Why build an amazing website, with the greatest product, if no one knows it exists? There is no website without marketing. Search Engine Optimization and Social Media Marketing are the keys to getting your website noticed by the three big dogs that make all the difference; Google, MSN/Bing, and Yahoo. Small business? It is possible to compete with the big corporations with the right marketing. Or, geotarget your marketing to just your small town. It’s up to you. Completely customizable marketing plans!

Growing your online presence is a complicated set of simple steps, which, in the end, truly come down to Trust, Credibility, and the amount of Influence you can create.

Search Engine Marketing, also known as SEO, is the process of getting your website to the top of the three major search engines; Google (the juggernaut), MSN (which is now Bing), and Yahoo (which is now with MSN/Bing). There are smaller search engines that try to compete, popping up here and there and fizzling away just as quickly. Google has a complete monopoly of the internet and its searches, while Bing is doing a wonderful job of catching up.

Search Engine Marketing involves an array of hundreds, if not thousands, of small and large techniques designed to gain enough respect from the search engines that they will give you the top spot. There are so many different ways of doing this that it’s extremely hard to fully understand it in one article. So, we’ll fly over the top of it, skimming the surface of what SEO is.

Most SEO experts are self-taught, as there aren’t many universities out there that have caught onto the fact that marketing a website is almost more important than building one. To build an amazing website with quality content is one thing, but if no one knows it exists because it’s nowhere on the search engines, what’s the point?

The first, and most important thing to remember about SEO is that if you are doing this strictly “organically” (nothing is paid for, no advertising and no paid links) than your greatest weapon will be your endurance and your patience. Organically ranking on the search engines takes time. If you are a small business owner, and you can afford to give your online marketing campaign a little extra time, then you will reap the benefits from organic SEO. If you are a small business that needs to make money today, then it will definitely take money to make that money (in the form of advertising and paid links).

Web marketing begins with campaigns in many different areas. There are keyword campaigns, link building campaigns, social marketing campaigns, and adword campaigns, to name the most common. Each of these campaigns involves a massive amount of work and dedication. If the SEO takes a break for a few days, perhaps a week, all of his hard work will be forgotten. To stay on top of the rankings, you have to stay on top of the campaigns at all times.

(While heavily engaged in a link building campaign where I worked on developing relationships with bloggers, I fell under-the-weather and was not working up to par for a few days. It took me two months to get the corporate website ranking well for a highly competitive longtail, and only a few days for it to fall off the grid.)

A keyword campaign, for example, involves a great amount of research. You’ll research your competition’s keywords, the search traffic on keywords, the trending keywords, the longtails, the projected traffic, the geotraffic, and anything else that you can think of. Keyword research is incredibly important before you even begin to think about building your website or start your blog, strictly because if you are trying to sell or promote something you will need to know the words that your consumers are using to find it.

A link building campaign is one of most effective campaigns that you can begin. This involves time and patience, and a little bit of charm. Your SEO will develop relationships with bloggers, website owners, other small or big businesses, non-profits, and other SEO’s. Depending on the product, the content of the site, and your SEO’s ability to charm, you will barter links back and forth. Links are an amazing asset because, much like a book in the library will be considered highly respected if many other books site it as a resource, your website will be greatly respected by the search engines if you have many other websites linking to it.

Social media campaigns are yet another incredibly useful tool that no small business can afford to go without. These days, if you are not on Twitter, Facebook, and a multitude of social bookmarking sites, you are far behind the game. Things are changing fast in the field of marketing, and staying on top of social media could mean the difference between making or breaking the bank.

The list of web marketing campaigns goes on forever, but the most important thing to realize is that millions upon millions of people search the internet every single day. If your website happens to be at the top of the list for lets say “dog clothes”, which gets a daily search volume of 40 million, you could start thinking about retirement.

Web design equals first impression, which can easily lead to potential customer or complete failure. The key is to design with many factors in the back of your mind as you pull it all together. It’s for these reasons that I find Wordpress the best web design platform out there.

“Wordpress?” you’re probably thinking. “I thought Wordpress was strictly for blogging.” Well, you’re partially right, which is why as a writer and web marketer I absolutely love this platform. In web design, you have to not only think about the client and the customer, but the search engines and what works for search engine optimization and marketing. I can’t think of another platform that offers more opportunities for ranking then Wordpress.

Web design involves the best of all worlds, which is why I love it so much. There is no shortage of inspiration or creativity out there, and stepping outside of the box is almost a requirement these days. Of course, the corporate site (brochure website) that simply conveys information is sort of a staple in this business, but the ones that jump off the page, so to speak, are the ones that garner attention and customers.

With new flash, widgets, and featured content opportunities within the realm of a Wordpress website, there really are no boundaries to what you can do. To be affective, however, takes the entire process to a different level.

There are some keys to designing a website that entices your customers and members to engage.

In web design, content quality is a crucial factor. Much like reading the paper on a relaxing Sunday morning, you usually will scan through the images and headlines until something pops out at you. Then you stop and take a second to read it. Visitors view a website much in the same way, but on a website they are looking for a bit more interaction and engagement then the newspaper.

 As a journalist, the facts were absolutely everything, and the content ranked right up there as well. Web design isn’t much different. Content ranks at the top of the list in web design, which is why you will sometimes see sites that were developed and designed poorly rank at the top and get a lot of traffic. Content truly is king.

