Do the Letters WWW Mean Why Won't it Work?

By Hector Cisneros

If you’re in business, you

Image courtesy Pixabay

want to get the word out to the public about what you do and what your business has to offer.  That’s a given.  And since the late ’90s, that has meant building and promoting a website.  The web is a wonderful way to let prospects and customers know that your business is alive and well.  It provides them with everything they need to understand and find your firm.  For some businesses, it even provides a way for customers to point, click and buy.  At least that’s the way it used to work at the turn of the century.  The problem nowadays is that it isn’t quite so simple to keep your business top of mind online.  That’s because where there used to be dozens of search engines for you to use to generate a buzz, now there’s the 800 lb. gorilla in the room called Google.  Where online marketing used to be website-centric, today you also need to post to social nets, write blogs and shoot videos if your business is going to stand out from the crowd.  If you either don’t have time to do this or have done this and your web assets still fail to generate an audience, today’s blog is for you.

How important is a website to online success? – Less than it was 20 years ago, that’s for sure  Where once all it took to jump onto page 1 of most search engines was a properly optimized website, today even a perfectly optimized one will fail to make it to page 1 of Google if that’s all you have to work with.  Like it or not, Google, Yahoo, and Bing look at much more than your website when deciding who gets on page 1.  They also look at other things like the quality of your content, the traffic your site generates, social performance, online reviews, and hundreds of other things.  This means if your site generates little traffic, your social following is mediocre and you have few reviews, the chances of your website being found on page 1 is slim to none.  If you’re tired of being relegated to the back pages of the search engines, here are some things you can do to increase your chances of getting found:

1.      Start a weekly blog. -  Face it, once your website is launched, it hardly ever changes.  This means if a prospect manages to stumble upon your site, what reason do they have to come back to it again?  A blog allows you to keep both prospects and customers tuned into what’s happening in your business.  It can be used to showcase products, services, employees, reviews, testimonials, and more.  Since the copy on a blog is longer and more focused than anything on your homepage, it will give your followers an opportunity to get to know your business better.  Since blogs are multimedia, you can include photos or videos to spice up every post.  Since the copy changes from week to week, it gives every prospect and client a reason to come back to find out what’s new.

Image courtesy Pixabay

2.      Have you fed your social nets lately? – Social nets are like tapeworms in that they’re always hungry.  If you’re tired of taking the time out of your busy schedule to find content to feed Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, blogging is a way to kill two birds with one stone? Blogs are a great way to feed your social nets and have them feed you too.  If you don’t have the time to post relevant items to your social nets, blogs can help you provide information that’s of interest to your target audience.  Blogs and social nets go together like bread and butter.  That’s because social nets crave content and blogs don’t get stuck in the search engine bottleneck since they’re powered by social traffic.

3.      Online Reviews – When is the last time you searched for reviews on your business?  More importantly, when was the last time you encouraged your customers to post positive reviews?  If you want prospects to trust you, one of the first ways they’ll check you out is to search for reviews of your company.  If they find few reviews or if they find several negative reviews, not only have you just shot your business in the foot, you’ve also shot your website’s SEO as well.  On the other hand, if you create a mechanism that encourages happy customers to post positive reviews and testimonials, this is terrific fodder that you can broadcast to the world via blogs, social posts, newsletters, and videos.

Image courtesy Pixabay

How do you work the web so it will work for you? – Everyone talks about working smart rather than working hard, right?  Then why does working the web sound like a lot of hard work?  That’s because most business owners look at the task as a multiheaded hydra instead of one integrated system that can be fed without a lot of effort.  If you want the web to work, you have to design an integrated system that takes into account all the online assets that are important to your customers, your prospects, and the search engines.  Or, you have to find a company you can trust to do the job the right way week in and week out so you don’t have to.

If you’re looking to break your company out of the herd, give Hector Cisneros a call at (904) 887-0946 to find out how cost-effective YouTube can be.  He’ll be glad to share stories and videos from clients who have successfully used YouTube to generate viewers and sales of products and services.

If you found this article to be useful, share it with your friends, family, and co-workers. If you feel you have something to add or just want to leave a comment do so below.  If you would like a free copy of our book Internet Marketing Tips for the 21 Century click here and fill in the form on the page. It has been my pleasure sharing with you our view of the current state of search engine marketing. I look forward to reading your comments. Thanks again for reading and sharing.   

That's my opinion; I look forward to reading yours.

Hector Cisneros is CEO of Working the Web to Win based in Jacksonville, FL. You can connect with him on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, and YouTube. He is also the co-host of Blog Talk Radio’s “Working the Web to Win,” where he and Carl Weiss make Working the Web to Win simple for every business. Hector is a syndicated writer for EzineOnline and is an active Blogger, (including ghostwriting). He is a published author of two books, 60 Seconds to success (on sale at Amazon and B&N) and Internet Marketing for the 21st Century which you can get free by clicking on the link at WorkingTheWebToWin.com.