The Digital Marketing & Productivity Blog of Stephen Murphy

I Rank, Therefore I Am

Small Business SEO Last February was a very busy month for me. I had just started my new job as an SEO strategist at PCG Digital Marketing, and was beginning the quest to launch Get Busy Media. There was only one problem: I knew nothing about SEO or online marketing. I hit the books hard, and practiced the tools of the trade until I knew the ins and outs of SEO strategy.

I learned something very interesting through my research. Basic small business SEO is not rocket science. Sure, more advanced SEO techniques do take some technical experience and creativity, but getting started was much easier than I imagined.

As a small business owner, you need SEO to attract new customers and grow your overall marketing goals. If people cannot find you online, you might as well not exist to them. Think about it: when was the last time you pulled out the yellow pages and looked at every single pizza place in the area? Chances are you searched Google and went with one of the first results.

Let’s go over some basics before moving forward. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, and involves optimizing your website for specific keyword phrases. Keywords are words or phrases that individuals type into a search engine like Google. Keywords can be one word or many words – it all depends on what your customers are looking for. To play off the above example, typing “Brooklyn Pizza Parlor” into Google is an example of a keyword phrase.

Below are some simple steps to get started with small business SEO:

Get a Content Management System

If you already have a website, this step might take a little more effort. A CMS is a website platform that lets you edit the content on your website without having to write code. There are many CMS platforms available, but my personal favorite is WordPress. It’s a fully customizable and powerful platform, and an abundance of themes make it easy for you to put up a beautiful website fast.

More importantly, you’ll be able to make changes on the fly as you continue to learn and test new SEO strategies for your site. This will be important a few steps down.

Do Your Research

Hey, remember when I told you about keywords? It’s time to dive in! Keyword research is the first step to any small business SEO. You need to put your website in front of the right people; otherwise, you will not convert anyone into a customer.

Use the Google Adwords Keyword Tool to see what words and phrases are popular search terms. For most local businesses, you will want to include a location and one or two descriptor words. In the example below, I’ve searched for pizza places in the Brooklyn area:

Small Business SEO

Enter your keywords one at a time to see how often they are searched monthly. In this example, “Brooklyn Pizza Store” is never searched, so you won’t want to optimize for that keyword. On the other hand, “Brooklyn Pizza” is very popular (over 74,000 monthly searches), so this term might be more difficult to rank for. To get the most bang for your buck, you would probably choose “Pizza in Brooklyn NY” or another keyword term with modest traffic.

Find 2-3 keywords to get started, as you don’t want to overdo it.

Create Your Content

Now that you have your keywords, it’s time to create and optimize your content. The beauty of working in a CMS is that it allows you to easily go in and edit content on your website pages. To optimize, begin adding keyword phrases wherever they make sense. In the “About Us” section, for example, you might write:

“Luigi’s is a Brooklyn pizzeria dedicated to using only quality ingredients to make the best tasting pizza.”

Notice how I included “Brooklyn Pizzeria” while still sounding (somewhat) natural. Do this throughout your website with different keyword combinations to maximize your on site optimization.

Start Blogging

SEO doesn’t stop with your website content. It’s important to continue creating optimized content, and the best way to do this is through blogging. Try to write at least one blog post a week about interesting topics, and include keyword phrases throughout your posts. One week you might write about finding the best wine to go with a particular kind of pizza, and the next week write about a local charity you support. The more content you create on a regular basis, the better you will show up in search engine results.

Analyze and Refine

Small business SEO will take a few months before you start ranking high in search engines. In fact, most meaningful marketing campaigns you run will take time in order to be effective. My general rule of thumb is the longer a marketing campaign takes to establish, the longer you will see its results. (I know this will come back to haunt me somehow!)

Check your results by searching Google and other search engines for your keyword phrases, and see where your business ranks. You might start out on Page 15 of results, but as long as you continuously improve each month, you know your strategy is working. If after a few months you have not moved at all in the rankings, consider concentrating on more specific keyword phrases (i.e. pizza dumbo brooklyn) or completely different keywords (i.e. italian restaurants brooklyn).

