So you’ve got your business’s website finally ready to go, after months and months (perhaps a year or more) of being “in the works”, and now it’s time to call up your trusty ol’ SEO Master to give the site that extra push as it’s being launched. Your SEO optimizes, finds some great partner linkage, delves into keyword lists, and assures you that you’re well on your way to keyword domination. After much anticipation, your site launches! You almost immediately notice that your traffic isn’t nearly what you had thought it would be… and all of your hopes and dreams start fading away with every click that doesn’t come.
This is a very common scenario among so many clients of mine who don’t look past SEO as a means of gaining traffic on the web. Even when performed in conjunction with Per-Per-Click, SEO can often yield very unsatisfactory results. In fact, this can even be so when you start to achieve the rankings for the keywords you thought would make everything awesome in internet marketing land.
Tip#1: Your Customers Aren’t Always Searching For YOU or Your Product!
Yes, it’s true. It can be quite a blow to the ego when you finally gain the rankings you wanted, on oh-so special keywords, and fail to see the results you know are possible. It’s a tough concept to understand… your customers are not always searching for your product. For instance, I have many clients who come to me and they say that they didn’t even know an “Internet Business Consultant” even existed… or they would’ve called me up years ago! This is a classic case of a much sought-after product or service, that people don’t actually know they need… because they don’t know it exists! When searching for services, my clients have a vague idea that they may need internet marketing help, or perhaps some direction on where to take their corporate brand, or website… but they have no idea that I exist until a friend or colleague tosses my name and title into a conversation.
Of Course, my situation is not common to everyone, but it helps to think of ways that people trying to find your service or product may get a bit mystified. Do you offer herbal remedies? Offer specific pages on your site for each cure. Sometimes, I may not know that there is a herbal cure for something that is ailing me. If I’m looking for the cure to cancer, and you have this product or cure on your site… it would narrow down my search immensely. However, if you had the cure for cancer, I’d hope you were on your way down to the nearest laboratory or hospital!
Tip#2: Know the Difference Between “Targeted” and “Aimless” Web Traffic!
Generally, when you work with an SEO, they will help you compile a list of keywords that you would like your website to rank for. Sometimes, when putting together this list, you may add keywords that you think are awesome. They may be precisely what you believe people will be Googling to find your product or service. However, you may later find that this keyword wasn’t so awesome after all. Perhaps for some reason unknown to you, the people searching for this keyword just aren’t buying from your site. You could’ve avoided the guesswork by simply asking your SEO for a list of daily search amounts for each keyword. Sometimes, the keywords we think everything is googling like crazy, really aren’t that popular at all. No matter how much time and effort your SEO puts into a campaign, you’ll always require lots of tweaking down the road, but really taking a look at the keyword’s search numbers will help you decide whether it’s worthwhile or not.
Tip#3: Spend a Lot of Time On your Company’s Presence Elsewhere
If you’ve got a 10-star website, a wonderful SEO plan, and a great amount of traffic coming in… things are looking up, right? Not so fast there, buddy! I have many colleagues and clients who possess all of these integral business components, but they still just can’t seem to get it right. What are they missing? They were told their SEO could perform miracles! What Happened?? Your business needs a big dose of the most effective Internet Marketing around. It’s time to come into the new age… the new age of Social Media.
Social Media is essential for any brand’s growth on the internet. In addition to a solid brand, social media can really propel your brand into something more personal for many people who frequent social sites. The ability for a potential customer to find good reviews about your company, Myspace pages filled with friends and “thank-you’s”, frequently updated Twitter posts on all things “your company”, and an awesome blog full of advice, friends, and over-the-top company picnics with employees having fun. Having your brand splattered all over the internet really helps bring your company culture outside of the office, and away from a company website.
Social Media also gives you (the company) the first-hand experience of connecting directly with those interested in your service or product on a daily basis. You’ll also learn that with so many third-party apps available to add on various social networks, that there are many more marketing opportunities out there as well… but they of course must be strategically placed in a manner in which they are not spammy.. but helpful… such as a tool, or personal gadget of some sort.
Of course, you don’t have to trust my comments on social media… simply head on over to sites like Twitter or Friendfeed, and feel the love of social media… at it the epicenter of it all!
