Search engine optimization (SEO) is only one part of online brand visibility. Or perhaps SEO is evolving into a more complex, content driven, social media engagement process that revolves around a company’s products and solutions.
Having a website is great! You’ve arrived at the party, but you’re empty-handed. Does anyone know you’re there? The web is enormous and just because you’re there doesn’t mean that anyone knows it. You need to optimize your site around keywords – words that are used at the search engines to find companies like yours (get inside the head of your prospects and customers…ask yourself “how would they find you using Google?”).
Side note: In our humble opinion, this set of keywords is paramount! It’s the foundation on which you build all your sales material, content, blogs, whatever – and you’d be surprised at how many companies don’t do it. Differentiate yourself now!
Applying proven SEO tactics to your website, around those keywords will help add online visibility. It takes time – several months – but you’ll start seeing improvements in your search rankings.
Want to step it up? Take it to the next level? Add a corporate blog. Work on custom content creation around keywords and make sure your posts are optimized for SEO – keywords in titles, links, copy, Meta data, etc. Google’s ever changing algorithm adjustments have all favored dynamic, relevant, well-written content. Content curation is also a powerful tool if done right, but make sure you don’t plagiarize or take credit for stuff that you didn’t write. Always give credit where credit is due!
Okay… you’ve got an optimized website; your corporate blog is rolling with strong, optimized content. You’re set, right? Just sit back and watch the traffic flow. Well maybe, but if you really want to boost your online brand visibility, you’ll add insocial media marketing. Share your blog posts or custom content at aggregators like Digg, Delicious, StumbleUpon; use Twitter and Facebook to promote your blog and site (though don’t be salesly… be informative!). And, if you’re a B2B organization, don’t underestimate the power of LinkedIn.
In addition to sharing your content, be sure to participate in conversations that pertain to your industry. Find other blogs to follow and comment (intelligently) with links back to your content. Follow industry thought leaders on Twitter and engage. Participate in LinkedIn groups and discussions. Your prospects and customers are engaging in social media conversations often, so you need to be part of it. In fact, this is where small brands can compete against larger brands and WIN.
Online brand visibility today is more than just site optimization or SEO. It’s about social media and custom content. It’s a process and it takes time, but if done right can lead to success!