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Dick Larkin's
Small Business Commando News
The Secret to Local Online Marketing
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in this issue
-- Internet Marketing and the Beach
-- Hot Local Online Marketing Tip
-- Answer to Last Redneck Riddle
-- Featured Yellow Pages Designer -- San Diego Superheros Wanted -- Life after rock n' roll -- If Buford was Mayor -- Important warning -- Where should I start? -- Other Newsletters -- This Week's Redneck Riddle -- Quote of the Week
Greetings!
Lots of great stuff in this issue.
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Internet Marketing and the Beach
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Our annual tradition is to go camping the day
school lets out. The wife, kid and I hightail it
out of town right after the final bell.
We drove up the Southern California coast
about 30 miles to a
campground that lets you to camp right on the beach
a few yards from the roaring surf.
It's near San Juan Capistrano, where the
swallows return every year in blatant
disregard of our immigration policies.
While Samuel Adams, brewer-patriot,
was getting the founding fathers juiced up to pick a
fight with King George in Boston, Father Junipero
Serra was cruising around California in a Winnebago
selling Mission franchises to the friendly natives.
The campground is tiny with only about 100
spaces. Of those, less than 20 spaces are on the beach.
The first time we camped there, we were
stuck in the inside of the park with our tent on
pavement. Sleeping on pavement is like, well,
sleeping on pavement.
We managed to enjoy ourselves on those trips, but
once we found out how nice it is to sleep on the
sand with the gentle ocean breezes, we vowed to only
go when we could get a primo spot. Once you've
experienced it, you simply can’t go back.
Internet marketing is a lot like that campground.
The top positions are exponentially more
valuable than the spots farther back.
See, in the print Yellow Pages, a
well-designed ad can still perform acceptably even
if it's
several pages back in a heading. The front of a
heading is best, but it's not a total waste being
farther back if you have a high performing ad.
It's different on the Internet.
Online, searchers start at the top of the
list and work their way down.
A recent eye-tracking study by Cornell
University found that 50% of web searchers selected
one of the top two search results. The searchers
didn’t never saw the lower results.
That means if your company isn't at the top
of the search results, the hot prospects won't know
that you exist.
Many Internet Yellow Pages sell the top
positions to national advertisers, and they stick
the local advertisers with ads that have very little
chance of being found by buyers.
Here's the bottom line:
When faced with buying an Internet Yellow
Pages ad, spend the big bucks to ensure you're at
the top of the page. Anything else is usually a
waste of money.
If you, or someone you know wants to have their
company promoted in the local search engines, drop
me an email at Dick@DickLarkin.com
. We have a remarkable solution that works
amazingly well at generating local leads.
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Hot Local Online Marketing Tip
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Look up your business on Yahoo Local
and see if
anyone has rated your business.
Ask your customers, friends and family to
rate your
business. Heck, even do it yourself.
Not only do potential customers prefer businesses
with lots of good ratings, but Yahoo often displays
these companies higher than those without ratings.
Yahoo also allows you to add a ton of
information about your business. Every word you ad
will improve your chances of being found by more
customers.
Best of all, it doesn't cost anything.
Rather have us do it for you? Well, ok, drop
me a line and we'll give you a boost.
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Answer to Last Redneck Riddle
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Buford went to the bait shop and purchased
four night crawlers and three crickets for a grand
total of 90¢.
Festus purchased three night crawlers and
four crickets and paid 85¢.
The bait was priced by the piece rather than
by weight.
How much is one night crawler and one cricket?
Y'all know your worms. I received about a hundred
correct answers.
See the answer and the Redneck Riddles celebrity winner
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Featured Yellow Pages Designer
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I just have to brag on Joe & Roxanne Brown
and their impressive team of talented graphic artists Kenyon Design
Group.
They provide spec, production and custom Yellow
Pages ad design services, and they're simply the
best in the business.
I've personally used their services, and they were a
huge factor in the success of TransWestern's San
Diego and Orange County Directories. They were so
fast and professional that the sales teams never
missed a beat as they launched 7 major directories
simultaneously.
