Posts Tagged ‘blog’

I had the pepper steak combo (with eggroll and wonton soup) at my local Chinese restaurant a few days ago. After lunch, my fortune was “Slow but steady wins the race.” I smiled when I read that because I’d just been thinking about the many “get rich quick” methods of internet marketing that are being promoted today. Do a search on Google for “SEO” and you’ll find some of them. They may promise to “guarantee” top listings on Google or Yahoo, or suggest they have a special relationship with the search engines that can rocket your website to that coveted number one position.

Just as in the “offline” world, there’s no shortcut to long-term success, and search engine optimization isn’t any different. There’s no easy way to trick Google and Yahoo into listing your site higher. Take it from the folks at Google themselves. So how do you get your website noticed by prospective customers?

The one thing all search engines seem to love is fresh, quality content. Oddly enough, that’s exactly what your website’s visitors are looking for. They want to see that your business or organization is alive and well, and they want to know enough about you to make a decision whether to buy from you, or join your cause, or take a job at your company.

So here are four basic tips on how to improve your online presence, and in turn improve your rankings in the search engines:

• When writing content for your business or organization website, tell the whole story. Don’t skimp on the details. Tell your visitors what you would want to know about your company if you knew nothing about it. Give them the information to make a decision right then.
• Keep the website updated. Think about the many websites we visit in a week that haven’t been updated in months or even years. How confident are you about the current status of that company? They might be doing so well that they’re too busy to update their website, but aren’t we more likely to assume they’ve gone out of business?
• Consider starting a blog. Search engines love blogs because there are usually many legitimate links coming in and out of the website, as you link to other interesting content and the media and other websites link to your compelling content.
• Use social media and networking sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to connect with potential visitors to your site. The more you get the web address out there, the more likely people with find you and pay your site a visit.

There have always been temporary ways to game a system, including search engine rankings. Usually those loopholes are closed fairly quickly, as Google and Yahoo change their methods to keep their rankings accurate. The methods I describe above, however, while they won’t bring overnight success, will in the long run build viewership to your website and improve your appearance in the search engines.

Slow but steady wins the race. Don’t take shortcuts, invest the time and money needed to create a great online presence, and the rest will follow.

I’ll be the featured speaker at the St. Clair (Michigan) Chamber of Commerce‘s monthly “e-net” event in May. The topic is new media marketing, and I’ll be discussing business blogging, e-commerce and the rising popularly and use of Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms in business.

The event will be on Thursday, May 7th from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. at the Red Mudd Studio in Kimball Township. The studio is owned by artist Deb Bassett-Maxwell (who is also a Kephart + Associates client); I’m always excited to be able to visit her studio.

There are a limited number of seats available for this event, and it’s open to both St. Clair Chamber members and non-members, so call David Gillis at the Chamber office today to make a reservation at (810) 329-2962.

Hope to see you there!

1. It works for you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Customers get answers when they need them.
2. Your business blog shows off your expert knowledge of your field and builds credibility in your community… and the world.
3. No more waiting for your web designer to update your home page.
4. It’s like cloning yourself. Now you can talk to many people at the same time with just a single blog post, increasing your businesses’ reach.
5. Search engines like Google love blogs, because they love freshly updated sites with lots of links in and out – the definition of a business blog.
6. Your business blog site turns your six column inch newspaper ad or your 30 second radio ad into a full-color, full-page marketing tool.
7. We’re interested in personality. Humanizing your business through blogging creates interest much better than P.R. babble.
8. No more wondering if your mass email or e-newsletters are being stopped by spam filters or clogged inboxes.
9. You can sell products directly from the site. Use the sidebars to promote your current specials or your key products and services.
10. There’s just not enough room on a business card.