Let me let you in on a little secret: No one is more of an expert on your business than you, and you can do your own SEO work just fine, thank you very much.

Most of your SEO efforts can be set up with your website, and a good planning and training session will give you the knowledge and tools you need to do your own ongoing SEO work quite effectively, thank you. Oh sure you can hire a firm to do all kinds of research and work for you – and that is nothing to scoff at – but until you know the basics of SEO yourself, how would you even know if they were doing a good job for you?

It isn’t mysterious or hard. It just takes a little know-how and attention over time.

What is SEO?

SEO stands for “search engine optimization” and means you are using words and phrases and practices on your website pages, posts and back-end programming to attract your ideal customers.

How to become an SEO expert for yourself

If you sell real estate in Seattle, Washington you will likely want to use the words “Seattle, Washington, real estate, home” and a particular neighborhood and/or style of home in your SEO efforts. You’ll talk about these words in your website, make sure they are listed in the categories and text of your blog, use them as tags on your posts, and list them as categories. You want a reader looking for a single-family home in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle to find you as a real estate agent. You’ll mention the desireable schools and amenities and activities repeatedly. You will be the expert in that specific location and you’ll exclusively talk about information related to living in that area. As far as anyone else knows, you are the only person in the world with information on buying a home and living in the Fremont neighborhood. Your middle name should be Fremont.

You’ll expand your efforts into your social media profiles and updates, your videos, and even the descriptions of pictures you upload. You will know what words your customer is using to find someone like you in the search engines and use those same words and phrases to describe yourself.

If you sell customized ukeleles, you know that you have a pretty specific market of people who aren’t afraid to be considered weird. You should be weird, too, and use the same language they would use to look for you. You may even take to wearing Hawaiian shirts for effect.

If you write business books, you would use the key phrases from your specific industry and the phrases associated with you. Business coach and author Michael Port does this very effectively with the Book Yourself Solid franchise. I can’t think of that phrase without thinking of him, and googling it brings him up in the number 1 spot. He OWNS that phrase, one that came along way before he was even born. Your goal is to do something like that.

Need some help tio become an SEO expert?

SEO doesn’t have to be a mystery. Book a little time with us to create your SEO strategy and we’ll help you set it up along with your WordPress website and create a plan to reinforce it with your blog posts and social media efforts. World Domination can be yours (if you can own the phrase online, of course.)

Think of it this way: if you catch someone’s attention, but they are not quite ready to buy or your product or service is not yet perfect for them, how will they find you again?

The answer is they probably won’t without a little planning on your part.

Building an email list of interested people is the first step down the funnel to making a sale.  Offering a low-cost or no-cost product to gain access to a prospect’s email address will let you know who is interested in your higher-level products and services and give you an opportunity to reach out to them in a deeper way over the long-term, which increases the chance they will become your customer over the one-shot opportunity you have otherwise.

Doesn’t that sound like a better set of odds?

Tips on building an email list

• Have something of value to offer: a white paper, recording, how-to, free chapter, video, etc., in exchange for a signup to your email list
• Over-deliver on your free or low-cost item. If you skimp here, people will assume you skimp everywhere
• Create a friendly welcome message and a dedicated followup program of 2-3 engaging, interesting emails over the course of the next month before your next email marketing campaign

 Email marketing programs

• MailChimp. So easy a monkey could do it. (The one we use. Coincidentally, we also like bananas.)
• aWeber (start out with the Cadillac of email marketing programs because you are confident in your coming success)
• Constant Contact. This is probably the best known, but we find it the hardest to use. If you plan to send a lot of emails you might find this a better option because of the one-rate option for unlimited emails per month.

