Check this out! If you missed the incredible Master Marketing Event in Las Vegas on November 19th–or IF YOU WERE THERE TOO!–you can watch this to get an inkling! It. Was. Awesome! I am putting some of my own video and images together for posting now. Bookmark Thia’s Place and come back often!
It’s No Secret: So Why Do So Few Internet Marketers Know This?
In order for a website to be effective, business owners need to be clear about exactly what it is that they want the website to DO. That is, what function or purpose will the website play in the business’ marketing strategy?
For instance, do you want your website to…
* Attract/generate new customers/leads from among people who are searching online for the kinds of things you offer;
* Provide more information to customers or prospective customers already known to you via other kinds of networking, prior business with you, word-of-mouth/referral, business cards, etc.;
* Allow you to collect contact information of interested visitors, in order to create a mailing list of prospective customers with whom you can follow up/communicate;
* Direct people to offline communication–phone, scheduled meetings/appointments, etc.
* Allow people to identify interests, needs, add comments, ask questions, vote or respond to survey questions, subscribe to newsletters, etc.;
* Entice customers to purchase products, services, or merchandise online;
* Appeal to people to donate/make charitable contributions online.
There is a particular way in which a website should be designed and built if it is going to play a key role in leveraging the Internet as a marketing device, to reach out to and draw in new customers–the ones who are searching online for the services (tools) you offer. In contrast, a website that is really only intended to be found and visited by people who have been directed there offline (local customers, family, friends, who know the URL and/or business name before they go online) differs in that it is really just playing a back-up role to other (local, face-to-face) promotion strategies.
If you hope to attract and generate new clients by marketing your business online, then you need to build/design your website (as well as do other things online) for search engine optimization–known as SEO. This is critically important–and it is NOT a secret–yet it may be the number one thing that far too many online marketers either do not know or–for some reason–simply do not do. So…what exactly does SEO mean?
Watch for Part II of this article, to learn more about SEO and how it impacts online marketing results.
Be amazed and amazing!
Thia,/span>
Part 2–It’s No Secret…
In addition to creating a website that speaks to the needs and interests of someone searching online (usually by Googling keywords/phrases, or doing the same on another search engine like Yahoo or Bing–formerly MSN), there is the matter of making sure that the website “speaks” to the search engines themselves in order to get indexed and ranked for good visibility. That is an entirely different language and one that most small business owners creating websites have no clue about. “Speaking to” and developing rapport with search engines is called Search Engine Optimization or SEO.
If you were to Google right now (I just did this) on “Online Marketing Training” you would find that 68,300,000 results come up. That would be the competition for the customer searching on those keywords. There is, of course, the follow-up logic that suggests that the searcher might be more precise about what kind of training s/he wants, where s/he needs it to be located, for what kind of market, etc. That would narrow the results for the searcher, making the remaining results more relevant. If you–the business owner–want that customer to find you (and they don’t yet know you exist), then you first have to make sure that your website attracts the Search Engine so that the Search Engine will select your business from among the huge competition, and put it in front of that searcher. That is called position, or rank. You could be that customer’s dream come true, but if the search engine does not give you good ranking, then the chances of that customer ever seeing your website (as a result of a web search) are pretty nonexistent.
In order to get visibility (show up on the first or AT LEAST the second page of the results–because most people don’t even look “below the fold” on the first page of results), the search engines need to be convinced that your site is one of the MOST RELEVANT results for that search. Its all about relevancy–and search engines have particular ways of determining that. The website’s structure, targeted use of keywords, tags, titles, even the navigation through the site–all factor into whether or not your business will show up in the first 20 results or the last 68,299,980 results.
In summary: If you want your website to function as a tool for attracting new customers who are searching online for what you have, then there are some particular things you would do well to consider earlier rather than later in the website development process. One of those things should be a commitment to creating and distributing other valuable content and information online that names, reviews, credits, announces, attributes, or cites you or recognizes your business in an authoritative light. In fact, the number one thing that convinces search engines that a website is relevant enough to rank high (show up) in the organics (the results that are not paid ads), is the extent to which it is recognized and indexed as a part of a whole system of interrelated and relevant content.
To up your Internet Marketing game, act now to learn more about joining the community of Internet entrepreneurs who are leading the way in education, training, and ongoing support (both business and technical) to new and established online marketers.
