web traffic and seo tools: 9/23 Search Engine Optimization Journal

Search Engine Optimization Journal - SEO Journal

5 Tips to Build Business on Twitter

September 23, 2010 at 7:00 AM

Twitter is one of those tools that either still confuses people or they just don't have any idea how to approach it. The reality is that every business should be using Twitter in some way. What that way is for your business only you will find out over time but it is important to make it there at some point.

Here are 5 ways you can be using Twitter to pull in targeted traffic:

1. Business Twitter Tip#1 – Blog Posts: Do you currently write blog posts? Does your business have a regularly updated blog posts that are not being utilized 100%? Each one of your blog posts should be dropped into the Twitter stream on a regular basis.

2. Business Twitter Tip#2 – Followers: How many followers do you have? Sure it is not the end all be all to have one million followers but it is important to have some followers if you want to deliver nice steady Twitter traffic over to your website. Find your competition on Twitter and start following their followers. Once you hit a certain number take a break for a week or so and then unfollow a handful. Repeat this process on a regular schedule and watch your followers build very nicely.

3. Business Twitter Tip#3 – Viral Marketing: Are you a business that tends to have really humorous events occur within its walls? Whether it is from customers coming into your store or just office shenanigans your Twitter stream could turn those shenanigans into viral marketing campaigns that could deliver generous links and a steady stream of curious visitors that could turn into customers or clients over time.

4. Business Twitter Tip#4 – Community Building: Use your Twitter account to build up your community. Ask questions and start conversations so you can actually create a back and forth discussion with people. That is the only way they are going to remember who you really are.

5. Business Twitter Tip#5 – Good Old Promotion!: Promote everything you do online on your Twitter stream. Do you write articles? Place a link to them in your Twitter account. The same goes with press releases and virtually anything you do online that deserves some sort of attention from your online audience.

Twitter is a great place to really build up your business and brand in a number of ways. Take the time and put a plan of action together and start really driving new traffic to your website.

What Toppings Are On Your SEO Pizza?

September 22, 2010 at 7:00 AM

There are many different business building mindsets when someone approaches the web space for marketing and growing their business. There are some that are really not sure what is going on, there are some that know enough to be dangerous and there are some that now exactly what it takes and how to execute everything properly. It is important for all online entrepreneurs to understand that there is no magic pill when it comes to marketing a website online. The search engines are changing very rapidly and usually without warning requiring many websites to switch gears to reconfigure their search rankings.

Here are some questions you should ask yourself about your SEO Pizza:

Should I only focus on search engine rankings?

Looking at the big picture, no. Look at your online marketing like a big SEO pizza with each slice being a different component of your search engine marketing approach. Ranking in the search results is going to only be one slice to worry about. You still have about 8 different slices to worry about to keep things running properly. It is important to realize that you have to be visible in other areas of the search engines because your audience needs to see you in multiple areas before they make a purchase with you. Rankings are simply one extra touch point to become visible in front of your audience. There are many websites out there that rank very well and do not produce any positive business results because they fail to approach their website marketing with a branding mindset and approach it with a scientific mathematical approach.

What is the best way to build my brand online?

Building your brand online requires a person to really put on their marketing hat. Think about how other big brands build up their image in front of their audiences. If you think about the various items that a big brand will execute to build up their image they do many different things at one time. Things like search engine optimization, pay per click advertising, heavy social media and affiliate marketing if you just want to scratch the surface. Don't panic thinking you need to come up with hundreds of thousands of dollars to execute a proactive online branding approach because you don't. Put a plan together and think about the best cost effective approach to spread your message and your brand. Social media will play a large role in the overall brand building process for any online business. Take the time to really build up your community of followers and over time your community will spread your message for you.

How should I build my links?

Link building should always be done using a blended approach. You never want your business to be top heavy in any one direction when it comes to building up your links. A link is another pathway or bridge to your website for your traffic to be able to find you. The more links you have the more chances you have for visitors to come over to your website. Obviously links on web pages that are less trafficked are going to bring over less traffic over all. The search engines see everything you are doing through your links so if you consistently generate links on pages that are powerful pages the search engines over time look at you as an authority figure in your industry and for this you are eventually rewarded with higher rankings in the search engines.

Here are a few good ways to build your relevant links:

• News worthy press topics
• Fresh industry informative articles
• Business profiles
• Blog commenting
• Forum commenting
• Niche directories
• Location marketing profiles
• Viral marketing
• Video marketing
• Market your Business Online!

To have a truly successful online website you have to be running in many different directions at all times. Different gears spinning in different directions in order to pull in visibility from all corners. Sticking to one approach and beating it into the ground will only last so long. If you truly want to build up a brand online you will have to eat every slice of that SEO pizza. Focus on a marketing approach rather than science project type of approach and your brand will slowly grow in the online space.