The Self-Proclaimed Durango Marketer
Welcome to Durango Marketer! My name is Nathan Hammond, the self-proclaimed “Durango Marketer”. I got my marketing start while working direct mail for Basin Printing & Imaging, where I managed to raise mail volume by 300%. Eventually I found my way into web development and SEO, and started playing around with all other digital marketing channels.
Anymore I do more affiliate marketing than client work. I also run the largest indie pornstar resource site on the internet. I do occasionally take clients (local only). This site isn’t aimed to be a sales site, but a resource site so that way people can do things self-served instead of paying me. Feel free to reach out with any questions!
Marketing Resources For Durango Businesses
Note: These resources are applicable to any business regardless of geographical location. That being said; it’s geared mainly to SMBs with small in-house marketing departments and smaller marketing budgets.
The Website (Main Marketing Hub)
The website is your most valuable marketing asset there is! Why people think Facebook is a substitute for a website is beyond me. First; Facebook pages have to deal with the pesky “EdgeRank” algorithm designed to get FB advertisers to purchase ads instead of tapping into organic reach (Hint: Try groups in addition to pages). Also, Facebook posts can’t be SEO’d (important concept explained below) and Facebook hosts everyone’s content, it’s not specifically branded to you and your company!
See Also: Installing WordPress / Building WordPress Site
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
“Search Engine Optimization” (SEO) is one of the most important marketing channels to consider. SEO is the act of optimizing a website to be more search engine friendly. This includes onsite content elements such as header text, keyword rich paragraph text, optimized images (file name, meta), domain name and URL structure, site speed and more.
There’s also “Offsite Elements” that must be optimized. These are not things that occur on the actual website. “Backlinks” is one of the most important ranking signals. Backlinks are simply the links going from another website to your website.
In theory, sites are only going to link to other sites with good content. The more links the better the trust signal / authority of the linked-to pages. Of course this has been manipulated over the years, but even with the cheating, it’s still one of the best authority metrics available and used by search engines today.
Social Media Marketing
Social media is a great marketing tool, and can also be a no-cost one. Because pretty much everyone uses social media for personal use, learning to use it for promotion is easy to train.
Social media gains valuable exposure in a number of ways:
- Building following / promoting to followers
- Organic discovery through search and hashtags
- Viral reach through follower shares
- Paid reach through ads / promoted posts
Email Marketing
Email marketing is a low-cost direct marketing channel that is quick and easy to use. Email marketing is done via an email marketing platform, also referred to as an “Email Solution Provider” (ESP). This software makes it easy to build forms to opt-in email recipients, design and send campaigns, view campaign analytics and manage recipients.
Print / Direct Mail
Whether it’s a business card or a printed and mailed postcard, print is the offline channel that can go where digital can’t go. While in rural Colorado there are many places where mobile data can’t pull up a website, printed collateral goes where the internet-connected devices cannot. Useful for handing out information, convention booths and so much more.
SMS / Mobile Marketing
SMS (Short Message Service) or text messages is a highly effective form of direct marketing. Everyone has a smart phone in their pocket and text messages typically have higher engagement rates than email marketing. It’s possible to get a dedicated short code or rent keywords on a shared short code.