Blog•
on December 10th, 2011•
2500 small businesses were recently asked the following question:
“If you had to put all your marketing time and budget into only one channel, what would it be?”
Guess what the answer was?
SEO. And SEO won by quite a majority.
The survey was initiated by MerchantCircle/Reply.com and the available choices for the question were as follows (also including % of votes):
- Search Engine Optimization (32.9%)
- Traditional Media (19.7%)
- None of the Above (17.9%)
- Social Media (16.0%)
- Paid Search Advertising (9.8%)
- Mobile Marketing & Advertising (3.7%)
What I find so interesting about this list is that SEO beat Social Media by twice as much. Also, traditional media (billboards, newspaper ads, tv ads) still ranks second for these small businesses.
This shows the power of a high Google ranking when a business is starting to get off the ground. I think back to the small businesses where I have created a web presence, and SEO definitely had the biggest impact on sales and notice about the product or service.
Here is a link to some more details about this information.
Blog•
on September 19th, 2011•
I started EPR Creations a little over 3 years ago and so much has changed in that time. It used to be that you could do a little bit of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for your website and get high rankings immediately. Google would consider a few items to determine your ranking. Now, there are 200+ features that are considered when ranking a website in the search engines.
Most large companies have on-site webmasters. These are the guys who run the website. Most big companies also have their own social media departments to control Facebook, Twitter and other platforms. But what about the small- and medium-sized businesses?
My prediction is that small- and medium-sized businesses will begin hiring webmasters, only the title won’t be webmaster. It will be a position that will encompass much more than a traditional webmaster. I think the title of the position will be more along the lines of an “Internet Presence Manager.” This will include big ticket items like the website, SEO, social media, and online advertising. However, the Internet Presence Manager will also be in charge tasks like these:
- Online Reputation Management
- Domain Name Purchase Strategy
- Surf Engine Optimization (optimizing the path the user takes through the website)
- Training of all Employees regarding online communications about the company
- Coordination of blogs, tweets, and other messages from employees
- Deep understanding of user analytics and the communication of these results to respective management
Additionally, I see this Internet Presence Manager being deeply involved in the marketing strategy of the company. This manager will be required at all marketing and company strategy meetings. All major company announcements, updates, or mea culpa’s need to be run through the Internet Presence Manager for the most effective presentation of the content.
This job position will not only be imperative for companies, it will also be required for major organizations and major public officials. Also, boutique hotels and single-location restaurants will also be highly interested in the online reputation management part of this job.
My advice to those seeking a job in this arena is to become knowledgeable about the tasks listed above. Designing and developing websites is not enough. At your core, you are a marketer and you live in the world where advertising now takes place. Practice communicating about online strategy and become familiar with case studies of how companies have failed. Even brilliant companies like Google and Netflix have made big blunders in product or pricing launches.
The days of the Yellow Pages and TV advertising are over. A single negative tweet or review can have tragic results for a company. These negative items don’t happen over the period of weeks or months. They don’t allow for extended thinking time on how to reply and maintain clients. These things happen in real time. The lack of a real time response or overall strategy signals arrogance or aloofness, neither of which will help in a negative situation. As companies, organizations and major public personalities realize this, they will take the position of the Internet Presence Manager seriously. I would not be surprised to see this position morph into a C-level position at some of the major companies. A Chief Internet Presence Officer (CIPO).
Blog•
on August 30th, 2011•
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Blog•
on November 3rd, 2010•
Google has just made some important changes to how your local listing shows in the search results. Please read below to find out what these changes are and what you can do as a small business owner to stay on top of these changes.
Until just a few days ago, when you searched for Atlanta Pizza Delivery, Google’s organic search results would show a list of 7 or so Local companies serving in your area or the area you specified (Atlanta). From a marketing point of view, the great thing about this was that you didn’t have to be ranked high within Google’s organic rankings to still show up on the 1st page of Google results. You could just set up a free Google Local page and your information would show up.
Now, these local results no longer show up within the organic results. They have been pushed to the right side of the screen above the Sponsored Links. As you can see from the photo to your right, a map pops up with arrows designating different pizza delivery options.
In the center of the page, the organic results have changed as well. Although the old way of showing the local results all together has been removed, the local results still show under the organic results if that company has a Google Pages account set up. Here, users can see how many reviews you have, what your average rating is, and other quick info about your company.
Finally, on the left side of the page, the user is presented with another search option called “Places.” If the user clicks on that, only the Google Places page results show up. This is where you can still rank high for just having the Google Pages/Local page set up for your business. The key item to watch here will be to see if users actually utilize the places page within Google as opposed to sticking with the organic results.
So, what do you need to do as a small business owner in response to these changes?
