oops! Here's the right link.

My link to show off the Tires Tires Tires connection between Facebook and Joomla had a bad link.
Here's the right address for Tires Page at Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TiresTiresTires
The Special Offers page is pulled into Facebook from this page on their website, which is completely controlled by their content management system (Joomla), making management of timed offers automatic. 
When the deal ends, it disappears from both Joomla and Facebook without any intervention. 
We can also start content by date and time, or even run the same content every Wednesday, with different content on Thursday, and on Friday... (think daily specials).

Thanks to Brad Prose at LinkedIn who caught the flub!

Lynn McColley is basically lazy.  He doesn't like to do things over and over again, so he finds ways to streamline his effort while getting more impact.  "Lazy" actually sounds pretty good when you describe it that way, doesn't it?  Want more time to sit around the pool this summer?  Call 480-704-4286 to interrupt Lynn while he's enjoying a frosty adult beverage next to the water.    McColley Marketing Media is a Mesa Web Design Company that provides Small Business Web Site Design Services and Local Internet Marketing for Small Businesses.  We're Phoenix Joomla Web Design experts.  We also help local companies as a Small Business Email Marketing Consultant.

Mesa Web Design - Connecting Joomla and Facebook

Well here's a cool new trick.  For some time we've been connecting Facebook back to our websites so our clients can add content at their Facebook Page and have it show up on their website. 
That's kind of old hat now.
What about going the other way?
The first question of course is why?  It's a great way to use one of the great features of Joomla: Content Time Control.  You see, in Joomla, you can set a piece of content to start or end by time. 
Let's say you have a special offer that ends on July 13th.  You can add the content to your website and set it to expire.  When July 14th arrives, Joomla will automatically remove that page from your site.
If you display your Joomla content inside Facebook, Joomla will remove the content at Facebook, too.
For an example, go to www.Facebook.com/TiresTiresTires and visit the Special Offers page.  You'll find a set of content that looks a lot like this page at www.tires3.com.  We've set Facebook to actually pull the content from the Tires Tires Tires website.
As you can see, we're a little restricted by the narrower shaped space that Facebook gives us, but the content shines through. 
We can also make that page the home page for our Facebook followers - even presenting different content based on whether they have Liked us or not.
Can you see some of the possibilities?
It's a cool way to connect your website and your social media and leverage the benefits of each while making your life easier.
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Lynn McColley is basically lazy.  He doesn't like to do things over and over again, so he finds ways to streamline his effort while getting more impact.  "Lazy" actually sounds pretty good when you describe it that way, doesn't it?  Want more time to sit around the pool this summer?  Call 480-704-4286 to interrupt Lynn while he's enjoying a frosty adult beverage next to the water.    McColley Marketing Media is a Mesa Web Design Company that provides Small Business Web Site Design Services and Local Internet Marketing for Small Businesses.  We're Phoenix Joomla Web Design experts.  We also help local companies as a Small Business Email Marketing Consultant.

Who thought this was a good idea?

Clear, blue, and white are the expected colors for packaging water. Maybe a green.
But yellow? Even with the JDF tie-in, yellow is just not the right color for water packaging!

Phoenix Joomla Web Design - Horror Stories

A week or so ago we were digging through some old files and came across a real Joomla Designer horror story.
We had to sign a non-compete with the agency that hired us to fix this site so we couldn't tell anyone about our involvement until now.  (As far as we can tell, the original designer and the agency are no longer in town)
The site was for Surgical Specialty Hospital of Arizona. 
The agency was nearing the launch deadline and said the site was "too sluggish."  We were horrified to discover that the home page took 45 seconds to load!  Most people abandon a page that takes more than 6 seconds, and that number has probably fallen even more now that we're all on broadband.
There were other problems, too: 

• The biggest challenge was the physician listings.  The lists were set up as simple documents that would have to be maintained by hand.  Since there were multiple lists, getting one out of sync was inevitable. 
• The hospital had a number of videos to include - but the Joomla designer didn't know how to get them to play.
• The agency had promised something "snazzy" to show off what doctors fell into what specialties. 
  

