On to the next turn down the digital roadmap, friends. If this is your first time tuning in, I encourage you to read my coverage (part one) of this amazing seminar here. If you are a step ahead of the game and have already read up on the evolution of marketing, then let’s jump right in!

Now that we understand the process that the consumer is going through, let’s detail how your business can adapt and optimize for this new path. Let’s first go through the different types of integrated digital marketing:

• Organic Ranking: This happens when businesses make their pages easy to find, creating a better overall experience for ‘traffic relevant’ information. Hence: create an optimal destination. Make your page relevant, and promote your website.
• Paid Search: pay per click advertising, using keywords to target the key demographic.
• Social Media: Use relevant social media platforms to promote your overall brand and website. The key here is keeping your content rich & relevant. Read more about finding fresh content here.
• Digital Marketing: Submit your brand information to directories, publish press releases, write articles, have articles written about you, etc.

Today I am going to zero in on best SEO Practices. Our whole mission is to understand the consumer’s POV and taking a walk in their shoes. You decide you want to buy a product, so you begin to Google or Bing it – whichever your preference, and a boat load of different businesses show up that you can click, and you rarely ever go past the first page. Our mission here is to get your business to the top of the page.

So here comes the golden question – how DO you get to the top of the page? Generally, the first listings you see are paid listings (PPC), the next local listing (nearby businesses), and the next are organic or naturally earned listings (which you can gain by successfully utilizing your SEO landing pages.)

Everyone wants to be authentic in life, don’t we? Naturally, businesses are going to yearn for that organic listing rank, which you can achieve, but like all good things – it will take time. We like to compare implementing SEO to building a house in the hills; it requires time, and effort. If you didn’t know already – SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, or in others words improving the visibility of your website via search engines, and EVERYONE loves search engines. You may think I’m exaggerating, but according to The Pew Research Center, May 2011 91% of online adults use search engines, I told you I wasn’t lying! 🙂

But how do you optimize for SEO? Use your key words – content is KING, and backlink relevant sites. For example, given that I currently market for 3 Hilton Brand Hotels, I would backlink to Hilton’s Website and rename all of my photos to Hilton____ so that those key words are attracting my viewers rather than jpg723789, see how that works?

Here is a brief rundown of Digital Best Practices: SEO…

1. Relevancy of Content & Site Navigation
   • Your site must maintain relevant and current in order for Google to put your site higher in the search rankings. This makes sense when you think about it – Google is a business, their customers are the consumers who are using THEIR page to find what they need – they want to provide their customers with the best/ most relevant pages.
   • Always link & back link to all of your sites – I have said this multiple times, promote & cross promote!
   • No one likes a difficult site – in fact, if your site is messy/difficult your consumer will most likely leave within a few seconds. Would you like to go into a store with everything chaotic and messy? Didn’t think so – so keep it simple and clear, make it easy for your customers to navigate and find the information that they are seeking
     •  Extra insights on a clean site – people look to the top right for your contact info, I blame   the school system
2. Analytics & Goals
   • Google Analytics – learn to love it! Track where your clicks are coming from, where you are appearing in the search, what key words are leading people to your page, etc
   • Set goals to measure how well your site is transferring customers to conversion actions AKA submitting forms, purchasing products, etc.
3. Claim Your Channels
   • Claim your free local/industry channels, if you do not, someone else will. By this I mean (Google Maps, FourSquare, Yelp, TripAdvisor, etc.)
   • You knew it was coming, link your social media accounts. (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube)

Now that we understand the best ways to go about optimizing for search engines, let’s talk a bit about managing your reputation. Let’s take this into perspective, you are with a group of friends and you’re looking for a new food joint to try out. In today’s society, the next natural step will be for one of the friends to start researching for some great places around whatever location you are in at the time, for whatever cuisine you are in the mood for. Generally, this will lead the researching friend to a social media site or an app such as Yelp. The friend searches for the cuisine, and starts reading reviews. Bad review = they are NOT coming to you. Great review = let’s try it out! Understand the importance of reputation management now?

Consumers are always sharing their points of view, and they feel EXTREMELY obligated to share their emotions with the World Wide Web about their experience at the restaurant, store, hotel, etc. if it was insanely terrible or amazingly satisfying. Unfortunately for us, if you do not wow them or upset the consumer, most people are pretty content with being content, and will most likely not take the time and effort to share their experience with the world.

So how does a business manage this? You need to monitor all of your online sources, websites, social media, local reviews, etc. First follow the NEVER rules: never delete, never ignore, and never argue bad reviews. The only exception to the rule (c’mon there is ALWAYS an exception to the rule, right? 🙂 ) The exception is that you are allowed to delete if the review is blatantly offensive, or simply not about you. What you need to do is respond, and engage in the conversation. When responding, always do it on an official level (business name/account,) and sincerity is key! Remember to not only respond to the bad reviews but the good ones as well, that customer took their time out to share how pleased they were with your business when they did not have to – thank/appreciate them! Analyzing your reviews, as well as your competitors is always important as well. In your reviews, look for reoccurring themes or key words (AKA words that can be used for SEO.)  Although I know rules (and ‘nevers’) are boring – I do have one more for you, NEVER review yourself, Google knows all, and they will punish you! There is this little thing called an IP address that will track it right back to you, so no you are not allowed to be sneaky like a ninja in this case, sorry.

So that wraps up the best practices for SEO and part deux of my Digital Roadmap Seminar Coverage, I hopped you found the information useful, and I hope you utilize and implement these fabulous tips! Coming up next will be Part 3 – Best Pay Per Click Practices, so stay tuned friends!

As always, thanks for reading!

Best,

Alysia