DETROIT REIMAGINED - TED CANTU - on The Entrepreneurs Radio Show

"The Rise of Ted Cantu -- BUILDING A BETTER DETROIT"

Ted Cantu started out as an Art Director in Chicago and New York City. He has worked through five generations of multimedia with clients including GM, Ford, Coca Cola, WWE, NBC, Oprah Winfrey, Capital Records and Unilever. Cantu has also worked extensively in the dot com industry creating cutting edge web sites and presentations for Fortune 500 companies. In 2001, the events of 911 and the crash of the dot com industry changed the direction of Cantu and he moved back home to his home state of Michigan.

Now, Cantu is working for wholesalers, retail stores and creating powerful revenue streams for his clients in a variety of industries. These include real estate, insurance, retail, wholesale, and service based industries. He is putting these companies on the top pages of Google in multiple markets and best of all he is able to do this for a low monthly fee. This has revolutionized the way local business reach ideal consumers on the web.

He is the author of two books and has a boutique search engine firm based in Novi, Michigan

Phone: 248-631-9211

http://www.stylejab.com

http://www.tedcantu.com

http://www.1seomichigan.com

PR4 Rank Rising: In Just 4 Weeks

UPSETTING THE HERD COMES NATURAL TO ME

A few years back I made a ton of enemies. I upset the herd. I was asked for my humble opinion about web marketing and I gave it and all hell broke loose. I am used to this sort of thing from time to time. I've rocked the boat in MLM groups like Market America and have had threatening letters sent to my house by ex-defunct uber alles web leader - Steve Sawyer and his ilk. Sawyer was later cut loose by the parent company and was denied wages and he later sued Market America.

I didn't have to lift a finger -- All I had to do was sit back and watch it all unfold. Sometimes, life is beautiful.


This was back in 2007. What had outraged Mr. Sawyer and JR Riddenger was that I had figured out how to use search engine technology. I actually was cleared of any wrong doing. You see, other members of the Market America group were contacting me and asking me how to become popular online as well.

Once I was cleared of all "criminal" yes... I said criminal... charges I was allowed to continue to sell their crappy products unharmed. After I was cleared I said thank you... and then gave them a big F.U. letter and walked out, three days after I was cleared and never looked back.

In spite of threats of future endeavors I became a certified SEO. As far as I know, this is within my legal rights. This is still America, the last time I checked.

CANTU STRIKES AGAIN.....

Recently, I was thrown out of the popular NING Automotive group -- well sort of. I was defending some basic SEO tactics and was attacked by a bunch of flat footed showroom flunkies turned SEO "experts". These over night academics were appalled by my frankness... and careful study. I pointed out several flaws with their approach in a conservative tone. This was met with bile and spit.

My comments were quickly taken down off of the message boards. I then asked to be removed from the group. But alas, they just cannot seem to live and exist without my SEO manliness. I am still on their roster to this day.

I have several examples of this as I continue through my online marketing journey. I am not sure to take this as a compliment or as an insult. I have been attacked, stabbed in the back by other organizations as well.... GKIC Kennedy comes to mind. But I continue to shoot my mouth off and help companies get on page one.

What you are supposed to do is drop everything and purchase the new $3,800 a month coaching program from the SEO flavor of the month gurus instead of listening to reason. You are supposed to drop two payments of $7,500 each for crap that does not work and many people do but I am here to tell you something from the world of real experience.....

I expect more hate mail from CBS radio and all the others for what I am about to share with you. But once again, this is my own real world experience and it is going to run counter to everything else you hear in the current.... popular.... search engine optimization realm.

And no, I am not talking about, (or even defending) social media.....

THE UNCOMMON PR4 RESULT --- IN JUST 6 WEEKS

Now, with a past like that I am about to upset all of my "friends" out there once again with some new stuff. I promise to not disappoint.

I grabbed a domain name recently and created a simple 5 page site. The speed of this process is the most important part of the story. I did not plan. I did not sweat the small stuff. I did not even do a soft launch or a pre launch or throw a party. I just bought a domain and threw together a site and then published it.

Thats upsetting... hell, its downright..... offensive... to somebody.

You have to read the stuff people send me to understand the sheer comedic idiocy of it all. I do not plan stuff out to death. I make money. I never apologize for that. I just do it. I make money, I create sites, thats what I do. I sell.