When we got there, the site was definitely in critical condition.  But we were able to clean up all the problems and get the site launched on schedule.
It was a similar story for Pilotshares, a company that provides shared ownership of high end aircraft to companies and pilots.
Their Joomla designer had set up an extremely convoluted site architecture.  There were dozens of duplicated pages.  And it was so mixed up, he couldn't get the built-in Joomla menu system to work - so he created a new one outside of Joomla. 
That eliminated any chance for the site owners to make any changes to the site - which is the purpose of using Joomla in the first place.
We got that site flying as well.
The point is: not everyone who claims they are a Joomla web design expert, really is.
After all that, should we claim that we are Joomla web design experts?  Well, we have built dozens of Joomla sites.  We have been working with Joomla since the day it was released (actually we worked with it's predecessor, Mambo, first).  We have become known as the go-to company for a number of agencies when they run up against tough Joomla problems. 
OK, we'll say it.  If you want a Joomla site done right, the first time, call us.  We're Phoenix Joomla Web Design Experts.
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Known for our humility and shyness, McColley Marketing Media is a Mesa web design company specializing in small business web site design, local internet marketing for small business and Phoenix Joomla web design.  We also help local companies as a small business email marketing consultant.  Call us at 480-704-4286.

The Rapture of the Deep - now at Tires3.com

The deeper a scuba diver goes into the water, the more they risk getting the "Rapture of the Deep."  They start feeling really good.  Elated. Euphoric. High. 
Its a potentially deadly feeling when they're 100 feet down.
It's also known as Nitrogen Narcosis.  The pressure of being that deep forces nitrogen into the blood stream and causes oxygen starvation.
Here at the surface, nitrogen isn't dangerous despite making up 80% of the air we breathe.  Oxygen molecules are smaller than nitrogen molecules so they just naturally pass through the lungs and into the blood where they do so much good.
The same thing is happening in your tires - but it's not so good.
Oxygen in compressed air is actually oozing through the pores in the rubber of your tires.  That's why your tires tend to lose pressure.
Filling your tires with nitrogen instead of normal air will keep them pressurized longer, and that can save you a bundle of money.
Web Design Fun: A Nitrogen Calculator
This month, the Tires Tires Tires website is promoting using Nitrogen in your tires.  McColley Marketing Media got to look at all the studies on using nitrogen in your tires and build a calculator to show the benefits. 
Go give it a try at www.tires3.com.  Enter in the price you paid for your last tires, how many miles you drive a year, the price you're paying for gas, and your vehicle's miles per gallon.
Using the numbers from a half dozen studies, the calculator shows you how much you'll save on gas by keeping your tires properly inflated and how much you'll save by reducing the wear on your tires caused by underinflation.
And since Tires Tires Tires is giving away FREE nitrogen fills, it's a pretty simple decision to make - especially while gas prices are out of this world.
BONUS!
Keloland TV,  the local news powerhouse, just featured Tires Tires Tires Nitrogen Campaign!
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Need a special way to explain your company's benefits to customers?  McColley Marketing Media can help.  We've been creating compelling advertising content since before the internet was born.  McColley Marketing Media is a Mesa web design company specializing in small business web site design, local internet marketing for small business and Phoenix Joomla web design.  We also help local companies as a small business email marketing consultant.  Call us at 480-704-4286.

Local Internet Marketing for Small Business - watch out for the "experts"

Maybe I’m old school, but this seems wrong to me. 

I've been seeing more and more of these "experts" popping up and getting hired by local businesses who don't know better.

You’re a business owner and you need to market your business. You’ve got a local store and you want to get some new business.

So you hire a local “internet marketing expert.”

But this “expert” doesn’t work on driving business to your store – instead he opens a new store and brings in a crowd who buy your things at his new store.

You’re selling more stuff.  So you should be happy, right?

There is a group of "experts" who are doing this right now.

They og to small businesses - some don't even have websites - and promise them new business.  Instead of opening a new store, they put up a special one page website on their own servers. 

Here’s where things get “kinda funny.”

By opening that new "store," this “local internet marketing expert” has taken control of your business.  He’s no longer marketing your business, he’s selling your product. And there's an important difference.   If you stop paying his bill, he simply shuts down the store and your sales fall over the cliff.

In my old school advertising days, advertising built your business.  Sure, if you stopped buying the ads in the newspaper or on the radio or TV, your sales would drop.  But your business had benefited because of the awareness of your store that those ads built.

Your advertising was building your business.

In my mind, this is exactly what local internet marketing should do.  It should drive traffic to your website and your business, not his.  

But he promised instant results!

