Great web-site advice from a Tampa Video Production and Internet Marketing Company.

What you should know before you SEO

I wanted to share some information that I think is very valuable, because after five successful consultations with some great businesses in Tampa regarding search engine optimization and website design, I realized that many business owners may not know the right questions to ask before they create or revise their business web-site.

First off, I know that most web-design companies do an amazing job at creating beautiful sites. They may also add in functionality regarding search engine optimization strategies. So, what I am really trying to say is that this article is not in any attempt to bash these web-design companies because they do in fact create your site based on your vision.

When web-design first became a reality, some of the most effective sites were those that were visually perfect. The web image was the sales pitch, added with some pretty words and walaa!

The problem with this formula today though is that with all the other pretty web sites out there, how can your business compete?

The answer is so simple, you may get mad at yourself, but I promise you that I learned this lesson the hard and expensive way.

The answer is marketing. Yes that's it, marketing, internet style, but using the same old tried and true ways of capturing leads and getting customers to your door to buy your stuff.

Think about it this way. If you send out mailers or postcards they should contain a a great offer, possibly a free something, a call to action, and a deadline. All these components drive the prospect into buying mode. If you mail your postcards to your list once, don't get discouraged with a small reply. With direct mail, it has been proven that you must touch this list at least a few times. Someone once told me that seven touches was the magic number, but the point it, your mailing campaign is rarely successful if it is sent only once.

So you may be asking, how does this apply to web-design and how can a small businesses compete with the corporate giants with massive marketing and advertising budgets.

Your site should emulate your most successful marketing campaign. You should have a great offer, and give away free stuff, not junk, great free information, you should have some sort of call to action, and create deadlines on your offers. Above all, you must have an opt in box where your web-visitor can enter their information. Then on the tail end, an internet style marketing campaign, to retouch this visitor with future information and offers. This is how you build a great list to add to your current client list, and in any business the most valuable asset is your list.

There are many ways today to affordably and effectively add all of these components to your site. If you are building a new site, I would recommend using the word-press platform as Google likes it and it had the built in blogs. Google and other search engines look for new content so that's where blogs help. I would also recommend you use social media like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube and perhaps most importantly Video.