I like to write about trends I see among practices from my coaching meetings. I find that, generally, there are trends in priorities, behaviors and strategies among my clients. I first noticed these cycles long ago. Brace yourself, if you are experiencing this trend, I know it is not something you want to hear.Nobody in small business...

One of the things I like about our Keyword SEO is how we help you keep your eye on the ball. We insist on measurables, which takes a lot of the Internet techno-babble out of the discussion.Measurement is the reason we formed our service only on keywords. Keyword progess can be measured objectively. The degree to which the site is optimized...

September has brought back an interesting question from clients and prospects. “How can I use video to make my web site more competitive?” I’ve had variations on this question several times in the past two weeks. Clearly, there is a renewed interest in making web sites more competitive among cosmetic surgeons and cosmetic...

We are pleased to start off September by showing off a new web site... one with a twist. Here is a custom designed Spanish language site for Carlos Pou, MD in San Juan, Puerto Rico. This is a Flash Video web site created in Joomla which is a format that allows the client to make their own content changes.In this case, Joomla makes the most...We...

It is September and Dog Star Media is introducing a new Facebook promotion. And, for all of you playing along at home, this will be an example of how to use social networking for your business.You will notice this week, we have launched the Dog Star Media Facebook page. All of you clients who have friended my personal page, I will be...

I had a very interesting conversation with John Rose, DDS and Sarah who does his on-site marketing work in our coaching meeting this month. Now, granted, Dr. Rose has been a client for a while and they are very active, so don’t be intimidated. However, I wanted to tell this example to everyone because it shows how easy it is to put in a...

In July, Dog Star Media clients recorded 1,173 phone calls from media placements and websites. Even in July, which is typically the slowest month of the year, call volume remains steady. This is pretty important knowledge for those clients as they gear up for the stretch run on 2009. Knowing who is calling from which medium is giving...

In July, Dog Star Media clients recorded 1,173 phone calls from media placements and websites. Even in July, which is typically the slowest month of the year, call volume remains steady. This is pretty important knowledge for those clients as they gear up for the stretch run on 2009. Knowing who is calling from which medium is giving these...In July, Dog Star Media clients recorded 1,173 phone calls from media placements and websites. Even in July, which is typically the slowest month of the year, call volume remains steady. This is pretty important knowledge for those clients as they gear up for the stretch run on 2009. Knowing who is calling from which medium is giving these clients an advantage on sharpening the sword on their marketing coming out of the summer. Again, this is one of the many benefits of using tracking numbers for your phone calls. A few examples of how our clients are using tracking numbers:1) One is using it to measure how two competing television campaigns are paying off in direct calls. One station is performing consistently, the other is not. 2) Two are measuring an ad placement in a regional magazine that is being shared with other doctors from the region.3) Dozens are measuring the calls coming from their websites. Nearly all are finding out that the number of calls coming from their website far exceeds what they thought was coming in.4) One client is placing tracking number in all their yellow pages ads to determine the effectiveness of all the placements.And, there are many other stories. In July, those stories add up to 1,173 calls. How many calls did you get from your ad placements and website last month? Do you know for sure? If you do not, why would you not want a tool that tells you EXACTLY what you are getting? For more information on tracking telephone numbers, please contact me today at donald@dogstarmedia.com.

Read more http://dogstarmediablog.blogspot.com/2009/08/importance-of-tracking-numbers.html

One of my favorite analogies that I use in my coaching program deals with eating Watermelon. Eating watermelon is a lot like explaining why to choose your business or service as opposed to one of your competitors. You can feed your listeners the watermelon or you can feed them the watermelon seed. Which is easier to swallow?Of course, it...

I am pretty impressed with some of my client’s commitment to maintaining an active email marketing and now social networking strategy. Some are doing it very well and with every email, with every post, they are using an easy, quick-touch medium to execute a very effective strategy called One-to-One Marketing.One-to-One Marketing is a staple...

Congratulations to Dr. Richard Dolsky in Philadelphia on the additional 2000 visitors to his web site he got last month. He is in our Keyword SEO program and is paying close attention to his tracking including using a tracking number on his web site.In our conversation earlier this week, he said the same thing I hear on all first tracking...

