What You Should Be Doing NOW to Make Sure Your SEO is In Place for 2010.

There are some things you should be doing at the end of 2009 to make sure that your Search Engine Optimization is in place for 2010.

The first thing you should be doing is planning a strategy for frequent updating of your pages.

Increasingly, search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo are placing a premium on fresh, new content. A blog on your site is a great way to keep the Search Engines coming back.

Next, you should make sure that as much information as possible is included in your home page. Keep data like opening hours, address, phone number, etc. available. Google is increasingly including this information in the search results.

Another thing you should do is make sure that you have analytics installed and are tracking all of your data. The best thing about your web presence is that – if implemented correctly – it is a trackable resource for you.

Finally, you should make sure that your business is listed in all of the relevant local online directories. Almost all of these are free. And, what is best, Google uses these directories to help it determine your place in the Google Local (also known as Google Maps) listings.

Take some time at the end of this year to make sure your website is optimized for the new year.

Many businesses – and even their SEO experts – spend too much time tweaking their “on page” SEO factors at the expense of the thing that matters most.

On page factors include meta tags and keywords on the page.

But the offsite factors – particularly link building are significantly more important.

Google puts a lot of emphasis on the keyword in the link that comes into the page.

So, if you want to rank for a keyword, put together a lot of links that have the keyword as the click through word.

To do this, you need to have an aggressive link building plan. Links can come from directory submissions, social bookmarking, article marketing, press release marketing, and video marketing to name a few.

The time spent on on-page SEO could also be used to develop social media platforms like a facebook profile and page.

You have a limited amount of time and money to spend on SEO. Make sure you use it wisely.

A recent Nielson online report showed that 44 percent of small businesses do not have a website. Most of the others don’t know how to use their website effectively in their marketing plan.

That’s a shame.

Because 82 percent of consumers and small businesses use the internet as a large part of their buying decision.

You are losing new customers if you don’t have an effective marketing strategy using the web.

Think about your own usage of the internet. Are you going to the yellow pages to find services or do you instantly go to Google?

81 percent of us go online first.

And, the search engines are responding by making local search even easier. Google in particular has taken the lead in making local companies available for their consumers.

Did you know that 30 percent of searches now have the name of a city in their keywords. People aren’t looking for “florist” anymore, they’re looking for “Riverside florist.”

That means you have a HUGE opportunity.

If you don’t have a website, contact me at 909-809-8566 to get started with one today.

And, if your website isn’t bringing you any business, call me at 909-809-8566 for a free analysis on why that is.

You simply can’t afford to let another day go buy without optimizing a web strategy for your business.

Email marketing is one way you can stay in touch with your customers.  You can:

• Send a monthly newsletter
• Send information about special offers
• Send out coupons
• Send updates on program changes

And much more.

But, before you can do any of that, you have to build a list of people who want to receive your information on a regular basis.  This is called opt-in email.

It is important to have opt-in subscribers rather than send out mass emails.  This is because it is critical to comply with the CAN-SPAM act which prohibits spam.

But, it’s not all that hard to get qualified opt in customers.  You simply offer your customers a freebie in exchange for their name and email.  The freebie can be a 2 for 1 dinner, a free desert with dinner, a special report, an ecourse, or whatever you would normally offer customers in the course of your advertising.

Once they opt in and confirm their subsription, you can regularly send them information and offers about your business.  Done right, this can strengthen your relationship with your existing client base and bring you new customers.

The average number of subscriptions that American internet users have jumped from 9 to 10 in 2008, indicating a growing willingness to recieve offers through people they know and trust.

You can get subscribers in a number of ways:

• Capture their information when they come to your website
• Direct them to your website through media such as cash register reciepts, stationary, business cards, etc.
• Ask for emails in the normal course of business and then send out confirmation emails individually which is in line with CAN-SPAM.

While you don’t want to spam your customers, email marketing is an accepted and valuable way to stay in touch with your customers and potential customers.

Natural, Organic SEO to Grow by 2013

Natural, Organic SEO (Search Engine Optimization) will become an increasingly important tool in business’ marketing.  In fact, SEO is expected grow faster than contextual marketing.  Rather than spending money on pay per click and banner ads, many companies will use those dollars to rank high in the search engines by using natural, organic SEO.

Emarketer shows that by 2013, nearly $4 billion will be spent on Search Engine Optimization.  Contextual advertising will still have a big role though, with advertisers spending $14.5 billion on these efforts.

Spending on other forms of media such as television and newspapers is on the decline while Natural, Organic SEO and online contextual advertising continues to grow.

The primary goal of Search Engine Optimization is to get in front of your visitors in the way they are searching.  For instance, more than 100 people search for “Natural, Organic SEO” per day.  That is why this blog entry emphasizes the keywords.

At Stacy Fox Communications, we help Inland Empire businesses target their customers using Search Engine Optimization among other means.  Give us a call at (909) 643-8650 today to get started on your Natural, Organic SEO program.