Online Marketing Strategy – There’s Only One You Need To Know
The only online marketing strategy that EVERY small business should be using IMMEDIATELY is blogging. Never has a small business marketing strategy been this powerful or this easy to do.
Thank you Google!
Imagine if there was a tool that let people in your target market find you instantly when they did a Google search.
If your business website could show up on page one of Google search results before more popular sites in your market, in your local area, without paying for it, what would that be worth to you?
Because that’s what blogging will do for your business. It can place you ahead of the crowd in your local business market
And yes we have Google to thank for it.
With the rolling of Google Places into the Google Plus Local program and the advent of the Google Authorship program, there is a one-two-three step process to DOMINATION of your market online.
Set Your Online Marketing Strategy In Place
The three step process to make blogging for business your number one online marketing strategy begins with a Google Plus profile for your small business.
You should have a G+ profile personally, and then attached to that account, you can create a Plus profile for your business. Don’t assume that your business doesn’t have a Plus profile already. If you had a Places page, chances are it’s already been converted to a Plus page and you just need to claim it and take control over it again.
The second step is taking advantage of Google Authorship. This program is a way to attach your name as the author to every piece of content you write for the interwebs and pin it to your G+ profile.
The Google Plus social media platform allows you to follow other users and get followed by other users, by organizing people and businesses into circles. Think of them as circles of influence. When you end up in a circle, Google assumes you are relevant to the person who put you there. Same goes for your business.
So step one is make sure you claim or create the Google Plus Local page for your business. Step two is take advantage of the Google Authorship program and make the connections in cyberspace to you and your articles.
The final step is to BLOG. If you already have a blog, you’re one step ahead and just need to start using the Google tools already mentioned. If you don’t have a business blog yet, you need to create one YESTERDAY!
You can do a blog for free by using Blogger or WordPress.com or Typepad. I don’t recommend using these platforms because I prefer my clients to own their real estate, not rent. Free blogging platforms are rentals. Ultimately you don’t have control over the site, it doesn’t belong to you.
But when you attach a blog platform to your existing website, or use a blog as your website, you’re in the driver’s seat. That’s the best route.
Now for WHY blogging for business is the only online marketing strategy you need…
Google has handed you a tri-fecta that can be harnessed to market your small business.
Imagine this scenario. You have done EVERYTHING I outlined above and are blogging on a regular basis. Maybe that’s every week, every other week or every month, but you have a series of posts on your blog that cover a variety of topics related to your business as part of an ongoing online marketing strategy.
An ideal prospect goes to Google to search for something that is EXACTLY what your business does or provides. That prospect has you / your business in one of their circles because you met somewhere at a networking event or were connected on Linkedin or they just found you interesting at one time or another.
That prospect types in their search topic. Google looks in their circles to see if anyone within has authored an article about the topic of the search. Google sees you’re in a circle and that you have written a blog post about that exact topic.
BAM!!
Google serves up your blog post on page one of the search results.
Why you?
Because Google figures that if you or your business are in that prospect’s circle of influence, that you must be relevant. And Google’s sole purpose is to deliver the most relevant search results on the planet at that moment in time.
You’ve just helped Google be super-duper targeted which makes them happy. Makes the ideal prospect happy. And makes you happy because now your website has shown up on top of all the other possibilities.
Connections matter online. Blogging gives you one more layer of connection if you follow this online marketing strategy.