Fundamental Software Solutions

I often am asked "what do you think about..." and other similar types of questions.  One that was particularly interesting was a presentation to a group of independent salespeople about web marketing.  The claim in the meeting was "we can get your web page to the top of Google" and most of the salespeople left the meeting having signed up on the thought of being on top.

I had to wonder.  Since the salespeople were all wanting to be on top - and most of them live in the same place, have the same type of businesses and want the same keywords, how was this company going to get their pages all to be the top listing - guaranteed?

The answer is that they cannot do it for those common "normally" looked up keywords.  The marketers have to separate the keywords and choose something significantly different, such as the client's name or the client's slogan.  You just can't have everyone on the top listing at the same time for the same thing.  (And, if they promised they could do just that, it would mean that they would have to bump the previous client that was at the top - a client that had paid and now was going to have to pay again  [... and again...])

If the web promoter used the client's name, most often than not, they were already at the top to begin with.  Nine out of ten names out of some of the attendees of the meeting, I found this to be the case already.

I don't think that all internet marketing is a scam - internet marketing takes careful design and implementation and definitely some hefty work to get right.

The only way to beat the scams is to ask questions and research.  Make the scammers work so hard that it isn't worth their time, or your money.

We found a Microsoft technology recently that sparked some interest for anyone with information to reveal, called Microsoft Tag.  The basic idea is that on your camera-enabled mobile phone, you install an application that can read tags.  When you see a tag in the future - you use your phone to scan the tag, and the phone browses a website, or dials a number, or does something else based on the tag itself.

Some other technologies have been attempting to use Near Field Communication where other electronic equipment is involved, but this is a highly simplified way of doing it - and what we feel is currently the cheapest.

The idea isn't new - cash registers do it with bar codes already, shipping companies do it to track packages.  The difference is that the bar code in this case has been separated from just a scanner/database and has been linked with phone functions that anyone can use regularly.  Microsoft even went further to design something that could be completely customized, so it doesn't even look like a traditional bar code on a package. (The image on the left of the balloons is actually a bar code!)

 For one of our Real Estate customers, it meant that people with supported smart-phones could scan a for sale sign and instantly be directed to the mobile portal of the agent's website - with information about the house, images, etc.  Further to that, once the listing information is downloaded, a user can tap a link on the web-page to dial to request an appointment.

Admittedly, there is a chicken and egg situation forming with the technology that may be insurmountable in making the technology viable everywhere.  The tag reader application has to be on the phone to read the tag - and most people would not install the tag reader until tags were common, tags not being common because nobody has the reader, etc. 

Marketing something with new technology however may mean a new audience and new clients - in this particular case, technically intrigued clients that normally would have passed the sign by without giving it a look.  Now, they have something interesting to try.

(Within the next 30 days, if you are in the Deep South of Calgary, check out 1336 Shawnee Rd SW, North at the light off James Mckevitt Rd. with your Tag-enabled smartphone.)