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Brad Schafer Fri, 18 Nov 2011 16:34:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:12 http://www.theschafergroup.com/Blog/BlogArticles/tabid/85/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/11/What-is-Lead-Generation.aspx#Comments 0 http://www.theschafergroup.com/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=85&ModuleID=421&ArticleID=11 http://www.theschafergroup.com/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=11&PortalID=0&TabID=85 http://www.theschafergroup.com/Blog/BlogArticles/tabid/85/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/11/What-is-Lead-Generation.aspx What is Lead Generation? The best explanation actually starts with a question; How did you get to this website?  You probably found out about us through some kind of media placement or a referral system.  In any case, it happened through means that can be replicated for your industry and your specific situation. We didn't contact you; you're contacting us.  That is important. What you're reading now, and will continue to learn from us is this: Marketing is not a quick cheap trick, or even a 'quick fix' . Fortunately, we have specific services that can work for you starting right now.  We can get you a link from Google to your website in about 10 minutes! This link would send you lots of traffic (IE. Click Here for Free Money). But senseless traffic is a waste of time and capital for both parties. What we will do is help you learn how to market yourself the same way we do: brand centric, results-accountable, response based, and measured. To sum it up we "Generate Leads not Traffic". (and we strive to do it for less money every-time) Evaluating SEO Companies? You feel the need to hire an SEO Consultant/Firm to do search engine optimization for your website. Who can you trust and what kind of results should you expect? Look around, and the come back to us. Why?  We only use 'white-hat' techiniques and refer-out only to only trusted reputible affiliates.  If we can't directly solve your SEO request, we can show you other options. Give us an idea of your budget and we can give you some solid options. Need SEO Advice? The Schafer Group SEO Consulting will help you to reach a practical vision for your SEO campaign. Often just a few hours over phone with our specialist will answer many questions. So before you commit to spending alot of valuable cash on some SEO Company recommending a complete overhaul, try our SEO consutling services. Our SEO Consulting Service May Be All You Need! SEO is not like performing 'brain-surgery', however, it is not something you can learn overnight. The good news: it can be learned by almost anyone. There are many techniques, but just learning a few 'basics' can make a large difference. Talking to one of our SEO consultants is a great way to learn the steps and tools needed to start to manage your own "SEO".  A small amount expert advice from our SEO consultant may save you a lot of money in the long run. Welcome, to the future of permission based relationship marketing. Welcome to The Schafer Group. Brad Schafer Wed, 16 Nov 2011 19:52:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:11 http://www.theschafergroup.com/Blog/BlogArticles/tabid/85/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/9/Why-Managed-Content-Management-System.aspx#Comments 1 http://www.theschafergroup.com/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=85&ModuleID=421&ArticleID=9 http://www.theschafergroup.com/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=9&PortalID=0&TabID=85 http://www.theschafergroup.com/Blog/BlogArticles/tabid/85/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/9/Why-Managed-Content-Management-System.aspx Why Managed Content Management Systems? Enhanced User Productivity Now you are empowered to create, publish, and manage your own Web content by means of an Internet browser. This enables you to realize the full potential of your very own Web site by using it as a business tool for communication with customers, partners, and coworkers. Increased Usability and Aesthetics Managed navigation, content scheduling, archiving, and centralized control over publishing standards through page templates and style sheets result in Web sites that are richer, more accurate, timely, and have easy-to-find content. Reduced Operating Costs By empowering you to manage your own content, your expensive developer/designer resources are freed. This results in reduced support costs for your Web site and enables you to refoucs those resources to work on new projects or projects that support your website to address your most critical business needs. Experienced Design Team With over 20 years of combined experience designing websites, you get a top notch design team available without having to support full time Animators, Illustrators, and Page Layout experts. This results in a great looking site at a budget that you can afford. Reduced Time to Value With a high level of pre-built functionality, a rapid application development environment using Microsoft's newest technologies, production quality beta sites, and prescriptive best practices, our development team can build and deploy powerful e-business Web site for you in record time. Scalability and Reliability The NucleaTM Website Solutions enables you to scale up and scale out to meet the needs of even the largest global Web site. MaximumASP hosts "World Tribune" that receives over 12 million hits a day! Still think your site has too much traffic for us to handle? Expert Dedicated IT Certified MSCE monitor the website 24x7, and guarantee 