Best practices in email marketing

• Don’t get too fancy. Brand it with your logo and colors, but don’t go crazy after that. People want information more than they want animated graphics.
• Send your emails on Tuesdays, Wednesdays or Thursdays. According to industry-wide research, these get the best responses in general. Whichever one you pick, be consistent and use it every week/month. (That being said, we know a lifestyle blogger who sends out a “Sunday morning coffee” newsletter that does very, very well. It pays to know your audience’s habits.)
• Use a catchy subject line without spammy words (like “free”) or exclamation marks. These will flag the spam filter of your recipient.
• Deliver great content every week/month, not just a rehash of your blog (though you can reference that). Remember that these are your potential customers. Remind them why they need to buy from you. Set up an editorial calendar to help you with content if necessary.
• Follow the best practices guidelines in your email marketing program, like one-click unsubscribe and autoresponders for signup confirmation and followup. Make a new subscriber feel welcome and an old subscriber always feel like they can leave when they want. You don’t want to force a prospect who is no longer interested to stay. Spend your energy more productively.
• Always do the recommended link and spam checks offered by your email service before sending. And always do a test email to yourself to several test accounts you set up on various email platforms. You want to see what your prospect will see.
• Put the most compelling info at the top. Don’t hide your good stuff at the bottom. Chances are most people will not read every line of your email.
• Include a “call to action” in each email, either a coupon, an interesting article to click through to, or a product or service to buy. Get your clients used to seeing offers from you so they won’t think it is weird when you finally try to sell to them.
• Review your email marketing analytics to see what is most interesting to your subscribers. Learn from this to make your emails more compelling over time. There is always a lesson to learn from your audience.
• Be friendly, for goodness sake. Every program will offer you the ability to use your subscriber’s name, and you should always do this. We all dismiss those “Dear Subscriber” emails.

 Let us help you set up an email list and campaign strategy

Do you need help setting up an email marketing program for your business? The good news is that the time you spend on the setup will pay off for months and years to come. Contact us to set up your email marketing program for you – design and all. We can match your website to your email marketing design. Then you just have to come up with the message every month. Piece of cake! (um, we can help with that, too)

Why isn’t anyone else reaching back?

One of the common problems we see is a “push” mentality when it comes to social media. We continue the “look at me!” approach that has been used in conventional advertising for so long and just apply it to the Internet. It doesn’t work that way.

People have short attention spans, and if you can’t engage them quickly they will choose one of the other millions of people online vying for their attention.

Would you be interested in someone who stuck a business card or product at your face the minute you met them? Probably not. But you would probably spend time with someone who asked you a question, wanted to know your opinion, or showed you how to do something really useful or entertaining.

The Internet really is like one big cocktail party. You can be that annoying person with the handful of business cards who cruises the room looking for targets, or you can be the woman at the center of attention, telling interesting stories as everyone crowds around to listen. Which one do you think people will remember most when it comes time to buy?

Basic strategies for creatively engaging your customers online

• Ask a question
• Share interesting or funny news or information related to your business
• Email a friendly “hello” to each new follower/commenter to start cementing a back-and-forth relationship right away

Lately we’ve seen some really outstanding examples of creatively engaging with potential customers online.

• Indie singer/songwriter Juliana Finch is making a huge splash with fans all over the world by writing and recording a new song for every 100 new Facebook fans (and selling them on her site, of course). She also hosts “virtual concerts” on Sunday nights for fans to log in and hear her play for just $2. Everything she does on Facebook is just so creative and engaging. Her fans love her for thinking of them first and crafting her performances around what they want. Brilliant.
• The movie Life in a Day was created with user content. Fans were asked to submit a video of what they were doing on a particular date in time, and the director melded it into a movie about life on planet earth. Someone as famous as Ridley Scott doesn’t need to do this for content, so it is pretty cool that he did. And you can bet amateur YouTubers and video fans from around the world will be buying tickets to see this movie.
• If you were a Twitter user last summer you would have heard about the Old Spice video response campaign. The Old Spice guy from those funny commercials spent the day filming responses to a variety of tweets, even passing on a proposal. This was a great way to engage an older product with a younger audience in a fresh, creative way, and it earned Old Spice ink all over the web for days afterward.

Let us help you creatively engage with your customers online

You may not be ready for something that big, but you can see how powerfully each person was able to connect with their audience and bring about recognition (and sales) to their projects.

Does this inspire you to do something a little different? Contact us for a little brainstorming session and we’ll map out a strategy that put you at the center of attention in your market.

Right? Okay, maybe not.

