We’ll spend this week addressing the most important questions on how you can market yourself digitally.
Issue #1 – SEO & Websites
The internet gives you a seat at the global table. It extends your reach to people you might never meet, lets you be everywhere at once, and works while you’re not: You might be asleep or going all-in on your best poker hand in months while someone nine time zones away are sipping coffee, browsing your website, and deciding you’re the best person for the job he needs to be done.
You’re busy and the Internet’s vast, so is strategic and find the online marketing methods that work for you. This week’s articles aim to help you figure out just that.
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The internet hums with millions of conversations. Your challenge: finding the people who want to tune in to you. Thus a much amount of time and attention is paid to some terms and practices you should know about.
𝗦𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲:
We all have done it. By that, I refer to the shameless-yet-smart practice of looking yourself up online. When you do, you’re using a search engine, which trawls the internet finding and listing all the places where your name appears.
𝗞𝗲𝘆𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱𝘀:
Search engines know those keywords in excruciating statistical detail, so can you, using analytic tools (some free, some paid) such as Google AdWords: Keyword Tool. Ask your peers how they’d look up someone like you. Try searches using different key-words and study the top-listed websites.
𝗦𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗢𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 (𝗦𝗘𝗢):
The more you use your prospects’ language, the more relevant search engines may deem you on those topics, and the higher you may show in search listings. Because search engines are constantly chugging, you have lots of chances to optimize your ranking by updating your content, refining your keywords and creating relevant content, making friends online by linking to others and having them a link to you, and most important being an active informative presence.
𝗦𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗠𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮 𝗢𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 (𝗦𝗠𝗢):
Think about the services you like and recommend. We might say you have a relationship with them. Social media optimization involves building online relationships with people who might become or connect you with customers. By offering useful, appealing, interesting information that encourages people to visit your website / linked Wishu profile, share your coolness with others, and maybe, in time, become clients. That buzz around your content gets noticed by search engines.
𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸: 𝙎𝙀𝙊’𝙨 𝙙𝙮𝙣𝙖𝙢𝙞𝙘 𝙙𝙪𝙤
Dressing thin content in catchy keywords won’t get you into the SEO party. You need content that’s rich in utility and optimal keywords in website page titles, headlines, and opening material (what pops up in searches), so people click on your stuff. Then your high-quality, keyword-rich content might link to pages deeper in your site, so people stay there, browsing and enjoying. You should also link to others’ website pages that you find useful, delightful, or important. Become a hug for awesome information online. The more people appreciate your content, the more apt they are to share your links. All of this boosts SEO.
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What will be your base in cyberspace? Will you have your own website? A bio on a professional site? A business page on a social media site? All of the above? Choose a focal point to concentrate your efforts.
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗲𝗹𝗹-𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗪𝗲𝗯𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗲:
General guidelines for a well-appointed website:
- Knows what works and what doesn’t. Become a website voyeur. Study other websites’ design, content, and navigability. Ask your Wishu network how they built their sites and why. Connect with website designers.
- Stay current. Since search engines notice the change, even minor updates to your website – a photo and a little text – are good things.
- Know what interests visitors.
- Reflects your style & branding.
- Make you easy to find! Make it easy to contact you from any page on site. Pase your Wishu offers links to refer them to your freelancer profile.
- Answer frequently asked questions. It saves everyone’s time and communicates how you work. You can add this to your wishu profile as-well!
- Protects your rights and your visitors’. Explain your policy on not sharing visitors’ contact or personal information.
𝗔𝗶𝗺 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗟𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹 𝗪𝗲𝗯𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗲:
If you want a website that looks fierce, markets you like a rockstar, and functions like a geek’s fever dream, these abilities don’t usually come rolled into one person. You may need to hire a website designer and maybe even a website developer. Get deeper into tutorials, newsletters, and blogs on online marketing and websites. Talk to freelancers with great websites (from Wishu); ask who they hired. There are lots of amazing designers on Wishu, hire a like-minded peer.
