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The Most SEO – Google Friendly Obits Ever!

September 22, 2010 By

If you saw yesterday’s video CASE STUDY about controlling the release and promotion of obituaries, you may have been surprised about the number of GOOGLE searches for the deceased’s name.

The reality is that friends and acquaintances of the deceased start GOOGLING the deceased’s name and service information as soon as they hear that the person has died.

The problem is that if Google DOESN’T KNOW that you have uploaded the online obit to your website and if they can’t find it, Google CAN’T direct these people to SEE IT.

For this reason, I have created this video tutorial for you titled, The MOST GOOGLE (SEO) FRIENDLY OBIT EVER!

This s is a pretty bold statement, but I have NEVER SEEN any other funeral homes website designer or developer share the best SEO (Search Engine Optimization) practices for YOUR ONLINE OBITUARIES.

Check out this video…

WARNING: It gets quite technical so I have created a guide called: Google Friendly Obits Cheat Sheet.

Download it, print it off and us it to follow along with the video. Get the CHEAT SHEET here:

The Most SEO Google Friendly Obits Ever! videos social media seo google competition strategy agree with hep

Google Friendly Online Obituary Cheat Sheet Download

I must APOLOGIZE to some funeral home owners and managers because they may get FRUSTRATED because they will be limited by their current website and will not be able to apply these strategies easily.

NOTE to my Funeral Futurist Website Clients: You don’t have to worry about all of this technical, html talk because your website does almost all of these strategies AUTOMATICALLY thanks to our Autopilot Google Notification strategy.

If you are interested in SWITCHING to our Funeral Futurist Website System, please click this link and fill out this form to get a FREE Funeral Home Website Audit Request.

…Hepp

PS: My COMPETITORS hate it when I share videos like this, (they all subscribe to my newsletter, follow me on Facebook, or on Twitter) but since these are general SEO Best Practices I feel it is my DUTY to share them with you as these strategies can be applied to any webpage – the question is how easy is it to apply them to your system.

Filed Under: Agree with Hepp?, Competition & Strategy, Google, SEO, Social Media, Videos

Are you a FUTURE business operations EXPERT?

February 19, 2010 By Leave a Comment

If so, you may become a HIRED GUN that many businesses will need in the future, especially as we transition into the “Knowledge Worker” era.  Operations and systems allow entrepreneurs to focus on (and leverage) their expertise and passions – and not worry about the running of their repeatable business tasks – although those systems are the key to long term success.

Michael Gerber, the author of ‘The E-Myth’ – a bestselling book that focuses on the importance of business systemization: “Most businesses fail to fully achieve their potential. That’s because the person who owns the business doesn’t truly know how to build a company that works without him or her – which is the key.”

The attributes of a FUTURE systemization GURU are…
(Yes or No)

Living by LISTS:

  • Do you make lists?
  • Everyday?
  • If you do something not on the list, do you go back and add it on the list and then check it off.

Attention to DETAIL:

  • Are you detail oriented?
  • Are you the one who makes sure a task is COMPLETE?
  • Do you dot the I’s and cross the T’s?
  • And then PROOF read everything, one last time?
  • (Although this won’t be your role) Have you had experience in accounting, legal, or planning (or even being the main organizer of your high school reunion)?

So what’s in it for you?  OSMOSIS!
I was where you were just 4 years ago, and I have become the industry expert in just those four years, and to take my business to the next level I need help getting processes in place – so I need you.  Here’s what I will give you:

  • My BLUEPRINT so that you can achieve the same stature in your field
  • My KNOWLEDGE from over $50,000 of marketing, strategy, and Internet marketing teaching and resources (all purchased after university).
  • My SHORTCUTS to catapult your EXPERTISE (and reputation) on the Internet
  • Your EXPERIENCE in working with a high-performing VIRTUAL team (the next big skill!)
  • The DEAL: $20 / hour for 20 hours per week for 6 to 8 weeks (maybe longer if mutually agreed upon)

If you are STILL interested, you can apply if…

  • You are not a whiner, complainer, or someone who needs to have their hand held
  • You want to have your OWN business in the next year or two & you just want to be immersed in another business before you start your own.
  • You are ready for a WILD ride as I explode my business to a hyper-level in my industry in the next year

Please  send me an email and answer the questions above + send your resume to robin@funeralfuturist.com.  Plus send me links to any positive references about you on the Internet.

