Copyright © 2012 Insurance Marketing HQ. All Rights Reserved. Snowblind by Themes by bavotasan.com. Powered by WordPress.
If there is one thing I’ve learned about Internet Marketing it is that it’s easy to make a simple strategy unnecessarily complex. When marketing online it’s important to keep in mind that the role of the Search Engine (Google) is to essentially play matchmaker. Search engines inevitably are trying to match the user’s query or “question” with a result or “answer.” Your job as the marketer is to do the necessary work that will prove to Google your web site has the right “answers” for the important “questions” or “searches.”
At Astonish Results, I run a pretty white-hat Internet Marketing department. White-hat refers to SEO practices that are legitimate and kosher. White hat practices usually involve writing high-quality, keyword-rich content that are useful to searchers. Black-hat practices refer to strategies that try to trick the search engines into giving their site priority over others. This can be done by outsourcing low quality backlinks, stuffing keywords into your meta data and a handful of other insincere techniques.
From everything I’ve seen online, I know that the more “zen” your Internet Marketing approach is, the better.
What does a “zen” Internet Marketing plan look like? Here are five points to a “zen” SEO Strategy:
1. Love your keywords. And then let them go.
We all love our keywords. Keywords can be like little nuggets of gold. But if you think about it for a minute, the act of doing keyword research alone can be thought of as well, not black-hat, but possibly gray-hat SEO. If you know that one keyword is more searched than another, you’re going to want to use it more often than others in order to begin ranking higher for this term. While this is common practice, it is still – in essence – trying to trick the search engines into ranking you for the more popular keywords. So my advice to you is to love your keywords…and then let them go. This means that you should know what your keywords are and try to use them as naturally as possible in your content. But beware. Sometimes if you love something too much, you can smother it. Be careful not to stuff your keywords or over optimize. Have your copy read naturally. Use the research and the data you’ve gathered to give you a leg up, but don’t use it excessively. Using keyword research is an art and not a science.
2. Think Socially.
It is crucial that every small business have an effective social media strategy. Your social media fans, followers, and friends can be thought of as an email distribution list. By posting something to your wall on Facebook, your message can be seen by all of your fans. So start thinking about who these fans are and what you can offer them. A Facebook-only coupon, offer, or prize? An event that only goes out to Twitter fans? Think about how to grow and nourish your social relationships as you would your email-base.
3. Act Locally.
Most small businesses are interested in doing business locally. So that means, you’ve got to implement a solid local strategy. After you have confirmed your local listings on the major search engines and begun to ask your very favorite customers for positive reviews, it’s time to take your local strategy to the next level. Solicit relevant links from local directories like DMOZ and ISEDB.com. Consider paying for placements with Business.com, Best of the Web, Insurance Journal Yellow Pages, or a Yahoo! Enhanced Local Listing.
4. Be nice to your friends.
When you’re creating offline partnerships, how do you judge a positive relationship? Do the same online. When you meet colleagues in your industry on social media platforms, you should always be thinking about how you can work together for mutually beneficial marketing promotions. Two heads are better than one.
5. There’s no time like the present…to write a blog post.
What have you added to your web site lately? If the answer is nothing, then you are in trouble. The search engines are checking in regularly to see what is new about your web site that keeps it “fresh” and “updated.” If you haven’t been posting on your onsite blog regularly, I suggest you begin today. Adding fresh, useful content to your web site shows the search engines (and your visitors!) that you’re alive, healthy and relevant.
