Liberty Bell in Denver, CO takes a stab at online services for small biz.

Liberty Bell, a Denver Telecommunications provide is one of those businesses who I don’t think would be doing well if they hadn’t landed a sweet investment deal with popular T.V and Radio, Denver Consumer Advocate – Tom Martino.

Founded in 1995 by Nigel Alexander and Shawn Stickle, Liberty Bell was setup to be a one-stop shop for ‘ALL’ small business telecom and computing needs including Broadband Internet Access, Phone Lines, Computing Services, and Internet Growth Consulting.

Because this blog is dedicated to Online Marketing, I am going to skip talking about Broadband Internet and Phone Lines which I know very little about and focus more so on their internet growth consulting and see how their services actually stack up.

Before I get started… I emailed Christina Neher, Liberty Bell’s Chief Operations Office  (COO) several times and received no response, not even a, ‘hey thanks for writing I’m busy and ill get back to you later,’ response. Oh well, this blog will only appear to anyone and everyone who is looking for information on the Liberty Bell Denver…

Let’s get started.Web Design & Development:

Liberty Bell’s first service offering on their website for Business Growth Services is Web Design & Development. The first thing that comes to mind is… yuck. The website has a cluttered design and resembles one of those free flash templates you can grab and quickly edit off of TemplateMonster.com.

Because Liberty Bell never responded back, I have to go dig around and see if I can identify a true Liberty Bell Client’s website to determine if the product / service they are producing is quality, in my eyes… Based on their business website I am going to guess they are not producing very quality websites…

Video Production:

This is a particular service that doesn’t interest me. From what I’ve seen off of their business website they do some decent videos… If you’re looking for affordable Video Production I would check out Jobing.com a local job board who from what I understand does or at one point did video production. I have seen their work and it’s quite impressive.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO):

Everyone wants to be an SEO, and rightfully so – it’s a hot industry. Unfortunately there are more and more companies who are coming out of the woodwork claiming to be SEO Experts yet fail to perform. Similar to the web design review, I am going to have to do some digging and update this blog to reflect my findings so in the meantime let’s have a look at Liberty Bells company website…

The first thing I noticed is that LibertyBellTelecom.com and 303Bundles.com are duplicate websites. This is the first indication that their true ‘seo knowledge’ might be less than par. The second indication that that they might not have the best ‘seo skillz‘ is the fact that their website is done in Flash. Though Google claims to now crawl flash, I wouldn’t suggest taking them up on it and creating an entire website in flash while hoping to have  rich index-able content.

Liberty Bell’s, 303Bundles.com ranks better then their duplicate website – LibertyBellTelecom.com. This is based on the fact it has more authority links pointing in, probably yet another benefit of having Tom Martino on the investment board.

The only way I can see this website ranking at all is based on it’s authority links and simple Meta Element changes to reflect keywords like Denver Phone, Internet and T.V.

Would I trust them with my personal SEO – doubtfully.

Google AdWords Management:

Google is great, but advertising in solely Google alone might not be in your small businesses best interest. Before you consider jumping into PPC Management I would recommend reading my tips on setting yourself up for realistic PPC Expectations to see if PPC is right for you. If you think it is, I would suggest talking to ReachLocal or Yodle first… These are two companies who have mastered Search Engine Marketing and are some of the better PPC Management Firms for  Small businesses out there.

Yodle & ReachLocal offer advanced tracking systems that will allow you to easily monetize your investment – this is technology I doubt Liberty Bell has, if so I wouldn’t know because I can’t seem to get a hold of someone who will respond.

Social Media Marketing:

Hiring an outside company to handle your Social Media Marketing is simply said; a waste of money. It’s a free service that you can setup and run. In fact, if you’re considering on hiring a Social Media Expert, or Social Media Marketing Company – STOP. Go to www.ping.fm, sign up for a free account. Once you do you will see massive list of popular social networks which all can be managed by one website, Ping.fm. It will also give you a list of Social Networking websites worth checking into.

Before you hire someone… Google ‘top 100 social networking websites,’ or something along those lines and sign up for  yourself. If you don’t have time, ask your nephew or niece to do it. You don’t need to spend big bucks on Social Media Marketing… there are too many resources and tools to do it yourself, quickly.

Liberty Bell Telecom

I was somewhat excited yet skeptical about Liberty Bell‘s new Growth Service Bundling – how well does it work, and how powerful is it for small businesses?

Because I am not on the market for outsourced SEO and Web Design, I find it fun to dig in and review other local businesses who offer SEO, Web Design, Search Engine Marketing (SEM) etc… Colorado is flooded with talented Web Designers and Search Engine Optimizers which makes it hard to pick players vs. posers. So here we go, my official review on Liberty Bell in Denver’s, Growth Services.

Liberty Bell Takes a Stab at Online Marketing & Development Services – Read more

Liberty Bell Growth Services:

• Web Design & Development
  Think it will take thousands of dollars and months of time to get your presence on the web? Not with Liberty-Bell. We’ll listen to you and help you determine what your site needs to look like and how it needs to function. Then we’ll design it and build it to meet those needs. We can get you started for less than you’d ever expect.
• Video Production
  Give your business more than just a bunch of words on a screen. Give it a face with a video. Videos can be powerful ways to inspire confidence in you and interact with your customers and potential customers on a more human level. Plus, with free use of our video studio, it doesn’t have to cost a fortune anymore.
• Search Engine Optimization
  SEO is all about content. What words do you use to describe your business or products? Without the right words search engines will put you at the bottom of their list. We can help optimize your content to get you higher in search results. If you’re building a new site we can include SEO as part of the process. Already have a site? We will help improve the content to get better search placement.
• Google AdWords Management
  With Google AdWords you can get the word out about your business to potential customers who are ready to buy. Why? Because they are searching for what you sell. AdWords uses your keywords to place you in Google’s content network where it is most relevant for your business. It provides a level of exposure above and beyond what SEO provides. Our web marketing experts can get a campaign set up, monitor the results and adjust the campaign to be more effective. All at a price that is as flexible as your budget.
• Social Media Marketing
  Now you can connect with customers on the web through social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. These sites let you start truly communicating with your customers so you aren’t only talking to them but they are talking to you. This provides you valuable opportunities to build brand, establish a community of customers and gain valuable insight into what you customers want. We can help get you started in social media marketing by helping you plan the best strategy for your business.