Today I was calling make-up artists for a photo shoot. And, of course, I didn’t start with a google search- I called a photographer I knew well and asked her who I should call. She gave me three names, and one of the artists told be about the forth. Good thing I called my friend, because none of the three she told me about had a website.

Each time, I asked, do you have a site that I can look at your work-  each of them gave me an excuse. None of them would would think of working without a phone, but all of them seem to think a site won’t help them. Only one of the three site-less ones had a digital file ready to e-mail, a nice little quicktime movie that showed some of his work. The other two- nothing.

Make-up artists are the ultimate cottage industry. You don’t hire a “Make-up artist company (at least not in the Midwest), they are all self-employed, sole proprietors, in a very visual business. Hence, a website would come in handy. Especially in the Dayton, Cincinnati, Columbus Ohio market, where there is a small community of make-up artists- and quite a few photographers.
While the cost of producing a good looking website used to be thousands of dollars, it doesn’t have to be that way anymore thanks to WordPress and the Websitetology seminar. For $79 you get a full day of training, and we then offer a registration, hosting and WordPress installation package for a price of less than the cost of hosting alone from some hosting companies.

The fourth make-up artist had a site. It wasn’t amazing, but it did come up first in Google when I typed her name. It had samples of her work, a list of clients, and contact information. While the other three told me things like “a website won’t get me business, it’s all word of mouth”- the one with the site told me it gets her work all over the country, at much higher rates than what she can charge locally.

These days, it doesn’t matter how small you are, a website is critical for every business. We even did a site for a disabled, retired man who launches white birds at weddings and funerals- and he doesn’t have a computer or internet access, but he’s getting customers from it.

If you are reading this- because you needed a make-up artist in Dayton, Cincinnati or Columbus- I’m sorry. That’s one of the problems with Google searches. But if you give us a call- we’ll tell you who we ended up using.

Come one, come all- and learn how to make Google your best friend- without having to pay for placement.

All the tips, tricks and skills to build a site that you can manage- and gets results.

See the Schedule, Seminar and Sign-up links above to get registered.

These will be held at The Next Wave, 100 Bonner Street, Dayton OH 45410 unless we notify you differently.

Full day seminar, Tuesday May 8, from 8:30am to noon, then 1:30 to 5pm

Intro course in the morning- $49

Advanced in the afternoon – $49

or the whole day- $79.

This course is scheduled for The Next Wave offices.

SEMINARS ON NEXT GENERATION WEB SITES
Blogosopher changes name to Websitetology.

Dayton, OH August 21st 2006 There are only three ways that customers find your business website, search, links and advertising. Unless you are spending millions on advertising and people just know your URL, like Sony, Burger King or Chevrolet, they probably are coming to your site through search engines.
An entire industry of “Search Engine Optimization” (SEO) consultants has sprouted up, charging hundreds to thousands of dollars to get your site to be on the front page of Google, yet Google re-writes the rules every so often, just to make sure they don’t get “gamed.”
Another option is to pay Google to get listed as a “Sponsored Link” appearing at the top or the right hand side of search results. Studies have shown that 70% of people skip these paid placements- unless they just can’t find what they want in the normal “organic” results.
When clients of Dayton ad agency, The Next Wave, started asking how to get their site to show up in Google, agency Chief Creative Officer, David Esrati began researching how to get their own site onto the elusive “first page.” The answer turned out to not be what the “SEO” consultants were doing, but actually a new business model based on principles of what is commonly known as Web 2.0- or true interactive sites where your customers can be a part of your brand experience online. The common implementation is know as a “blog” (weB LOG) but is really a sophisticated content management system that makes building and maintaining a web site simple.
After spending considerable time explaining the technology to clients one-on-one, the agency launched a 3.5 hour seminar called “Blogosopher” to share this sophisticated yet simple solution for websites that work for business. Eight months after beginning the seminar- it became clear that business people were wary of the word “Blog” so the seminars have been rebranded “Websitetology.” The Intro seminar begins with how the web and search work, and how it is changing business- moving into an introduction of the free Open Source software “WordPress” which works to manage the site. The Advanced seminar is how to get the most out of WordPress and build content that gets the results you need.
Since implementing this solution on The Next Wave site, they have moved to the front page of Google for multiple search terms and seen a ten fold increase in unique visitors to the site in a slightly over a year.
Another benefit of using these tools to manage the site is that site maintenance costs have dropped to almost nothing, with no HTML code knowledge required. Sites that the agency used to have to charge thousands for, are now possible for under $400 including the cost of the seminar and hosting.
The next seminars will be held Aug 21, 2006 at Nehemiah University, 750 S. Main Street, Dayton 45402 from 8:30 am until noon and 1:30 pm to 5 pm. Cost is $49 for each seminar, or $79 for both. More information at www.websitetology.com or by calling 937.228.4433 Advance reservations are strongly encouraged.