I was on a conference call yesterday when it dawned on me that, at our core, we are an Internet Lead Generation service.

There are a number of steps, and hurdles we go through with and for clients, but at the very end, our bottom line, relates to your bottom line - Internet Lead Generation.

There are four major phases or legs to a complete Internet Lead Generation package:

• Planning (of the website, development, and industry)
• Development
• Maintenance
• Marketing

These 4 steps are holistic. Planning is perhaps the most important phase, but often the most neglected. In truth any web development company can build an awesome website without knowing too much about you as a client.

What colors do you like, what text will go where, etc.?

As long as the site isn’t too complicated the initial design and development of a site can be done without much planning. But, without knowledge of your industry, a web development company can’t implement the right terms into the text and properly optimize your site. Without planning and a deeper understanding of you we can’t code the site properly for long-term search engine success and both the developer and the client will be left hanging after the initial creation of the site - what next? The planning phase is a guide for the entire process. Planning ensures that everyone is on the same page through the different stages of completion and sets a standard for success.

Development, after planned properly and thoroughly, is a simple process. With an end in mind a good team of programmers, designers, and writers, can generate a successful web presence.

Maintenance, the third step to Internet lead generation is very important. You must use your website as the tool it was developed to be, without updates, additional text, news & events, etc. it becomes stale - and even with proactive marketing - can fall short of your goals.

Finally, the fourth step, marketing is important to the overall success of the lead generation potential of your website. Without updates, and proactive marketing, the likelihood that people will stumble upon your site is pretty slim. Much like any business you need to get your website out there, talk about it, network, participate in blogs and communities, advertise, etc.

Keeping these four steps in mind you should have no problem turning your website into a valuable Internet Lead Generation tool.

29 Feb | Post by Zach Katkin. Filed under AdWords, Internet Marketing, Pay Per Click, SEO, Search Engine Optimization.

Regardless of your market, industry, or business size there are many great ways to make money online. Of course, everyone wants to expend as little as possible, while generating as much as possible. Well, it is your lucky day because I am going to explain to you a way to spend nothing unless you are making something.

Only on the internet can you deploy a marketing campaign that allows you to brand and reinforce your corporate identity with money generating possibilities without spending a dime unless you make significantly more than a dime. Only on the internet can you spread your marketing reaches to new, untapped resources to expand your business without reaching into your pocket until it’s time to put money in it.

How the hell is this? I know you are asking yourself that very question… well, I have an answer for you: Affiliated Marketing.

What the hell is that? Well, open your mind, read thoroughly and learn something.

Affiliated Marketing (AM) is the future of online marketing, and perhaps the future of all marketing. People are typically very unsettled about incorporating new methods of marketing into their current campaigns because there is a risk to lose money before you make it. With AM you don’t risk losing any money and you only pay out when you make money. Yes, you make the money first and then you pay.

Very simply, as an affiliate, you place your advertisement on web sites that agree to publish it. That advertisement will sit their branding your business and your site until someone clicks on it. Do you pay when someone clicks? NO. In fact, you only pay once a site visitor purchases a product or service from your website. If somebody purchases a product or service from your site as a direct result from clicking on that advertisement, then you pay the advertiser a commission of that sale. That level of commission would be previously decided upon between you and your publisher(s).

This is great isn’t it?!

Here are some tips for successful Affiliated Marketing:

Read the rest of this entry …

27 Feb | Post by Scott L. Clark. Filed under Internet Marketing.

Yesterday, we were working on a typical client site that required us to do the usual HTML/CSS template to wordpress template work… and when it came time to dump in the HTML contents of the site, it came apparent (once again) of how frustrating working with wordpress pages can be.

So, after some intense frustration, I came up with a wordpress plugin that will automatically create html files with the same name as any page created within wordpress (it will also create them within their respective sub-directories.)

Example:

http://www.mydomain.com/parentpage/parentchild/

– will create the directory /pages/parentpage/parentchild.html

Now we can edit parentchild.html and it’s contents will be included within the wordpress page while not compromising the HTML/CSS contained within! Wowee-wow-wow!

Keep in mind that this plugin will know to create the path for the html page when you load the wordpress page in your browser.

Instructions:

Create the a directory called /pages/ within the root location of your wordpress install and CHMOD it with permission 777.

Download atilus-page-include.zip and extract it inside your /wp-contents/plugins/ directory.

Then, in your page.php template file, place this php code where you want the html to be included:

Please email me at devin@atilus.com with any support questions.

