I had a great chat on Monday with my buddy David West, now some of you that follow my blog closely know that I think very highly of Dave’s company eKzact Solutions. Dave’s firm is the king of Calgary web design companies. If you are looking for a website or have some web work done, call Dave today.
On Monday, Dave and I chatted for a couple of hours on some web strategies and how we are going to use the web in 2009 to promote our companies (or for me where I go in the new year). It is no secret that the web is the way we will promote our business going forward. I believe that traditional marketing strategies have already started to die off or in some parts of the world have died off completely. I know what I do with most print advertising, right into the recycling bin. However, I do engage with those that have a website, can teach me stuff or share with me. Why wouldn’t your clients do the same thing?
Now, part of our chat was about SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Dave shared with me that he is getting a number of calls from folks wanting to get on the first page of google.ca or google.com in their geography or business line. SEO has been around for a bit, however given the current state of the economy and also the increase of competition for a thin slice of pie, we need to separate ourselves from the others out there. Remember that being found on the net doesn’t guarantee business, you still need a great Value Proposition, Sales Strategy and most importantly a great team.
Your goal for your website should be all about marketing and converting visitors to prospects! PERIOD!
Your website can’t be a billboard, it must be interactive, it has to engage with the visitor and want them to sign up for your white paper or request for proposal. Again, look at Dave’s blog or his website to see what I mean by having mechanisms to convert visitors to prospects. That is the goal and the only goal (OK I will also by education), is to educate your visitors and convert visitors to prospects.
So is your website optimized for search? If you are using frames in your site, chances are it is not being found. However those annoying java applets or activeX controls – yep, they are not searchable as well. Nothing works as great as text with the right keywords used to allow visitors to find you.
Also on a last note, do you have a blog? If not, why not? Try googling my name – Stuart Crawford Calgary to see what some great blogs can do for you.
Ulistic focuses on serving the needs of Canadian Small Business, REALTORS, and Information Technology firms across Canada and United States. Helping your business understand, deploy and leverage social media, search engine optimization and online communications to generate business opportunities and make an impact inside your community and industry.
