If you want people to visit you in a new home, wouldn’t you notify them that you’ve made a move and give them your new address? Why would it be any different with your online business? We would all be able to figure out what to do if we were in a brick and mortar location, but for some reason, when it involves the internet, common sense takes a backseat and people rely on some belief that there’s a mechanism on the web that takes care of all that. I hate to break it to you, but you are that mechanism.
So, because I’ve heard this story over and over again, I thought it time to create a concept everyone can follow and give them hope for a positive future on the web.
When you’re finally online, automatically assume that there is not one human being on earth that knows you are there. Let me clarify that; aside from the relatives or friends you excitedly emailed your web address to, nobody knows or even cares that you are there. Face that as the absolute reality. Now that you have a website with what you believe are some great and interesting offers, and you’ve done your job to insure that the Search Engine Optimization built right in explains everything clearly and creatively, and that your great and catchy slogans you want associated with your business are really great and catchy, what more can you do? You believe that you’ve done exceedingly good work to this point, but have you given any thought to what you’re going to do to advertise yourself? Have you given any thought to how you’re going to let people know who and where you are? Have you thought about rankings, social media, links, engagement with potential customers? Anything like that? Of course you have; but you don’t have a clue as to where you start. That’s not just you, that’s mostly everyone.
If you owned a store in the mall or you were on a street, you’d be setting up an advertising budget. So why should it be any different now that your business is on the internet? Consider yourself lucky. You don’t have to think of what it would cost to produce and run publication ads or create a broadcast campaign or even plan a direct mail effort. Those numbers can run into lots and lots of dollars measured in the hundreds of thousands. You certainly are not burdened by high rent, staffing, utilities, signage, and the long list of necessary costs that contribute to everyday functions of a brick and mortar entity. All you have to worry about is how to get people to visit your site. That’s it. Because if you’re confident in your site’s selling ability, you’re possibly looking at a winner.
That’s what this article is all about; introducing you to the ability of a new Due Diligence concept as a solid way to get you ranked at the top of any search in your business category while simultaneously giving you the hope of bettering even that moving forward. And better still, the capability of doing it all on your own. Most people wouldn’t know where to begin. However, I realize that this is a long article, and it is that way because I have a lot to say on the subject, But if you would devote the patience to give your brand new brick and mortar business at least six months to pick up steam, then you definitely should allow at least that much time to getting your website established and recognized, and also a few minutes now to read what I have to say on the subject.
No two entities on the internet, whether they be information blogs or tech sites looking for your money will give you explanations you can act upon or even fully understand when you put in a search asking how you can get your site ranked high in a search. In most cases, you cannot get a lick of information that enables you to do anything yourself. Even if you read it in a seemingly impartial blog, their links to what they recommend you use as an aid is oftentimes an affiliation with some pricey software. They use so many acronyms and tech talk that you’d be spending a good part of your time checking out what they all meant.
Do you have any idea what a SERP is? Why, when there was only one SEO there are now two? On-site SEO and Off-site SEO. Or is it On-Page or Off-Page? Even the “experts” can’t agree on the terminology. Once I give you the answers to these questions and tell you how some of these people charge you, you’ll get a better idea of why I felt the need to write this article and the need to develop a concept based on experience. SERP by the way, means Search Engine Results Pages; sounds very impressive doesn’t it? That’s the page you see after you apply a search. Can you believe it? SEO or Search Engine Optimization is now, as I mentioned, divided into two portions, but the real eye-opener is what they both mean. On-Site SEO is what it has always meant as plain old SEO, making your website search engine friendly through understandable content and structure. But now there’s Off-Site SEO, developed because that On-Site SEO I suspect, didn’t seem to work on its own. This one refers to link building, engaging in social media, and reputations management. So forget sites with charges that “start” at $199 a month, or software “marked down” to $60 a month if you take the yearly plan; that’s all crazy, unnecessary, and certainly out of the question. Here’s what I have to say about it all, and here’s what I’ve experienced will work if you follow the steps as I’ve outlined them here.
