<div><p>I have heard it every day since Thanksgiving: &ldquo;I am budgeting for 2013.&rdquo;&nbsp; I have two tips if you are doing this. First, don&rsquo;t forget to make an investment in metrics. Second, consider monthly programs designed to give you slow and steady progress as a base on which you can build.</p><p>One of the biggest complaints I hear about...</p></div><div><p>I have heard it every day since Thanksgiving: &ldquo;I am budgeting for 2013.&rdquo;&nbsp; I have two tips if you are doing this. First, don&rsquo;t forget to make an investment in metrics. Second, consider monthly programs designed to give you slow and steady progress as a base on which you can build.</p><p>One of the biggest complaints I hear about marketing small businesses and medical or dental practices is the boom and bust cycles. Yes, there are natural cycles to interest and therefore business, but you only make them worse if you fuel them and feed off them. So, how do you level off this effect and begin to build on top of it?&nbsp; First you use your metrics to analyze what is really happening before, during and after the trend. Tracking tools are inexpensive and offer an extremely high value in the right hands. My best recommendation: use tracking telephone numbers. For web site traffic, use Google Analytics... that&rsquo;s free.&nbsp; You have no excuses on that one.</p><p>Analyzing your metrics and having a grip on your real measurable results will make you feel better about instituting long-term programs. Regardless of what the metrics tell you, they are a real starting point from which logical decisions are made. Usually, this makes psychological room for the investment in marketing programs with long-term results. These are really the backbone of any successful small business, no matter the sort of business.&nbsp; The best example of&nbsp; this is an organic SEO program. Organic SEO programs are the cost of doing business on the Internet. An extremely high percentage of sites rely on a steady, moderate SEO effort on an ongoing basis to build a solid base of trust with search engines. This is how Dog Star Media&rsquo;s SEO programs are built and the results for long-term clients has been steady increases in traffic and rankings which over time make for very solid and lasting positions in search engines. We design our programs to be affordable, steady and predictable so you can make the necessary long-term commitment without over-committing on your budget.&nbsp; </p><p>So, if you are budgeting this month, why not put in some lower cost line items that help stabilize peaks and valleys and that don&rsquo;t eat up your whole budget.&nbsp; Why not contact me to discuss our SEO and tracking number programs to accomplish that?&nbsp; For information on our SEO and tracking number programs, please email me at <a rel="nofollow" href="http://dogstarmedia.com/donald@dogstarmedia.com" target="_blank">donald@dogstarmedia.com</a>.</p></div><p><strong>Read more</strong>&nbsp;<a class="rssreadon" rel="external" title="Budgeting tips for 2013" href="http://dogstarmedia.com/blog/entry/budgeting-tips-for-2013.html">http://dogstarmedia.com/blog/entry/budgeting-tips-for-2013.html</a></p>
