Websitetology

If you believe the time stamp on the message from Pope Benedict XVI- he not only says that members of the cloth should blog- but he says it from a few months in the future- May 16, 2010:

Priests are thus challenged to proclaim the Gospel by employing the latest generation of audiovisual resources (images, videos, animated features, blogs, websites) which, alongside traditional means, can open up broad new vistas for dialogue, evangelization and catechesis.

via Message for the 44th World Communications Day, Benedict XVI.

And with that message from the big guy- and from the future- we proudly present our next Websitetology Seminar on Feb 16, 2010.

To make it even more interesting- I’ll extend the discount of $99 for the day to any members of the Clergy in attendance.

Sign up ASAP because, well, the big guy is watching you.
And don’t worry, this seminar is also great for anyone that needs a website that works- that they can self-manage and self-update.

We’ll be hosting our next Websitetology Seminar in Dayton Ohio on Wednesday December 9, 2009. Come spend a day and learn how easy it is to not only be able to maintain a website yourself, but get to the top of Google by just spending an hour or two a week updating your website (as if cold-calling could have the same effect).

We’ll teach you how Google works, how the web works, and how to manage a site without having to learn HTML, PHP, XML or any other code. We’ve helped hundreds of companies get their message out cost effectively through our seminar. Sign up now, http://www.websitetology.com/?page_id=247, and reserve your seat today. $139 covers the full day.

Seminar will be held at The Next Wave, 100 Bonner Street Dayton OH 45410, but could be moved to a larger facility nearby depending on sign ups. It’s possible to have hundreds of people visiting your site every day- without spending thousands of dollars. Come to the Websitetology seminar and learn all the tricks to make it happen.

How is your website? Is it bringing you business?

I was recently asked to evaluate a site for some engineers. Of course, engineers are the people who came up with most of this mess we call the Internet- and so his response to my evaluation was, well, confused.

“Thanks for the analysis of our WebPages.  I have had this conversation before and you have to understand your market.  We are not trying to sell our WebPage to the “general public”, which includes marketing people.  Our target market is other engineers and that small group of persons – plant engineers, production engineers, VP Engineering, QC Managers, environmental managers, etc. that will make decisions regarding our proposals.  Normally we will contact persons and then ask them to go to our WebPages.
My goal was to communicate as much as possible on the front page.  For those who don’t want to read, the rotating graphics tried to communicate our capabilities quickly.  Our goal is not to be the best (too expensive and takes too much time), just credible and a solid company to do business with.
This WebPage business is an evolving process.  I have just contacted our WebPage designers – (name withheld to protect the clueless) to start making changes.
1.  I need to write more white papers on various subjects;
2.  I think we will do away with the news section on the front page.
3.  We are going to add Country X to our portfolio.
Eventually I want to start adding Podcasts.

The idea of a website as a brochure is an exercise in futility. Google doesn’t care about your brochure, unless you update it often.

While his site may serve his needs, it isn’t helping bring in new business, making new connections or presenting his firm as leaders in the field- never mind- that it doesn’t have search, RSS or a CMS to manage the content.

If all this sounds as confusing as having to type http:// before you enter an address on a site- it’s because engineers invented this tangled web we work on every day. We make it easy- for non-techie types to get it- and make their website work for them.

Spend a day with us and learn everything you need to know about how the web works- but the secrets of how you get to the first page of Google without paying for ads.

We’ll teach you how to maintain a website using the newest coolest Web 2.0 tools- which means nothing to buy, no code to learn and the ability to connect with customers easier than ever before.

What we preach is organic search engine optimization as opposed to paying for “Search Engine Optimization” voodoo. It’s much more cost effective and it actually works.

Your website can become a powerful business tool and easy to use if you take this seminar. Your webstats will prove it in no time.

So sign up now- we know you’ll become one of our many successful Websitetologists.

Thu Jul 30, 2009 at The Next Wave, 100 Bonner Street Dayton OH 45410 from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm.

We will be meeting at Nehemiah University 750 S. Main Street Dayton OH 45410.

If you have doubts- read what a student said after the last session:

Sometimes you get exposed to new stuff and it gives you that sick feeling of I had to travel and pay $$$ to go learn to know how much I didn’t know. But all said, that seminar was without a doubt one of the best investments that I’ve made in awhile

Hope to see you July 30. Note, location will change when we reach a threshold number of students.