99.93% uptime. That's only 12 minutes a year. How good is your IT department? Greater Interoperability Support for XML Web services and the Microsoft .NET common language runtime enables your applications to achieve seamless interoperability with the rest of your business systems or business partners. Extend the reach of your business solution by integrating industry standards links to suppliers and marketing services. Based on Industry Standards and Leaders With industry-leading support for standards like XML and SOAP, and with support from industry leaders like Microsoft, NucleaTM enables flexibility and interoperability with business partners regardless of their choice of application, platform, or transport. Increased Integration with Microsoft Technologies & Solution Providers By integrating with Microsoft's developer tools, Microsoft Windows Server System, and Microsoft Certified Partners, NucleaTM enables you to focus your efforts on your most critical business needs and rely on Microsoft to integrate the software for our Solution. NucleaTM  integrates with a number of Microsoft products, technologies, and services including: Visual Studio .NET for Web site development. Microsoft SQL Server™ for content storage. MaximumASP for Enterprise level hosting. Microsoft Certified Partner. PhotoShop / Image Ready for Web Layout. Microsoft Word for content authoring and publishing. Brad Schafer Wed, 16 Nov 2011 19:02:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:9 http://www.theschafergroup.com/Blog/BlogArticles/tabid/85/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/8/Web-Service-Integration-Services.aspx#Comments 0 http://www.theschafergroup.com/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=85&ModuleID=421&ArticleID=8 http://www.theschafergroup.com/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=8&PortalID=0&TabID=85 http://www.theschafergroup.com/Blog/BlogArticles/tabid/85/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/8/Web-Service-Integration-Services.aspx Do you provide information, a process, software, or any other digital artifiact that can be sold? Then perhaps our Web Services development is for you. Often difficult to grasp at first, webservices are really small business transactions that take place 'behind-the scenes' to provide a larger produt or service. Web services can range from financial transactions, to data conversions. For instance, say your firm has data that is valuable to a commercial venture. What if your could provide a flexible offering of that data, in exactly the form your customer wants, at the moment they ask for it, and monitor the usage in a per request fashion? This is exactly the business model that web services provides. Whether you're a government agency, bank, lendor, scientist, doctor, lawyer or photographer you may want to consider a web services interface for your busines. Let our Team of Web Service experts help your business enter into a brand new business model. Let us know your needs, email us now. Brad Schafer Wed, 16 Nov 2011 18:54:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:8 http://www.theschafergroup.com/Blog/BlogArticles/tabid/85/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/7/Lead-Generation-Services.aspx#Comments 0 http://www.theschafergroup.com/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=85&ModuleID=421&ArticleID=7 http://www.theschafergroup.com/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=7&PortalID=0&TabID=85 http://www.theschafergroup.com/Blog/BlogArticles/tabid/85/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/7/Lead-Generation-Services.aspx Over the last few years, marketing has turned on it's head. Consumers now drive the marketplace, searching for products and services. The agency of yesterday is left powerless until they understand the emerging market of lead generation.    For the informed buyer and the prepared seller, lead generation is a  'win-win'. A buyer is able to search for, find and request information (often for free) from one of the many businesses that offer the exact product or service that they are searching for. The seller (if prepared) is given the opportunity to pitch their product or service to the exact someone they are looking to sell to. This is the marketplace of Lead Generation. Companies with the ability to drive more focused leads already leading the pack (Google, Yahoo). Expert agencies using these companies to maximize relevant leads at lower prices show their similarities to the Advertising Agencies using TV or Cable media outlets of the past. The leaders of Lead Generation are also beginning to emmerge. Conversion rates on leads from lead generation often have a higher success rate than cold contacts, traditional media or even SPAM,  because the prospect is not only prequalified, but specifically seeking the product you are marketing to them. Often, they are further along in the sales cycle, and nearly ready to make a purchase.  Some of the integrated methods The Schafer Group uses for lead generation include: Search Marketing: Managed Pay Per Click Services Web Analytics Regional Promotion Link Exchange Email Marketing Email Newsletters Opt In Services Lead generation has become popular with businesses because it enables a business to: Develop a more accurate ROI on a per lead basis Choose the product/service and the time they wish to offer to prospects Control the geographical area that the business focused to reach Control the budget on leads a business wishes to receive per day Pay only for the leads that are received View detailed analytics on the leads in order to realign it's business to the market. CAN'T I JUST BUY A LIST? Buying lists is simply backwards to the way consumers want to be addressed in today's marketplace. It's called spam, no matter how you phrase it. We believe that Email Marketing fits perfectly into the Lead Generation continuum as part of  'Relationship Management'. You should treat every email you send out like showing up at someone's personal residence. Only do it only when your invited, and bring a gift when you show up. So where do you start then? Email gathering, from interested parties, driven to your site from targetted advertising. Just like you got here.  