The main difference this time around is the fact that the internet is a big player in the business world now. Back in the eighties the internet was merely an idea and was pretty much nonexistent. Online marketing was not even invented and search engine marketing was a thing of imagination. Most small business owners underestimate the power of internet which is probably the last thing on their mind when the bills are piling up at home and in the business mail slot. Here is an example that might help illustrate my point.

Let’s say there is a Pennsylvania small business owner that sells exquisite deer antler lamps, but has seen his business decline over the past couple of months. He does not have a website and only advertises in the local to regional area. Now most marketing execs would say well he needs to expand his advertising outlets and possibly area. The problem is that both of those could cost a lot of money which as we all know is very tight during a recession. Now let’s say there is a woman who lives in Wyoming that is looking for an exquisite deer antler lamp for her husband’s Christmas gift. Following the traditional line of thinking the marketing execs had would never help produce a lead for the PA small business owner. The question this example raises is how do you as a small business owner reach the clients that are looking to spend money with you?

The answer is by having a website for your small business with either a shopping cart or just a way for customers to contact you could help achieve new lines of income. If you then incorporate a small business web design with a small business SEO plan this could further help you reach clients that you would normally be missing and in turn reach those that need your products and services. That is the solution to overcoming this recession and the key to keeping your small business thriving for years to come.

There are two choices when you are doing small business SEO, do you want traffic or you want rankings? Most small business owners want both, but in reality websites that are just starting with no links need a strong link base and the rankings. So in that case a PA small business owner should look to building links on relevant sites with high traffic keywords. By following this practice your site will begin to see some traffic as well as help with organic SEO rankings.

Now if you want sheer traffic then there is another route to go. Usually a Scranton small business owner will request traffic when they have a solid diversified link profile and have had some history built up in analytics. You can think of it as giving your car a shot of jet fuel. This can be done through various social media sites like Myspace and Facebook as well as submitting your site to various social bookmaking sites. Never underestimate the power of the social media sites. You can even go after the media side of the internet with sites like YouTube. Developing video shorts about your products or your company could bring you a lot of traffic.

The bottom line before developing seo for small business website is to make sure you know the life stage that your website is in. If you site is just starting out then you need to develop its link profile through link building. If you site has been around for awhile then you might need to look into developing lines of traffic through social sites and video sites.

Over the past couple of months I have met several small business owners in the Scranton, PA area who have had the same questions about web design and search engine marketing, so I figured I would take a moment to share them with you. I will also provide the answers so you can become a little more knowledgeable in small business web design and online marketing.

Question #1: How come there are no sales happening at my online store?

Well that is a common myth that if you build it they will come mentality does not work in the online e-commerce world. You have to make sure your small business website is optimized with proper meta-tags and then you have to market your site online through paid and organic efforts among others.

Question #2: What is Web 2.0 and do I need it?

Web 2.0 is a term that was created to explain the next evolution or step in how we as a society use the World Wide Web. This current phase can help Scranton web designers as well as online marketers bring new customers to their clients by using social media networks and video. So yes embracing web 2.0 into your marketing plan is essential for small business online marketing success.

Question #4: What is the difference between paid and organic search?

The main difference is time. With paid search you can pay to be on the top of the search engine results by way of ads and it would be a matter of hours before you see your ads running along your competition. With organic, it might take several months to see results of link building efforts with in your small business SEO service. Either way time is what you need to be aware of when considering the right route to go.

Question #5: How big of a website do I need and do I need all that flashy intro stuff?

Google and the other search engines do take into account the size of your site when calculating rankings, but size is not everything. A well optimized small business website with only a couple of page could out rank a larger site if it had a solid number of backlinks. Being a Scranton web designer and a small business SEO professional, having a fancy intro is not great for rankings. Sure it makes the site exciting, but it all depends on the type of computer the visitor has on whether the movie plays right or hangs up the browser. You are better of with a site full of embedded videos and pictures then a flash intro.

I have to say that Scranton small business owners have come along way in understanding the internet and how it can benefit them and their business. These are only a few of the questions that I get asked on a daily basis. If you have any questions feel free to contact me through the contact form and I will be happy to help.

What is Local Search?

