Seven Search Engine Optimization Tips

Folks savvy about Google have recommended the following tips to help your business get better rankings in their search engine:

Think people, not placement: Make pages primarily for users, not for search engines. Don't deceive your users or present different content to search engines than you display to users, which is commonly referred to as cloaking.

Easy links: Make a site with a clear hierarchy and text links. Every page should be reachable from at least one static text link.

Content is king: (I’ve said this before, but your content drives people to your site.) Create a useful, information-rich site, and write pages that clearly and accurately describe your content. Make sure that your tutle  elements and ALT attributes are descriptive and accurate.

Use keywords to create descriptive, easy-to-remember URLs.

Bing experts have suggested the following activities to get better rankings in their search engine:

Make it easy to find you: Make sure content is not buried inside rich media (Adobe Flash Player, JavaScript, Ajax) and verify that rich media doesn't hide links from crawlers.

Feed the people: Create keyword-rich content based on research to match what users are searching for. Produce fresh content regularly.

Watch out for graphics: Don’t put the text that you want indexed inside images. For example, if you want your company name or address to be indexed, make sure it is not displayed inside a company logo.

Your special marketing month

October is a special month for Mackowiak Communications, and for you, because it marks the one year anniversary of the launch of my PR for PIs marketing e-book. (This is true, and there is a special offer involved, but more on this in just a bit.)

However, September was a special month for me, because it is my birthday month, and I always feel generous towards my clients and Linked-in connections because it is better to give than receive.

And I can’t begin to tell you how special November is to me, as Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year, and I am thankful to my business connections for making each year in business successful for me, and it is important to express that thanks by offering additional bonuses to my customers.

Did I mention how special December is?? Christmas is meaningful to me in traditional ways, such as keeping Christ as the central component of Christmas, and remembering my clients in meaningful ways with special offers to get their new year started.

By now you should see that the month itself is really irrelevant, and that you can make any month, or day or event special, giving you an opportunity to reach out to your clients and offering them something they can use. You could offer special pricing on a particular service, such a process service, just to try to get new clients to try you (yes, I know you are a professional and need to charge accordingly and don’t want to lower your prices…ever, but that doesn’t mean you can't offer a limited time packaging of services, or a discount on a specific quantity of background checks within a certain time frame.)

 

Don't like lowering your prices, even for four weeks?  Offer your prospective clients an additional service of yours that involves just your time, or that has very low costs associated with it.  For example, if you do electronic security sweeps, offer an additional sweep the following month at no additional cost.  Yes, you'll have to go back to your client again and do some free work, but when does it ever hurt to get face-to-face time with a client?

So how special is each month to you, and what can you do to strengthen your relationship - - and promote increased business coming your way - - by offering something unique and meaningful to both existing and new clients.

Test of Timeliness

Recently the business college for which I do marketing communications presented its third women's leadership forum/luncheon, where more than 250 attendees gained from the wisdom of a female Navy helicopter commander.  I had the news release about the event ready for distribution about a week in advance of the event, and we already had a commitment for a story from the Toledo daily newspaper. In meeting with the university's director of media relations, he said he would alert the local television stations about the event about  9 a.m. the morning of the event, as they would not be deciding what they would cover until about 10 a.m. that morning.  (Keep in mind that the event started at 11:30 a.m.)
His wisdom paid off, as two of the three local TV stations came out to cover the event, each getting a few minutes of one-on-one time with the captain.

Whether or not the women's leadership forum would have attracted the TV cameras anyway is a moot point: the lesson here is that the news media, and television in particular, cares about timeliness.

(Be sure to read the next blog article, Patriot Pricing, for a very timely offer.)

I have often advocated that making yourself available to the local news media is an excellent  - - and cost free - -  way to promote your investigative business by enhancing your reputation as an expert. In light of breaking news about national scandals, terrorist activities, cases of high visibility fraud or marital infidelity, etc., the local media will initially focus on feeds from the national networks. But the time will soon come, and the opportunity instantly exists, to provide a local angle to a national story.  True, you may not have any particular knowledge about how a particular politician was caught with his hand in the cookie jar (or elsewhere),  or the exact location of a security cameras which had  footage of a terrorist bomber; but could you speak about what steps are typically taken in uncovering fraud, or how security cameras work and can provide such awesome clear images of a crime….even a crime that may occur in a local business' facility? 

Could you speak about such issues for three minutes with a local reporter?

Opportunities for media visibility can arise at any time.  You should be willing to take timely advantage of them by sharing some expertise you already  have.   

Do the time & tune your mind...at a conference

One great way to learn a lot of information and focus on specific issues affecting your investigative business is to attend a conference. Many state associations provide fantastic conferences for their members,  and over the years I've even been lucky enough to have been invited to speak about marketing at several PI conferences, from Florida to Alaska.

But I would suggest to you that if you really want to focus on ways to boost your business in today's high-tech marketing world, you should consider attending an Internet marketing conference.  Oh, there may not be a single other private investigator at such a conference ( a good thing for the PI who does attend), and it's possible that some presentations may be a bit heavy on the geek-speak and be over your head.

Yet, the benefits are many: it forces you to focus specifically on your marketing efforts for a half-day or a day or two; it can give you a chance to catch up to the racetrack that is the Internet; and there are tremendous networking opportunities, as a variety of businessowners can attend these things.

There are conferences all over the country this year.  Here's a couple I found interesting: 

MOZCON, in Seattle this July. Among the topics to be presented are search engine optimization, social media, marketing analytics, content strategy, and a data-driven approach to marketing your brand to your target audience.

The Content Marketing World 2013 conference in September.  The simple truth is that content is king in promoting your business online, and I've written about the Content Marketing Institute in this blog before.  I've heard the founder of this program speak last year, and it all makes a lot of sense.  More and more people are paying attention to what this organization is doing: does it say anything to you that the Platinum Marketing Sponsor for this conference is Linkedin?

One Internet Marketing conference that I have attended three of the last four years is the one presented by The University of Toledo College of Business and Innovation. Their fifth annual conference will be at the University on October 1. It's a half-day program and has always been a virtual sell-out.  Speakers are being finalized right now and the registration will open in about a month.

You can find other Internet marketing conferences listed at http://savvypanda.com/2013-Marketing-Conference-Guide..

The simple truth is that Internet marketing techniques are now a requirement for business success. Keep in mind that these conferences do attract attendees from major companies that have entire marketing departments, and also marketing agencies.  Don't be intimidated. Your business is counting on you.

 

Content marketing is king

Business owners are often looking to increase their ranking on search engines, hopping some trick can get them above their competition.

I've said it before, but it needs to be repeated: the way to do that is through the content on your website. The useful information you provide to your clients and your prospective clients is what drives people to your website, encourages them to come back and to tell their friends and business contacts to do the same.

Give your website visitors frequent, fresh content they can use, and the number of visitors you have will drive up your rankings in the search engines.  Don't look for tricks. (No offense, but if you think you are smarter than the tech folks at Google who build and maintain Google, you might want to apply your imagination to writing best selling novels. )

Use the tools that work. Companies like Proctor and Gamble publish online magazines to drive people to their site and spend meaingful time there, exposing them to their products.  That's marketing.

Information is good, and free, useful information is best.  Educate your clients about equipment that can protect their office. Tell them how to avoid identity theft.  Tell them a true story of how you saved a company client tens of thousands of dollars by uncovering fraud.

To educate, inspire and guide you through the importance and strategies of content marketing, check out the tremendous wealth of information at the Content Marketing Institute. www.contentmarketinginstitute.com

There you will find webinars, white papers, a blog, a magazine and more.  They are a little heavy on promoting their events, but it is good stuff.  (I heard a keynote presentation from someone at the Content Marketing Institute at an Internet Marketing Conference which the UT College of Business and Innovation hosted last fall, and the guy was fantastic.)

Your website may be wonderfully designed and absolutely beautiful, but if you are not updating it regularly, who will have any reason to come back. 

Add content.  Get repeat visitors. Climb the search engines. Obtain more clients.  Make more money.

Sound like a plan???

