Small Business SEO Techniques
You have probably seen ads for website building services that promise to have a website up and running for you in an hour or less. These ads are common on television and, especially, on YouTube. The fact is that this is correct. Services like Squarespace, Weebly or Wix can in deed put up a webpage or two in an hour or less.
It may be tempting for small businesses or professional practices to turn to one of these providers instead of a professional internet marketing agency or local SEO company. Think about these ads for a moment; most of them feature attractive young people who have put up a website for their one-person creative enterprise. Lots of them are artists, musicians or other creative-arts performers or innovators. They have a presentable website, and that is fine.
However, a good website is not the key to a digital marketing solution. In fact, there is no one key to digital marketing solutions that actually work. Instead, there is a process that resembles turning a combination lock. The first number in the combination may be a website, but there is much more. How about:
- A branding strategy
- An outstanding logo, professionally produced by a logo design service
- SEO techniques and a SEO strategy, produced by a professional SEO services provider
- For most small businesses, local SEO services aimed at local customers.
- Strong content that is updated frequently
A cheap web design can get you the first combination number needed to unlock a really good digital marketing solution, but a lot will be missing. Developing a branding strategy and a local SEO strategy are the next steps (numbers in the combination) that will unlock your digital marketing solution. That branding strategy starts with a logo design service that produces a distinctive, memorable meme for your business or service and a tagline to go with it.
SEO techniques and a SEO strategy aimed at local recognition and access are the critical next numbers in unlocking that digital marketing solution that works for you. Local SEO services optimize your website to rank better for a local audience.
Actually, a website gives you the opportunity to target the entire (online) world, but for most professional practices or small businesses, the targets are in your local area or “nearby” (nearby is an important word in branding strategy, and SEO techniques). Those attractive young people mentioned above may be artists or musicians in Portland who are trying to sell music in Key West, but this is not the case for most small businesses. They need to optimize for zip codes, city names, address details and phone numbers. This is often called the NAP principle; you must make your name, address and phone easily visible to search engines.
But how do you do this? Where do you place code in the best way to call attention to critical elements of NAP and your branding strategy? Actually, this is a job for professionals. If you are struggling to find digital marketing solutions that work and branding strategies that make your business stand out, turn to Axiom. Your business deserves more than a cheap web design, and Axiom is more than an internet marketing agency. Axiom Administrative Services has the professional skill and small business SEO skills needed to get your web presence the ranking it deserves.
Beyond local SEO strategy, there are combination elements such as social media presence and strong, useful frequently updated content. One of Axiom’s clients is the well-known OurSeniors.net organization. Click on their link to see their home page and then on the OurSeniors.net Blog that features timely, useful, senior-oriented content.
Our business marketing team and SEO strategy teams can combine traditional marketing tools like direct mail advertising with local SEO services to build your branding strategy. Please visit Axiom’s small business services page or call Axiom at 800-888-6348.
Achieving the Best Results In Social Media
More and more, branding strategies, SEO strategies and SEO techniques have come to rely on social media. For a small business or service provider, success in the social media has become essential to finding a digital marketing solution that works. The truth is that this is not easy.
There are literally billions of websites today, each trying to convey some message. Every internet marketing agency dreams of a shortcut to social media success, but sadly, there is no “Press This Easy Button” for social media. The only certain way is to keep at it, be certain that your website or blog is current (or hire an internet marketing agency to do it for you) and follow some common sense rules.
Remember that the social media world is full of entertainment, much of it professionally produced. Unless you are a professional writer, video producer or musician, there is not much chance that you can compete on an entertainment stage. The good news is that millions of viewers are looking for content that is useful, as well as entertaining. “Useful” can mean many different things. If the viewer is looking for tax help, a Facebook article or YouTube presentation from a tax accountant may fit the bill perfectly.
One of Axiom’s clients, OurSeniors.net, is devoted to serving the needs of senior age adults (a very large and important market). OurSeniors.net publishes articles that focus on content that is especially useful to seniors. These articles are kept current and fill a need. For example, almost all seniors are interested in the Social Security System; OurSeniors.net makes itself useful to that target audience by publishing material like, “Changes in Social Security Benefits, 2018.” Timely information of this type is designed to get the target audience to “click-in,” “turn-on” and to return time after time.