No matter how you look at Lead Generation, no lead is free. Organic listings are not free, they are the result of persitent, educated, deliberate marketing efforts. HOW MUCH DOES A LEAD COST?  Web Lead generation can be extremely cost effective. Par Per Click leads range anywhere from $0.05 to $8. The price often depends on  the amount of players in the field and the potential profit margins involved. The good news is, the more niche the market, the lower the price seems to be. Also, when combined with SEO techniques the cost of converting leads is reduced significantly.   WHAT ABOUT FREE LISTINGS? Free listings (sometimes called 'organic') is just one focus of the Search Marketing prong of lead generation. Organic listings take time to develop and require continual cultivation. Organic listings are cultivated by two major techiniques: On-page, and Off-page optimizations. It is not rocket-science, but is does require constant observation and manipulation. Therefore, we recommend our MSEO or Managed Search Engine Optimization for clients seeking the long term benefit of free organic listings. We use only white-hat techniques and keep abreast of the latest changes in the search engine world. Brad Schafer Fri, 11 Nov 2011 20:28:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:7 http://www.theschafergroup.com/Blog/BlogArticles/tabid/85/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/5/Findable-Credible-Shareable-Trackable.aspx#Comments 0 http://www.theschafergroup.com/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=85&ModuleID=421&ArticleID=5 http://www.theschafergroup.com/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=5&PortalID=0&TabID=85 http://www.theschafergroup.com/Blog/BlogArticles/tabid/85/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/5/Findable-Credible-Shareable-Trackable.aspx Marketing online has a few key requirements that print, radio and other marketing efforts might not require. Many of these requirements have spawned their own industries or business sectors ( SEO, Analytics, Social Media) but the reality is that all are required for success online. The essence of online success : Findable, Credible, Shareable, Trackable. Brad Schafer Mon, 07 Nov 2011 23:06:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:5 http://www.theschafergroup.com/Blog/BlogArticles/tabid/85/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/4/We-do-web-stuff.aspx#Comments 0 http://www.theschafergroup.com/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=85&ModuleID=421&ArticleID=4 http://www.theschafergroup.com/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=4&PortalID=0&TabID=85 http://www.theschafergroup.com/Blog/BlogArticles/tabid/85/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/4/We-do-web-stuff.aspx As an agency we're often asked "do you do (____)"? More often than not the answer is yes. We love making websites, so anything related to making websites successful becomes a by-product of all the projects we do. Brad Schafer Mon, 07 Nov 2011 21:42:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:4 http://www.theschafergroup.com/Blog/BlogArticles/tabid/85/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/3/Creating-A-Brand-Platform.aspx#Comments 1 http://www.theschafergroup.com/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=85&ModuleID=421&ArticleID=3 http://www.theschafergroup.com/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=3&PortalID=0&TabID=85 http://www.theschafergroup.com/Blog/BlogArticles/tabid/85/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/3/Creating-A-Brand-Platform.aspx A Corporate Brand Platform is an actionable articulation of management intentions in six parts. It is important to have actionable intentions clearly stated so that when working with the brand no ambiguity exists as to what the brand is trying to achieve. Brad Schafer Mon, 07 Nov 2011 19:24:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:3 http://www.theschafergroup.com/Blog/BlogArticles/tabid/85/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/15/A-picture-worth-a-million-lines-of-code.aspx#Comments 0 http://www.theschafergroup.com/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=85&ModuleID=421&ArticleID=15 http://www.theschafergroup.com/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=15&PortalID=0&TabID=85 http://www.theschafergroup.com/Blog/BlogArticles/tabid/85/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/15/A-picture-worth-a-million-lines-of-code.aspx As custom software integrators we work on a lot of projects. Sometimes projects come from referals by way of 'stakeholder desperation'. These are projects on the verge of failure because someone 'burned' someone else. More often than not both parties walked down the same road together. The primary issue is that although the project seemed to be defined appropriately it is usually far, far from adequately scoped for success. Take this image for example:   This is a 'mockup' or screenshot typically used to communicate the needs of the