Prior to Google Panda, many companies were thriving. When it came to SEO, they were doing everything right. They had keyword rich content, proper tagging throughout, internal linking, etc. and they were seeing their traffic and sales increase.
Since Google Panda, however, many of these same companies have taken a hit. So, what happened? Many were relying solely on SEO and didn’t have a presence anywhere else.
So Now What?
Start developing a presence on social media sites. Social media is not just Facebook and Twitter, although those are the best place to start. You can also start a blog and use LinkedIn and Squidoo, which are a lot of fun, too. It all takes time to develop, but the longer you wait to get in the game, the harder it’s going to be to catch up.
Helpful hint: There is a site called Twuffer, which will allow you to set up your tweets to post at various times of the day. It really helps to keep things rolling when you have a lot on your plate and its Free.
But I Don’t Know What to Tweet About
I have a friend who says he just doesn’t get Twitter. He says “why would I want to tweet that I’m in the bathroom?” Well, you wouldn’t! Unless of course you’re an interior designer and wanted people to check out your new bathroom design. Otherwise, no one wants to hear that. They do, however, want to know your opinion and the opinion of others who have purchased your products and services.
The only way a company can really deliver to its customer base is by knowing what they like and don’t like. So a good tweet would be “So what did you think about our new apple cider cupcakes?”, then add a link to your Facebook page so people can comment.
Don’t Be Afraid of Rejection
Are you getting customer feedback? If not, you should be. Social media is about developing relationships with people. It’s just online instead of face to face. Don’t be afraid of rejection.
But what if my customer isn’t happy? Well ignoring them won’t make it any better. Open up some dialogue. Dig into the problem and then fix it. Often times, just the simple act of responding to a problem, makes things much better. The bottom line is you want them to be happy.
Another thing you can do, which works great, is to contact your happy customers and ask them to write a review for you online. Make it easy and share a link with them. Most customers are more than happy to share their experience, so don’t be afraid to ask.
