Mortgage Broker in Los Angeles Uses Randy Kirk & Associates for New Website

Bill Rayman is an amazing home loan mortgage consultant working under the auspices of Mortgage Capital Partner, a Los Angeles based Mortgage Broker.  Bill hired Randy Kirk and Associates to help him produce a state-of-the-art website with the goal of providing a truly helpful site to consumers interested in securing a mortgage.  The website was launched today and can be viewed at http://www.mortgagehelplosangeles.com. 

We have provided visitors to the site with a vast amount of information useful to first time home buyers, those interested in refinancing for cash out, lower interest rates, shorter terms, or lowered payment, and for those who want to purchase income or commercial property. 

There are sections on FHA financing, calculators to determine payments, affordability, or compare renting with buying.  Bill is currently at the leading edge of a new approach called short-pay refinancing.  You can check out his video on the subject at the website.

Google Voice Has Internet Marketing Implications, But Great for Home Use Also

Google Voice will be almost as big as Google Mail and Google Maps.  They have the potential to own this space.  You can now have free phone lines with all kinds of cool features just like you now have free email with all kinds of cool features.  I have created a new blog just to cover Google Voice.  It is that big of a deal.  Please visit the blog to learn how you can Cut Your Cell Phone Bill in HALF!

For those who have any kind of small business, the uses for Google Voice are endless.  Google Voice will be an internet marketing tool of almost limitless proportions. 

Google Maps Local Business Center is Do or Die Site for Many Local Small Businesses

Page1Listings.com has created a new group of blogs to help small businesses get better positioning on Google searches for key words important to them. The most critical of these blogs is for Google Maps Local Business Center. You are no doubt familiar with the little map that pops up when you go searching for a local business. For instance if you were to search for auto insurance Marina Del Rey, you would find what we call a "single." The map appears with just a single company listed. (This happens to be our client, Jaffe Insurance.)

Or you might search for Bike Shop Norwalk, and you would see the map with 10 shops listed to the right. (Pat's 605 Cyclery is ours, nicely situated at the top of the listings.)

For many companies, failure to be listed on Google Maps Local Business Center is the kiss of death. For some, a listing isn't enough. They need to be number 1 on the listing or business dries up.

Google Maps Local Business Center is called a "Local Search Engine" or LSE. It is only one of some 72 such LSE's. We have created a help site for Google Maps, one for Yelp.com, one for MerchantCircle.com, and one for HotFrog.com. These are the 4 most important at this time, and seem to be positioned to continue to out muscle the others such as CitySearch, InsiderPages, and even YellowPages.com.

Google Maps Local Business Center, Bing, Caffeine, Hot Frog - Effecting Your Business NOW!

Change. The word is on everyone’s lips. It was the central theme of the just past political season. It is currently the underpinning of legislation being pressed on Health Care and Energy policies. Alvin Toffler in his talk of ever accelerating waves of change foresaw a time when change would be so rapid that the vast majority of the population would give up trying to keep up. Has the internet brought us to that place? For the local small business owner, the answer would
seem to be a resounding yes.

Marketing a small business in 2009 is complex beyond understanding, or at least the average small business owner thinks so. Internet marketing is now the primary driver of traffic to local businesses who supply goods and services to consumers (B2C) and to other local companies (B2B). Strategies for being visible on the internet change so fast that even many experts have difficulty keeping up.

In just the last three weeks, we have had the merger of two major internet forces. The resulting new search engine, Bing, raises new questions about how to stay relevant. Not surprisingly Google has responded with Caffeine, a faster, more sophisticated engine. Google
Maps Local Business Center, Yelp, YellowPages.com, CitySearch, MerchantCircle, and over 65 other national Local Search Engines (LSE's) duke it out for their share of search for products and services at the local level. HotFrog, a more recent launch, goes from obscurity to solid contender in just weeks, after Merchant Circle did the same within months.

Randy Kirk, CEO of Page1Listings.com spelled out the current situation: "For the local bakery, restaurant, lawyer, or general contractor, the ability to be seen on page 1 of a Google Search has
dropped exponentially in the last 24 months. Where a well designed website with decent Search Engine Optimization (SEO) may have provided that visibility two years ago, the LSE's now control most of the top 10 - 20 positions on most searches, not specific business websites."

