Blog - Websites

So you're paying a web person to do SEO for you. Great! What are they doing? How are you checking their work? If they provided you with a report that says where they filled in keywords, that may be satisfactory to you, encouraging you to sit back and wait for Google and other search engines to start flinging traffic your way.

Bad idea. Here's why:

First of all, SEO (search engine optimization) is an ongoing process. Your competitors are constantly at your heals with new pages and better SEO methods. Checking your current SEO results usually inspires new and better ideas of how to better optimize your website. Which leads us to the #1 component to think about when doing or paying for SEO writing to be done to your website: the targeted keywords.

The targeted keywords that are used in your website content are just as, if not more-so, important than where they are placed in your website. Technically, your SEO person may know where to place the keywords, but what keywords is he or she using? Most likely they got guidance from you, as you know your industry. But did they take it to the next level? Are you having them provide you with ongoing reports of what position your website is for specific keywords, or are you at least tracking this yourself?

THE BEST SEO IMPLEMENTERS ARE COPYWRITERS
SEO implementers are (usually) not programmers. They are (usually) not designers. Writing copy for search engines is a very precise activity. It involves creative writing that is calculated writing, and clever placement of that copy in sweet spots. Not only does your SEO expert need to help you write your website copy for specific pages, but they need to help you brainstorm what types of words your potential customers are searching. How?

• Use www.keyworddiscovery.com to find related words that people are actually searching for
• Use what you know - your own site stats

GO LOCAL - REALLY LOCAL
The beauty of today's technology is that it's getting easier to find answers at our fingertips, whether we're on the road or at our desk. If we are on the road browsing search engines to find a local fabric store or ice cream parlor, local search is vital to increasing traffic to your website and physical location. And relevant traffic at that - traffic that may be a higher conversion (paying customer). How?

• Include your zip code in the page title (and city and state of course)
• Make sure this is on every one of your pages
• Submit your website to Google Local
  

OPTIMIZING FOR YOUR NAME IS NOT ENOUGH
Optimizing your website for your name is very important, but is not enough. That assumes that your potential customers know who you are, or are doing a bit of Googling to check you out first before working with you - to make sure you're legit. You want to focus on the factors surrounding your business, like your location, industry questions (a blog is great for creating content around industry questions), etc.

CHECK THE WORK
Most importantly, check the work of your SEO writer. To do this, log into your website site stats and look at the report for Keywords. Run a comparative look from the most recent period to 30 days prior and see if anything changed. Or wait 60 or 90 days and check again. The number of searches from keywords should have gone up. If they did not, you should have your SEO expert investigate why and make further tweaks by doing further research. Or, even easier is to do a search in Google or another search engine. If you don't come up for "hair salon 12508", then there is most likely some work that could be done to get your website on the radar for that term. But remember - for that term. SEO is all about ranking for different keyword combinations, not just your company name (especially if no one knows about your company yet, or your trying to increase your client base).

Good SEO work involves a budget, so that ongoing checks, tweaks and research like this can be done over time, but if done correctly, can play a big roll in increasing relevant traffic to, and potential sales from your website.

We hold SEO Blitz Sessions from time to time, which is a private session with you at your desk (via GoToMeeting) analyzing your website for missed SEO and usability opportunities. Sometimes, these are available for free to Collective-E members (learn about this and other benefits). Check our workshops schedule to see when the next SEO Blitz Session is.

I wanted to think of a sassy title for this blog but then I decided forget it, I want you to know exactly what you're getting - great advice from a fellow entrepreneur!  

Collective-E member Judy Goss, founder of the Over Forty Female Movement, has a special place in my heart as I not only count her as a friend and colleague, but I've watched her grow as an entrepreneur and leader since I met her a few years ago while she was working at More Magazine.  Since then a lot has changed, and one of her biggest projects (and I'd say fastest successes) was the launch of her website, Over40Females.com.

Why do I see her launch as a great success?  Well beyond the fact that I think any woman (or man) taking a risk, launching a good or service or website and striking out on their own is a success story in itself, Judy launched her website with NO press coverage and on it's second day she had already garnered over 2,000 hits a day (and it's still growing) for this online home to her Over 40 Females Movement.

After I congratulated Judy on the successful launch, I immediately wanted to know "how did you do it?" and my suspicions were fight - a lot of it had to do with her mastery of social media.  I asked Judy for her tips and she obliged.  You can find these tips below.....

How I Got 2,000 Hits on My Website's Second Day Live (without any press), by Judy Goss:

Begin building your fan base and buzz on Facebook & Twitter prior to your launch (for Judy this was months prior).

Always be consistent in your postings, always (try as best you can) answer people when they "@" you or "friend" you, and definitely when they message or direct message you.

