checking back for new posts - we're going to be doing this quite often.

havik marketing