Page1Listings.com President, Ollie Danner laments: "Unfortunately, the LSE's content is pretty awful across the board. When you go on even the best of them, a search for Italian Restaurant in Las Vegas will commonly include many, many listings that have nothing to do with
Italian Restaurants. Moreover the consumer may or may not realize that reviews on these sites may be "flames" (bad reviews) created by competitors. We realized this need for better results for local businesses and created local search engines directories such as
www.GoToKern.com and have plans to roll out close to 100 such GoTo sites in the coming months."

What can the local business owner do? Kirk, author of "Running a 21st Century Small Business" answers: "For many, the answer has been to move to other methods of advertising and promotion that are throwbacks. There is a lot more networking taking place. This is not
just the kind found on Facebook or LinkedIn, but real, face-to-face interaction with others in groups like LeTip or BNI. Where 20 years ago the major local business group might have been Rotary or the Chamber, today businesses are being far more explicit in what they hope to gain from membership in a business club. They want a business connection that will result in dollars in their pockets"

This new direction has spawned networking meetings that are similar to speed dating clubs. Twenty to 40 local owners will meet and spend five minutes with each of the other attendees seeing how they might be able to connect and do business together.

These ideas are useful and can produce business. But for many businesses, not being visible on the web is the kiss of death. So how can these small businesses possibly keep up with the change. Kirk points out, "there is a growing group of companies who specialize in visibility issues. We have created one such company that will use up to a dozen different methods to get our clients on page 1 of Google searches for key words that matter to them.

Danner adds: "We have used YouTube videos, PR releases, Flickr., Blogs, Craig's list, and many other methods. Of course there is still a need for an outstanding website, and for many businesses, we can get them excellent visibility with their website. We also concentrate on
those 72 Local Search Engines. We make sure that our clients are on all of them and that they're listings are optimized on those LSE's.

"While there are some other companies doing what we do, we believe that we are unique in that we employ a full-on marketing department to make sure we are creating the greatest potential for a return on the client's investment. Even with those resources being employed, our services are priced starting well under $1000."

But what about the changes? Won't there be another new LSE like HotFrog emerging next week or next month? Won't Bing and Google and other search engines be changing how they rate businesses almost monthly? Besides, the small businessman in this climate has to be constantly
changing, too. How will he be able to communicate his latest invention or idea or product to those 72 search engines.

Kirk acknowledges that it isn't easy: "We have to stay on top of all these changes every single day. The local owner does not have the luxury of doing that. So we offer them a service for about $100 a month that makes sure they stay up to date. We even call them from time-to-time to check on changes that they might not have called in to us. We insure that they will stay on page 1, and stay relevant."

So how do companies that need the kind of service you are offering find a quality provider? Kirk concludes: This is just one part of the change we are in. We don't know of anyone else that does what we do. We invite competition, because we can't possibly do this for 5,000,000 small businesses. We're even willing to create partnerships with others and teach them what we know. For now, we just try to handle all the business that is coming our way."

For more on Page1Listings.com visit their website or call 800-708-1748.

Change One Thing In Your Life At A Time

This may be the most important self-help lesson I have ever learned. I suspect that if I had been paying attention to Zig Ziglar many years ago, I could have picked up on this idea a very long time ago. But earlier this year, several influencers converged with the same message over just a few weeks, and I was a 100% true believer convert. In fact I have been applying this new idea to my own life for the past few months with startling effects.

Let's start with giving credit where credit is due and using the actual words of the teachers who influenced me. It all started with my reading the hugely popular author Dave Ramsey and his book, The Total Money Makeover. You have likely heard the question: "How do you eat an elephant." The answer is one bite at a time. Dave Ramsey says it this way:

Find something you want to do and do that with vigor until it is complete; then and only then do you move to the next step. If you try to do everything at once, you will fail.

This is how I have attacked change my entire life. I need to increase sales to existing customers, improve collections, drive down costs, spend more time with my family, increase my ministry to others, and work on my next hobby . . . All at once. Dave Ramsey gave me the first hint that this was a futile approach.

