History
For most of the last 30 years I have been working with small business owners. Even at IBM doing technology projects, I was teamed up with business owners, along with other stake holders.
In the ole days there was one yellow pages book delivered to the house; it was a monster big book. Of course, there was only the house phone, land line, in those days. Nowadays there are three or four yellow page books delivered to the door; they are all a lot smaller. Plus, there is no longer a land line in most homes today.
Pretty much every business owner understands the need for exposure in terms of marketing. Well, except for the occasional people I meet that are defiant and extremely proud to never have had a web site and/or never advertised. They make sure to tell me the number of years too - a real badge of courage for them I guess. Kudos to those folks, but the rest of us need marketing to collect some people who want to use our products or services.
What Does Online Marketing Take
Today, there are (free yellow pages) Google and Bing. Yes, there is Yahoo, but it's pretty much a duplicate of Bing at this point. If you have any business savy at all, you know you want to be on the first page of search results for people seeking your the type(s) of products(s) or service(s) you offer. All research points to the fact that people don't go past the first page of search results.
Besides the SEO/SEM that we are used to reading about, there is this emerging trend of discovery marketing, which, IMHO, is already in full swing but not to the masses - yet.
In realistic terms, from someone who works in this market every day - me, the notion is deeply implemented now that having a web site and/or blog is just common sense .... when you want to accomplish any serious level of business marketing. I thought we had passed that curve about five years ago but I really know we have today.
When I say web site and/or blog, I mean one of those, at a minimum, with your own domain name, which includes that it/they have some level of decent SEO, SEM built in.
IMHO, you can exclude any web site that is provided by a “free web site” provider. Why? Because 99% of those sites have zero SEO, SEM built into them, so they just fade into the billions of web pages already out there. Sadly, even most WordPress and BlogSpot sites are pretty useless in the search engines because the owner did a DIY job and just didn't build the content correctly for SEO or SEM.
The New Life Skill: Data Sharing
The bottom line is data sharing. Instead of marketing, call it data sharing. In this digital age, you must exercise some level of data sharing. Yes, it is all about you sharing your data with the world. Young people are much more adept at this because they are growing up with it. Older folks tend to be resistant, reluctant and full of excuses - instead of just doing it. They don't realize their inaction is a loss of beneficial exposure.
Fact
When you have decent SEO/SEM content then you naturally produce organic search results.
Research
Organic search remains the leading way USA adults find online information and websites according to a Forrester Research survey.
Back to my point, the vast majority of the business owners with a web presence (web site and/or blog) do want some marketing, data sharing, accomplished. How do you get that results? Here are my 10 suggestions from over 15 years of working in producing measurable and credible web presences ….
Ten Proven Online Marketing Techniques
#1 Qualify your web presence by monitoring your SEO and SEM strategy and updating it as needed. However, once you make the links on your front page (home page), keep in mind, the more you change them the less attention they receive from Google. The first link strategy is MOST IMPORTANT, which is why SEOing an existing web site proves to be very tricky.
#2 Every day, use at least one discovery marketing technique and social marketing.
#3 Create your baseline measurements and record updates at least once weekly.
#4 Center your web marketing, data sharing, efforts around organic results because they have longevity, lasting through each engine software (algorithm) modification. If you need a quick hit of business, do search engine PPC (pay per click) like Google AdWords, but remember - relying on PPC as a cornerstone of marketing proves expensive; it will not last without continued financing.
#5 Local marketing results in Google, aka Pigeon algorithm, will be changing as Google’s commitment to small business is growing. Make sure you have your site coded for your geographic area.
#6 Double check that your web site or blog is viewable on mobile devices (phones, ipads). Use a responsive* format for this. If a user has trouble navigating your site they will just move on to another one.
#7 The semantics of your content is top priority in building and formatting your site. Google is producing search results based on analyzing the intent of your site, which is a few steps above keyword and key phrase strategy. This is a MAJOR reason most web presences fail to achieve first page placement in search results. Semantics is not what they taught you in school about writing term papers.
#8 Use HTML5 tags to help Google understand what you are providing. Don't overdue 'em.
#9 Monitor the speed of your web site/blog. Google will penalize you if you have a slow response time.
#10 Forget about building links. More importantly, spend that energy and effort on social marketing.
Those ten steps are a gold standard for your web presence success. Don't say you never got anything for free because you just did.
Collect 40% off your web design or SEO/SEM services - click here, expires 3 Feb., 2015.
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What clients are saying ….
“Steu just recently redesigned our website and got us on the 1st page of Google, which we are very happy about :-) Our site has only been up and running a couple of weeks and it's already helped our business. Steu has been honest and easy to work with, we appreciate all the work he's done and would recommend him to others :-)"
~ Michele, Skye Roofing
"Steu Mann has been such a wonderfully reliable resource for our organization. He has put together a detailed, organized and easy-to-navigate web-page for Southern Oregon Soccer Academy. Not only is Steu technologically proficient, but he is also very easy to communicate with and is extremely responsive to our 'all too often' requests -which seems like a rarity within the Web/IT world. I would recommend Ez Web and Steu to all who need an intelligent, caring professional to create and manage your business website!"
~ Chris, Southern Oregon Soccer Academy
"I met Steu through some like minded friends a few years ago. I had no idea then how much his expertise and integrity would help me to succeed as a freelance writer ! He's been instrumental in setting my business up on the web, getting me great results from the search engines and has increased my site traffic and click throughs exponentially. He guarantees his work and gets you the results he promises. If you're out there trying to make your living on the web or just trying to get your business known on the web - you've got to give him a call ! In no time at all - you too could be showing up in the top 5 in GOOGLE !!"
~ Susan, Wood N Color
Wishing you the best, Steu
Steu Mann has over 35 years of professional experience and several careers in business and education, including a Masters in Curriculum & Instruction. His office is located in Ashland, Oregon where he works with business owners in SEO and online marketing consulting. He can be reached at steu@ezwebmanifesting.com.
*Responsive web site is an approach to web design aimed at crafting sites to provide an optimal viewing experience—easy reading and navigation with a minimum of resizing, panning, and scrolling—across a wide range of devices (from desktop computer monitors to mobile phones).
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