Implementing your first foray into SEO/SMO

As I've said in earlier posts, everyone can play in the SEO/SMO field. You do not have to be an expert. There may be a lot of efforts you can put in that show limited results, but as long as you exercise a modicum of common sense, there's not much you can do that's truly detrimental.

To begin your foray into SEO/SMO, let's start with creating some accounts. You should sign up for a business account (free) at LinkedIn, Twitter, Plaxo, Facebook, and, if you are going to create video, at YouTube. While you're at it, stop by Free-Press-Releases.com.

Please take note that I said "business accounts." It is not appropriate to use your personal social-media accounts to promote your business. You need to minimize the possibility of confusion for your customers and limit their exposure into your personal life (remember: it's called private information for a reason). Make sure that your account names are the same as your company name whenever possible. This simple step is a great start to SEO.

With your accounts established, you're ready to approach your first campaign. If you're a small company, I highly recommend that you either learn some HTML or find someone on your staff with a bit of skill in this arena. A Dreamweaver class (Adobe software for creating web sites) will take you a long way in today's marketing landscape. I'm going to assume that you either have the ability, or that you have the ability to find someone who does, and move from there.

Define the offer. Customer-loyalty campaigns are well received, so let's target that. By way of example, we will offer our current customers 60% off their next purchase. This is called a loyalty campaign because you are rewarding current customers for shopping with you.

With our offer in mind, we need to produce the creatives for both the email offer and the landing page. I cheat at every opportunity, and so should you. The goal of this campaign is to generate business and to do that by spending less than $100. Depending upon the components you implement, you could even do it for free.

Here are some of my shortcuts:
BigStockPhoto.com a fast site that enables you to shop for very inexpensive images.
EmailMeForm to easily generate web forms that, when completed by the customer, are sent to your inbox.
TemplateMonster.com a great resource for inexpensive web page and email templates.
DirectMail Pro easy-to-use software for sending out HTML or simple text messages to your customer list. It also offers tag support so that you can personalize the message. If you have data that includes your customers' past purchase information this is ideal, but not required. You'll also benefit from the tracking services they provide so you can tell who received your message, who read your message, and whose system blocked your message.

Using any or all of the above, create your email offer and your landing page, but while you're doing that, keep an eye on the SEO of it all. It's a pretty simple thing to do.

-- I wanted to get this campaign plan into a single post, but it's starting to look a whole lot like a book. Part 2 is forthcoming.