The most common questions I hear from clients that want SEO services are:
- Do I need a Facebook page?
- Do I need a blog?
- What the hell is twitter or tweeter or whatever?
- How can I get more traffic to my home page?
My answer is yes, yes, a blog with just blurbs, and don't worry about that.
Don't worry about traffic to my homepage?!?!
Alright, the simple fact is I see so many SEO companies ripping their clients off on building traffic to a single page. This does take a lot of work and of course it does bring results in a very inefficient manner. It kind of reminds me of the old Ford Bronco I had once that I drove across country in. It got me there in relative comfort, but at 8 miles to that gallon. Not to smart and very expensive.
The fact is instead of worrying about visits per page, you need to have your focus solely on conversions and/or call to actions ONLY! Is the intent of your entire web presence for them to see your homepage? If you really answer honestly it's probably not. You likely want to receive phone calls, recognition of your brand, or there's always - make a sale. Even if you are selling from an ecommerce store, each selling page can be linked too from an external site, so your homepage is not your primary page anymore. If you are concerned about branding, you need to be all over the web sharing what you got. Referrals that convert into phone calls about product or service can be qualified from articles, blogs, tweets, likes, you name it. It all counts.
See the problem with trying to funnel everything to your web site's home page is really great for your web analytics, makes counting and measuring easy. However, you're missing out on Facebook's ability to localize geographically and embed into niche networks. A blog has EXCELLENT SEO potential and you can focus on very niche piece of maybe something broader you are trying to capture. Or, vice versa, lets say you are have a niche but you want to express yourself as an industry expert, blog it!
Twitter is an anomaly all of it's own in it's simplicity and it's broadness. It's a great way to find groups to market too, to share information, and communicate with people you may not otherwise ever have a chance to connect with. I've had conversations with two major CEO's of billion dollar companies. Ok, I guess they weren't actual conversations, more like quick 2 sentence blurbs passing humorous anecdotes, but the closest to a conversation I'd ever get to these guys otherwise would be a book signing, where my only words would be, "Make it out to Michael please." To which the reply is, "Here they are presigned."Don't misunderstand, your homepage is still extremely important and designing an SEO friendly, smartly designed web site is very important. However, don't be so naive to think that is the only place on the web you need to be if you want a return on the web. The of your web presence as something of a franchise venture. Either you're Joe's diner at the end of a lonely highway now ignored by the new Interstate 5 miles west of you. Or maybe you're the Waffle Houses on both sides of the exit ramp. Perhaps not the best annalogy, but kind of funny to think about.