Network Solutions - Small business conversations and working together for small business success » cbensen

Building SEO for your Web Site

cbensen — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 16:00:59 +0000

Have you checked out MySolutionSpot.com? It’s a site that Network Solutions created to provide small business owners with a place to ask questions & get answers about having their business online. There are also many articles & resources that are very helpful.

In the community someone had asked: “I was wondering how likely is it for a site to become the #1 search result on the search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN)? What are the most important factors for determining the likelihood of your site being #1? Is this something I should worry about now before launching the site or is it something I can do later? If a site ranks as #1, is it hard to maintain that after you have achieved it?”

Let’s take a look at the first question:

I was wondering how likely is it for a site to become the #1 search result on the search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN)? This depends on many factors. Some that come to mind are:

Content – how often are you updating your content? Are you using consistent keywords that makes the search engines recognize your site as focused on a topic?

Search Engine Optimized – is your site optimized for search engines? Network Solutions offers this service.

Titles & the first paragraph – I think this is more important than tags. (I don’t tag anything on my personal blog). But a strong succinct title with key words is awesome for catching search engines. I have found titles like Twitter 101 and Blogging 101 to be very effective. Think about what people would search for in your niche then use that. Think like your readers. Ask them what you should write about. And you should also focus your first paragraph on keywords.

Images – hosting your photos in Flickr allows you to add tags & then search engines see those tags also.

Inbound links – how many links are you including to other highly influential sites? You can use a search in Technorati to find blog posts that have a high authority on the topic that you’re writing about. Use one link per paragraph. And if you link to influencers then it may catch their attention & cause them to link to you (which is called back linking)

Back links – When others link to you that also increases your presence online.

Competition – how many people are in your niche? One trick I’ve found that works well is to have a weekly post on a set of links to related articles. I title it ‘community strategy links’. Community strategy was heavily dominated by sites in the UK, but I’ve moved up to the 2nd page on Google search results now.

Common misspellings – My name is commonly misspelled so I did two things. I purchased both domain names: www.conniebensen.com and www.conniebenson.com. But I also had to use Connie Benson in a few blog posts to get the search engines to notice it. (I generally don’t misspell my own name, so for one post I actually blogged about it. But you can blog about something & post it with an earlier date).

Those are my tricks of the trade. So why would anyone want to work so hard? Well if having your business online be successful is important to you, then yes SEO is very important. For me I’ve chosen to have a career of working online. A couple of weeks ago I received an email from a conference organizer that found me thru Google. My blog came up & as a result I have a speaking opportunity.

Additional reading:

Performance Related SEO In An Economic Downturn

and Network Solutions offers ongoing webinars & sessions on SEO

It looks like I need to answer the rest of the questions in future posts What are your SEO tricks? Please share – I gave you my best!

Building Your Brand Series – Part 4 – Social Networking

cbensen — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 08:40:54 +0000

So far in this series we’ve covered the tools that you can use to be building your business’ brand. There are also many things that you can do in relation to social networking.

In working with those tools you’ve probably found places where your customers are interacting. You should be participating there too.

I have written about opportunities to network on social network sites like Facebook, LinkedIn & Xing (Europe’s version of LinkedIn). There are also specialty networks like Konnects. Network Solutions offer MySolutionSpot & now offers LinkTogether.

Your profile is probably the key thing. If you don’t fill it out how will people know what your company offers?

Get involved – this will help people notice you. And it also allows you to present yourself as an expert in the area. Being a leader is also a good way to position yourself. How can you help others?

How much time should you spend doing this? It can be as little as 15 minutes per day. Or if you’d prefer to do a half hour a couple of times a week, that works too. The secret is to be consistent.

Get involved in groups, meet new people & grow your network. It will pay off. At first it seems like a waste of time, but after awhile it gets easier & you’ll find that you enjoy it!

What social networks do you participate in?

Building Your Brand – Part 3 continued – Analytics

cbensen — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 17:45:46 +0000

This is the third in a series on building brand. If you missed the first three then you may want to read them first.

