Dear Technology Consultant:

NetKing, Inc. has as its singular mission the success of your marketing programs - both online and through traditional means.  I know that an Internet presence and a well formulated e-marketing plan for your technology consulting business is essential, and therefore I would like to offer you some basic marketing advice and some Internet marketing ideas, and alert you to one method in particular that could boost your Microsoft marketing sales.

Especially if you are a Microsoft Business Partner, marketing Microsoft should be an essential element of your overall marketing and sales strategy. And of course, Mr. Gates' company will be very supportive of your Microsoft marketing efforts. First, allow me to offer some high level comments on what your Internet Marketing should be all about.

The Internet presents you with extraordinary opportunity to develop your business. But let me cut to the quick. The Internet is not a be all or end all. It is, however, a highly leveraged and affordable medium for you to work towards four essential goals:

1. Strengthen your client relationships through regular communication.
2. Build credibility and trust in your technology consulting services value.
3. Uncover unmet needs, new business and consulting sales opportunities.
4. Meet new prospects and clients through online marketing, advertising and referrals.

I would further submit to you that there are 3 essential elements to your successful Internet presence:

1. A web page or web site that differentiates your business and you.
2. Regular Mail and/or e-Newsletter communications that spike ideas.
3. Persistent Online Marketing with realistic goals suited to a budget.

1. Your Web Page or Site

Your web presence need not be fancy or extensive. It must be professional in appearance and informative, and it should generate ideas or concerns. Quite honestly, our view is that web sites that are overly complex, or graphically intense, are not as well received as are the most simple and clear sites. Remember, people are not coming to your site for entertainment, rather for a far more serious reason - they are concerned about or need help with their technology and systems. Period.

Your site should clearly communicate your professional areas of focus and credentials, such as your being Microsoft, Sun, or Cisco Certified. It should clearly state your technology consulting experience, and most critical, include a clear statement on what differentiates you from other technology consulting firms - why people should do, or continue to do business with you.

There should be prominent ideas or questions raised - not hundreds of them - but just a few good ones that are timely. Subjects such as viruses, security, new hardware or software, OS obsolescence and supportability, redundancy, and a wide range of network issues always spike interest. These could uncover hidden needs, or raise questions that a prospect or client might not have thought about. They should change periodically - viewers will notice this - and of course people must be able to contact you with questions.

2. Regular Email and/or Newsletter Communications

Personalized E-Newsletters are a terrifically powerful tool to cultivate relationships via the web. The reasons are obvious - they show that you care about a client, and they spike ideas. They bring existing customers and new prospects to your site, and can be a highly leveraged source of new clients. And they're affordable versus hard copy snail mail. Newsletters and personalized email communications should be used regularly and somewhat sparingly. They should include a feature that allows a recipient to "forward to a friend" or associate. Used in conjunction with hard-copy materials initially (see below), opt-in acceptance is accelerated.

3. Persistent Online Marketing

The notion of "build it and they will come" with respect to any web sites these days is long dead. Let's face it, unless you are Microsoft, or willing to spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars a month, it is totally unreasonable to expect that someone will type in "technology consultant" in one of the leading search engines, and that your page or site will magically appear on the first few pages of results. There are thousands of "consulting" sites out there, few of which receive any meaningful traffic.

But there are things you can do on the Internet to attract traffic to your site that are effective - and affordable. Remember - it is probably not your goal to attract thousands of people to your site every day. Rather, it might be to attract one or two solid prospects a week or even a month. It is important for you to set a goal and a budget for your site's online marketing efforts.

NetKing has learned over the years that the heart of the matter is to "whittle away" at the mass of traffic, and capture bits and pieces of quality traffic at a time. Google has taken this concept to its highest level to date with their new AdWords service. With Google AdWords you create your own ads, choose keywords to tell them where to show your ads, and pay only when someone clicks on them.

You can discover attractive keywords or search terms from Overture's search term suggestion tool at:

I urge you take a look at this simple, yet often overlooked approach at Jim's site, where you will find everything from in-depth personal consulting for your firm, to books and articles that you can use to implement Nurture Marketing on your own.