Internet Marketing Education
Hey, Team members and applicants*…
Check this out! If you missed the incredible Master Marketing Event in Las Vegas on November 19th–or IF YOU WERE THERE TOO!–you can watch this to get an inkling! It. Was. Awesome! I am putting some of my own video and images together for posting now. Bookmark Thia’s Place and come back often!
*Get your application kit here!
It’s No Secret: So Why Do So Few Internet Marketers Know This?
In order for a website to be effective, business owners need to be clear about exactly what it is that they want the website to DO. That is, what function or purpose will the website play in the business’ marketing strategy?
For instance, do you want your website to…
* Attract/generate new customers/leads from among people who are searching online for the kinds of things you offer;
* Provide more information to customers or prospective customers already known to you via other kinds of networking, prior business with you, word-of-mouth/referral, business cards, etc.;
* Allow you to collect contact information of interested visitors, in order to create a mailing list of prospective customers with whom you can follow up/communicate;
* Direct people to offline communication–phone, scheduled meetings/appointments, etc.
* Allow people to identify interests, needs, add comments, ask questions, vote or respond to survey questions, subscribe to newsletters, etc.;
* Entice customers to purchase products, services, or merchandise online;
* Appeal to people to donate/make charitable contributions online.
There is a particular way in which a website should be designed and built if it is going to play a key role in leveraging the Internet as a marketing device, to reach out to and draw in new customers–the ones who are searching online for the services (tools) you offer. In contrast, a website that is really only intended to be found and visited by people who have been directed there offline (local customers, family, friends, who know the URL and/or business name before they go online) differs in that it is really just playing a back-up role to other (local, face-to-face) promotion strategies.
If you hope to attract and generate new clients by marketing your business online, then you need to build/design your website (as well as do other things online) for search engine optimization–known as SEO. This is critically important–and it is NOT a secret–yet it may be the number one thing that far too many online marketers either do not know or–for some reason–simply do not do. So…what exactly does SEO mean?
Watch for Part II of this article, to learn more about SEO and how it impacts online marketing results.
Be amazed and amazing!
Part 2–It’s No Secret…
In addition to creating a website that speaks to the needs and interests of someone searching online (usually by Googling keywords/phrases, or doing the same on another search engine like Yahoo or Bing–formerly MSN), there is the matter of making sure that the website “speaks” to the search engines themselves in order to get indexed and ranked for good visibility. That is an entirely different language and one that most small business owners creating websites have no clue about. “Speaking to” and developing rapport with search engines is called Search Engine Optimization or SEO.
If you were to Google right now (I just did this) on “Online Marketing Training” you would find that 68,300,000 results come up. That would be the competition for the customer searching on those keywords. There is, of course, the follow-up logic that suggests that the searcher might be more precise about what kind of training s/he wants, where s/he needs it to be located, for what kind of market, etc. That would narrow the results for the searcher, making the remaining results more relevant. If you–the business owner–want that customer to find you (and they don’t yet know you exist), then you first have to make sure that your website attracts the Search Engine so that the Search Engine will select your business from among the huge competition, and put it in front of that searcher. That is called position, or rank. You could be that customer’s dream come true, but if the search engine does not give you good ranking, then the chances of that customer ever seeing your website (as a result of a web search) are pretty nonexistent.
In order to get visibility (show up on the first or AT LEAST the second page of the results–because most people don’t even look “below the fold” on the first page of results), the search engines need to be convinced that your site is one of the MOST RELEVANT results for that search. Its all about relevancy–and search engines have particular ways of determining that. The website’s structure, targeted use of keywords, tags, titles, even the navigation through the site–all factor into whether or not your business will show up in the first 20 results or the last 68,299,980 results.
In summary: If you want your website to function as a tool for attracting new customers who are searching online for what you have, then there are some particular things you would do well to consider earlier rather than later in the website development process. One of those things should be a commitment to creating and distributing other valuable content and information online that names, reviews, credits, announces, attributes, or cites you or recognizes your business in an authoritative light. In fact, the number one thing that convinces search engines that a website is relevant enough to rank high (show up) in the organics (the results that are not paid ads), is the extent to which it is recognized and indexed as a part of a whole system of interrelated and relevant content.
To up your Internet Marketing game, act now to learn more about joining the community of Internet entrepreneurs who are leading the way in education, training, and ongoing support (both business and technical) to new and established online marketers.
Here’s to your over-the-top marketing!