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Daniel S. Lambert, MBA
Freelance Writer
BackupWriter.com
February 14, 2008
This piece was written for the Web site www.SteadyElevation.net, and can be seen there under their "How-To, Step by Step" section.
This was a “work for hire” under US Copyright Law, and all rights belong to the client. This file is for sample purposes only and may not be sold, copied or distributed.
By Daniel S. Lambert, MBA
Not long ago, business owners wrestled with the question of whether or not their businesses should have a Web site. Today, it is practically required as a customer service function, and customers are turning to the Web for information on everything. You can’t afford to pass up this opportunity to market your business.
Access to the internet is already common on mobile phones. While it’s not likely that mobile users will be reading a lot of content on their cell phones, they may very well expect to find your address, phone number, and hours of operation as they are walking down the street. It’s easy to see, that everyone needs to have a Web site. The next question is, if everybody has a Web site, how do you make yours stand out?
It’s possible to write a series of books on this topic, and many people have, but today, let’s look at the big picture, and get you started in the right direction, step by step.
1.) Choose the Right Domain Name, or Ten
One of the first things that you need to do, when developing a Web site, is to come up with a good domain name. Domain names should be easy to remember, pronounce and spell. They should also be logical and relate to your business; preferably, it will actually be the name of your business with .com at the end.
Here’s a tip. You’ve probably already registered a domain name, but it’s not too late. You can register as many domain names as you like, whenever you like, and have them all point to the same site. It’s a good idea to buy different variations of your domain name as well. You could buy the .net, .org, .mobi and .name versions for example. You can, and should buy the common misspellings of your name as well.
A domain name will cost you about ten dollars a year, and they are a good investment. If you bought fifteen variations of your domain name, you could simply redirect fourteen of them to your original site.
2.) Ensure that your Web site is Compatible with Major Browsers
Here’s a tip. Whether you develop your site yourself, or you have a developer take care of it for you, make sure that you test the site with as many different browsers as possible. If you create your Web site in Microsoft Publisher, it will look great in Microsoft Internet Explorer, because they are written on the same platform. However, when you view your site on the Mozilla Firefox browser, things might not line up the way you expect them to because of minor idiosyncrasies between the platforms.
3.) Make your Site Search Engine Friendly
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
There is a mind-numbing amount of information on the Internet about how to make your page rank highly with the search engines. This has become a science. It’s no longer as simple as repeating your keywords throughout your page. If they don’t appear often enough, you won’t rank as high; if they appear too often, you will be penalized.
Early search engines simply looked for keyword prevalence. It didn’t take long for people to realize that if they wanted to rank high in the searches, they could just repeat their keywords over and over again at the bottom of the page to deceive the search engines. Some people disguised this effort by using a font color that was the same as the background color so that customers wouldn’t be aware of the deception.
The major search engine companies learned quickly that people were circumventing the system and they started to change the algorithms that ranked the pages. Now, if you repeat your keywords more than the percentage that would occur in a reasonably normal conversation, those keywords don’t count. If your font color matches your background color, your page is dropped from the search engine’s files altogether. The words at the bottom of the page no longer carry as much weight as the ones in the first few sentences.
The obvious no-noes are common knowledge, but things such as the exact percentage of keyword saturation that will get you canned are a secret. Nobody really knows the exact cutoff for any of these rules, but they design algorithms to mimic common sense and natural speech.
When choosing keywords for your Web pages, you should base them on the search terms people are most likely to use if they were looking for your product or service.
Here’s a tip. It’s not enough to put these keywords in the tags of your page; they need to appear in the text as well. That sounds like common sense, but we are all caught in this trap sometimes. This primarily happens when there are different ways to refer to something. Say, for instance, you’re an attorney, and the word attorney appears throughout your text, because that is how you refer to yourself, if you place the term lawyer in your keyword tags but it might not count because you don’t have it in your text.
Search engine software evaluates keywords based on their location within the text. Some of the more relevant places on your page are titles, headings, photo captions and hyperlinks. If you are dealing with multiple keywords, you might consider organizing your site with a page dedicated to each keyword to increase performance.
Here’s a tip. If your Web page highlights your physical presence, such as a restaurant or dry cleaner, you should place your full address and phone number, including area code and zip code, on every page of your Web site. People looking for services will often add a place name to their search, and there are niche search engines that focus on local searches.
