Web Presence for Business

Wanted to share what I learned in a marketing webinar recently (PR WEB and Vocus). This will also reinforce what Anthony has already said regarding social networking.

1. You must have a web presence with social networking at the top of your list.
--the three biggies: Facebook, Twitter, Youtube --it takes a while to build a presence on these sites.

2. a good web site for landing from those three sites: non-Flash, like Anthony said, it's the worst thing because SEO engines don't recognize it. If your reason for using flash is concern over photo theft, start using slide shows embedded in your blog or webpages. If you don't want to mess with software, try a service like animoto.com --they do it all for you. IT's free if you do short videos and don't mind their logo.

3. Don't have just one domain --target your audiences --e.g. one for weddings, one for street photography, etc.

I thought it might be good to take each of those items and share what we're doing and give/take suggestions on how to do it better. Thanks to Anthony, I got started on twitter --marketers are predicting that the growth here is even faster and more impressive than FB.

The marketing gurus are comparing the social networking explosion to the gold rush days. When the starting line shot was fired, the quickest got the best land. We're at the starting line . . . the businesses who learn to use these tools, will do the best before the rest of the pack catches up.

What could be better than free marketing? Remember what a newspaper ad cost?

And this is not just for those who have a business - - if you're even thinking of someday promoting yourself as a photographer, you should start now.

thank you...I've been working at getting my name out and nver thought to have different domains....now I will start on that and also will consider non-flash stuff or that website. The website I have I think uses flash....

Since this is essentially a web marketing thread, I'll share my insights. Here are some guaranteed steps that will build your web presence:

1. Do it yourself. Self-hosting is the best way to go...get your own .com, don't build your business through some kind of free service where they have most of the control. It can be done on a shoestring budget, and if you're not into coding HTML and CSS, there are many cool free templates out there. I designed my site myself, and it's all self-taught. You can do it too.

2. Write a blog and update it regularly. Trust me on this one. People do come back and read what you've written, and it keeps your name fresh in their minds.

3. Register with Google Webmaster Tools. Use Google Analytics. Use XML Sitemaps. Register with Google Places and put your business on the map...literally. SEO is a package deal, it's not a one-and-done effort. And it's ongoing.

4. Use Facebook and Twitter. I'm no guru, but what I've been doing works. Avoid reading too much about how to use these (especially Twitter) online. Most of what you'll read is junk. If you want to know some good sources, just ask. The real success stories are easy to find.

5. Use relevant keywords. You're not Joe McNally, so people aren't going to do a search for "wedding photographer" and find you on the web. Be smart. [zip code] wedding photographer is a good place to start. There are keyword tools out there at your disposal (I need to post some links) that will tell you what people are really searching for.

Thanks Anthony and Helene, you've got my wheels spinning on this one, so that's a good thing I need to update my site a bunch, and optimize it.

I've never used twitter, but I use facebook. Wonder if my networked blogs app works with twitter as well.. hmmm....