It’s easy to win a race when there are no other competitors

Open another tab on your browser, go to Google and search for this text “more competition, tightened purse strings, and a media world turned upside down”.  Look who’s number one. Works in Yahoo and Bing, too.  There is no competition for that phrase and I can guarantee that there is nobody looking for it on the search engines. It's a race with no competitors - and no prize, either.

Gray and Black Hats and Spam.

Black Hat and Gray Hat are search engine optimization industry terms for methods that work (for now) but are against the rules.  Getting caught can mean having your site removed from the search engines.  That’s a devastating event – just ask the British version of JCPenneys.com who got caught not too long ago.

You know what spam is – it’s filling up the internet just like it does your email.

I’ve looked at how some of these “experts” are getting results and I’ve found “spam” on foreign language forums and blogs and inane comments on blogs that aren’t policing their comments.  I even found a commercial message for a local business on a website devoted to parents with kids who have cancer!  Does this "build your business" or just sell stuff?

This is exactly what Google and Bing don’t want.  And they keep working to stop it, updating their algorithm a couple of times a year.  Just like delisting, eliminating the value of spam could devastate your business if this is how its getting ranked..

Finding valuable keywords and getting ranked for them doesn’t happen overnight.

You need to make sure the “expert” you hire isn’t going to do more harm than good.  Got a question, call us.

--------------------------------------------

Lynn McColley wears a white hat for all of his local internet marketing work.  If you would like to discuss building your business for the long term, give him a call at McColley Marketing Media.  Small Business Web Site Design – Local Internet Marketing for Small Business and D-I-Y Email Marketing.  Call 480-704-4286.

Arizona Investment Property Website and Direct Mail

I’d like to introduce the Arizona Investment Properties website by Road Runner Real Estate Enterprises.

Carmen and Guillermo Perez Vargas have a great idea: Worry-Free Arizona Investment Property.  The real estate implosion hit Phoenix very hard and houses that sold for $250,000 are now selling for $70k.

So here’s their program in a nutshell.

• Carmen and Guillermo are identifying great houses for investors.  Their target price is around $70k – that’s your investment.
• 
  
• You buy the house and the title is yours.
• 
  
• Guillermo immediately signs a 5 year lease with you.  He pays you 8% of the purchase price each year, in monthly installments.  During the 5 years, he handles keeping the place rented, paying taxes, upkeep, everything.  You get a monthly payment of about $470 for 5 years.
• 
  
• At the end of 5 years, you sell the property and split the profit.  Guillermo expects your total return on investment will be about 110% - that’s after splitting the profit.
  

Not bad!

Guillermo came to us with a mostly finished website.  But what he really wanted was a sales letter he could mail to potential investors.

For the letter, McColley Marketing Media:

• Wrote a killer 2-page letter (the home page of the site is based on the letter)
• Found a list of high income Canadians in the Vancouver area. 
  
• Printed 1000 copies and hand addressed all the mail for higher opening rates.
  

We remodeled the website, making it wider and fresher looking.  We created more great content including an easy to update format for the properties pages based on a spreadsheet Guillermo was using to figure all the details on each property. 

We also hid some of the details from visitors so we could ask for their email address in exchange.

Our tongue is nearly back to normal after licking all those envelopes and sticking all those stamps.  The second batch of 500 letters is just hitting Vancouver today and tomorrow.  So far, the indicators are great: the average visitor is spending 18 minutes and looking at 13 pages – that’s incredible! 

We’re also getting about a 3% response rate on the mailer – very good for such a big ticket product (average direct mail response is about 1%).

If you would like to pump up your marketing so you can buy a couple of homes through Carmen and Guillermo, call McColley Marketing Media.  We do small business web site design, email marketing blasts, and Local Internet Marketing for SmallBusiness.   Call Lynn at 480-258-4135.

This is my kind of promotion!

