Category Archives: Search Engine Optimization

Business Owners With a little or no marketing budget

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This entry is part 1 of 2 in the series Local Marketing for Small Businesses

As I strolled thru Burlingame Avenue, an upscale quaint neighborhood filled with shops, restaurants, grocers, and spa’s, in the heart of Silicon Valley , and a few miles from SFO International Airport, I realized that local businesses are too busy running their restaurants and local businesses without much thought into how they intend to market their business.  Reading the local free paper (which is by the way a popular paper) reflects ads upon ads of service offerings, with some utilizing Twitter or Facebook page, but not utilizing other marketing platforms that are free and easy to use.

I am an avid shopper on Burlingame Avenue: Lucy, JCrew, Burlingame Produce, Cafe La Scala, and a few boutiques on the avenue.  When ever I stop in and chat (while shopping) they give me a blank stare when I ask them if they have a Facebook Page, Foursquare or if they know anything about local marketing tactics.  Some of them tell me that they just “don’t have time”, others will say they don’t have the money.

You know if you run a business, you do have the money, but you’re just choosing not to invest into applying a new strategy and tactic because you think it’s so time consuming.  When I explain in short order what they need to do, they get it, but say they don’t have time.  Sharp savvy business owners will look at me and say “How much?” and then say  ”Just do it” when I tell them it’s pretty affordable, and how they will get that money back in a matter of days.

So if you’re a small business owner, and you are afraid to spend any money, I am willing to offer you suggestions that cost money to me. These are tips that will help give your business visibility online and get found by local customers conducting searches from their mobile phones.  It breaks my heart that you spend so much on direct mailing pieces, local advertisement in the free paper (and I know how much it is, too), and not get the right response.  It is far less expensive if you implement these simple steps.

I outlined these steps in my video “Local Marketing Tips for the Local Business Owner on a Budget” which is under 3 minutes.  Here are some additional tips to consider:

Adding photos/videos will help your listing rise above other listings and for local presence, your listing will be placed above Organic listings.

I suggest verifying ownership with the phone method vs. the post card method.  Phone verification will make your listing go Live instantly while the post card will take up to 2 weeks or more.  You can’t afford to wait 2 weeks.

Take advantage of every space on these listings. If they ask for your Twitter and/or Faceobook URL, add them.  Add coupons or specials.  You can also integrate your QR code and upload as a photo!  The QR code can be a way to direct people to your website, facebook page, or a special you’re running.  When people scan in your QR code, the information is on their phone!

Why do I tell you to do this?  Everyone is on their phones conducting searches, they’re tweeting with their friends, or “checking in” via the Facebook Places.  You want them to find you, get to know, like and trust you.  This is a free service.

If you’re still feeling like you don’t have the time, contact me for a 15 minute consultation – I’d be happy to help set your local listings.  You can contact me at 650.918.6077

Social Networking: How to allow people to know, like, and trust you

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Social Media Landscape

After watching the video on Social Media Marketing and Hubs, I felt compelled to write to you about how easy it is to allow people to know, like and trust you by using various social media platforms.

I’m a huge fan of “casting a wide net”, if you are a blogger, author, writer, and have alot to share online via blogging, podcasting or video, you would benefit from having optimized profiles on social bookmarking sites (Digg, Delicious, Stumbleupon,  Streetmavens, Multiply) and Video directories (think TubeMogel).  There are news hungry people on those sites just waiting to know you!

When I learn that a client has a ton of content (blogs,video,podcasts,ebooks,articles) I use Ping.fm, Posterous and OnlyWire to share the content and cast a wide net online.

I don’t use all three at the same time, otherwise you’d be dispensing duplicate content.  I do however have a method to my madness.

Ping.fm

I use Ping.fm for specific reasons – sharing press releases, event announcements, a book launch (virtual tour), etc. which need to go out more than once – so I change the headlines and set up automated tweets to feed out 3-4 times a day for a specific amount of time. You can link Ping.fm to Socialoomph, or Hootsuite, Tweetdeck,or Twaitter. Some are free or offer paid subscription for added benefits. I do want to note that in order to use Ping.fm, you must first have profiles created on selected sites, then you add them to Ping.fm.

You then add Ping.fm to a tool of your choice: Socialoomph, Hootsuite, Tweetdeck or Twaitter. These are great tools for you to set up tweets in advance (post date and time for your feeds to go out). Ping.fm then will auto-submit to various sites in addition to Twitter, Facebook (Facebook Page),and Linkedin.