Social media that is visual is more likely to be noticed and remembered. One internet marketing agency conducted a study that confirmed this finding – Facebook image posts got 179% more interactions than the average Facebook post. A graphic element may be as important to a social media post as the text itself. The professionals at Axiom have access to vast libraries of images. Using one of these graphics or an embedded video produced by Axiom can add immensely to the attraction and success of your website and social media effort.
Put some variety in your social media. You need to update your social media content frequently in a way that is always consistent with your branding strategy, but avoid harping on the same subject over and over. If you lack the imagination or the time to consistently produce varied content, stick to short-form social media like Twitter or hire someone to do it for you.
Always remember the rule of brevity, or at least appropriate length for the media. Some social media content cannot be held to just a few words or paragraphs, but do not allow yourself to run on and on, past a reasonable length. Website readers or viewers can get bored just as book readers or film goers sometimes do.
There is a lot to think about, isn’t there? Many people could learn these skills if they had the time and inclination, but few professional or business people do. That is what an internet marketing agency with good SEO techniques can do for you. If you are struggling to find digital marketing solutions that work and branding strategies that make your business stand out, turn to Axiom. Your business deserves more than a cheap web design, and Axiom is more than an internet marketing agency. Axiom Administrative Services has the professional skill and small business SEO skills needed to get your web presence the ranking it deserves. Our business marketing team can combine traditional marketing tools like direct mail advertising with local SEO services to build your branding strategy. Please visit Axiom’s small business services page or call Axiom at 800-888-6348.
What’s in A Name? (A Domain Name, That Is)
The short answer is “There is a lot in a name! In fact, domain name is critical.” That’s right; your website domain name is a critical launching pad for your branding strategy, your digital marketing solutions, your SEO strategy and your overall digital marketing plan. A well-chosen domain name will make people think of your small business, professional practice or non-profit organization. Unfortunately, many domain names are chosen without thinking through the consequences on SEO techniques, the effects on local SEO services or even the business goals.
Before choosing a domain name, it is a good idea to ask yourself some basic questions:
- What are my business goals?
- What are the goals for this website
- What do you want viewers to do during or after viewing the website?
If you are not familiar with domain name system terminology, there are some basic definitions that you need to know:
- A Top-Level Domain (TLD) is at the highest level of the system. It is the abbreviation that follows the “dot.” In the Unites States, the best known TLDs are “.com,” “.net” and “.org.”
- A Main Domain (sometimes called the “root domain”) is the name that precedes the TLD. For example, in the name “Google.com,” Google is the main domain and dot com is the TLD. Sorry if you were thinking of using that one, it is taken. Axiom’s domain name is com.
In general, if your website is for a business or professional practice, you should try to get a dot com or dot net TLD. If you are a non-profit or service organization, the dot org extension may be preferred. Those name extensions are well recognized by the public and lend themselves to a branding strategy, to local SEO services and to sound digital marketing solutions.
Let’s take one of Axiom’s clients as an example. When a name like “our seniors dot net” is spoken and heard, the listener understands that the term means a web address and will almost certainly be able to find it on the web. Just entering the term ourseniors.net will get the user to a page that refers to the OurSeniors.net organization. Which location depends on which search engine you are using (probably Google or Bing).
The name, “OurSeniors.net” illustrates an important point – more and more business and service organizations are intimately tied to the internet. The dot com or dot net extension is an important part of their branding strategy, indicating that their services are at least in part web-based. If you are using the Google search engine, typing “ourseniors.net” will get you to a Search Engine Results Page (SERP) that is filled with references to our client. You will find the OurSeniors.net Home Page, links to their Better Business Bureau Profile, to their publication, OurSeniors.net Magazine and information in the Your-Business-on-Google side box (address, phone, business hours and webpage).
You can see how the domain name is part of the branding strategy and how local SEO services and SEO techniques can be applied to this domain name. It all fits together nicely. Now, what about choosing the Main Domain name?
For many small business operators, the purpose of the website is quite simple: to make potential customers aware of your business or practice, its location, services and products offered, etc. As closely as possible, you should try for a main domain name that reflects this purpose. Here are some key pointers-
- Keep it easy to spell and type correctly. Search engines are getting better and better at guessing what misspelled words are meant to be, but it is still best to get them right.
