Dwight M. Scott

I found it hard to believe at first too! Anyhow, Google and Yahoo both offer a local listing or directory for businesses, and the best part, its absolutely free! When you create a listing on Google and Yahoo Local, they have all your needs in mind. It will allow you practically create profile about your  business, all the way down to hours of operation and payments you accept. The listing or profile that you create will also give you a listing in their map service - if you put in an address of course. This a very useful and critical for small businesses with little to no start up capital. Your profile will also be crawled by search engines, giving you more impressions on the search engine results. Check out the link below for a tutorial on how to set up your profile on Google Local and Google Maps!

Set up your Google Local listing!

Enjoy!

So, you finished your website and wondering whats next? The one question that I am constantly getting asked is: “I have my website up now, but where do I go from here?” This is probably the most important question ever. Having a static website with no push or marketing behind it, just rendered itself as useless! Think about it for a second…the website and the presence it creates by itself is simply not enough. There are techniques you can do to jump start your web marketing efforts.

The best and probably the least expensive (because it’s free!) ways are placing your website on top search engines local listing. This will give you more impressions for your website, especially when searching for you locally. In conjunction with this, you should consider getting involved with a pay per click campaign. I recommend that you find your niche so you don’t waste ad dollars. I always tell my clients to let me install analytics on their site so we can see how their audience is reaching them. We then can strengthen the efforts that are already in place, as well as develop new innovative keywords and strategies for their audience to find them.

While pay per click campaigns and sponsored links will drive about 40% of your sites traffic, your organic efforts will take precedence with the remaining 60%. This is why it is imperative to correctly convey a clear message to your audience - allowing search engines to find you. The content that you generate as well as the frequency of it will determine how you rank in search engines.

Social media plays as a HUGE outlet for you to market and advertise you newly built website. Generate buzz and create a movement of followers for your website by taking advantage of the social media craze. These social sites such as youtube, facebook, twitter, digg, etc. are there for you to take advantage of. Use them to establish your business as trusted company by generating a following. This following will, in return continue to spread throughout their networks and create a whole viral campaign. Its too easy to get wrapped up in the social media world and post personal status updates that have no relevance - unless of course your website is personal. Instead post quality that your follows actually want to read and contains value. I recommend using social media to display a new post in a newsletter, events you will partake in, promotions, etc. This will return a much greater result than “Sitting at Wendy’s eating a hamburger”.

You have to be completely involved in every aspect of your website, especially if you want it to generate ad revenue. With this comes what I like to call “getting involved”. This simply means finding a more popular blog than yours at the time and commenting where their users can use your expertise. This is just another way to establish you as an expert. Guest blogging creates links that will link back to your website and ultimately putting you in more places! It’s that easy! Take advantage of the fact that some sites already have a wide range of readers, why not get them to visit your website while they are there?

During these rough times; because of the economy, companies are usually quick to do budget cuts. Most times I have found that companies cut their marketing and advertising budgets first. There is no better time to invest in a SEO (Search Engine Optimization) or SEM (Search Engine Marketing) campaign like now. Get a jump start in your company’s marketing and advertising efforts while everyone else is cutting back.

The way the economy is right now, gives you the advantage to attack your target market harder than ever. SEO is one of the most inexpensive and easiest way ways to attract leads. SEO allows you to target more of your audience at once, unlike some other traditional forms of marketing and advertising. Companies cut their marketing budgets not realizing how much harm it’s really doing to their business. Taking advantage of an inexpensive way such as SEO is vital during these times.

SEO is more than just a bunch of keywords used to identify your company. It’s more of a formulated course of action used to define your company’s niche, ultimately generating leads, increasing revenue or productivity. This is now more than ever a time to rely on what your Trusted Web Expert can do for you.

Now-a-days websites are used for all sorts of different purposes. However, when it comes to a company profile on a website you want to make sure you are getting the most bang for your buck. When obtaining a website if you do not have one already, be sure to be descriptive of the services that you offer and you market your services towards the right audience. Ensuring that your market gets a understanding of what exactly you do is vital.

Another important aspect of your website if functionality and usability. Take your website to the next step by eliminating a commonly faced problem by your users. It may be something as simple as a contact form. I know of many instances of information that is too hard to find or contact information is not present. Saving users the time of opening their email client because your website has a mail contact form on your site just increased your usability and functionality of your website. Save your users the time and show you care by making their experience on your website more pleasant and worthwhile.

Keeping your content fresh and up to date will bring users and clients back to your site. Be sure to take advantage of a news or announcement system that you can implement on your site, even if it is manually updated. The landing or home page should be filled with the latest and freshest content with happenings, events, and/or promotions within the company. Static websites are becoming outdated. The web is evolving do not be left behind!

I have ran across a few companies that want to make their website do more for them but do not have the resources to do so. I always give the same reply, “it doesn’t always take what you may think in order to achieve your company’s goals.” The web is packed full of useful and helpful information that will leverage your website.

One of my favorite tools to use is Google Analytics. This tool will allow you to track the stats of your website. With this analysis you and your web expert can devise of a plan that fits your needs and budget. Therefore, allowing you to find the market that is appropriate for your company. This will help gain awareness which brings leads and leads bring new clients.

Another way to ensure your website is achieving greatness is by placing your domain name on as many free online web directories as possible. This technique will give you more impressions on the web which will allow search engines to find you and/or your company easier. This may take some researching on to which directory to place your website on and will it be beneficial for you. However, this is a wonderful guerrilla marketing technique, which will cost you absolutely nothing but your time. Not to mention you will be able to apply this technique at your leisure.

Create a LinkedIn profile - This is another superb way to get noticed and gain valuable contacts for you and your company. LinkedIn is one of the largest FREE professional social networks. Do not just create a profile and not be active. Answer questions, ask questions and invite others to join your professional network. Take a peek at my LinkedIn profile. While you are there send me an invite and I’ll be sure to accept!