When I suggest to share announcements and press releases 3-4 times per day, this all depends on how many followers you have on Twitter and how many friends you have in Facebook profile or page.  The more followers/fans, the more times you should share the announcement – I’m talking about one at 8;30am, 10:45am, 12noon, 2pm so that your network gets a chance to see it. However, if you have about 500 followers on Twitter, then I suggest to post one in the morning, one at noon, and one at 3pm.  Make sure your tweets have a call to action.

I recommend adding BizNik, BizSugar, and Fastpitchnetworking.com to the list where you can share your information and create new connections.

Posterous.com

Posterous is one of my favorite sites. I think this is a great site you can use to compliment your current website.  Posterous offers a way for you to share multiple types of content in forms of video, podcasting, blogs, and photos.  You can share your information directly from within your email and iPhone or directly on the site. You can also submit content in advance and post date and time when you want it to go out. I use Posterous to repurpose content by changing the headlines, adding tags and categories. I also add social profiles (Twitter, Facebook or Facebook Page, Linkedin, Friendfeed, Blip.tv,Viddler, Vimeo, YouTube, Tumblr, Plurk , Picassa, and more) so all content then goes out on the selected date and time, and Posteorus will auto-submit to all your social sites.  Posterous knows whether you’re posting a video, podcasts or photos and will submit to appropriate sites.  However, if you manually add content to this site, then you have an option to select the appropriate accounts to autopost your content.

Postereous is very much like a webpage, you can add pages,links, and customize header and side bars.  You can add google analytics and feedburner if you’re interested in learning how people are getting to your site.

How do I use Posterous? I add a new headline, a few lines of the post with a link to read more at (the url).  Sometimes I just add the headline and the url of the post, so it is a good method to drive traffic back to your website.  The best part is that it “casts a wide net” bookmarking your site, sharing your content across multiple platforms and exposing you to potential fans, followers, and clients.

OnlyWire

OnlyWire is optional – it basically combines almost every social bookmarking site, news site, even Posterous, so you can manually add your headline, tags, and description and post the link or you can add the WordPress plug-in and remember to select the little box “Post this to OnlyWire” so you simultaneously bookmark your new blog to all the sites.

I am a firm believer to cast a wide net, because people are loyal to specific sites, not just on Twitter or Facebook, but on Delicious, Stumbleupon and Digg.  Bookmarking your posts consistently will encourage followers and fans, set you apart as an influencer for your community, spark speaking engagements, and offer opportunities for training and coaching new clients.

Utilizing various methods to share your message will help people know, like and trust you, convert them from acquaintance to customer, but remember that social media marketing is not a quick fix. Be patient, persistent, consistent and strategic and you will be sure to achieve results beyond your expectations.

Does Your Web Site Pass the Title Tag Test?

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SE-TacticsYou know those words in the top bar of the browser when you’re on a website? You may not have noticed them before now, but you’ll want to pay attention to what shows there for your site from now on.

Those words are from the page’s title meta tag, a part of the code that makes up the page. And while the title tag is just one small part of the code, it plays a really big role.

Title tags are crucial in getting your site indexed and ranked in the search engines. A title tag tells the search engine what your page is about – and it’s also what displays in search results to represent your site.

Let’s take a look at your title tags now. Pull up your site and look at what appears in the very top bar of the browser.

If you’re seeing generic terms like “Untitled Document”, “Welcome to our Home Page”, “About Us” or “Contact Us” as you click through the pages, it’s time for an overhaul. (Known as stop words or dead weight words, these are so common that search engines ignore them or return search results irrelevant to what the person is looking for.)

If you see just the name of your company or services, your title tags will also need help.

Here’s what you need to do to get those all-important title tags working for you…

  • Include your most important keywords in your title tags. These are the terms people will most likely use to conduct a search on Google, Yahoo, etc. (A solid list of keywords is the foundation for any search engine optimization effort.)
  • Avoid your company’s name or product/service names as the sole component of title tags. It’s likely that only a very small segment of potential searchers will be searching on branded names, so be sure to use more descriptive terms the average customer might use.
  • Each page should have a separate title tag that represents the unique content on that page. Don’t be tempted to use the same title tag for all the pages in one section of your site, for example.
  • Keep title tags to around 60 characters. Anything longer and it may be chopped off by the search engines.
  • Don’t stuff keywords. This makes your title tag appear messy or unreadable, and it’s going to entice fewer clicks even if it ranks high in search engines. Stop words such as “the”, “of”, “that”, “is”, “and”, “to” and so forth can be used sparingly to improve the readability of a title.
  • Find out which other websites are using your keywords in their title tags to get an idea of who you’ll be competing with. Google has a handy tool to help you find out. Go to Google.com and type in the search bar “intitle:your keywords” (quotes not needed).