Business basics still apply, and you have to market your business to get customers. By using social media to promote your business, you’ll be using proven business basics with the most modern tools available.

In the brick-and-mortar world, you start a business, scout for a great location, and stock your store with the right people and products to serve your customers. On top of that, you have to let them know where you are, how you can help them, and when that help might be on sale. You might do this through newspaper ads, radio spots, direct mail campaigns, signs on your company vehicles, billboards, fliers, television commercials, business cards, brochures, sponsoring a local team, or even hiring a guy to hold a sign on the street corner to flag cars down.

The Internet carries all the same basic business and marketing principles as a brick-and-mortar business but uses different tools. Just as you would probably not employ all the techniques above in a brick-and-mortar business, you do not need to latch on to every new online marketing fad that comes around.

With options like Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, YouTube, Linked In, StumbleUpon, Digg, blogging, forums, and email marketing, you may wonder if you’ll ever have time to actually work on your business when you finish your social media tasks.

There is a better way. Remember, it all boils down to basic business goals and a customer service plan. Once you have that in place, you can develop an easy-to-use online marketing plan that works for your business instead of working like an employee for your social media boss.

Develop a Social Media Strategy

Why do you want to use social media?

• Attract clients for your product-based business
• Attract clients for your service-based business
• Provide customer service online
• Build a platform for your speaking, music or publishing career
• Find a job

Where are your potential customers?

• Find the platform that works for them, not the one you like best.
• In a visual kind of business, video and photographs will make a huge impact
• A business focused on selling products to teens would do better with Twitter than Linked In
• Writers would use blogging to showcase their talents to prospective publishers
• Answering questions in a related forum will showcase your expertise and drive people to your service-based website

What are your specific business goals?

• Sell 10 widgets per week through online marketing efforts
• Get 10 signups a day for your email list so you can market to those people long-term for your more expensive product/service
• Create an online resource of solutions for your existing clients (and to prove to prospective ones that you have great customer service)
• Connect with 2 meeting planners a day about potential speaking engagements
• Get your resume in front of 3 decision makers a day

When you know how you want social media and online marketing to work for you, you will avoid the common pitfall of working for social media.

 Get back to basics. Find out what you want, *then* choose the tools to help you get there.

We love to help clients brainstorm the options and create online marketing plans that work. Contact us now to see how we can work together.

The trick to attracting people to your business through your social media profile is to state your talents in a less cut-and-dried way, a way that is interesting and prompts people to want to know more about you.

For instance, on one social media profile I once wrote that I “ran away from home as an adult.” You can bet that this attracted plenty of other people ready to give up the cubicle life, which is exactly what I wanted for a site geared around long-term travel and minimalism. And even the people with questions about joining the circus or being wanted by the FBI started a conversation that wouldn’t have happened with just “I enjoy long-term travel and minimalism.”

How you can create an engaging social media profile to attract your ideal client

If you are a hairdresser, you could write “I love styling hair!” But that’s a little boring and expected, isn’t it? Something a bit more compelling is “I believe the cut of your hair can change the direction of your life” or “I am semi-famous for knowing how to keep a curl from going rogue.” These are the kind of profiles that make you stand – pardon me – “head and shoulders” above your competition. They call out to your ideal customer – the ones who believe their haircut is an integral part of their overall image or who battle frizzy curls every single day.

Are you a real estate agent, mortgage broker, or someone else in a market of millions trying to stand out? Focus on your location, your specific expertise, or whatever it is that makes you special. “I sell the experience of living in a funky, artsy neighborhood without ever having to pick up a paintbrush” or “Commutes are for losers; I’m a diehard city dweller and know every nook and cranny of the real estate market within the Beltway.” You may distance some people, but your specific call will be heard loud and clear by your perfect client, and that’s what you want anyway, isn’t it?

When you set the tone of your profile to call to your perfect clients you will get better interactions from people who are actually interested in what you do. Doesn’t that sound a lot more interesting than following the latest fad to “increase your Twitter following to 50,000 in 5 days”? Better to have 500 fans with genuine interest than 50,000 bots and spammers not hanging on your every word.

