Writing Your Website Content: Marketing Tips for SEO

Website Content Written for SEO​

Writing content for websites seems like it should be a simple thing. Focus on local marketing, provide the best information for your clients, make it professional but inviting, and you should be good to go. 

There was a time when that was enough, but then the major search engines were developed. To help the masses of people wanting to use the internet, they had to find a way to sift through the content on websites to provide the best search results. Writing content to fit what the search engines want is part of what is commonly called, SEO or Search Engine Optimization.

Many articles can and have been written on SEO and there are many pieces to the search engine algorithms, but some of the most important to keep in mind as you write your web content include:

• Page Length - Search engines look for average length web pages to rank highest in their results. Typically between 250 to 500 words is the optimum length.
• Headings - Knowing that headings often give a good summary of content, take care to write your headings with common search words included. Don't sacrifice the quality or readability of the page though!
• Links - The quality of a website in the eyes of the search engines also includes where you link to and who is linking to you. Provide both internal and external links on your webpages to increase your search engine standing.
• Readability - With many people using smart phones and tablets to search the Web, content written in short chunks is much easier to navigate than long paragraphs. Break up your work and use bullet points to help people skim your pages. 

Search Engine Optimization takes a lot of attention to detail, but the payoff can be significant. Remember that IRM is here to help!

Creating Your Own Website: Things to Consider

Can you create your own website? Sure you can - there are lots of programs (many of them free) and with a little tech knowledge and lot of time, you can put together a website that will give people your basic information. However, if you are creating your website for a business, there are some critical elements that you want to be able to address:

1. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) - Having a great website won't do you any good if the search engines cannot find it. SEO is the technical description of how a website is designed to match what Google, Yahoo, and Bing are looking for when their systems "crawl" through your website. A lot of SEO rides on the actual writing of the website, but there are coding and behind-the-scenes issues to be considered as well. Thankfully, much information is available online to help you with SEO too including articles that come straight from the horses' mouths - that is, written by Google, Bing, and Yahoo experts. 
2. Web-friendly content - In order for search engines to be "happy" with your page, your content has to be written in a very specific way. Google prefers a certain number of words per page depending on the page type, the content should have specific keywords included, headings need to be of the right type and style, the writing should be at about an 8th grade reading level, your location should be included, links are necessary, and the list goes on. 
3. Pictures and graphics - Your website will be much more attractive if you include pictures - just make sure you have permission to use them! If you have taken the pictures yourself, you are just fine, but just because you found the picture online doesn't mean that you can use it on your website - many copyright suits are based on this mistake. 
4. Business listings - Each of the three major search engines and all of the major online review websites create a business listing page specific for your business. You will want to take control of your your listings and ensure all of the information is up to date and includes the link to your website. There are many ways to use reviews to market your business, so be sure to read up on Online Reputation Managing (ORM) too.

Depending on your level of comfort with technology, you may be able to put together your own website with minimal support, but if you need more guidance, IRM would be happy to help you either with your website, your SEO, or your ORM. 

Reviews Promote Your Business Online

People are turning to online reviews in droves both to share their favorites and concerns as well as to research what others are saying about products and services. Promoting your business online begins with an excellent, web-friendly website for your business, but people won't get to your website and eventually to your business if your reviews and star-ratings are less than impressive.

Let's look at the statistics:

• Depending on the study, anywhere from 79% to 97% of people are turning to the internet to look up information on products and services before they make a purchase. 
• About 80% of consumers trust online reviews as much or more than personal recommendations. 
• Having reviews (as opposed to having none) can increase sales 40%.
• In a study on assisted-living facilities, inquiries went up 550% for sites with reviews compared to those without!
• An increase of one star rating on Yelp can lead to a 5% increase in revenue.
• 89% of consumers are willing to pay more for products or services in order to have better customer service. 

Why wait any longer? Take control of your online reputation by claiming your business' online review website pages, monitoring what is being said about your business, interacting with reviewers, and generating new client feedback. 

www.impressionsrm.com 

Online Reviews: Ratings Impact Revenue

With the rise of smart phones, tourists looking for places to visit are not limited to the big name options. This can be a great advantage for the small business owner IF he or she is paying attention to online reviews.

Online Reviews Impact Revenue

While the focus is often on the impact of negative reviews, recent studies have shown that positive reviews have a huge impact on revenue. An increase in Yelp star ratings of just one star can increase revenue by 5%!

While driving through unfamiliar areas, consumers are apt to pull out their smart phones and look up exactly what they are looking for. If they can choose between a chain restaurant and a locally owned restaurant, they are likely to go where the star ratings are higher.

Your goal then is to gather the feedback of your customers and respond to their needs and concerns so that they will be inclined to leave you higher star-ratings.

Generating New Reviews

But how do you get your clients to write reviews for you?

• ASK! When you know you have a happy customer, ask him or her to leave feedback for you directly on one of the review websites. 
• Make it easy. Put links to your review websites on your business website, on promotional materials, and even on your receipts if you would like to cast a wider net of feedback from your clients.
• Respond to reviews. Whether the reviews are positive or negative, if you take the time to reply to what is being said, you will encourage your clients to interact with you and others reading along will feel welcomed to leave you feedback as well.

