The internet is the new marketplace…

It’s where and how your business gets found.

• Google, Yahoo, and Bing are the new Yellow Pages. Now it’s “your fingers do the typing” instead of “your fingers do walking” (shout out to those old enough to get that reference ;—)
• Social media, Yelp, Google Reviews, Facebook Reviews, and similar review sites are the new “word of mouth.”
• Now, the “watercooler” is global and happens on over a billion Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn pages.

Is your business online? Are you participating in these arenas? Are you actively engaging with prospects and clients across the web?

If not, you’re missing out on a boatload of potential new business. And even worse, think for a moment about all of your competitors who are already active online… Well, they’re hard at work reeling in all the prospects, and even your current clients, you’re busy ignoring by bowing out of the digital marketing realm.

The antidote to this grave failure?

Raise your business’s online profile. And if you’re smart, you’ll do it ASAP. Before the ever-expanding gap in your market share widens any further.

How?

Of course, that’s the next question, right? And in answer, here are five strategies to get the ball rolling…

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

We covered the importance of SEO in my annual marketing audit post. But SEO is such a critical issue, it’s worth repeating.

Your website SHOULD be the hub of your online marketing efforts. But just having a website isn’t enough. In fact, a website without optimization is little more than a digital paperweight — Just bits and bytes taking up space online.

On the flip side, as important as SEO happens to be, keeping up is a never-ending challenge. Google and other prominent search engines are constantly refining their search algorithm, ostensibly to better serve consumer needs.

But regardless of their purpose, the incessant tinker by the search engine folks makes effectively managing SEO very tough. Particularly for a small business with limited and time and money.

Fortunately, there are nine basic strategies that ground effective SEO. And if you’re on top of them, you’re well ahead of the game. These items include…

1. Website Title
2. Page Headings
3. Page Descriptions
4. URL or Slugs
5. Page Links
6. Fresh Content Google
7. Proper HTML Code
8. Domain Age
9. Setup Google Analytics

And here’s a link to a post that explains how to implement each strategy in detail…

Blogging

In a broader sense, blogging benefits your business in several important ways.

A blog serves as your own media and PR outlet. You can publish, share, and promote notable company updates and achievements, make important announcements, offer your take on recent news and industry developments, and host your own marketing campaigns.

Blogging also allows you to establish your company as experts in your field and industry thought leaders.

But on top of these benefits, blogging also empowers you to serve up fresh content, which (as referenced in item #6 of the SEO review above) Google and other search engines are ravenous for. And the more you feed this beast, the better your search engine ranking the higher your online profile.

Yelp, Google Reviews + Similar Review Sites

There’s loads of controversy surrounding Yelp. Are they a shakedown operation bullying small businesses? Does Yelp promote good reviews and suppress negatives reviews in a “pay to play” arrangement?

Many business owners say yes. While, of course, Yelp says no.

But here’s the thing. Yelp is HERE TO STAY. So, rather than bang your head against futilely trying to fight the Yelp tide — Get in the game!

There are plenty of reputation management strategies, tools, and methods to persuade clients to post positive reviews. And these approaches also apply to Google Reviews, Facebook reviews, and other similar review platforms (all of which have less of the stink of coercion attached to their platforms).

In the long run, your business is far better served by using these sites to your advantage, rather than trying to denigrate their influence or ignore their presence.

Social Media

Social media’s influence has steadily grown for over a decade now. And in that time, its presence has become inextricably woven into the fabric of our society. So much so that, considering the recent “Capital Roits” debacle, social media could be considered today’s most influential communication platform

Conversely for business owners, much like with review sites, maintaining a presence on social media can, for a variety of reasons, be a real source of frustration. But your presence there is a key component of your online profile.

Prospects expect to find you on social media. Your clients expect to find you there, too.

And, as with blogging, activity on social media is picked up by content-hungry search engines. Thus, the greater your activity on social, the more likely your search ranking will rise. Which in turn increases your online profile.

Guest Appearances — Blogs, Articles, Podcasts, Video Interviews + More

If you’re a specialist in a particular field, there is no shortage of third-party platforms looking to leverage your expertise to engage their audience.

And on the other side of that coin… If you write a guest blog post, contribute an article, guest on a podcast, or sit for a video interview — You can leverage that third party’s audience to benefit your business. Here are several prime examples…

• My wife is a coach and consultant. And she’s routinely asked to contribute guest blog posts and articles, be a guest on podcasts, and participate in video interviews.
• I work with a law firm that hosts a weekly “interview show” on Facebook live. They interview accountants, consultants, entrepreneurs, lawyers in other specializations, and various other professional service providers. The interviews provide engaging content for the law firm’s audience. But at the same time, they’re raising the profile of their interview subjects.
• There are no doubt professional organizations in your industry that would LOVE to publish an article or interview with you on their blog or in the newsletter.
• Forbs (yes, the mighty Forbes Magazine) has a subset of their online magazine called Forbes Council. It’s comprised entirely of articles contributed by entrepreneurs, business leaders, and experts in their given fields.

In other words, there are a plethora of opportunities to leverage other, oftentimes significantly larger, audiences to promote your expertise. Which in turn, raises your online profile.

Need Help Raising Your Online Profile?

You can probably handle some of the strategies outlined above yourself. Others, however, are a bit more complicated. And you could likely benefit from a helping hand.

So, if you’re looking for support in raising your online profile — I’m here to help! Let’s chat… 310.466.7893 | ryan@ryananys.com