Thanks for taking the time to read this – if you are INSPIRED please APPLY, if you aren’t – well maybe you would like to hire us – see the service offerings and trainings on the right of this page.

Filed Under: Careers, Competition & Strategy, Marketing Tagged With: ,

Funeral Futurist Predictions for 2010

January 1, 2010 By 1 Comment

Funeral Futurist Predictions for 2010 marketing market share google competition strategy agree with hep My two main predictions can also be taken as warnings. They are strategies being played out on the internet right now and will only become more of a factor in 2010 – not that they will harm your business dramatically in 2010 but they will start to slowly erode it (if you let them).

1. Virtual Funeral Homes. These are not completely virtual businesses but are physical funeral homes that are creating a virtual presence covering a larger geographically area or even “testing the waters” in a larger or new trade area. We have seen Cremation Societies reach beyond their traditional trade area and you will other websites catering to a larger area, but being headquartered in their established bricks and mortar funeral home. Some may see this as a warning while other may see it as an opportunity.

2. Online Call Poachers. You probably haven’t heard of this term, but I couldn’t come up with a better way to name this “new player” into funeral service. These are information and resource websites about funeral service. They provide helpful information to consumers, answering questions, and maybe even providing a directory of funeral homes. These were once thought of as helpful directory sites but as they continue to add more information to their websites, they will become “funeral information juggernauts” that will rank at the top of Google and the other search engines for funeral related terms – even local terms.

Some of these sites may charge for featured listings in there directories, but what will be inevitable is that they will start receiving first calls (as people hit the Internet for information upon learning of the death of their loved one). At that point, they hold in their hand a Call that could get passed on to whoever they want to give it to – in some cases the highest bidder. They will become the online equivalent of the minister or hospice worker who can steer a family to one funeral home over another.

I am not saying that all directories and resource websites will do this but some will. This form of Lead Capture – or what I call in our industry “Call Poachers” – is actually an Internet Marketing Strategy that I have seen be taught and used in other industries where these marketers become conduit for leads and then direct them to the highest bidder. For some funeral homes, they be happy paying the “finders fee” to these companies, while others may want to control the “virtual real estate” in their market by being the go-to source for funeral information in their area.

I hate to have a negative tone while looking into a bright future, but I just want to make you aware of what is happen in the “virtual” world around you.

What are your thoughts? Please share your comments below…

Filed Under: Agree with Hepp?, Competition & Strategy, Google, Increase Market Share, Marketing Tagged With: , ,

Secret Tip for Dealing with Price Shoppers

December 31, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Secret Tip for Dealing with Price Shoppers market share competition strategy agree with hep You may have received an email from Mike Kubasak today his Price Shopper program. In the holiday spirit, I thought that I should share with you a SECRET TIP that you can use the next time you get a Price Shopper that will INSTANTLY build RAPPORT and CREDIBILITY with the caller – even if they want to *Think About It* – because the more COMFORTABLE they feel with you the more likely they will choose your funeral home over your competitor.

This STRATEGY can be done at the beginning or the end of the call – make sure you read both scenarios…

At the Beginning of the Phone Call as you introduce yourself…

“Hello, my name is Robin. I understand you want information about funeral costs. I will be happy to provide that information for you.  Do you have a pen and some paper handy? Ok, first just jot down this number: 250-686-4576.  It is my cell phone number and I wanted you to have it just in case we get cut off or if you need to contact me later for more information you can reach me directly, once again it’s 250-686-4576.”

At the End of the Phone Call if they are not making a decision right now…

Robin says: “I understand that you are just gathering information right now and I just want to let you know that if you have any other questions, you may call me at anytime. Here is my cell phone number – 250-686-4576 – if questions come up when you are discussing things with the rest of the family. Once again it’s 250-686-4576.”

So the SECRET TIP is giving the caller your CELL PHONE NUMBER.

What does giving your cell phone number accomplish?

It helps BUILD RAPPORT and TRUST (Mike has a complete section on rapport building in his Price Shopper Secrets program).

