Think Big Blog

While it’s true that many businesses are suffering right now in a troubled economy, online businesses are still holding their own.We are still thriving online and it is the savvy website owner that recognizes this last bastion of successful business in a down market. That doesn’t mean, however, that online business simply happens, without the support of ongoing marketing and quality products and customer service that support traditional businesses. There is still work to be done in order to have a successful online presence and a solid, reputable online marketing company can help you put your priorities in order and attract more website traffic even as traditional businesses are struggling.

First and foremost you need to understand your audience and what they want. You can do all the marketing in the world but if your website doesn’t engage your target audience and - in the end, your products and services fall short, no amount of marketing will save your business. A great website should be a conduit to great products and services so make sure that your foundation is solid before you move any further.

Secondly, the actual look and functionality of your website speaks volumes about your business. Your online presence is a direct reflection on your company as a whole; you want to ensure that it’s saying what you want it to say both visually and in terms of content and its level of user-friendliness.

When all the good bones are in place, a solid online marketing plan - search engine optimization and more - will go a long way towards supporting and growing your business. Work with a SEO team to correctly position your business on the search engines through the use of well-chosen keywords and a campaign that will attract targeted web traffic. Ongoing management that makes adjustments as necessary and is always engaged in the success of the website is crucial.

In the last post we began building our bridge between our targeted web traffic (our customers) and our website. We have identified what we do and what we have to offer, how we differ from the competition, where we stand against the competition in terms of an online search, and what keywords and keywords phrases our potential customers are using to find our products and services online. Now we’re on to:

Step 3. Just because a keyword phrase looks good on paper - and it’s what you think your customers may use in a search - doesn’t mean it holds water in reality or that it will specifically benefit you in any way. Keyword research - thorough keyword research done by a professional search engine optimization (SEO) team - will yield the results you need to move forward. Through keyword research you can determine how competitive a phrase is (i.e. do you have the time, money, and resources to compete on this level) and what phrases remain untapped in terms of SEO. Ultimately it’s determining what is going to give you the best traction on the search engines, raise your online profile, and ultimately connect you to your audience.

Step 4. Integrate your keywords into compelling online content as a part of a greater SEO campaign. Once you have zeroed in on the appropriate keywords - those keyword phrases that are most likely to gain you the best traction on the search engines - a website optimization firm will work with you to integrate these keywords into your website content. Content serves two equally important purposes - it must be engaging enough to gain the interest of your audience and enticing enough to convert visitors into sales, while also including your chosen keywords in order to satisfy the search engines. The inclusion of keyword rich content, however, is a part of the larger SEO picture which will also include on-page SEO-friendly changes and an integrated and comprehensive linking campaign.

In the last post, we talked about how consistency when it comes to search engine optimization (SEO) is what wins in the end; the continuous work to keep a site on the radar of the search engines and, ultimately, their intended audience. Good, solid, consistent effort is what wins every time. Unfortunately, most business owners who are operating a website to boot don’t have the time to focus on generating more website traffic each and every day; that is why they turn to a website optimization firm - a team that will act as their online marketing arm on a day to day basis. It is the singular focus of the SEO team to implement a plan and continuously work that plan. It’s like riding a bike. If you stop pedaling, you may coast for awhile but eventually you will come to a stop. A strong website optimization firm does the pedaling for your website so that you always maintain your momentum - you always remain strong and consistent in your message and your purpose.

We already talked about some components of a strong search engine optimization plan including identifying your audience and what keywords are being used online by people to find the services and products that you offer. Keyword research is a huge part of being successful through organic SEO. Once you determine what keywords are being used by your audience and what keywords and phrases will benefit you the most, an online marketing company will:

Integrate keywords throughout your online content.

Implement and continually manage a strategic linking campaign that utilizes the chosen keywords.

Manage your campaign from day to day. Like anything else, an online marketing campaign such as organic SEO must be continually scrutinized and adjusted to changing market trends as well as other factors. A solid SEO team is put in place to help manage your campaign every step of the way.

Generating website traffic is - for websites - the obvious goal in their online marketing but it is much more than that; it is finding more website traffic among their own unique audience - those that will ultimately have an interest in what the website has to offer. Conversion as well as traffic is the goal of any website so any online marketing programs that are considered should work towards those objectives. In other words, it is one thing to get people to stop and check out your site, and quite another to attract those people who are more than tire kickers; who are there because they have a real interest in your services and can be swayed to eventually become a customer.