Besides the usual optimized small business web design package, you have to get the word out about your great new website.  Offline marketing of your new small business website can only take you so far online that is where local search marketing. Google has come up a great marketing approach for small business owners to reach targeted customers when they search for related terms using the Google search engine. By incorporating Google Maps they have brought visually the location of your small business as well as all the vital details. This service is called Google Local Search.

What can Local Search Do for my business?

If you type in to the Google search bar “Scranton Web Designers” and you will see a map from Google Maps show up in the results. On the side of the map you will see a list of the companies that have created an account in Google for local search. Now you may be asking yourself, how do I get my small business on there? Well you go to the Google Local Business Center and sign your business up. There are a lot options in the making of a profile so make sure to fill out as much as you can. Once there the next step is to work on local search engine optimization to get in the list with your competition. The best and easiest way is to get your customers to write reviews of your business using your Google local search listing. This will help your listing to rise above the competition and help potential customers get a better idea of your products and services.

Mystic Liquid specializes in helping small business in reach customers through local business search and many other online marketing options. Drop us a line on our contact form and we can help you with your local search advertising efforts.

Well, calm your fears and worries because a website properly optimized for Web 2.0 can and will make money. The concept behind Web 2.0 is simple enough. The internet is entering a period of increased interactivity. Small business website design is now built and optimized around users taking an active role in building, defining, and even moderating the content and direction of the site.

The short, short version is basically this: All of those people who visit the internet everyday now add their own feedback, content, and videos to the majority of the most popular sites online.

Taking a step back for a second, you realize that this isn’t exactly a ground breaking idea. After all, blogs, forums, and networking sites have been around since the beginning of the internet and their reputation of interaction and user contribution has long been known.

What makes Web 2.0 different now than before is the shift in focus rather than in actual technology. Popular websites like MySpace and Facebook brought this concept of social Web interactivity to forefront of daily internet users, instead of just dating sites and focused discussion groups, no offense WOW fans. The average user now has their very own voice and face, hence the idea of a new focus in website design and small business search engine marketing.

So the last thing you, as a savvy small business owner looking to get involved in ecommerce, should do is allow yourself to be intimidated by all the hype of Web 2.0. It doesn’t take any expensive new software or programs. Nor do you need to completely overhaul your marketing mentality to find success in the midst of this new social media optimization movement.

What you need to go is jump in and get involved. Your customers, the ones you communicate and do business with over the internet, expect greater access to your business and increased input in how your marketing plan is run, so it’s only natural that your business incorporates this Web 2.0 interactivity into its daily activities.

The real results of Web 2.0 hype is improved customer relations, readily available market data, and new and exciting ways to promote your business’s products and services. This new era represents a leap in the human consciousness more than it does an advance in Internet technology and Mystic Liquid wants to be there to help you make that jump.

Contact us to get started with your very own small business search engine optimization and social media optimization campaign today.

]]> http://www.mysticliquid.com/seo/the-progress-of-web-20-and-your-business/feed/ 0 http://www.mysticliquid.com/sem/music-and-band-website-design-101/ http://www.mysticliquid.com/sem/music-and-band-website-design-101/#comments Thu, 29 May 2008 22:20:14 +0000 admin http://www.mysticliquid.com/?p=569 I had a musician friend approach me the other day about creating a web presence for his band. I thought about it and came up with a bunch of great ideas that could really help him put his music on the map. It started me thinking about the massive and ever expanding market of music and band websites that could utilize SEO and PPC to profit from the internet.

We have all heard about the many viral marketing campaigns that Snow Patrol and other unsigned bands used to create buzz using the internet, but what if you are just starting out and want to make a splash in the scene? I took on the project and begin to find some great resources for links and many social networking sites that could be very useful to spread the word about this new site.

The question comes down to what are some major components that need to be a part of an effective band or music site? I would have to think that a bio, contact, and a song page are the most important. After that you could go after pictures or even the video side of the industry. This can be accomplished through Youtube and some other social video sites. After that you can use the integration of a media player to play some songs while protecting them from scrapers.

Once you have the fans it comes down to keeping them. This can be done in variety of ways in today’s web 2.0 world. Mobile updates, Skype, RSS feeds from blog and even the old standby of emailing can be used to update your fans and visitors to your site of upcoming events and gigs.

