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Not practicing what I preach….Ego’s getting in the way of business

Wednesday, July 14th, 2010 by Dustin

I don’t practice what I preach. There I said it. I feel better.

Here’s the deal….I talk all day long about how you need to have a low bounce rate when people hit your site. I tell people that if they don’t like the way it looks they will leave.

Then I looked at the Green Thumb Marketing analytics. Horrible bounce rate. Great.

I’m talking 80% of the people who visit MY SITE, leave asap.

What did I do wrong. We’ll first I made it too fancy. That tree you see that grows up has to go.
1. It takes up prime real estate
2. It loads slow for new visitors
3. That where I need to punch people with value

That’s the first thing that’s wrong.

The next? My giant Green Thumb Logo. Too big. Yeah I’m proud of GT, but people that are visiting me need to see what I do and not just a huge logo.

There also is no reason to fill out my contact form because I give no value.

Sorry–It’ll get fixed.
Any sites that you like that I should look at?-Let me know!

Tags: Bounce rate, Internet Marketing Lexington KY, Online marketing Lexington
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Apple knows it. Loyal Customer Josh Fenner and Iphone 4G

Friday, June 25th, 2010 by Dustin

I asked Josh if he was going to Thursday night live….he said…..

“negative ghost rider. I woke up at 4 am to snag an iphone4 to replace my busted one and this guy is on his way home at 5 to take a nap. I appreciate the offer – say hey to the fam for us. ”

I replied…
Drat..
I need a new phone but the at&t store said they wouldnt have them until the 29th….where’d you get yours?

…and how the hell is it?!

And his reply..

it is badass. screen resolution is unbelievable.

they had three phones at the Gtown walmart, I was numero uno at 4am, other two were spoken for at 4:30.

basically, I got lucky. it’ll make the drive to Michigan tomorrow easier – I’ll have something to show off at my 10yr reunion this weekend.

Apple has the golden ticket folks.

This isn’t a fad…

Tags: Online Marketing Lexington KY, website marketing Lexington KY
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Lessons from a customer today. Adcolor Inc Drops some knowledge on Dustin

Tuesday, June 15th, 2010 by Dustin

I had a two hour meeting today with Adcolorinc.com today. We’re doing some local search engine work for them, oh and we are crushing it.

Dave and Lori Messner are the husband and wife who are the main owners. There are others, but these are the people who have been cutting the check. John Weiderman and Matt were also there.

The purpose of the meeting was for me to explain what had been going on with their website and the search engines. I won’t go into details but I was proud to show them the results we achieved for them.

So at the end of the meeting Dave pointed something out to me in a very kind way that I think is worth noting.

He said, "Dustin, I know you love what you are doing and you are excited about what you have accomplished. I remember when I first got started and was the same way. It’s exciting." "But I’d like for you to understand that just because you know that you are doing well for us, doesn’t mean that we fully understand what is going on."

I pulled the E-brake at this comment. I didn’t take offense to it. The fact of the matter is, this is information that most people won’t tell you. This information INSTANTLY helped me get a clear picture that I wasn’t painting a clear picture.

So I say thanks Dave and Lori. I realized today that while I know what I’m doing and that its doing them some good. They need to know clear as a bell how it is working for them…

Green Thumb got better today. Thanks Adcolor

Tags: google, internet marketing Louisville, Marketing lexington. SEO lexington ky, Search Engine Optimization lexington
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Last Friday, a good Friday…

Tuesday, June 15th, 2010 by Dustin

(this didn’t post last Friday, but it was still a good day worth noting)

It always feels good to end the week on an up note.

Today was one of those good Fridays.

It started with my baby sitter Mrs. Kim wanting to trade out baby sitting hours for a computer–her idea. DONE. (I’ve got computers out the ying yang…)

Then I rolled over to Auto Tech Service on Winchester Rd. They are a client we picked up last month. I’d like to note that they are friendly with Powers Transmission , who’s been our baby since GT was just a little tree. (David Powers even went as far as to say Green Thumb was one of the best marketing moves they’ve made…POW)

I’m excited about Auto Tech because they are into it. Rebekah is aggressive with their website and is constantly messing with it and learning our Joomla platform. This keeps me pumped up because the more they play with it, the more it will do for them. (some people still think websites are set it and forget it…not in 2010)

The best part though is that the owner Robert appears to be excited about the search results they are getting. I don’t want to brag, but they’ve gotten over 150 uniques in 10 days since we started. Bam!

