Sage VARs

Search Engine Optimization.  SEO.  What is it really?  Why is it sooooo hard?  Why is it soooooooooo hard to find someone you can trust to help you optimize your site? 

Google Search has Indexed 1 Trillion URLs.

When someone types in your company name, or your main product/service and your geography, you want the search engines to serve up your site to the human being conducting the search.  The only way to make that happen is to optimize your site so that the search engines can find it. 

There are three main components of search engine optimization.

• Keyword research — must be done first, and done right!
• On-site search engine optimization – using keywords, title tags, URLs, etc.
• Off-site search engine optimization – getting backlinks, directory listings, etc.

Keyword research is the foundation, then the on-site and off-site components must be used together to “optimize” the effectiveness of your search engine optimization efforts. 

I can teach you how to do the on-site search engine optimization yourself.  It’s not that hard.  In fact, the next post I write, I’ll give you the crib notes to do-it-yourself on-site search engine optimization. 

But getting backlinks?  The off-site optimization piece takes time, know-how, discipline…and did I mention TIME, which is something all of us are short on.  That’s why I outsource all my SEO projects to a trusted partner, because I know I don’t have the time and discipline to do it myself — nor do my clients. 

Channel partners (VARs, ISVs, distributors) often worry about channel competition.  If they outsource their SEO work to someone like me who knows the channel model intimately, won’t I just equalize everyone?  Actually the answer is NO.  Everyone won’t do the work to the same level.  PLUS, why would you want to spend the time education someone who knows NOTHING about your industry?!   

Look at Blytheco, the “800-lb. gorilla” of the Sage channel.  They were early to recognize the power of search engine optimization, and they’ve been deeply focused on SEO for years and years.  You might not be able to beat Blytheco for broad terms like “Sage Mas 90″, but you might be able to win more specific terms, like “Phoenix AZ Sage Mas 90 Reseller.”  Because we know the industry, we can guide you to terms that might work — in a way that a SEO company off the streets never could.  

PLUS, we can help you capture the leads that visit your website and convert them into paying customers.   Being found online is just the first step.  Then the work begins to get people to know, like and trust you!

VARs, Systems Integrators, Solutions Providers, IT Consultants, and their Channel Partners should enjoy a good laugh watching this video.  

It’s Friday.  You deserve it!

When I grow up, I want to be a CRN Channel Champion…

Microsoft Convergence has become a can’t-miss event for many.  Microsoft Convergence is Microsoft’s premier customer event, and is preceded by a Microsoft Dynamics partner day.  I’ll be headed to Sage Insights in May and can’t wait to see how their event compares to Microsoft’s. 

Now I know many of you can’t afford to put on an event on the scale of Microsoft, but who can?!  Everyone has to start somewhere.  The first Great Plains Stampede and Great Plains Convergence had only a handful of people - but they built from there. (Great Plains Software was acquired by Microsoft in 2001.)

With more people looking to get referrals and build their business through word-of-mouth, now is a great time to think about hosting a small, locally-based user group.  If that’s something you are interested in trying, let me share some lessons I’ve learned over the years from attending Microsoft Convergence. 

1.  Make sure your top executives are actively participating in your event.  Although your clients (hopefully) love your staff; they want to know they are important, and that they are being heard at the highest levels of your organization.  They want to understand the direction your company is headed. 

2.  Make sure your information is educationally-focused.  In past years, I would hear sporadic complaints when a conference became too “sales-y” only talking about an upcoming product releases.  Make sure you provide value that can be used TODAY, not just in the next version of your products. 

3.  Provide plenty of socializing and networking time.  All work and no play make for a dull event.  Build in some time and ways for people to get to know each other.  If you have partners, this might be a great opportunity for them to sponsor part of your event.  Microsoft Dynamics GP partners and customers have come to look forward to Rock-n-Rave  year after year.  Their party at Harrah’s this year was as phenomenal as ever!  With their clever marketing efforts to drive booth attendance, this event is both a great socializing event and a great marketing tactic.

4.  Communicate.   Microsoft had a website.  They Twittered. (http://www.Twitter.com/MBSconvergence.) They created a FaceBook group.  They created ways for people to find each other and connect online before the conference.  Once you arrived at the event, they had handouts and signs.  Partners also reached out to their clients to host dinners and cocktail hours.  All of these efforts helped to make attendees feel confident that they were in the right place at the right time.

5. Take care of the details.  Everything was meticulously planned.  The food. The meals.  The hotel rooms. The signs.  I can’t even imagine running logistics for an event of that scale!  In past years, they even had signs on all the doors, the floors and in the lights.  The devil’s in the detail, so make sure you put a highly organized person in charge.

One last thing.  Microsoft Convergence attendance was down (I heard @ 15-20%) from prior years.  Paying $1500 for a conference, plus the hotel, airfare and dinner costs for travelling across the country to attend, PLUS the out of office time was too much for many people at this time.  There wasn’t much Microsoft could do to react.  Contracts were signed long before the economy tanked, so their costs were fixed.  But if I was putting on an event today, I’d keep affordability as a top-of-mind issue.  It doesn’t have to be free, but the value has to be clearly communicated.

Microsoft Convergence is right around the corner!   Microsoft Convergence is the big customer conference for Microsoft Dynamics, and gives the Microsoft Dynamics VARs and Microsoft Dynamics ISVs a chance to connect and do business together.  

Networking is a fabulous recession-busting tactic.  Remember to bring LOTS of business cards!

While I’m sure that much of your focus is in helping your customers have a great time and learn about their Microsoft Dynamics options, you are also probably going to help improve your own business.

I know that times are tough right now.  Some Microsoft Dynamics partners are seeing deals stalled, and they don’t have enough new business in the pipeline to keep them going.  If that sounds like a problem that you’re facing, and you want to do something about it, I have a limited number of 45-minute appointments available.  Not a sales pitch.  I’m willing to help you work through any tough marketing issue you are trying to tackle.   

Interested? Just drop me an email at amachina@tornadomktg.com.  Looking forward to seeing you in New Orleans at another fabulous Microsoft Convergence Conference!  Look out New Orleans, here we come…