I was inspired to write this by Lisa Barone and her article about Twitter. Lisa is always an inspiration, but I will get back to my point. Is your Web presence well rounded? Have you covered all your bases? Have you covered any?
5 Things You Need to Be Well Rounded Online
1). A solid, well-coded, well-though out, optimized website.
Your website is your foundation for everything. Your goal is to eventually push people to your site from all of your Internet marketing ventures and hope to convert. Therefore your site needs to be planned, informative and easy to use. Landing pages are crucial. Content that creates trust is crucial. An idiot-proof website is crucial. An optimized website is super-crucial!
2). A video marketing strategy.
This month comScore reported that in December Americans watched 33 Billion Videos. YouTube is one of the most used search engines today. Why are you concerned about Google and not YouTube? Google owns YouTube, FYI. However, YouTube was not the only site people used to watch videos:
Video marketing is not difficult and not overly expensive. You can do it and do it well. Hire a consultant to help you 😉 Planning and research are required!
3). A Social Media strategy.
Now last month we did say that Social Media is not a Cure-All Solution and we still believe that, but it has its place if it is done correctly. I see many business trying to run their own “Social Media” campaigns because they read about it. The often discuss Twitter and Facebook, but they have no plan. They have done no research and they mess it up so bad it will never be effective. A social media strategy is not as simple as you may think…this is why you see Social Media companies all over (Hint, choose carefully!).
Before jumping into a social media campaign make sure your website has proper landing pages set up and that you have the effective, quality info on your site to market it your social media campaign. You also need to ensure that you can continually and easily add additional info to your site to help enhance your marketing ventures.
4). A presence in local search.
Have you thought about local search? Do you know what local search is? Basically the search engine results you receive can be filtered by region or location. Search engines can, and often do, display these results based on the searcher’s location. Example, you may notice that you are on a national site, but the Google ads on the side are focused on your geographic location. The search engines know where you are…creepy, huh? Creepy or not you need to be concerned about showing up for local search results.
A local search strategy should also be planned. It is important to hire an Internet marketing/Local Search company that knows what the options are, which work the best and which can help you obtain a high placement for highly competitive keyword phrases.
5). A PPC campaign.
Not all businesses need or think they can afford PPC, but it can be very effective if done right. There are many Pay Per Click options to choose from. It is important to talk to a consultant about which PPC option you should engage in. Let me say again, as with everything else, you need a planned campaign. Not something your brother’s best friend said he could do for you. If you are going to spend the money do it right!
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