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Marketing Guide - SEO & Social Media Marketing

SEO | Social Media | Small Biz. Options

Small Business Online Marketing Decisions

As it relates to optimizing a website for search and adopting social media, the challenge facing all businesses are the questions pertaining to the time, personnel and financial resources that can be committed to these efforts.

  • Can any of this be accomplished in-house?
    • Can we invest the time?
    • Do we have the skills necessary?
    • Will this effort detract from our other business responsibilities?
  • Can we afford to outsource this?
    • Who can we trust?
    • How do we find a knowledgeable, trustworthy company?
    • How do we know which questions to ask?
    • How do we measure and judge success?
  • What level of involvement is necessary?
  • What is the least we can do to have an effect?

This infographic illustrates the options

seo social networking infographic SEO | Social Media | Small Biz. Options

Do Nothing

  • Let the status quo alone

Do Something

  • Create your public profile on Google
  • Claim local Search Engine listing pages such as:
    • Google Places
    • Bing Local
    • Yahoo Local

Do More

  • Do all of the above, and…
  • Research your critical keyword phrases that pertain to your business
  • Optimize website for search focusing on critical keywords
  • Social bookmark all major pages in website
  • Launch a blog
  • Submit website and blog to major directories and industry sites
  • Get a Facebook Page
  • Open a Twitter account
  • Create a YouTube Channel
    • Create videos for YouTube & optimize for SEO

Do Everything

  • Do all of the above, and…
  • Post weekly to the blog, craft keyword-rich anchor text links to internal website pages
  • Update Twitter & Facebook mentioning  every blog post
  • Automate Twitter (Tweets, Direct Messages and Friend acquisition)
  • Post daily (or 2-3 times per week) to Facebook
  • Acquire strong content related links
    • Focus on high-profile local links
    • Seek out industry related links
  • Claim listings in community sites like MerchantCircle, SmartGuy, etc.
  • Create additional videos and distribute via TubeMogul for multiple links
  • …and scores of other traffic-generating tactics that you will discover in the “SEO & Social Media Marketing Guide“.

Get this book – and get your website found!

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Internet – What’s Changed since 1993?

This video (by today’s standards) is a hoot!  Watch as Bryant Gumbel and Katie Couric talk about some newfangled invention called the Internet.  Can you even imagine what life today would be like without the Internet?

I remember those days very well.  In 1993 I co-founded of one of America’s first ISPs in Dallas Texas and our biggest challenge was explaining to people what the Internet was and the promise it held for doing business.  The web of ’1994 BG (before Google) bears little resemblance to what we see today.  The basic concepts of communicating with people and marketing online haven’t really changed all that much, but the “how to” is a drastically different story.

In 1998 Macmillan published my first book called “The Complete Small Business Internet Guide“. Four years after that Today Show’s broadcast, people were still trying to get their arms around this Internet thing and how it could benefit businesses.

Here we are eighteen years later and businesses are now struggling to understand why they need search engine optimization (SEO) and how to leverage social networking opportunities. The basics of online marketing may be similar, but the mechanics of making this happen are drastically different.  As a result, I finally published my sequel called the “SEO & Social Media Marketing Guide“.

If you manage a business website and you want to increase traffic and your results in search and you want to network and communicate with customers and prospects effectively, download my book and start making things happen.  I’m so sure that it will help you that I offer a 60-day money back guarantee so you have nothing to lose…and everything to gain.

PS: Oh yeah, and a special thanks to Al Gore for inventing this Internet of ours icon smile Internet Whats Changed since 1993?

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2011, Zodiac luck or purposeful SEO?

2011 year of the search engine 2011, Zodiac luck or purposeful SEO?

2011, Year of the Rabbit?

A few thousands of years ago, some well-meaning Chinese fellow decided that 2011 would be the year of the rabbit. Heck, he didn’t even own a computer or know anything about Google. The world has changed a little since he chiseled our future on a clay tablet.  Today, much of our world is ruled by Google – not the planets.

Unfortunately, no lucky charms or planetary positioning of the Zodiac will have an effect on how your website ranks with Google.  If you want good fortune to smile upon your business in 2011 you will need to employ SEO tactics and reinforce it with a social media strategy.

2011 New Year Resolution

Most of us use the New Year as a psychological trigger point to make personal improvements like losing weight or getting in shape.  I would suggest that you make a unique personal resolution for 2011.  Give yourself a gift that can make your wallet gain weight and your customer list swell.

Make the commitment to invest the time to make your website work!  It is your strongest marketing asset, but only if it is optimized to be search engine friendly. If your web presence is optimum, you can reduce your advertising budget and put the dollars you save into your business (or in your wallet) wherever it will do the most good.

Talk the talk of SEO

Learn to speak the language of search engines in 2011. When you use the right words, they respond and treat you more kindly than your competitors.  The search engines want to reward you with better search results, but you must convince them of your site’s value…and you must speak their language.

Make your 2011 New Year’s resolution to get the definitive guide to SEO & Social Media Marketing. Do something for yourself and do something for your business, get optimized and get found!

Wait!  You don’t need to wait for 2011, download the book now and get a jump on making 2011 your best year ever!

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How much does SEO cost?

In one respect this is like asking how much does a new car cost?  Obviously, the price of a car depends on the manufacturer, model and other customizable options that greatly affect the bottom line.  An SEO project also involves a menu of optional tactics.

The costs to launch an SEO project are all over the board.

The image below is a screen capture from an SEO firm located in India. As you can see, their ‘Starter‘ package is $2099 and their high-end program is priced at almost $15,000.  Isn’t off-shore supposed to be cheap?

what does seo cost How much does SEO cost?

There are USA-based firms that demand yearly contracts for SEO that exceed six figures, and yes, you could hire your brother-in-law’s nephew’s best friend who will SEO your website for $50.

The point is that you are usually at the mercy of the person from whom you are seeking advice, and unless they can point to a portfolio of happy customers, buyer beware.  That is why I post reviews from ‘real‘ people who have bought my book.  As Cathy Frazier, owner of BizSource Marketing said…

“Purchasing your book has saved me thousands of dollars already. It is amazing all the hype of Social Media consultants who advise outrageous recommendations to totally redo a website when with a little intelligence, patience, self motivation and following what your book advises, a person can literally achieve their goals themselves…”  (You can read other reviews here).

At the risk of being accused of shameless self-promotion, I would recommend that you buy my book, the SEO & Social Media Marketing Guide, even if you intend to hire a company to optimize your website or manage your social media project. Why?  Because you will learn about what you are paying for and be able to ask insightful questions and verify that what you are paying for is actually getting done.

On the other hand, if you want to save thousands of dollars and know that your site is optimized correctly, do it yourself.  My book will lead you step-by-step and show you everything you need to do to make your website search engine friendly and start attracting targeted visitors. Learn more about doing your own SEO here.

PS: Yes, I still accept clients who hire me to optimize their websites. I don’t charge what our friends from India do, but I ask every client to buy my book…this way they know what they are paying me to do.

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