Feed the Spiders – Invest in SEO for your Website!
With any well designed, creatively scripted website homepage you can open your shop door to the world, 24 hours a day. Today, billions of people are using Google as their primary search directory to find businesses to work with. In the old days, it used to be the yellow pages, today it’s Google – used by 90% of online shoppers. If you want those prospective customers to find your website, you can implement pay per click Adword campaigns, and be listed on the top or side of Google: however statistics are showing that more click throughs are going to the organic listings – the listings that have “crawled” their way to page one!
Statistics also say that approximately 75% of people on Google will refer to listings on page one, and will not go past to page two. So with approximately 14 listing spots available to a whole key word search, it has become a daunting task to get on page one, but not impossible. The websites who crawl their way to the top of Google have savvy SEO people behind them. They have the support of specialists who know how to feed the spiders with relevant content. They do things that will bait the spiders so that they bring people to your site instead of competitors.
You have to start feeding spiders from the get-go. Your website needs to be optimized before it can be marketed. It should include relevant key words, scripted naturally into the text. Your html coding and photos should be tagged with keywords. Those are the basics but they won’t put you on page one. You need an SEO specialist who can work their spider magic with Google. Their job is to bump your competitors out of their position, and move you past them, ranking you higher.
The Marketing Edge works with SEO specialists. I know they know what they are doing because if you Google: Calgary marketing companies, Calgary marketing consultant and Calgary marketing expert, I am usually on page one. I am most often number one when you Google Calgary Marketing Expert. Why number one? The reason is that there is less competition, less people trying to rank high using these key words. This is another strategy for SEO: to rank high under relevant key words, that have traffic but low to medium competition.
You don’t have to understand what this all means. You just have to know that in order to get listed on page one Google you need a good SEO specialist on your team. The Marketing Edge can bring you the expertise of an SEO associate.
The full program costs average about $350 per month over six months. But the fees will depend on how competitive your market is and under how many key words you want your website to rank on Google.
If you would to get a quote for your company, please email me your website address and 1-3 different keyword phrases. Rank them from 1-3 in importance. Keywords are those 1-3 word phrases that people use to find what they are looking for. For example, Google analytics shows that more people use “Calgary Marketing Companies” than any other when looking for a marketing company.
The Marketing Edge offers the website concept and design creative services. If you are going to bring someone to your webpage, you want a site that SELLS not SCARES! You have 10 seconds to engage a website visitor so your site better be good.
Don’t let your website sit in cyberspace alone, without visitors. Get ready to crawl up the Google ladder and look down at your competitors.
Karen Hope
Principal, Marketing Expert
Ph: 403-452-5808
Niche Markets: Are you Missing Yours?
Oh where, oh where could my “Niche Market Be”? It might well be where you are competitors are not looking.
A niche market can be a segment of the market that is being ignored by your competitors. So in the grocery game, if you are a smaller manufacturer, you could have a lot to gain from carving out a niche market that is not being pursued by your competitors.
For example, when it comes to food products, there are the masses that don’t have allergies or diseases, and then there are those smaller segments of the population that cannot eat certain foods because they are allergic to them or cannot digest them properly, or their religion forbids eating certain ingredients. These groups of people can be considered NICHE MARKETS.
When I was the Managing Partner of Cattle Boyz Foods handling the marketing of our barbecue sauces, I noticed that no one in the barbecue sauce category had targeted the Gluten-free market. Since I had a friend with Celiac Disease, I learned that 1 in 133 Canadians could not consume products with gluten. There seemed to be an untapped market in this area when it came to barbecue sauces. The very thing that could turn an otherwise bland meal into something tastier was not being advertised as such.
Initially our sauces had an only a small trace of gluten, that pretty much made them gluten-free. However, we decided to totally remove the gluten and advertise it confidently as Gluten-free.