I love it when a business gives something back.  It may not turn into cash in the pocket right away, but in the long run it's golden.
My friends at Tire Tires Tires in Sioux City and Sioux Falls are serious about being good citizens. 
They just recently delivered their last "Angel Car" of the year.  This was a promotion with a local radio station, a charity, and their community. 
The radio station got listeners to donate vehicles for struggling families.  As you can imagine, most of those vehicles aren't coming off the showroom - in fact, they usually are vehicles that need some work to bring them up to safety standards.  Plus, being located in the Upper Midwest, they need to be extremely reliable so they will make it through the harsh winter.
Tires Tires Tires has, for the last couple of years, done the repairs for free.  Parts, labor, everything.  For a several dozen vehicles.  And they ate every penny.
I was there last fall when a family came in to pick one of the vehicles.  They turned the key and it started up like it was new.  The family definitely was in need of reliable transportation, so it was a very nice moment.
So here's what they're doing now...
They're giving out two $1000 scholarships to students who will be graduating this spring.  Plus another ten $200 scholarships to "runnerups."  Students have to live within 50 miles of one of their stores, be of good character and have a safe driving record.
Cynics might think they're in it for the media attention
But when you look at the bills for fixing all those cars, the cash for these scholarships, and a lot of time administering the promotion, they could easily buy ads in their markets that would get them more immediate business than these promotions.  But there's a little more to it.
Doing the right thing has a way of leveling things out
Anyone who hears about it and has a friend with a kid about to graduate is going to pass the word.  They'll talk about it at work and they'll chat about it on Facebook.  Not a lot, but just a little. 
And when one of those people needs new tires, or the check engine light comes on, hopefully they'll know who they can trust to treat them right.
Oh, and people do notice - in fact their National Trade Magazine, Tire Review, named them North America's Best Tire Dealer just a week or two after they were given "Local Best" awards in a local consumer survey.

Lynn McColley does Small Business Web Site Design, Local Internet Marketing and Email Marketing for Small Businesses.  Are you seeing a trend?  If you've got a small business and want to grow your business on the web, call McColley Marketing Media at 480-704-4286.

Followup Note To Norton/Symantec

I think I need to apologize about the rant on Norton Anti-virus and their attempted theft of subscription time. 
I now believe it very likely isn't intentional - it could just be total incompetence!
Since uninstalling the product - and refusing to fill out the "why are you leaving us" survey that requires me to hand over all rights to use anything I say, along with the right to use my image, name, etc - I have been receiving these scary emails informing me in huge letters that I am not protected from every possible catastrophe, but that I can click a button to return to the fold and receive my protection for just $69.
That email has no opt-out provision.
Which could be against the CAN-SPAM act.  I'm sure they would claim that it's a tech alert/product warning and not a sales letter.  Although I think a competent lawyer could ruin that claim any day of the week because of the "click here to buy" button.
So I contacted them to force them to remove me from their list.
And despite the fact that they were "experiencing higher than normal traffic loads," I kept the chat window open for what seemed like 20 minutes before getting a response.
The support agent made some snafus - like asking me for the serial number of my product (uninstalled and therefore unavailable) and telling me he was sorry that I was having problems with my product - I wasn't, and I had already informed him the problem was stopping the emails.  In the end he told me he had eliminated my name from the email list and asked if he had fixed my problem.  To which I said, "I don't know - you say it's fixed so I'll take you at your word."
I get an email moments later asking me if all was well or if I would like to email a supervisor.
Since no-one has ever acknowledged my charges of attempted theft, I sent an email with a link to my blog post where I explained the whole story. (See my blog post about why I no longer am using Norton Antivirus).
That was three days ago.
This afternoon, my telephone rings with a caller ID that says 800 Service.  I expect I'm about to be telemarketed, but instead find myself talking with a nice woman with an Indian accent.  I can only assume it's the middle of the night where she was, but I don't know.
She goes through a spiel about how much they hope that I am happy with my experience with Norton and telling me that she had, in fact, removed me from any email lists that I was on.
And then it happened.
As she was closing the call, she informs me that the call might be recorded for training purposes. 
My thoughts have now changed.
Dear Symantec.  I apologize for saying you were trying to defraud me in regards to the time left on my subscription when I installed the next year's product.  Despite the fact that it happened two years running.
Telemarketing interfaces are incredibly easy to program.  You display the comment you want your telemarketer to make, then provide buttons for the telemarketer to indicate what the called person said. Then you provide their next comment. 
The part where the telemarketer says, "this call may be recorded" comes at the beginning - not the end!  It's to allow the person you called the right to opt out of the call - or at least to know that their words could come back to haunt them.
I now have come to believe that you can't even program a simple telemarketing interface, let alone fix a bug in your program that costs customers up to 15% of their annual subscription service.
In fact, I now wonder how much protection you actually provide.  Given the programming incompetence shown above, how could I expect you were actually qualified to offer protection from viruses in the first place?  Perhaps that's why my new protection found 5 viruses on it's first scan.

