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Online Visibility

5 Tactics for Small and Mid-sized Firms to Get Found Online

April 11, 2012Gary Levine

WSI Digital Marketing Consultantglevine@WSIWebMark.com

703.286.7095www.WSIWebMark.com

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Online Visibility

• Who is WSI?• Recap from 2010 webinar:

– What is “web presence,” and,– what goes into it?

• The 5 Tactics You Should Do First– Local listings – Mobile-friendly websites– Blog– Reuse blog posts on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn– Monitor impact

• Wrap up

Agenda

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Online Visibility

• Internet and Digital Marketing Consulting in over 80 countries, on:– Websites– Search– Social Media– Mobile

• Providing:– Lead Generation Assistance– Expanding Brand and Reputation– Developing Community and Relationships

WSI: Who are we?

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Online Visibility

3 Fundamental Reasons Businesses build a presence on the web:

Why have a web presence?

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To Build Brand Awareness To Generate Leads To Build Relationships

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Online Visibility

Website&

Metrics

Local Listings&

Directories

Advertising (PPC,

Banner)

SEOBlog

&eMail

Social MediaProfiles,

Online Rep.

The Components of Online Presence

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Foundation

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• Enough theory –some practical things you can do:– Local listings – Mobile-friendly websites– Blog– Reuse blog posts on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn– Monitor impact

5 Tactics to improve your online visibility

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Online Visibility

Tactic 1: Get Local Listings

NACA April 11, 2012

• What for?– They are like free Yellow Pages listings of the 21st

Century!– 20% of Google searches have “local intent” (40%

of mobile searches!)

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Online Visibility

Tactic 1: Prepare your local listings information

NACA April 11, 2012

• Assemble consistent information:– Names, addresses, phone– Be consistent (“rd.” ≠ “road”)– Get a few digital photos, videos– Payment methods accepted– Determine the keywords that are most likely used by

your prospective clients– Write a 250 character description of the practice (use

the keywords, and write it like an advertisement – that is what it is

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Online Visibility

Tactic 1: Where you set them up

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• Google Places– Google.com/placesforbusiness

• Yahoo!– http://listings.local.yahoo.com/basic.php

• Bing– http://www.bing.com/businessportal

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Online Visibility

“Roughly one in seven searches, even in the smaller categories, are happening on a mobile phone, but how many of you are putting one seventh of your resources into mobile …? Your customer is trying to engage you… it would be like not doing business with your customers on Thursdays.” Jason Spero, Google (Feb 2011).

Tactic 2: Mobile Friendly Website

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What is a mobile friendly website?

Tactic 2: Mobile Friendly Website

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This isn’t

This is!

Bonus idea: use a QR code to get people talking about you

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Online Visibility

• Don’t confuse “mobile apps” withmobile-friendly sites! No stores and downloads!

• There is software you “plug in” to your existing site that will detect a mobile browser and automagically send your visitor to the mobile version of your site

• Write condensed copy! Few people will read long text on their phone.

• Your web developer (or we) can help you

Tactic 2: Notes on mobile friendly websites

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Online Visibility

Tactic 3: Blog

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• Consumers and search engines love relevant information, especially if…– It is timely– Brief– Accurate

• Blogging is the easiest way to provide information that meets those criteria

• If you had your website built in the last year or two, it may have a built-in blog capability

• If not, go to WordPress.com, and sign up for a free blog

• Why doesn’t everyone do it? Lack of content planning!

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Online Visibility

• You need a blog “platform” (software to host your posts on the web):– If you had your website built in the

last year or two, it may have a built-in blog capability

– If not, go to WordPress.com, and sign up for a free blog

Tactic 3: How to Blog?

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Online Visibility

• If you don’t like to write, or don’t have time– Create a list of topic titles you know

are interesting– Set up a Google alert to notify you

of news in your practice specialty(ies)

– Write a batch at a time – you can schedule publication dates

– Outsource the writing

Tactic 3: How to Blog?

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Online Visibility

• Post to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and your website

Tactic 4: Reuse your blog content on social media

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Online Visibility

• Learn where and how visitors find and use your information• Set up an account at http://www.google.com/analytics then

have your developer install the script for you

Tactic 5: Measure

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Total Visits and Views

Where they come from

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Online Visibility

• Did visitors find you by search, or a referring site?• What content was most interesting?

Tactic 5: Measure

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Top referring sites

Most viewed pages

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Online Visibility

• Get your local listings – they are free!• Get mobile – those smart phones are

everywhere• Blog – content is still king, and this is the best

way to create it• Share your blog – once you say it, help others

find out what you said• Measure – don’t expect, what you can’t

inspect

Summary

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• We can help:– Free Webscan diagnostic

for any participants in today’s webinar

– 2, 1 hour consultations, for the first two participants who ask for them by emailing your request to Chelsea

– 5 page mobile site: $595 up front ($200/year hosting after the first year)

– (If you want more help, contact us directly!)

Need more?

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Questions?

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Gary Levine, WSIglevine@WSIWebMark.com

703.286.7095www.WSIWebMark.com