You see, you can’t just say “TRUST ME” you have to “EARN TRUST” and by offering to give the caller your cell phone number – something that most people only give to their closest friends – you are DEMONSTRATING TRUST!

Now you might be thinking, I really don’t feel comfortable giving my cell phone to a stranger? But I am guessing that over the last couple of years there has been an occasion or two where you have given your cell number to a client family and maybe you give it to them on a regular basis.  So why not treat the price caller like a client family – isn’t that the GOAL anyway – to have them as a CLIENT FAMILY?

Let me know your successes with the Price Shopper Cell Phone Tip.  It’s free to try and if it doesn’t work then stop offering it but you will be amazed how the tone of the conservation will change after applying this Trust Building Strategy.

If you want more Price Shopper Secrets take Mike up on his CRAZY OFFER below. I helped Mike put the course together and it is packed with tips and strategies that you can share with your entire staff and also use for FUTURE TRAINING and STAFF MEETINGS.

Plus, he has a 100% Results-Based GUARANTEE- so if you don’t win more pricing calls, you don’t pay!

You can order it here: http://www.priceshoppersecrets.com/cell/

I wish you all the best for 2010 – especially more calls!

…Hepp

Filed Under: Agree with Hepp?, Competition & Strategy, Increase Market Share Tagged With: ,

7 Mistakes Funeral Directors Make with Facebook

May 18, 2009 By 2 Comments

It seems like Funeral Directors are going “Facebook Crazy” – every day I am receiving friend requests from Funeral Directors and seeing Funeral Homes creating profiles, pages, and groups.

The problem is that I see a ton of mistakes being made – most inadvertently because there is not a lot of direction and guidance available on HOW to use Facebook properly for the Funeral Industry.

There is no Best Practices for Funeral Homes and Facebook (not yet anyway) but I have been really digging deep into what IS the best way for funeral directors to harness the power of Facebook from a Relationship & Loyalty Building (Marketing) strategy without crossing the line of doing business in a social community.

7 Mistakes Funeral Directors Make with Facebook social media marketing google exposure competition strategy articles You have heard me say it before – and this won’t be the last time – the funeral industry is a “relationship business” where people serve people and buildings, cars, and merchandise are secondary.  When my Great-Grandfather started the undertaking business, and my Grandfather took it over – they built it on building relationships within their community. They did this by being involved in various networks of the day – Church, Lodge,  Rotary, Town Council, etc.  Fast forward 75 years and networks within communities are still very important – they may be the same networks as they used to be or may be different ones.

Even though Facebook is a virtual community, it is growing faster than any other network of people in your community.  Let’s take a look at some of the numbers (Source CheckFacebook.com as of May 18, 2009 – pretty current eh!):
7 Mistakes Funeral Directors Make with Facebook social media marketing google exposure competition strategy articles Global Audience: 192,406,840

  1. United States 60,989,380
  2. United Kingdom 17,839,940
  3. Canada 11,443,520
  4. Turkey 9,531,440
  5. France 9,510,400
  6. Italy 9,424,120
  7. Australia 5,599,000
  8. Colombia 4,568,280
  9. Chile 4,504,560
  10. Spain 4,478,380

United States Age Distribution:

  • 18 – 24: 30.6% (18,338,140)
  • 25 – 34: 27.6% (16,535,280)
  • 35 – 44: 17.7% (10,592,180)
  • 14 – 17: 10.2% (6,089,780)
  • 45 – 54: 8.4% (5,023,380)
  • 55 – 65: 3.6% (2,164,420)
  • 65+: 1.4% (861,340)
  • 0 – 13: 0.6% (348,340)

The 55 and over crowd have over 3 million members in the US. For perspective if this group of 55+ Facebook users were a city – it would be the 3rd largest between LA and Chicago.

One last thing before I get into the 7 Mistakes Funeral Directors make with Facebook is that there are more females on Facebook than men:

  • Females: 57.4% (34,657,940)
  • Males: 42.6% (25,677,840)

We know women make more buying decisions than men and we have also been told that women regard relationships as very important (hopefully us guys have figured that out by now).