Then while driving down the freeway listening to a CD series on Spiritual Formation by Dr. John Coe at Biola University, John described me perfectly. He said that those of us who are "self help" junkies will pick up a new self help book, read the first chapter and go, "WoW! There are some great ideas there that I should incorporate into my life." Then on to the next chapter. Soon, we've finished the book and then pick up the next one, eager to read more great ideas on how we could improve all these things in our lives.

To be perfectly honest, at least for me, some of those ideas filter in here and there. They are especially useful for telling others how they might change their lives!! But very, very little sticks, and in a few months it is all but forgotten.

John Coe said that the secret is pursuing one aspect of our, in this case, spiritual aspect of our lives that we wish to improve. Once that habit has been established we can move on to the next.

I honestly don't remember for sure where the next two admonitions came from. But they were dead on with the same advice. Soooooo . . . for once, I stopped. I listened. I did not go onto the next chapter in The Money Makeover Book. I decided to go 100% cash as instructed and to attempt to create a $1000 cash reserve. That was over four months ago. I have not used a credit card since. I am still working on the reserve. I have not turned the next page in the book.

Meanwhile, I was over at my daughter's house. My then two year-old grandson Grant checked me out thoroughly, and asked his Dad, "Does Poppy have a baby in his belly?" With the financial habit firmly in place it was now time to get something else firmed up. I had many things going against me. I'm in my 7th decade (61). I am a man of a very, very small frame. I hate exercise unless done with others in competitive sport. I work 60+ hours a week.

But you see, with the new plan, this was my focus. The rest of my life would continue to move along with its own special combination of bad and good habits. No other changes allowed until this one was successfully implemented.

I'm not going to publish the pictures, at least not yet, but Grant says he no longer worries that I'm adding to the population problem. My family members have noticed that there are actually cuts and bulges where there used to be flab and jiggly stuff. And this has happened in only 12 weeks.

With that element habitual and just requiring maintenance, it was on to phase three. In case you haven't noticed, we are in a recession. Being older than most reporters on the subject, I can tell you this is not the worst recession since the great depression. But it is the worst one since Carter's 21% interest rates and 17% inflation. And it is serious, and could get worse. In the middle of this recession I have started two new businesses. One is providing about 70% of what I need to pay my personal overhead. The other is just now starting up.

It is very easy to get distracted from a business, especially when the business is operated out of your home, and there are four other folks living in the house. To make it more interesting, all of them are teen or early 20 men who have a constant stream of similar aged male and female friends coming through at literally all hours of the day and night.

Phase three, begun just 6 days ago as of this writing, is to have a laserlike attention to business; to put in 12 hours a day 6+ days per week of solid prospecting and execution of client projects. This one thing at a time approach is still in the early stages of proving itself, but thus far it is very, very successful. I challenge others to try it and report back on your success.

Remember, you have to want the change more than you want the pain you are dealing with now. So my first pain was credit card debt. My second pain was two year-old honesty. My third pain is not being able to buy simple needs and wants. So if you have a pain in your life that can be excised, and you want it bad enough to concentrate for a few weeks or months to accomplish its eradication, go for it. Even send me an email that your going to do it, so I can keep your somewhat accountable if you like.

Publish Your Christian Novel or Non-Fiction Book with Best Self Publisher

Authors today are increasingly turning to self publishing as a solution to getting their books to market. With traditional publishers offering less and less and asking more and more of their authors, many are choosing self publishing in order to control their own destiny and to dramatically increase their profit. However, just as most folks who build an addition to their home don't act as a general contractor, authors who self publish are now discovering partnership publishers.

Companies like CSN Books Orange County provide comprehensive evaluation of an author's work at whatever stage the project has reached. CSN can then provide a full range of services including professional editing, proofing, writing, typesetting, cover design, publishing, printing, marketing and distribution of the book. Gary Kirk, president of CSN Books Orange County, explains how to self publish your Christian book in this video.

Nine Key Ingredients For Website Creation, Design, and Development

Yesterday a business Yahoo Group in Los Angeles that I subscribe to got into a heated discussion of what a new website creation, design, and/or development should cost, including SEO, or search engine optimization. I decided to create a basic primer in order to explain why the cost will be $3000 or more for a serious site. Here's what I came up with:

Copy this list and put it in your website file for any future plans you have to create or update your website. If your website designer can't do these things, or has no proof of their ability to do them, you should either use a different designer or assemble a team to do the work.