Simply put, The Due Diligence concept is a series of agendas. You perform one that leads you to another that you seamlessly add in concert. Pretty soon you’ll be performing routine tasks that all support each other in perfect harmony, each playing a vital role in the exposure you need and the results you want.
Building on that foundation, you’ll want to make Craigslist the first of your agendas. It’s a place to advertise free (in most categories) to the entire world. It’s a very long story about how Craigslist can give you an unusual edge on the internet beyond the advertising by being the most contributory factor to your ranking in a search result. If you want to learn more about my reasoning behind this, read a previous Ezine article I wrote entitled Why It Is Important To Advertise Your Website On Craigslist. It will probably fill you in faster on why this agenda is so important to my concept. You should never stop running ads on Craigslist for all the reasons illustrated in that article.
Once you have Craigslist operating smoothly, it’s time to introduce Facebook. There are so many members on Facebook on both desktop and mobile that if they all congregated in one country, it would be at least the third largest in world population. So given the unscientific statement that everyone that everyone knows is on Facebook, it doesn’t take a marketing genius to assume that you’ll find tons of customers for your business amongst them. They are the most important to your overall effort in the beginning and their variety of Facebook ad structures could turn out to be the most beneficial. As an aside, if you take the time to run down the reasons behind the existence of Tumblr, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, YouTube, and literally hundreds more, you’ll find that you could target practically any demographic worldwide with posts and a variety of proprietary ad structures they offer to give you hundreds of places to target customers worldwide. These are side benefits that you can integrate into your schedule, but certainly Facebook is the second most important and should keep working alongside Craigslist.
More things you can integrate into your schedule while you’re concentration is on Craigslist and Facebook, would also be the free PR organizations and article distribution sites such as EzineArticles. You have the opportunity to professionally announce your latest updates to the world, while turning yourself into an authority on Ezine, providing a source where others can search for the guidance you freely provide. Up to now, the main focus is Craigslist and Facebook, and you can work to occasionally add in the other social media sites, PR sites, and Ezine article writing when you have the time. And because they’re all major entities that come with their own web recognitions and rankings, they’re a major help to you overall.
So while Craigslist and Facebook are the mainstays of the Due Diligence concept, there is one more equally important agenda; Creativity. This is what contributed to the graphics and copywriting success of your site. And this is what will be the driving force behind your Craigslist and Facebook ads. Creativity will also manifest itself in all of your out-of-the-box thinking as it relates to the creation of new tags within your category that identify you and make you stand apart from the competitive pack.
The competition is going to copy what you do if your searches result in success, so it’s important that you occasionally reconfigure what you’re doing and stay ahead of the results. Come up with new add on tags, new add on ideas, and new add on ads that expand upon your initial concept and stay constantly ahead of the game. I say “add on” because you never want to abandon the successful things that brought you to where you are at that point. Although there is a theory that integrating the keywords and phrases in your category that have been widely published as the most popular, hammering away with brand new ones associated only with you will do you a mountain of good in the long run. Also remember that utilizing the features of Craigslist and Facebook to their fullest takes some time and understanding. In Facebook you’ll have to create a page identity that parallels your website and you’ll have to link to your website as well. Good copywriting and graphics arts skills will come in handy for Craigslist ads and the entries you post on Facebook. All of that is based on your level of creativity, so get some help if you really need it. But here’s the part that makes Due Diligence different and so interesting. Even if you paid someone for help, you’d still be sufficiently educated enough to continue it on your own.
The Due Diligence concept is C-F-C; Craigslist-Facebook-Creativity. That’s basically what you have to keep in your mind as a motivation that will have you ranked high in a search, create the words and phrases that are identified with you, and make visitors want to be where you are. Everything I’ve told you does not happen overnight, but it will definitely happen if you stay the course. Good Luck.