7 Mistakes Funeral Directors Make with Facebook

  1. Not On Facebook Yet: Sign Up For Facebook
    • Please see the stats above – if you’re not on Facebook yet, I included those stats for you – don’t worry, it’s not too late, sign up today
    • When you do sign up, please add me as a friend: http://profile.to/robinheppell/
  2. Non-Passionate Status Updates: “Monday again, Hump Day, TGIF, Work Sucks” plus others that I can’t repeat
    • I know that it’s not all about work, but as funeral professionals we are always in the public eye – even online; keep the venting to private conversations – you never know if a family member can see your status even when your privacy settings are set
  3. Not Showing Families How to Add Obits to Their Profile: Let family members promote your online obits to their Facebook community
    • Whether you have a Facebook profile or not you can harness the power of Facebook to drive traffic to your online obituaries by teaching families how to add their loved one’s obit into their profile so that all of their friends can see it, and then go to your site to leave a condolence
    • When I look at my clients’ Google Analytics (website stats) I am amazed that Facebook is usually in the Top 5 Referrers category
    • Sample from McCallBros.com: Add An Obituary To Facebook
  4. Creating a PROFILE for the Funeral Home instead of  a PAGE: Profiles are for People and Pages are for Businesses
    • If you have your Profile as your Funeral Home and not you personally, here’s what you do:
      • Create a Profile under your Personal name and once you have built up your profile, then invite all of the Friends from the first profile to your new one
      • Create a Page under the Funeral Home name and copy all of the pertinent information over – then once it is established you can start to invite people to become a “Fan”
  5. Not “Claiming” your Memorable Web Address for your Profile and Business Page: Do not let your competitor “Claim Your Name”
  6. Having A “Profile” Picture that is Too STIFF: Is your profile picture with you in your “Stripes” or other Funeral Attire?
    • You want to connect with your “Community” – the more they can relate to you (as a parent, spouse, soccer coach, etc.) the better – could you change your picture so that you could be “more like them?”
    • NOTE: “But Hepp, your profile picture is you in a suit!” Exactly – see the previous bullet point – … connect with ‘your’ community
  7. Do Not Actively Build Your Friend List: The more people that you can connect with in your community, the better – it will not hurt you to have too many friends on Facebook – well, until you hit the maximum of 5,000
    • Here are 3 ways to grow your “Friends” list:
      • Upload your “Contacts” from your Outlook or Outlook Express
      • View the Friends of the Most Popular people in your community and “Add as Friend” if you think that it is appropriate to do so
      • Search Groups and Fan Pages for Local Organizations like Chamber of Commerce, Rotary, Church Groups, etc.
    • NOTE: Just a little bit of advice – create Lists to segment your Friends such as Family, School Friends, Funeral Peers, [Your Town's Name] Connections, etc.  You will thank me later.

I hope that this gets you going on the right track with your Facebook experience.  I have received a lot of feedback from my Newsletter subscribers about their thoughts regarding Facebook which I will go into a little deeper later this week – stay tuned!

…Hepp

PS: What are your thoughts on Facebook and the Funeral Industry?  Have you had any successes (or secure any calls) as a result of Facebook? Please share your thoughts below…

Filed Under: Articles, Competition & Strategy, Gain Greater Exposure, Google, Marketing, Social Media Tagged With: , , , ,

Mistakes Made with Price Shoppers – I hope you don’t make them – Free Teleseminar

October 20, 2008 By 1 Comment

Mistakes Made with Price Shoppers I hope you dont make them Free Teleseminar newsletter 2008 10 market share competition strategy check it out Winning or losing price shoppers can found a profound effect on your firm – the more you win, the more profitable you will be AND at the same time, you are weakening the competition!

Mike Kubasak and I held a teleseminar in August about Price Shoppers: “Handling Price Shoppers is Easier When You Differentiate Yourself” – over 400 funeral professionals registered!

At the end of the call we said that we would address this issue again. So Mike suggested that we tackle some of the mistakes that he has observed over the years. So this Thursday, we are going to have another telesemar…

10 Biggest Mistakes Funeral Directors Make on the

Phone when Dealing with Price Shoppers Teleseminar

Date: Thursday, October 23, 2008

Time: 2 PM Eastern / 11 AM Pacific

Register for the Teleseminar Now!