Another great way to monitor results is with Google Analytics, a free website monitoring program designed to give you detailed insights into your website’s visitors, how they got there, and other data. You can instantly see all the keywords that led individuals to your site, helping you pinpoint valuable keyword opportunities. Google Analytics is a bit more technical, and you might need some assistance from a nerd (like myself) to install the code on your site.

Get Started

SEO for small businesses is a long-term solution, so you need to get started with it now. The longer you wait, the farther you will fall behind your competitors who are already optimizing their own sites. It is easy to get started just by following the above tips. When you are ready to take it to the next level, consider hiring a dedicated small business SEO company to manage your campaigns and help you dominate online. Remember: If you don’t rank, you don’t exist.

Feel free to contact me at steve@getbusymedia.com if you have any questions about getting started with small business SEO or digital marketing.

5 Reasons You Need Text Message Marketing For Your Small Biz

Mobile marketing is here to stay. There are currently more Americans with smart phones than with college degrees, and there’s a good chance your customers have experimented with mobile apps and text messaging in the past. Here are five reasons you need to implement mobile marketing in your small business:

It’s Instant

Let’s pretend you own a bar. Its 9:30 at night, and there isn’t a customer in sight. In the past, you would probably send your staff home and mark it as a loss, and begin your marketing push for the next night. Now let’s pretend you have a text message marketing program in place. You can instantly send a text message blast to your entire database with a special promotion. “Join us at the bar for $1 drafts now until midnight. First 5 customers get free appetizer!” No other marketing channel (besides yelling loudly) puts your message in front of customers instantly.

It’s Affordable

Traditional advertising can be costly. TV ads can cost thousands of dollars, and radio and print ads are not cheap either. Mobile, on the other hand, can be very affordable. Many mobile marketing firms charge a nominal monthly fee (let’s say $99 on the higher end), and individual messages usually range around a few cents each to send. And, as mentioned above, you will be able to communicate your message a lot faster than with other traditional media.

It’s Measurable

John Wanamaker, known as the grandfather of advertising, once said, “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is, I don’t know which half.” It’s difficult to quantify the success of any traditional advertising campaign, which forces business owners to spend unnecessary ad dollars across different platforms. Text message marketing gives you the ability to track and measure different platforms. By putting a mobile incentive on your ads, such as “Send a text for $10 off your next purchase,” you give the customer a clear call to action that is recorded and tracked. This lets you see which advertising channels are working the best so you can allocate more of your ad budget towards them.

It’s Personal

People are always changing. They change their email addresses like they change their clothes. They move to different addresses for work, family, and other reasons. The one asset most people don’t change is their cell phone number. This makes your relationship with your list of mobile subscribers extremely personal and valuable. And because all text message marketing programs require customers to opt in, you’re guaranteed to collect valid phone numbers 100% of the time. Many text message marketing platforms even let you send targeted messages to different groups of customers, allowing you to further personalize your message.

It’s Early

Despite how powerful and affordable text message marketing is, it is still in its earliest phases for small business marketers. This gives your business an edge in your market, and lets you build a unique list of customers before your competitors know what’s going on. Companies like View By Text and PCG Digital Marketing offer affordable and robust text message marketing platforms for small business owners to begin the process.

For more tips on how to use text message marketing in your business, feel free to contact me personally at steve@getbusymedia.com and I will assist you in creating dynamic, value driven campaigns.

Don't Get Poked: Protecting Your Digital Identity

Social networks have changed the way we communicate, interact and share our lives with others. These open lines of communication have the potential to make the world a better place by creating exciting new opportunities and changing lives. Unfortunately, social networks also expose our personal information to anyone with good hacking skills and bad intentions.

Identity theft is the fastest growing crime in the country, and though there is no real way to protect yourself completely, there are certain best practices you can follow to minimize your risk. Follow these tips to avoid being targeted by cyber crooks:

The Password Is…

Forgetting your username or password is unbelievably frustrating. If you’re like me, you have to manage logins for multiple email accounts, dozens of social networks, online banking, credit cards, and more. The easiest way to prevent this is to use the same username and password for all your accounts, making them nearly impossible to forget.