Lynn McColley hates telemarketing, but is incredibly good at creating effective Small Business Web Site Design, Email Marketing Blasts, and helping clients to get higher search engine rankings.  Want a little more bang for your marketing dollar?  Call Lynn at 480-704-4286.

Local Internet Marketing - The Reviews Strategy - Part 2

Have you claimed your listings on the Big Three search engines like I suggested in Part One of the Review Strategy for Local Internet Marketing Strategy?
Here's Part Two of the strategy.
A very big factor in getting higher local rankings is “citations” – mentions of your business on local sites.  In your organic search engine rankings, the key is backlinks, but the search engines aren't looking for links in Local Listings.  They just want to make sure that you are a true local business.  So they look at sites where local businesses might be mentioned:  The Chamber of Commerce directory, local news sites, and all those review sites that have been popping up in the last few years:  Yelp, MerchantCircle, Kudzu etc.
These review sites let you claim your listings (and provide keyword rich content) like the search engine sites we discussed in Part 1, but more importantly, they let customers tell the world about their experience with you - and even give you rankings on a scale of 1-5 stars.
You've heard the cliche: "A happy customer will tell a friend but an unhappy customer will tell 10."
This should get any business owner thinking about what they can do to:

• Improve customer satisfaction
• Get happy customers to post a review

That's exactly what my Reviews Strategy for Local Internet Marketing is all about.
But if you simply ask for a review, the most likely thing that will happen is: nothing.
Your customers may love you to death, but most likely they'll just forget about it...or, since the vast majority of them are not that internet savvy, they won't know how to do it.
So you have to make it very easy.
Step One. You need to claim your listings. 
There are dozens of review sites out there.  You’re likely already listed and there may even be a review or two out there that you didn’t know about.  Claim these listings - just go for the free or basic option to start with - you can always come back later and upgrade if you find them sending you customers. 
Here are a couple of review sites to start with I’m sure you can find at least 20 others:

• http://www.merchantcircle.com/corporate/
• http://www.judysbook.com/post/0
• https://biz.yelp.com/
• http://www.insiderpages.com/session/new
• https://register.kudzu.com/packageSelect.do

Note:  These sites often switch these url's around for some reason so you might have to do a little searching to find the sign-up place for business owners.
Step Two.  Add a page to your website.
Have your web designer add a page to your site like this: McColley Marketing Media Review Page.
You'll see that we give them some simple directions on what we want them to do.
Each of the logos is a link to my claimed profile on that service, so all a customer needs to do is click on picture, register, and add a great review.
Step Three.  Ask for reviews - especially from your happy customers. 
You could send out an email, post a note on your social networks, print up business cards with the link to your page, include a slip in their monthly bill, or...get creative. If you do, be share your idea in the comments section!
Be sure you get the front line people in your business involved in asking for reviews.
And now that you have some reviews and testimonials...let's leave that for a Part Three.

Lynn McColley owns and operates McColley Marketing Media in Mesa, Arizona.  He does Small Business Web Site Design, Local Internet Marketing and helps business do drop-dead simple Email Marketing Blasts using McMail Email Marketing.  Call him at 480-704-4286.

Maximizing your promotional efforts

Need tires and want to expand your web-marketing capabilities?
One of my clients, Tires Tires Tires in Sioux City and Sioux Falls has a new promotion on their site:  Get a FREE flip Ultra HD Camera when you buy a set of Continental Tires.
It was simple to add to their website, including a banner ad that rotates in the left column, all of which will automatically disappear from the site when the promotion ends next month.  In addition, they have a social network that includes Facebook and Twitter and more, and one quick email gets it posted on all those places, too.

Want to minimize your marketing work, but maximize your marketing effort?  McColley Marketing Media can show you how.  Call Lynn at 480-704-4286.