project from one party to another. Everything is neatly arranged, notes are given and the UI looks pretty self explanatory. This should serve as a clear blueprint to what the cost of project should be right? Sometimes there are perhaps two or three more supporting mockups to show inner-page or sub-page or whatever term the project owner uses. Those two extra pages should  (in the clients' mind) eliminate any questions on how the website will respond to user interaction. Issue #1: The client is 'expecting' Microsoft Outlook.. all of it.. I mean there is clearly a link to calendar, and tasks and contacts. There is also likely the casual mention of a 'calendering engine' and a 'contact system' and some other vague notions of why specific buttons are placed on the screen. All of the 'vision' of the final product both verbally communicated and mentally pictured are secretly contained in the expectations of those 'links' represented on the screenshot. There is no reason so assume otherwise: obviously the project owner needs something of real lasting value to make this project a success. Some degree of novelty is required to differentiate this project from all the other web based initiaves or installed software programs that would potentially compete with this groundbreaking new concept.  Issue #2: The client had mentally budgeted what he felt it would take to pull off their vision based on the amount of budget that was readily available. Let's say the mental model was somewhere less than $50k. (The entire combined life savings of the two partners that have gone into this project venture). Issue #3: The 'original' developer (typically working on a fixed bid model) had to not scare the prospect off with an initial bid. So the mental model of what will be developed was the minumum work possibly represented in the screenshots. The 'original' developer sees this delivery gap as 'fair' since nothing had really been 'designed' or 'discussed' on how those portions of the application would actually work yet. Issue #4: The reality is; Project success in the current marketplace actually does require a large percentage of the feature set of what is present in MS Outlook. If you have used Outlook then you might have already determined that this a multi-million lines of code project, with lots of quality assurance, testing. I personally have no idea what the total cost to produce Outlook (say 2007) is, but I am guessing at least $5-30 million.   Where does that leave the likelyhood of success for a product that is 99.99% underfunded, underscoped and underbid?   Ok this case scenario is a bit exagerated and perhaps a little harsh. The reality though is that perhaps the largest driver for success is to invest heavily upfront in 'Discovery'. Until  "every results screen, of every affectable thing" is layed out on screen there is a 'haze' over the true cost of development. There's a great qoute from a little known movie called "The Emporer's Club", in it the slogan of the school is : "The end depends upon the begining". That statement rings loud and clear in the software development arena. Brad Schafer Fri, 29 Jul 2011 16:00:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:15 http://www.theschafergroup.com/Blog/BlogArticles/tabid/85/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/17/Day-of-DNN--Extreme-DNN-Development.aspx#Comments 0 http://www.theschafergroup.com/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=85&ModuleID=421&ArticleID=17 http://www.theschafergroup.com/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=17&PortalID=0&TabID=85 http://www.theschafergroup.com/Blog/BlogArticles/tabid/85/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/17/Day-of-DNN--Extreme-DNN-Development.aspx The Extreme DNN Development session was a pleasure to put on. Thanks to everyone that was able to attend. Attached is a copy of the slides presented.     Brad Schafer Tue, 29 Mar 2011 16:08:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:17 http://www.theschafergroup.com/Blog/BlogArticles/tabid/85/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/13/Case-Studies--Videos.aspx#Comments 0 http://www.theschafergroup.com/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=85&ModuleID=421&ArticleID=13 http://www.theschafergroup.com/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=13&PortalID=0&TabID=85 http://www.theschafergroup.com/Blog/BlogArticles/tabid/85/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/13/Case-Studies--Videos.aspx Brad Schafer Sun, 31 Oct 2010 00:37:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:13 http://www.theschafergroup.com/Blog/BlogArticles/tabid/85/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/16/Analytics-Tips--Custom-Segmentation.aspx#Comments 0 http://www.theschafergroup.com/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=85&ModuleID=421&ArticleID=16 http://www.theschafergroup.com/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=16&PortalID=0&TabID=85 http://www.theschafergroup.com/Blog/BlogArticles/tabid/85/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/16/Analytics-Tips--Custom-Segmentation.aspx Have you ever been curious what percentage of visitors from a region, say California, have actually made a purchase on your site?  Wouldn't it be great to understand your visitors well enough to focus ad spend on regions, or keywords that actually generate the most revenue per dollar?  This video on advanced visitor segmentation will show you specifically step-by-step methods to begin this process on your own. Brad Schafer Wed, 14 Apr 2010 16:04:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:16