You might be in a position where you have been reading or hearing about search engine optimization and you believe you need to get a handle on this right away. People are turning to the Internet for answers. Wouldn’t it be great if your website was ONE of the pages they go to and in turn hire your service, buy your product or keep coming back and hanging out for new content?
If you have a website already, you may not be the one updating it and making changes to it. And that’s OK! Really! You have a business to run and the website is just a part of your business marketing. You may have another company or a freelancer looking over your site and it’s important to bring them in on what you want to accomplish with your site. You want to grab a hold of this “Internet marketing” quickly, but where do you start?
First, ask your webdesigner if they know of any “methods to bring more leads to the website.” Don’t start throwing around acronyms like SEO, SEM or PPC because people may have different definitions of what these are in initial conversations and what they entail. Just begin by talking about leads. If they aren’t interested in helping in that, it’s probably time to ask for the keys to the admin side of your website and look for someone else who is interested.
Being a former freelancer and having worked with several web companies, below is a list of personalities I have come across when the subject of SEO comes into play. I want to suggest some methods on how to get the momentum going and continue with each of these personalities. Your experience may vary.
Note: I tried to find some sources for how to communicate properly with your webmaster, but most articles are for webmasters dealing with clients. Times are changing as SMB owners are going to the net looking for advice and so we may see more topics on the subject.
Personality #1: The Controller
This personality seems to portray that every suggestion or update is a huge problem. There might be reasons for this. Are your suggestions presented in a constant stream with little or no end in sight? It’s important to define the goal of your site and have every update go toward that goal. Remember that not every new bell and whistle available on the Internet will benefit your business – it will most likely distract you from your overall purpose. Bring them into the conversation of how to increase leads to your site and what they think might be the right Internet strategy for your website. Remember, you’re trying to develop a communicative relationship.
Personality #2: The Artist
This personality is more concerned with the look and feel of the website. More than likely, they designed your site in 95% Flash. The web artist is in a vulnerable spot since their portfolio usually consists of web links that include your site as one of their clients. When approaching the world of “increasing web leads,” a garish spam-looking site might enter their mind and their portfolio loses a page. It will help when you point out that their success in making a website that generates leads while designing a pleasing look will increase exponentially. To those that refuse to change any design to include SEO I say “if a website can’t be found in searches, does it really exist?”
Personality #3: The MIA
This personality is one who is hard to pin down because they seem to be always ”missing in action.” Emails are brief and not fully answered. Their voicemail greeting seems to be the only time you hear their voice. Besides providing poor customer service, the MIA is inadvertently holding your website hostage. No, that doesn’t mean you go in guns a-blazin’. Hostage negotiation is more appropriate. Bring the MIA in on more agreeable ground. Respect. Contract Extending Respect. Bring them into your confidence on what your goal is “to generate more leads.” Leave it open to see how they can be a part of it. Have them show you access to the admin part of your site. If they don’t seem to want to go along with you on the journey, ask them for your administration access and give it to someone else.
Who do you give it to?
Why, a reputable internet marketing firm of course! SEO companies not only have Search and Social Marketing techniques in mind for your industry, they also have graphic designers to make your site pleasing to look at and smooth to use.
Remember that your website is an invaluable tool for your business. The person who controls your website is not an enemy but a great resource, no matter their personality. Remember to cultivate communication and ask for education on what they know either in design or Internet technology necessary for your business.
Check out The Adventures of SEO Boy: Heroic Feats of Search Engine Optimization at http://www.seoboy.com/. Copyright © 2008-2009 Hanapin Marketing, LLC.
