Why you NEED a blog on your website

Over the past month or so, we have had several clients come to us seeking advice about "How can I get found on the search engines?"  Our answer has consistently been - "Start a blog".

Why is a blog so important? There are several reasons why blogs are great, but really we want to focus on the most important one, which answers the question of how to get found by Google:

Blogs are the most cost effective way to improve the search engine rankings of your website.

First of all, let's clear up what we mean by a "blog". Basically a blog is just an informational website or part of a website consisting of different posts, or articles.

Usually a blog allows for users to leave comments, and that's a great feature but for our purposes not completely necessary (although, again - a very nice feature).

Content is King

Secondly, let me explain what the number one ingredient is to making your website appear on the first page of Google: content. The text, verbiage, wording, words, etc. on your page is what Google craves. If the words on your webpage are crumbs, Google is like a hungry puppy dog searching the floor for every dropped morsel it can find. If your website doesn't have very many crumbs...Google will quickly move on to the NEXT website.

The reason we recommend blogs so often is that they provide that content for search engines like Google. Particularly if you are a small business or non-profit, you probably need more content for your website. Many of our clients have 5 - 10 page websites, yet their competition on the internet has websites with 30 - 50 pages. Not exactly an even playing field when it comes to who is going to appear higher up on Google.

So what do you put on your blog? The simple answer is anything remotely related to your industry.

Let's think about what the goal is first and then work backwards. We want to feed Google words. More precisely, we want to feed Google keywords that relate to our business.  If you do web design, lawn care, or hair cuts you want to feed Google the keywords "web design", "lawn care", and "hair cuts", respectively.

Any topic you can think of that will naturally include those keywords is what you're looking for.

It will take time. Even if you only write once every other month, you're still adding valuable content to your website. But for many small businesses it's the best and most cost effective way to improve your search engine rankings.

I launched my website...now what?

Creating a brand new website for your business is a big accomplishment. There are countless hours that go into designing, coding, reviewing, testing, and publishing a website. However once the website is launched, what do you do next?

Here are the top 7 things you should remember to do AFTER your website is launched.

1. Promote it

It's really easy to forget to promote your website. Make sure to put your web address on business cards, brochures, signs, etc. Also send out an email blast and Facebook post announcing that you have a new website and people should check it out.

It's also a good idea to give people another reason to go to your website, such as offering web-only specials or coupons. People love to get a good deal, and once they've visited your site it will be easier to get them to return.

2. Check your statistics.

Early on, you can expect to see small amounts of traffic to your brand new website.  Make sure that you check your website hits about once a week or so, especially early on, just to see what pages are getting hits, where your visitors are coming from, how long they're staying on each page, etc.

You'll also want to make adjustments based on your findings. For example, if your "About Us" page is getting a fair amount of visitors, but no one is staying on the page for more than a couple seconds, maybe you should consider sprucing up the content to make it more interesting, or adding some pictures.

3. See where you land in the search engine rankings.

Where your website appears in the search engines is extremely important. Everyone wants to be on the top of page #1, but that isn't easy.

There are a large number of keywords that you can type into Google to find your website. For example, an easy one is your company name: "Fresh Look Web Design". Or you can do a more general search: "web design". Or general term + geographic location: "hampton virginia web design".

We recommend checking your position in the search engine rankings every couple months at the least, to see where you appear. This is particularly important if you are actively trying to improve your position in the search engines. Which leads us to our next topic...

4. Improve your search engine ranking.

This could be a whole series of articles by itself, but we'll direct you to our SEO Checklist if you want to get some general ideas for improving your ranking. The idea we want to get across in this article however is that it's an ongoing process that continues long after you launch your site. You have to work at it, because your competition is doing the same.

5. Add new information

Sometimes it's hard to remember to post things to your website. Think about all the information you share on a regular basis: event information, newsletters, special offers, board meeting announcements, etc. As you go through the day to day business, make sure to put this information on the website.

6. Remove outdated information

This is so easy to forget, however it's important to do. You do not want outdated information on your website. Sometimes it helps to have an archive section where you intentionally put old info, and that's fine. But you don't want your users to see you promoting an event that is 2 months old...it just doesn't reflect too well on your business. Try to remove outdated information promptly.

7. Be patient

A website is not like a microwave that will just zap your business into success. It's more like a really great recipe that will in time produce a delicious meal - if you put forth the effort. Be patient while you're making your website work...keep up with it, update it, check the status and try new things. In time it will turn into something delicious!

7 Simple Ways to Build Your Mailing List

One of the most cost effective marketing you can do for your organization is sending out an email newsletter. We've talked about the value of an email newsletter in our article, 8 Reasons to Create an e-Newsletter with Constant Contact. Now we're going to go over some simple, easy ways to encourage people to sign up for your email newsletter.