The site was aimed at a niche market. I did not want to overthink it. I got enough to worry about with my marketing and clients sites. All I want to do is create an impact in my niche and do it quick. You see I never know what the search engines are going to pick up right away or what pages they are even going to index. Thats important to remember because BING reads pages a bit differently and they will grab what appears to be random stuff. Bing never has your content in order. In short, they rarely grab the index page off of your site. It will grab a page that sits deep in your root directory.

Yahoo will grab your site in about 6 days if you get the right kind of domain. I train companies how to purchase domains so this can speed up the process. I will only share that with my clients..... But lets focus on the main part of the conversation.....

Another thing I want to stress here is sitemaps. I recently had a conversation with some SEO experts and they were very cocky about it. You only need one style they said.... HTML... NO KIDDING !!!! But there are three other styles out there now... TEXT, ROR, AND XML... Don't be a dope... you should use all 4 styles....

WHY?

Because in just 6 days in combination with full site optimization I was able to jump over 30 million competing web pages and land on page 1 of Yahoo and Google. I was also able to create three other sites and completely corner a market and get the phones ringing..... Thats kind of important if you want to stay in business. Especially in todays economy.

Its life or death.... Sorry if that offends people. But this game of search engine optimization is designed only for the players. Only 15% of all websites are even archived to begin with. MLM guys never want to admit that, and either do real estate or insurance guys.... But face it... If you know what I know it would cut down all the stress and alcoholism in those industries.... so get intelligent, and pretty please... with sugar on top... put all four sitemaps in your websites.

There is an added touch of two things concerning..... authority sites and press releases but this is the point.... My site, the one I built in one day.... reached page 1 of Google with nothing less than PR4 ranking. Yes, its making money, and people know me but that is exactly the point.

The smartest guy in the room always makes the bigwigs nervous. Someimes jealousy ensues and people get fired. People make threats.... I was told after leaving Market America that I would be watched very closely. That wasn't out of friendship. I was warned....

Well boys, I hope you are watching.

Its 2010. Maybe you will learn something.

From your master.

Ted Cantu hates MLM companies world wide - and sleeps at night with a peaceful conscious and helps 50+ industries to the top of the search engines. He is a published author on Amazon, and continues to stun the conformed.

Its 2010 - Facing The Great Collapse

LIVING LARGE IN THE ECONOMIC COLLAPSE

Its amazing how times have changed. Its even more amazing how the rules of the game are changing at a rapid rate. Since I have turned against the traditional roads of marketing I got to tell you that I am enjoying the fruits of freedom.

I believe that in 2010 people are more impatient than ever.

In 2009 we lost two major newspapers - the Ann Arbor News and the Oakland Press. We also lost The Phenomenews paper that reported on all things related to mind, body and spirit. As troubling as these events were little has changed on the local front. Retail stores still struggle to get the word out about their businesses...... Without the support of the newspapers the other logical choice would be to run side by side with the Yellow Pages....

This is a grim proposition. It is tough to stand out against so many similar listings. This is true for just about every industry.

GOOGLE VS THE SEARCH ENGINES
Getting a thumbs up in the Kawsasaki ATV Parts market is tough these days. There are roughly 15,000,000 competing pages on the web. Getting noticed in the motor sports industry is getting tougher than ever. That is why a lot of them are doing pay per click to stay out there in the public eyes. For some companies this is an ideal choice.

Google PPC accounts have been reported to drop over the recent weeks. In fact, a lot of these accounts were reported to be "kicked out" of the system. This leaves the advertisers in search of greener pastures... literally. Keep in mind that a good 86% of the online public prefers to rely on organic searches on the web. The choice for these advertisers may be to start creating organic online marketing campaigns.

If you can't rely on the PPC system to take care of you whats left.... the Yellow Pages? Maybe. Over the last few months the Yellow Pages has been making strides to do a little "video" for the retail store owners. This is nothing compared to the magnitude of "Viral Marketing" where it is possible to create 40,000 online links in just a few months as opposed to.... 2-10 ... tops with the "other guys".

Kawasaki parts dealers are better off using organic SEO to help propel their companies on the web. It may be their only option. The newspapers are not coming back anytime soon. In a way its very depressing yet... at the same time, very uplifting.

