Clint's Web Marketing Blog

Statistics show that at any given time, 85% of US consumers online will be reading, viewing or contributing to social content. Whether they’re blogging or tweeting, consumers are relying heavily on social networking sites to share their experiences with the world. Recognizing the value of word-of-mouth marketing can help your practice generate more leads and possibly even save some money.

Encouraging your clients to share their experience with their online networks will certainly help drive traffic to your practice. Consider creating a Facebook page of your own, where clients can publicly express how happy they are. Try using Twitter to announce events or promotions.

Your marketing strategy needs to include social media, if for no other reason than your prospects are using these sites as their primary source for finding a good or service. They're usually free, relatively easy to use, and take little time.

How important should exclusivity be when you are looking to hire a new SEO firm? I would argue that it should be in the top 3 things you should be looking for. As we all know, there are only 10 slots on the first page of any given search engine for natural listings. Knowing that, how would it make you feel knowing that your SEO company takes on 10, 15, or even more clients in any given market place, telling them all that they will get on the first page of the search engines? How do they determine who is going to be their priority? Who pays the most? Who they have the best relationship with? To me this isn’t very comforting. And what if they bring on a new client that pays more than you—where does that put you in their eyes? At most, a good SEO firm should only allow 3 clients per market place, that way they won’t cannibalize their clients’ results and business. Keep this in mind when you are looking for a new SEO firm to take over your site. And if they don’t offer exclusivity, you should be asking them these difficult questions.

There are literally hundreds of social networking sites on the Internet. With so many options, it becomes difficult to distinguish which you should be using and for what purposes. I think that often times the dilemma of deciding which sites to join, leads us to extremes: We either sign up for them all or shy away completely (neither of which are good options). But these tools can be very valuable to your web marketing and branding strategy, so you might as well jump on board.

First and foremost, if you don’t already have a profile on LinkedIn, get one immediately. It is probably the most important social networking site for professionals such as doctors and lawyers. It may feel like a lot of work, but if you spend a little bit of time everyday on you profile, it will slowly but surely come along. The great thing about LinkedIn is that once your profile is complete, it rather low maintenance. Plus—the discussion groups and networks that you can join and participate in will help establish your credibility. Heck you might even learn something.

Other important social networking sites for professionals include Facebook, Google Profiles, and Twitter. Facebook and Twitter require significantly less work upfront than LinkedIn, but will need involvement on your part (10-20 minutes weekly). All of these, including Google Profiles, will help your search engine positioning and visibility.

Social media marketing is a process. Don’t over-do it, but don’t ignore it.

Recent studies are showing a clear correlation between the downturn in the economy and the growth of social media. Both companies and consumers are beginning to utilize social networking sites, such as DoctorsNLawyers and Facebook, as tools to help survive the recession.

Consumers are putting a higher value on online recommendations and reviews than ever before. They are turning to social networking sites to see what other people are saying about particular products and services. From a consumer standpoint, companies that participate in social networking are easier to relate to and trust. If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to lose.

A savvy businessman would take advantage of the opportunity and not let the conversation occur without him. Networking sites are a tool for branding and promotion—they are the next generation of marketing. Networking on the internet is usually free and rarely difficult.

Page 1 Solutions is a perfect example. We maintain over ten blogs, have profiles on many of the networking sites and encourage our employees to do the same. In fact, we think it’s so important that we hired somebody full-time to maintain our online presence.  It’s too valuable not to.

Labels: blogging, facebook, networking, social media marketing

Hanging out at the NYC LVI Regional. First time in New York City. I cant believe how many people are in 1 city.

I recently had a potential client ask me some great questions and I thought I would share them. I know they are not the only people with these questions. My responses are below the questions, but these are always great things to ask your SEO/SEM firm.

1) Can you give me the background of your company? I see you have an excellent BB rating, and that the company started in 2001, but if you can expound on that it would be great.

Dan, Page 1's president, is a practicing lawyer and he got started with Network Affiliates, who did a lot of TV advertising in the 80’s, 90’s and even currently. He then started Page 1 as a subsidiary company primarily working with law firms but in more recent years we got into the medical field also. See this page for more information about the history of Page 1 Solutions: www.page1solutions.com/more_about_page1.html

2) Do we get to pick the specific search terms and the number of terms we want incorporated into the website?

Yes, but keep in mind that it doesn't do you any good to show up for terms no one searches for. This is something we work on together.

3) How many templates do we have a choice between, can you give me some examples? Also, what kind of control would we have over adding new information, or things such as video or audio, or the blog?

Right now we offer several different templates, depending on what industry you are in. You can see samples of these templates here: www.page1templates.com. As far as adding information to your site, you can give us as much as you want. The more information, the better and everything we write, will be approved by you. The blog is built into the site and you have access to post things 24/7 through the blog. Video and audio we can always add. Another bonus is that you own the website, so all the writing and designing we do for you, you keep.

4) What is the time frame for getting the new website up and running, (I realize the search engine part will build on itself and take some time)?

If we do a template website design, it typically takes about 6 to 8 weeks. Most of the time, we are done sooner than that. Custom website designs will take longer.

5) What is the contract length of time? How long is the monthly SEO rate rate locked in for?

Our contracts are 12-month contracts. The price that you sign up on is locked in for that year. There are certain circumstance that will allow you to lock that price in for 24 months.

If you have any other question or want to discuss in-depth your situation I would love to hear from you.

A whole lot goes into creating a website and online marketing strategy. There are also a lot of factors involved in measuring the success of a project. Did we meet client expectations? Did we get the project done in time? Does the website get more traffic from the web? Most importantly, does it drive patients and clients into the practice? When working with our clients, we always try to set realistic expectations.

Setting the right expectations upfront can make or break any project. You must clearly communicate everything they can expect throughout the course of the project. At Page 1 we have a team who is handpicked for every project and we must let our team know exactly what’s expected of them - what they should be designing, building, or writing. If your team doesn’t have a clear vision of what they’re doing, or if our client doesn’t understand what we need from them, the project will inevitably fail. If we build something that we like but don’t take the client's needs into consideration or we don't discuss their vision, we will fail again, wasting valuable time and resources. Also, make sure everyone is clear about what’s next, and that they have everything they need.

Setting expectations isn’t difficult, but it does take time and knowledge. We need to marry our knowledge and expertise with the client’s wants and needs. We get a lot of people who are so focused on the imagery of a site that they can't see the whole scope of the project. Imagery alone does not make a website do well on the search engines. That’s where our knowledge and the setting of crystal clear expectations comes into play. We set these expectations in place with the client up front, before the project is even started.

We use a questionnaire form and a few surveys to start setting expectations and getting the clients creative juices flowing. We always encourage the client to ask questions if they don’t understand something. This initial step can seem long and tedious, but it’s laying the foundation for the project's development over the months to come. You need to take this time to clarify the unknowns and draw out hidden objectives.

Throughout the project, it is this initial set-up and consistency that will make or break a project. I can’t emphasize enough the important of communication and putting everything on the table before you just dive in. In most projects things change as you go, but by not setting these expectations, these changes have the potential to be disastrous, wasting time, money and resources. If you take the time to lay the foundation, the hard stuff won’t be so hard, and you’re almost always guaranteed to keep clients happy and successful.

If you have any question or want to discuss your current project, I would love to hear from you.