Building your Brand 101 Series
Building Your Brand Series – Part 1 – Listening
Building Your Brand Series – Part 2 – Responding
Building Your Brand Series – Part 3 – Analytics

In the last post I talked about Google Analytics.
In this post I’m going to cover Feedburner. Feedburner is my favorite & I use it daily. It tells me a quick overview of where my traffic is coming from & also I can tell what pages they’re looking at. I use this tool daily & Google Analytics on a weekly to monthly basis depending on what I’m focused on.
Feedburner is installed just like Google Analytics but it’s much easier because they give you specific instructions. (I installed the html code myself on my blog!). You need to get a Feedburner account, then give it your rss feed & it will create some html code for you.
Feedburner aggregates all of my subscriptions (by RSS & email) & shows me a graph of the # of subscribers & how they’re reading my blog. It is a bit flaky & not consistent but I don’t worry about it.
This is a screenshot for my blog. I use Site Stat’s Incoming the most. This tells me where my daily traffic is coming from. If I see that someone has stumbled on one of my posts then I immediately add more links to other places in my blog because I know that post will get a rash of new readers & I want to help them explore my blog & encourage them to subscribe. (It’s a trick I learned from Darren Rowse, ProBlogger). And like Google Analytics I can see what people are searching for & what’s finding my blog. Those are words to focus on when I’m writing.

You should claim your blog in Technorati. That’s the best place to see your backlinks.

Building Your Brand Series Part 3 – Analytics

cbensen — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 11:20:51 +0000

Analytics is a scary word to many people. I think it’s because it’s related to math. It really is about data though. And the free tools that are available make it quite easy to understand. The most important thing is to take the statistics & put it to use to improve your brand’s presence.

This is the third in a series on building brand. If you missed the first three then you may want to read them first.

In the overview I described an example of a niche business of a professional photographer that wants to sell her photos online. She has created a site for posting proofs from portrait & event shoots. And she also has created a section where she displays her nature & landscape photography that’s for sale.
In the first two parts of the series I talked about using Google Alerts & other tools for monitoring mentions about your brand & then how to respond. That is social media monitoring.
Now we’re going to shift to the statistics that you can gather & how to use them to build brand.
The three free tools that I use are Google Analytics, Feedburner & Compete. There are many others.
We’ll cover Google Analytics in this post:

Google Analytics is frequently used. It offers a variety of information. It’s easy to install & use. Follow these steps.
You’ll need a Google mail account. Then sign up for Google Analytics & add your website. That will give you html code. You need to put that code at the bottom of each page.

You can also see:

Top content (write more like that – people like it! write a post listing those links)
Traffic Sources – Here you can find a list of the sources where the traffic that visited your site came from. If there are any surprises go check them out. Maybe you should be providing customer service or joining the conversation there? And if there are ones that you expect, go thank them.
For the key words – this is what people are searching for & successfully finding your blog. You want to consider these words & use them in future writing. They are also ideas for SEO keywords.

Do you use Google Analytics? and if so what types of information do you find important & how do you use it?

Social Media Success at Network Solutions

cbensen — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 12:09:50 +0000

On Thursday, October 30th I am speaking on a panel at the Social Media Strategies Conference in San Francisco, CA. The panel that I’m on is:

How to Implement Social Media Strategies for Big Business
This panel features three community managers sharing their experiences implementing social media technologies in large corporate environments.

Moderator: Matt Warburton, Director, Community Management, Yahoo!
Connie Bensen, Community Manager, Network Solutions
LaSandra Brill, Manager, Web & Social Media Marketing, Cisco
Michael Brito, Social Media Strategist, Intel

As I was thinking about the accomplishments of the Social Media Team at Network Solutions I realized that the story can be told thru blog posts.

