Websitetology  is a seminar about using the web for successfully making new business connections. We teach how the web works, how search works, and how to use open source content management systems like WordPress, Joomla! and Drupal to help you make a successful home on the web.

Conventional advertising and branding is suffering from the effects of over-exposure and fragmentation. The key is to find a community and build relationships. This story of how a small winery employed social media to grow their business is a perfect example of what we teach:

Stormhoek was a tiny South African winery when the company began working with UK blogger Hugh MacLeod to develop a social media strategy. MacLeod started working with Stormhoek in May of 2005, and by the end of the year, the winery’s sales had doubled. Besides dipping its toes in the blogging waters, in 2005, Stormhoek also launched an interesting campaign where it gave away 100 free bottles of wine to 100 bloggers in the UK, Ireland, and France. The bloggers were under no obligation to write about the wine or Stormhoek, but many did both, and the company’s awareness among bloggers skyrocketed.

In 2006, Stormhoek expanded on the ‘give wine away to bloggers’ idea, by setting up ‘Geek Dinners’, where bloggers around the United States throw their own parties, with Stormhoek providing the wine for free. This idea just further raised Stormhoek’s presence in the blogosphere.

So what’s the end result from all this for Stormhoek? Hugh MacLeod, speaking at last year’s South by Southwest festival, stated that before Stormhoek started blogging and involving bloggers in its marketing efforts, that the winery sold around 40,000 cases of wine a year. When MacLeod spoke at SXSW in March of 2007, he stated that the company was at that point selling 40,000 cases of wine a WEEK.

via So Does Blogging Really Work? Here’s the Proof. – Search Engine Guide Blog.

Although we still believe in empowering clients to do their own blogging (who knows your business better than you) we can help get you started.

We try to keep tabs on those who have taken the Seminar- mostly by reading their feeds. Some really get it- and make it work for them.

Take the case of a copywriter who used to work for a local ad agency, but left for Charleston SC:

Honestly, I am not a salesman, so I am not the best resource. I only know what has worked for me. And “worked” is a subjective, relative term. See if this makes any sense…

Blogging has elevated me from number 60 (or so) on Google for “copywriter+charleston+sc” to top-3 in six months. Correction: it took about a month to get there, where I have remained.

My blog’s back pages contain my value statement, resume, references and writing samples. It’s all in one location, and easier to access than tearing open the envelope, reading my cover letter, popping in my CDROM, etc.

I like to think that my blog posts make some kind of impression. They give a glimpse of my personality (lucky you.) And they can be a kind of soft sell. For instance, rehashing some humorous incident that happened to me while producing an industrial video in Germany is a subtle way to remind you that I have produced internationally… if that’s your bag, baby.

Finally, most importantly, by the time a client calls or emails, he or she has read the value statement, resume, etc., and is very nearly sold. They are calling to “talk about upcoming projects and look for the right fit.”

via Blogging about Blogging (oh, joy.) « A Lively Exchange.

Of course, his former employer, still has no clue about web 2.0. Their site has no search box, no RSS feed and makes noise when you land on it.

Too bad many of the people searching for them- end up on this page too: Agencies that aren’t The Next Wave. Learn the tricks of using the web to make up for your lack of sales skills, or to enhance the ones you have. Sign up for the seminar.

The web is constantly changing, and if your company is using its website properly, it’s constantly being updated, changed, amended. What, you say you never update your site? It still says the same thing as last year? Well, then you really need to take our seminar.

Websites aren’t like a Yellow pages ad- just paying money and putting one up isn’t going to get you business automatically. Websites have to be updated, have useful information that is customer focused and they have to be built so that you can maintain it yourself. If you have a site like that, and come to our seminar you will be able to get listed on the first page of Google (without paying for ads). We can teach you how to be a webmaster in one day- without having to learn any code.

Spend a day with us and learn everything you need to know about how the web works- but the secrets of how you get to the first page of Google without paying for ads.

We’ll teach you how to maintain a website using the newest coolest Web 2.0 tools- which means nothing to buy, no code to learn and the ability to connect with customers easier than ever before.

We give this seminar across the country- and have clients from Florida to California, just because we get organic search engine optimization.

Your website can become a powerful business tool and easy to use if you take this seminar. Your webstats will prove it in no time.

So sign up now– we know you’ll become one of our many successful Websitetologists.

Tuesday, 6 January 2009 at Nehemiah University, 750 S. Main Street Dayton OH 45402 from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm.