Jul 29, 2009
Adapt Your Search Marketing Campaign to Today’s Economic Climate
In today’s economic climate, it’s understandable that many people have adjusted their spending habits. When they go online, they are more apt to search for the best bargains and they tend to spend less overall. It is essential to adapt your SEO and search marketing campaign to these changes in order to continue to be successful through the thick and thin of the economy.
As consumers try to spend less money and save money when they do spend, the keywords they use on search engines to search for products and services also change. For example, you will find a lot more keyword variations that include the word, “cheap.” For example, in the travel sector, people are using a lot more keyword phrases like “cheap car rental” and “cheap flights.”
In the financial sector, keywords that have a lot more search volume during this economic crunch include, “mortgage,” “credit,” and “lending.” Such keywords are monetizing much better while keyword phrases that include the word, “loan,” are not performing as well, oddly enough.
Traffic patterns and online behavior are closely related to fluctuations in the economy. More people are searching online for financial information but that doesn’t mean that conversion rates are good. People are looking for financial information but are not interested in actually buying financial products, simply because lending criteria is so strict these days.
In the travel sector, keyword phrases that include the words, “cheap” and “discount” are performing well. However, keyword phrases that include the words, “hotel” and “cruise” are not performing as well as last year. And hotel keyword phrase combinations more commonly include location names rather than hotel brand names. In the past, more consumers searched for specific hotel brand names and were more brand-focused whereas now people are more focused on saving money on their hotel stays.
Strategies to Consider
In order to increase conversions in this economic climate and give frugal searchers what they are looking for, apply strategies that will help you fine tune your SEO and search marketing approach. When it comes to writing ad copy, make sure you stress that the prospect will get more value for their money rather than focusing on the brand. Copywriting that contains thrift-related messaging tends to be more successful.
If you work in the travel sector, aggressively target keyword phrases that stress discounts, bargains, and deals rather than keyword combinations related only to locations and brand names. If you have websites in the financial sector, keep up with all federal policies related to loan and credit because they will affect your traffic and conversions directly. The impact these policies have on the quality and quantity of your traffic will be immediate.
It’s no surprise that online consumer behavior directly reflects the state of our economy. Search marketers don’t necessarily have to tighten their belts along with the rest if they learn how to analyze this behavior and optimize performance. If you want to increase conversions, drive valuable traffic to your website at discounted prices, and increase your market share in important categories during unstable economic times, focus on ROI in your campaign and re-vamp your keyword strategy to ensure that it is targeted to frugal consumers.
As consumers try to spend less money and save money when they do spend, the keywords they use on search engines to search for products and services also change. For example, you will find a lot more keyword variations that include the word, “cheap.” For example, in the travel sector, people are using a lot more keyword phrases like “cheap car rental” and “cheap flights.”
In the financial sector, keywords that have a lot more search volume during this economic crunch include, “mortgage,” “credit,” and “lending.” Such keywords are monetizing much better while keyword phrases that include the word, “loan,” are not performing as well, oddly enough.
Traffic patterns and online behavior are closely related to fluctuations in the economy. More people are searching online for financial information but that doesn’t mean that conversion rates are good. People are looking for financial information but are not interested in actually buying financial products, simply because lending criteria is so strict these days.
In the travel sector, keyword phrases that include the words, “cheap” and “discount” are performing well. However, keyword phrases that include the words, “hotel” and “cruise” are not performing as well as last year. And hotel keyword phrase combinations more commonly include location names rather than hotel brand names. In the past, more consumers searched for specific hotel brand names and were more brand-focused whereas now people are more focused on saving money on their hotel stays.
Strategies to Consider
In order to increase conversions in this economic climate and give frugal searchers what they are looking for, apply strategies that will help you fine tune your SEO and search marketing approach. When it comes to writing ad copy, make sure you stress that the prospect will get more value for their money rather than focusing on the brand. Copywriting that contains thrift-related messaging tends to be more successful.
If you work in the travel sector, aggressively target keyword phrases that stress discounts, bargains, and deals rather than keyword combinations related only to locations and brand names. If you have websites in the financial sector, keep up with all federal policies related to loan and credit because they will affect your traffic and conversions directly. The impact these policies have on the quality and quantity of your traffic will be immediate.
It’s no surprise that online consumer behavior directly reflects the state of our economy. Search marketers don’t necessarily have to tighten their belts along with the rest if they learn how to analyze this behavior and optimize performance. If you want to increase conversions, drive valuable traffic to your website at discounted prices, and increase your market share in important categories during unstable economic times, focus on ROI in your campaign and re-vamp your keyword strategy to ensure that it is targeted to frugal consumers.
Jul 27, 2009
Top 20 Don’ts of Twitter
Many people scoffed at the idea of using Twitter for business in the early days. It was difficult to fathom how any business could benefit from microblogging, i.e. sending out short messages to people you don’t know. However, Twitter can indeed be useful, helping businesses build trust, monitor their brand, market their products/services, and provide customer service. There are plenty of tips out there about what you should do on Twitter but there isn’t much advice about the faux pas of Twitter. Here are the top 20 don’ts of Twitter that you should keep in mind to ensure that your Twitter marketing efforts are successful.
1. Don’t write about mundane, boring things all the time. If you tweet enough times about what you ate for breakfast or how the cat did his business in the litter box, you will get un-followed.
2. Don’t ignore people who reply to your Tweets or send you direct messages. The essence of Twitter is interacting with your followers whenever possible.
3. Don’t tweet more than 10 times a day or so. When you tweet too often, it takes up too much space and draws attention away from other tweets. Leave all that talking for your blog.
4. Don’t say anything that could get you in trouble or get you fired. Twitter has demonstrated time and time again that it is public, meaning EVERYONE can see it, including your boss.
5. Don’t forget to use Twitter lingo. When you re-tweet something, use RT and when you want to respond to someone or share their presence with your followers, use @name. Use @name and RT generously in order to connect with your current followers and expand your follower base.
6. Re-tweeting something? Don’t RT without acknowledging the person who tweeted it first. Use @name to acknowledge the person who originally tweeted it.
7. Don’t talk about something really cool without providing a picture or link. Let your followers see, feel, and experience whatever it is you are experiencing! Words don’t always do it justice.
8. Don’t follow hundreds of people in a period of a few hours. It makes you look like a spammer and can lead you to lose your credibility.
9. Don’t tell your followers when you are going on vacation. It’s an invitation for thieves!
10. Don’t expect people to follow you if you have 0 updates and have signed up for Twitter simply to get people to click on your link. People will block you or ignore you if you do this.
11. Don’t focus on quantity when trying to increase followers. Quality is more important. That means you should just ignore all those tweets telling you how you can get 1,000 followers instantly.
12. Don’t get too personal or emotional in your tweets. Think business.
13. Don’t repost the same tweet several times. A maximum of three tweets is sufficient. And delete the older duplicate tweets when you tweet something more than once.
14. Don’t “break” news if it’s more than an hour old. Chances are your followers have seen and heard it already.
15. Don’t tweet broken links. Check all the links you plan to tweet to ensure that they are not spam or broken.
16. Don’t send automatic DMs with spam. That includes thanking people for following you and linking to your site. It looks impersonal.
17. Don’t use a product image or a hand holding a wad of cash as your Twitter image.
18. Don’t use all 140 characters in your tweets so people have space to add RT and @name to your tweet when re-tweeting.
19. Don’t tell us what you are doing. Although it says “What are you doing?” above the tweet box, don’t take the question literally. The key to success on Twitter is answering the question, “What can you share that would be of interest to others?” every time you tweet.
20. Don’t use Twitter as a replacement for Google. If you don’t know the answer to something, Google is the best place to look it up without annoying all of your followers.
1. Don’t write about mundane, boring things all the time. If you tweet enough times about what you ate for breakfast or how the cat did his business in the litter box, you will get un-followed.
2. Don’t ignore people who reply to your Tweets or send you direct messages. The essence of Twitter is interacting with your followers whenever possible.
3. Don’t tweet more than 10 times a day or so. When you tweet too often, it takes up too much space and draws attention away from other tweets. Leave all that talking for your blog.
4. Don’t say anything that could get you in trouble or get you fired. Twitter has demonstrated time and time again that it is public, meaning EVERYONE can see it, including your boss.
5. Don’t forget to use Twitter lingo. When you re-tweet something, use RT and when you want to respond to someone or share their presence with your followers, use @name. Use @name and RT generously in order to connect with your current followers and expand your follower base.
6. Re-tweeting something? Don’t RT without acknowledging the person who tweeted it first. Use @name to acknowledge the person who originally tweeted it.
7. Don’t talk about something really cool without providing a picture or link. Let your followers see, feel, and experience whatever it is you are experiencing! Words don’t always do it justice.
8. Don’t follow hundreds of people in a period of a few hours. It makes you look like a spammer and can lead you to lose your credibility.
9. Don’t tell your followers when you are going on vacation. It’s an invitation for thieves!
10. Don’t expect people to follow you if you have 0 updates and have signed up for Twitter simply to get people to click on your link. People will block you or ignore you if you do this.
11. Don’t focus on quantity when trying to increase followers. Quality is more important. That means you should just ignore all those tweets telling you how you can get 1,000 followers instantly.
12. Don’t get too personal or emotional in your tweets. Think business.
13. Don’t repost the same tweet several times. A maximum of three tweets is sufficient. And delete the older duplicate tweets when you tweet something more than once.
14. Don’t “break” news if it’s more than an hour old. Chances are your followers have seen and heard it already.
15. Don’t tweet broken links. Check all the links you plan to tweet to ensure that they are not spam or broken.
16. Don’t send automatic DMs with spam. That includes thanking people for following you and linking to your site. It looks impersonal.
17. Don’t use a product image or a hand holding a wad of cash as your Twitter image.
18. Don’t use all 140 characters in your tweets so people have space to add RT and @name to your tweet when re-tweeting.
19. Don’t tell us what you are doing. Although it says “What are you doing?” above the tweet box, don’t take the question literally. The key to success on Twitter is answering the question, “What can you share that would be of interest to others?” every time you tweet.
20. Don’t use Twitter as a replacement for Google. If you don’t know the answer to something, Google is the best place to look it up without annoying all of your followers.
Labels: social_media
Jul 24, 2009
The 7 Components of Successful Landing Pages
Are your conversion rates nothing to write home about? Do you feel like the copy and design of your landing page needs a big makeover? Give your post-click marketing a boost by evaluating your approach and ensuring that your landing pages implement these 7 important components.
1. Match Your Advertising with Your Landing Pages
Does the pre-click content match the post-click content? Make sure that there is continuity between your advertising and landing page. If you have several different types of ads targeting a variety of keywords but you are leading people to the same few landing pages, the continuity is most likely not as tight as it could be. In order to match messages well, you must connect all of the dots for your site visitors and make sure that your advertising meets its promises. Make your landing pages as specific as possible.
2. Measure the Value of Your Landing Page Content
Does your landing page content provide visitors with value or is it full of superficial fluff? Landing pages full of keyword stuffed content and marketing-speak won’t get you anywhere. Provide users with useful, entertaining, and relevant information that is tailored to whatever they were searching for.
3. Visuals
Landing pages are a beauty contest and your chance to make a great first impression when building your brand. Make sure your landing pages are up to par by hiring a qualified graphic designer to spruce them up for you. If your landing pages are attractive, it says a lot about your brand.
4. Make it Interactive
Landing pages today should contain a lot more than just flat text and images. Flash, widgets, video, and social networking applications that reinforce your message rather than distract from it can go a long way in helping you connect better with users. The key to success with creating interactive landing pages is to ensure that these extras are well incorporated into the overall design and message of your landing page. Don’t slap things on as an afterthought.
5. Derive Value from Non-Converting Visitors
If approximately 20% of visitors to your landing pages convert, that doesn’t mean the other 80% should be forgotten. You can provide non-converting visitors with value because they may potentially convert in the future. For example, you can point them to another page on your website that they perhaps might be interested in and convert them there.
You should always deliver useful content on your landing pages to ensure that people derive value from it and leave feeling like they had a positive experience/interaction with your website. You can also analyze what non-converting visitors do by providing them with different options on multi-step landing pages. Measure what people click and when to determine what kind of targeted improvements you can make.
6. Keep it Fresh
Revisit your landing pages frequently to update them and keep them from becoming stale. Check your content regularly to be sure that it is current, along with any offers you are making. Nothing will turn site visitors off more than an expired offer. You also have to keep the design of your page up to date. The look and feel of your landing pages tells visitors whether or not you are on top of things.
7. Push the Envelope
Are your landing pages bold and unique or painfully commonplace? Don’t be afraid to be creative when you are creating content for your landing pages. Try standing out from the crowd rather than sticking with the well-worn messages you have used time and time again. Landing pages offer an unmatched opportunity for you to experiment with your message because they only receive a relatively small portion of your overall traffic. You can use metrics to measure your results and alter your methods if they are not panning out as hoped.
1. Match Your Advertising with Your Landing Pages
Does the pre-click content match the post-click content? Make sure that there is continuity between your advertising and landing page. If you have several different types of ads targeting a variety of keywords but you are leading people to the same few landing pages, the continuity is most likely not as tight as it could be. In order to match messages well, you must connect all of the dots for your site visitors and make sure that your advertising meets its promises. Make your landing pages as specific as possible.
2. Measure the Value of Your Landing Page Content
Does your landing page content provide visitors with value or is it full of superficial fluff? Landing pages full of keyword stuffed content and marketing-speak won’t get you anywhere. Provide users with useful, entertaining, and relevant information that is tailored to whatever they were searching for.
3. Visuals
Landing pages are a beauty contest and your chance to make a great first impression when building your brand. Make sure your landing pages are up to par by hiring a qualified graphic designer to spruce them up for you. If your landing pages are attractive, it says a lot about your brand.
4. Make it Interactive
Landing pages today should contain a lot more than just flat text and images. Flash, widgets, video, and social networking applications that reinforce your message rather than distract from it can go a long way in helping you connect better with users. The key to success with creating interactive landing pages is to ensure that these extras are well incorporated into the overall design and message of your landing page. Don’t slap things on as an afterthought.
5. Derive Value from Non-Converting Visitors
If approximately 20% of visitors to your landing pages convert, that doesn’t mean the other 80% should be forgotten. You can provide non-converting visitors with value because they may potentially convert in the future. For example, you can point them to another page on your website that they perhaps might be interested in and convert them there.
You should always deliver useful content on your landing pages to ensure that people derive value from it and leave feeling like they had a positive experience/interaction with your website. You can also analyze what non-converting visitors do by providing them with different options on multi-step landing pages. Measure what people click and when to determine what kind of targeted improvements you can make.
6. Keep it Fresh
Revisit your landing pages frequently to update them and keep them from becoming stale. Check your content regularly to be sure that it is current, along with any offers you are making. Nothing will turn site visitors off more than an expired offer. You also have to keep the design of your page up to date. The look and feel of your landing pages tells visitors whether or not you are on top of things.
7. Push the Envelope
Are your landing pages bold and unique or painfully commonplace? Don’t be afraid to be creative when you are creating content for your landing pages. Try standing out from the crowd rather than sticking with the well-worn messages you have used time and time again. Landing pages offer an unmatched opportunity for you to experiment with your message because they only receive a relatively small portion of your overall traffic. You can use metrics to measure your results and alter your methods if they are not panning out as hoped.
Jul 22, 2009
How to Take Advantage of User Generated Content in the Prosumer Age
In this day and age, customers want to be more than just consumers. They want to be involved with brands and websites in order to be a part of the production of what they buy. These new types of consumers are known as prosumers. Collaboration has changed the face of marketing, which has come to include what is referred to as user generated content (UGC). By taking advantage of UGC, websites can improve search results and conversion rates.
The Benefits of User Generated Content for Your Company
UGC benefits companies with an online presence in a variety of ways. For one, UGC supplies your website with tons of relevant, great content. People can look through the content to get information about a product or service from real customers rather than marketers. UGC also allows you to get valuable feedback from your customers and provide better customer service. When you provide UGC on your website, it makes your customers feel as if they are stakeholders in your company and brings them back again and again because it creates a sense of community.
One of the pioneers of User Generated Content is Amazon.com. Amazon introduced ratings, customer reviews, discussion forums, tags, and many other forms of UGC. The reviews that users contribute certainly help to sell products and many people rely heavily on reviews from trusted, established Amazon UGC contributors. The Vine program is a new program from Amazon that offers regular UGC contributors the opportunity to choose merchandise to review and keep it for free. The Vine program is a clear indication of Amazon’s dedication to providing top-notch UGC.
The Downside of User Generated Content
The problem with UGC is that a company loses control of all that is published on their site. As a result, you run the risk of being attacked by unscrupulous competitors on your own site. To prevent this from happening, your best bet is to establish UGC guidelines for members to follow and actively moderate any UGC on your site. You can see an example of great UGC guidelines on the BBC website.
How to Evaluate your User Generated Content
The same types of metrics you use to measure your SEO efforts are what you would use to evaluate your UGC. The most important areas to focus on are the quality and linkability of the content as well as brand awareness and conversations website users are having about your company. If your website looks abandoned or is lacking contributions, you need to find a way to encourage more people to participate. Tags on your User Generated Content make it easier for spiders and humans to navigate your website and find related content. You also need to target keywords in your content. It is essential to monitor what customers are saying about your company via UGC because you can measure whether they are satisfied or not with your product/service.
UGC can be a very powerful way for you to improve your site’s SEO and conversions. An increasing number of websites are utilizing UGC in order to boost revenue and more and more consumers are turning to User Generated Content as a way to get involved with the products and services they purchase. Use metrics to measure the effectiveness of your UGC campaign and ultimately improve your conversion rate as well as the overall user experience on your site.
The Benefits of User Generated Content for Your Company
UGC benefits companies with an online presence in a variety of ways. For one, UGC supplies your website with tons of relevant, great content. People can look through the content to get information about a product or service from real customers rather than marketers. UGC also allows you to get valuable feedback from your customers and provide better customer service. When you provide UGC on your website, it makes your customers feel as if they are stakeholders in your company and brings them back again and again because it creates a sense of community.
One of the pioneers of User Generated Content is Amazon.com. Amazon introduced ratings, customer reviews, discussion forums, tags, and many other forms of UGC. The reviews that users contribute certainly help to sell products and many people rely heavily on reviews from trusted, established Amazon UGC contributors. The Vine program is a new program from Amazon that offers regular UGC contributors the opportunity to choose merchandise to review and keep it for free. The Vine program is a clear indication of Amazon’s dedication to providing top-notch UGC.
The Downside of User Generated Content
The problem with UGC is that a company loses control of all that is published on their site. As a result, you run the risk of being attacked by unscrupulous competitors on your own site. To prevent this from happening, your best bet is to establish UGC guidelines for members to follow and actively moderate any UGC on your site. You can see an example of great UGC guidelines on the BBC website.
How to Evaluate your User Generated Content
The same types of metrics you use to measure your SEO efforts are what you would use to evaluate your UGC. The most important areas to focus on are the quality and linkability of the content as well as brand awareness and conversations website users are having about your company. If your website looks abandoned or is lacking contributions, you need to find a way to encourage more people to participate. Tags on your User Generated Content make it easier for spiders and humans to navigate your website and find related content. You also need to target keywords in your content. It is essential to monitor what customers are saying about your company via UGC because you can measure whether they are satisfied or not with your product/service.
UGC can be a very powerful way for you to improve your site’s SEO and conversions. An increasing number of websites are utilizing UGC in order to boost revenue and more and more consumers are turning to User Generated Content as a way to get involved with the products and services they purchase. Use metrics to measure the effectiveness of your UGC campaign and ultimately improve your conversion rate as well as the overall user experience on your site.
Jul 20, 2009
Is Directory Submission Dead?
Some SEOs claim that directory submission ain’t what it used to be. While that is true to some extent, it is still possible to rank well in Google through directory submission. However, you must submit to quality directories and this is the tricky part. Directories abound but the majority of directories out there aren’t worth your time. If you manage to find quality directories to submit to, you can get your website to rank for competitive three word-long keyword phrases.
How to Tell Whether a Directory is Legit
In order to get started with directory submission, you need to search for directories in your niche on one of the major search engines. If you find relevant directories that rank highly on Google, that is a good sign. Directories that have search engine trust are usually worth buying links from. Avoid free directories if possible because they tend not to have a good reputation in search engine land. However, there are exceptions to this rule of course.
Another way you can determine the quality of a directory is by checking the submissions and seeing if there are any good sites there. If you only find links to low quality, low ranking sites, it is a sign that the directory is probably not worth your time. You should also check the crawl date of the index page and another page in the directory because if it has been over a month, chances are that search engines don’t trust that particular directory. Search engines like Google make manual adjustments in order to devalue links from spammy directories.
Directory Submission Tips
If you want to stay on Google’s good side, avoid submitting to several directories at once. Space out your submissions over a period of many months. Search engines are well aware of the fact that SEOs use directory submissions as a way to build links and boost page ranking so keep your tactics low-key to avoid being penalized. For example, don’t use similar anchors and descriptions on every directory submission. Try varying your directory listings a bit to make your efforts seem less obvious. Make sure your anchor text includes your business name. Don’t use a target keyword alone because it looks suspicious. For instance, if you own ABC SEO Company, make sure your anchor text says something like, “ABC SEO Firm,” not something as generic as, “SEO Firm.”
Directories used to be an easy way for SEOs to achieve higher Google rankings but Google stepped in to ensure that directory submission would no longer be abused. Generic directories that exist solely for selling links possess a big minus in Google’s eyes because they provide little value to users. Google wants to provide users with value so it’s no surprise that Google devalues links submitted to sub-par directories.
High Quality Directories
Yahoo and DMOZ are the top directories. It costs $299 to list with Yahoo as of this writing but it is well worth the investment. You don’t need to submit to the Yahoo directory to rank on Yahoo but your Yahoo ranking will go up if you do. Google also trusts the Yahoo directory. Before it was harder to get accepted into the Yahoo directory but in light of the company’s recent economic troubles, you are likely to be accepted as long as you pay.
DMOZ is a free directory run by volunteers. DMOZ is one of the highest quality directories out there so it is recommended to spruce up your site quite a bit prior to trying to submit it there. Many sites rank highly without DMOZ but having a link there is very valuable. All search engines value DMOZ listings. Other respected directories include Business.com, the Librarians Internet Index, and GoGuides.
How to Tell Whether a Directory is Legit
In order to get started with directory submission, you need to search for directories in your niche on one of the major search engines. If you find relevant directories that rank highly on Google, that is a good sign. Directories that have search engine trust are usually worth buying links from. Avoid free directories if possible because they tend not to have a good reputation in search engine land. However, there are exceptions to this rule of course.
Another way you can determine the quality of a directory is by checking the submissions and seeing if there are any good sites there. If you only find links to low quality, low ranking sites, it is a sign that the directory is probably not worth your time. You should also check the crawl date of the index page and another page in the directory because if it has been over a month, chances are that search engines don’t trust that particular directory. Search engines like Google make manual adjustments in order to devalue links from spammy directories.
Directory Submission Tips
If you want to stay on Google’s good side, avoid submitting to several directories at once. Space out your submissions over a period of many months. Search engines are well aware of the fact that SEOs use directory submissions as a way to build links and boost page ranking so keep your tactics low-key to avoid being penalized. For example, don’t use similar anchors and descriptions on every directory submission. Try varying your directory listings a bit to make your efforts seem less obvious. Make sure your anchor text includes your business name. Don’t use a target keyword alone because it looks suspicious. For instance, if you own ABC SEO Company, make sure your anchor text says something like, “ABC SEO Firm,” not something as generic as, “SEO Firm.”
Directories used to be an easy way for SEOs to achieve higher Google rankings but Google stepped in to ensure that directory submission would no longer be abused. Generic directories that exist solely for selling links possess a big minus in Google’s eyes because they provide little value to users. Google wants to provide users with value so it’s no surprise that Google devalues links submitted to sub-par directories.
High Quality Directories
Yahoo and DMOZ are the top directories. It costs $299 to list with Yahoo as of this writing but it is well worth the investment. You don’t need to submit to the Yahoo directory to rank on Yahoo but your Yahoo ranking will go up if you do. Google also trusts the Yahoo directory. Before it was harder to get accepted into the Yahoo directory but in light of the company’s recent economic troubles, you are likely to be accepted as long as you pay.
DMOZ is a free directory run by volunteers. DMOZ is one of the highest quality directories out there so it is recommended to spruce up your site quite a bit prior to trying to submit it there. Many sites rank highly without DMOZ but having a link there is very valuable. All search engines value DMOZ listings. Other respected directories include Business.com, the Librarians Internet Index, and GoGuides.
Labels: seo_tips
Jul 16, 2009
Is Business Blogging Right For Your Company?
Company blogs are often referred to as a must-have item but the truth is that not all companies benefit from having one. The benefits of business blogging include exposure and visibility within your industry and a higher rate of conversions but there are also some risks to consider. Here is a breakdown of the benefits and risks of business blogging that you can use to determine whether or not it is right for your company.
The Benefits
The benefits of business blogging are numerous. For example, you can increase revenues from sales, build an audience among your target market, grow your company, and much more. Specifically, you can keep customers and prospects up-to-date by offering company news. You can also connect directly with your customers and provide them with support via your blog. Networking with your customers, prospects, colleagues, and others in your niche also becomes a lot easier when you have a blog.
Blogs are a powerful way for businesses to receive feedback from their customers. This means you can do market research for free just by asking your customers for their opinions and reading your customers’ blog comments. You can also use your blog to sell your products/services and increase sales revenue as a result. In fact, you could even make money from blogging alone if you allow PPC and other forms of advertising on your blog.
Furthermore, blogging builds brand awareness. People will start to recognize who you are from seeing your blog around. If you consistently publish excellent blog posts, you are bound to build an audience. This will help to position you as an authority in your market and build your reputation.
The Risks
Although business blogging has several benefits as you have seen, there is also a downside to it. In fact, if you aren’t careful, you can even lose business and damage your reputation with a business blog. For example, if you publish a blog post in a rush and then have it pointed out to you by a reader after the fact that there was false or misleading information in it, your company’s reputation and credibility will be damaged. If your posts are libelous, you may even be threatened with legal action.
Comment moderation is a touchy subject in business blogging. For example, you can sour relations with your customers if you delete comments that give even the slightest amount of criticism or get sassy with commentators.
The ultimate goal of business blogging or blogging in general is to educate, entertain, and inform. It’s also important to interact with your audience and encourage them to comment. Your company will lose credibility and the trust of customers if all you do is blog for the sake of improving your site’s SEO or to sell your products and services.
Last but not least, you can affect the productivity of your company if you dedicate too much time to blogging and using social media. While blogging and social media are often an important component of marketing your business, you can’t lose sight of the bigger picture. The fact is that blogging and using social media can be very time-consuming and your labor will bear little fruit unless you utilize both properly.
How to Decide Whether Business Blogging is Right for You
Many companies choose to blog because they feel that the benefits outweigh the risks. Nonetheless, each company is unique and must devise a marketing/PR plan that fits their needs. Weigh the benefits and risks to decide whether business blogging is right for you. Blogging is a huge commitment and responsibility. You or someone else in your company has to be willing to keep the blog updated on a regular basis and respond to comments in a thoughtful way. Otherwise, your blog will only end up affecting your business negatively. If your company is ready to commit to blogging and you feel that the benefits are not worth passing up, decide what your blogging goals are and get started creating an engaging and successful blog!
The Benefits
The benefits of business blogging are numerous. For example, you can increase revenues from sales, build an audience among your target market, grow your company, and much more. Specifically, you can keep customers and prospects up-to-date by offering company news. You can also connect directly with your customers and provide them with support via your blog. Networking with your customers, prospects, colleagues, and others in your niche also becomes a lot easier when you have a blog.
Blogs are a powerful way for businesses to receive feedback from their customers. This means you can do market research for free just by asking your customers for their opinions and reading your customers’ blog comments. You can also use your blog to sell your products/services and increase sales revenue as a result. In fact, you could even make money from blogging alone if you allow PPC and other forms of advertising on your blog.
Furthermore, blogging builds brand awareness. People will start to recognize who you are from seeing your blog around. If you consistently publish excellent blog posts, you are bound to build an audience. This will help to position you as an authority in your market and build your reputation.
The Risks
Although business blogging has several benefits as you have seen, there is also a downside to it. In fact, if you aren’t careful, you can even lose business and damage your reputation with a business blog. For example, if you publish a blog post in a rush and then have it pointed out to you by a reader after the fact that there was false or misleading information in it, your company’s reputation and credibility will be damaged. If your posts are libelous, you may even be threatened with legal action.
Comment moderation is a touchy subject in business blogging. For example, you can sour relations with your customers if you delete comments that give even the slightest amount of criticism or get sassy with commentators.
The ultimate goal of business blogging or blogging in general is to educate, entertain, and inform. It’s also important to interact with your audience and encourage them to comment. Your company will lose credibility and the trust of customers if all you do is blog for the sake of improving your site’s SEO or to sell your products and services.
Last but not least, you can affect the productivity of your company if you dedicate too much time to blogging and using social media. While blogging and social media are often an important component of marketing your business, you can’t lose sight of the bigger picture. The fact is that blogging and using social media can be very time-consuming and your labor will bear little fruit unless you utilize both properly.
How to Decide Whether Business Blogging is Right for You
Many companies choose to blog because they feel that the benefits outweigh the risks. Nonetheless, each company is unique and must devise a marketing/PR plan that fits their needs. Weigh the benefits and risks to decide whether business blogging is right for you. Blogging is a huge commitment and responsibility. You or someone else in your company has to be willing to keep the blog updated on a regular basis and respond to comments in a thoughtful way. Otherwise, your blog will only end up affecting your business negatively. If your company is ready to commit to blogging and you feel that the benefits are not worth passing up, decide what your blogging goals are and get started creating an engaging and successful blog!
Labels: blogging
Jul 13, 2009
Foolproof Ways to Get Genuine Twitter Followers
Do you have 30,000+ Twitter followers? That doesn’t mean much if they are not genuine. Genuine Twitter followers are those who truly value your tweets and interact with you on Twitter. Genuine followers are more likely to become your customers and regularly visit your site. If you want your tweets and marketing efforts on Twitter to really matter, make sure your followers are genuine by following these simple steps.
Express Gratitude for People Who Re-Tweet
When you thank your followers for re-tweeting your material, it shows that you are a respectful person and encourages them to do it again in the future.
Announce a Contest for People in Your Niche
Contests are a great way to attract new followers and interact more with your current ones. However, to ensure successful results, only allow people in your niche to enter the contest. This will allow you to interact more with people who share the same interests, not just those who are looking for freebies.
Stay on Top of the Latest News in Your Niche
If you want to get more RTs and increase traffic to your Twitter page and hence your website, be the first to break news in your niche on Twitter. This will allow you to gain more followers because they will rely on you to get the latest news and info. Being on top of news in your niche will also build your reputation as an expert in your field.
Have Fun and Share Some Info about Yourself
Don’t always act like a robot that just spits out informational Tweets. Twitter is supposed to be fun and you should talk about yourself, not just your business, every now and then. You won’t come across as a spammer that way and it will allow you to gain followers who genuinely like you for you. Social media is all about making personal connections.
Join Relevant Twitter Groups and Follow People with Similar Interests
People want to read tweets that are relevant to their interests. Follow people in your niche and those who otherwise share the same interests so they follow you back. They are more likely to be interested in what you have to say. If you tweet about foodie topics to techies, they aren’t going to pay much attention to what you have to say.
Joining relevant Twitter groups can help you connect with people who share the same interests. If you post a good tweet in a Twitter group, you’ll find yourself accumulating a substantial amount of followers in a short amount of time. Those followers are likely to be people that saw your tweet and value your input.
Follow People Back Who Follow You
If people follow you, the unwritten rule is that you should follow them back as long as you share similar interests. This will help you build a stronger following and earn respect among your followers. However, avoid following just anyone because you don’t want to spend your Twitter days wading through Tweets that you are completely uninterested in. Make sure to follow people you actually have something in common with.
Express Gratitude for People Who Re-Tweet
When you thank your followers for re-tweeting your material, it shows that you are a respectful person and encourages them to do it again in the future.
Announce a Contest for People in Your Niche
Contests are a great way to attract new followers and interact more with your current ones. However, to ensure successful results, only allow people in your niche to enter the contest. This will allow you to interact more with people who share the same interests, not just those who are looking for freebies.
Stay on Top of the Latest News in Your Niche
If you want to get more RTs and increase traffic to your Twitter page and hence your website, be the first to break news in your niche on Twitter. This will allow you to gain more followers because they will rely on you to get the latest news and info. Being on top of news in your niche will also build your reputation as an expert in your field.
Have Fun and Share Some Info about Yourself
Don’t always act like a robot that just spits out informational Tweets. Twitter is supposed to be fun and you should talk about yourself, not just your business, every now and then. You won’t come across as a spammer that way and it will allow you to gain followers who genuinely like you for you. Social media is all about making personal connections.
Join Relevant Twitter Groups and Follow People with Similar Interests
People want to read tweets that are relevant to their interests. Follow people in your niche and those who otherwise share the same interests so they follow you back. They are more likely to be interested in what you have to say. If you tweet about foodie topics to techies, they aren’t going to pay much attention to what you have to say.
Joining relevant Twitter groups can help you connect with people who share the same interests. If you post a good tweet in a Twitter group, you’ll find yourself accumulating a substantial amount of followers in a short amount of time. Those followers are likely to be people that saw your tweet and value your input.
Follow People Back Who Follow You
If people follow you, the unwritten rule is that you should follow them back as long as you share similar interests. This will help you build a stronger following and earn respect among your followers. However, avoid following just anyone because you don’t want to spend your Twitter days wading through Tweets that you are completely uninterested in. Make sure to follow people you actually have something in common with.
Labels: social_media
Jul 10, 2009
Choose Which Internet Marketing Channel to Focus On
There are a vast number of internet marketing channels out there to choose from and it can be challenging to select the one that’s appropriate for your business. It is important to review a few points to ensure that your company’s internet marketing strategy is on the right track and that you are investing your time and money in the best channel available to you. Here are some tips to help you decide which internet marketing channel your business should focus on.
The easiest way to narrow down your options when it comes to determining which internet marketing channels to pursue is to do the following: outline your company goals, lay out your budget, and review who is available in your team to take charge of the required tasks.
When deciding on what your company goals are, think about what your business’ top priorities are. Whether your goal is to increase traffic to your site, make more sales, create a market for your product/service through educating prospects, or build brand awareness, you have to figure out which internet marketing channel will best serve you in meeting your goal.
Budget is another important issue that comes into play when you decide on an internet marketing channel to pursue. Whether your budget is exorbitant or tiny, you need to choose an internet marketing channel that will bring you the highest ROI.
Last but not least, who is available on your team that will help you achieve your goals? If you have team members with a strong search marketing background, it makes sense to focus on SEO. If your team members are social media whiz kids, engage your audience via social media outlets. If you have great writers on board, perhaps email marketing or viral content creation is your best bet.
The types of Internet Marketing Channels
Email Marketing – Email marketing consists of collecting the email addresses of potential leads and marketing to them with newsletters, direct sales messages, brand-building emails, etc. There is a big difference between spamming and marketing, always make sure to send the emails to only the people that are really interested in your company.
SEO – SEO uses tactics such as link-building, keyword research, and on-page optimization to earn high organic rankings on search engines like Yahoo and Google.
Affiliate Marketing – Affiliate marketing involves having people sell your product/service for a share of revenue.
Viral Content – Spreading viral content consists of making linkbait, videos, and other creative content that helps you drive traffic to your site and spread your marketing message.
Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) – CRO involves optimizing the process that gets your leads/sign ups to become customers. CTR improvements and Purchase process simplification are examples of CRO.
Social Media Marketing – Social media marketing is the process of leveraging social media platforms such as Digg, Twitter, and YouTube to attract more traffic to your site and increase your company’s visibility.
PPC Advertising – PPC advertising involves the bidding for placement on search engines. You earn visibility and traffic when people search for the terms you target. Examples of PPC Advertising are Google Adwords and Yahoo! Search Marketing.
Display Advertising – Display advertising consists of placing banner ads, video ads, interactive ads, etc. on third-party sites to create brand awareness and earn traffic.
Online PR – Online PR is the process of submitting optimized press releases to major PR websites in order to earn traffic and build your brand.
Finding the best internet marketing channel to invest in is no easy task. Keep these factors in mind to determine what would work best for your company. After reviewing your goals, budget, and available manpower, you can decide on the right internet marketing path for your company.
The easiest way to narrow down your options when it comes to determining which internet marketing channels to pursue is to do the following: outline your company goals, lay out your budget, and review who is available in your team to take charge of the required tasks.
When deciding on what your company goals are, think about what your business’ top priorities are. Whether your goal is to increase traffic to your site, make more sales, create a market for your product/service through educating prospects, or build brand awareness, you have to figure out which internet marketing channel will best serve you in meeting your goal.
Budget is another important issue that comes into play when you decide on an internet marketing channel to pursue. Whether your budget is exorbitant or tiny, you need to choose an internet marketing channel that will bring you the highest ROI.
Last but not least, who is available on your team that will help you achieve your goals? If you have team members with a strong search marketing background, it makes sense to focus on SEO. If your team members are social media whiz kids, engage your audience via social media outlets. If you have great writers on board, perhaps email marketing or viral content creation is your best bet.
The types of Internet Marketing Channels
Email Marketing – Email marketing consists of collecting the email addresses of potential leads and marketing to them with newsletters, direct sales messages, brand-building emails, etc. There is a big difference between spamming and marketing, always make sure to send the emails to only the people that are really interested in your company.
SEO – SEO uses tactics such as link-building, keyword research, and on-page optimization to earn high organic rankings on search engines like Yahoo and Google.
Affiliate Marketing – Affiliate marketing involves having people sell your product/service for a share of revenue.
Viral Content – Spreading viral content consists of making linkbait, videos, and other creative content that helps you drive traffic to your site and spread your marketing message.
Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) – CRO involves optimizing the process that gets your leads/sign ups to become customers. CTR improvements and Purchase process simplification are examples of CRO.
Social Media Marketing – Social media marketing is the process of leveraging social media platforms such as Digg, Twitter, and YouTube to attract more traffic to your site and increase your company’s visibility.
PPC Advertising – PPC advertising involves the bidding for placement on search engines. You earn visibility and traffic when people search for the terms you target. Examples of PPC Advertising are Google Adwords and Yahoo! Search Marketing.
