Getting noticed online has a new sheriff in town.  QR Codes! Here’s the why, and what, you need to learn to help promote your business, product, or service.

QR is short for Quick Response (they can be read quickly by a cell phone). QR Codes actually come from Japan where they are very popular.  A QR Code is used to take a piece of information from a traditional media source and put it in to your cell phone. You will see QR Codes in a magazine advertisements, on billboards, a web page, the sources will only become more creative in time. Once it is in your cell phone, it may give you details about that business (allowing users to search for nearby locations), or details about the person wearing the t-shirt, show you a URL which you can click to see a trailer for a movie, or it may give you a coupon which you can use in a local outlet.

How could you use a QR code?

Your business, no matter how small or large, could use QR codes in a number of ways. You might auto generate one next to every product on your web site containing all the product details, the number to call and the URL link to the page so they can show their friends on their cell phone. You could add one to your business card containing your contact details so its easy for someone to add you to their contacts on their cell phone.

Add them to any print advertising, flyers, posters, invites, TV ads etc containing:

• Product details
• Contact details
• Offer details
• Event details
• Competition details
• A coupon
• Twitter, Facebook, MySpace IDs
• A link to your YouTube video

If your looking for a new, and tech savvy, way to market your products and/or services contact us today and get your own QR Code.

Mike DeMuth is the owner of MikeDeMuth.com, a Cedar Rapids Iowa based website design, search engine optimization, and online marketing company.

Website Developers: Good vs Bad.  The vast majority of website developers are practicing their art in a selfish way.  As the internet continues to grow and embed itself in our daily lives, websites are becoming a necessity instead of a luxury.  Unfortunately there are developers out there who are more concerned with cranking out new websites one after the other, without actually taking the time to consider their clients best interest.  Website Developers have a unique ability to actually increase a businesses profits, which in turn could certainly increase the probability of adding more jobs.  More jobs of course means less un-employment.  Less un-employment means more money to simulate the economy, and so on.

Good website developers will produce an excellent website with ‘search engine results’ in mind.  Bad website developers will produce a website often with broken code, and zero emphasis on search engine optimization.  Albeit a bad developer certainly can produce an excellent looking website, what good will it be to their client if the website doesn’t have a shot at being correctly indexed by Google?

Obviously there is considerable time and effort needed to attain high search results for clients, and this in turn requires a fee in return for a website developers time.  A bad website developer will say “This service wasn’t included in the quote, they didn’t pay for it, they wanted a cheap website”, and a good website developer will say “Your website will cost “X” amount of dollars, and included in your quote is basic search engine optimization. I have also included the rates for advanced search engine optimization to increase your chances of being ranked high in the search engines”. Now there are zero guarantees in basic search engine optimization I agree, but with zero search engine optimization you will have zero chance of getting noticed online.

Bad website developers will burn through a website project at an alarming rate, to get it done in the shortest amount of time possible, without taking into consideration their client’s goals for the website.  Good website developers will certainly work quickly (we have to generate a ROI too) but they will treat each project as if it were their own website.  If the goal of the client is to generate leads off their website, you will need to pay special focus on call to actions. Etc.

Good website developers will treat their client’s project almost like a 50/50 partnership.  We know our business, you know yours, lets meet in the middle and create a website which makes sense for your Industry; look, feel, and content wise. Bad website developers won’t ask you the right questions, won’t know what your goals are, won’t communicate with their client throughout the term of the project as each milestone has been met.

The difference between good website developers and bad website developers often isn’t something you can see visually.  Unfortunately you simply have no idea, that is until you find a good website developer a few years later, when you have to start all over again.

Good website developers enjoy repeat business from long term relationships with their clients, and gain new clients by referrals.  Bad website developers get no referrals, and constantly are on the hunt for new clients.

Mike DeMuth is the owner of MikeDeMuth.com. A website design, search engine optimization, and search engine marketing company based in Cedar Rapids, IA.  99% of our new clients come from referrals from existing clients

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Article published in Ezine Articles – written by Mike DeMuth

People are searching smarter online. More often than not people are now searching using a geographical reference in their searches, and are expecting a more honest search result in the process. When the search uses a city or town in it’s keyword set this type of search is called Local Search, and is certainly more effective if your looking for a business in a specific area. Doing a local search will give you local search results which is what you asked for. This is searching smarter!