Those who are just embarking on their campaign of online marketing may feel encouraged to do anything and everything to simply spike traffic but in the long run it’s the tailored marketing efforts that will increase your bottom line as well as the traffic to your site. To this end, working with a reputable website optimization firm that can offer guidance through pay per click and search engine optimization will enhance your site and ready it for the appropriate audience. But first you need to find your audience.

A website optimization firm will work with you to identify your online audience - those who are interested in your products and services. What keywords and keyword phrases are they using to find you or companies like yours? These are the keywords that form the backbone of your online marketing campaign; that will form a bridge directly between your website and your online audience.

Working with SEO services allows companies to really fully explore the ways in which an audience may find them online and to tailor their message to find that audience.

Online marketing has become the new buzz words of the Internet; something that a whole host of companies profess to know how to do and something that we have been trained to fear in terms of not having “enough” of it - a sure sign, according to those in the know, that our online business will fail. The truth is that online businesses count on a lot of factors to realize success. Having the fantastic website and the airtight business plan and the phenomenal products and services are - quite frankly - only pieces in a much larger puzzle. We do need online marketing insomuch as we need to be able to build the appropriate bridge for our customers to find our websites. This is, surprisingly, the one step that so many people leave out of their business plans. You can build it but it doesn’t mean that they will come.

So what does online marketing mean and how does this help you build your business? In terms of getting people - and by people we mean qualified, targeted web traffic - to your site, online marketing is the means by which you make your site known and attract this traffic. In some cases this is a well constructed and equally well managed pay per click (PPC) campaign that allows your site to inhabit the prime locations on a search engine for a price. In other cases this is done through an organic search engine optimization (SEO) campaign that - when done well - will help you reach the prime locations of the search engines on your own, without the paid spot.

Results found through organic SEO campaigns are directly proportionate to the amount of work put into the campaign which is why so many rightfully turn to a professional online marketing and website optimization firm to take the reigns. More in the next post…

In the last post we talked about the goal of online marketing - to effectively cut through the hundreds of messages we receive on a given day and reach our targeted audience with just the right message. Challenging? Yes. However, with the right SEO company on your side you are able to cut through the clutter with precision and deliver the appropriate message to those who could likely be your next customer. With online marketing, generating more website traffic is important but, as we discussed, it’s only one piece of the puzzle; because unless this web traffic is interested in what you have to offer, then ultimately the traffic doesn’t do you much good. As we’ve already discussed, one of the ways to turn traffic into targeted web traffic is to make sure that the keywords being used in an SEO campaign are appropriate. A professional website optimization firm will do the research necessary to determine what keywords your potential audience will use to find you; important for making sure that people will search for you most appropriately and those who want to find you will find you.

Some other pieces of online marketing include:

Strategic linking. Making sure that people can find you and that the search engines are taking notice also includes making sure that you have inbound linking from relevant and reputable websites.

Establishing expertise. The world of online marketing is as much about public relations as anything else. Establish you expertise and standing in the industry by distributing press releases about company news, writing and publishing informational pieces about your industry in general, and getting your name and website out there in a variety of ways. Professional SEO services will not only help orchestrate the plan but manage these efforts and help you reach the targeted web traffic you seek.

In the last post we talked about how important marketing is for a website as well as a traditional company. Online, website owners are concerned about generating a buzz around their site and around their business as a whole; a buzz that can be created by implementing a sound strategy that includes a variety of different marketing methods. In the last post, we talked about the first - and most effective - method of getting attention online. That involves hiring a website optimization firm to implement an organic SEO campaign. More than anything, by hiring professionals you are ensuring that someone is always focused on your website rankings and that your name is out there in front of the appropriate audience. There are other avenues to explore as well, including:

Promotion through Ongoing News - Promoting a company through the distribution of ongoing press releases is an effective way to continually keep people informed and the company’s name in front of an online audience. By optimizing the press releases with the inclusion of keywords you can further ensure that your rankings will continue to increase and hold their own over time.