See new location above in red.

This time, we’re doing something different.

We’ll give a FREE 45 minute presentation on Twitter and how it can work for business starting at 7:30am until 8:15am- then you can stay for Websitetology- the seminar that makes anyone into a Google Topping Web Master.

The key to Websites these days is understanding they aren’t like a Yellow pages ad- just paying money and putting one up isn’t going to get you business automatically. Websites have to be updated, have useful information that is customer focused and they have to be built so that you can maintain it yourself.

It’s not enough to just build a website- you also need to build a community- and we’ll teach you how.

If you have a site that uses web 2.0 technology like RSS, CSS and allows for comments: and come to our seminar, you will be able to get listed on the first page of Google (without paying for ads). We can teach you how to be a webmaster in one day- without having to learn any code.

Spend a day with us and learn everything you need to know about how the web works- but the secrets of how you get to the first page of Google without paying for ads.

We’ll teach you how to maintain a website using the newest coolest Web 2.0 tools- which means nothing to buy, no code to learn and the ability to connect with customers easier than ever before.

What we preach is organic search engine optimization as opposed to paying for “Search Engine Optimization” voodoo. It’s much more cost effective and it actually works.

Your website can become a powerful business tool and easy to use if you take this seminar. Your webstats will prove it in no time.

So sign up now- we know you’ll become one of our many successful Websitetologists.

Tuesday, 28 Apr 2009 at Nehemiah University, 750 S. Main Street Dayton OH 45402 from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm.

Free Twitter session before- starting at 7:30 am. RSVP’s requested, not required: websitetology@thenextwave.biz.

Websitetology  is a seminar about using the web for successfully making new business connections. We teach how the web works, how search works, and how to use open source content management systems like WordPress, Joomla! and Drupal to help you make a successful home on the web.

Conventional advertising and branding is suffering from the effects of over-exposure and fragmentation. The key is to find a community and build relationships. This story of how a small winery employed social media to grow their business is a perfect example of what we teach:

Stormhoek was a tiny South African winery when the company began working with UK blogger Hugh MacLeod to develop a social media strategy. MacLeod started working with Stormhoek in May of 2005, and by the end of the year, the winery’s sales had doubled. Besides dipping its toes in the blogging waters, in 2005, Stormhoek also launched an interesting campaign where it gave away 100 free bottles of wine to 100 bloggers in the UK, Ireland, and France. The bloggers were under no obligation to write about the wine or Stormhoek, but many did both, and the company’s awareness among bloggers skyrocketed.

In 2006, Stormhoek expanded on the ‘give wine away to bloggers’ idea, by setting up ‘Geek Dinners’, where bloggers around the United States throw their own parties, with Stormhoek providing the wine for free. This idea just further raised Stormhoek’s presence in the blogosphere.

So what’s the end result from all this for Stormhoek? Hugh MacLeod, speaking at last year’s South by Southwest festival, stated that before Stormhoek started blogging and involving bloggers in its marketing efforts, that the winery sold around 40,000 cases of wine a year. When MacLeod spoke at SXSW in March of 2007, he stated that the company was at that point selling 40,000 cases of wine a WEEK.

via So Does Blogging Really Work? Here’s the Proof. – Search Engine Guide Blog.

Although we still believe in empowering clients to do their own blogging (who knows your business better than you) we can help get you started.

We try to keep tabs on those who have taken the Seminar- mostly by reading their feeds. Some really get it- and make it work for them.

Take the case of a copywriter who used to work for a local ad agency, but left for Charleston SC:

Honestly, I am not a salesman, so I am not the best resource. I only know what has worked for me. And “worked” is a subjective, relative term. See if this makes any sense…

Blogging has elevated me from number 60 (or so) on Google for “copywriter+charleston+sc” to top-3 in six months. Correction: it took about a month to get there, where I have remained.

My blog’s back pages contain my value statement, resume, references and writing samples. It’s all in one location, and easier to access than tearing open the envelope, reading my cover letter, popping in my CDROM, etc.

I like to think that my blog posts make some kind of impression. They give a glimpse of my personality (lucky you.) And they can be a kind of soft sell. For instance, rehashing some humorous incident that happened to me while producing an industrial video in Germany is a subtle way to remind you that I have produced internationally… if that’s your bag, baby.