Your reviews and ratings are online and make up your web reputation whether or not you have done anything to establish it there - why not make online reviews work for you? 

www.impressionsrm.com

Web Marketing - Aren't Negative Reviews Great?!

Web marketing wouldn't be complete without addressing negative reviews...

Fortunately, most people are too polite to say what they think directly to your face, but if they are unhappy with your business, you can rest assured that they ARE saying it...somewhere. 

The best part about having negative reviews is that you will be completely aware that there is a problem that needs to be addressed. You can't fix something if you don't know it's broken!

Of course sometimes what happened to cause the upset was nothing more than a series of misunderstandings or unusual mishaps. Do your best to smooth things over with the client and assure him or her that such things do not typically happen and you will work hard to make sure their experience is a positive one. After all, it's much less expensive to keep an existing customer than it is to attract a new one. 

Sometimes the reviewer is not clear in his or her review and you won't know if what they are saying is accurate or what events caused them to feel the way they do, but most of the review websites will allow you to interact with reviewers, so take the time to find out!

Replying to a negative review can be as simple as saying, "I am so sorry that you had a negative experience with us! I'd like the chance to make this right with you - would you be willing to give me a call at (555)-555-1212?" The most important thing to keep in mind is that what you write will be seen by any and everyone researching your business - BE NICE in what you post. 

Let your customers know that you paying attention to and really care about the feedback they are giving. Negative reviews can give you the power to make wise business improvement decisions - give reviews a significant portion of your web marketing attention.

#webmarketing #onlinemarketing #negativereview

www.impressionsrm.com 

Local Online Advertising: The New Phone Book

Advertising used to begin with a phone book ad. Your local online advertising plan still seeks to let people know who you are, your services, products, and the quality of your company and staff, but now that information needs to come up on the person’s computer or smart phone to reach prospective customers.

Hopefully you already have a web-friendly written, original content website with your business' basic information. Beyond your website, there are many things you can do to increase your online marketing. 

Your business' information is already online on many different websites, but how do you go about making sure your information is correct, your star rating is good, and your reviews encourage new clients to come through your business’ doors? The good news is, it’s not an expensive process and, if you are moderately tech savvy, you should be able to complete the process with minimal difficulty.

1. Start by looking at your business page on each of the major review websites (see the list on the infographic) especially paying attention to the sites that are also major search engines. Go through the process of claiming your business on each of the websites so that you can update the information and password protect it so that no-one else will accidentally upload inaccurate information. Most of these websites allow you to claim your business' page for no charge.
2.  Once you have claimed and password protected each of your pages on these sites, check each site for new reviews regularly. When you receive a new review, reply to the reviewer whenever possible – a nice, personalized thank you when it is a positive review and a request that the customer contact you by phone when it is a negative review. This shows your customer service and personal connection with your customers.
3.   Start asking customers to write reviews for you. The decision-making of today's consumer is based on reading the reviews your customers have written. Encourage your top customers and your happy clients to share their experiences online. This word-of-mouth advertising is an exceptionally powerful piece of your online marketing plan.

There are many time-saving strategies and tools to assist businesses in this process – feel free to check the other articles in this blog or on my website for more help with your local online advertising!

Ann Pearson is the CEO of Impressions Review Managing, LLC - a company committed to empowering businesses to manage their online reputations. For more information about the services IRM offers, visit www.impressionsrm.com or email Ann at impressionsrm@gmail.com.

Client Surveys or Online Reviews? - Marketing Tips for Promoting Your Business

When you are looking at promoting your business online, you want client feedback that will be seen by many people and that will impact your star-ratings on review websites. This may seem obvious, but many businesses make the mistake of conducting client surveys to gather feedback not realizing that this can impede your ability to generate new online reviews.

Asking your clients to fill out a survey can give you great information, but once a customer has completed the survey, they are MUCH less likely to also wander out to Google and write you a review. The tendency is for your customer to feel that he or she has done you a service by completing the survey and giving you the specific feedback you wanted. Writing an online review would be just redundant.

Don't get me wrong, surveys are great and they can give you specific feedback on your business, facilities, employees, products, and more, but the results are only seen by you. Until you have a solid star-rating and presence on all of the major review websites, hold off on conducting surveys and ask your clients to write reviews for you instead. You will still get the feedback you need AND you will be promoting your business online.

Everyone wants quality customer feedback for business improvement, but if you are going to ask your clients to give you feedback, why not also let that information and their praise promote your business to prospective consumers too?

Ann Pearson is the CEO of Impressions Review Managing, LLC - a company committed to empowering businesses to manage their online reputations. For more information about the services IRM offers, visit www.impressionsrm.com or email Ann at impressionsrm@gmail.com.