Here is a list of important steps to take:
- If you don’t have a Google Pages/Local account set up, do it right now. Drop every other to do item and do this now. I outlined instructions in a previous blog.
- Fill in every imaginable box where Google asks for information. If they ask for images, include images. If they ask for video, use a video that describes your product or service, or get a video made that you can add. Most importantly, when they ask for categories to describe your business, add as many categories as you can, which as of now is 5.
- Start asking people to leave reviews on your page. Testimonials are great on your website, but match the amount of testimonials you have with reviews for your services on your Google Places page.
- Google Places allows you to create coupons. Come up with coupons for your product or service and change them out often.
- Google Places also allows you to add Google Tags to your listing. These are paid advertisements for little tidbits about your company, product, or service. It could be as simple as a link to your website or an announcement that you just launched a new widget.
- There is a Places Posting feature that is similar to a Facebook Update. Add new information about your company, a note about a job you just completed, or any noteworthy event associated with your business, product, or service.
- And finally, don’t forget about your website. This does not let you off the hook for continuing to optimize your website to show up for high rankings within organic Google searches. Google Places is becoming more of an important accessory to your website, but not a replacement.
Here is Google’s Official Announcement.
If you have any questions, please use the comment boxes below and I will do my best to answer your inquiry.
Blog•
on October 25th, 2010•
As a website developer, I like to experiment with new technologies, ideas, and marketing concepts on my own websites or businesses to understand them completely before I use them on client’s websites. In this post, I’d like to highlight one business and what I’ve learned about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) through this particular website.
The website is Atlanta Violinist – http://www.atlviolinist.com/
I am a violinist in the Atlanta area and I developed this website in October of 2009 in order to promote my violin playing. My goal was to attract more violin gigs for weddings, private parties, and studio recordings. The website has been a great success and has led to 20+ gigs in just one year! Not a bad side income for something I love doing.
If you go to Google right now and type in “Atlanta Violinist,” I come up #1 under the local business section and #2 in the organic results. At the present time, I am not paying for any advertising for this website. I am not in the symphony and am not a part of any union.
The first thing I learned about SEO for this website was that you must be patient. I didn’t get to second place in Google overnight. I used about half of my arsenal of SEO tools and techniques to get the high placement and that took a little time for the search engines to notice the website.
I also advertised for 9 straight months using Google Ads. I have since turned these ads off. The reason I advertised was so my advertisement would show up under the sponsored links on Google while I built up the SEO on my website. That effectively led to first page placement in Google under the sponsored area. I kept detailed analysis of how much I spent and how much business was generated. I tried to keep that cost around 10%, meaning for every $1 I spent in advertising, I got $10 in business.
Here are a few of the techniques I used for optimizing this website:
I also made sure the website was easy to navigate. If clients asked me a question, I figured it would be easiest to include the answer on my website. I included audio clips of songs, suggested wedding songs, and an easy contact form.
I’ve used a lot of these techniques (as well as more advanced SEO techniques) on a number of my client’s websites. Search Engine Optimization for your website is such a powerful tool because it can place you in the spot where people are searching for you. That means that you can have a passion that turns into another income stream. You can get your name above industry leaders.
Blog•
on September 16th, 2010•
In case you’ve been in a cave the last few weeks, Google just introduced an upgrade to their search process that delivers search results instantaneously as you type. If you haven’t tried it yet, give it a test drive – http://www.google.com/
So what does this mean for you as a Google user and for you as a business owner who has a website. Here are a few thoughts:
First of all, as a Google user, you’re search results will be coming in much faster. 2-5 seconds faster. As you are typing, Google is giving you suggestions.
As a website owner trying to gain customers/users through Google, this changes the playing field a bit. While Google giving suggestions while you are typing help you as a user, they also direct people certain ways within their search. This was present on Google previously, but the suggestions show up in the search bar as you type. So before, someone might have come to your website because they typed in a long search string. Now, they will be guided towards specific top searches. They will still be able to type in their full search, but choosing one of the available options will be faster. Thus, more websites will be chasing fewer top keyword options.
This is smart on Google’s side as more people will be competing for fewer top keywords, making ad revenue go up for people paying bigger money for the top keywords.
I want to make one thing clear here. Google has not changed their algorithm. So, the work you’ve done in the past for Search Engine Optimization will still be valid. But more sites will now be chasing after the top keywords that Google directs the user to.
Blog•
on March 17th, 2010•
Research company Hitwise just reported that Facebook passed Google as the most visited website in the USA last week. Facebook had 7.07% of all visits to the web and Google had 7.03%. The bigger side to this story is that Facebook’s traffic is growing at rapid rates while Google’s traffic has more or less plateaued.