Here’s another tip. There are many people out there, whose sole freelance mission is search engine optimization. You might save yourself a lot of time and headache by hiring one of these consultants. Anyone can hang a shingle and claim that they provide this service, so you should ask for references who can give examples of increased traffic and conversion.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
Closely related to SEO is SEM. When you do a search, and you see all of the “sponsored results” on the right side of the page, that is search engine marketing. These people paid a small fee to be listed for certain keywords.
Although your fee will get you a lot closer to the first page of results, your keywords still need to be deemed relevant by the search engine’s software. If an attorney chooses the keyword lawyer, and it doesn’t appear on his page (because he prefers the term attorney), his ad won’t rank very highly. In addition, if you pay to have your ad appear in certain searches, and people don’t click on it (because they don’t find it relevant), then that will reduce your rankings for those search terms as well.
Google offers a free certification to people who offer SEM services. Not only do they require that consultants pass extensive tests, displaying their knowledge of the Google AdWords system, they are also required to place over $1000 worth of ads (which usually cost less than a dollar each) per month. The minimum ad placement ensures that the consultant has practical experience. This certification allows professionals to display the Google Certified logo and link on their Web sites and other advertising.
Backlinks
Search engines analyze links that point to your site from other sites; these are called backlinks. Good links, which point to your site from other relevant and respected sites, greatly increase your standings with the search engines.
News of this has prompted all sorts of link sharing, and link farms, which a Webmaster can subscribe to, however the search engines do not consider them relevant or respected. For links to increase your standing with the search engines, they must come from relevant or complimentary sites.
As an example, your best friend from high school may be a surfing fanatic, with a Web site dedicated to surfing. He might place a link to your page about financial consultancy. This doesn’t hurt your rankings, because his site is respected, but it doesn’t raise your search engine rankings because his site is not relevant or complimentary to yours. An example of relevant and complimentary sites would be writing services and graphic design services, because they collaborate on the same projects, yet they are not in competition with each other. If you sell shoes and belts, you might want to trade links with someone down the street who sells suits and ties. These types of reciprocal relationships, or even one-way links, tell the search engine that your site is more relevant because others are recommending it. Another good place to get backlinks is from professional organizations related to your business, or the businesses you serve.
Naturally, it’s important to submit your Web site to all of the search engines, but there are also directories that are evaluated by humans. The best example of this is the free Open Directory Project, www.dmoz.com.
Web Content
Next to properly placed keywords, maybe even a tie, fresh, relevant Web content will trigger search engines (they notice if your site has changed since the last time they inventoried it); it will make interested readers come back to check for more, and recommend the link to their friends. The amount of time that has passed, since you last updated your Web site, is also a factor in the relevancy of you site. Web content, written by a professional, is optimized for use on the Web and has a natural distribution of keywords.
One of the best ways to get fresh web content is blogging. Blogging can be time consuming, especially if you have an interactive forum where people comment on your post and expect a reply from you. Many businesses have learned to hire their blogs out to a professional ghostwriter, and many freelance writers will handle 3 to 5 blogs as a source of steady income.
Here’s a tip. When you are blogging for your business, you may come across an unhappy customer. It is usually best to leave their post up for everyone to see, and reply to it in a calm and rational tone that addresses their point of view. It’s been said many times, that an angry customer who complains, is a thousand times better than an angry customer who doesn’t complain. If they complain, it’s because they hope the damage will be repaired, so they can resume their happy customer status.
Here’s another tip. Never address an angry customer issue by leaving comments under a false name. Not only will people see it coming a mile away, but also they expect to hear your side of the story, and they will notice your absence.
4.) Make use of Social Networking (AKA Web Communities or Web 2.0)
You’ve probably heard the term Web 2.0, referring to the second generation of the Web. The big changes, which stimulated people to mark a generational gap, are all based on the communal nature that the Web has taken on in the past few years, which is growing exponentially. Social networking sites started out as a place for teenagers to express themselves, now they are a way for serious professionals to network. The latest wave is niche social networks; I hear that Reuters is developing a niche social network for financial professionals.