1. Determine what the website is to be used for. Is it an online brochure? Do you expect people to take action (Call, email, sign up, come in, buy something?) Is it an information resource? Will clients continue to come to the site to "do work" after they become clients.
2. Set goals and objectives with regard to what the website is to achieve. Is it for placement on searches? What will be satisfactory?Is it to generate traffic? How many unique visitors per day? What bounce rate is acceptable? Is it for conversions? How many phone calls per day do you expect?
3. Keyword search. If you were a consumer of your goods or services, how would you search for you? Use keyword generators and evaluation programs to decide on keywords and phrases that are important to you to achieve desired results in #2 above. If you are a local business these key words would include local cities, neighborhoods, villages, and zip codes.
4. What is your message? What are your important brands/models, products, services. How can you create a compelling headline that will establish a need that you can then fill in the body paragraphs of your first page?
5. What is the competition doing? Learn from competition in your area and across the country with a review of best practices on other websites that are in your business.
6. Google loves content. How can you create substantial textual content on your site so that Google sees you as an expert? How does that content get properly arranged on the site in order for Google to pay attention.
7. How will people reach you? Automated email? Online Chat? 800# (not always a good idea?) Send away for white paper? Sign up for newsletter?
8. What graphic impression do you want to make? If you are retail, for instance, the impression you leave on the website should be similar to the experience the customer will get in store.
9. How will you maximize the traffic to the site once built? Use of the keywords in appropriate places is just one piece of that pie. How do you get back links? Where do you list the site?

I may have left something out, here, but these are the basics. This is the underlying effort required for a professional website. That's why $3000 is a reasonable number, and $5000 is not that much. This is not much different than creating the interior design, store front and signage for a retail location. It isn't cheap to do it right. It can be very expensive to do it cheap.

I have just worked with a team to create the closest thing I have seen to a perfect website. You can see it at http://www.UnwindMobileSpa.com

If you would like me to help you do a Great Website, call 310-920-9649.

Computer Data Recovery Business in Tampa Fl Creates SEO Challange

My YouTube Videos have been bringing me serious business in the last few weeks. One call was from a Computer Data Recovery Company who has an office in Tampa Fl. They also have 30 other offices where clients can bring their computer hard drives, tape drives, or other media that has crashed and burned. As a big fan of CSI, it is fun to have this account. CSI would potentially send a purposely destroyed drive to VA Data Recovery to try to extract data.

Anyway, it turns out this is a pretty competitive category, and my now client is having trouble getting the visibility he wants on Google Maps. So I decided to tackle just one city first. The goal was to get a high position on Google Maps for VA Data Recovery under data recovery in Tampa Fl. If my techniques panned out for data recovery in Tampa Fl., then I could try for computer data recovery Tampa Fl or data recovery New York, NY.

So far, I did a few tricks on Google Maps, added him to YellowPages.com and MerchantCircle.com. The good news is that he is moving up under data recovery Tampa, Fl in the organic, but he is still not on the front page in maps. Next, I'm going to put him on several other local search engines, add pictures and video to his Maps listing, and try to get some reviews going.

The Best Plumber I Ever Had Is My Newest Client

Now that is a pretty good name for an emergency plumber. He will come out any time of the day or night, including Sundays. His website is one of the longest I have ever seen, but you won't forget http://www.TheBestPlumberIEverHad.com. In addition to emergency plumbing, he also has a specialization in water heaters, including tankless water heaters. I've really been interested in the tankless concept. I took a close look at my water heater the other day, and it has all kinds of funny stuff growing out of the top of it. Vince, the owner, says that you need to do some maintenance on water heaters or they give out sooner. The only thing I've ever done to mine is fight with my wife over the temperature setting.

Of course, The Best Plumber I Ever Had does all the normal plumber stuff, too: Drain Cleaning, Water Heaters, Toilet Repair, Garbage Disposals, Video Camera Inspections, Sewer Line Repair, and Water Line Repair.