How we can help you create an engaging social media presence

Social media is just an online form of marketing and customer service, and anyone who tells you different is trying to sell you on the tool and not the result. We can help you determine what kind of customers you want to attract, where to find them, and how to draw them to you. You’ll be surprised at how easy social media is to manage after you map out a few basics and get started with engaging profiles.

A one-hour strategy brainstorming session may be all you need to go forth and conquer. If you need more help, we can work out a full strategy, set up your profiles, and show you how to use timesaving tools to manage your social media presence (because we know you have actual work to do on top of this). You’ll be happy to know that there are several great WordPress plugins that will help you tie your website and social media efforts together to save time, and we can show you how to install and use those, too.

Contact us to help you plot your social media world domination. We specialize in that, as long as you plan to be a benevolent ruler.

 *Photo by webtreats via Flickr

As an author, speaker, consultant, teacher, and coach, Margit needed to bridge together all of her different websites into one easy-to-manage presence to free up her time to do what she does best – work directly with her clients.

We used her existing design and worked out a map to include all the relevant pieces from each website into one comprehensive site, including a online store to sell books, CDs, and offer registration for workshops and classes.

In Margit’s own words:
“What I love about Warren Talbot and MWL Development is EVERYTHING. And I should add that his wife, Betsy, is the copywriter for the site and for any copy you may need for your own site. Warren is very professional and QUICK. He knows WordPress inside and out and he can get a site done or updated super fast. Plus he’s such a personable guy, filled with warmth and humor. Betsy is delightful as well and a consummate pro. It’s like having a cheerleader in your corner. I highly recommend the MWL Development team. They have made my business life easier, lighter, and more fun (something you don’t expect from a web development team, right?)”

Check out Margit’s live site at www.margitcrane.com.

As her professional writing opportunities grew, she knew she needed a more robust site than the simple Blogspot page she began in 2009.

We used a simple layout to stay with her overall theme, and we added a funky cartoon picture from her husband as the header.

In addition, we added more about Angela from a writing and professional standpoint while still including her blog. This gives current fans access to her blog and allows new readers (and potential customers) the ability to learn more about her.

You can check out Angela’s live site at www.angelabarton.com. Do you think you could live for a year without buying anything new?

Jamie knows that promoting herself is the first order of business, so we did a few smart things: lots of pictures of fun events, a blog to showcase her successes and expertise, and a bullet-point list of active and former clients and events for potential customers to browse.

Who wouldn’t hire her after all that?

Jamie also promotes her radio show and newsletter of regional wine and food events on the website.

Check out the live site at www.pehapromo.com. Don’t blame us if it puts you in the party mood, though.

While we specialize in converting existing designs to the WordPress platform, we are always happy to work with talented designers of your choosing or by recommending one ourselves for a brand-new look. An all-new design involves more participation from all parties, but the end result can really knock your socks off.

To see the site live, go to www.staceyloscalzo.com. Check out her blog to find recommendations on books to read with your kids.

Casa Mojanda is a gorgeous ecolodge set in the mountains above Otavalo, Ecuador. In addition to the beautiful setting, there are numerous amenities (a nice library, a Japanese hot tub at the edge of a mountain, and delicious meals from an organic garden) that make it a place worth visiting.

But how to convey all that on a website without “over-informing” potential guests with too much text?

We did things the easy way: we let the pictures do the talking. Owner Diego Falconi has 16+ years of fantastic photographs and stories about this magical place, and we spent time with him to dig out the best ones to showcase this little slice of heaven.

The result is a site that showcases what makes this the best ecolodge in Northern Ecuador, while giving Diego and his staff the ability to easily handle online registrations and promote seasonal specials throughout the year.

Another bonus is a dual-language site for Spanish- and English-speaking guests (with French coming soon). We also included some of the incredible testimonials in the guestbook.

All that is left now is for Diego to finally finish that cookbook guests keep asking for. Eat there once and you’ll agree with them! We’ll be happy to set up an online store for Casa Mojanda when that happens.

You can visit the Casa Mojanda website here. Be careful, though; once you see the site you’re going to want to visit in person.