subject: The Internet Is Your 24/7 Storefront. Is The Sign Turned On? [print this page] The age-old question: what do I do to market my business effectively on the internet? Here are some basics that require no investment except time and innovation.
There is a tendency for most businesses to go out and get on as many lists and directories as possible as the primary (and oftentimes only) marketing effort. It's simple, and sometimes one directory will feed to many of the others. It is a basic approach to getting your name in relevant publications. Consumers searching will see your name and contact information; however, it is among of all of your competitors. It's the same as having a listing in the yellow pages but number of pages are in the thousands.
It's an inadvisable approach on two fronts: From an SEO (search engine optimization) perspective, only basic contact information is displayed at the top of the search results, usurping other websites that could hold more compelling information. From a marketing perspective, it's throwing your business card in a pile with tens of thousands of others as your primary marketing approach.
A much better approach is to be sure that the first page of Google results is packed with as many powerful presentations as possible. Start with a personal/company website and include syndicated articles / press releases to build credibility. Successful optimization will consist of keyword-driven content that is on target to not only a name, but also the words that consumers would use on Google to find you.
The description that Google posts should scream, "Pick me! Pick me!" A generic or uninformative narrative will not generate attention. When they do click on your link, they should have a "Eureka!" moment as soon as they see your website; where they feel that they have found just what they were searching for! You only have a few seconds to capture their attention; there are thousands of other pages a click away.
Social networking is no longer a luxury, but a necessity. Few industries require the level of trust demanded by the Counseling field. The social network is personal networking on steroids. (Sorry- wrong analogy for this group!) Said more appropriately: social networking is built on trust and referrals from trusted contacts. It's the same basis as generating referrals from clients, only times a million. Join a few groups. Then simply lurk to get a feel for the group, their style and what they're communicating about. When you are comfortable, make a salient comment. Get known as an expert and build relationships. Optimize your social networking presence with keyword-driven content that will be picked up by the search engines.
Include a video to help build the relationship; offer information that is of value to build the trust. This concept, taken from e-commerce, is that before they call, the sale is pretty much closed.
A final thought on developing a powerful Internet presence: Evaluate every word and sentence on your site for its ability to generate quality inquiries. Too little information and you lose credibility, and at the very least, you will have no chance to gain a competitive advantage. Too much information, you confuse them, and you take away all motivation for them to call. Your website truly is your 24/7 storefront, have you turned your sign on?
