It's about more than Google's free tools, although they are helpful and important. Companies are regularly bombarded by rankings "experts" promising to get them on the first page of search engine results for X amount of dollars. Many that take the bait without taking the time to do a bit of research, deeply regret it. They made the high rankings with nonsense content sites that gave them no credibility, were blacklisted by several browsers due to leave behind ads and tracking cookies. It was bad and took me months to undo the damage.
How are you staying caught up on social media?
How about your competitors?
I'm not just talking about Facebook, but the additional stuff that will help your business. Facebook has its place, but there are more regular items you or your online team should be helping you accomplish. I had a call from a client that I've had since 1999. He's been very quiet lately with his nose to the grindstone. He ranks high in search engines, partly because of the longevity of his sites and domains; and partly because he works really hard at being top dawg. He's noticed a lot of his competitors have fallen away but there are new ones. These new competitors have embraced every avenue of social media. He's ready to jump in! His site is atv.info and his checklist is below in no particular order. Perhaps you'll glean some helpful ideas:
Create favicon.ico file for branding and eblasts, feeds, etc.
Set up Twitter account - try to choose a username that makes sense for your brand or you. Find good folks to follow - if you are in healthcare, find policy makers, support groups, vendors to follow.
Set up FB professional page for "likes" - create custom banner, icon, timeline milestones including wide images.
Create a Google profile. They say you have to have a gmail account, you really don't. Try your own and go through the process.
YouTube channel if you have videos. You can create this with your same Google profile login and go to "Google account settings" under the VERY top menu at the right. Example: DinoManners
How about creating videos? You can give a lot of descriptor words that will take them to your information. Consider creating some "How to" videos with humor. Humor gets passed around. There's enough dry content out there and it has its place, but if you can, add some levity and personality.
Have all of these social media all feed into each other, without causing duplication - THAT'S embarrassing. It looks terrible on Twitter, Facebook etc. to have duplicate posts that keep pushing back and forth to each other. Sometimes you don't realize all of those time-saving apps can create a tornado of duplicity in your newsfeeds. Be careful and draw it out on paper! Truly. HootSuite.com can help you manage the pushes to the various venues. Use your site/blog as the hub of this multi-spoked wheel.
Create a site map that is regularly submitted to show off your new content and update deleted pages.
Google profile and Google Maps - don't forget all of those additional URL links to your important landing pages within your site. This will help you display a wonderful presence when your potential customers do a search for you. You appear higher in the rankins, as well.
Google places profile - different than Google Maps listing. You'll have to verify you own the business, but you are able to upload images, hours and other useful information. Check to seei f you are listed already, such as this site.
Yelp.com account set up so you can post your events.
Google alerts to keep tabs on your own branded items, services and key staff, as well as your competitors.
Site maps submitted to Google, bing, Yahoo, Ask.com and Google each month after they have been updated.
It's about more than that - it's about LEGITIMATE content and links. Why not submit articles to high ranking sites such as EZinearticles and GOArticles? There are dozens of reputable sites and hundreds of "we'll publish anything you send us" sites that can help you expand your audience.
Write a 300 word article about something related to your website, service, product.
Submit that article to EzineArticles.com (PageRank 6) or GoArticles.com (also a PageRank 6). This can take up to seven days to get reviewed, but usually goes faster. Make sure content meets their criteria - needs to be of service, not self-serving.
Make sure when you fill out the about the author box you link back to your site.
For maximum effectiveness, submit one article to EzineArticles.com, and another entirely different article to GoArticles.com.
Cross linking from major sites. I make a lot of comments on good articles. Many times they allow my URL to show in my comment. Be sure you are really commenting on what they wrote or they will not post your comment. CONTRIBUTE TO THE COMMUNITY.
If you go through that simple process, Google will follow your links from those sites to your site and will ‘index' it, which means they will then include it in the SERPs.
Setting up content into RSS feeds that can get to Feedburner.com (owned by Google). You may already have these in place and don't know it.
Regular e-blasts /e-zines to existing clients and prospects.
Auto responders for new subscribers to your lists until they start receiving your fresh content.
Call for content from other enthusiasts, members. They love posting their own photos.
Publicize his free classifieds listings more as it brings people to his site repeatedly. His classifieds heavily contribute to his traffic.
Ask EVERY client, contact for their email. Don't waste a single opportunity.
Make a list of ALL of these logins so you can remember. I like Firefox because it saves my passwords in a handy list. It's saved my bacon many times when I have to revisit a site months or years after creating it, have dumped cookies, etc.
Additional suggestions of tools:
Do you have news? Events? Some great achievement that happened on a specific day? Tell SOMEONE! Post it to your local news channel site. KATU News up in Portland has YouNews. We are able to post stories, video, etc. Once you are a trusted reporter, they allow you to post immediately.
Create an identity for all of this PR. [email protected], or similar, and have it come into your mail box. This allows you to TRACK the success of these efforts better. You ARE using your own domain in your emails, right? You DO have your own website url - yourname.com - right? This is where people learn about you and your achievements, no matter whom you are working for. Please read this article from another newsletter . BRAND YOURSELF. Just because you work for Coldwell Banker and they have amazing tools for their agents and brokers doesn't mean you shouldn't set up your own brand. YOU are the brand. Create the tools to brand you and show off your product or service. Tell YOUR story here. Start with your name as a domain. This leaves your options wide open and makes it easier for people to remember your site and how to find you. It also helps rankings in the search engines. Your content and page names can help with the keywords for your current endeavor.
Have some stock photos for these various profiles. NEVER leave the generic icons/avatars. Have them ready in: 200 x 200 pixel size - under 28KB.
If you don't have a nice headshot, GET ONE - something more recent than 2007! Keep them current. Have one for your personal or company logo. Don't worry, you can update these, but have all of this handy in a folder: SOCIAL-MEDIA-TOOLS in your MyDocuments or on the desktop. Make it easy to find and add to as you grow. You'll need this for various banners and avatars on these sites: Google+, Google, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest
Have some 640 x 480 photos of your products, logo, services that you can show. Remember, faces work best whenever possible. Always include keywords in your captions, descriptions, etc. These will come in handy for Google Places, as well.
Have a canned 'short bio' you can copy/paste quickly to save time. Who wrote it? Has ANY professional looked at it for you to edit? Consider it. This is the first impression of you folks will get. Make it count! It's worth paying a professional copy writer to bring in your keywords to sound natural and get your basic ideas across in 50, 100 and 250 words.
We'll talk about regular maintenance of all of these tools in another article. I think I've given you enough to start your social media and search engine campaign for now.
With a background in public relations going back to 1985 and in advertising since 1988, she employs the skills from those fields as she help to create an online presence that will appeal to your existing and future clients as well as investors. All these factors are taken into consideration before she comes up with a suggested plan for you and your company. It goes beyond an online presence.
She is a member of FemFessionals, WEO (Women Entrepreneurs of Oregon), Director of the SLMA, Mobile Marketing Association, and the founder of Binky Patrol Comforting Covers for Children, a national 501c3 organization. Susan offers training, custom classes and materials, as well as web design, clean up, complex scoping of database projects and full online solutions to enhance your marketing plans.
In 2001 she ventured into creating her own company to give her flexibility in schedule and projects. Since launching Susan Finch Web Solutions she has never looked back and continues to draw on all experiences from previous positions and businesses. She continues to train clients on ways to take control of their online presence without being beholden to any web geeks, designers or predecessors, as well as coming up with current solutions to better position themselves in the sea of search results.
About Susan Finch
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