5 Content Strategies for Small Business

I use these strategies in my business and consider it one of my work smarter, not harder processes that, as a small business and solopreneur, I must utilize to optimize efficiency.

It may take a bit of time up front, but in the long run it's a time-saver. Good habits and discipline go a long way. See if this might help you too.

1. Plan content ahead of time
If you have a seasonal business, this should be relatively easy since different times of the year warrant different promotions. But it works even if seasonality isn't a factor.

Brainstorm a dozen or so titles/ideas and then go back and add bullet points to expand your thoughts. Write them in the appropriate month/day on a calendar to keep yourself on track.

Here are some ways to dig up ideas for do-ahead content:

• Look through your analytics or Web site traffic tracking program. See if you can get some ideas by seeing what pages people are looking at, where they came from geographically, or what keywords they plugged into a search engine to find you.
• See if there is any current news that might be relevant to your business that will help you connect with your customers.
• Peruse the forums, blogs, Twitter or Facebook for chatter and conversations that relate to your business.
• If you have a bunch of content already produced, repurpose it to make it fresh, and reuse it. Think customer service issues, frequently asked questions, information you received at a conference/seminar, or read recently in a book or trade journal.

That way you won't be staring at a blank screen or blank paper trying to come up with new ideas.
 
2. Create brief content that is attention-grabbing
Visitors to Web pages often stay less than 1 minute. They are doing a quick scan of your content. Try giving it to them in easily consumed

• short bullet points 
• small paragraphs 
• formatted text -- font changes, bold text and/or italics. 

If more details are needed, link them from the short bullet point to another page, so they can read more if desired.

3. Optimize your content for the SE's
Use your industry keywords/key phrases in your file names, headings, links, images, META data, and naturally throughout your content. This makes it easy for the search engines to determine what it's about so it can be properly indexed.


4. Create links to your content
The search engines like to see back links to your content. Do this by

• leaving or responding to messages in forums, blog posts or other related industry sites. But don't be spammy just for the sake of a link. Be sure you have something relevant to say!

Other ways to create back links to your site or blog:

• List your site or blog URLs (domain names) in your Google profile, Merchant Circle, Yellow Pages accounts or any other place where you maintain a business listing.
• Look for opportunities in your new content to link to something you've already created.

5. Go social with your content

• Promote your content through all your social media accounts -- Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.
• Post your content in any groups or forums you participate in.
• Use social sharing plugins/toolbars so others can spread your content for you.

Ciao for now, Paula


I adapted this post for my small business audience. I read the main article at Mashable. The original content appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.

Help Your Customers Find You Online

Web site builders and e-commerce services are much more small business-friendly than they used to be. They are readily available, easy and affordable.

One that I use extensively is WordPress, but there are MANY more out there. WordPress was originally started as a blogging platform. They've made it easy to add pages and features to structure your content like a traditional Web site, but the with ease of a blog platform. It's extremely effective as a small business Web site. You have the ability to add, modify and delete pages and content without coding, which is cost-effective and keeps your site's content fresh.

I know for those of you that read regularly, I'm going to sound like a broken record. But the following things bear repeating because they are important and help make your site search engine friendly.

1. Think like your customer.
   - What terms ("keywords") do they use to find you?
   - What are the most common phrases? 
2. Your most important keywords need to be found on your home page - nor more than 2-3. 
3. Use your secondary keywords to link to internal pages, one keyword per page. An internal page should focus on ONLY ONE KEYWORD. If you use too many, you'll only dilute the impact. This confuses the search engines - remember they are trying to figure out what your page is about. Use a secondary keyword on both your home page link and on the internal page.
4. Use your local area name in your keywords - add your city, region, suburban area, etc. to your keywords. Use what's familiar for your customers. You don't need to show in a search result for New York if your business is in New Prague! Examples: antiques new prague, auto repair new prague, czech country bike trails
5. When you add new content to your site, link to it from other places you are on the Web - your Facebook page, LinkedIn profile, Twitter, local listing Web sites, etc. The idea is to increase your "Web presence" or Web footprint.
6. List or claim your local business listing in the major search engines like Google, Yahoo! and Bing. Local listings are dominant in the search results now. These results are also used in mobile phone applications.

Above all, remember that expanding your Web presence (footprint) is a continuing effort. Don't get lost deep in the search results somewhere by continuing the old mindset of "set it and forget it".  Work smarter, not harder.

Ciao for now, Paula

Need a Web Site You Can Maintain Yourself?

Blogs used to be a great way to help you add fresh content to your site and help increase your visibility. They used to be used in addition to your regular Web site. Advances in content management have blurred the lines between conventional sites and blogs. Blogging programs have evolved into the most powerful and flexible systems available.

WordPress is a leading 'blog' program and it's completely free! Check out these great features:

• You can create static pages and sections making it appear virtually the same as any other site.
• It's great for new Web site owners who want to manage their own sites WITHOUT learning HTML code.
• Easily allows you to take advantage of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) opportunities
• Material can be easily categorized allowing effortless structure. A more orderly site will perform better with the search engine spiders. Search engines are all about structure. :-)
• Categories let you effectively group relevant material together by creating URLs with anchor text (text that uses your keywords) and relevant internal links. This makes your site more easily crawled by the search engines.

Fresh Content
WordPress is specifically designed to handle the frequent creation of content. You can even create multiple updates (or posts) and schedule them to be published at a later date. So if you're inspired and get a bunch of content cranked out, you can schedule your blog to update automatically! This is great for vacations or times you are away from your office. Your site can continue to be updated with fresh content even though you're away. Making regular updates to your site will get it crawled more often.

Link Building
The nature of blogs and the blogging community lends itself to link trades more often than with a regular Web site. Other bloggers love to find related blogs to link to and recommend.

Social Interaction Via Comments
Commenting plays a big role in link sharing with other blogs. Being an active participant and commenting on others' blogs, naturally improves visibility. A feature I particularly like is the ability to turn off the comment option at the page level. So if there is a page where you don't want people to be able to comment, just turn off the option and it becomes a static page.

Viral 'Word-of-Mouth' with RSS
With a blog, RSS is automatic and built right in. With this feature, your blog can be included in blog directories and blog-specific search engines.

WordPress is another easy to use, affordable tool for the small business owner! It allows you to simplify your site maintenance and improvements. The beauty is that you will be able to more easily and quickly manage your site, spend less $'s on a Web master, have greater control, not have to wait on another person's schedule, and realize the savings over time.

If you have a hobby or a small site idea - why not give WordPress a try? Get started here.
To see an example of a site created using the free version of WordPress, visit PaulaBonelli.com.

Until next time - Ciao!