Also, if you cannot make it on Thursday, make sure that you register anyway so that I can can get a link to you for the replay. From some of the feedback we received from the summer teleseminar, we heard that many firms used the recordings for staff meetings and training – Great Idea!

Register now at: Price Shopper Biggest Mistakes Teleseminar <=== Don’t miss this!

I hope that you can join us on the call on Thursday! I’m sure that this will be an entertaining session as well.

…Hepp

Filed Under: Check it Out!, Competition & Strategy, Increase Market Share, Newsletter 2008 10 Tagged With: , ,

Funeral Marketing with YouTube

July 2, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Funeral Marketing with YouTube uncategorized exposure competition strategy check it out What is better than being “number one” in Google?  By being number one through ten of course.  To accomplish this Google domination you have to look beyond your website and harass the power of other websites – like the number one content site, YouTube.  Of all websites, YouTube ranks fourth, but only behind the three main search engines: Google, Yahoo, and MSN’s Live Search. No matter how great your website is it is a speck of dust compared to YouTube and the other online video sharing websites like Google Video, Revver, and AOL Video.

If you would like to see real life examples for the funeral industry, you have to check out the case study that I conducted where McCall Bros. Funeral Home now occupies seven out of ten results for ‘Funeral planning in Victoria BC’ – including spots one through four.  The study shows how the videos impacted the search results in Google, Yahoo, and Live Search, within one day and also over a six week period.  To see all of the results along with my commentary, visit:

http://www.funeralfuturist.com/case-study-online-video-for-funeral-cemetery-promotion/

So if you are still with me here, you may be wondering what video content you would use on YouTube.  I always look for the easiest solution first, so I would suggest using those TV commercials that you had to pay thousands of dollars for and upload them to YouTube.  If you do not have a commercial ready to go, you could use the same software that you use to create your DVD memorial videos and create a three minute infomercial demonstrating how you are different than your competition.

Funeral Marketing with YouTube uncategorized exposure competition strategy check it out Also you might be thinking that it sounds like a lot of work to upload these videos to all of these different video sharing site.  I use a tool called Traffic Geyser that allows you to upload one video to over 30 different sites.  It saves me a ton of time, and they have a lot of tips and training as well.  The guys at Traffic Geyser have also made this guide available for you to download free! Click this link or click on the image to download.

Before you fire that video up on YouTube be sure to read my article titled, “Upload your Funeral Home’s Welcome Message on YouTube.” This will explain how to title your video properly and what to include in the description and your tags to make sure that your video ranks well in Google.  You can read the article hear at:

http://fromthehep.com/2007/08/upload-your-funeral-homes-welcome.html

Please let me know of your successes after you upload your first video.  Also, if you have any other questions or suggestions, please let me know.

Filed Under: Check it Out!, Competition & Strategy, Gain Greater Exposure, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , ,

Free Business Strategy Lesson for Funeral Managers

June 18, 2008 By Leave a Comment

As promised, I was able to pull in a favor – and I know that you will enjoy it and also find it very useful.  Join me and Brent Mainprize, Ph.D., as we walk you through step by step how to perform a strategic analysis on your company.

Topic: Business Analysis Tools for Funeral Home Managers

You can listen to the recording, but you must register by going to:

www.FuneralManagerSecrets.com

We demonstrate how to apply the following business analysis tools to the funeral industry:

  1. PEDST Analysis to look at external factors: Political, Economic, Demographic, Social, and Technological
  2. Five Forces of Competition analyzes: Power of Buyers, Power of Suppliers, Threat of New Entrants, Threat of Substitutes, and Competitive Rivalry (you vs. the funeral home down the street)
  3. SWOT Analysis will look internally at your: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.

Then you will have all you need to leap ahead of your competition.

Register now and receive the Strategy Guide in advance so that you and your management team can use this as a brainstorming session or as a benchmark for your ongoing Strategic Plan.

www.FuneralManagerSecrets.com

Unfortunately, the training that we funeral directors receive from mortuary school doesn’t teach us to be funeral strategists. I found myself in the same position, but in our market – high cremation, highly competitive market with discounters and memorial societies – I felt that I needed some business strategy education right away.  So I went back to university and received my business degree in Entrepreneurial Management. The greatest skill that I learned in the entire program was how to use some Strategic Analysis Tools. Instead of you having to go back to university for an MBA, I want to share with you these tools and how they can be applied to your own funeral operations in your own market.