Created a Fan Page only for the upcoming website - not a personal page.

While building my website (a good 2-3 wks before launch) I "ramped up" the interest...made a simple blog that I forwarded from my main domain "Over40Females.com".  In other words, when you typed in "www.over40females.com the site would forward to a free wordpress blog, until I got the official site launched.  This kept the buzz building.

While ramping up, I posted things on FB and Twitter that piqued interest like "Professional experts waiting for you on OFF.com" and had a countdown for the launch, etc.
(*note from Sabina: My interest was captured just by trying to figure out what Judy's OFF teasers meant - I wanted to know too!)

When people joined my FB fan page, I thanked as many as I could and mentioned the launch of OFF.com, AND friended all the people that weren't my friends on my personal page.

I made sure to update my Collective-E member profile and share the launch with other members and on the website.

At launching time, I emailed my friends who had a lot of members and asked them if they wouldn't mind posting my site on their FB page, Twitter, etc.

Most important thing for social media - be consistent, to the point, and humor & giveaways are the icing on the cake.

Good Karma:  Whoever r helps you out with a Twitter or FB or whatever, make sure you return the favor if you haven't already!! Or at least thank them.

One more thing - if you are a Collective-E member and would like to share your story with Judy (first check out the site to see if you're a good fit), send your information to prleads@collective-e.com and we'll pass it along!  You can also send it along our PR Leads Submission form.

Comscore projects online sales to be up 11% over the holiday weekend.  As people are working harder and time is more valuable, shopping online saves both time and money.  With free shipping from many companies along with discounts, the click and shop crowd is growing.  This, along with a comfort level in shopping online, it is really a no brainer. 

What this means for you?  You must have an excellent online shopping experience to compete, and the more you can offer in customer service and they psycological free shipping will help to drive sales.

If you have questions about anything to do with websites or ecommerce, click here >

To shop online with our members on their amazing websites, click here >

To read more about incrase in cyber shopping, click here >

We always get asked about how to advertise on blogs and websites, and while we have some creative answers, we wanted to get answers straight from the source. So we went to our friend, Peg Samuel, Founder Social Diva Media. She's answered these questions for us, and for those who want direct access to her brain, she is leading a Collective-E workshop on Advertising on Your Website or Blog November 2nd. Peg is a top online sales person with over 10 years experience in Internet sales. She ran sales teams of up to 10 people, managed territories including international, has over 50k newsletter subscribers, and her advertisers range from Dior to Fiji Water. Here are Peg's answers to our questions to get the real deal and in depth answers to advertising issues.

Get more from the Workshop this Wednesday led by Peg on this very topic.


What is "display advertising"?
According to Wikipedia, display advertising is a type of advertising that typically contains text (i.e., copy), logos, photographs or other images, location maps, and similar items. In periodicals, display advertising can appear on the same page as, or on the page adjacent to, general editorial content. In contrast, classified advertising generally appears in a distinct section, was traditionally text-only, and was available in a limited selection of typefaces.

Easier Peg definition- those banners and ads you see on any given page of a website whether at the top, middle or side.

Are banner ads dead?
Not if they are relevant to the reader and served at the appropriate time. Examples:
1. You were looking for a new car and you saw an ad for a special deal in your area on a car you didn’t think about you might be interested
2. You are looking at your first boyfriend from high schools facebook pics and you see an ad for Boxtox. Hello!

Should I join an ad network like Glam? And what is an ad network?
Ad networks are great; I have worked at two of the top ones. If you want to focus on your site and the content and you are not a great sales person. They will do it for you. They have the contacts and the sales force to go in and get smaller sites on bigger advertiser buys.

Do I need a packet of some kind that I email to people who are requesting advertising rates? Can I just name some prices in an email?
Yes, a media kit is a great tool. Buyers like to see it and it gives you the “put together look” you want to go for.  I would also have a rate card put together. But in terms of forwarding your rates before you have a dialogue going, I would wait.

Should I post my advertising rates online?
I don’t. Why? Because I want to know who is asking, I want to be able to have a dialogue started with people that are interested. I want their contact info and interest/intent. I want to be able to negotiate etc.
Also, I don’t want it super accessible for my competition.

Should I post my traffic numbers and newsletter subscriber numbers online?
Sure, you can do this.

If I don't have a newsletter yet, should I have one? And if so, what kinds of things should I include in there? Full reprints of blog articles I've written? Pictures? What's the point?
100% you need a newsletter, even if it is just for CRM (Customer Relationship Management), in terms of your customers. They need to hear from you, remember the 80/20 rule of business.

How do I build my newsletter subscription rate to 50k?
See you on June 10th to find out!  Workshop Details

Thanks Peg!!