He prefers to work close to headquarters which includes Burbank, Pasadena, Glendale, Beverly Hills, Los Angeles 90027, Hollywood, Silverlake, and West Hollywood.

New Website for Venice CA Acupuncturist in Cooperation with Neon Wolf Web Design

Check out this website for Urban Remedy Community Acupuncture in Venice. The owner, Eric Baumgartner did most of the writing on the inside pages, and Neon Wolf is 100% responsible for the graphics. I take credit for the text on the front page and some of the navigation elements. I think the final result is very cool. I am no collaborating with Neon Wolf in the creation of several additional websites, including a new one for me. He has some great skills, and I will provide more info on the new sites as the come on line.

Tax Problems Are Another Secret Sin

I may have mentioned that I have joined an organization called LeTip. We trade business referrals. One of our newest members, who has also become my newest client, is Mike Montano. He works with folks who are having problems with the IRS over unfiled returns, delinquent personal income taxes or payroll taxes, and individuals and companies who have had the IRS file a lien or a levy against them. Do you know anyone like that? Probably not. Or better said, you may know several people who are in that boat, but who don't talk about it. Kind of embarassing.

I have a substantial background in this area (having had a few rounds of trouble with the IRS during the difficult years that my business went through), and studied it in Law School. Don't believe the current commercials regarding "Pennies on the Dollar." The IRS is no longer very helpful with compromises or reducing the principle. In fact, it is even difficult to get a reduction in interest and penalties.

Mike Montano is with Demetriou, Montano, and Associates. They have offices in Santa Monica and Newport Beach, but deal with client all over the US by phone and fax. If you are someone you know needs help with IRS taxes, and especially if the amount is over $10,000, the should call Demetriou, Montano, and Associates. You can learn more about them by checking out a PR release I just did for them, or you can visit their website.

Acupuncturist in Venice Has A Completely New Approach

Acupuncture is definitely becoming mainstream. A quick bit of research for my new client, Urban Remedy Community Acupuncture in Venice, CA, revealed that acupuncture in now a standard part of the regime for detox and rehab in both public and private hospitals and clinics. Prior to meeting the proprietor and acupuncturist at Urban Remedy, Eric Baumgartner, I knew that some of my friends had used acupuncture for severe headaches and migraines, and I knew that acupuncture was being used for things like joint pain and stress, but I have gained a great deal of additional knowledge in a short few weeks on the extent of what folks visit acupuncturists to cure.

Hand-in-hand with the detox and rehab, similar methods are used for other habitual or addictive issues such as smoking or overeating. My own sense of things is that 75% of illness of any kind is related to stress, and Eric put the number even higher. Some of the less enthusiastic articles on acupuncture suggest that the needles don't do anything, but folks get better from the placebo effect and the nap that commonly goes with acupuncture. If that's true, then we just need to convince folks to take more naps. Somehow it is easier to get the overstressed adult in Venice to go to an acupuncturist for that relaxing procedure than to just put their head down on their desk for a half hour.

The Urban Remedy Community Acupuncture Center is a very unique medical practice. Check out a press release that I sent out on the center here, or visit their website here, or their blog here.

Marketing Is What I Do, Says West Los Angeles Based Marketing Consultant

I now become even more shameless than in the past. I know that this blog is supposed to be about Ideas. Well, until I get about 15 more clients, I won't have time to share my ideas. That is not a threat, in that some of you may be breathing a sigh of relief that you are no longer expected to know what cornball thing I have recently posted when I see you. For those who are here by chance, and this is the only post you've ever seen, please check out some of the archives to see what is supposed to be here.

Anyway. The special marketing prices below are unprecedented. I am only offering these prices because I need the business. (The title of this blog is the Truth About Everything.) So, check it out, and if I can help your business, or aunt Minnie's business, or your hair stylist's business, have 'em give me an email or a call.

Call now! 310-920-9649
E-mail! RandyKirk77@Gmail.com

Specials

PR Release Value $500 NOW ONLY $149.00
1 Release including development of hook, all writing and rewrites, upload to Web based PR release service. Targeting of 6-8 news resources for direct pitch.
Example

Optimize one Website (basic) Value $500 NOW ONLY $149.00
Determine and agree on keywords to target, provide direction and written text to Client's webmaster as to how to make appropriate changes to the website. Provide client with direction as to how to increase positioning through easy back link strategies. Monitor progress and make additional changes as necessary.
Example: Google the key phrase: Bike Shop Mission Viejo Rock N' Road is my client. 5 months ago, they were not in the top 10 under this key phrase.