Display Advertising – Display advertising consists of placing banner ads, video ads, interactive ads, etc. on third-party sites to create brand awareness and earn traffic.
Online PR – Online PR is the process of submitting optimized press releases to major PR websites in order to earn traffic and build your brand.
Finding the best internet marketing channel to invest in is no easy task. Keep these factors in mind to determine what would work best for your company. After reviewing your goals, budget, and available manpower, you can decide on the right internet marketing path for your company.
Jul 7, 2009
5 Simple Steps to use your Content for Better SEO Rankings
A motto that is often heard in the online world is that “content is king.” If asked what they would do with an extra million dollars, many SEOs may answer that they would invest that money in developing new content. Link building is incredibly important to SEO but some SEOs believe that if you provide great content, the links will come naturally.
The truth is that it can be difficult to get people to link to your content that easily, no matter how great your content may be. Google indexes more than a trillion pages of content so the chances that people will link to your content are slim.
In SEO, not only is it essential to create great content, you must be great at getting that content linked to. You’d have to be pretty lucky to expect to put content out there and attract a bunch of links without any effort on your part. You have to create content with the latest topic trends in mind. This is not to say that the priority of creating great content should take the backseat to your traffic and link-building efforts. You simply need to approach content creation holistically to ensure that your content gets seen and gets a sufficient amount of links. Here are 5 steps you can follow when creating and distributing content to ensure that it increases traffic to your website, your search engine ranking, and brand awareness.
1. Use Google Trends to find keywords in your niche that have been receiving a lot of attention lately. Target these trendy keywords aggressively in your content to attract more traffic NOW. Keyword trends are usually based on seasonality or other special events.
2. Once you have chosen keywords to target, you should use the Google Adwords keyword tool to find related keywords to write about. By targeting several related keywords in your content, you can increase traffic to your website.
3. Use Twitter to search for all of the keywords you are planning to target in your content. This will help you get ideas on what you can write about with the keywords you are targeting.
4. Create content based on the keywords you found and the ideas you got from searching on Twitter. You can also browse popular content on social voting sites like Digg and StumbleUpon to get ideas on how to write your article titles and the body of your articles to make them enticing.
5. Once you get your articles written, you need a distribution plan. Set goals for each piece of content you have created. For example, you may want to syndicate your articles to receive highly relevant backlinks and increase targeted traffic to your site. You may also want to add the content to your website to improve user experience. Market your content to bloggers and customers via social networking sites to increase traffic via word-of-mouth.
Follow these simple steps in order to create great content and leverage it. As an added benefit, you will be able to increase awareness of your brand and improve your search engine ranking through the creation and distribution of great content.
The truth is that it can be difficult to get people to link to your content that easily, no matter how great your content may be. Google indexes more than a trillion pages of content so the chances that people will link to your content are slim.
In SEO, not only is it essential to create great content, you must be great at getting that content linked to. You’d have to be pretty lucky to expect to put content out there and attract a bunch of links without any effort on your part. You have to create content with the latest topic trends in mind. This is not to say that the priority of creating great content should take the backseat to your traffic and link-building efforts. You simply need to approach content creation holistically to ensure that your content gets seen and gets a sufficient amount of links. Here are 5 steps you can follow when creating and distributing content to ensure that it increases traffic to your website, your search engine ranking, and brand awareness.
1. Use Google Trends to find keywords in your niche that have been receiving a lot of attention lately. Target these trendy keywords aggressively in your content to attract more traffic NOW. Keyword trends are usually based on seasonality or other special events.
2. Once you have chosen keywords to target, you should use the Google Adwords keyword tool to find related keywords to write about. By targeting several related keywords in your content, you can increase traffic to your website.
3. Use Twitter to search for all of the keywords you are planning to target in your content. This will help you get ideas on what you can write about with the keywords you are targeting.
4. Create content based on the keywords you found and the ideas you got from searching on Twitter. You can also browse popular content on social voting sites like Digg and StumbleUpon to get ideas on how to write your article titles and the body of your articles to make them enticing.
5. Once you get your articles written, you need a distribution plan. Set goals for each piece of content you have created. For example, you may want to syndicate your articles to receive highly relevant backlinks and increase targeted traffic to your site. You may also want to add the content to your website to improve user experience. Market your content to bloggers and customers via social networking sites to increase traffic via word-of-mouth.
Follow these simple steps in order to create great content and leverage it. As an added benefit, you will be able to increase awareness of your brand and improve your search engine ranking through the creation and distribution of great content.
Labels: seo_tips
Jul 6, 2009
8 Fool-Proof Ways to Manage Your Online Reputation
No matter how hard you strive to please your clients and run a successful business, there is bound to be a customer or two who says bad things about you online. Unfortunately, that is the price one must pay when running a business. First of all, you must try to meet your customers’ expectations and please them as much as possible but if you come across the occasional negative comment despite your efforts, here are 8 ways you can ease the damage.
1. Avoid panicking and instead stay calm and composed to craft your plan of action. The last thing you want to do is lose your cool and try to retaliate. It will end up making you look worse in the end.
2. Are there complaints or negative reviews of your business on the first page of search engine results for your business name? If so, you need to craft a plan of action in order to bump them off of the top page of search results as soon as possible. Some of the most effective ways to do this are through submitting optimized press releases about the latest happenings in your business, starting a new blog where you share positive testimonials and stats about your business, and contributing to forums in your niche to share relevant, useful information with forum participants.
3. Remember that you can’t please everyone so don’t get discouraged if you find negative publicity about your business online. You probably have a couple hundred happy customers for each unhappy customer so remember that your business hasn’t failed just because of one measly complaint. People who feel they have had a bad experience are more likely to share it than those who have had good ones.
4. Use social networking sites to build a larger network. Sites like Facebook, Twitter, Digg, and StumbleUpon can be helpful in building a positive reputation for your business. Make sure to provide plenty of useful content on your website so people can refer it to other people on social networking sites.
5. Don’t focus all of your time and energy on getting rid of the negative commentary about your business. You need to make sure that you keep the overall picture in mind. Otherwise, your business will suffer for it. Take a holistic approach to solving the issue.
6. When you find a negative comment about your business, do your best to track that unhappy customer down so you can resolve the issue. When you resolve an issue publicly in the online arena, it shows potential customers who are searching for you that you are serious about customer service.
7. Don’t admit that you did something wrong in response to negative comments. By doing so, you can cause your other customers to lose trust in your business.
8. If possible, get your business certified with the Better Business Bureau to build credibility in the eyes of potential clients.
Follow these tips to deal with the issue of negative feedback tactfully. You won’t be able to get rid of the negative comments in search results overnight but with consistent effort, they are bound to go away. In severe cases, you may have to work with a company that specializes in reputation management but otherwise, keep these tips in mind so you can slowly but surely improve your online reputation.
1. Avoid panicking and instead stay calm and composed to craft your plan of action. The last thing you want to do is lose your cool and try to retaliate. It will end up making you look worse in the end.
2. Are there complaints or negative reviews of your business on the first page of search engine results for your business name? If so, you need to craft a plan of action in order to bump them off of the top page of search results as soon as possible. Some of the most effective ways to do this are through submitting optimized press releases about the latest happenings in your business, starting a new blog where you share positive testimonials and stats about your business, and contributing to forums in your niche to share relevant, useful information with forum participants.
3. Remember that you can’t please everyone so don’t get discouraged if you find negative publicity about your business online. You probably have a couple hundred happy customers for each unhappy customer so remember that your business hasn’t failed just because of one measly complaint. People who feel they have had a bad experience are more likely to share it than those who have had good ones.
4. Use social networking sites to build a larger network. Sites like Facebook, Twitter, Digg, and StumbleUpon can be helpful in building a positive reputation for your business. Make sure to provide plenty of useful content on your website so people can refer it to other people on social networking sites.
5. Don’t focus all of your time and energy on getting rid of the negative commentary about your business. You need to make sure that you keep the overall picture in mind. Otherwise, your business will suffer for it. Take a holistic approach to solving the issue.
6. When you find a negative comment about your business, do your best to track that unhappy customer down so you can resolve the issue. When you resolve an issue publicly in the online arena, it shows potential customers who are searching for you that you are serious about customer service.
7. Don’t admit that you did something wrong in response to negative comments. By doing so, you can cause your other customers to lose trust in your business.
8. If possible, get your business certified with the Better Business Bureau to build credibility in the eyes of potential clients.
Follow these tips to deal with the issue of negative feedback tactfully. You won’t be able to get rid of the negative comments in search results overnight but with consistent effort, they are bound to go away. In severe cases, you may have to work with a company that specializes in reputation management but otherwise, keep these tips in mind so you can slowly but surely improve your online reputation.
Jul 1, 2009
What Small Businesses Should Expect to Pay and Receive for SEO Services
In addition to understanding what services are standard when hiring an SEO consultant, small businesses should have a general idea of how much they should pay for SEO. If an SEO is offering to “optimize” your website for $200 or $300, take off running in the other direction because that sounds too good to be true. SEO isn’t cheap and the mantra that dominates here is that you get what you pay for. If you can’t afford good SEO services, you are going to have to make use of all the information available online via inexpensive e-books or for free on SEO websites and blogs. With this information you can teach yourself SEO and optimize your own website. SEO will either be an investment of your time or money.
The Price Small Businesses Pay for SEO
The business model that an SEO company or consultant uses will determine what price you pay for their services. Sometimes consultants charge by the hour and give you specific recommendations for changes they think you ought to implement. In this case, they don’t actually re-work your website. These consultants charge an amount that’s based on the time they spend, their experience, and their expertise. Some SEO companies/consultants not only recommend changes but actually serve as webmasters and go in and make those changes. There are also SEO companies/consultants that go by performance-based contracts, receiving a portion of the revenues generated after the SEO work is done.
Geography is also a factor that affects the price small businesses pay for SEO. Optimizing a small business website in Washington D.C. will generally cost more than optimizing a small business website in a small town in Virginia. While this isn’t universally true, it is generally the case since services of all kinds demand a higher cost in larger cities, whether they are for accounting, law, web design, or SEO.
As mentioned previously, you get what you pay for in SEO so be wary of SEO companies/consultants that say they can optimize your website for $200-$300 a month. A consultant that charges so little probably has a limited knowledge of SEO and does not understand the true value of his time. Of course if you can’t afford anything more than that, it doesn’t mean you have to give up on optimizing your website. There is plenty of free SEO information readily available out there, allowing you to learn SEO on your own.
Focus on the Return on Investment
Rather than worrying too much about how much you are paying, you should focus on the quality of the services being offered and the return on investment (ROI). Even if you have to pay $20,000 for a six-month SEO contract, it’s well worth the investment if you generate $150,000 more in revenue because of your search engine visibility.
The goal for small businesses interested in hiring an SEO company/consultant should be to spend their money as wisely as possible. Although no SEO company/consultant can guarantee results, you are sure to get more traffic and increase revenues from natural search if you hire quality SEO services that can provide you with a significant ROI. In the end, you have to make the decision between investing your time or money in SEO because unless you make a serious investment in one or the other, you won’t achieve SEO success.
The Price Small Businesses Pay for SEO
The business model that an SEO company or consultant uses will determine what price you pay for their services. Sometimes consultants charge by the hour and give you specific recommendations for changes they think you ought to implement. In this case, they don’t actually re-work your website. These consultants charge an amount that’s based on the time they spend, their experience, and their expertise. Some SEO companies/consultants not only recommend changes but actually serve as webmasters and go in and make those changes. There are also SEO companies/consultants that go by performance-based contracts, receiving a portion of the revenues generated after the SEO work is done.
Geography is also a factor that affects the price small businesses pay for SEO. Optimizing a small business website in Washington D.C. will generally cost more than optimizing a small business website in a small town in Virginia. While this isn’t universally true, it is generally the case since services of all kinds demand a higher cost in larger cities, whether they are for accounting, law, web design, or SEO.
As mentioned previously, you get what you pay for in SEO so be wary of SEO companies/consultants that say they can optimize your website for $200-$300 a month. A consultant that charges so little probably has a limited knowledge of SEO and does not understand the true value of his time. Of course if you can’t afford anything more than that, it doesn’t mean you have to give up on optimizing your website. There is plenty of free SEO information readily available out there, allowing you to learn SEO on your own.
Focus on the Return on Investment
Rather than worrying too much about how much you are paying, you should focus on the quality of the services being offered and the return on investment (ROI). Even if you have to pay $20,000 for a six-month SEO contract, it’s well worth the investment if you generate $150,000 more in revenue because of your search engine visibility.
The goal for small businesses interested in hiring an SEO company/consultant should be to spend their money as wisely as possible. Although no SEO company/consultant can guarantee results, you are sure to get more traffic and increase revenues from natural search if you hire quality SEO services that can provide you with a significant ROI. In the end, you have to make the decision between investing your time or money in SEO because unless you make a serious investment in one or the other, you won’t achieve SEO success.
Labels: seo_services
