So, I get a lot of people asking me questions about what I do for a living. When I respond with the answer, I am a Search Engine Optimizer, people get a hazy look on their face and usually say something like…”Oh that’s nice, sounds hard!” So, I figured that I would write about it, and give people a better idea.
Plainly stated, I am an internet marketer. I advertise and promote things using the internet. I started to study this in college as part of my Business Management degree, and then began to read books, blogs, and anything else I could find on the subject. So, my specific services are as followed…
- Local Search – As you can see in the picture above (which is a google search result) there is a map listed first with 3 “ballons” on it. Those are local companies in whichever city is being searched for. I help companies get on that list and ultimately drive traffic to their website which then becomes customers.
- Organic Search – The results below the maps are organic results, or natural results. I build websites and then market them so that the site shows up for the “search words” that bring a lot of traffic to their website. Many people might not search for a company name, they might look up “Eye Doctor” like in the search above. So, when that happens, every eye doctor in the city wants to show up first. I help them do that.
- Pay-Per-Click – The result on the right hand side in the box is an actual paid for ad. Everytime you click on those “sponsored” links it cost the company a certain amount per click. There is a fine art to making this profitable for clients and google actually has a program to qaulify people to become professionals at the service. So, I took the courses and got this nice little badge to display on my website.
So, in a nutshell, that is what I do. My team works with business owners from Alaska to Florida in developing an online game plan for them that involves the creation of a website, and a marketing strategy to gain customers who are searching for their services or products online.
Now, it might not sound exciting to you, but I absolutely love it. I like the challenge, and competition, I like meeting new people, and I love when you set up a system for someone and they get great results.
A few months ago, my company was ranked as the 2nd best local search company in the nation, and each month since then I have held that title. It even got me another little badge for my website (like scouts all over again)
Now, I don’t say this to boast by any means. I have worked my tail off to learn as much as possible and provide a great service, but I know a lot of people in the industry I would put above me. But, I do share this information to tell a story. When I first got the award, there were tons of press releases floating around about the rankings like this one that came out…
Nifty Marketing Ranking Press Release
And I was extremely excited. After all, a small company in Burley, Idaho had beat out some seriously large multi-million dollar competitors. So, I figured that I could submit the story to The Weekly Journal and as they are the “community paper” I was sure that since they are so focused on our “community” they would be interested in writing about it, mentioning it, or at least hinting about it. But, after talking to the owner of the paper in person, after a city council meeting, sending him and email, and then following up with him about it when I had to pass him some info for something else… He completely ignored me. Now, I ask why?
At the time, he was under heat for the fact that there was so much political controversy surrounding him being a City Councilman and running a News Publication that was slamming his opponents (which still seems to be in effect). That issue was brought up by a relative of mine, so I thought the upbraiding could be based on family relation. Then, I thought further about it, and realized that I offer advertising solutions to small businesses, and he offers the same. So, I figured it was just a case of protecting the nest egg. After all, the internet is about the worst thing that ever happened to the printed paper business, and he is planning on being the printed paper here for the next 100 years. So, I guess I was classified as a potential threat with my local search marketing company.
That helped me realize that there is a lot of news not being covered in our small town. Instead, the paper that week ran a story about someone who got a promotion in Oakley at the school, who was also a fried of the owner. It also showed me that without competition, news is very one sided and was/is definitely the case here.
So, along with other reasons that was the final push I needed to start GoBurley, and other future news sites in our area. The market thrives in competition because it makes everyone better. Let’s hope that is the case in Burley, Idaho.
Mike Ramsey
P.S. If you have something you consider news worthy, we always have room. 
