Blogs serve many purposes. In the “old days” many companies would send out mailers or email newsletters in order to give their clients an update on what was going on in the company. Unfortunately, newsletters or emails do not allow people to interact or correspond, nor do they boost your SEO. Blogs do all these things.

Aside from these benefits, many companies also choose to have blogs because it gives companies a platform in which to voice their opinions and also defuse any bad publicity. In addition, many feel that blogs “humanize” companies thus allowing them to feel less corporate and more personal. While many companies strive to become large and see tremendous expansion, many companies are also realizing that they are losing the personal and relational touch that goes with the growth of their company. Blogs are able to help companies communicate with their consumer base, reach out and encourage interaction. Many times, the CEO of a company will do a feature blog to help put a face to the company.

In addition to the branding benefits that blogs bring, blogs tremendously help with SEO. Blogs work in essentially the same fashion as updating your website on a regular basis. Blogs are short articles that range between 350-600 words that are geared around a topic that relates to the company. Within the blog, it is important to use keywords in the same way that you would use keywords for your website. A trick is to link those key words back to your website with hyperlinks. In addition to linking keywords, blogs forums such as WordPress allow for the importation of widgets. These widgets will drastically increase your blogs functionality. On WordPress widgets such as adding an RSS Feed, Email Sign Up, and a Facebook link are excellent ways to help get people connected to your company.

In blogging it is important to not always be pushing your services. Think about it – do you want to take the time to read someone’s advertisement? Probably not, make your blogs interesting; give them a tip or an incentive to read it. It may seem awkward at first, but once you start getting in the habit of blogging, soon it will seem like second nature.

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If you have been keeping up with our blog then you know that it is simply not enough to just throw up a beautiful website, walk away and expect your phone to ring off the hook. Having a website and having that website work for you is something that takes time, energy, a bit of know-how and dedication. While Clear Imaging offers services such as SEO and Social Media, we also want to teach our clients how to make those various platforms work for them. We want our clients to be successful with marketing their business, and that is why we have invested in “toolboxes” and blogs like this – to help further educate our clients.

The Marketing Toolbox is a new section that is now available on our website. The Marketing Toolbox explores why social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are essential to building and increasing your business reach. Unlike many other companies who simply tell you how great something is and then demand that you pay them to take advantage of these types of services, Clear Imaging actually gives tips and tricks on how to properly set up accounts. However, if you rather, for a small monthly maintenance fee Clear Imaging will set up and maintain your social media profiles for you.

In addition to finding resources and information regarding social media in the Marketing Toolbox, Clear Imaging also has a section dedicated entirely to blog marketing. If you are not blogging for your business it might be something that you want to think about doing. Blogging is a fantastic way to keep readers informed as to what is new and current with your business as well as providing them with valuable resources that link them back to you. If you are thinking about setting up a new blog – then you have to check out this new section of the Clear Imaging website!

Another new service that Clear Imaging is offering are mobile websites. With the popularity of iPhones and smart phones, this is something that no website should be without. Mobile websites are essentially smaller, more condensed versions of the full website and make navigation easy and quick on smart phones. With the age we live in, this is something that no business should be without.

At Clear Imaging we are very excited about all the new services that we are now able to offer our clients. We hope that you will take the time to tour our new website and gain some valuable tools and knowledge that will help you increase your own SEO.

But it having a website costs a lot of money…

It’s true; websites traditionally do cost a lot of money. Most website developers ask for a very large retainer upfront before the work has even started – this retainer is often upwards of $5,000. At Clear Imaging, we do business a little different. We want to allow every size business the opportunity to have a presence on the internet. In contrast to having a large fee upfront, we have a minimal monthly fee. This allows us to customize your website to your specifications, make changes or add new content. We feel that this is a better fit overall because our clients benefit from our ongoing service.

I don’t have time for a website…

If you don’t have time to put into a website, then that is fantastic! That means that your business is rapidly expanding and you probably couldn’t handle any additional business that resulted from having a webpage. This is a common reason why people don’t invest in a website, and it is not invalid. With as fast moving as today’s society is, it is really difficult to carve out time for new projects. As always with any new project, it will require more time up front, but if you can dedicate 1-2 hours per week to growing your web presence, you will soon have a website that people envy.

I am not creative enough to design a website…

You don’t have to be. We have a fantastic team of designers who are incredibly creative and innovative. We will show you hundreds of layouts for your website. Then, one of our associates will meet with you on the phone to discuss what types of color schemes and what you would prefer the overall layout to be. Our clients can have as much or as little involvement in the design process as they would like.

