Wedding Industry

Practical Online Marketing & Website Design has more than 15 years working with Wedding Professionals in the wedding industry. We can help you reach more new customers and increase your Internet visibility with a new website that delivers an outstanding return-on-investment. We can help you reach more new customers and increase your Internet... [Read more]

Construction & Trades

Practical Online Marketing & Website Design specializes in the construction and trade industry. We can help you reach more new customers and increase your Internet visibility with a new website that delivers an outstanding return-on-investment. We can help you reach more new customers and increase your Internet visibility with a new website... [Read more]

Skin Care Industry

Practical Online Marketing & Website Design has more than 12 years of Internet marketing experience directly within the skin care industry. We can help you reach more new customers and increase your Internet visibility with a new website and Internet marketing strategy that delivers an outstanding return-on-investment. Our support includes: *... [Read more]

Cleaning and Dry Cleaning

Practical Online Marketing & Website Design has expertise and experience in the cleaning and dry cleaning industry. We can help you reach more new customers and increase your Internet visibility with a new website that delivers an outstanding return-on-investment. We can help you reach more new customers and increase your Internet visibility... [Read more]

The 3 Second Rule

Turn More of the People Who Visit Your Website Into Inquiries You only have a few seconds to grab a persons’s attention once they get to your website. Online marketing folks call it the “3 Second Rule” and it seems to hold true. Here are five tips to grab a persons’s interest and keep them from heading for the “back”... [Read more]

Increase Inquiries From Your Website (a simple technique)

Want more inquiries? Who doesn’t? One way to get more inquiries is to make your phone number more prominent throughout your website. Sounds pretty basic, but incredibly I still see too many websites that make it almost difficult to find a phone number. And if your phone number is in a 12point font – you’re missing the point. With... [Read more]

Constant Contact iPhone App EMAIL Marketing

Your Constant Contact campaign information is now available as an iPhone app. Check the status of your email campaigns See who clicked, opened, forwarded, bounced, and unsubscribed Create a new email list on the fly – you’ll see it when you’re back at your computer Add a new contact while you’re out networking – your... [Read more]

How To Get More Inquiries, Phone Calls, Appointments, and Sales from Your Website

Have Your Inquiries Dropped Off Recently? Do you want more inquiries from your website? Do you want more qualified leads, more phone calls, and more appointments? If you’re not getting the results you expected from your website, or you want better results, I can help you change that – immediately. Actually, because I’ve used these... [Read more]

Blogging – Setting Up Your Blog as a Unique Domain

Blogging takes a little bit of effort, but when done right you can expect the benefits and return-on-investment to be very good. If you don’t have time to learn how to blog properly and blog regularly (i.e. create keyword-rich posts, with the appropriate links back to your website, probably two a week minimum), hire someone to do it... [Read more]

Google Caffeine Is Nothing to Get Nervous About

Should You Get Nervous About Google’s Caffeine? Before the world goes crazy and your webmaster tells you “big changes are coming at Google…” which just might be enough to take you over the edge… here’s the REAL story with Google Caffeine. Google Caffeine is the name of a project at Google that relates to... [Read more]

Internet Marketing: $1 Million in Pizza Sales

The Internet is moving so fast it’s hard to keep up with it. But keep an eye on what some of the big brand names you know are doing and you’ll get a taste for it immediately (ugh, sorry, I couldn’t resist). Pizza Hut has generated more than $1,000,000 in sales from it’s iPhone app. Now even Walgreens is tweeting.... [Read more]

How Can Twitter Work for Your Business

There are a million things to do in order to run your business effectively and profitably and then throw on top of that Internet marketing and… Twitter. But Twitter should be a part of your overall Internet marketing strategy, particularly your social media marketing. Here’s a great example of how Twitter can work for your business. 1)... [Read more]

Wordpress vs Blogger

Blogging has come a long way in just the past 12 months. If you own a business and are not taking advantage of the “blogosphere” you’re missing the boat (i.e. losing sales, and losing traffic, and losing brand awareness…). Let’s assume you’re new to this. Your question is probably, which blogging platform... [Read more]

