It must have been something I said last week about using the web to market alpacas and the up coming Alpaca Marketing Conference that SOJAA is organising. But I have received e-mails ever since about what the priorities should be when you build a web site to market alpacas.
So for those of you that are interested here are the key steps in order of priority. The rest of you can go get a coffee now and read the newspaper......
Begin with the basics and develop the tried and tested methods that have worked in the past and will continue to deliver results, then move on to the new exciting and much harder to control and measure activities.
1. Optimize Content
First and foremost, we need to continue to optimize alpaca website content. Making sure it is easily read by both potential buyers and search engines. An essential variable applied by Search Engines in the way in which they rank websites is based on the relevancy of the content that the search engine is indexing. The foundation to this is of course keywords selection.
2. Create a Content Development Plan
In addition to optimizing the content on your website, it is essential that you develop a plan to continuously enhance content on an ongoing basis. All new content should be written specifically with the audience in mind and should also be optimized for the search engines using the keywords defined in step 1. One of the easiest ways to keep adding content is to write a blog, like this one.
3. Invest in a Paid Search Campaign (PPC),
Paid search will allow us to quickly leverage search engine traffic by bidding for keywords that are already in use by your target audience. Paid search advertising is particularly beneficial while we wait for natural search results to ramp up. We can also target those keywords competitors have selected. However, think of PPC as renting a house and SEO as buying the house. Once you stop spending on PPC the traffic stops......
4. Develop Email Mailshots
You need to build or buy from AOBA a list of people who will be interested to hear about alpacas. Then you need to find something interesting to say to them. I have found that competitions work quite well as a way to contact potential buyers and get them to click through to my website. This isn’t the latest fashion but it is a solid performer and remains an essential part of the mix.
5.Begin Article Marketing to Boost Links
People linking from their web site to yours is the most important thing you can do to boost your search engine rankings. Writing and posting articles on alpacas is the easiest way to build those inbound links.
Okay once the basics are working well then we can move to the elements that can ramp up performance. Social Media and Blogging.
6. Create and Develop a Blog,
I have already mentioned Blogging when I talked about building content. If you didn't get onto it then here is your opportunity. Not only is Blogging a great way to build content, you can also put links in your Blog to content on your web site, Google likes this. Over time writing an interesting , informative and amusing blog will help you get close to your fellow alpaca breeders without sending them an e-mail or newsletter every four weeks.
7. Develop a Social Media Strategy
Studies show that by the end of 2007 more than 60% of blue chip organizations had some form of social media marketing strategy. Social Media has become an essential component of online marketing and search engines are adjusting their rankings to include search personalization. This is something you need to learn about........ if you want to maintain good rankings.
Well that's my overall view of Internet marketing in a nutshell. I hope it makes sense. You can buy several books on each one of these topics if you like or you can find yourself a good Internet marketing guru and get them to do the technical stuff while you write the words and take the pictures.
Happy farming.