Finally, most importantly, by the time a client calls or emails, he or she has read the value statement, resume, etc., and is very nearly sold. They are calling to “talk about upcoming projects and look for the right fit.”

via Blogging about Blogging (oh, joy.) « A Lively Exchange.

Of course, his former employer, still has no clue about web 2.0. Their site has no search box, no RSS feed and makes noise when you land on it.

Too bad many of the people searching for them- end up on this page too: Agencies that aren’t The Next Wave. Learn the tricks of using the web to make up for your lack of sales skills, or to enhance the ones you have. Sign up for the seminar.

The web is constantly changing, and if your company is using its website properly, it’s constantly being updated, changed, amended. What, you say you never update your site? It still says the same thing as last year? Well, then you really need to take our seminar.

Websites aren’t like a Yellow pages ad- just paying money and putting one up isn’t going to get you business automatically. Websites have to be updated, have useful information that is customer focused and they have to be built so that you can maintain it yourself. If you have a site like that, and come to our seminar you will be able to get listed on the first page of Google (without paying for ads). We can teach you how to be a webmaster in one day- without having to learn any code.

Spend a day with us and learn everything you need to know about how the web works- but the secrets of how you get to the first page of Google without paying for ads.

We’ll teach you how to maintain a website using the newest coolest Web 2.0 tools- which means nothing to buy, no code to learn and the ability to connect with customers easier than ever before.

We give this seminar across the country- and have clients from Florida to California, just because we get organic search engine optimization.

Your website can become a powerful business tool and easy to use if you take this seminar. Your webstats will prove it in no time.

So sign up now- we know you’ll become one of our many successful Websitetologists.

Tuesday, 6 January 2009 at Nehemiah University, 750 S. Main Street Dayton OH 45402 from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm.

Websites aren’t like a Yellow pages ad- just paying money and putting one up isn’t going to get you business automatically. Websites have to be updated, have useful information that is customer focused and they have to be built so that you can maintain it yourself. If you have a site like that, and come to our seminar you will be able to get listed on the first page of Google (without paying for ads). We can teach you how to be a webmaster in one day- without having to learn any code.

Spend a day with us and learn everything you need to know about how the web works- but the secrets of how you get to the first page of Google without paying for ads.

We’ll teach you how to maintain a website using the newest coolest Web 2.0 tools- which means nothing to buy, no code to learn and the ability to connect with customers easier than ever before.

We give this seminar across the country- and have clients from Florida to California, just because we get organic search engine optimization.

Your website can become a powerful business tool and easy to use if you take this seminar. Your webstats will prove it in no time.

So sign up now- we know you’ll become one of our many successful Websitetologists.

Tuesday, 18 November 2008 at Nehemiah University, 750 S. Main Street Dayton OH 45402 from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm.

Having a website isn’t enough- having one that you can maintain and get listed on the first page of Google (without paying for ads) is a bare minimum requirement. We can teach you how to be a webmaster in one day- without having to learn any code.

Spend a day with us and learn everything you need to
know about how the web works- but the secrets of how you get to the
first page of Google without paying for ads.

We’ll teach you how to maintain a website using the newest coolest Web
2.0 tools- which means nothing to buy, no code to learn and the ability
to connect with customers easier than ever before.

We give this seminar across the country- and have clients from Florida to California, just because we get organic search engine optimization.

Your website can become a powerful business tool and easy to use if
you take this seminar. Your webstats will prove it in no time.

So sign up now- we know you’ll become one of our many successful Websitetologists.

Tuesday, 23 September 2008 at Nehemiah University, 750 S. Main Street Dayton OH 45402 from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm.

You can’t have a business without a website anymore than a business without a phone. Spend a day with us and learn everything you need to know about how the web works- but the secrets of how you get to the first page of Google without paying for ads.

Anyone can learn to maintain a website using the newest coolest Web 2.0 tools- which means nothing to buy, no code to learn and the ability to connect with customers easier than ever before.

At a recent short presentation to the Greater Dayton Advertising Association Professional Development program we got 100% positive reviews and comments like “obviously knows his material well” and “one of your best presentations. Lots of useful info to implement immediately.”

Your website can become a powerful business tool and easy to use if you take this seminar. Your webstats will prove it in no time.

So sign up now- we know you’ll become one of our many successful Websitetologists.

Friday, 22 August 2008 at Nehemiah University, 750 S. Main Street Dayton OH 45402 from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm.