Hey Guys,

Cody Fisher here. I don’t usually comment on topics in this section, but I have seen a lot of posts about websites the past few years. I have read many of the posts, topics, and free advice given by Café members on the subject of websites and SEO in particular. I have noticed some really good advice and some really BAD advice on the topic of SEO. I just wanted to post something that I think will be very valuable to my fellow entertainers.

I have had about 10 versions of my website over the past 15 years of working as a full time magician. The first 6 versions were created by ME using HTML editors such as FrontPage and Dreamweaver. For the time, they were “O.K.” and served a purpose. However as times started to change I realized that I needed stop tinkering with my site and hand it over to a professional web designer.

So the next 3 versions were better than I had ever done on my own and they looked much more professional. I always assumed that my site was doing great. Whenever a call would come in I would always ask, “How did you find out about me?” The answer was usually, “Oh by your website!” And so it went on this way for quite some time.

What I had failed to realize was that yes companies were contacting me via my online contact form, however they were not “finding me” via a search engine. They had been given my website by someone they knew. So was my website really working as it should be? The answer is no. What I basically had was a fancy online business card. People would contact me via the site, but only if they went to my URL directly.

What I failed to realize is that the web had drastically changed since my first website. (Duh) Before the days of search engines your website was basically an online business card or brochure. People didn’t really “search” for stuff they “went to” your site from a business card, e-mail, or by referral. With the popularity of search engines this has all changed! (And I was behind the times!)

When I finally got serious about my online presence, I started doing research about SEO. I decided to play around with pay per click in order to get my ranking up. This worked for a while, but then it became so popular that everyone started doing it. As a result it became more and more expensive and very complicated to say the least!

After my minimal success with pay per click ads I started researching those “We Guarantee #1 Google Ranking” companies on the net. Some of these guys wanted as much as $500/month for their SEO services. And as I later found out…they are NOT guaranteed AND as soon as you stop paying them…any ranking you had is quickly lost. Fortunately for me I did not fall victim to this as I had a friend in the real estate business that fell victim to one of these companies. She lost a ton of money and her ‘top ranking’ was short lived.

Finally I had heard about organic SEO so I began reading every book I could find on the topic. What I realized was that by the time the latest and greatest book on SEO had hit the bookstore, it was pretty much obsolete. Google and other SE are constantly changing their algorithms and trying to keep up was just too complicated. After trying to keep up with my business AND stay on top the latest SEO trends I realized that I needed to hire a real professional…and I am so glad that I finally did.

After interviewing several so called SEO specialists and being completely overwhelmed with crazy fees and top ranking promises, I decided to call a guy who was referred to me by a close friend in the fundraising business. The company I was referred to is Lithic Media. The guy who runs it is Ron Williams. You can check it out at http://www.lithicmedia.com.

One thing that impressed me about Ron was the time he took to ensure the job was done right. My previous developers barely talked to me about what I wanted the site to do, they just assumed what I wanted. Ron discussed the specifics of my market prior to sending a contract and continued making sure things were right throughout the entire process.

Since I signed on with LM, my google ranking has shot up to page 1, my site traffic has increased dramatically, my bookings have increased, my online store sales have gone up by 300%, and my site is perfectly optimized for the areas I want to work. I honestly could not be more pleased with the results. Lithic Media builds most websites in a way that I am able to log onto my site as an administrator and make just about any change I want to without the fear of ‘messing anything up’. Since I am able to make the changes as I need to, I am in complete control of the site content AND I am not waiting on someone else to make the changes for me. The platform is very easy to use so you don’t have to know anything about web design or HTML.

Another advantage of this system is that I now have a newsletter than is incorporated into my website! I was using Constant Contact / Swift-Page at a cost of around $80/month. CC was a pain to use, took a long time to build a newsletter, and the bounce back rate was crazy! With the newsletter created by Lithic Media I am able to go to my website, log in as an administrator, type out a quick newsletter, and sent it out to clients in about 10 minutes AND I am not paying $80/month to do it! Another neat advantage is that when my newsletter arrives in someone’s e-mail, it looks identical to my website, header, links, and all!

Anyway, I just wanted to add my 0.2 cents to the mix as I have seen that a lot people are having the same problems that I went through for many years. Do yourself a favor…if you want to have a site that gets you business, start running your magic like a business. Hire a professional and get the job done right the first time. When I look back over the years I can’t even imagine all the time and money that I have wasted on my website.

You guys know that I have a reputation for quality and that I would not endorse a product or service that I did not personally use. Check out Lithic Media http://www.lithicmedia.com and give them a call. In a short time you will have a website that is working hard for you…

Cody S. Fisher

Ron is a GREAT guy, and always has usefull tips and tidbits for me!