This is a recipe for disaster. It only takes one security breach to compromise your entire digital persona, especially if the clever hacker then changes each of your passwords to prevent you from recovering your information. Damage can range from severe identity theft to embarrassing Facebook status updates, neither of which are fun to deal with.

To protect yourself, its important to develop a system that helps you create different passwords for different websites or groups of networks. You don’t want your banking information to be the same as your email, and social networks should have their own set of credentials as well. Here are a few additional password tips:

Passwords should be 7 or more characters, and should include at least one capital letter, one number, and one symbol
Try to avoid using easily identifiable passwords such as “1234” and “password”. These are the first combinations hackers will try.
Change or rotate your login information every few months. Most major corporations require their employees to do this as a safety measure – follow their lead.
If you need to write your passwords down, be sure to lock them in a safe place such as a fire safe box. Treat them the same way you would treat your social security card.

Speaking of Passwords

Internet browsers usually offer to save your passwords for fast access to all your favorite sites. What most people don’t know, however, is that anyone can easily discover all your saved usernames and passwords with only a few clicks. In fact, take a look at just how easy it is on Firefox:

If you’re using a public computer or a work machine, avoid clicking the “remember my password” button. When you’re at home, make sure to password protect your computer so that guests can’t easily find your passwords when you step into the restroom for a minute.

Where’s Waldo? He just checked in at Starbucks.

Location based social networks are all the rage these days, with popular networks such as FourSquare, Facebook, and Google+ offering check in services. As fun (and delicious) as it is to become the mayor of your local Five Guys restaurant, location based social networking can also be dangerous. Let the world know you are on vacation for a week, and you’ve just given thieves a free pass at your home.

: Its impossible to mention Burgers and Crime without including this guy.

If you are a fan of location-based services, try not to announce the length of your trip or all the people you are with. This can save you the trouble of coming home to a ransacked home while you were busy tweeting about how juicy your burger was.

Keep Your Private Information, well, Private

There are some pieces of information that should rarely – if ever – be shared online:

Social Security Number: This is the most important number in your life (even more than your twitter followers). If you need to enter it, make sure it is an encrypted SSL connection and the site is trustworthy. Hint: Secure sites will have https:// instead of http:// in front of the URL.
Mother’s Maiden Name: For some silly reason this is still one of the most popular security questions for banks, credit cards, and other private financial information. Ask mom nicely to keep her maiden off Facebook, for your own protection.
Pictures of Your Home: Posting pictures of your new bachelor pad might impress your friends, but it also gives crooks a blueprint of your home. Couple this with Foursquare updates, and you might as well leave your key under the mat.
Credit Card Numbers: It’s almost too easy to make online purchases with your credit card today. Similar to entering your social security number, make sure you only enter your credit card on trusted sites with an encrypted connection.

Use Your Noggin

Though a fairly thorough list (ahem), these are only a few best practices to protect yourself from cyber crime. Use common sense when surfing the web, and protect your digital assets like you would your birth certificate or social security card. Sharing YouTube videos might be fun, but sharing your bank account info with a two-bit crook never is.

What tips do you have to protect yourself online?

You Are Here: Optimizing Google Maps For Success

We’ve made it a point in the past that the Yellow Pages are dead. There’s a new sheriff in town, and his name is Google Maps. Google is currently the most widely used search engine, owning a staggering 67% market share. One of its most useful features to customers is the ability to pinpoint their location and display local businesses that fit their search results on a map.

However, most small businesses don’t take advantage of this free listing and let their competitors snatch up valuable customers. Follow the below tips to become a master of maps and drive more traffic to your business.

Claim Your Listing

This sounds obvious, but surprisingly most business owners still have not claimed their maps listing (also known as Google Places). Do a Google search for your company name and city/state, and see if your business shows up. If yes, click the “claim this listing” button on the top right of the map to start the verification process. If no, you’ll need to set up a new listing so that customers can find you.

