Monitor organic word searches that bring people to your web site

For a couple weeks I have been noticing that “Allen Promotional Products” as a search term was leading people to this web site. I was wondering why that would be so. At that point I went ahead and “Googled” (did a search for) “Allen Promotional Products Dayton” and what I found surprised me. My web site, not Allen’s, had the number ONE and number TWO listing for Allen’s company.

If your web site cannot be on the first page searching with your company name there is something wrong

Some time back I did a blog post about Allen Promotional Products. I went back and looked at it. I tried the link for his site that I had in the post and it did not work. At that point I gave Allen a call. He explained that with “www” his web site would no longer come up, but without the “www” it was fine. He had brought this up with his web guy and nothing was done. I corrected the link so that people looking for his company would be able to find him, but I also explained that I was astonished that if I searched for the name of his company and the city he is in, that he was nowhere to be found. Not on page one, page two, not on page three (I stopped looking at that point).

Importance of content (words) and new content to increase your ranking on Google

I suggested that he should have a consultation with my web guy AND that he discuss adding a self hosted WordPress blog within his web site. Right now the news in SEO is that “content is king”. What that means is that actual content and updated NEW content on your web site has a higher priority for searches than unchanging meta data and keywords.

If you set up a blog correctly within your web site all the words you post become searchable content for the Google spiders to explore and resource for the search engine. I explained to Allen that if he sold printed gel pens for promotional purposes and this customer was located in Centerville and the business sold lawn mowers for example, Allen could post something about that with pictures on the blog portion of his web site it would be searchable material for Google. Now if someone puts in a search for “lawn mower promotion” or “someone who can print on gel pens” or “promotional items in Centerville” these searches will all lead to his web site.

In every post he would add his company name, phone number and email address so that in the future if someone searched for Allen Promotional Products in Dayton, Ohio his web site would become the first listing on that search page.

Dependable local web site and WordPress blog/website development

My web guy lives and works here in Dayton. He does major web design to small starting out stuff. He is fluent in various web mark up languages and understands the ins and outs of WordPress as well. You can see some of his work on his web site http://www.e-3design.com/ His email is Larry@e-3design.com . I recommend him to REACH clients and many have outstanding web sites because of it.

Static web sites lose importance each day and week that they sit there unchanged

If you have a static web site (that means one that just sits there without new added information for long periods of time) it will gradually go down each day and week in the page ratings. Google sees static unchanging sites as OLD information and losing importance each day. However if your web site is updated frequently with posts on your blog (once a day, once a week or whatever), your web site will be graded to have cutting edge and current information. And with each post you will be adding more words that can lead people to your web site through organic searches (That means not cost to you, the person just put some words in the search box and clicked on the search button).

This is fairly basic information about SEO, but frequently businesses that I work with say, “why would I want a blog?”  Now that you know what a blog can do for you when it is properly integrated within your web site, perhaps you will talk with someone about converting or upgrading your web site. Just starting to blog on some free blogging site will only bring people to your blog. It will not bring people to your web site. You have to properly integrate the web site and the blog together to have a positive effect on your web site visits.

I am not a programer. I explained it this way to a friend recently, ” I can drive my car, but I don’t always know how to make it work correctly…for that I have a mechanic.” It’s funny that the WordPress blog has a “dashboard” and I can drive my blog, but I don’t have to be a programmer and understand the guts of the thing to make it work, that’s why I have Larry@e-3design.com . He knows the guts of the thing and can do whatever I need done to make things work and look the way I want.

Peter DeMott • REACH Magazine • Dayton, Ohio • peter@photosbypdemott.com • 937-478-6222

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Mashable is all inclusive and covers everything social media from the iPad and cell phones to YouTube and Facebook. When it arrives in my mailbox it starts with a list of links to each article so that you can scan the list and see what may be interesting to you and go straight to whatever interests you most.

TopRank is a bit more focused on SEO and getting noticed on the internet.

Here are three article links that I found informative and useful:

10 Easy Local SEO & Online Marketing Tips from TopRank

http://www.toprankblog.com/2010/05/local-search-tips/

7 Essential SEO Tips for Small Business from TopRank

http://www.toprankblog.com/2010/05/7-seo-tips-small-business/

From Mashable, this is more in depth for the business owner willing to invest more time

10 Small Business Social Marketing Tips

http://mashable.com/2009/10/28/small-business-marketing/

Although social media is growing exponentially, I have to say that REACH Magazine is still powerful marketing for many categories of business. I have been in incentive marketing for over 20 years now, and have a long track record of matching up the right businesses for the right media and with the right incentive offers. There are many coupon venues in the Dayton market, but none of them have the rank and power of REACH magazine  (The Media Audit 2009) and for the right business, REACH can be a powerful lead generator or sale generator. Please feel free to give me a call to discuss your business and marketing in REACH magazine. Along the way you also get the information that I have found helpful in the realm of social marketing free of charge. In addition we now have a new viral internet marketing program for businesses trying to reach consumers in a new and interesting way with no up front investment at all. Peter DeMott 937-478-6222

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