Small Business Search Engine Marketing
Things you simply must do when marketing your site
Google+ Local
Create your business listing on Google especially if you are a business that needs a local presence.
Benefits:
- Claiming your Google Places page is free.
- Business listing verification helps you rank higher in Google Maps and on Google SERPs. (Generally)
- Google Places pages can include photos, videos, ratings, reviews, product/service information, and more.
- Content-rich Google Places pages increase relevance for consumers.
- When used in a mobile context it is fantastic at enabling a visitor to find you.
Social Media – Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and Google+
No social presence begats irrelevance or a belief that you are not that big a deal.
Overall benefits:
- Brand building – paint a picture
- Opportunity to distribute content
- Engage with your consumers
- Promotional opportunities
- Another lead-generation tool.
Ensure your website is optimized
No keywords or the wrong keywords badly placed means a poor (or no!) listing the upshot of which is no traffic.
Benefits:
- Traffic
- Qualified traffic
- Digital Presence
By the way I have assumed it works and can be indexed
Ensure your website is MOBILE friendly
If I have to zoom in and out to read your stuff then it better be good – in fact it better be brilliant.
Benefits:
- Competitive advantage as lots of others are not
- Research shows user intent on mobile is more “local” therefore more SMB appropriate
- Branding – “I care for how you use our stuff”
- Close the deal quicker – I do not have to go home to buy from you
- Get found online quicker – served up faster
Set up your analytics
Without analytics it is like driving after dark with no lights on (Well almost!) you cannot see where you are going.
Benefits:
- How well is the site working
- Identify low hanging (cheap) opportunities
- Identify cockups
- Know when to panic (before you really need to panic)
- Direct your small marketing budget where you are going to get the most bang for your buck