Create Blog with 4 posts (no special graphics) Value $400 NOW ONLY $149.00
Help with selection of url and title. Create agreed upon Description. Set up all back end. Create appropriate side bar information. Write 4 posts of one or two paragraphs with pictures (borrowed from others, legally or provided by the client.) This will be a Blogspot blog, which is free.
Example

YouTube Video (shoot, edit, title, keyword, upload) Value $350 NOW ONLY $199.00
Work with client to determine what kind of YouTube video is most likely to generate interest, establish a position on Google, and provide information for existing and future clients that will be useful in making buying decisions.
Example

Flickr.com catalog (6 pictures minimum) Value $250 NOW ONLY $129.00
Use client provided pictures of products or other materials that can represent products and services to create a Flickr.com catalog. Each picture becomes like a mini web page which can then provide one more way for clients to find the company in a Google Search.
Example

300 pens made from recycled material - custom imprinted 20% off list See picture
This fun pen, made from recycled paper and wood chips, is totally unique. I have noted several of my business friends still using the product months after I gifted them.

Put your business up on Google Maps, Local Yahoo, Info USA, and Super Yellow Value $249 NOW ONLY $149
The key to being found on the internet today is often being listed on local search engines. In order to maximize your exposure it is important to create the listings based on best practices. These are the top four. Once you have seen how I do it, you may want to do the other 30 yourself or I can do those as well.

Sales seminar (1-2 hours) for 5-25 people in Los Angeles County Value $1000 NOW ONLY $299.00
I have been writing and speaking on sales, goal setting, and motivation for over 30 years in the US and Canada. No professional motivator will even call you back for this cost. Next year this time, I probably won't either.

****Do all of the above, plus create complete custom analysis of your marketing with short and long term plan to increase sales. Value $5000 NOW ONLY $1499 SAVE $3501.00

Also available.

New product development (recent product designed from scratch)
Packaging design Example
Major event design and execution (grand openings, major sales) Testimonials available
Trade show development (Over 200 show booths in 15 different industries.)
Promotional Products, Corporate Gifts, Advertising Specialties (20 years experience)
Hiring, training, and motivation of sales personnel Over 100 seminars
Pay per click
Door knob hangers

Call 310-920-9649
E-mail RandyKirk77@Gmail.com

Great Meal at New York Style Coneys and Franks Restaurant in Newport Beach

If you should schlep down to Newport Beach (actually, it's in Costa Mesa at 17th St. and Irvine Ave) and you were interested in a mouthful of flavor, and a VERY COLD BEER, I have found the place. Carm's Coneys is all about the REAL DEAL from New York. The owner, Carm, is a fanatic about his hometown in Syracuse, NY (upstate.) He believes, and he might be right, that the best franks, with names like Zweigle and Sabrett and Hoffman's, are made right there. He imports the franks and sausages and mustards from that distant land in order to insure his patrons that he is serving up food normally reserved for New Yorkers and folks who happen to travel there.

I dropped by with my little video camera the other day and shot some man on the street (also kid on the street) videos of other folk's opinions about the place. Check it out.

Best Beach Cruiser for The Money at http://Bikes-Cheap.com

Need a really good cheap beach cruiser with bike shop quality at department store prices. Most of my readers know I've been in the bicycle industry for 30 something years. I have located a product line called 3G bikes that has made it possible for several of my clients to buy really good looking, good performing beach cruiser bicycles at cheap prices. The website is http://www.bikes-cheap.com. They have mens and womens styles and with three 3 colors in the ladies and 5 in the mens. Ready for the price. $149.95 if you mention this article or the website. Right now, on the floor of these same shops the price is as much as $189.95, which is still a great price for this quality.

These bikes make great prizes for events or raffles. They are inexpensive enough to purchase as a gift to a local boys and girls club or other charitable organization. Clearly, they make great gifts for family members.