Online Marketing Help - What Someone Else Can and Cannot Do For Your Business

Who has time to manage all of the online marketing that needs to be done to adequately promote your business?! From social media websites to online review websites to constantly changing SEO (search engine optimization) to blogging and YouTube and Pinterest... there are a ton of different ways to promote your business and many third parties willing to help you do so.

How do you know who to trust?
It's important to know what third party businesses can and cannot do for you in each of the online marketing arenas so that you can make wise decisions in what you outsource and what you handle in-house. Let's take a look at the online review options.

I like to end on a happy note, so let's start with the no-nos. Third parties can NOT:

• Write reviews for you. All reviews must be written by consumers. This is a good point to keep in mind when you are tempted to have Gramma or your brother or your hunting buddy write you a review. It's not only unethical, it's illegal and can land you in significant trouble. Just ask McMillan Law Group in San Diego.
• Post to review websites on behalf of your clients. If one of your clients fills out a survey for you and leaves fabulous feedback and the highest recommendations, a third party company cannot take those words and put them up on Yelp or Foursquare or any other review website. Only your client can do that. The review websites require that a person sign in with his or her account information and write the review directly on the site. 

• Post reviews on Google+. Let's say you are dentist in Chicago. Prospective clients looking for a dentist are typing in a Google search bar something like "dentists Chicago IL." What comes up in a search like that is a list of all the dentists in Chicago. Under each business name is a star rating and a link noting how many Google+ reviews the business has. Just like what was described in the previous bullet point, the only way for Google+ reviews and star ratings to be changed is if your clients write reviews directly on Google+. No third party company can post reviews on your clients' behalf. 
• Remove negative reviews. Wouldn't it be great if you could control every negative thing that someone wanted to say about you? How reliable would review websites be if they let businesses silence the people who didn't like them or their products? Not very. The idea is to give you an opportunity to right wrongs, mend bridges, and grow your business by listening to and responding to your clients.

Before we jump into the good things that third parties can do... third parties should NOT:

• Post replies on your behalf. Clients are posting to your review websites and describing situations of which only you are going to be familiar. The idea is to build relationships with your clients. Just like you couldn't build a friendship by having some un-involved person represent you, you cannot build client trust and loyalty if you are not the one doing the interacting. (Side note: Social media sites are different in this respect and it can be very helpful to have a third party posting there on your behalf because they are starting the conversations)
• Keep log in and password information from you. If a third party is acting on your behalf on the review websites, you should still be able to fully access and make changes to your account whenever you desire and without having to go through that company. 

Now what you've been waiting for... third parties CAN:

• Assist you with the claiming and updating of your business listings on most of the major review websites. A few are fee-based, but the biggest and most frequently used sites are free to access and a third party company can save you considerable time in this process. 
• Save you time monitoring the review websites for new reviews. It takes time to keep an eye on all of the different review websites. For any business, there are at least 9 general review websites and then a host of industry-specific review websites to monitor as well. Every site needs to be monitored a bare minimum of once per week, but preferably every day. Many services have advanced software that can automate monitoring for you.
• Consult with you on encouraging clients to write reviews. There are many strategies to encourage your top clients to leave you valuable feedback.
• Consult with you on responding to review posts. Both positive and negative reviews benefit from replies. While a third-party should not write the response for you, they can provide guidance and help you evaluate the tone and potential repercussions of your posts.

Obviously this is a short list, but my hope is to equip you to carefully evaluate the third party you are considering using for your online marketing needs so that your business gets the most value for your marketing investment. 

Ann Pearson is the CEO of Impressions Review Managing, LLC - a company committed to empowering business to manage their online reputations. For more information about the services IRM offers, visit www.impressionsrm.com or email Ann at impressionsrm@gmail.com.  

Got Reviews? - Online Marketing Ideas

Here in the Midwest, it doesn't seem like it, but summer IS coming and summer means more people are traveling and exploring new vacation spots with their families. This also means that small businesses need to focus on their online marketing ideas to attract those summer vacationers.

Picture how the typical family decides how and where to spend their vacation monies.

We've been driving for hours and we are all getting hungry...

• "Hey Hon, we are coming up on Eau Claire. Look up what they have for Mexican restaurants."

The dutiful spouse opens up his smart phone and...

• "Looks like we've got Azul, Cancun... OH LOOK! Tacos Juanita is a 4.5 star one! Let me look at what the reviews have to say..."

Now, I've been to Eau Claire and all three of those restaurants are great places to eat. So how can the other restaurants compete when Tacos Juanita has 29 reviews and a 4.5 star rating that jumps off the screen at the customer?

They, like every restaurant, hotel, and business that hopes to attract tourists need to have reviews and solid star ratings. When consumers have choices, why wouldn't they opt for the business everyone is talking about and everyone recommends?

There are many strategies for generating reviews, but the most important one is to ASK! People love to be asked for their opinions and they love to talk about the places they love. So, what are you waiting for? Start asking your customers to write reviews today!

Ann Pearson is the CEO of Impressions Review Managing, LLC - a company committed to empowering business to manage their online reputations. For more information about the services IRM offers, visit www.impressionsrm.com or email Ann at impressionsrm@gmail.com.