Through my Celiac friend, I learned there was a support group called the Canadian National Celiac Association, as well as several regional chapters that sold advertising in their member newsletters. We started advertising directly to this group creating brand awareness for Cattle Boyz as the “Gluten-free” barbecue sauce to buy. Cattle Boyz were not the only gluten-free sauces on the shelves by any means. There were sauces on the shelves that could have made the claim on their label, but did not. Likewise, there were sauces that made the claim on the label, but did not advertise it.
After a few years of steady advertising to this market, we developed a dedicated group of Niche users. The best news is that advertising in the Celiac newsletters was not overly expensive. Typically a half page, black and white ad in the Celiac newsletter for a region like Calgary might cost $50-$75 per issue and reach a few thousand people.
If your product is Sugar-free, another niche group is diabetics. The Canadian Diabetic Association has newsletter called “Diaglogue” that they send out 4 times per year to 42,000 members. If your health dictated that you could not eat sugar, wouldn’t you want to hear about a tasty product that would enhance your meals?
Think about your food product. Is there a cultural group that might flavors your product because of what it does or does not have in the ingredients? Is your product produced in a nut-free facility? Is it Kosher? Is it organic? Maybe there’s a Niche market waiting for you?
If you don’t have a food product, research who your markets are. Find a smaller group and try to become well known with them.
http://www.marketingedge.ab.ca
Does Your Home Page Sell or Scare Customers?
A website home page is the online window to your company: it introduces your business concept to whoever lands on the home page. From there, the home page has about 10 seconds to capture the interest of the visitor. An unprofessional or poorly constructed website could scare off visitors who could have been converted to potential customers.
The key to online success lies within a website’s ability to convert visitors into potential customers. To do that, they must explore your website long enough to understand what you are selling and identify a need for what you are selling. Most people are impatient: if they don’t “get it,” they “leave it”. Company websites that don’t quickly convey a strong message are quickly disregarded.
I’ve spent a great deal of time researching home pages. Here are 7 key features that give a home page SELLING POWER:
1. BENEFIT STATEMENT AND SUPPORT VISUAL: Call it a headline, positioning statement or benefit statement: a homepage should include a key sentence that defines the company’s USP – Unique Selling Position. The impact of this sentence can be even stronger if it’s supported by a strong visual.
2. PROFESSIONALLY WRITTEN SALES COPY: Your introduction should present an attention-getting headline and text that tells people what makes your products and services special. Website copy should be written by professionals who understand how to write sales copy specifically for websites. It is important that they can incorporate the key words you will use to market your site.
3. NAVIGATION AIDS. The more extensive the website, the more important it is to have a navigational system that is easy to follow. The home page should offer
a menu of links that allow viewers to quickly find the information they need. If they have to hunt for information, they will get frustrated and leave.
4. BRANDING.Branding gives people as sense of who you are. Your home page is your window on the Internet. Ensure your home page design is part of an overall brandingstrategy that is unique and consistent to your company.
5. CONTACT INFORMATION. In this global marketplace, people want to know where you reside and how to get a hold of you. If the majority of your business is local, the mention of your city and country on the homepage will help search engines direct local inquiries to you.
6. CALL FOR ACTION/OFFERS. Many websites forget to ask for ACTION. Clarify what you would like the viewer to do. It might be as simple as saying “Call for your free consultation or Join our database and receive our newsletter.”
7. SOCIA MEDIA AND DATABASE CAPTURE FEATURES. Typically a sale does not occur on first contact. Experts say that you have to connect with a client up to 25 times before a sale is made. Make sure your websites offers options that
will put you an your potential customers in contact on a regular basis. That could happen through your blog, Face Book page, Linked in profile and/or database capture system.
If you feel your website needs improvement, find a professional
marketing consultant to help you strategize your approach. If you go straight to website designers, you may find that they are not capable of creating the overall message and approach that gives a website its “selling power.” A marketer with a background in website development can be the liaison between you and the web designer to ensure your home page is a powerful selling tool.
After all, there’s no point in sending people to a website that is only going to scare them off!
If you would like help improving the “sales potential” of your website, please visit: www.marketingedge.ab.ca
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