26 Feb | Post by admin. Filed under Wordpress Plugins.

• Email Newsletter Marketing | Atilus Fort Myers Naples, Florida Web Design Blog
  Email marketing is one of the most powerful, effective ways to market your company and its products, but it’s often overlooked. This article outlines some very simple information on how to perform email marketing “start-to-finish” no matter what size comp
  (tags: email enewsletter email-newsletter newsletter)

22 Feb | Post by Zach Katkin. Filed under Uncategorized.

Last night, February 21st, 2008 Scott and I had the opportunity of attending the Naples Fort Myers Greyhound Track hosted networking event. The event was special in that it combined the Fort Myers and Bonita Springs chambers for a larger than normal turnout and networking opportunity.

We met a lot of new great people with some amazing companies and had a lot of phone. I bought a few tickets to try and win an autographed 2007 World Series Baseball, but unfortunately I didn’t win.

At the end of the night Pat Hillegass came up to me with a copy of her Success magazine. Pat publishes the local magazine resource that features all of the networking events in the Southwest Florida area. I had personally been searching for such a resource and was incredibly happy to make the connection. Pat informed me that her website is under development, but in just a few weeks if you visit: Successync.com you’ll be able to find a comprehensive list of local networking events.

Thank you to all of those involved in throwing the event, thank you to the Naples Fort Myers Greyhound Track for hosting, and although I’ll be sending out individual emails to those I met, it was nice meeting everyone!

22 Feb | Post by Zach Katkin. Filed under Community, Networking.

Email marketing is one of the most powerful, effective ways to market your company and its products, but it’s often overlooked. My colleague Scott Clark (Atilus’ director of Sales and Marketing) and I were recently asked to speak before local business owners on the subject of email marketing. Our presentation involved some very simple information on how to perform email marketing – start-to-finish – no matter what size company you are or what your technological skill level. Unfortunately, that speaking engagement was cancelled, but we thought we would compile our notes and information online so that those who didn’t have a chance to attend could review at their leisure and hopefully implement and help grow their business.

This article is organized in 7 major sections, feel free to click on a link to jump around:

• Email – What is Email?
• Why Email Marketing?
• Acquiring Email Addresses
• Creating Emails
• Sending Emails
• Tracking Your Emails
• Legalities

Read the rest of this entry …

21 Feb | Post by Zach Katkin. Filed under Email Newsletter, Enewsletter, Internet Marketing.

Our long time client, Burruano Group, has created a great series of articles for the web called the “7 Deadly Mistakes Construction Businesses Make.” Although geared specifically for owners or managers of construction businesses, the articles feature valuable information for any type or size business.

You can check out the first article, out now, regarding “employee accountability, and then check back on the “Burruano Group Blog monthly as they publish each new article in the series.

20 Feb | Post by Zach Katkin. Filed under Business.

We are all very excisted at Atilus as next week myself and one of our lead PHP developers will be attending The Future of Web Apps. The Future of Web Apps, put on by the Carsonified crew, is a combination seminar, networking event, and party. The event focuses on the literally the future of web apps - how to plan, build, execute, and market a successful web app featuring those who have done it most successfully. This year’s the event features some titans including:

Kevin Rose - Creator and Founder of Digg.com
Erick Schonfeld - Creator and Editor of TechCrunch.com
Cal Henderson - Director of Engineering Flickr
Matt Mullenweg - Founder Wordpress
Kevin Marks - Software Engineer Google
Leah Culver - Founder POWNCE
Blaine Cook - Architecht Twitter

…and much more…

We look forward to networking with some big industry insiders, having fun, and learning more about the development and marketing of web apps.

18 Feb | Post by Zach Katkin. Filed under social media.

I just got finished reading a very interesting article from MarketingProfs. Last year Nationwide Insurance decided to “leak” it’s Super Bowl ad (see video below) prior to the Super Bowl, making the ad available via social networks like youtube, myspace, and others.

According to the article, and Nationwide - the gamble paid off:

“The spot—starring Kevin Federline as a rap star wannabe who works at a fast food joint—garnered 600,000 hits at the company’s Web site, and the majority of these were from first-time visitors. Further, Schreibman notes the unorthodox strategy didn’t prevent the ad from winding up on several “best of” lists.”

Despite the leak the ad continued to receive awards and accolades on and off line long after the super bowl. By using the power of social networks and the viral way in which they spread information they were able to get in front of a much larger audience with this daring move.

15 Feb | Post by Zach Katkin. Filed under Community, Internet Marketing, social media.

“I don’t need a website. I have more than enough business. We are doing just fine.”

Somebody recently said that to me, and I nearly fell out of my chair. I didn’t know if I should correct him or interview him and attempt to sell his secrets. Because I was always under the impression that you can never have enough business.

I thought long and hard about what that gentlemen said to me and it resonated so loudly. So many companies fail to realize the importance of a website because they think just because they are growing adequately and operating with enough business for a healthy projected future that they don’t need a website.

But is the purpose of a website only to generate an additional revenue stream? It can and most certainly will, but it can serve a multitude of purposes for your company.

Read the rest of this entry …

15 Feb | Post by Scott L. Clark. Filed under Web Design.