Search Engine Optimization

Even if you opt to put up a website yourself, you should consider hiring a professional for Search Engine Optimization. SEO is lengthy process that requires constant diligence otherwise you'll soon find your business getting buried in competitors.

The more venues you have up and active on the internet, the more the opportunity to appear on a customer's search,. So take every opportunity that you have available to put your name out there. Take advantage of Facebook postings, Pinterest, Blogs, latch onto Manta, Yellowbook, and other sites in addition to your own website. This allows customers to see your name from these sites.

Unfortunately all this work doesn't guarantee that you'll come out front in the race to the top. Your site map will need to be developed and submitted in the the format that the search engines require (normally XML). Specific product pages for some sites should be submitted separately on an ongoing basis  The net is a constantly moving target and unless you are diligent and have the time you're likely to be reduced to page 2 or 3 of  a search---a less than optimal situation.

There are, of course, many other ways you can get your business name near the top of the search engines. Simply posting your website and other pages and submitting your sitemap won't get your information out to potential customers though. We can help. Contact us.

Mix it up

Half hearted online content yields half hearted results. A great web site with great content is only one step in the process in today's world. A complete marketing plan could include:

• A blog with expert content, tips of your trade, and news of your business' sales and events. Be sure to link back to your own website when appropriate. This gives your web site some additional status in the search engines and provides another way potential customers to gain more information about your products and services. Be sure to link back to sites over the internet that provide additional information too---give credit where credit is due. Be careful not to copy content though or all your hard work may not be recognized by search engines looking for duplicate content.
• Social Media is an easy way to get your business up and running. But be careful. This requires a commitment or it will leave potential customers wondering if you are still in business. Plan on making a minimum of one post per week on a Facebook page which you can then transfer into a Tweet on Twitter. Less than that and you may as well not do social media. And the content has to be a mix of sales and business information, free tips and offers, and personal information making your business someplace that people want to spend time with. Give your customers what they want and they'll come back again and again, and pass you on to their friends too.          
•  Put it all together on your website with links that include all your social media and your blog. Automate all as much as possible and don't forget a regular newsletter too. 

Web marketing pays off with sales and customers but it takes time and commitment to build a web presence. Static web sites and social media pages can be a detriment, not an asset to your business. We can help your business get started with your marketing plan. Contact us today.

Coding for SEO

It's easy to get busy and rush through a web template if you're a small business do it yourself-er. And, especially if your site is image intensive, you may fail to key the alt information into each image. If you miss this key set of information, you're missing an important way for search engines to point interested customers to your page.

Search engines run through all the text on your site. An image with no text will be ignored. An image with accurate alt text will not only be friendly to customers who are blind or provide information when pictures don't load properly, but will be read by search engines, the same as any other text. That alt text will then be used by the Search Engine to bring you the customers.

In a way, the alt text is even more important than that image. Don't miss it.  

Facebook joins the Search Engines

The other day while maintaining Search Engine Optimization for a client I was pleasantly surprised when, at the top of the search page, there appeared an appropriate entry from the client's Facebook page. The Facebook page had been built a bit less than a year ago, and since, had been seeing a steady level of activity from customers. We have kept interest alive through posts that are a mix of research, information, and business information---deals and sales. Customers who are engaged enough to post a question receive answers back---it's become another avenue for customers to join the business.

And now all that hard work this client has invested will pay off as the Facebook page joins other posts from the company website to give relevant information, not only to a select group of customers, but out to the entire web, hopefully gaining new customers.

Getting your business out onto the web and gaining new customers and making sales is a process much like building in brick and mortar. Each post that is made is part of getting your information out there, building trust about how great your business is, and developing a following of customers that will keep coming back to you for their needs over and over again.      

Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization isn't a do it now---leave it alone item in managing a website. SEO requires constant vigilance. Leave it alone and you'll soon become buried under your competition's links. As you add new pages and/or products to your site, announce sales, or as your site is updated in other ways, SEO needs to be performed every step of the way. And the more active your site is---constantly evolving with updated information,  the more likely you'll come up on top of that search.

After you update or create a page wait a couple of days and perform a search of  how well you do. Be sure to include a few search engines---don't just assume that because you use Bing or Google that your customers do. If the results are not exactly what you expected it's time to get tweaking the SEO with the webmaster tools that most search engines provide you with.

As you tweak be sure to do it honestly. Searches that are irrelevant or not correct, keywords that are out of place may cause your site to be rejected or bypassed by a search engine.

With time and diligence you'll soon find that your site will be coming up on top. Need help? Contact us.
     

Search Engines---what you get when you Google it

What search engine do you use when you ask a question in your address bar and press enter? Chances are you barely notice if at all. And chances are, if you have a smart phone, you'll be using a different search engine than what you use on your laptop.