Publishing of Additional Information - One of the great ways to establish credibility online is to position yourself as an expert in a particular subject matter. Consider the ways in which you can promote your expertise in your industry; publish a variety of articles and information in which your audience may be interested. Keep the information coming and consider the many potential sites where you can post that information - look for your audience in expected - and unexpected locations.

Keeping Things Fresh - Remember that ultimately the reason that people stay on your site is because they find the products and information that they are looking for; give them what they came for and you’ll keep them on your site. Offer information, updated products, fresh content, and more reasons to visit.

Really making a splash online means being able to generate website traffic effectively. What most website owners who are successful and increasing their website traffic realize is that this traffic does not all come from one place. A multi-pronged approach, therefore, is the best way to approach online marketing in order to cull website traffic from a variety of locations. Some of the ways in which websites - for all businesses, in all industries - are driving website traffic - is by:

Working with a website optimization firm to put a search engine optimization campaign in place. Organic SEO practices include the integration of keywords into website content, the launch and management of a strategic linking campaign, and changes made to the website itself to make it more search engine friendly. A well choreographed and managed SEO campaign can powerfully impact website traffic.

Getting news out there. Press releases - especially press releases that have been optimized with your keywords - can garner traffic from a variety of locations. In fact, releasing ongoing press releases helps to keep the name of your business out there, your company in front of editors, and help maintain a steady stream of website traffic. Make sure the news is interesting and that it will get the attention of editors and readers.

Publish content in other locations. Having optimized content on your site is important - and well regarded by the big search engines who are responsible for ranking your site and ultimately delivering you with website traffic - but its also important to spread the wealth when it comes to website traffic. Publish articles and other information on relevant, non-competing sites throughout the web. Not only will you be getting the word out about your business and sharing information that will identify you as an expert, you can integrate keywords that will link readers back to your site.

It’s that time of year when we head into our closets to sort and discard clothes and turn over our homes to ensure that we clean out the cobwebs and clutter of the past winter. Spring cleaning, in fact, is something that we habitually do as a nation; something that is as traditional as the holidays that come every spring. Just as we put effort into cleaning out our homes so too should we take the time to freshen up our web sites. Our web sites, after all, are a direct reflection of our business and the first impression that many will have of the quality of our products or level of our abilities. If you haven’t thought about spring cleaning your web site then now is the time. To get started you should work with a web site optimization firm that can assess your situation and make the recommendations that will elevate your site to the next level.

Working with a web site optimization firm will give you the insight you need to make whatever changes need to be made. Even a traditional business needs to make changes in order to keep the attention of their audience - stock turnovers, changes in store design, creative advertising, and more. The same can be said for web sites that need to engage their audience in order to maintain interest and to gain the attention of the search engines so that they can elevate their rankings and increase web site traffic.

Making changes and refreshing a site may include the creation and implementation of additional optimized content - utilizing the appropriate keywords that correspond to the products and services that the business offers and are likely to be used in a search.

By making additions and changing things up within the context of a search engine optimization campaign, you can keep your site on the radar of the search engines and engage your audience creatively.

In the last post we talked about the importance of having a plan in place for growing your online business - just as you would put a plan in place to grow your traditional business. In the online arena, however, there is an additional component in the mix - the search engines - that can ultimately make or break a marketing campaign. The search engines are the gatekeepers to web site traffic, plain and simple, and they must be engaged in order to help any web site build business and attract their audience.

As we said, most people in putting a plan in place will work with a web site optimization firm; simply because such professionals understand the nuances of the search engines and the best way to go about getting their attention. Things change on a dime in an online marketing campaign; a web site optimization firm can navigate accordingly. A professional online marketing company will:

Determine the status of your web site going into a campaign - where does it rank? Is it utilizing the appropriate keywords to attract the right audience? Is there enough relevant content on your site?

Make a plan. From there a web site optimization firm will help you choose relevant keywords - the words that the audience you seek will use in an online search; and they will integrate those keywords into an aggressive and well- managed search engine optimization or pay per click campaign.

Manage the details. Going forward a reputable web site optimization firm will make sure to manage all the details of your campaign on a daily basis and make adjustments where and when they are necessary. Things change quickly online and a web site optimization firm will respond accordingly.

With the help of a professional web site optimization firm you can build your online business and find success.