Local search is growing rapidly as a marketing model and should not be overlooked by any business. Business should start their search engine marketing on the local level, and then extend outward as growth occurs and/or until you have covered the entire area your company markets to. Even businesses that intend to market on a national, or world wide, scale should take note of the power of this type of target marketing. If your company is looking to sell it’s services or products on a large geographical level, better traffic to their website will be achieved by actually marketing to specific areas through a more sophisticated marketing campaign, versus putting all your eggs in one basket and going for general search terms which may or may not even turn up relevant searches.

As the internet continues to grow and continually embed itself in our daily lives, people are finally beginning to understand how to navigate online in a smarter way. Perhaps repeated frustration of searching and searching for exactly what your looking for online is what has actually created this demand for a better way to search. In essence, it’s not that search engines are making it easier to find what your looking for, the truth of the matter is, people are realizing how to use what is already there. Online searchers are actually tapping into the real power of the internet by telling it what they want to see in search results. Again, using a geographical reference in the search will certainly narrow down the list of results to choose from on the search engines.

People have changed, people are searching online smarter. Many times the internet is being used to research and compare services and/or products with the intent of actually making a physical visit to purchase the product, or select the service that particular business has to offer. As a marketing method, local search should not be considered an option, but a necessity!

Local search results are actually relatively in-expensive to attain for businesses in most Industries. Keep in mind, studies show most people searching online won’t go past the 3rd or 4th page of search results, but will instead stop and type in a new search and hope those search results produce what they were looking for. Call it impatient, or lazy, but the fact is people are searching smarter. Throw studies out the window, and ask yourself how many pages you sift through looking for a specific search result.

There is your answer.

Mike DeMuth is the owner of MikeDeMuth.com

Article published in Ezine Articles – written by Mike DeMuth

Website Optimization and your website’s organic search engine results go hand in hand. Keep in mind, the Search Engines such as Google, Yahoo, Ask, MSN, and AOL basically send computer generated programs (each with their own task to do) that “spider” the internet to look for websites with relevant content in an effort to provide their users with the most accurate search result possible.

Many people often get frustrated with not being able to find what they are looking for when they type in a specific keyword set, and in turn blame the search engine they used for giving such poor results. However, to begin with you need to realize the search engines are certainly doing the best they can, and in the shortest time possible, to continually look for measures not only to give you (the user) the results you are wanting but at the same time search engines have basically been cornered into having to take the appropriate steps to ensure your website is actually providing the information website owner’s say it is. This actually is for your own good. In another article we will explore how this also is affecting your AdWords Campaigns.

Confusing? Sure it can be. What can I do for my website? You need to get it highly optimized for the keywords related to your industry. Simple? It isn’t rocket science but you will be best letting the professionals handle this task, and in turn look forward to higher search engine results which increases the possibility of converting more visitors into customers.

Mike DeMuth is the owner of MikeDeMuth.com

Reporter: Janet Rorholm – The Edge Business Magazine

Mike DeMuth, owner and founder of Eco Friendly Interactive (now MikeDeMuth.com), a Web development company, had two important reasons to adopt environmentally- friendly practices for his company — his two children.”I have a couple of daughters and to me it was important to make the world better for future generations,” DeMuth said. “It sounds trite, but that’s how it is.”

He’s not alone. Many area business owners are stepping up and trying to become more environmentally friendly for their children and grandchildren, but the good news is that it can have an immediate impact.

DeMuth, who sought out and received a green certification, has seen business soar as other environmentally- conscious businesses seek to work with other like-minded businesses, a benefit he hadn’t expected.

“People are searching smarter. People are looking online for companies with products and services that are environmentally friendly while buying local whenever possible. That’s why my business has boomed,” DeMuth said.

In addition to increased business, DeMuth has reduced expenses in becoming more environmentally friendly.”We don’t use paper for anything,” he said. The company e-mails its invoices saving the cost of the paper and postage as well as printer ink, which used to be one of the company’s biggestexpenses. DeMuth has also saved travel expenses by using video conferences with its clients who are located across the nation.

For DeMuth that hasn’t just saved money, it’s saved him time. Not only can he be more productive in less time, it has kept him home where he gets to spend more time with his daughters.DeMuth is also using more efficient light bulbs, recycling, buying Energy Star computers and eliminating the use of bottled water.

Reporter: Bekah Porter – Corridor Business Journal

Mike DeMuth could pass his top clients on the street and not recognize them.

“I’d say that more than 90 percent of my clients I haven’t met in person,” he said.

This lack of face-to-face meetings by no means signals a diminished capacity of caring for people. In fact, it’s quite the opposite.

By doing business as he does, Mr. DeMuth says he is showing his clients just how much he cares for them and their environments.

READ FULL ARTICLE AT THE CORRIDOR BUSINESS JOURNAL HERE