Google is picking up in popularity -- and print.... in general, is dead. Thats what I am told constantly when I meet retail store owners. And seriously, on the street, (and that is where I spend 80% of my time) nobody is forking over money on stamps to do mailing campaigns.

ONLINE MARKETING IS CHANGING TOO
Whenever I hear the buzzwords for "Webinar" I get nervous. That is usually a red flag for the following.... It means that people who love meetings, (but rarely buy) will be stealing time from me before they make a commitment. I think that level of marketing is finished too to an extent.

It used to be like this....

1. Soft Launch - webinar, phone calls
2. Pre-Launch - webinar part 2, phone calls, teleseminar
3. Drip Campaign - Mail, and drive people to a "Squeeze Page"

Now I think you just need an idea, a sales letter, and maybe a power point and thats it. You don't need to wait weeks upon weeks to get your point across. I find that people who like structure and "meetings" are usually cash poor to begin with.

I don't have time to entertain these people. I need to find motivated individuals who want to become customers at some level... and they are out there.

So this level of online marketing has also collapsed. Sad but true.

2010 will be a year of great impatience, a year of speed, and a year of significance. You will need to know what you want. You will have to choose sides and pick your fights quickly.

And in 2010, you had better learn how to sell.

The job "scene" has greatly deteriorated.

There is too much opportunity out there. Opportunity is not the problem. The real issue is that many entrepreneurs out there have absolutely no clue how to build value and sell their goods.

Times up....

Ted Cantu posted this Dec 31, 2009 -

Cantu LIVE PRESENTATION on Google Marketing

WAKE UP MICHIGAN!!

Cantu is back with this presentation that totally baffed AUTOMATION ALLEY. He spells out what sort of search engines you need to be on if you want your company to be found. There are 9 families of search engines that he illustrates in his new book, "The 30 Day Total Business Makeover".

Posted on June 6, 2009 by Ted Cantu, Im off the see THE BLUES BROTHERS TONIGHT !!!!

NEW SEARCH ENGINE TRAINING DATES ANNOUNCED

Posted by Ted Cantu, on June 6, Im off to see THE BLUES BROTHERS TONIGHT !....

Minesh Baxi Interviews Google Kingpin Ted Cantu

The book has been released, "The 30 Day Total Business Makeover". And the controversies flew by. I instructed people not to do traditional advertising with $3260 full page ads, $40k radio campaigns and would you know it..... I got a flood of hate mail.

Thanks guys. I consider it a compliment.

Now there are TOO MANY OF US out there. It is going to be hard to bring about threats and carry them out with a nation full of Twitter and Facebook fans.... not to mention all the millions of podcasters and web video afficiendos out there.

But one can still dream.

Posted by Ted Cantu, on June 5, 2009 at 8:46 PM

The Power of Intelligent Thinking ! Go Cantu !

Here is the third installment that is a MUST SEE. Before you spend a fortune on online marketing or, (heaven forbid) someone else's fortune on Internet Marketing for a company you have not even built yet.... Take note.

You are headed for serious disaster.

Get a grip on your online efforts and watch these clips. They may very well save your company and keep you in the black for crikeys sake.

Ted Cantu, (THE KING) posted this on June 9, 2009 at 8:30 PM

Web 2.0 and Search Engine Marketing LIVE

TED CANTU SPEAKS ON INTERNET MARKETING

These clips were pulled, from "The Vaults" of our studio hard drives. It was recorded a little before its time, (AKA... last summer). They illustrate my skills and my companies victories early on.

These web 2.0 clips are well worth watching. Take notes. The Ted Cantu footage is a prelude to what was to come later in the 42 minute miracle.
Posted by Ted Cantu at June 5, 2009 at 8:28 PM.

Universal Search - Friend, Threat, Or ....?

Google has kicked around the idea of creating a Universal Search. Simply said it is a way for you to search things that center around your topic whether it is video, audio, text or animation. This is not a bad idea since the web is becoming more and more complicated. I actually applaud this idea and as a certified SEO do not feel threatened by it......

But this has caused some alarm in the community. It is discussed in a hush hush fashion and quietly passed over as a topic during popular discussions....