If you are thinking that you need to do something to increase your marketing reach this next year and do not have a web presence – give us a call. If you do have a website, then we encourage you to review some of our past blogs for tips on improving your current website.

Blogs serve many purposes. In the “old days” many companies would send out mailers or email newsletters in order to give their clients an update on what was going on in the company. Unfortunately, newsletters or emails do not allow people to interact or correspond, nor do they boost your SEO. Blogs do all these things.

Aside from these benefits, many companies also choose to have blogs because it gives companies a platform in which to voice their opinions and also defuse any bad publicity. In addition, many feel that blogs “humanize” companies thus allowing them to feel less corporate and more personal. While many companies strive to become large and see tremendous expansion, many companies are also realizing that they are losing the personal and relational touch that goes with the growth of their company. Blogs are able to help companies communicate with their consumer base, reach out and encourage interaction. Many times, the CEO of a company will do a feature blog to help put a face to the company.

In addition to the branding benefits that blogs bring, blogs tremendously help with SEO. Blogs work in essentially the same fashion as updating your website on a regular basis. Blogs are short articles that range between 350-600 words that are geared around a topic that relates to the company. Within the blog, it is important to use keywords in the same way that you would use keywords for your website. A trick is to link those key words back to your website with hyperlinks. In addition to linking keywords, blogs forums such as WordPress allow for the importation of widgets. These widgets will drastically increase your blogs functionality. On WordPress, widgets such as adding an RSS Feed, Email Sign Up, and a Facebook link are excellent ways to help get people connected to your company.

With blogging it is important to not always be pushing your services. Think about it – do you want to take the time to read someone’s advertisement? Probably not, make your blogs interesting; give them a tip or an incentive to read it. It may seem awkward at first, but once you start getting in the habit of blogging, soon it will seem like second nature.

When advising clients, we encourage them to view their own personal SEO as a marathon – not a race. What we mean by this is that SEO is something that is built over time – not over night. It is important to not become impatient with the process, but to view it as a game or a challenge. Here are some tips to set reasonable goals for yourself in 2012 so that you don’t become frustrated with your SEO.

• Dedicate a specific amount of time each day to your SEO. It doesn’t matter if it is ten minutes or four hours, find an amount of time that works for you and stick with it.
• Stay up to date! Set yourself a goal of reading at least one article or blog related to SEO each day. The internet is always changing, it is important to change with it.
• Content is key! Adding content to your website is crucial to success. If you are one of the many people who do not like writing articles for your website, look into hiring someone to do it for you. Or, set yourself a reasonable goal of one page per week.
• Research your competition! There is no need to reinvent the wheel! Take a look and see what your competitors are doing – if it works, then do it!
• Keywords are as crucial to your website as content. Do some research on what keywords people are using to search for your products. Be sure to use multiple key words on your website so that you do not limit yourself. If you are having trouble, Google Keyword Toolbox is a fantastic place to start.

We think that this is a pretty decent list to keep you busy for awhile! It is important to keep in mind that the search engines only scan web pages once every six to eight weeks – so while you may have done a ton of work five weeks ago, it still may be a couple more weeks until you see any movement on your webpage.

Essentially, the way that it works is that there are search engine crawls that happen every few weeks. During these crawls, the search engine “spiders” scan every single website and look for new content, key words and an array of other things. Essentially, this is how the website that lands on the first page of search terms get determined. The goal of having a website is to ultimately rank on the first page for search terms – that is how a potential client who searches for a plumber in West Hills, CA will come across your webpage. Now we will be honest, if you are not willing to put some effort into your website, then you will probably not see a whole lot of financial return. But those that do put in the effort see the benefits and reap the rewards.
If you have a business that is visually oriented, such as landscaping, photography etc. or if you are in a industry related service such as social media marketing or computer programming, then your clients will expect to see a website. People want to be able to do most of their research about the people they will work with from the comfort of their own home. In contrast to the past, people do not spend their days interviewing contractors, they simply want to see a great first impression and see a killer website with beautiful images. If you want to take your business to the next level, and up the ante so to speak, then having a professional designed website will give you the edge over your competitors that you have been looking for.

Well, this is a very valid question, and if you have more business than you can handle and you don’t see it going away anytime soon – then chances are you probably are one of the lucky few who do not need a website. But, if you are looking for a new way to find clients, if you are looking to have more of a professional image – then you need a website. And you need not just any old website, you need a website that it truly fantastic and will capture people’s attention and enroll them in your service or product.