1. The realization of the potential for using social media was promoted by:

Raj Malik, Lawyer at Network Solutions

2. The challenges are outlined by Livingston Communications:

On the Buzz Bin

3. I outlined the role I serve

On my blog

4.The Social Media Team utilizes @netsolcares on Twitter

Twitter for Customer Service

Another Twitter Success Story

Gerry Rosso – Voice of @netsolcares

5. Our efforts are acknowledged for ‘Listening’

Finalist for SNCR Award

6. I joined in the volunteer hurricane preparations & Network Solutions comp’ed hosting services

Hurricane Wiki – philanthropy

7. A 10 year old used our software to raise money for children less fortunate than himself

Encouraging User Generated Content

8. I lead a social media campaign in supporting that 10 yr old’s vision & helping him attain the matching funds offered by Network Solutions

9. Other efforts for providing for customers of Network Solutions:

Video series for putting your business online (very popular – viral?)

10. Supporting a Community for Small Businesses

mysolutionspot.com

11. Open Innovation at Network Solutions

ideasarepower.com

12. Creating a Network for Developers

LinkTogether

Want to Join the Network Solutions Stars

cbensen — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 23:19:14 +0000

Have you heard the BUZZ about our upcoming video event for small businesses?

Here’s how you can attend:

a) Bookmark this page – http://www.solutionsstarsvideo.com/

b) Create a calendar event for themselves

c) Choose the event time

d) Come up with good questions for the chat room

We’d love it if you’d grab a badge for your blog or site.

All of these people are talking about it!

Lee Odden Corporate Blogging Trends, Insights and Events

Jake McKee Rapid Fire – Monday, October 20

Communicators Anonymous Solutions Stars Video Conference – What you will be doing 29 October!

Greg Verdino Network Solutions to present expert marketing tips

Mark Cahill RT @gregverdino: network solutions online video event 10/29 – marketing advice from lots of smart folks

Lauren Vargas RT @shashib: New Post Network Solutions Video Conference : Oct 29th 2008 : Online Marketing Tips from Experts!

Wayne Hulbert NetSol Video Conference offers free online marketing tips by industry leaders

Nedra Very cool line-up of speakers on online marketing at the free NetSol video conference on 10/29: http://tinyurl.com/6atscx

VibeMetrix Blog Network Solutions – Solutions Stars Video Conference

Chris Abraham links for 2008-10-20

Ferris Watch Network Solutions – Solution Stars Video Conference: This one day video conference promises to patch..

Todd Defren Listen to the Stars

New Media Jim Network Solutions FREE marketing video conference! oh yeah! i’ll be there

Mack Collier Network Solutions has good lineup for a free video conf next week

Mike Chapman I just learned about the NetSol Video Conference. It offers free online marketing tips by industry leaders.

Jeremy Wright Marketing FYI: Bunch of great free presentations by NetSol

David Meerman Scott NetSol Video Conference offers free online marketing tips by industry leaders http://tinyurl.com/6atscx Great lineup of presenters

Presto Vivace Blog New Media for Small Business Video Conference

David Berkowitz Small business video conference from Network Solutions

Lee Hopkins Solutions Stars video conference looks set to be an absolute bottler!

Gavin Heaton, Servant of Chaos Join the Solutions Stars Conference

FrogLoop Free Video Conference: Solutions Stars on Internet Marketing

David Armano Network Solutions Video Super Stars has quite a lineup

Liz Strauss Meet Me at the Solutions Stars Video Conference!

Get Elastic Catch Jason Billingsley and Linda Bustos in Solutions Stars Video Conference

Jason Falls Solutions Stars Video Conference Helps Small Businesses, Entrepreneurs”

Small Biz Survival Video conference on web presence

TechnoMarketer Solutions stars video conference by Network Solutions

The Letter Two Make the Internet work for your business

Webgrrls.com Solutions Stars Video Conference – October 29

More Stars than the Big Dipper: Solutions Stars Video Conference Next Wednesday

And Roger left a comment on our blog – I am really excited about this. I am telling all my buddies about it.

Building Your Brand Series – Part 2 – Responding

cbensen — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 20:23:08 +0000

In Part 1 of this series I talked about the various tools that can be used for listening. I also interviewed Alex DeCarvahlo who has a new product called StartPR.com.

You will want to listen for awhile before responding. Look for trends & see where people are talking about your product/services. What is the tone? Are they pleased or not? It’s important to have a strategy in how you’re going to respond.