Each browser comes with its own default, too. So unless you've changed the defaults, if you're using IE you are probably searching with Bing, Chrome users will be using Google, and Firefox users will be defaulted to Google with a handy button near their address bar that allows them to select another engine with a drop down box that includes Yahoo, Babylon, and Answers.com.

Each search engine allows you to ask the same question and receive different answers back. If you're a small business owner with a website, you'd like to come up close to the top when a search is done for your product and the more local that search is the more likely that you will hit that mark. But the top is paid real estate in some search engines. And does it really pay to purchase the top spot when you're coming in second with a resounding customer recommendation to boot?

Most customers searching for a product such as yours are used to doing online research to help make their decisions. When you search do you go to the first ad and stop there to make your purchase? Probably not. It's the content on the pages attached to the search result that really matter in the long run. And in the long run, it is important that your business shows up upon a search for your product and that you've got spectacular content that proves to a potential customer that your business is the one for them.  

Search for Your Business and What do they find?

Periodically it pays to search for your own business on the internet. Not only does the search tell you where you are coming up on the search engines but it also gives you a chance to clean up old and incorrect information on your business and gives you the opportunity to thank all your customers who took the time to complement your business.

Some sites allow anyone to enter a business name and information. It then becomes the business owner's responsibility to "claim" the business. As a result there can be all sorts of  lacking and incorrect information on your business. So whether you have a website or want to be on the internet at all, it pays to see what information comes up on  your business and make updates and corrections if necessary.        

Top 5 Secrets to Coming up on Top of Search Engines

Seems like there are more experts than ever who can put your business on top of the search engines for a fee. And there are more businesses that are willing to dish out the dough to be at the top. Being on top isn't about magic; it's about work and depending on just how much competition your business has online it may require a whole lot of hard work.

So here's five ways that can help you begin:

1. Put up a website, publish it properly and update it frequently. You will not do very well without fresh and up to date information. 
2. Start a blog, make sure it's linked to your website. Blog regularly.
3. Have a Facebook, Twitter, and Google page. Link them all to your website, blog, and each other. Post regularly.
4. Yahoo, Google, and many yellow page sites offer free listings with links back to your website. The more of these entities you sign up with the more likely you will appear when someone searches for your products and services. 
5. Make sure your location, your information, hours of operations, and any other information is up to date in all the sites where your business appears. You'll want to have this information managed and monitored.    

The internet is a web of information. The more that you contribute to the web the better your business shows up in that web. Not magic. Just hard work that any business can benefit from.
 

Key Products

What is the best product you have to offer? Is it the latest and greatest; something that everyone in your customer base wishes to own some day? Is it an every day item that all your customers will eventually purchase or may purchase time and time again?

What do you place just so in the front window of your business?

Take a moment to consider what that specific product is--the one that draws your customer into your store and then make sure that's the product featured large on your landing page. Make sure that your key words feature that product. Make sure you come out on top of all searches for that product; especially in your local area.

Paying to Come Out on Top

I was recently told by a company that they were paying (what they considered to be) a bargain rate of around $10 per day to stay on top of a major search engine. The CEO of the company was quite pleased when the employee that had suggested the expenditure proved that, sure enough, the money was well spent, there they were right on top of the search for those exact keywords.

There are a few points to consider if your company is planning to throw marketing money at a major search engine. First, there is more than one search provider and each handles searches a little bit differently. You can position your company on one search provider and it won't make a bit of a difference on the others. Often customers don't realize they are using Google over Bing over Yahoo and don't care.

Secondly, your company can hit the top without the extra outlay and search optimization should be part of the cost of the web design and deployment and strategy.

Or you can continue to pay a princely sum to the search engines... 

Managing your website

No matter how detailed your website is, it still needs management.

Staying on top of the search engines is the minimal type of management for an information only site but also applies to all sites. Monitoring your traffic, supplementing your site with up to date and changing information, and ensuring your links stay linked are some ways to stay on top of the search.

If you are collecting email information and providing an email address for customers to contact you with, you should consider your website as department of your business. Data collected needs to be monitored and utilized, whether it is a newsletter to be sent out to email participants or analysis of data for that marketing campaign. Emails and any identifiable customer data collected need to be protected and managed.

If you use the web to sell your product, then consider your online store to be a separate branch of your business; just like any other separate physical location. Your website then needs to be staffed, so that you are prepared to deliver the same superior customer service that you provide at your physical locations. In talking to business owners I often hear stories about websites set up to sell products that went undelivered with sales lost because management wasn't positioned to fill the orders.

Whatever the scope of your website; be sure your company protocols include your website management.