A quick note to Symantec/Norton Antivirus

Tonight I uninstalled Norton Antivirus from all of my machines.  My subscription had expired.
As part of the uninstall, you asked me to fill out a survey.  Which I did.  Until I got to the end and in big letters you told me that whatever I said became your property and you could use them in any way you wanted without me having any recourse.
So I brought my comments here and give you no rights to use these comments in any way. 
I have been a fan since the days of Windows 3.1 and Norton Utilities.  As an IT director, I fought corporate to keep you on my systems when they tried to push one of your competitors down my throat.
But 2 years ago, I installed Norton 2009 well ahead of my subscription ending.  And you "stole" my remaining subscription.  So my Norton 2008 didn't last a full year, more like 11 months.  This was my reward for doing what you asked:  updating before my subscription ran out.
Yes, a call to tech support and 1 fewer hour in my life later, my original subscription was restored.  I told the tech at the time that I thought this was an attempted theft and I didn't like it.
Theft?  That's my opinion.. 
Having done tech support for close to 100 users for several years, I am acutely aware of how little people understand about their computers.  While I complained and got my subscription restored, the vast majority never would.  But since your nag screens start after about 10 months warning me to renew, I suspect you've been able to fleece large numbers of customers out of about 10% of what they paid for.
That was 2 years ago when I told your tech I wouldn't buy again if you didn't fix it.  I gave you the benefit of the doubt...
Last year, when I installed Norton 2010, it happened again. 
Another hour of listening to muzak on hold and dealing with low level tech support until they "fixed that problem right up."  In fact he fixed it for all three machines with just a couple of keystrokes - even faster than the tech did the year before. 
Which suggests you've invested training time and streamlined the way to fix the "problem" so your tech support costs for this issue doesn't cost as much.
But you didn't stop trying to steal from me.
That's why you no longer have a place on my computers.
Oh, and as the first of my three computers reaches 4% of a full system scan and has already found 5 viruses you missed, maybe it was time.

Lynn McColley is a former IT guy and longtime media and advertising executive who sold his snowblower a half dozen years ago to start his own advertising and marketing company in sunny, warm Phoenix.  He specializes in Small Business Web Site Design, Email Marketing Blasts, and getting higher search engine rankings for his clients.  Want a little more bang for your marketing dollar?  Call Lynn at 480-704-4286.

Local Internet Marketing - The Reviews Strategy for Higher Rankings - Part 1

I was at a business networking meeting today and the question was asked of each of the members, "What kind of marketing do you do?"  Obviously, most of them used "networking" or "referrals" as their primary method of gaining new customers.  Not much of a surprise there, since it was a networking group.
I brought up Local Internet Marketing, since it is the perfect expansion tool for a business that lives on referrals.
The goal is simply to get your customers to go the next step beyond referrals and write a quick review of your business online.
But there is something you need to do first.
Before you can really implement the Reviews Strategy of Local Internet Marketing, you need to claim your listings at each of the search engine's local advertising centers. 
Go to

• Google Places
• Bing Listing Center
  
• Yahoo Local Listings

Follow the directions to find your business and claim it.
MOST IMPORTANT:  You can't rank highly unless you claim your listings. 
VERY IMPORTANT:  Fill out every part of the form.  For every part of the form you fill out you get points.  The more points, the higher you rank. 
Yes, Google really wants you to have 10 pictures on your profile.  Everybody has or can get 10 pictures that relate to their business.  Putting up a full set of 10 pictures is worth almost half the possible points for claiming your listing.   A video might be a little tougher, but if you've got one,you'll be ahead of the competition in this area.  If you don't have one, put it on your list of things to invest your marketing dollars in. 
It should go without saying that you also need to sprinkle your keywords into the listings.
As Woody Allen said, "Eighty percent of success is just showing up."  That goes for Local Internet Marketing, too.
Next:  The Review Strategy itself.

Lynn McColley, in his typically humble way named his business McColley Marketing Media.  McColley Marketing Media does Small Business Web Site Design, Local Internet Marketing, and Email Marketing Blasts for small businesses in Arizona and all over the country.  Contact Lynn at 480-704-4286.

AZ Indian Law Website

The Arizona Indian Law website is up!  AZ Indian Law is a second website for Brian Utsey, an Arizona Family Law Attorney. 
Brian is an exceptional attorney who enjoys the family law side of his practice, but his true love, legally speaking, is American Indian Law.
In researching the site's contents, I learned a lot about how the native tribes were mistreated, legally speaking (and otherwise).  Having grown up and spent lots of time in the Midwest and having close Sioux and Chippewa friends, I knew some of the story.  But looking at some of the legal history for this site, showed me how much I didn't know.
This site doesn't go into that history, there are a large number of sites that talk about that elsewhere.  However, when the site says "Indian Law is complicated", you don't know the half of it.  Normally, the law is relatively cut a dry.  After hundreds of years, somebody, soemwhere has had a similar case and you just have to point out what precedents the judge should look at in deciding the case.  In American Indian Law, for almost any questions you can find two or possibly three precedents - that point in completely opposite directions.  Many of them Supreme Court Decisions!
In addition, for outsiders dealing with Tribal courts, precedents may or may not have any bearing.  Brian tells of having cases against Indian clients summarily dismissed simply because the contracts involved didn't take into consideration that one side of the argument (his) was subject to tribal protections.
It's a fascinating and complex area of the law, and since Brian Utsey is one of a very limited number of attorneys who focus on this area, I expect you'll be hearing his name in connection with some rather high profile cases at some point in the future.
Let me know what you think of it.

