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THIS WEEK
Do You Squidoo (and Hub and Weebly)?
ALSO IN THIS EDITION
When you have a small business website the main thing you want is for people to be able to find you in the search engines when they are looking for things. Having a correctly search engine optimised small business website is the first step – but many businesses think that the process is very mysterious and only able to be done by SEO experts.
What if I told you that there are three very simple and easy ways that you yourself can boost your rankings and build your traffic to your site ... and they are free! Would you be interested?
What if I told you these ways don't need web developers or SEO experts – you can do them yourself they are that easy. Would you want to give it a go?
What if I told you that within no time at all you will be Squidooing, Hubbing and Weeblying with the best of them – you would go "what the heck language are you talking?"
Stay with me ... because this week we are doing a quick race around the pick of the free sites.
 When people look for things on the net they do so for two main reasons.
- Research so they can learn more about a product, service or interest they have
- Fun and relaxation.
When people are researching a product, service or interest they will type in their keywords (search terms) into Google and then click on the results that look interesting that appear towards the top of their search results.
Google likes sites where fresh content is added regularly and that are information rich. It generally rewards those sites with higher web rankings. This has led to a whole pile of sites on the internet that contain information articles about topics (think Wikipedia as the original and still the best).
Often content included in these sites can be found in the top 10 results of Google (even if your regular website is nowhere to be found). If you are the author of that page then you benefit with people following the links back to your page.
Having articles in these sorts of sites will also boost your regular website ranking over time as these sites generally are higher ranked than your personal site (and links from higher ranked sites to lower sites are seen as important in Google algorithms).
Writing informative articles about your product or service is a great way to boost traffic to your site and build your credibility. The emphasis is on information (and not sales). Telling someone how to build a steel panel fence is information – telling them your steel panel fence is the best in the world is sales. Telling someone how to care for cut flowers is information – telling them to buy your flowers is sales.
People want information to help them make their decision about something; they don't want to be beaten into submission with heavy sales pitches.
Next week we will talk specifically about articles and article directories, but this week we will start with just three sites – Squidoo, Hub and Weebly.
Squidoo and Hub are very similar sites. Everyday people can set up their own page with no technical skill or knowledge. You start by setting up a free account at each of the sites, and then you will choose to set up a page (or lens as Squidoo calls it).
You will have to give your page a title. Your title is your headline so should grab attention. It should also contain your main keywords so for example one of my Squidoo Lenses is "Creating an effective employee manual". With Squidoo you be asked some questions – such as what is the goal for your page.
With both Hub and Squidoo you will also be asked to pick a URL for your page (tip here – your keywords make great URLS), you allocate your page to a category such as business and you rate the content (G, M, R etc). You then put in more of your keywords as tags to help people find your page.
Next you should write a bit about yourself in your bio. People want to know who you are and why you are an expert. You also want to include links back to your main website in your bio.
Finally you get into what I call electronic scrapbooking – you pick bits that you want on your page. You can add in your informative article, link to photos or You Tube Videos, send people to Amazon to buy books about the topic, link it to your blog.
Each thing you want to do is made very easy – you just click on the bits you want on the page and they handle all the hard coding for you. If you get stuck there are lots of pages on Squidoo and Hub on how to set up a Squidoo or Hub page.
Now a word on your content. When writing Squidoo lenses and Hub pages you should have 100% original content. That means you can't just copy and paste bits from your website or other articles on the web and use that. At the very least you need to amend your words to make sure they are unique to that page.
You also need to make sure your content has your keywords in it, and if permitted (each site is different) you can include links back to your website in your content. This is where you may want to hire an article copywriter to help you create the right content for your business.
Weebly is slightly different – it is like having a whole new website and blog – but one you can design yourself. A quick word of warning – having a Weebly site should not replace your regular website. All you are trying to do is create more places for people to find information about your business on the web.
Weebly makes it easy for you to design a simple website using pre-supplied templates and drag and drop pieces of your website. Again content is king – you need some great information about your product and service that is not all sales – but is informative, interesting and keyword rich. You should include links to your blog or website in your Weebly page.
So – now you know what Squidoo, Hub and Weebly are. Check them out. They are not scary (they are quite addictive really once you get started) and think about how they could help your business to grow.
Personally I am addicted to Squidoo, but I watch this space for my coming Hub and Weebly pages!
| HR Tip - What do potential candidates see when they Google your company? |
You have all heard it and possibly experienced it. There is a shortage of good candidates on the market for many jobs. Smart candidates will always research companies before they apply for vacancies.
There are three ways they do this:
- they check out your website (assuming you have one)
- they stick your company name into Google and look at what comes up
- they put the CEO's name into Google and look at what comes up
Given this is what your candidates do - have you done this lately for your company and name? What do you find?
Does your company present a confident, professional image on the web? Are there lots of skeletons in the closet and consumer complaints that are outranking your own material? Is the only material about your CEO an obscure personal Facebook page?
If the results are less than flattering, you may need to rethink your whole online marketing strategy as this will be contributing to you finding it hard to attract great candidates in these net savvy days.
Yet another "what a great idea" product and business this week. The Personal Budget Organiser is a wallet with 5 extra sections and window tabs to organise and allocate your budget.
The idea is at the beginning of your week you put your cash into the different sections you have named for yourself - it could be mortgage/rent, groceries, kids whatever.
 If you see the money you have to spend rather than having it on a card, you are less likely to overspend your budget.
But what makes this the business of the week is the great website they have to go along with their product. It is full of great budgeting tips, downloads and calculators. It also has a regular newsletter to keep you on track as well as forums to discuss financial issues.
The company regularly sends out press releases and as a result has had some great publicity from their product.
It is worth checking out both the Personal Budget Organiser product and the strategy they are using. There are some great marketing lessons other small businesses can learn from.
This week I have watched in tears as Colin the Baby Humpback whale who was separated from his mother, tried to suckle at some yachts in the Pittwater.
But ... the debate around what to do has highlighted one of the most important lessons in life. Read my take on the lessons my kids have taken away from Colin.
Article copywriting - why your business needs to share its knowledge.
exuberantly yours
Ingrid
Heart Harmony
PS: This week's Small Business Tips blog also included posts about lessons from the Spice Girls, Managing the Winter Blues and the Return of the Calling Card.
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