Ever notice how a homepage will be broken up into different sections and headlines? This goes straight to the fact that we all scan for the important stuff, and the easier a designer makes it for a viewer to find what’s important, the better.

Making it simple is another factor in web design that often gets overlooked. Your customer shouldn’t have to think. I know it sounds a bit foolish, but the site should easily guide them exactly where you want them to go, without selling them or pushing. Every visitor will catch on to that in an instant. The website should be easily navigated.

While many designers will veer from the featured content approach to designing a page, it truly is an effective way to direct your visitors. Having a featured area on the home page with easily navigated icons and buttons really works, and your visitors will appreciate your transparency.

Go big, or go small. There really is no go big or go home because a lot of simple sites with great content rank very well on the search engines. There is no shame in using a template that has been proven to work well, as long as you keep it unique to your business.

One aspect of web design that I love to incorporate into every site that I work on is social interaction through Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Digg, and many others. Engagement and interaction are the names of the game, and social media brings so many aspects of customer involvement to your website. Whether it’s a corporate site or a small business site, I would always suggest implementing some social tools.

Coming soon

Content is King. Every SEO and web marketer has heard these three keywords over and over, and do you know why? Because it’s entirely true. As a writer and web marketer, I can tell you from experience that if you can keep your content fresh, lively, and updated on a consistent basis, Google will credit you for that.

Sure, images and design grabs the first impression, and there’s always fancy script and embedded videos that can be used as well, but content is where you will either keep a customer or lose one. In the online world, there are many techniques to entice your customer to buy a product, or click through your photographs, but it’s the words that will assure them.

Content for Marketing

When it comes to social media marketing, content is your best friend, and your worst enemy. Google will not only crawl your site searching for keywords, links, and for cheating techniques, it will also decide if your content is worthy of a higher ranking. The less mistakes and more engagement, the more respect Google will give you. The key is to have something to say, or at least to seem to have something to say, that will engage customers to comment and other web owners to offer links.

Why do you want comments and links?

 Everything is interconnected in web marketing. If your content is engaging, then you will get comments, which Google loves and will give you more respect for engaging your audience. Also, well written content will entice other web owners, bloggers, and possibly competitors to ask to grab some of your content for their page, thus adding a link back to your website. Links are the magical key that will get you to the top of Google, which will probably make all of your financial dreams come true.

Why should I keep updating my content?

Refreshing your content and keeping things moving on your website is an all important factor of web marketing. The main search engines will give you that much more respect if you keep things moving and keep the content fresh. It’s simple, really, because every single time you add content to your page you are growing your keyword content (a big plus) and you are pinging the major search engines. A Ping to the search engines alerts them to come and check out your site (crawl your site) because you’ve just updated something. The more that you can get the engines to crawl your site, the more chance you will have of ranking better. Thus, keeping your content updated is crucial to marketing success.

Can I ping the search engines without always updating content?

It is possible to call the engines to crawl your website without updating your content, but it’s almost worthless. If you use a program that calls the engines to crawl your site, they will only find what they already have cached for your website, and will not give it any added respect.

How do I keep my content updated on a constant basis?

Keeping your content fresh is the easiest thing that you can do. For big and small business websites, a blog is always the best option. When most people hear the word blog, they think of mindless rambling and unorganized thoughts. Well, there are many blogs like that out there, but a business blog is an entirely different thing.

Instead of constantly changing your home page, or your about us section, it’s far easier and more engaging to keep your customers updated with a business blog. There are many ways of doing this; the corporate blog, which basically just keeps things stiff and gives constant updates of business happenings. It’s not very engaging; however it is a way to keep your content updated.

There is the laid-back blog with is a bit more humanizing and engaging. This type of blog will keep your customers interested by informing them of new stores and products or specials in an entertaining way. It will also encourage customers to get involved with polls and small contests or product reviews. The laid-back blog is still informative, but involves a lot more images of employees at work, company picnics, and other entertaining events. It also stays on top of what is trending on the internet and isn’t afraid to veer from the strictly business topics to dive into something on the side that people are talking about.

Can a company owner be a blogger?

The voice of the company can most definitely be the company CEO. In fact, this is one of the best ideas for the company, if the CEO has time. A small business owner can also benefit from doing the blogging themselves if they have the time. Simply writing about your ideas, your upcoming events, and products that you are excited about can put you at the top of your game among other business owners.

The blogger has the ability to transcend the blogosphere and become rather like an icon of his or her industry. If your content is engaging, and your topic informational, a following is just around the corner.

What is this talk about keywords?

Google had just recently announced that it no longer considers meta keywords a factor in rankings. While this has been known for some time now, it’s important to understand that keywords are still highly important in the content of a blog or article. Meta keywords used to be the ultimate factor in ranking well on the search engines, until Google realized that SEO guru’s were tweaking the system and stuffing their tags with keywords. This is why they’ve decided to completely disregard the keyword meta tag.

However, if you want to rank on Google for a certain word, it is still important to have a greater density of that work in your content, as well as have the links from other websites with that keyword as the anchor text. (Anchor Text: the word or phrase that is used as the link text.)

The moral of this dramatic story is that keywords are still useful in content, however, one great link from a great website will indeed dwarf any number of keyword density you might have, which is why link building campaigns are all the rage.

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Content for your website can come in many different forms, whether it’s a blog or simply development of your web pages. The key is to never be stagnant and always keep things moving. The internet is a busy place, and keeping up with the Jones’ is crucial.