Lynn McColley focuses on Small Business Web Site Design, Internet Marketing and Email Marketing Blasts at McColley Marketing Media in Mesa, Arizona.  If you would like to improve your results from marketing on the internet, call him at 480-704-4286.

Optimize for Google, get a Bing Bonus Ranking!

Search Engine Land has an interesting article today "Google: Bing is Cheating."
It seems that Bing has been copying search results from Google and using them to come up with their results.
Kinda like "those kids" did back in middle school.
The short take.  Google discovered something odd in what Bing was showing for some search results. 
They set a trap for some impossible searches like mbzrxpgjys and hiybbprqag.  Neither Bing nor Google had a result for those terms.  Then Google created special results pages for these terms and started searching for them using Internet Explorer. 
It turns out, IE is sending what you search for back to Microsoft and they are using it to come up with results at Bing.  After 2 weeks, Bing was returning the same top result for those searches - even though there was no connection between those searches and the pages Google returned.
What's the old saying?  "If two (search engines) both agree on everything, then one of them isn't necessary."
Now that we only have two search engines - since Bing is now powering Yahoo - I would have hoped they were at least trying to compete.
Bing needs a trip to the principal's office.

And then we need to ask about that spying Microsoft/Bing is doing on what you're searching for.

Lynn McColley does Search Engine Optimization, Internet Marketing and Small Business Web Site Design at McColley Marketing Media.  Call him in Phoenix at 480-704-4286.

The Traffic Fairy has sprinkled some goodness...

Thank you Google!  Thank you DMOZ.
Doing my monthly checkups, I have to say thank you to Google for a little PageRank gift for my site and for a site I'm helping with SEO, www.huntandfishalaska.net.  The Traffic Fairy has blessed www.McMarketingMedia.com with a bump up to 3 for a PageRank and Ram Aviation's site went from a 0 to a 3! 
Also somewhere in there, DMOZ decided to give www.McMarketingMedia.com a listing. 
Thank you Traffic Fairies!

Actually, website traffic comes from a lot of tedious work in Link Building.  If you want to get more customers to come you, we've got a step by step program to help.  Call Lynn at 480-704-4286 to find out more.

Brian Utsey - Arizona Divorce Attorney

Arizona divorce attorney Brian Utsey's website is one I am proud of.  The look is modern, clean and soothing, which as we talked about how frazzled Arizona divorce clients are, we decided would be the right attitude to display. 
Brian's a great attorney and divorce is just one part of his practice.  He can't say he "specializes" in Indian law because there is no official legal specialty for Indian law.  But he's one of a very small group of lawyers in the country who work this very complex part of the law where legal precedences can be readily found for both sides (and often a third or fourth side) for any legal question.
We've got another site nearly ready to launch that deals with the Indian law side of his practice.
Go visit the main Brian Utsey site and let me know what you think.  This post is, for all practical purposes, the first SEO for the Family Law site, so it's just getting seen for the first time.

 

Take Credit Cards?

I have a client who is an independent Phoenix locksmith -  Andrews Lock and Key - and this is perfect for him. 
My son Sean called and told me about a cool service called Square - as in "square your bill". 
Square allows you to process a credit card with a smart phone.  Something perfect for locksmiths and many other service businesses.
It works on iPhone and recent Android models.  They have a small reader (it's free!)  that plugs into the headphone jack on the phone and works with an ap. 
Pricing seems pretty good, too, but I haven't done any comparison. 
The only bad thing: my trusty old G1 doesn't have a headphone jack and so it's not supported.

Words have Power

The words you say – and the words you choose to hear. 

Even the silent ones.

We all have this little voice inside our head that tells us what we're thinking. It’s the little voice that just said "What voice? There aren't any voices."

Some studies indicate that we have around 65,000 thoughts per day - and that 95% of them are the same ones we had yesterday. 