Then I stopped by Stewart Air Conditioning and was greeted like I always am by J, who might be the most friendly person on the planet…

At 4:45 my guy Josh from the chamber came over and we drank a few Samuel Adams and moved a massive freezer out of my garage.

and then I had Tacos….

nuff said!

Tags: Dustin Wunderlich, Internet Marketing Lexington KY, SEO lexington
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“SEO optimization is making us $$!!”..says a customer as they sell to Google

Tuesday, May 18th, 2010 by Dustin

This email made my day today around 3pm. If you are in it for the money you’ve got it all wrong, this type of feed back is why Les and I play the game.

Details of how this went down coming in a video clip testimonial soon. (sadly/fortunately Fran was busy to day)

They ended up selling a balloon arch for this event to a guy at google who did a google search and found them!

Thanks for sharing Fran…we love hearing it! and we take a hint;)

–unaltered email

Hi, Dustin,

Johnathan and I wanted to let you know that your SEO optimization (”name-planting”) helped us land a balloon decorating job for Google!

Doodle4Google ( http://www.google.com/doodle4google/) is a nation-wide contest for school children grades K - 12. The students submit a Google logo altered to reflect the theme, “If I could do anything, I would…” A panel of judges selects 40 regional finalists - and Emily Caudill, age 15, from Williamstown Jr / Sr High School, Williamstown, KY is one of them!

As a regional finalist she wins a trip to New York City and a chance to win a $15,000 scholarship plus $25,000 for her school, plus have her logo displayed on Google’s home page on May 27!

But the $15,000 scholarship and $25,000 for her school will only happen if we vote for Emily. Doodle4Google now allows the public to vote on their favorite regional finalist. So, I’m letting everyone I know (hint hint - GREAT Green Thumb blog entry and e-mail to customers!) about the contest and our Kentucky winner, and asking them to vote for Emily!

I’ve attached Emily’s prize-winning design. So, go to http://www.google.com/doodle4google/vote.html , click on Grades 7-9, and vote for Emily’s Region 7 “The Chemistry of the World” entry!

PS - The Google video of last year’s contest is a good example of a video summary, probably what you are trying to get other customers to do. Check it out.

Regards,
Fran Pinczewski, Event Manager
Lighter Than Air, Inc.
881 Newtown Pike
Lexington, KY 40511

(859) 272-7777 phone
(859) 233-4447 fax

www.lighterthanairky.com

LOVE IT

Tags: Internet Marketing Lexington KY, search engine optimization lexington ky, SEO lexington ky
Posted in Search Engine Optimization, Uncategorized, dustin, good customers, google, nameplanting | No Comments »

Happy Birthday My Baby! (not Nola, YouTube!)

Monday, May 17th, 2010 by Dustin

In case you don’t visit YouTube everyday like me, I’d like to point out that YouTube turned 5 years old today. My how the time flies.

It’s hard for me to imagine life without it…

Let’s celebrate. What’s your favorite YouTube Video?

Here’s mine…

What’s yours?

Tags: Dustin Wunderlich, Youtube
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Why Joomla? Why Wordpress?

Sunday, May 16th, 2010 by Dustin

One word.

Collaboration.

That’s it. The open source software community works together to produce the best possible product.

It’s such a forward thinking way of creating something that it makes my head spin. Think about it. The more people you have willingly working on something, unafraid to fail, the better it will be.

So there are swarms of people using these platforms and working on individual parts of them. This program gets edited by this guy, while a crew of people on the other side of the world are working on another piece of the puzzle. That’s the world we live in now.

Pretty rad when you think about it. People who’ve never met are working together to make something better and roll it out to a community. You can’t help but improve when you have team work, everyone working on their own section, slowly and gradually making the product better. The end result is a sick product, only until the next version comes out which is even better…(take the hint Microsoft!)

