The Big Wave Blog

We’re on the road again!

Vikram will be traveling to California next week to deliver a workshop entitled, “Leading Practices in Search Marketing.” CLICK HERE to register for this awesome session!

Here is the invitation sent out by our host, CH&LA:

CH&LA now offers world-quality education on how to get the most from your hotel website. Search marketing expert Vikram Singh of Evision Worldwide offers Basic and Advanced Training on creating a successful website, implementing powerful search marketing strategies, and maximizing your online revenue.

With extensive experience in both internet marketing and hotel management, Vikram is uniquely qualified to address the questions and needs of your hotel marketing team. Covered topics include: Effective Keyword Strategies, Balancing Online and Offline Marketing, Monitoring Your Online Reputation, and Harnessing Web 2.0 and Social Media. Whether you need to learn the basics, or you want to take your hotel’s campaign to the next level, you won’t want to miss this highly informative and interactive seminar. You’re guaranteed to return to work with a list of action items, and a lot of questions answered.

“Timely topic. Very professional presentation: comprehensive, informative, useful. Highly recommend, an excellent value.”
–Comment from May seminar attendee

WHEN AND WHERE

Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Basic Training: 9:00 a.m. -10:30 a.m.
Advanced Training: 11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

Embassy Suites Anaheim - North
3100 East Frontera
Anaheim, California 92806
714-632-1221
Directions

Please sign up if you’re going to be near Anaheim. The session is very informative, and actually fun as well. Depending on your knowledge level, you can choose to attend either session alone, or you can sit through both. I think you can pick up some very useful tidbits from both sessions no matter what. And past attendees have been extremely happy with the Q&A time Vikram provides during and after each session. If you stick around at the end, he’ll be willing to answer whatever questions you have about the presentation or your own business.

Get in touch with us if you have any questions. We’ll hope to see you in Anaheim.

Well, the Yahoo Search Marketing Ambassador program is ending.

Yahoo explicitly states that, other than limited use of the Ambassador logo, the “Ambassador commissions will no longer be earned or paid for any Managed Advertiser Account created on or after July 31, 2008. All Ambassadors that are due payment of an Ambassador commission will be forwarded such payment no later than September 30, 2008.”

As I am a big Yahoo fan, this is very sad for me. It’s very stereotypical of a big corporation; yet at the same time it’s very odd for something like this to be happening to a web-based business. Unlike AltaVista and Excite, which quietly moved down to the basement, Yahoo is publicly disassembling the company. Not something we are used to seeing for web-based businesses.

E komo mai!

Some seats are still open for our next local summit, being held in Honolulu tomorrow (Thursday). Vikram and I will be presenting internet marketing basics and strategies to local business owners.

Topics will include:

• creating a successful website
• implementing powerful search marketing strategies
• measuring your online results
• monitoring your online reputation
• maximizing your online revenue

It will be casual, informative, and applicable to any business.

This seminar is the third in our series of local Internet Marketing Summits. Our audiences always have a great time and appreciate all the information they receive.

We are very exited to be in local news in Honolulu Hawaii courtesy of our friends at The Honolulu Advertiser.

WHEN AND WHERE

Thursday, July 24
1:00 - 2:30 PM

The ‘Ilima Hotel
445 Nohonani Street
Honolulu

We still have a few seats left. If you’ll be in town, send an email to suzanna@evisionworldwide.com or call 317-908-2640 to reserve a spot.

See you there!

Aloha and Mahalo

Some clients are looking at search engine marketing like it is the new magic pill, the fountain of endless sales and revenue. You imagine that all that stands between you and your target revenue is this thing called Google…

But wait, your search engine marketing firm can be the Knight that will help you ride the revenue unicorn into the rainbow.

WAKE UP!

You are expecting search marketing to solve all your life’s issues? Seriously, get some help.

Have you considered these points before seeking the magic pill?

1. Are you special? What makes you different? If your business has nothing special to offer, the Google Gods are not going to grant you revenue just because you decided to get into search marketing.
2. What are your goals? I hope they are better than these:
   • “I want to take out my competition!”
     Where? On a date? To demolish your competition online, the first thing you need to do is a lot of introspection about your business, your market, and numerous factors that impact your industry. Waking up one morning and expecting the search engines to solve your business revenue issues is not going to help. However, once you have a solid business plan, a search marketer might be able to help you get there.
   • “I want ROI.”
     Thanks, genius! I thought you just wanted to donate money to Google. They seem really cash-strapped. (NOT!) ROI can be a great benefit of search marketing, but it is not a goal. And search marketing cannot be judged solely based on ROI. You are dealing with human behavior which, needless to say, can change. Besides, you have thrown a third party in the mix (the search engines) who are not existing just so that you can have “ROI.” ROI starts with having the right website, a ripe online market that is not too saturated, and a hundred other factors.
3. Are you counting on consistent results year-round?
   OK, July and December don’t have the same weather, holidays, or buying patterns. Why would you expect consistent results online? Save yourself and your search marketing company the heartburn by realizing that results will go up and down depending on the season. Learn from these changes to improve on future seasonal and overall strategies. “Nothing endures but change.” - Heraclitus
4. Are you trying to run a 100-meter sprint?
   Think search marketing will turn your life around in a week or a month? More like 3 months to wipe out all your misdeeds… and then you can start to see a campaign take shape. I usually make clients repeat after me: “It’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon.”
5. Are you a repeat offender?
   Don’t keep doing the same thing and expect different results. Hiring a search marketing company just to sign off on your usual strategy is not going to get you anywhere. If you want to see results, be willing to step out of your comfort zone and try something new.

These are just some of the challenges and misconceptions we face in our line of work every day. Search marketing can be a great way to build your brand, increase your revenue, develop your company image, reach new customers, etc. But we do need more than a magic wand. What search marketers need most is for clients to communicate their goals, business issues, seasonal offers…all the things that can impact an online marketing program. Then we need some trust, some time, and some willingness to change.