Dr. Mainprize holds a Doctorate in Entrepreneurship, is an internationally renowned professor who lectures to business owners about the strength of their business model and will share with you what strategies you can use to separate you from your competitors.

During this teleseminar you will learn how to apply these 3 KEY ANALYSIS tools to take you from a high overview look at factors that affect our industry and your market and then laser-focus in on your firm and start to differentiate you from your competition.

I hope that you can join Dr. Mainprize and me for the free teleseminar. Register right now . . .

www.FuneralManagerSecrets.com

. . . Hep

PS: Feel free to forward this invitation to your friends and collegues in funeral service

Filed Under: business strategy, Competition & Strategy, Newsletter 2008 06 Tagged With: ,

Be A Funeral Market Strategist (and leave your competition in the dust)

June 16, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Be A Funeral Market Strategist (and leave your competition in the dust) newsletter 2008 06 market share competition strategy business strategy I received some great comments and questions about my “Competition” article – thank you! First, many of the issues funeral home owners and managers are unique to your specific market and situation so I cannot offer a blanket answer that everyone could benefit from. The issue was followed by the questions, “How do I fix this?” or “What should I do?”

As I always do in situations to solve problems, I reflected on the process that I have used many times in my home market that is very competitive plus is on the forefront of changing trends. In this type of market – and any market – you need to have a process to deal with issues and make decisions easily and with confidence.

By the nature of how we join funeral service, either as a calling to serve, or following in family footsteps, we rarely get taught how to think strategically. Strategy isn’t taught in mortuary colleges and the issues we face today – like increasing cremation rates, price discounters, memorial societies, and the Internet – were not big issues to the generations before us. Especially in our market where no-one had experience in dealing with these issues before – I decided that I had to go back to university and learn how professionals solve problems in other industries and then apply those methods to funeral service.

Although formal education was a great experience, what has really stuck with me was what I learned as a member of the “Case Competition” team. In a nutshell, a team of four would be given 3 hours to read and analyze a business case study and present our recommendations. Since you were “on stage” at the end of the 3 hours, I really learned to hone my strategic thinking with “tools” that made up my Business Strategy Toolkit.

At this point I could just tell you hire me to tackle your issues in a one-on-one scenario – and of course for those who wish that personal consultation I will make myself available – I also want to teach all of you “How to Fish” instead of selling you fish.

Whatever causes you the most pain – tough competition, price shoppers, losing calls, cremation families, memorial societies, expensive marketing – these tools can give can give you an competitive advantage for just a small investment of your time. So here we go – these are some of the tools that I use on a daily basis to solve clients’ problems. The three that I recommend to get started with are the Environmental Scan, Porter’s Five Forces, and the SWOT Analysis.

The Environmental Scan (sometimes referred to as PEST Analysis) looks at external factors: Political, Economic, Social, and Technological. Then Porter’s Five Forces of Competition analyzes: Power of Buyers, Power of Suppliers, Threat of New Entrants, Threat of Substitutes, and Competitive Rivalry. Then having a solid strategic framework of your market, you then look internally with a SWOT Analysis: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Then you will have all you need to leap ahead of your competition.

Don’t worry if this seems too overwhelming, I will put together a demonstration next week using funeral industry examples. Also, I will try to pull in a favor and get another expert on the line with me and we will go through step by step through the process as it relates to us.

If you would like to have your company profiled for the example – at absolutely no charge to you, please click the link below and provide me with some basic information. Then I will be in touch to get some additional information. Be assured that your identity will be kept confidential.

Apply for the analysis of your market and company, click here and fill out the form:

http://www.funeralfuturist.com/application-for-strategic-analysis/

Thank you for your time and look for my newsletter next week for the details of the “Funeral Industry and Competitive Analysis” free training session.

Filed Under: business strategy, Competition & Strategy, Increase Market Share, Newsletter 2008 06 Tagged With: , , ,
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