Before she became an Internet marketing consultant, Kimberly
Nichols was working part time from home while raising her kids. She wanted
to build a website for her home-based business, but she didn't like what the
web design software programs at that time could do.
"I thought this is just a nightmare, it can't be that hard to code," says
Nichols.
"I started to learn HTML and CSS coding at that time and then discovered
that I was pretty good at it and I actually really liked it. So I kind of
got into doing friends' sites, and then I picked up some clients along the
way.
"I did that kind of off and on for quite some time. And then in 2005 my
husband and I started an Internet marketing consultancy where we really went
full force at it, full time."
Nichols' Internet consulting business involves a lot of social media training.
She teaches clients how to use social media to grow their businesses, but
she doesn't manage their social media accounts for them.
"It's just something I've chosen not to do, because I think it's much more
authentic if it comes directly from the business themselves, within their
office," says Nichols. "I have colleagues who do choose to do that. However,
what I prefer to focus on is the training and support.
"For example, I might train a business on how to use Facebook effectively
for business, and then I will... watch their Facebook page and see what kinds
of things they're posting," says Nichols.
"And sometimes I'll see something and say, 'Look, you could have really
punched this up a notch if you'd thought to include a call to action,' or
whatever it is they might have missed, just to get their brains thinking in
that direction."
Internet consulting is a competitive field. You need tenacity and a good
work ethic.
"Making yourself stand out from the crowd is a little bit tough," says
Nichols. "The sales part is something that is always a challenge. You have
to be able to go out and get new business."
Allan Todd has been an Internet consultant since 1997. He focuses on helping
businesses increase their sales by marketing themselves online.
"My favorite thing is to get somebody to the top of Google," says Todd.
"That always feels good. And then I like the relationship that I have with
my clients. They become kind of friends, because often we'll work together
and I'll talk to them on a regular basis.
"I've had clients stop their Yellow Page ads or stop their newspaper ads
once the Internet was performing for them. And that feels real good, when
they can shift off of those media, because everyone goes to the Internet now
to get services."
It's not easy getting someone to the top of Google. This is especially
true when a business is in an industry with many competitors.
"The biggest challenge is staying on top of what Google's latest requirements
are," says Todd. "And then another challenge is the competition and the cost
to a local-oriented business that doesn't have the huge budget."
What does Google require businesses to do if they want to get found? A
big part of it involves providing good content.
"You have to create content that has high quality, on a regular basis,
to make Google happy, so that's what I typically tell people," says Todd.
"Because a lot of people have a misconception that [I can simply] put some
keywords on my website and [become ranked] number one for insurance agents...
A lot of times I'll explain to them that there's tons of competition for certain
areas and it's just very difficult to get ranked in Google if you're in a
very competitive area."
John Flanders has been an Internet consultant for nearly 20 years. Before
that, he was a computer programmer.
Flanders says a big part of Internet consulting involves educating your
clients.
"You've got to be everything," says Flanders. "You've got to be a teacher,
too. You need to educate. If you can educate your customers, you're much better
off."
Educating people who might know little about technology requires strong
people skills. In fact, Internet consultants say that people skills are at
least as important as technical know-how.
"It's building your reputation, being friendly, being approachable, not
having that corporate attitude," says Flanders. "If somebody needs something,
they're calling you for a reason -- you bend over backwards to do what your
client needs done."
Carefully listening to clients and learning about their businesses helps
Internet consultants meet their technological needs today and into the future.
"I try to find out for them what they really need and what they're going
to need as far as growing in the future," says Flanders. "[I try to] give
them some sort of a scalable plan that will at least reach a few years down
the road because... in this day and age technology changes so fast, what
we do today could be legacy tomorrow."