video SEO was. I learned so much from you and with you in regard to video and video SEO. But even more than that, thank you for being real. We both know that when there are millions of dollars, or, hell – sometimes even just pennies on the table, people start to act funny; you have always been 100 percent real with me. We have made millions and millions together, my friend, and we have millions more to make!
A big thank-you to Jim Ziegler, HSG, CSP, “The Alpha Dawg,” President of Ziegler Super Systems. It is truly an honor to be mentored by a living legend in both the automotive sales industry and the National Speakers Association. I have learned plenty from you and know that my career has been accelerated by your guidance and friendship. It was you who suggested I join the NSA, and inspired me to achieve my CSP accreditation. And because of my affiliation with the NSA, I was given the opportunity to pitch my book to the prestigious John Wiley & Sons. Thank you, Jim, for being a great mentor.
Many thanks to Dr. Willie Jolley, CSP, CPAE, best-selling author of A Setback Is a Setup for a Comeback, Hall of Fame speaker, and another one of my awesome mentors. Thank you for seeing something special in me, for pushing me to write this book, and for always taking my calls, no matter how busy you are. I appreciate all of your guidance and advice, and all of your resources and recommendations.
Thank you Reverend Joe Cala (and my General Manager at Dealer Synergy). I was able to focus on writing this book because I was confident you could run my company. Thank you for being an amazing general manager and for being such a great friend. I have mad love for you and your family. I think it's so awesome that you married Karina and me and now we get to build this amazing company together with Karina and the rest of the team. Also, thank you for inspiring me to take the leap and write this book! You wrote two books to my one, and I am honored to say you are one of my greatest success stories. I am awed by what you do on a daily basis.
A shout-out to Anthony “AAA” Alagona – we did it, brother! We have come a long way from the Cha-Cha Lounge at the Limelight 21 years ago. I want to thank you for always having my back, from back then to today. You are appreciated. Congrats to you and Ambika!
I want to thank my Dealer Synergy team for being such an amazing group of talented, brilliant people! Thank you for all of the brainstorming on this book, the graphic design, assisting on research, and overall support. A special thank-you to Dana Goldberg for your insight, attention to detail, and creativity.
A shout-out to Phil and Ricardo Migliarese, owners of Balance Studios in Philadelphia. I am proud to say that they are my instructors (in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu), as well as great friends. I have to say, Balance Studios is probably the most effective martial arts school in the country in terms of digital marketing, social media, video marketing, and search engine optimization. I have enjoyed my conversations and synergy sessions with Phil, and I am beyond grateful for the personal attention that Ricardo has given me with private lessons!
A special shout-out to my “Li'l Brother,” Mark Gayed – I love you, brother, for always being supportive and believing in me. My best man at my wedding and my best friend, you are appreciated!
Thank you to Wiley for giving me the opportunity to share my knowledge and experience with the world. My team at Wiley, Shannon and Elizabeth, have been so awesome in guiding me through the process of becoming a first-time author. And wow! The Wiley marketing team is superb. I love the cover of this book. Thank you so much.
Thank you to my amazing family for being so supportive and understanding and allowing me the time to write this book. I loved reading chapters to my teenage daughters, Kalina and Tianna, and getting their opinions from the teenage perspective. Thank you to Li'l Sean for being such a great big brother for Xander. And thank you, Xander, for being such a loving little mini-me. Thank you to Karina Bradley, for being so supportive – for brainstorming with me, proofreading, and challenging me to constantly do more, be more, and achieve more. I am so blessed to have married my dream girl.
And most importantly, I thank God for blessing me with the gifts and the mind that I have and the tenacity and passion to do what I do. I know it is for Him. He has a purpose for me, as He does for everyone.
Introduction
Writing a book about a multibillion-dollar company – one of the most powerful companies on this planet and one that affects more than 1 billion people – can be an incredibly challenging task, but it has to be done. There are so many people, companies, brands, and so on that are in need of visibility, in need of people to buy their products and services, in need of building a brand and/or a fan base but do not know how. As a matter of fact, there are people who used to be successful – people who used to have huge fan bases and a huge clientele but now find themselves struggling, stressing, and losing revenue. They do not know how to stop the bleeding. They do not know how they can survive, never mind thrive! The world has changed, and if you do not change with it you will ultimately fail, or – if you are lucky – cling to the crumbs left behind by truly innovative and evolved companies and people…
I am an avid learner, reader, and researcher. I try to absorb as much information as I possibly can, but when I was conducting research for this book, I was shocked to find that there were no other books in print about how to actually dominate Google's search engine for massive visibility. Sure, there were books out there that focused on SEO, or social media, video, reputation, digital marketing, and even on Google itself, but there was not one book written on how to leverage all the different aspects of Google with onsite and offsite resources that can and will get you indexed on page one of Google. I was determined to write a thorough book that could be used not to trick or beat Google, but to act as a true road map that would help people understand how Google works, what Google wants, and why – and then to show, step by step, a holistic approach to how you can create a customized plan for you, your business, or brand on how to give Google exactly what it wants and needs. In return, Google will give you exactly what you want…page one domination!
I have a very unusual background with an incredibly unique skill set. Traditionally, you would think that a business book author would have an MBA or doctorate degree. I don't.
As a matter of fact, I dropped out of college my sophomore year, and I didn't even major in marketing, SEO, or anything like that. I was a Russian major at Rider University in New Jersey, in the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity and a cadet in the Army ROTC program. With all of that, I left, and life circumstances led me to car sales (I got fired from being a waiter). I worked in a car dealership for five years. I was a car salesman – actually, the best car salesman in the dealership: salesman of the month, salesman of the year. The average car salesman in the United States sells approximately 10 units per month and I was selling an average of 30 units per month and making over $120,000 at 24 years old. I guess like a lot of success stories, I was in the right place at the right time. I got into the automotive sales industry in 1999. This is literally the time that the Internet started to take off in our industry. People were going online to do research before they ever stepped foot into a car dealership. Because I looked so young (and so short), the management directed me to handle the Internet leads. And in no time I started to engage these Internet prospects and convert these Internet leads into Internet appointments into Internet sales! I was hooked; I quickly became addicted to the hunt and to the sale and, most honestly, the money! I was making so much money it was absurd. I went from being a college dropout making $30,000 as a waiter to making $120,000 almost instantaneously.
The next evolution in my career was to become an Internet sales manager/business development director. This meant that I was now in charge of building an entire department of Internet sales. I was no longer a one-man show. The dealership now wanted me to create and run a major profit center: the Internet Department, also known as the Business Development Center (BDC). The problem was that no one knew what to do. The Internet sprang up very quickly and very powerfully. So I went to the library, the bookstore, and the Internet, and researched everything I could on:
