Tweet

Need an internet presence, but don’t have the time

Written by: Joe Dager

Article Overview: I found a nifty tool that I have been using the past monthp. When I first started using it, I thought it was really nothing more than a spreadsheet telling me to do the things I already do to get my website found. However, after using it for a month, I found that it put me places that I have not been before.

Need an internet presence, but don’t have the time

I have been talking about for so many months and John Jantsch of Duct Tpae Marketing said it so eloquently: "Search engine optimization has changed dramatically over the past few years. The shift is from one of web page optimization and link hounding to content and engagement optimization. In short, search engine optimization and social media are now undeniably intertwined. It has become extremely difficult to achieve any measure of success for important keyword phrases without the use of social media."

He went on to say, "Of course the flip side to that is organizations that take advantage of social media can dominate, particularly within industries slow to adapt."

So what do you do you have to do Get Found Online: To run a successful online business, people need to be able to find your website. You must improve your visibility. Improve Your Traffic: You must use customized SEO and Social Media tasks that help you boost the number of visitors to your site. Make More Money: Improving traffic, rankings and brand visibility will generate more sales from your website.

But the burning question is: How am I going to do it? I found a nifty tool that I have been using the past month called and shared it on my website. When I first started using it, I thought it was really nothing more than a spreadsheet telling me to do the things I already do to get my website found. However, after using it for a month, I found that it put me places that I have not been before. It did give me additional insight into places that I should be and links that I should be creating. All I have to do is allocate 30 minutes of your time( it could be someone else) that can post content to create a web presence. It is simply not enough to have a website anymore you need a web presence. Read this case study about a simple Flower shop or watch a demo!

This fits into a very nice into a Standard Work Practice for developing an Online Presence. Certainly will be a brick in the foundation of Lean Marketing House.

Related Articles
  What is the best way to develop my sales skills?
  Profitable Online Business Ideas and the Recession Part 2
  Social Networking or Social Distraction
  Contribution
  How can you make more of your customers open your emails?

Article Tags: internet presence, nifty tool, spreadsheet



Related Forum Posts
Re: Does a New Company need a "Big" PR firm? - I agree with SHri, it really depends on the target audience and how much service you really need. if you are doing National campaign than you want a firm that has the National contacts. Lots of smaller companies dont have as many resources or connections. Many firms are going to a pay for performance model which I think will do the PR and advertising industry good. no more $5000 retainers for sending out a couple of press releases - no matter how well written or targeted! if they dont get picked up, they dont get paid. J
Advantages with Social Media Sites - I just want to share my article about social media sites. Local Google Traffic - Social Media Sites There are other important ways to connect with your customers beyond Google Places, however. Some we already mentioned – other Google properties – which we will cover in more detail shortly. But first, let’s look at a relatively new way to reach your customers to promote your mortgage brokers marketing business – social media. One of the fastest growing segments of the internet over the last few years is what's known as Social Media. Facebook and Twitter are the two most well-known examples of social media sites that are gaining popularity these days as worthy means to promote online businesses. Having a Facebook page is becoming more and more important and now can function as a marketing tool for mortgage broker, because people have come to expect it. There are over 600 million users on Facebook, and if you don't have a presence there you're missing out on a lot of potential business. Plus, for many people Facebook has become synonymous with the internet. A lot of people spend most of their time online using Facebook, so if you aren't reaching them there, you may not have a chance to reach them at all. Facebook started out as a way to connect on a personal level, but over the last couple of years they have added a lot of features that are targeted at businesses. You’ve probably already started to notice a lot of big companies adding “Find us on Facebook” to their websites, advertising and other places. It can work just as well for local businesses; in fact it can work even better. Because Facebook is by nature a place to be “social” a local business fits in much better than a big, faceless corporation. Setting up a Facebook Page for your business gives you a way to connect with your customers “virtually” and it can help to create a real sense of community particularly in marketing your mortgage business. Twitter is another social media site where you should definitely have a presence. It’s a little different beast, because the whole point is to post short updates (up to 140 characters at a time) so you can only share so much information. It can be useful for sending out messages about special offers and other news, but more importantly it’s another way for your customers and potential customers to contact you. Your customers can send you messages, called “Tweets”, via Twitter so it is similar to email in some ways. But because the messages are so short, it can be an effective way for them to ask quick questions or give you quick feedback, without having to invest a lot of time to do it. Aside from reaching potential customers, there's another reason you should have a presence in these places - managing your brand. People will talk about their experiences with your company on the internet whether you're part of it or not. It's important that you are aware and updated.
Managing Your Brand - One of the biggest hurdles for a lot of business owners to leap when it comes to the internet is realizing that people will be talking about your company whether you like it or not. And that includes good AND bad. Mistakes are bound to happen in any business, but when they do it's quite possible that the story will wind up on the internet where anyone searching for your business can find it. If you're not maintaining an effective presence on the web or mortgage broker websites, you're going to have two problems if this happens. The negative review could wind up ranking high in the search results, so whenever somebody searches for your business, this could be one of the first things they see. The review might be accurate if a mistake really was made, or it might be completely inaccurate, but that potential customer has no way of knowing for sure (and is more than likely going to accept it as fact). You won't have a chance to explain the situation and fix it. The solution here is to be a part of the conversation. In other words, engage your customers where these kinds of things might appear so you can try to correct any mistakes that were actually made, or explain your side if it's completely inaccurate. There are two of the places that these kinds of discussions can happen - Facebook and Twitter. It's important that you have a presence on both, if only as a point of contact for your customers who are already in those places. Imagine this scenario… One of your employees has been dealing with a customer, and the customer is unhappy with the service they received. But instead of coming to you and giving you the opportunity to fix the problem, they go to these websites and post about the problem and how unhappy they were with your company. If you don't have a presence on Twitter or Facebook, you might never know about it. But people who are looking for information about your company online could quite likely find that information whenever they search for you. Now think about this... If you are active on those sites, on the other hand, you can jump in and try to correct the situation. This is not only going to give you a chance to turn an unhappy customer into a happy one (who might also become one of your biggest supporters at that point) it's also going to add your side of things to the "record" of the situation on the internet. Now when someone searching for you finds that review/complaint, they're also going to see your response, and the fact that you tried to correct the situation for that unhappy customer. Which scenario would you prefer?
Re: Article Marketing - Hi Laura, I totally agree, article marketing is the single most important activity to increase our presence on the internet. Sadly, a lot of article writers fail to do proper keyword research to decide on primary and long tail keywords to use in different articles in order to get ranked for different keywords as well as how best to use links and author bio’s. A lot of article directories have different rules of engagement and it is worth spending a little time getting everything in order before submitting an article to get the best response from it. regards, Mal.
How can I start home-based business? - Hi , there are several marketing strategies available in the internet. but have to decide the trusted one otherwise the result is u will loose ur time and u will never get the commission regularly. Also before get started with anything you have to learn much about that for that its better to surf on internet and you will find some good knowledge and how to increase your revenue using internet marketing. Hope this helps


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Sales Courage and Resilience

Sales Training – Top Salespeople Are Not Dunces

THE “SECRET RECIPES” OF LEADERSHIP

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.