This has enormous implications for online marketing. What this says is that people trust Friend Results more than Google Search Results. This may be obvious to marketers everywhere, but have online marketing companies changed tactics for their clients?
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) seeks to place a website high in Google rankings. This is still valuable. Extremely valuable. You’ve heard the joke, ‘what do you call someone who is #1 in google for a particular keyword?’ – A millionaire.
But SEO is step 1. If there are 30 movies at the movie theater, which one do you see? You see the one your buddy John recommended. Same is happening with websites. Google may point you to the best 30 websites for purchasing a used guitar, but your buddy John, who purchased a guitar last month and had a great experience, will help you weed through the noise.
This is the power of a Facebook network. I see my friends make posts all the time that ask for recommendations for certain products or services. And many people respond with good or bad experiences from specific companies.
Other ways we are seeing recommendations take place are in sites like Angie’s List. Angie’s List allows people to rate contractors. You need a plumber, you search here and see what your neighbors have ranked plumbers in the area. Now, you are not trying to do a Google search to find a random plumber, but you are basing your decision on reputation.
Blog•
on March 10th, 2010•
For a recent website design of mine, I received some interesting feedback from a blind user. It had never crossed my mind to design websites in a way in which they would make sense if they were read aloud to the user. Blind users likely access your site through a Screen Reader, meaning they hear your website instead of see it.
The more I got to thinking about this, I realized that creating websites with the blind in mind just might help in search engine rankings as well.
Consider the following suggestions that I received from the blind user. Most of these will also assist in your Search Engine Optimization techniques:
- Use Alt text for every image. This is SEO 101, but be descriptive in the alternative text you use for the image. The blind user will hear this text, so describe the image using keywords relevant to your page copy.
- Use a healthy balance of text and images. I know the trend is fewer words and more images, but make sure the point of each page is clearly stated not only visually but also in your text copy.
- Don’t have music auto-load when the user opens up the website. For someone hearing the site read out to them, this interferes and can be difficult to find where to turn the music off.
- Use Alt text for links. I rarely do this, but think about it. If you just post a text link in your page copy without including alternative text, the full link is read aloud, numbers and all, instead of “Link to Atlanta Plumber.”
- Flash cannot be read to a blind person. Flash is read aloud as a button. Google can’t read Flash, iPhones don’t display Flash, and the blind user can’t hear Flash. If you are going to use Flash, don’t place it at the top section of the page. This will be the first thing the blind user hears. If your entire page is Flash, you have completely alienated the blind user.
You can find further information on website design at the links below:
American Foundation for the Blind
As my entrepreneurship professor recently said, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) should be the major focus of a website developer, as long as the year is 2005. SEO is the process of optimizing your website through keyword research, competitive research, keyword strategy, and then deploying this strategy through Meta tags and website content. It also consists of obtaining links to your site from people who recognize your worth.
In 2005, SEO was important. It still is, and being #1 on Google for a particular word or phrase is guaranteed website traffic. But SEO is no longer enough. Thousands of pages of websites are added to the Internet every day. It is becoming more and more difficult to get high placement on Google just using SEO techniques.
The major pitfall of SEO is that even if you get high ranking for a certain product, and people come to your website because you are #1 on Google, why should they trust you in making a purchase on your site?
This is where online marketing and social media tools come into play. When I speak of online marketing, I am not just referring to the bland Google Ads or flashy banner ads, I am more referring to the utilization of social networking tools and blogging tools.
SEO may get you high placement in the search engines, but it does not build trust.
Social networking tools and blogs have the ability to build trust. Blogs in particular have the ability to portray an expertise in a given field. For my website clients, if I feel their particular business will not rank high in Google due to competition or low search for that niche, I recommend another approach. I will still optimize their site to the best of my ability, but the approach I recommend is for my clients to show that they are experts.
Many of my clients are experts in what they are doing. They have traveled the world and have done business in areas you don’t read about in the papers. Their stories would be more entertaining and educational than any graduate school text book. If they began sharing these stories through blog postings, people would begin to find these blogs and come to think of that person as the go-to person for questions or consulting in that field.
If my clients are not experts in their field, I still recommend blogging. But their blogs should not be an attempt to portray expertise, but as a story-telling method of where they are in their business. If they are entrepreneurs, I suggest writing about the process of getting their business up and running. Of writing about successes and failures. A photo of you on your website will let people in a little bit. Opening up and writing about your business struggles will have people connect with you and will build trust that is the foundation of any business interaction.
It is then the role of the social media outlets, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc to point people to these blog postings. Also, by writing these blogs, content will be continually updated on a website for topics that relate to your business. You will be fulfilling SEO strategies by continually adding keywords to your site that reflect your business.
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