Peanuts to Profits With Thor Schrock
Peanuts to Profits With Thor Schrock

I received a request for an interview today from the Midlands Business Journal regarding the importance of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). I staunchly believe that SEO is a must-have tool in any small or medium size businesses’ marketing toolbox, and after the 45 minute interview and numerous real-time examples of our current efforts and results, the interviewer had what she needed for her story.

The Midlands Business Journal is a weekly business newspaper that has been circulating state-wide for more than 75 years in Nebraska. Jill Hanson was the interviewer and we started our conversation speaking about how Google rates websites where it does. I explained that there are black-hat (bad) and white hat (good) methods that can be used to “encourage” Google to rank a website near the top of its results for a given search term. The good methods are above board and accepted by Google, while the bad methods are far easier to implement but will eventually get your website de-indexed (removed from all Google search results).

I used our newest client, Phil Walker as an example of the dramatic improvements that can be made in a website’s ranking with the smallest of changes. Phil Walker produces the Visions Along the Platte river Valley CD Series, and has sold more than 10,000 copies of his Nebraska History CDs since he started the series.

In August two programs surfaced on the Internet that allowed users to remove the Digital Rights Management (DRM) copyright protection that prevents the songs from being duplicated without permission nor payment.

One of the programs targeted Apple’s FairPlay DRM protection and the other circumvented Windows Media DRM protection. While attempts to circumvent copyright protection on online music services is not new, Microsoft was forced to hastily release a patch to close the vulnerability in Media DRM, while Apple plans to solve its most recent woes in an update to its popular iTunes software package.

We have finalized the specifications for this year’s Holiday special, and I need one more person who wants a computer that will run circles around anything else out there for years to come.

As many of you know, each year at Schrock we put together an amazing computer for the holiday season and sell a limited number of them at our cost. The system always retails for $1,499.99, and has become know in Lincoln and Omaha as a unique opportunity to lay your hands on an extremely advanced system.

As many of you heard, Schrock Innovations began accepting E-waste (old computers and computer equipment) at no cost early this month from businesses and consumers. Many people believe that we are making a profit on sending E-Waste to recycling facilities, despite my comments to the contrary. Unfortunately circumstances which I did not anticipate are forcing […]

I was just informed today that Schrock Innovations was voted the #1 Independent Computer Repair Company in the 2006 KFOR Best of Lincoln Survey for the 4th year in a row! Thank you to all of our radio show listeners and KFOR fans who voted for us.

This year we will be trying something new with the radio show. Typically we move to Sunday mornings during the Husker season to avoid any potential conflicts with football game coverage. this year we are going to buck that trend and stay on at 10:00 on Saturday mornings. Listeners have told us that they lose track of our show for a few weeks when we move to Sundays, and again when we move back to Saturdays after the season concludes (hopefully in January this year!).

Today the Lincoln Business Journal ran an article on how to pick the right e-commerce consultant or company for your business. We have done some e-commerce work for our clients, so the Lincoln Business Journal asked me to answer a few questions.

The article is full of useful information if you are planning on establishing an e-commerce presence on the web. Pick up a copy if you get a chance!

Schrock Innovations is sponsoring August’s LIBA Lunch meeting next Tuesday. I will be addressing the membership about the often underestimated value of a website as part of a well rounded marketing plan. I also had a corresponding article published as part of this month’s LIBA Magazine that is mailed to the membership.

Although the majority of my prepared remarks have been ready for well over 2 weeks, I will have an 8 lb 12 oz. helper who will help me drive home the value of a well constructed and deployed website.

If you fail to ride the wave of change you will find yourself beneath it. For the past 4 weeks that overused motivational phrase has been my compass as all of the employees of Schrock from our web developers to our technicians have come together to launch a new chapter in Schrock Innovations history.

As many of you may have heard on the radio Saturday, I launched Schrock’s 2006 Back to School Sale. For the first time ever, we are now carrying notebook computers in stock. While I could bore you with all of the logistics and reasons we have not done this in the past, I think it is much more interesting to explain why it is important for the future.

The Journal Star’s feature article today about the new E-Waste recycling program available at Schrock Innovations has generated a surge in demand for computer recycling services.

Last week Schrock Innovations announced a major change to its policies on recycling old and obsolete computers. We are now the only place in Lincoln where businesses and consumers can recycle unlimited e-waste with no disposal fees.

I started to digest the bid they had already received, understanding the implicit suggestion that we beat their price. The hardware they quoted for the system was decent for what it was going to be used for, and the price for the hardware was agreeable. I was getting myself prepared for a razor-thin margin push to get the job until I read the software section of the quote.

Windows XP Professional with Software Assurance $20.00/ea
Microsoft Office Professional 2003 with Software Assurance $30.00/ea