How to optimise your search results leveraging social media and blogging

Based upon Craig Wilson’s notes from a presentation at Web 2.0 in San Francisco by Heather Lutze, 2 April 2009

Who’s your best salesperson? Are they working 24/7 when customers are ready? The right online presence can be like the ultimate sales team working around the clock.

The web and dominance of Google requires a new understanding of how your customers are searching for you. Customers aren’t waiting for information to be broadcast to them. They are scouring the Internet for information, searching Google and other search engines, and reading blogs for tips and recommendations. They are spending an increasing amount of time on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, where their “friends” are sharing links and recommendations.

Your business needs to ensure that it can be found in this dynamic online environment.

Heather Lutze’s Find-ability formula
1. Connect with the right search keywords
2. Edit your social media profiles & elements with keywords
3. Track the results correctly

Its important that you know how users search:

• They are beginning to use longer and longer keyword searches. One word searches aren’t as good as they produce generic and non-relevant results.

• Stay away from ego keywords, waste of time. Users aren’t searching for your name, they are searching for answers to a problem.

• Look at 4,5,6 keyword phrases. The more specific the phrase the higher quality your results. You’ll produce less volume but they results will be more relevant and qualified for your services.

Customer Online Buying Cycle:

1. Information (the customer uses a basic 1-word keyword Ie hosting)
2. Shopping (the customer becomes more specific with 2-word searches, Ie Website hosting)
3. Purchasing (the customer now looks for exactly what they want with a 3 or 4-word search, Ie Dedicated IP hosting)

You need to make sure that potential customers find the appropriate info when they do that their Purchasing search. This means that your keywords must be set up correctly on your sites.

By using some of the free keyword search tools available from Google you can discover what users are really searching for around your industry. Heather Lutze suggests that you should aim for the longest search term possible that receives over 100 searches per month. This isn’t a missive volume, but the quality of visitors will be very high and most relevant to your business.

By picking the correct keywords and then doing effective Social Media Optimisation you will receive better results faster.

Integration
Once you have your best keywords for search, you must adopt an integrated approach to ensure that the keywords are found in as many places as possible and you receive as many search listings as possible.

• A blog post with the correct search terms written into it should be easily shared amongst readers. Use the sharethis.com facility to give readers the best way of passing the information on.

• Facebook – Heather Lutze’s Facebook page ranks in search and yours could too if you use it strategically  by including keywords into titles and descriptions (Ie. Heather Internet Marketing Speaker etc)

• LinkedIn profile: likewise a LinkedIn profile can deliver search results. Ie. Heather Lutze – Marketing Speaker (ranks on Google)

• Twitter: Lutze makes sure that every communication on Twitter reflects her “Internet Marketing Speaker” status

• YouTube profile: Lutze puts her keywords in profile. She posts regular videos and includes the Keywords in them too.

Track Your Results
Constantly check how you are performing on various search engines. Your goal should be to make sure you own all TEN spots for your name & company name to prevent others hi-jacking your name and brand.

Where you are not achieving first page ranking, continue to refine your approach. Look at each tool (blog, Facebook etc) and make subtle changes to improve results. Post more information with your keywords included.

Finally, ensure that the keyword search is actually delivering worthwhile traffic. If it isn’t there may be better keywords to adopt.