Make sure you claim your business listing while signed into your Google account. Many make the mistake of letting an employee or third party claim their listing, which can come back to haunt you if they are no longer affiliated with your company.

Complete Your Profile

Once claimed its important to completely fill out as much information as possible in your maps listing. You never know what information a customer is looking for, so it is best to include as much as possible including your hours, a description of your products and services, a link to your website, etc. Using Google’s preset categories will yield the best search results, because these are terms commonly searched already. If there are no categories that relate to your business, enter custom tags to help patrons find you.

Add Interesting Pictures and Video

Google lets you add 10 pictures and up to 5 videos to give your business listing a little flair. This is an excellent opportunity to show off your unique personality, so add media that gives your customers insight into your company. Most companies will add photos of the outside of their shop or their latest commercials; can you say boring? Introduce your staff, add pictures of happy customers, or add video testimonials. The more you differentiate, the better chance you have of converting prospects.

Load Up On Reviews

Speaking of testimonials, it’s important to get as many positive reviews as possible in your place page. A business with 50 reviews and 5 stars will typically fare far better than a competitor that has only 3 reviews and 1 star. Remind happy customers to fill out reviews by sending them emails, post cards, or another take home piece. If you can, even have a computer on site that allows customers to fill out reviews immediately after the purchase! For example, a pizza place might print the instructions on a pizza box, or a car salesman might carry an iPad to capture reviews after a sale. Get creative and you’ll reap the benefits.

Be Consistent Across the Web

Google Maps is a great place to add your company information, but remember its not the only place. Sites like Judy’s Book, Yelp, Dex Knows and others serve a similar need and remain in business because customer’s are using their services. Search the web for different directory services and complete the above steps on each of these sites. Giving your customers a consistent experience on the web will help you gain their trust and hopefully their business as well.

Your Customers Are NOT The Same As You

Recently I was helping my mom with some online shopping. She was looking for a case for her cell phone, and was having a difficult time with the transaction. “Stephen”, she said, “I need your help again.”

I repeatedly helped her navigate Google, PayPal, and the rest of the process. For me, it was extremely frustrating to show the same steps over and over as she skipped around the web looking for a deal. It seemed so simple and intuitive to me, and I couldn’t grasp why she was having so much trouble.

Then a light bulb lit up in my head: It may have been easy for me, but it was an entirely different experience for my not-so-computer-savvy mother. Which brings me to my point:

As business owners and entrepreneurs, we often assume our customer’s think and act the same way we do. This could not be farther from the truth. Keep your business fresh and innovative by putting yourself in your customers’ shoes.

Find Your True Target Market

Your target market may not be whom you envision. Nintendo had traditionally been a game console for young children and teens with its popular mix of family friendly games. When the game maker launched its motion controlled Wii System several years ago, they were surprised to see it was resonating with another age group: senior citizens. Seeing opportunity, the company jumped on board and turned a previously untapped market into new revenue streams.

Lesson: Test your product with multiple segments. You may find a completely new group of customers ready and willing to become loyal advocates of your brand.

Be Open to Change

No matter what you sell, it is important to understand the way customers use your product or service. Silly Putty was invented during World War II as a rubber substitute. Unfortunately, the bouncy substance did not quite meet the needs of rubber manufacturers because of certain chemical limitations. It was widely considered practically useless, until one day a shipment found its way to a local toy store. The putty went on to outsell nearly every other toy in the shop, and the rest is history.

Lesson: Don’t try to squeeze round pegs into square holes. If your product fills a need different than you intended, pivot your strategy and adjust.

Observe and Refine

As noted above, it is nearly impossible to predict the exact way your business will take shape as you grow and expand. Take a step back and observe how your customers interact with your brand. For example, if you are building a new website, watch a few people navigate it without telling them how. This can show you if they are taking the steps you want them to take, or if they are wandering aimlessly trying to figure out what the hell it is they are doing on your site. Constantly collect feedback to refine your products, brand, and marketing efforts.

Lesson: The path to success starts with innovation, and innovation is born from listening closely to your customers.