What does social networking have to do with marketing your Web site? Everything. Social networks have very detailed and structured search engines, which allow people to target your business’ site (it’s no longer just ok to have a business social network site, it’s expected), and you can also do highly structured searches to find your target audiences. You can reach out to these targeted audiences with a very soft sell approach that simply says, “hi, I’m here in your neighborhood, stop by sometime.” The people who are active on these networks share and recommend links often, which makes them a great source of backlinks.
Participate on forums, like the ones on this site, and share your expertise. People will see your selfless donation of time to answer questions, and will develop a strong level of trust for your opinion. Eventually, when they need something that you can help them with, they can look beneath your name in the signature line and see your web address. The key here is not to spam the forum; your URL is just there, under your name, people will know what to do with it.
5.) E-mail Marketing, using your Site to Gather Contacts
If you decide that you’d like to use your site to collect contact information about your visitors, it is very effective to offer something free, in exchange for adding their name to your mailing list. It’s very important to be up front about what you will use the information for and tell them if you intend to contact them.
If you think about what brought the visitor to your site to begin with (keywords that you use in ads etc.), you can write a short e-book or special report on the topic. They are likely browsing your site because they expect you to have authoritative information on the topic they are looking for. This works especially well if the visitor isn’t ready to buy that day. If they download a report or e-book, and save it or print it where they can see it later, they will remember you. Then, when you e-mail them, they will recognize and expect the e-mail.
Let’s talk about spam. We are all flooded with e-mail marketing information on a daily basis. In many cases, we “requested” it, by opting in to someone’s e-mail list. If you do decide to set up an e-mail marketing campaign, there are some steps you should follow to avoid the spam label.
Use a double opt-in method. The reader should check a box on the information form on your Web site, and then receive an E-mail with a confirmation link. This ensures that the true recipient of your e-mails acknowledges his permission.
Provide relevant and valuable information, and send what you say you will send. If you have a newsletter, which is really just a sales pitch, or worse, a long list of sales pitches, from you and your “affiliates,” then people will see you as a spammer, even if the reader just opted in to your newsletter five minutes ago. If you are going to send product offers, say that when people opt-in; don’t let them think they are signing up for a newsletter and then send them sales pitches.
Begin your e-mail with a short paragraph reminding people why they are on your list, and place the opt-out link in that paragraph. An opt-out link is required on all of your e-mail marketing, however most people put this at the bottom of the e-mail. The problem is that it is much easier for people to opt-out of your campaign by clicking the “flag as spam” button on their e-mail software, potentially sending that information to the major anti-spam software companies (which can get your domain blacklisted). Since most people click the “flag as spam” button while the e-mail is in preview mode, placing your opt-out paragraph at the top is the best way to prevent this.
Check the background and experience of the people that you outsource your e-mail campaigns to, because if they violate the CAN-SPAM Act, they are doing so in your name, which can get your domain blacklisted.
6.) Don’t Rule out Traditional Media
There is absolutely no law that says you must promote your Web site solely on the Internet. Everything that you print, from stationary and letterhead, to business cards and newspaper advertisements, should list your Web address.
It should be right next to your phone number in the directory listings such as the yellow pages. It should be part of your signature line in e-mails and traditional correspondence.
Depending on your business, you could have it printed on anything from bumper stickers, to ballpoint pens and post-it notes that you give away as promotional items.
If you have a new site, just updated a site, or maybe you never “launched” your existing site, you could do a direct mail campaign and send out postcards to everyone on your mailing list (or everyone in a certain demographic).
If you know anyone who distributes a newsletter, electronic or print, that has the right demographics, get your web information printed in the newsletter.
We already understand the importance of regularly updated content. A good way to get the word out about your site is to write articles in your area of expertise, and offer them free to appropriate Web sites and print media that need additional content. You request in return, a byline, with a short introduction to your business and your URL. You can share these articles with others, for use directly on their web page or in their newsletters, whether print or electronic.
This article has taken you through the basics of marketing your Web site, step by step; however, it only scratches the surface. The areas of SEO and SEM are highly technical and ever changing; unless you are deeply interested in the topic, you would be wise to outsource these tasks if you have the budget. If the topic does interest you, there is no shortage of information, so dive in and have fun. Try to dedicate an hour per week to reviewing your Web site, and using the keywords you’ve developed to see where you come up in the search pages. Review this article as well, to see where you can strengthen you marketing efforts. It is exhilarating to watch as your Web site moves closer to the top of the search results because of what you’ve learned.
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