The number one rule that we found while developing this band website was that the user must come first. That means that the experience and usability is key to developing a loyal fan base for years to come. Make sure you check your website in all the major browsers. This will ensure that the overall experience is the same for all that come to your site. Once the site is ready to go now is the time to spread the word.

This can be done on many of the social sites like Myspace and Facebook, but make sure that your website has a bookmark feature so that people can link to your site which will help in the SEO of the site. Also try and get links on the websites of the bars and clubs that you play. This will help with a better overall link structure. By interacting with your fans through the social sites and building traffic you can then use your analytics to judge if you need to optimize some other pages on the site. This brings us to the last point which is how to monetize your band website.

Traditionally this is done through merchandise sales. Not to worry if you do not have the coin to buy hundreds of t-shirts and merchandise with your logo on it. There is a website that will allow you to offer merchandise while keeping your overhead low. One such site is CafePress.com. There are many more site like them on the net with different deals and such, so spend the time and do the research. Once you have the merchandise next is the shopping cart. Find a reliable and integrated platform with unique landing pages. This will help in the online marketing of your band and products.

After several weeks of learning the ins and outs of the band and music website industry, we are proud to say that our friend’s website is starting to gain some fans and even seeing some sales.

Before the Myspace and the other social community revolution started to ravage the Internet landscape, small business owners had to either hire a web designer or use a template website such as Bravenet to create a web presence. Back then those template websites were very economical, but lacked all the customizable features that a web designer could provide.

Even though Bravenet has gone by the wayside and Myspace has taken its place as a way for small businesses to get a piece of that online market, it is not the best long term solution for a small business that is looking to enter the online business market.

There are several steps that need to be taken if you are a small business owner that is looking to revamp or even create a web presence from scratch.

1) A domain name that represents your business name is worth its weight in gold.

a. Just like a logo, your domain name is very important. You want to choose a domain name a close to the name of your business. That way consumers and internet surfers will remember your online presence with ease.

2) Looks are everything!!!

a. Even though templates are easy to put together, it comes down to being unique and separate yourself from the pack. Spend the time to pick the colors and overall structure of your website before you go to a web design company.

3) Being social is good, but you need a home.

a. Having a Myspace or a Facebook account to represent your business is a good thing, but should not be the overall solution. Those social sites should be used as a compliment to your main small business website. Those social sites are a great way to dive traffic to your main site and will be a great way to interact with customers.

So if you are a small business owner looking to get a piece of the booming online business market, remember to use the social community sites a compliment to your main site and if you’re looking for help with this, we offer a social media optimization package. Remember there is no place like home when it comes to having your own website and domain.

Socially optimized websites present a unique set of challenges compared to a static website. I’m not saying one is better than the other. It all depends on the purpose of the website. What I’m saying is personally I like the challenge of creating a website whose content is based around the involvement of its users.

We run into different circumstances and problems in building and maintaining these sites all the time. Sometimes a website owner just doesn’t realize the amount of work involved with running one to going with a social media campaign for a market that just won’t work for it. You never know how these things will turn out but that doesn’t mean you can’t try.

Here are the five most common reasons why a social media website doesn’t last and fails:

• Don’t expect everyone to find and fall in love with it – The online community has less attention span that five year old kid told running unsupervised in a toy store. Worse yet, competition for those quick attentions is getting more competitive by the day. Your website better contain a compelling purpose for those users, but first you need to get them to your site in the first place. We try to do this by gearing as much content as possible to the target audience and then letting them join in on the conversation.
• Don’t be a bad webmaster – People are joining your social online community for two things: to find information on something they find interesting and more importantly, to have fun. You take either of these factors away from your site and expect to also lose traffic and members. There is no quicker way to do this that by being an over-controlling site owner. You want your website to be an environment in which people feel comfortable participating. It creates loyalty to do so. Studies have shown that once people begin participating in a community, they feel a sense of ownership. This is what motivates them to keep participating. What I’m trying to say is, let everyone feel like they are all owners and part of something big.
• Don’t forget about it – You are spending a lot of time, money and effort into building a website. Why do all that and then walk away from it? Owning a website takes hard work. Owning a socially optimized website takes A LOT of hard work. Expect to visit your website regularly for maintenance. By participating constantly, you encourage others to do so as well. If you forget about your website, so will everyone else.
• Don’t make your website overly complicated – It’s a website for people to enjoy themselves on, not an IQ test. If a user needs more than a minute or two to fully understand your website’s organization or flow, don’t expect them to stay. They are bouncing. Stay away from clutter and get right to the interesting stuff. Try to let your social site grow organically through member contributed content.
• Don’t take it too personally – You know that saying you can’t please everyone all the time? This is no where more true than on a social website. I know that you can sometimes be a little protective of your website since after you all you built it from scratch but that doesn’t mean you should let a commenter ruin your day by giving some criticism. My advice is to keep a sense of humor about things and maintain your perspective about the larger picture.