That’s why we use Joomla and Wordpress. Joomla is the #1 content management system (CMS) out there. If you google "content management system" it is #1 under Wikipedia’s page on content management.

Speaking of Wikipedia- Why is wikipedia so high up on so many searches? It’s because Wikipedia is open-source as well. (I’m stretching the definition here…but) Like Joomla and WP, Wikipedia has people contributing from all different angles. Making it better all around.

You’ve heard of Linux? Same deal. How about Facebook?

Ahh yes, FB has opened up its doors to the developer community which is why it hasn’t gone the way of My Space yet.

Bottom Line. Let an entire community work on whatever part it wants whenever it wants however it wants and you will see steady improvement on that product like you have never seen before!

More later….

Tags: facebook, Joomla, Opensource, search engine optimization lexington ky, Wordpress
Posted in Search Engine Optimization, Social Media, Uncategorized | No Comments »

In the Groove–Part 2–Attacking the Work Day

Friday, May 14th, 2010 by les

Want to get the most out of your work day? Then, get in the groove by doing the following.

Faithfully take 10-15 minutes at the beginning of each day and ask yourself these questions.

Were there any important tasks that I needed to get done yesterday but didn’t?
What do I really NEED to do today even though I don’t look forward to doing it?
Which of my customers most need my attention today?
How can I generate revenue for the business today?

Note that generating revenue is listed fourth. As important as generating revenue is, it cannot be ranked as more important than the other three points.

Attack the day in this order and you will find that you will not only accomplish a lot, but your business will grow and your customers will love you more. And, few things in business are worth more than being loved by your customers.

Posted in Attack Your Work Day With a Plan, Les is More, Uncategorized, good customers, lexington | 1 Comment »

Customer or Vendor?

Friday, May 14th, 2010 by les

As we go through life, sometimes we are the customer and sometimes we are the vendor. If we understand which we are at any point in time, we get more accomplished than if we do not understand.

The difference between the two roles is simple.

The customer’s role is to be a good communicator as they describe what it is that they are seeking. Customers who provide a great deal of detail and explanation usually wind up with what they want. Customers who don’t provide this often wind up frustrated and feel that the vendor has let them down. They expect the vendor to read their mind and are disappointed when invariably that does not happen.

The vendor’s role is to (1st) listen to the customer and try to grasp their message. Good listening skill is one of the keys to being a good vendor. The speaking portion of the vendor’s role should be a combination of questions (primarily) to make sure that they understand what the customer wants, and then make some suggestions to try to improve on the final product that the customer will decide on.

Over the past few weeks, I have worked with some great customers. Tiffany at Kentucky Eagle Beer, Dr. Alice Mills at Lexington Hospital for Cats, Susan at VeBridge, Russ at A+ Comics, Kenny/the crew at Impact Graphics and Lori at AdColor are just a few worth mentioning. These are great people to work with because they understand the role of being a customer. If you have a chance to work with any of them, you will enjoy the experience.

Posted in Les is More, Uncategorized, good customers, lexington | 1 Comment »

Fran has the YouTube bug! Psst…they get it!

Thursday, May 6th, 2010 by Dustin

Someone else has the YouTube bug!!!!

They read the blog and made a YouTube video…

I’m so pumped about my visit into Lighter Than Air/Elegantly Handled today…. Fran has been hawking the blog and adding value to it as well. I got to see the results from it today. Their intern made a YouTube video about what they do…..SWEET!

I think the thing that really hits home the most with me is that she has an understanding of how the web works. It’s such a rewarding feeling that I can barely put into words.

I can talk and type about how thing are, but to walk into a place and see that they are playing the game is awesome. Things have changed and the playing field for businesses is getting more and more level. They see this and are not sitting around and letting opportunities pass them up. They are acting and making moves… I’ll be honest, I feel some serious momentum coming from them. I’m curious as to what they are going to pull out next.

Before this was a quick Joomla Training session with Tiffany at kyeagle.net. Along these same lines, Tiffany was interested in how and why we worked with Joomla and Google applications. I was explaining the idea and power behind open source software. She’s all over it…. and oh, is going to easily slap some YouTube videos on their new site.

Loving it…

Are we having fun yet!?

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »