You can check the hard way, by searching a term you think people might use to find you, and scan through the result pages looking for your page.  But then, even if you find your listing, do you understand what factors you could change to make it rank higher?

Pink Minnow does!  And we can compile a report for you that scores your website to let you know how effective it will be in the search engines…AND what you need to change to improve your rankings!

This report consists of several sections:

•  SEO Score – a percentage score that indicates how well-optimized the site is for the search engines. Also included is a detailed breakdown of what factors contributed to the score.
•  Current Rankings – a list of search phrases related to your website and where your site ranks for each term.
•  Action Steps – prioritized strategies that would raise the SEO Score, and increase the likelihood of your site being found on Page One of Google and the other search engines.

You can check out a sample report, keeping in mind that each website is unique, and we evaluate different keyword phrases, and draw varying conclusions.

Speed Networking, if you didn’t know, is a lot like speed dating. At the start, you are given a list of table numbers that you will attend. At each table there are a handful of other business folks, and a small hourglass/timer like you see in a board game. When the folks from ISN ring the big cowbell, the person with the timer flips it, and gives their “elevator speech”. When the time’s up, they pass it along to the next. Everyone at the table has time to present, exchange business cards, and chat for a minute or two. Then, the cowbell rings again, and it’s on to the next table on your list.

It’s great exposure, and it’s a fun way to do it! If you enjoy networking (or even if you don’t!), next time you hear of one in your area, I suggest you jump all over it.

Here are some lessons learned from the event:

• Bring plenty of business cards.
• Plan on spending the next few days writing followup emails and making followup calls.
• PRACTICE your presentation before you go.  You will have no more than 60 seconds…make it count!  Rambling, unclear presentations are boring.
• Make it FUN so you STAND OUT (one of the themes of Pink Minnow!).  Have a cute hook, a visual, or something to make you more memorable.
• Don’t be intimidated by competition!  Do what YOU do best.  Even your competitors could become potential referral sources, if they have certain types of customers that they prefer not to engage.
• Follow-up.  It’s a must.

I hope to see you at the next event!

There’s a fantastic article here on using iFrames in a FB page to create a website-look right within Facebook.

Read it, then see if it gives you any ideas? If you like the idea of a custom facebook page, contact Pink Minnow to find out how we can help you get yours!

There are three VERY EASY ways to use LinkedIn to get introductions to your targeted prospects.

It feels great to pass a pile of referrals.  It helps build the relationships with your team, as well as finding a continuing way to help your customers or others in your existing network.

But sometimes, when you try to think about who you could refer, you come up empty.  It’s easy to draw a blank, then show up to the next meeting empty-handed.

If you want to step up your networking game, here’s a quick video tutorial on using LinkedIn to find referrals to pass to your group.

CC image courtesy of paparutzi on Flickr

I don’t know what “computer poo” is, but someone searched the phrase once, and found my site.

I used to write a blog about the joys of being both a redneck and a computer geek. It wasn’t a commercial site, more like a labor of love and laughter. In one post, I recalled a time that I was walking with one of my employees on the rural campus of the bank headquarters where I worked. We saw a pile of deer poo on the path, and hilarity ensued. This is not that story.

The point is, somehow by writing about that story, the words “computer” and “poo” ended up on the same page. And somehow, someone searching the phrase “computer poo” found my site through Google. (I know this because I track all my traffic with Google Analytics).

While I still have no idea what they were looking for, the lesson I learned is this: WRITE, WRITE, WRITE!! If you have a blog, EVERY page you write creates a unique combination of words, phrases, and keyword density (percentage that a phrase appears on your page). And Google is constantly evaluating that.

The more you write about your business, and the products or services it provides, the more solutions you offer in the written word on your website, the more likely it is that someone will find their way to your site.

So, remember the lesson of “computer poo”, and KEEP WRITING!

Facebook now has 600+ Million users…that’s twice the population of the United States.

So…HUGE resource, powerful enough to kick a leader out of an office he’s held for over two decades.

You think you want to use that resource to help your business grow? 

Pink Minnow has developed a Social Media Marketing course to help small businesses leverage this uber-powerful tool.

Contact us to find out how we can help.

Once again I encountered someone who THOUGHT their website was doing well in Google.

“My website is in the Number One slot in Google,” they told me.  And once again, I had to explain to someone that Google LIES about their ranking.  When they found out where they really ranked, they started crying.  And I cried with them, not because their site would never get any visitors, but because it affirms the problem I have convincing people that their site isn’t really on Page One.

OK, it wasn’t really all that melodramatic.  But I do regularly run into people who think their website is doing well in Google when it actually is not.

Why?

Because Google lies.  Sort of.

What’s really happening is that Google uses your browser history (cache, cookies, etc.) to find out what pages you visit frequently.  And if you search for a phrase that is somehow related to pages you view often, Google thinks it’s doing you a favor by returning one of your favorite pages.

Naturally, if you have a website, you visit it frequently.  And so, Google returns that page at or near the top of its listings whenever you search anything related to it.

But YOU are the ONLY person seeing your page at the top.

To really check it, you need to visit Google through a service that hides who you are.  If Google can’t see your surfing history, the results it returns will be the same as what everyone else sees.

When I want to check a site quickly for just one or two searches in Google, I go to PageWash first. (http://pagewash.com)  PageWash allows you to then go to Google through their service, but they hide your identity so when you search their, you see the actual results without the artificial boost to your site.

I wonder how many people never consider using SEO services because they THINK they are at Number One.  Google lies, and their websites die from no visits.

And I weep for them.

It’s easy! Here’s what you do:

Step 1: think about the product or service your company offers.
Step 2: go to Google.com and search as if you were someone looking for that product or service but had never heard of your company.
Step 3: look on Page One (the top 10 results).

If you do NOT appear on Page One, call Vyuyu!

There have been numerous studies that show that people rarely go to Page Two…most people enter a new search phrase.

So try that! Narrow your searches. Don’t just put “barbecue restaurant”, but try something more specific like “barbecue restaurant in richmond va”.

Are you on Page One? Are you in the top three?

Here’s how Pink Minnow can help:

• we use tools to find out what phrases people are actually searching.  There’s little value in ranking high on Page One of Google’s results, if no one is searching for it.
• we can help you get on Page One.

Most people, when shopping for a product or service, use the Internet to help find it.  Don’t let them find your competition!