Here are a number of possibilities that you could encounter:

Reputation management – people are complaining about your brand. In responding to them, apologize & state how you will be improving the situation so that it doesn’t happen again. If this relies on other staff or improving your product, then follow thru on that.

Crisis - These need to be dealt with as soon as possible. If you can respond immediately before there are a number of other people agreeing with the author it’s much better for your brand.

Customer service – Provide the person with information on how to resolve their problem or contact your company to get assistance

Product development – Sometimes enthusiasts will review your product or service. Thank the person for their ideas for your product. If you decide to incorporate them, reach out to that person later & let them know of the new release. They will be thrilled & share that information with their readers. It’s the easiest way to generate word of mouth!

Compliments- You definitely need to graciously thank them!

You will also be able to find advocates for your brand. Talk with them by commenting on their posts & get involved. They will be pleasantly surprised!

Competitive knowledge – Monitoring conversations about the competitor is a good idea. You will learn a number of things. There may be opportunities for you to provide information about your products or services when people are asking for the competitor’s products. Practice good manners & remember that you’re in a social conversation. If you wouldn’t say it in real life in a social setting then it’s not a good idea to type it.

Your Ideas Are Power

cbensen — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 14:30:30 +0000

Not too long ago I interviewed Jeff Crites in regard to his passion for Open Innovation. Open innovation is the process of gathering ideas from customers & employees to better improve a company’s products & resources. Dell has been using IdeaStorm for awhile.

Network Solutions has made the commitment to gather your ideas! We are proud to announce:

IdeasArePower.com was created to provide a place for your input. But it’s so much more than that!

- Post your ideas – tell us what you think!

- Vote for the best ideas

- Talk – discuss the ideas & share

And the ideas don’t get all mixed up. You can read & review in the following categories:

- Business Solutions

- Education/Support

- MySolutionSpot.com

- Offers & Pricing

- Products – Domains, E-mails, Online Marketing, Online Store, Web Hosting, Web Sites, Website security,

- Storefront Accounts & Usability

Take a look at IdeasArePower.com & let us know what you think! We’re looking forward to your ideas!

Free Search Engine Marketing Webinars offer Opportunities to Learn at Your Convenience

cbensen — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 14:20:16 +0000

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) & Search Engine Optimization (SEO) are two areas that are continually changing. The reality is that Google and other search engines are continually changing & tweaking their search algorithms. So what provided great SEO (search engine optimization) one year ago may not be as effective today.

Network Solutions has experts that are staying abreast of these changes. They are offering webinars to help you respond & maximize your presence.

Search engine optimization & search marketing are important for a number of reasons. It offers:

Increased traffic to your Web Site
Best way to connect qualified customers who are searching for your products to your site
It impacts your bottom line if you aren’t aware of the most up to date SEO practices
Identifying keywords that drive traffic to your site
Help your company stand out to those searching for your products
Understand how search technology is changing & how it impacts you

No matter where you’re located at you can attend these informational sessions that Network Solutions offers. Please register in advance.

Webinars that you can attend online:

SEO Webinar
Oct 22, 2008
Information & Sign-up

PPC Webinar
Oct 23, 2008
Information & Sign-up

Link Building Techniques Webinar
Oct 28, 2008
Information & Sign-up

Keyword Strategies Webinar
Oct 29, 2008
Information & Sign-up

SEM for Local Businesses Webinar
Oct 30, 2008
Information & Sign-up

Additional Reading for Search Engine related topics:

6 things from Search Engineers by Marketing Pilgrim

The five goals of a search optimized page by DazzlinDonna

Free Links to Your Site by Matt Cutts, Google

Video Conference : Oct 29th 2008 : Online Marketing Tips from Experts!

cbensen — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 13:26:04 +0000

If you’ve been enjoying the events that we’ve been bringing you, then you will NOT want to miss this one! This one requires no travel you can attend it from the convenience of your office or home! We’ve created a free video conference that’s jam packed with insights & online marketing tips for small businesses!

