How Do You Get Noticed?

LOOK The Part  .  SPEAK  The Part  .  ACT The Part 

As an entrepreneur with a growing business, it is critical that you are able to create a significant footprint in the online business community to be competitive.  This is your way to break out and move forward once you have reached a certain growth threshold.  As daunting as that may sound, if you break it down into three steps and execute those well, you will be surprised how quickly you can "Get Noticed"

As I mention in the title of this blog, you should Look, Speak and Act the part.  What does that mean exactly?  It is important that you present a unified look through your online communications media.  Whether it is your website, direct email campaigns, social media or pay per click advertising, you will need cohesive visuals and a consistent message.  Let's take a look at each step:

LOOK:  First and foremost, this applies to a well built website with a strong visual impact that will leave an impression in your customer's minds.  As they say "a picture is worth a thousand words" and it truly is!  Having strong graphics that peak emotion is critical to a well built website.  Next is your website content; it must be well written, relevant and regularly updated.  Fresh content is very critical to be effective in advancing your SEO:  search engine optimization.

SPEAK:  Email campaigns reach out directly to your target customer group and can be very effective if targeted well.  Again, graphics are important here as well and should map back to the look and feel of your website which is your key online "store front" to the worldwide internet community.  It is important to not over communicate as you could create a negative impression of your brand.  A call to action with links back to your site should be the main message.  

ACT:  Social media is an influential way to create a community that understands and respects who you are as a company.  You can reflect company culture and personality here with a goal of presenting a dynamic and interactive relationship with your customers.  It is well known that friend recommendations via social media is a huge influence on brand and service choices for customers.

Keeping all of these components current and updated once implemented should be a part of your ongoing marketing communications plan.  It is well worth the commitment of a key staff member to be given this responsibility as it will keep your online brand footprint engaging and relevant.

SEO = Search Engine Optimization.  Right...But What Does That Mean?  There is a lot of buzz going around right now about SEO because Google changed it's algorithm this past year.  We always hear about people trying to beat the system these days to improve their website ranking.  

To truly be able to take advantage of SEO and maintain a strong ranking long term, this mentality will not work.  Why?  Because search engine goals revolve around bringing their customers the most relevant sites for their search inquires.  Changes will continue to be made by search engines to disrupt the newest schemes used to circumvent this by businesses as this is contradictory to the purpose of the search engines.

The best way to insure that you are found high in the various search engine rankings is to implement a cohesive SEO strategy that embraces strong web development, an integrated Social Media strategy and creating a strong online footprint with reach throughout your target customer community.

Sounds daunting doesn't it?  It does not have to be, but there is no "quick fix".  It is an ongoing engagement in an online community which will continue to grow and change (exponentially these days) in the coming years.

There are basics however that must be implemented to even be minimally competitive in an online business environment.  Below are what we consider the basics:

• WELL WRITTEN CONTENT
• KEEPING CONTENT FRESH
• STRONG KEY WORD UTILIZATION
• BUILDING EFFECTIVE BACKLINKS
• UTILIZING ONLINE DATA TO UPDATE STRATEGY
  
• INTEGRATING SOCIAL MEDIA 

We can work with you to maximize all of the above and create a cohesive SEO plan to position your website in key ranking position.  Once you have implemented the basics, the best strategy includes ongoing monitoring and adjustments as your competitors will always be trying to improve their organic online rankings as well.