(Feed your marketing mindset through the ideas you'll find in my new e-book, "PR for PIs: 73 Powerful Tips for Effective PI Marketing." Learn more about it elsewhere in this blog, or at my website, www.letbobhelp.homestead.com   Go ahead, invest $6.75 in growing your business.)

Not what you want to hear

I've been reviewing a number of marketing materials from PIs who have taken advantage of the free critique they received as an extra, limited-time bonus when they purchased my latest e-book,  "PR for PIs: 73 Powerful Tips for Effective PI Marketing."  (Important note about this later in this article.)

One particular flyer I reviewed had a lot going for it: great use of testimonials, attractive layout, relatively brief copy, which mostly described services she provides.  This is often the case with the marketing materials of PIs; put up the old laundry list of services, with your company name as large as possible.

 But - - and this is what you do not want to hear - - people, your prospective clients - - and don’t take this personally - - they don’t really care about you; they care about themselves and what you can do to solve their problem(s). Identify that problem and tell them what you can do to solve that problem for them, and I your materials can really help you boost your business. What you do for attorneys is help them Win More Cases.  What you do for business owners is perhaps Protect Their Profits.  That sort of approach and messaging conveys the message that is really important to your clients, namely that you are there to solve their problems.  

Also, your brochure or website needs a persuasive headline rather than having your name be the largest text on the page.  Studies have shown that - - if everything else in an advertisement is the same- - the right headline can increase the effectiveness of an ad or promotional material ad by up to 21 times. So spend some time writing that message.

Now, the offer: last month I offered some additional bonuses for those who purchased my new ebook, "PR for PIs: 73 Powerful Tips for Effective PI Marketing." One of those bonuses was a brief but customized written critique of one of your marketing materials.  As a result I have been sending PIs my individualized comments about their websites or brochures and such.  Because of the success of that promotion - - and because most PIs are now thinking about their business at the start of a new year - -I've decided to extend the five extra bonuses, including the custom critique, to those who order the e-book by January 25, 2013,

During these still challenging economic times, private investigators need to stand out, engage new and existing customers and grow their business. If you struggle to know what you should do, invest $6.75 in your business and expand your marketing mindset and order my new e-book, "PR for PIs: 73 Powerful Tips for Effective PI Marketing."

To Order:

You can send your cash or $6.75 check payable to Mackowiak Communications to

Mackowiak Communications

755 Bronx Drive

Toledo, Ohio 43609

You can also order through Paypal to my email mackowiakcom@aol.com I can send you an electronic invoice if necessary.

When you order, be sure to include your email address, because the e-book .pdf will be emailed to you.

Bob Mackowiak

Mackowiak Communications

email: mackowiakcom@aol.com

website: www.letbobhelp.homestead.com

SEO tips

As I've said before, content is king when it comes to your website. The more you content and the more frequently you update your website with pertinent information, the more often your visitors return to come back again and again, which is always wonderful for promotion. And the more visits you get, the higgher your engines.

The simple reality is that you are not likely to rate high in Google rankings for terms such as private investigation. It's too broad of a category and there are too many investigators. But you can increase your likelihood of being found when people search by narrowing your categories, and repeating key terms, as well as slight variations of these terms, in your website.

So focus on terms such as Tucson Investigations, as people typically need an investigator in their own area. Or focus on missing persons investigations in Arizona, something along those lines The more precise the better. Even if it seems limiting, it will move up from the bottom of the pile

By the way - - and this is completely unrequested - -after writing the above paragraph and just randomly picking the words Tucson Investigations to use as an example, if you actually do that search the first result you will find is a map location showing several investigators in Tucson. The second you will see is for a firm located in Tucson called International Counterintelligence Services. They are located in Tucson but accept cases worldwide. I encourage you to visit their fantastic website and see the tremendous volume of engaging content on their site: info on pricing, press releases, case studies, staff info, various ways to contact them, on and on. Again, a great job, and a website I discovered purely by my chance selection of the term Tucson Investigations. Also, note that their actual firm name is not Tucson Investigations, but they still surface near the top of the list for a search of that name. Well done.