The concept and implementation of SEO (Search engine optimization) strategies  for most small business owners is a confusing and time consuming process that involves many hours of research and trial and error. Fortunately Pantera host offers search engine optimization packages that will allow your business to come to the front page of Google for your chosen industry and location.

However, if you are the do yourself type, here are some basic guidelines on how you can do your own basic SEO. It is broadly broken down into two categories.

On Page SEO

On page SEO refers to the content that is on the website. In order to optimize this content the writing should be ‘keyword rich’, with keywords that are directed towards your target audience. The content should also be ‘keyword saturated’, which means that you should repeat the keyword throughout the body of your content in order to achieve maximum exposure and a higher ranking in the Google search results.

The rule of thumb to follow however, is that content is king. Providing well written, interesting and targeted articles aimed towards your prospective audience is the best way to score higher in the search results. Each article should be roughly 400 to 600 words long with deep linking to other parts of your site.

Off Page SEO

The other component of SEO of off page SEO. This involves getting other highly ranked websites in your niche to link to your own, placing your website in directories which includes a DMOZ listing, and other efforts to get your site linked to places you think your customers will visit. By getting several highly ranked, relevant websites to link back to yours it increases your legitimacy within Google’s search algorithm, allowing your site to score higher results.

Above are the two basic requirements for good SEO. However, there are reportedly 40 different variables that can affect your ranking within Google. The basic rule of thumb however, for any website is to provide high quality content. The more high quality posts you can publish on your website the more other websites within your niche are more likely to link to your site, providing more targeted traffic and more customers to your inbox.

Contact us today on how we can increase your SEO ranking and drive your website to the front page of Google.

Twitter is a microblogging platform that users can ‘Tweet’, messages of up to 150 characters in length to their followers, upload video and pictures as well as advertise their tweets with Twitter’s hash tag system. Twitter can be used for businesses in a variety of different ways. As a business owner you can use it to advertise your specials, update your customers on industry news and many others. The use of Twitter as well as social media in general comes down to setting your business objectives and how you’d like social media to add value to your chosen business activity.

Below are some ideas to get you started on how to use Twitter for businesses.

• Running promotions? Let your Twitter followers know about it first. Additionally you can run Twitter-only promotions by getting them to mention a special code you entered in your tweet. Make your followers feel special and they will keep coming back.
• Use Twitter as a way to leverage your expertise in your industry. Tweet the industry news that you think will be relevant to your current and prospective customers.
• You can use Twitter as a kind of real-time newsletter, updating your customers on what’s happening within your company and any upcoming events you’d like them to know about.
• Have a specific tweet you’d like to get mentioned by someone else? Use #hashtags as a way to advertise your content to an interested audience. Make a name for yourself and get noticed. Popular hashtags for New Zealand businesses are #nzbusiness #nz and #nzpromotion.
• Use Twitter as a way to directly communicate with potential suppliers, customers and other stakeholders. Follow your potential customer’s Twitter accounts closely, if they mention they’re in the market for your product or service you can capitalize on this by making a cold call, tweet or DM to their account.
• Want to know what your competitors are doing? Staying on top of your market intelligence is an important part of being in business. You can follow your competitors tweets you know exactly how the market is looking which leaves you much more responsive to changes and emerging trends within your industry.

Twitter can be used as a form of intelligence gathering, a sales tool, a PR tool, or all three. Twitter adds value through its’ brevity, making the tweeter get to the point in as little words as possible.

If you would like to know how Twitter can add value to your existing business activities we’d like to hear from you. Please contact us and we’ll show you how.
 

Facebook is fast becoming an extremely competitive platform for businesses to compete in. Success with your Facebook page as a business leads to a an increased brand awareness and opens new channels to find prospective buyers. Getting more Facebook likes to your page is a simple yet time consuming process, if you are not experienced with social media or web design then it is best to contact a social media professional to ensure the highest ROI for your social media efforts.

Here are the top five ways you can increase the amount of Facebook likes on your website.

1. Make sure your Facebook page is listed on all of your existing online and offline media. Creating a ‘Like’, box on your website is easy using Facebook’s pre-built feature which can be found here. Also ensure that your offline marketing tools such as business cards, print advertisements and proposals has a link to your Facebook page with a strong call to action.
2. With Facebook pages,  content is king. Write your own content on your companies’ blog and use an RSS aggregator such as dlvr.it to update your page automatically. Make sure your page is updated daily with unique and interesting content that relates to your industry or niche. A page must deliver content first before you can begin to use it as an advertising platform, establish your online presence first as an authority and the leads and referrals will come.
3. Cross link your website’s content with other social media platforms such as Twitter and Linkedin. Make sure these websites are linking to your Facebook page for the benefit of search engines being able to find your page, as well as increasing the traffic to your website.
4. Use promotions to get more Facebook likes. For example, if a customer comes into your store and shows that they have ‘Liked’, your page you can negotiate a discount with them if they refer your page to 10 other people. Give others an incentive to make your page go viral and you will quickly benefit from their repeat business and referrals.
5. Participate in Facebook Groups to drive more likes to your page. With Facebook becoming the most visited website in the world, there exists a group for almost every conceivable niche or interest. If a group does not exist for your business you can use this as an opportunity to demonstrate your authority and expertise by being the first to create it. Use these groups as a sales funnel to your Facebook page, then work on converting these prospects into customers.

Like the internet as a whole, Facebook allows small businesses to extend their reach to a global audience, and evens the playing field allowing even the smallest of businesses to have a competitive web presence if they are delivering high quality content. A competitive social media strategy will focus on displaying the businesses’ authority on the topic of which they sell, increasing the amount of trust and confidence prospects will have even before they are approached for new business.

Pantera host offers competitive social media packages which incorporates a strong Facebook like strategy as well as other social media platforms for businesses which desire to be seen as the industry leaders of their products.

Please contact us for more information.

Facebook is the most visited website on Earth. It is increasingly important for businesses to have a web presence that goes beyond a basic “brochure-style”, website in order to be competitive on the internet. If people are using Facebook more than search engines and you wish your business to be found online, there is only one option – and that is to start a Facebook page for your business.

Facebook pages are most effective when used in conjunction with special offers and other social media platforms such as Twitter and Foursquare. It can be used as a replacement or a compliment to a reminder advertising campaign or to simply interact dynamically with your existing and potential customers. Facebook pages are one of the most cost effective forms of promotion with a measurable ROI at very little cost to the business owner.

Facebook opens doors to advertisers wishing to target prospects from a specialized niche, using Facebook’s user information and activity to target consumers that have the means and interest for their services.

Say you have a clothing store which targets up market consumers. They know that their target market earns between 60 to 100 thousand per year, prefers premium brands and lives in high value areas. Through Facebook’s PPC platform it is possible to target by all of these criteria, often beating Google Adwords in its’ cost effectiveness and conversion due to how specialized the marketing campaign can be if the marketer understands their target market well.

Just as the dot com boom surged demand for websites in the early 2000s, social media has become the next big thing. And if businesses have learned anything from the decline in print and radio advertising it is to be where the customers are searching, reading and browsing for products and services. A well targeted and managed social media campaign  allows businesses to achieve this, converting these visitors into customers.

If you would like more information on how Pantera Host can create and manage your future social media campaign, please contact us.