Mark your calendar because on October 29 at 1 pm we’re providing the Solutions Stars Video Conference! Geoff Livingston, author of Now is Gone, & Network Solutions Social Media Swami Shashi Bellamkonda met with 32 top bloggers at BlogWorld Expo. We asked them to share their insights & tips on online marketing for small businesses for you. It was all captured on video & now we have a conference features nine different documentary style video sessions:

Building Web Presence
The Social Opportunity
Start with Listening
Strategy Drives Outreach
You Need Social Networks
To Blog or Not to Blog
Visibility Through Search
Rising Above the Noise
Time Demands

Solutions Stars Video participants include:

Tim Ferriss, Best Selling Author of Four Hour Work Week :http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/
Guy Kawasaki, Co-Founder, All-Top: www.guykawasaki.com/
Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos: http://zappos.com
Darren Rowse, Author, ProBlogger: http://www.problogger.net/
Chris Brogan, Vice President of Strategy, CrossTech Media:http://www.crosstechmedia.com/
Rohit Bhargava, Author of Personality Not Included:http://www.personalitynotincluded.com/
Wendy Piersall, CEO of Sparkplugging.com:http://www.sparkplugging.com/sparkplug-ceo/
Lionel Menchaca, Chief Blogger, Dell: http://www.dell.com
Brian Solis, Author of PR 2.0, CEO of FutureWorks:http://www.briansolis.com/ http://www.future-works.com/
Steve Hall, Publisher and Editor of Ad Rants: http://www.adrants.com/
Scott Monty, Global Digital and Multimedia Communications Manager, Ford Motor Company: http://www.scottmonty.com/
Liz Strauss, Social Web Strategist, Successful Blog: http://www.successful-blog.com/
Toby Bloomberg, CEO, Bloomberg Marketing:http://bloombergmarketing.com/
Lee Odden, CEO of TopRankMarketing.com: http://www.toprankblog.com/
Jason Billingsly, Co-Founder ElasticPath: http://www.getelastic.com/
Robyn Tippins, Community Manager, Yahoo! Developer Network:http://developer.yahoo.net/blog/
Brett Tabke, CEO of WebMaster World: http://www.webmasterworld.com/
David Alston, Vice President of Marketing, Radian6:http://www.radian6.com/
Jason Falls, Blogger, Social Media Explorer:http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/
Mari Smith, Relationship Marketing Specialist: http://www.marismith.com/
Jennifer Openshaw, president of WeSeed.com: http://www.weseed.com/
Matt Dickman, Vice President, Digital Marketing, Fleishman-Hillard:http://technomarketer.typepad.com/
David Berkowitz, Director of Emerging Media and Client Strategy, 360i:http://www.marketersstudio.com/
Ryan Anderson, Community Relations, Overlay.TV:http://www.ryananderson.ca
Becky McCray, Author, SmallBizSurvival.com:http://www.smallbizsurvival.com/
Warren Whitlock, Book Marketing Strategist, BestSellerAuthors.com:http://www.warrenwhitlock.com/
Chris Baggott, CEO of Compendium Software:http://blogging.compendiumblog.com/blog/
Lorelle VanFossen, Author, Blogging Tips: What Bloggers Won’t Tell You About Blogging: http://lorelle.wordpress.com/
Dave Taylor, Head Strategic Marketing Director, Intuitive Systems:http://www.intuitive.com/blog/
Paul Chaney, President of International Blogging and New Media Association:http://www.bizzuka.com/
Linda Bustos, Blogger, ElasticPath: http://www.getelastic.com/
Jay Berkowitz, Author , Podcaster, and Keynote Speaker, Ten Golden Rules:http://www.tengoldenrules.com/

Join us for the conference & the information from these amazing people. This event will provide you with insight & motivate you to take the online presence of your small business to the next level!

In addition to the Solutions Stars Video Conference site, please visit the event pages on Facebook and Upcoming.

Here are the steps:

a) Bookmark this page – http://www.solutionsstarsvideo.com/

b) Create a calendar event for themselves

c) Choose the event time

d) Come up with good questions for the chat room

We’d love it if you’d grab a badge for your blog or site.