- Do keyword research. Try to imagine that you are looking for the product or service that your business sells or provides. What words would be in your search? Putting the most important keyword or phrase into the domain name is the ideal. The services of an internet marketing agency like Axiom Administrative Services can be a great help in finding the right keyword(s).
- Keep it short is a good rule of thumb, but do not make this a dogma. Balance the descriptiveness of the name against its length. A name like “volusiapainting.com” may be a better SEO strategy than one like “vp.com.” Both domain names could be for a house painter in Volusia County, but the longer name is far more descriptive, lending itself to the SEO techniques of location and identity.
- If your website is for a local service or business, try to include location in your domain name. “volusiapainting.com” tells the searcher that your business serves the Volusia County area.
- Be cautious of names with numbers. Hearing the name, “one two three dot com” may lead the listener to type, “123.com” or “onetwothree.com.” If you are thinking of a famous number like 1600Pennsylvania (the White House), this may pass muster, but be careful.
- Protect your domain name. If you are able to find a domain name that really fits your purposes, protect it by purchasing the same main domain with other TLDs. If you are going to use “volusiapainting.com,” consider buying the dot net extension as well, even if you do not use it. This protects you from competitors who may imitate your site.
Choosing and registering a good domain name is just the start of building a great branding strategy and a successful small business SEO plan. If you are struggling to find digital marketing solutions that work and branding strategies that make your business stand out, turn to Axiom. Your business deserves more than a cheap web design, and Axiom is more than an internet marketing agency. Axiom Administrative Services has the professional skill and small business SEO skills needed to get your web presence the ranking it deserves.
Our business marketing team can combine traditional marketing tools like direct mail advertising with local SEO services to build your branding strategy. Please visit Axiom’s small business services page or call Axiom at 800-888-6348.
What Is a Content Management System?
If you have ever investigated the possibility of having an website for personal or business reasons, you are likely to have run across the term “Content Management System” or “CMS.” Put simply, a content management system is a software program that manages (and presumably makes it simple) to create, edit, organize and publish data, graphic and text material. For our purposes, we are speaking only of Web Content Management Systems or WCMS programs. Although they are used mostly for internet or “web” publishing, WCMSs can also be used to manage content on a closed “intranet” or a single computer.
By far the most popular web CMS is WordPress; data recorded late in 2017 reported that almost 30% of all the 1.8 billion websites in the world were powered by WordPress. The invention of WordPress had a great democratizing effect on the internet. This CMS made it possible for people with a minimum of technical knowledge to publish their own website. It is not only amateurs who have turned to WordPress and other CMS providers. Almost any internet marketing agency will have an in-house WordPress expert, as will any small business SEO consultant or organizations specializing in branding strategies and digital marketing solutions.
Famous companies like Forbes, the New York Times and National Geographic rely on WordPress, as well as celebrities like the Rolling Stones and Beyonce. They all have websites built with WordPress. Why has this happened? The fact is that relatively few people will take the time, or expend the effort, to learn HTML, Java programing or the details of CSS. Even professional SEO services and experts in small business SEO are not likely to have the time for this task. By using a CMS these creative, non-technical people can construct a very professional website.
WordPress has numerous competitors, some heavily advertised. You have probably seen or heard an ad from Wix, Squarespace or Weebly. Despite their efforts, WordPress continues to dominate the CMS market. It has an abundance of teaching material, “plugins” that perform specialized tasks and even offers a free version.
All of this is quite interesting and it provides millions of amateurs with a hobby and a way to publish their own blog or a website devoted to their cats or grandchildren. For the small business person, professional, non-profit or service provider, WordPress can be a great help, but it is unlikely to be the full solution. It is doubtful that they can learn to construct, maintain and update their own website.
The professionals at Axiom Administrative Services are experts in managing WordPress sites, as well as small business SEO, digital marketing solutions and branding strategies. Axiom understands the needs of small businesses, professional practices and nonprofits. If you are struggling to find digital marketing solutions that work and branding strategies that make your business stand out, turn to Axiom. Your business deserves more than a cheap web design, and Axiom is more than an internet marketing agency. Axiom Administrative Services has the professional skill and small business SEO skills needed to get your web presence the ranking it deserves. Please visit Axiom’s small business services page or call Axiom at 800-888-6348.