(See, Ann Arbor, MI - Seth Godin, and Internet Marketing Round Table event)

"It was if Seth Godin had taken us out of the rut and into the future while the round table took us back in time. The mood of the room and the overall feeling made me feel as though we somehow slipped back into the year 1992. No kidding....

There was little attention spent on Internet Marketing and more time spent on definitions of terminology taken from Dictionary.com.

There was little mention of anything in the realm of RSS development or traffic generation.The advice from Pure Visibility was perhaps the most disappointing. They suggested starting grass roots groups that meet regulary for Be Bim Bop and ... stamp collecting.

Seriously.

Do you have time for that?"

Get the whole article on the Ann Arbor IT Zone recent event here....

Getting to the root of serious Search Engine Marketing and even a much broader view of Internet Marketing should not startle you if this is what you do for a living. The learning curve to intertwine technologies from various sources may take a little more time and energy but the bottom line is ... its going to be worth it.

I suggested just a few weeks back that Search Engine Marketing as we know it will change. It has to with all of the new desktop technologies and hand held devices that are used to capture media and distribute it.

This is no time to get pompous this is a time to get intelligent. If anyone should be worried it should be the cable stations, radio stations and the newspaper industry.

A Universal Search would encompass all of these emerging technologies, (podcasting, web video, blogs etc.) and find things you are searching for. This is going to be more important in the upcoming months.

Ted Cantu posted this on May 23, 2007 at 1:36 am and can be found at http://www.1seomichigan.com


Source: http://seodetroit.blogspot.com/

WordZe : New Kids On The Marketing Block

"What Makes You So Sure People Are Searching For Your Products Online?"

After a brief but relevant discussion we have scaled our efforts back a bit with Search Engine Marketing, Our topics have become more sharply honed and our keywords have been toned up quite a bit. We are still excited but our methods have become more calculated......

Ah... let me back up a bit.

It seems a few days ago one of my partners was convinced that everyone was looking for his services. He sells amazing high end products to upscale salon owners.....

But the keywords that we used had other conotations.

** Schwarzkopf Hair Products = General Norman Schwarzkopf
** Color Vanish Hair Care = Color Varnish, (as in wood stain)

ouch......

A lot of people are looking for Gen. Schwarzkopf in Michigan according to the keyword search engine directories. This adds up for a little confusion. To make matters more confusing there are a lot of home owners out there that own elaborate decks alongside their homes. They are in the market for wood stains and color varnishes....NOT COLOR VANISH FOR HAIR......

I was somewhat dumbfounded when I looked over at the results. The number of people out there who were searching these terms for our products were very small. We needed to tap into specific keywords and phrases that people were actively using to find our goods and services.

Getting A Better Keyword Researching Tool
WordZe is the latest in search engine keyword research. This is a little more expensive than its competitors but its a nice toolset to have in your back pocket. It is worthy of its price and can cut through the clutter of irrelevant keywords.

At a closer look we were a bit stunned to learn the following:

* Hair = The keyword hair had 630,000 possible competing web pages
* Beauty Salons = This keyword had 53,000,000 competing web pages

That means to compete in these highly competitve searches we have to beat out 630.000 in our competition! This is not going to be easy to do if we are just doing the bare minimum and using these keywords in very expected ways.

We had to find out angles in our sales copy using keywords that centered around these topics. You see, we do not have to actually use THESE keywords to talk about our subject matter at hand.

We can still introduce our Color Vanish product to beauty salons who are:

* Looking for another revenue source
* Salons looking to add another service to their menu
* Beauty salons who are looking to offer unique services in their geo target area

**** This product by the way actually strips out the artificial color out of the hair. This is an amazing hair color care product and you have to see it to believe it. It is such a unique Michigan beauty salon service that it needs to be experienced on a personal level. Not every salon is going to go for it. That is part of its charm. We are banking on that so that key salons will jump on this amazing financial opportunity. Its an excellent way for a salon to become UNIQUE in its own marketplace.

By using this strategy we are going to stand apart from our competitors.
That is how you want to use your keywords. There is little point at going out of your way to blend into a highly competitive keyword category.

The last thing you want to do is become irrelevant or invisible.

Ted Cantu posted this on May 13, 2007 at 10:49 pm and can be found at http://www.1seomichigan.com