Internet Marketing Clinics Resume November 17

Just a reminder to members of my ADVANTAGE program that my weekly Internet Marketing clinics will resume November 17th, Tuesday night, at 8:00pm Eastern time. We’ll be discussing blogging, but more specifically power-blogging and how you can really use this technology and publishing medium to increase your overall online visibility,... [Read more]

Free Friday Advice

Free Friday Advice (FFA) … is now the Internet Marketing Tip of the Week. Friday October 16, 2009 – It is a very common misconception, and costly mistake,  to think that the search engines and organic search engine positioning is all you need for online success. While a top ranked website is a very valuable asset, and it can... [Read more]

Real Time Search Comes to Google and Microsoft Bing

As predicted here, and simultaneously a warning to integrate real-time search into your online visibility strategy, Microsoft began integrating Twitter messages into its new Internet search engine Bing and arch rival Google announced plans to do the same. Real time search comes to Google, Microsoft Bing…  Read More →

Ask Chris

Q: Chris, should we be submitting our website address to the search engines each month (Google, Yahoo!, Bing)? There is a guy who says he does this each month for $29.95. Seems reasonable enough? A: No. Save your money. There is no benefit to submitting your website to search engines – ever. Even for new websites. If anyone tells you... [Read more]

Shopping Cart Abandonment

Here are some interesting number to think about if you run an ecommerce website, from PayPal and McAfee. 65% of all shoppers will wait a day or more to complete a purchase Sidenote: 65% – yikes. I would NEVER have guessed this. At first this seems wrong, shocking, or unbelievable. But wait, I do this ALL the time. It’s so true! The... [Read more]

Junk EMAIL and SPAM Triggers

I actually love Spam. Did you know Hawiians eat more SPAM per capital then anyone else in the world? True. But that’s not the type of SPAM I’m talking about here. I’m talking about the junk-email-unsolicited-crap-stuff you get in your email box or electronically. Getting your email address tagged as a spammer will kill... [Read more]

Are You Ready for Real-Time Search

Are you ready for real-time search? Do you even know what real-time search is? Brides and grooms know what it is and they know how to use it. And they are using it RIGHT NOW. Go to http://search.twitter.com and type in your category of services and city. If you are a Boston based wedding band type in: “Boston wedding bands.” If... [Read more]

Most Common Internet Marketing Mistakes

Having been in the business of Internet Marketing for more than 12 years now I’ve seen plenty of websites that work very well. In the wedding industry, where I’ve focused most of my efforts, some of the websites that come to mind are: http://www.dessy.com, http://www.emeraldbridal.net, http://www.drsmusic.com, http://www.loswillows.com,... [Read more]

Basic Search Engine Optimization Strategy

SEO is not a “set it and forget it” type thing. Not if you want to get your website and pages top ranked. Search engine optimization (SEO) is a process similar to building a multi-tiered wedding cake. There is ongoing SEO, that sits on top of advanced SEO techniques, which are put on top of basic search engine optimization – or the... [Read more]

The Problems with Flash

Don’t shoot me, I’m just the messenger. As always, I’m just trying to help and keep you from being frustrated and wasting time and money. Flash could be killing your online success. If you are using an all Flash website you are at a disadvantage, and possibly a significant disadvantage, to any of your competitors who are NOT using an... [Read more]

How Much Does It Cost To Build A Good Basic Website That Works?

Each week I get the same question: “How much is it going to cost me to build (or fix) my website? Certainly, prices are all over the board, but realistically to build something that looks good, presents your company well, converts the brides that visit into inquiries and sales – and of course is findable at Google, Bing, and Yahoo!... [Read more]

How Do I Build My Newsletter Subscriber List

Here are a few ideas to help you build your email list, most of which don’t cost a thing: People Who Contact You By Phone Every person who calls you for information about your products or services should be put into your email marketing list. If a person contacts you by phone be sure to TELL him/her that you’re going add them... [Read more]