You can do a lot with social media, including:
- Establish a Facebook profile
- Maintain Facebook with the latest news
- Establish blog with the company branding
- Update blog with on a regular basis
- Establish LinkedIn profile
- Create a Twitter account
- Post to Twitter, follow others on Twitter
You can make the most of your social media efforts by identifying the types of people/companies that you want us to focus on.
In addition, you can:
- Promote social media among employees; invite them to Like/Follow on your business on Facebook
- Ask employees’ family and friends to Like/Follow
- Invite customers to follow your business on Facebook
- Ask employees to establish and update Linked In profiles so they link to your business
Social media opportunities for your web marketing strategy:
Social Oomph
Objective Marketing
Buddy Media
Virtue
Ripple6
SpredFast
TubeMogul
CoTweet
HootSuite
Radian6
KickApps
SocialToo
Ping.fm
Social Mention
FriendFeed
Filtrbox
Popular Media
Social Meter
uberVU
Trendpedia
It’s not that hard to gain some recognition as an SEO marketing specialist.
I just tried.
It started in 2005 when I got a chance to speak for the first time at a Search Engine Strategies conference. I’ve always been grateful to Danny Sullivan for giving me a shot.
Between then and now, I’ve spoken at a lot of different places and written many articles and industry guides. The effort has paid off for the places that hired me and my career. Everyone wins.
The key is to be authentic and informative. I make sure that nothing I say, present or write is like a big advertisement. That wouldn’t sit too well with anyone.
Have I been accepted to speak every place I contacted? No.
But I kept trying. Timing (and a good topic) paid off.
Here are some of the subjects I have covered and the organizations that have been kind enough to welcome me – both for speaking and for writing.
- “SEO Overkill,” “Can You Please Them All?” “75 Minute Search Abs,” “SEM Pricing Models,” and “Dealing with Difficult Clients” – Search Engine Strategies conferences in New York, Chicago and san Jose
- “How To Turn Search Engines Into Sales Machines” – What’s Working Now! Conference
- “How To Boost Your Website ROI” – American Marketing Association, Cleveland chapter
- “How To Reach More Customers in A Search Engine Marketing World” –Franchisee meeting (2008)
- “Reaching New Bank Customers” – Banking and marketing workshop
- “SEO and SEM: What Does It Take to Succeed?” – Educational Travel Conference in Providence, Rhode Island
- “All About Search Engine Optimization” – University of Toledo Internet Conference
In the News…
- “10 Minutes with Mike Murray”– Marketing News magazine
- “San Jose – Search Engine Strategies” – WebProNews Video Interview
- “Hot Links” – LifeTips, WebmasterRadio
- “Start Your Search Engines” – Microsoft Certified Professional Magazine
- “Study: Health Sites Fail on Natural Search Marketing” – Direct Marketing Association Blog
- “Manufacturers Need to Learn the Joy of Search Engines” – IndustryWeek
- “SEO for Large Corporations” – SEO Radio
And stuff I wrote:
- “10 Critical Errors to Avoid with Your SEO Campaign”– Visibility magazine
- “It’s Not Mojo: How to Take the Guesswork Out of Keyword Selection” – WebProNews
- “Tips for Taking a Holistic Approach to SEO & PPC” – SEO video
- “Google Duped By Massive Comment Tag Stuffing Ploy” – Search Engine Land’s Sphinn discussion forum, citing blog post
- “Excuse Me While I Give My Sales To Someone Else” – ReveNews
- “Improve Your SEO in Minutes with Titles” – iMedia Connection
- “How Lousy SEO Smothers Good Practices” – WebProNews
- “New Archenemies? SEO and ROI – Say It Ain’t So, Joe” – Marketing Pilgrim
- “Is Search Engine Optimization Worth It? SEO and the ROI Debacle” – an industry guide
- “U.S. Health Care Web Sites Resist Natural Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Online Sales Leads,” national study of 350 health care companies
- “10 Ways to Master SEO Keyword Selection” – eMarketing & Commerce(eM+C)
- “13 Ways to Sabbotage Your SEO Efforts” – WebProNews
- “Ranking Analysis – How to Look Beyond What Is or Isn’t Ranking” – SiteProNews
- “How to Navigate Online Marketing’s Slippery Path” – SiteProNews
If you want to do well with SEO marketing and a web marketing strategy, just be an expert.
But you don’t need to be an online marketing specialist.
Let me explain.
I can’t tell you how many business executives I meet who are enormously gifted and smart. They just don’t share their knowledge with the world.
But they should.
Being a member of a trade association is a good start. They have all sorts of publications and ties to places that do. Or, every industry is packed with online magazines that may accept their articles.
It just takes time. Sure, every pitch won’t be accepted. But it’s not that hard to find an online publication willing to accept an article.
The key is to be informative without being a sales rep. For some people, that may be a tall order – writing something that manages to promote the business while leaving the reader fulfilled. Again, it’s not difficult. Just don’t mention your product or service.
Some people may ask, “What’s the point?” It’s about credibility. If you write for the industry, you build notoriety – fast. And every article includes a bio with a reference to the business. Plus, you get a link to your web site. Links can influence natural search engine rankings.
If writing isn’t one of your God-given gifts, then talk to someone who can take some notes or give them an edge with some bullet points.
The bottom line is that an article is invaluable – for image, links and so much more. Cite the article when approaching prospects. Tease it in a e-mail newsletter. Feature it in your social media efforts. You get all of that – and more – for writing one article.
Bonus tip: Repurpose your article into anything else you need content for – like your web site, a PDF people can download, etc.
If you want to do better with search engines, pay attention to your Internet home page that packs a lot of power – and for good reason.
It’s typically the most visited page and your web site navigation points to it.
Sure, you may want someone to go to a specific product or service page.
At the end of the day it may be the home page that they discover first.
What’s on that page that may drive someone to the right page after the home page. What conversion opportunities are there? Is there a short form? What about a phone number? Is there a download opportunity for a white paper? Can you announce a special offer?
A home page does so well because other web sites link to it from the outside. It’s not abnormal for a newsletter and other web site or a directory to link your home page merely out of protocol. In other words, it’s the beneficiary of how people link. Links are crucial because search engines put a lot of stock in them.
Search engines determine whether websites linking to yours are related. Search engines also look at what text someone uses when they link to you, especially the text that’s within the link or near the link. Everything makes a difference.
Again, your home page needs a terrific web design. What words are you using and where are they located? What headlines and subheads are you using? What words are boldfaced and what words are hyperlinked? What pictures you use will make an impact. Your home page must make it easy for someone to get around and to understand what it is you even do.
If your home page ranks well for some keywords, don’t do anything drastic. If you go in, make simple changes, subtle adjustments and measure the results. You don’t want to capsize your efforts just because you get a little too greedy or you naively make alterations without really knowing what you’re doing.
Need an online marketing specialist? I can help.
Online Marketing, Social Media | Mike | 
February 19, 2011 7:13 pm | 
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