Are you really on your game on the net, or did your cousin Vinnie put up your website? What a bargain! He charged you only $250, and you found a place to host it for free 8 years ago, and you have a Facebook account for the business.
Today, that’s just not enough to claim you have a real web strategy. Here is a short list of best practices and tactics that will get you ranking a little closer to the top for the terms your customers use to find what you sell. You don’t have to do all of these, but you should understand that all the pieces support each other.
- A good web site, that has a strong SEO strategy. This means that you defined what terms you wanted to be found for before you started building the site. Do keyword analysis to determine what terms have highest search volume but low competition.
a. File named pages for each of your chosen terms. Most businesses, even small ones, should have at least 50 such pages.
b. A current site map.
c. Google analytics installed, so you can get monthly reports.
d. Contact us page that is current.
e. No blog unless you are going to post to it at least once weekly. A blog with a last entry from three years ago hurts you because it looks like nothing is happening. You really should commit to having a blog because Google loves fresh content added to your site and reward it with better rankings. Hire a freelance writer to do it if you don’t have the time to do it yourself. There are lots of sites to find them, Fiverr, etc.
f. Icons/links for Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and twitter.
g. All images are sized and optimized for web display, and all of them have alt tags using your chosen search terms.
h. Content should include all of these:
i. References or testimonials.
ii. Call for action on every page “contact us now to discuss your need.”
iii. Remember to use your keywords throughout any content.
i. Your site should be optimized for mobile browsing because most people are likely to visit in from their phone or their tablet rather than a desktop in
many cases.
- An Instagram account, with some pictures tagged using your best terms; post a new one at least weekly.
- A Facebook account that you post in at least weekly
- A twitter account that you use periodically.
- A Yelp account. Then ask for reviews. Yes, the site does not want you do solicit them, but you can do it subtly with a sign that says find us on Yelp and a reminder to those customers who have had a great service experience.
- A YouTube account, with some videos posted using your keywords as tags.
- A google my business page.
- Ask for reviews for your Facebook, google and yelp account. Makes sure you deliver the kind of service that will get people talking in a good way.
- A few press releases issued, using your key terms with links to the keyword named pages specific to that term. You can always find something to announce.
- Link keywords to the page for that keyword.
- Each page needs meta title and description using the main keyword for the page. Don’t duplicate titles or descriptions.
- Make page easy to read, use subheadings (H2, h3), use bulleted lists, add white space and avoid pop ups.
- Get backlinks from good sites that Google trusts. Even though many links are no follow, links still help establish authority for your site and trust with Google that translates into better rankings.
- Pages/post do better if longer content. Now standard approx. 1000 words. Post with 3000 words rank much better. At least have a few longer content articles. If you don’t have someone to write them, get a freelancer to do it so that you are getting organic traffic and ringing the cash register.
Now when you’ve worked through this list, you can say you have a robust web strategy or at least a running start toward having one. Make sure you post at least weekly into all the social media pages, new pictures, blog, etc. As you get better results from these efforts, be sure to put some of that money back into internet marketing and SEO and your businesses online presence.
Remember only you can make business great!
Ron Sturgeon, Mr. Mission Possible, has been a successful business owner for more than 35 years. As a small business consultant, he can deliver wisdom and advice gleaned from an enviable business career that started when he opened a VW repair business as a homeless 17-year-old and culminated in the sale of several businesses he built to Fortune 500 companies.
Ron has helped bankers, lawyers, insurance agents, restaurant owners, and body shop owners, as well as countless salvage yard owners to become more successful business people. He is an expert in helping small business owners set the right business strategies, implement pay-for- performance, and find new customers on the web.
As a consultant, Ron shares his expertise in strategic planning, capitalization, compensation, growing market share, and more in his signature plainspoken style, providing field-proven, and high-profit best practices well ahead of the business news curve. Ron is the author of nine books, including How to Salvage More Millions from Your Small Business.
To inquire about consulting or keynote speaking, contact Ron at 817-834-3625, ext. 232, rons@MrMissionPossible.com, 5940 Eden, Haltom City, TX 76117.