1. Make it easy to sign up

Make it as simple and easy as possible to sign up. Don't require that people enter in more information than is necessary. Name and email address should be enough. The more information you get is good, but people are less likely to take the time to sign up.

2. Let people know what they're getting

Inform your customers what they get with your email newsletter. Make it sound helpful, inviting, simple and non-threatening.

• Coupons
• Helpful tips
• Industry news
• What's New

If you are a small business and typically have close relationships with your customers, you can also add more of a personal flair by informing them of what's going on with your company. New clients, new employees, awards, etc.

3. Create a signup form on your website

Adding a little signup box to your website is a very effective way to add people to your mailing list. It can be as big and obvious or as small and subtle as you want. It all just depends on how important it is that people sign up, and what other things on your website need to stand out as well.

One way to do it to put the form directly on every page. This is helpful because it requires less clicking for the user. And if you use something like Constant Contact, you can create it so that when they sign up they are automatically added to your list...no extra work on your part.

Examples of email sign up forms:

• www.chincoteague-hotel.com
• www.defythebadguy.com

4. Offer incentives to sign up

Give your customers a coupon or small gift just for signing up! You will encourage people who are on the brink of signing up, and the gift can have some good promotional material in it as well.

5. Create a Join My List button on Facebook

If you use Constant Contact, and many people do, you can create a button on your Facebook page which lets people sign up for your email newsletter. It connects with Constant Contact, and is just another way to let users sign up!

See an example of how it works

6. Add a check box that lets users sign up from your Contact Us form

Similar to #3 where you are directly asking users to specifically sign up for your email newsletter, you can also add a field on your Contact Us form which is more subtle.



The point is to ask for users to sign up at every opportunity. This one is very helpful at getting good leads for your business since your customers are already taking the time to contact you.

7. Encourage existing subscribers to forward your newsletter to friends

Most programs such as Mail Chimp or Constant Contact let you create an easy to use "Forward this email" button on your newsletter. People love to forward emails (unfortunately) but in this case use it to your advantage.

Sending out an email newsletter really is one of the easiest and cost effective marketing tool you can incorporate. Use these 7 tips to build your mailing list and reap the benefits!

The Importance of Article Writing

A very helpful tip for improving your online presence that we are highlighting this week is article writing. Article writing can be a chore and it's difficult to make the time for it, but it's extremely helpful and we strongly recommend everyone use it as part of their online strategy.

Help Before You Sell

The first reason we recommend that you engage in article writing (some people prefer the term "blogging") is that it gives you credibility. With article writing, you can achieve "expert status" in the eyes of your potential consumers. That may be enough to distinguish you from the competition. Help your potential customers first, and they will be more willing to trust you with their hard earned cash.

Content is King

The second reason articles are so helpful is that search engines LOVE good content, which they will find in your articles. There isn't a better way to help your website rise in the search engine rankings than supplying great content to your website. In many markets, it's very possible to be ranked #1 in Google simply from having a Search Engine friendly website and a steady supply of unique articles.

Goals in Article Writing

As we alluded to in our web content writing guide, there are different goals in writing web content for your website. Primarily your goals in article writing are educational. Like we mentioned, you also want to write for search engines, but it's very likely that your articles will just naturally have good keywords in them without you having to intentionally put them in.

Another thing to keep in mind is that you want to keep promotional writing to a minimum. In other words, don't just talk about how great your business is and why your readers should hire you. That's not the purpose of the article. It's recommended that no more than once per article you inform your users of your services. The way you do it is also important...we suggest saying something like "oh by the way, if you want help in this area we can help you, so click here". Don't make your services the focus - keep the focus on helping your readers by educating them. Your readers are looking for helpful information, not a sales pitch.

What to Write About

Here are some ideas on topics for your articles:

• Do-it-yourself tips
  
• Product reviews
• Industry news
• Helpful tips and ideas for your customers
• Client of the Month feature
• Interview style article of industry expert
• How-to training article
  

How Often to Post

We recommend that at a minimum you're posting new, helpful information at least once every 2 months. Ideally it will be much more often than that, but this is a good starting point for most people. We post two articles every month. Figure out what your goal is, what works for you, and stick to it.

Once you publish your article on your website, it's a good idea to announce it to the world. We recommend at a minimum that you post a link to your new articles on Facebook, Twitter, etc. We also suggest that you post them on article directories such as ezinearticles.com. This will help give you more exposure as well as bring incoming links to your website (good for SEO). It is a little time consuming to ensure that your articles get posted correctly in online directories but it's not difficult if you can put forth the extra effort.

The last thing to remember is have fun with it! No one is critiquing your grammar on the internet and as long as you're providing helpful information without ramming your own services in their face you should be successful. We plan on writing an article in the near future about the dynamics of a good article and what it takes to make each article successful. Stay tuned and happy writing!