Sample Title Tags

We’ll show you a couple of examples to give you a boost on your way to great title tags.

If you look at T-mobile.com, you’ll see a title tag something like:

“Cell phones, cellular phone plans, prepaid cell phones, free cell phones and deals”

Not bad. You can tell someone has put thought into which keywords the home page should rank for.

On the other hand, go to Nortel.com, and you’ll see a good example of what not to do:

“Nortel”

Here’s another example from the alpaca niche:

Before: “Alpaca Meadows Homepage”

After: “Wisconsin Alpaca Farm, Northern Wisconsin Alpaca Breeder: Alpaca Meadows”

The first tag is quite generic and will not rank well since most people looking for information on alpacas will not be looking for a specific ranch or breeders name right off the bat.

The second tag on the other hand contains many general AND specific keyword phrases such as “alpaca”, “alpaca farm”, “alpaca breeder” along with keywords related to its location. Not only will this descriptive tag gain more traction in the rankings but it will lure more visitors to the site.

Creating great title tags is a little bit of an art form. Indeed, some SEO engineers specialize in this, though hard-hitting meta titles should be included with any on-page SEO efforts you undertake.

Stone Reuning is president of SEO Advantage, a search engine optimization company that helps businesses harness the revenue generation potential of their websites. Referenced in books such as “Writing Web-Based Advertising Copy to Get the Sale” and the BusinessWeek bestseller “The New Rules of Marketing and PR”, http://www.seo-advantage.com/ offers information to help small businesses compete online.
This article courtesy of SiteProNews.com

BlogTalkRadio: Online Marketing & Social Media Tales

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"Webify Your Business"

This week’s guest on my Savvy Business Leaders Blog Talk Radio show is Patrick Schwerdtfeger, author of “Make Yourself Useful, Marketing in the 21st Century” and “Webify Your Business, Internet Marketing Secrets for the Self-Employed” , founder of Tactical Execution, an internet marketing company that leverages cutting – edge strategies to build credibility and exposure for its clients.

Patrick is also an inspirational speaker who has given keynotes and workshops in the United States, Canada, and Europe.

Join in on the conversation this Thursday, October 21, 2010 at 10:00am PDT / 12:00noon Central / 1:00pm Eastern. To listen 347-843-4092

You can also listen from your computer via live stream !

Patrick will share his methodology around online and social media marketing, touching on building an effective website, participating in the conversation, calibrate your online identity and ways to WOW your internet audience.

We encourage participation from you, the callers and can’t wait to “see” you there!

Don’t forget, it’s tomorrow, Oct. 21 at 10am pdt : 347-843-4092

You an also listen via  live stream from your computer!

Social Media: New Statistics from Socialnomics.com

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Last year I wrote an article about Social Media is NOT a FAD. It’s nice to see latest Social Media Revolution 2 video that validates what I wrote about a year ago! This updated video provides phenomenal, a certain WOW factor, and should get the Novices on board as quickly as possible; so here are the take away points to make you reconsider using Social Media (if you haven’t started, or need help using it right):

  • 0ver 50% of world’s population is under 30
  • 96% of millennials have joined a social network
  • FaceBook tops Google for weekly traffic in the US
  • Social Media as overtaken pornography at the #1 activity on the Web
  • 1 out of 8 couples married in the U.S. met via social media
  • 80% of companies use Social Media for recruitment
  • % of these using LinkedIn…95%
  • Fastest growing segment on FaceBook are 55-65 year old females
 Years to Reach 50 Million Users

Þ    Radio 38 years

Þ    TV 13 years

Þ    Internet 4 years

Þ    iPod 3 years

Þ    In less than a year, FaceBook added over 200 million Users

There are additional, insightful statistics in this video and I highly recommend that you watch it!

“We don’t have a choice on whether we DO Social Media, the question is, How well we DO it.”              Erik Qualman

http://socialnomics.net/the-book/