Last week, when I suggested turning off the TV, the reason behind that was to allow you to take some control over the thoughts that are put into your head. Several of you mentioned having a TV on at night. I find it terrifying that you might end up unknowingly feeding your brain with "Girls Gone Wild" infomercials, gangster style hip-hop lyrics, or political craziness. 

Of course, you can also add those thoughts knowingly depending on the TV shows, radio stations, and articles you read. 

So what happens when a negative thought gets into the 95% of our thoughts that are repeated every day?

You act on them. 

How? 

Coming from the world of advertising, I know one answer - you buy something. 

Something to fulfill the need created by the negative thought. 

And it all happens at a level below our consciousness.

But what about some of the scarier thoughts? How far will you go to act them out? We all have inner limits that keep us from, say, killing someone. A hypnotized person won’t do anything they wouldn’t do when they’re not hypnotized.

Buying new clothes or a fancy car to correct an inner negative thought is one thing. Killing someone because of negative thoughts goes up against our inner limits of what is right or wrong.

Unless you have a serious mental illness.

In that case, you might be provoked by the things you watch on TV and read on the Internet, or hear in the lyrics of a song. You might decide that certain people really are out to “destroy your way of life,” and that the only way to stop that is with a "second amendment solution."

This week you'll hear a bunch of debate on whether the political and media rhetoric about "targeting" the opposition with hate and violence based language is a first amendment right or taken out of context. At least I hope we have that discussion for more than just one news cycle.

Now ponder one more thought: 4% of the American population has what is considered "serious mental illness."
There’s a broad range of illnesses there. But if only 1/10 of a percent of them are potentially violent, we have roughly 200 more Jared Loughners living right here in the valley.
If we allow this kind of rhetoric to continue unchecked, last weekend's "Arizona Massacre" is only the beginning.

Words have Power. 

Those you say and those you hear.

This week – step back and think about what you’re listening to and watching. We can have heated discussions without resorting to the kind of rhetoric that has overtaken the country in the last couple of years.

There are people in politics and the media who are making boatloads of money because you are listening. If we say “enough!” and stop granting them a spotlight, the money will go away, and we can get back to getting things done.

Closing message 1/10/2010.  Each week, I do a “closing thought” at my Networking Group, the Scottsdale Innovators.  We meet Tuesdays for lunch at the Rock Bottom Restaurant at Desert Ridge in North Phoenix.   Things start at 11:30 am and you’re out by 1 pm.  If you're in the neighborhood, come see us.
Want to grow your business this year?  Lynn McColley offers Small Business Web Site Design, Do-It-Yourself Email Marketing Blast software, Local SEO and Internet Marketing through his company McColley Marketing Media.  He can be reached at 480-704-4286.  

The Highest Rated TV Shows of 2010...and a scary statistic.

The results are in for 2010…the top rated regular programs on TV were:

1. American Idol with 23 million viewers
2. Sunday Night Football with 21 million
3. Dancing with the Stars with almost 21 million
4. NCIS with 15 million
5. Survivor with 13 million.

In other entertainment news, total television viewership was up by 1% this year.  The average American now watches 34 hours of TV a week.  That’s just shy of 5 hours a day.

Meanwhile, our economy is in a slump, we’re sleeping less than ever, divorce is rampant and kids are less supervised than ever, and our health is terrible.

If your New Year's Resolutions include making any kind of improvement in your life, the first thing you should consider is shutting off that large time-suck in your living room… and kitchen… and bedroom… and on your phone… and everywhere else you go.

Money is easy when you’ve got the time.  Time is a lot easier if you dump some TV.

And let’s not even start on the effect from all the garbage the media is inserting directly into your mind as if it was using a needle and IV bag.

This week: pick a night, any night, and turn off the tube for just that one evening.  See what you can accomplish!

Have a great week.

Closing message 1/4/2010.  Each week, I do a “closing thought” at my Networking Group, the Scottsdale Innovators.  We meet Tuesdays for lunch at the Rock Bottom Restaurant at Desert Ridge in North Phoenix.   Things start at 11:30 am and you’re out by 1 pm.  If you're in the neighborhood, come see us.

Want to grow your business this year?  Lynn McColley offers Small Business Web Site Design, Do-It-Yourself Email Marketing Blast software, Local SEO and Internet Marketing through his company McColley Marketing Media.  He can be reached at 480-704-4286.