One of the extra steps that Kenyon Design
Group takes is to research the type of printing
press and ink transfer processes that the publisher
will be using on the specific directory. Then they
fine tune their ads so that they perfectly match the
printer's specifications. The ads that Kenyon
produces "pop" off the page. While the publisher's
"house ads" just lay there.
So, if you're looking for the absolute best design
team in the Yellow Pages industry, you've got to
check out Kenyon Design
Group.
They also work directly with advertisers at
very reasonable rates.
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San Diego Superheros Wanted
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I'm looking for a few of the top Yellow
Pages account executives in San Diego to show off
our new local online marketing system.
We've developed a turn-key system to generate leads
for local businesses, and we're introducing it in
San Diego.
Current Yellow Book employees who were with
TransWestern Publishing may not participate in the
demonstration because of my agreement with management.
If you're in San Diego, and want to see the
next phase of local online marketing, contact me for
a cool demonstration.
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Life after rock n' roll
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He's really a rotten agent, but you've gotta
love it
when he
jumps on the client's desk and starts howling.
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If Buford was Mayor
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Important warning
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The fact that someone felt that this sign
was necessary makes me a little nauseous.
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Where should I start?
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It would be difficult to pack many more
misspellings into this message.
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Other Newsletters
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm a bit of a newsletter junkie, so here are some
newsletters I regularly find valuable. None of them
charge for their subscriptions.
BRC Systems - Targeted at the carpet cleaning
industry, but actually contains solid small business
marketing advice.
http://www.brcsystems.com/
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This Week's Redneck Riddle
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Buford and Festus went on a bear hunting expedition.
Their guide Skeeter tested their knowledge of bears
before taking them out.
Skeeter told them that a certain bear walks south
for one mile, then it walks west for one mile, then
it walks north for one mile and ends up at the same
point from which it started.
Then, Skeeter asked the hunters what color the bear was.
Think you're smarter than Buford &
Festus?
Well, then YOU tell me the color of
the bear.
Email your answer to
bear@redneckriddles.com
Every correct answer will receive a gift account
allowing them to send five personalized greeting
cards (including envelope and first class postage)
compliments of www.SendOutCards.com.
If
you don't send as many thank you, birthday or
holiday cards as you'd like, give it a whirl.
One lucky winner will receive 15 minutes
of uninterrupted fame and an autographed
copy of
my latest
CD "Commando Secrets LIVE - How to Market
Your Local Business Online."
Stumped? You can get the CD here.
To improve your random chances of winning,
please
include your name, company name, and mailing
address.
I draw the winner the day before I send the
following newsletter, so keep voting until the polls
close.
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Quote of the Week
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Shouldn't the Air and Space Museum be
empty?
-- Dennis Miller
Got a good quote? Send it my way, and I'll give you
15 minutes of uninterrupted fame.
Would you mind taking a second and calling my
feedback hotline? Let me hear what you think.
1-888-334-8891
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Contact Information
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phone:
(760) 579-1005
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I've been bragging about Kerry Randall's book on Yellow Pages Advertising for Lawyers as being simply the best book I've read for Yellow Pages advertisers. The problem was that it was targeted toward lawyers and didn't address other business types.
Wisely, Kerry updated the wonderful tips and marketing plans for any business that advertises in the Yellow Pages.
He sent me a copy for review, and I liked it so much that I bought the exclusive rights to market the electronic version.
His book is loaded with very specific examples and exercises that are easy to follow. I can honestly say that every advertiser (even a guy with a little in-column ad) will benefit by reading this book.
I've seen, and even promoted other very good YP books that sell for $50 - $150, but nothing cuts to the chase like Winning the Yellow Pages War. Kerry focuses on the critical issues that will have the biggest impact. He uses solid examples and shows ads created using his techniques.
I'm selling copies of Winning the Yellow Pages War for only $14.99. That price is far too little for the value the book contains.
However, my mission as the Yellow Pages Commando has always been to help more people be successful with their Yellow Pages advertising rather than to get rich off a few that can afford a higher price.
I'll email the book to you as a PDF document that can be read and printed using the free Adobe Acrobat reader.
I offer a 100% money back guarantee if you are not completely satisfied with your investment. You have nothing to lose.
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