In June, Dog Star Media clients tracked 1123 incoming phone calls using our tracking telephone numbers. These numbers continue to be the strongest component of most of our clients’ marketing plans. Knowing which marketing endeavor is bringing in phone calls is helping these clients sharpen the sword each month.Since March, 2009 when we...

Last week, an email newsletter service circulated a link to a Business Week article regarding myths about social networking when it comes to marketing a small business. I thought the email was deceptive after reading the article. And, the article... well, I thought it was dumbed-down, non-committal filler, so much so that I am not even...

I have had a lot of discussions with people in the last few weeks about keywords. And, I have concluded this is one of the major areas where SEO customer service goes wrong. That is one of the reasons why we go into detail at the outset of an SEO engagement to explain to clients why we have chosen certain keywords for them. And, it is the...I...

I get asked quite a bit about radio. Would it be a good medium to advertise a cosmetic dental or medical practice? My answer is always the same, that as a mass medium, radio will be successful as a branding medium (first and foremost) with proper saturation and yield call to action results if you can afford to sustain a substantial campaign...I...

We have had a lot of requests for new web sites in the past few months. I think this may be part of it. Today’s news about the dramatic jump in consumer confidence has the stock market off and running but it is also bringing into play a small business axiom I reference all the time.Since we work with small businesses, we often are the...

So, how good can we make a content managed web site look? Here is a good example, the new web site for Reactive Nutrition.This is one of our new HTML Unlimited sites. With a custom design by Dog Star Media, this new content managed format allows unlimited changes which the client can make themselves, including navigational additions and...So,...

Dog Star Media clients with call tracking accurately tracked 648 calls in April using tracking phone numbers. Reports were reviewed and posted today.As more clients begin using our tracking number service, we can see some trends appear as we look at the big picture. Many of our clients use different overall strategies and, of course,...

It was about this time a year ago that some of my clients started asking me about social networking as a means of marketing their practices. There were some specialty online communities that were popping up trying to focus a discussion specifically on cosmetic procedures. That started the discussion and I gave the same answer a year ago that...

A few weeks ago, I wrote about using the Display Ad program at Reach Local as a rebranding program. For those of you who missed that, the idea starts with Pay Per Click with Reach Local. When a visitor clicks through on a paid ad from Reach Local, their cookie is remembered. Later, when that visitor comes back on the Internet and visit...

It is pretty clear that your web site is critical to getting new business. If you are tracking your marketing properly, you are probably in the vast majority that know your web site is one of the main deciding factors for prospects checking you out. So, in broad terms, this is what your web site should be like:Template sites say you don’t...

Congratulations to William Brennan, MD on the creation of his new neurosurgery web site. You can see it here at lafayetteneuro.com.Update from Project Watchdog:Speaking of web sites, how many calls are you getting from your web site? On April 1, we pulled the first group of reports from our new tracking number vendor. Ten clients had...

Earlier this month, I again was informed of the continuing mass confusion regarding Search Engine Optimization that exists in the market place. I have maintained for a long time that market confusion was the single biggest factor in frustration and dysfunction in small business SEO campaigns. So, for the next month, I am going to prepare...

This strategy combines ReachLocal’s display banner capabilities with Dog Star Media’s rich Flash Video media design to create a very effective brand/marketing/remarketing campaign with excellent traceable results. Executed properly, this is one of the more effective combinations we seen lately. And, our first client who is taking...

When I met Dr. Janet Neigel, she introduced herself as the south New Jersey version of Dr. Susan Hughes. I bet almost every cosmetic surgeon reading this has either met Dr. Hughes or knows her from her involvment in the AACS. It is kind of fitting that we have web site debuts for both of them at the same time today.Dr. Neigel launched...

Ask yourself this question: If all things were equal, would a prospective patient choose you based solely on your skills and experience?It is a great question to ask yourself in a defining moment. If all things were equal, would patients pick you? If the answer is yes (and it should be if you are confident in your skills and services), then...