Developing & Improving Your Marketing, Part III

What was discussed?

Quote of the day: “Remember to celebrate milestones as you prepare for the road ahead.” – Nelson Mandela

Last episode, we spoke about creating relevant content that speaks to your audience. After creating content, you’ll want to start focusing on building links for on-page SEO.

What is a link?

You’ve probably read many sites that have highlighted blue text that takes you to another page when you click on it. The highlighted blue part is called a hyperlink and the website that the link went to received a “backlink” to the original site you were reading. When this happens, Google will notice. If a ton of sites are linking to a certain site, Google will include that in their search result calculations.

Why are links to your site important?

If you’re able to get links to your website that are relevant to your industry, geographically relevant to you, and are authoritative, you’ll be improving your online presence. For example, if you’re a member of your local Chamber of Commerce and they link to you, that’s relevant. If you had something happen in your local community and stepped into help and then CNN or a local news site linked to your site, that helps! When sites with established authority start linking to you, it helps your site establish authority, especially with Google.

Keep reading for some more ways to increase the number of links to your site.

Guest Blogging

Guest blogging is a great way to build links with other reputable websites as it increases authority and helps you to be seen. Increasing authority will help you to increase your search rankings. If you’re interested in guest blogging, make sure to check out our blog post on it here.

Claim Your Local Search Listings

Make sure that you’re listed on sites like Yelp, CitySearch, Bing, and HealthGrades. When you claim these search listings, be sure that all of the information is current, consistent, and correct. You want to make sure that Google sees that you’re on all of these different sites and the information is the same across the board. Most of these sites will allow you to leave a link to your main website, which is a great way to gain interested visitors.

Participate in Local Community Events

Getting involved in your community is a great way to get local businesses to link to your site. Try heading to the local library and offering to hold a workshop, sponsor a Little League team, get involved with local volunteering organizations. These are all great ways to get local communities to link to your site. For more information on this, check out this article by Dentistry iQ.

Optimize for Local Search

Be sure that you’re optimized for local search as it’s probably what’s going to matter most for local businesses and customers in the area. When optimizing for local search, make sure you utilize location-specific keywords. An example would be “dentist in Las Vegas, Nevada” and you’d include this in different parts of your website like your title, heading, content, URL, or any other spots on your site that are relevant. Be sure that your Google My Business account is set up properly and that you’ve claimed your listing (or have created your listing). Once you’ve done that, make sure that the information is current and correct. Make sure that the name of the practice is correct as well as Google sometimes messes up the listings, especially for dentists.

Compelling Offer

Every marketing strategy should have a compelling offer to get people in the door. If you’re a dentist, a great offer might be free X-Rays, teeth whitening, etc. for first time patients. For others, coupons off of services, iPad drawings, 50% of products for new patients, etc. Be sure that you’re tracking these offers and that your numbers are accurate. If you don’t track your offers, you won’t be able to tell what’s working and what’s not working.

If you need assistance with generating links to your site, be sure to contact us today so we can see if we're a good fit for each other.

Be sure to follow us on Twitter @TitanWebAgency if you enjoyed this podcast!

Have you considered hiring a company to help you market your practice? If so, be sure to check out this free report I put together called: The Consumer Awareness Guide to Choosing an Online Marketing Agency. Learn the exact questions you need to ask to ensure you don’t get ripped off. You can pick it up at: http://titanwebagency.com/report

Check out the show notes at:

titanwebagency.com/podcast/114

Developing and Improving Your Marketing, Part III