Don’t forget that an online community or a socially optimized website is all about user communication and interaction. Encourage others to get involved and most importantly, have fun!

Last week, Representative Couch filed a bill to make anonymous posting online illegal. Basically what it does is require anyone who contributes to a website to register their real name, address and e-mail address with that site. Say goodbye to posting links on blogs, forum, social sites and anywhere else you want to drop an anonymous link since your full name would be used anytime you do.

If Couch gets this bill into a law, (which it probably won’t) the webmaster is forced to pay a fine if someone was to post a comment or whatever anonymously on their site. The fine isn’t small change, either. It would be five-hundred dollars for a first offense and one-thousand dollars for each offense after that. You tell me how many bloggers out there who can afford to pay that fine. Most of us are blogging to make a buck, not to give it away.

I have already emailed my local state and federal representatives and senators in hopes that they don’t get any foolish ideas in their heads such as this bill. I think they would be pretty surprised just how powerful of a medium a blog can be in influencing voters. I urge you all to do the same.

Tell me any comments you have on this.

Hmm….I wonder if he knows that most posts and emails can be tracked back to their original source quite easily…probably not…he’s too busy trying to make a name for himself.

Luckily, I don’t consider myself a bad SEO but that doesn’t mean I hit the nail on the head every time I try to generate some popular linkbait. Creating one that works is hard work combined with a little bit of luck and timing.

I’ve learned a few tricks from reading other people’s blogs but mostly through trial and error. I’ve created some good linkbait pieces for Mystic Liquid and I also came up with my fair share of bad ones. I won’t link to these because it’s my blog and I would rather not embarrass myself.

But what makes something linkbait? I’ve read some industry people claim that almost anything can be linkbait as long as it elicits a need for people to link to. That’s only somewhat true. Yes, the idea behind it is to get a great amount of website owners to link to in a short period of time but it also needs to be on topic, not just any post you feel like throwing together.

Here a few other thoughts I have of what makes a great linkbait post:

·Create content worth reading – You can have an awesome looking website full of images and flash but if there is no useful information on it, then what’s the point? Your website’s content not only needs to be well thought out but also amazing. It needs to be something so incredible that everyone will be talking about it. If you can do that for your audience then the links will keep coming.

·While you’re at it, make it unforgettable and compelling – The better the quality of your content, the better your chances are for finding return visitors to your site. Sure it’s great to get people to read your blog post initially but the true sign of a successful site is by getting them to come back. You should start to see a return from your effort by seeing a greater number of links back.

·Tell something interesting - No one wants to link to your blog if it’s just another ordinary post that is so dull it will put you to sleep. I found that one of the more effective techniques in linkbaiting is by telling a story, better yet telling an interesting story. Give someone a reason to read it and like it so much that they recommend it to a friend to read. That’s the type of response you want from your linkbait post.

·Target a subject that’s hot right now – What are people talking about in the blogosphere? These are the topics you need to address. That means you need to be constantly informed of the latest industry news no matter what the niche market may be. Quickly scan through popular social sites or even browse the pages of StumbleUpon or Digg to see what everybody is talking about.

·Know your audience – Your linkbait should be targeted to those potential visitors. It needs to be written for people who want or are interested in what you offer. If you specialize in website design and your linkbait is about kittens, don’t expect any favorable results from your effort.

The simple fact is that linkbait is just like any other article, blog post, or picture on a web page. The only difference is that it is specifically done for the sole purpose of gathering as much links from as many different sources as possible.

Everyone always talks about their best linkbait ideas but I want to hear about some of your worst. Let us know some of the stinkers you guys have come up with.