How does this whole process work?

At Clear Imaging, we are in the business of making beautiful website for a fraction of the price that it would normally cost. In contrast to most website developers who charge thousands of dollars upfront, at Clear Imaging we have a few different web packages for you to choose from. After you have selected a package that fits your needs, the price of that package is billed on a monthly basis. The benefit of this is that you as the consumer does not have to come up with a large amount of cash to get your project started. Most people who have a private website developer build them a page are not very good at updating the content when it is given to them. And why should they? It takes time to update a webpage and they can take that time and make more money building someone else a webpage. So now, guess what, you have just spent thousands  of dollars on a webpage that will hardly ever be updated and as far as SEO purposes, it pretty much worthless. In contrast, at Clear Imaging, we know the importance of SEO and we want our clients to be successful with their website. Therefore, we have implemented a ticketing system that allows our clients to simply submit a ticket for a change on their website – it can be added content, a new tab, an added picture –pretty much anything, and we will have it done for you within a couple of days! As you have read in our previous blogs, it is essential to keep your website updated and current for the search engines.

But I don’t know how to design a website…

At Clear Imaging, we don’t expect you to be able to design a website. We have hundreds of templates that will allow you to get an idea and preference of what overall type of layout and design you would prefer. After that, we take that template and discuss with you your color preferences and what types of concepts you would like to have implemented. And don’t worry, if even choosing a color for your website sounds overwhelming, our design team can help you! At Clear Imaging, we have some of the best website design professionals in the country, they understand what people look for on a website and can help you navigate all the choices that come with building a website from scratch.

If you are thinking that in 2012, you want to take your business to the next level and create a professional appearance, then don’t hesitate to give us a call! We would be more than happy to go through the different packages that are available and discuss with you the options for design that you have.

 Know who you are targeting with your website and write the content to be relative to them.

While this may sound simple, may individuals when writing content do not consider the population that they are trying to target. For example, if you are targeting a population that is over the age of 65, depending on your industry, you may need to take the time to explain new trends that have emerged that older generations may not be aware of. In addition, while it might be fun to check out synonyms that sound intelligent and more cultured for “regular” words, it is important to write things in a language that individuals will understand. Many website graders will actually take away points if the content that is produced is considered to be of graduate level reading, so just be careful!

It’s all about linking and going deep.

When writing content, one of the primary goals is to position your company as an expert on the topic that is being discussed. It can be very challenging to give yourself this type of credential when you only have one written page on the subject. Therefore, it is all about linking and going deep within the pages that you write. For example, if you are writing a page about some of the services that your business offers, add a hyperlink from one of the keywords on the original page to another page that will talk about the benefits of your particular product or service. Not only is this great from a consumer’s perspective, but the search engines love to see a higher ranking of indexed pages.

 Keep the content fresh and up to date.

 Nothing is worse than visiting a website in mid-July and it having a banner across the top that reads “Check Out Our Christmas Specials!” If you are going to have a website, it is crucial that you dedicate a specific amount of time each week to updating it and keeping it current. Studies have shown that people are turned off by websites that are not up to date and essentially the message they get is “we are to busy to care about our professional image”. If you can’t do this yourself, there are plenty of companies that are designed to help keep your website up to date.

To really break it down, when we say content, we specifically mean written articles that contain keywords that describe various aspects of your company, product or service. Most of us have heard the age old phrase “Content is King”! But do we really understand what this means? If you do, then this will be an excellent refresher course, if you don’t, then you are going to learn a lot in a short time!

Remember a few weeks ago when we spoke about the search engine crawls that occur every few weeks? Well, that is one of the primary reasons that content is so crucial and important. Many people spend all their time, money and energy on beautiful web pages but neglect to populate it with content. This is incredibly unfortunate because when the search engines do their crawl, they do not recognize images or custom design layouts – they have eyes only for content and keywords. When individuals search on Google, Bing, Yahoo etc, the sites that come up are the sites that have content that is relevant to the search. Hence the saying “Content is King”.

When considering how you want to go about populating your site with content there are many different ways to do it. A few options would be to write the content yourself, have an employee write it for you or hire a professional to do it for you. The important thing to remember with content is that it is not something that is done over a weekend, content should be added to consistently so that every time the search engine crawls are conducted your site has had new information added to it. With this comes a warning, the search engines are smart creatures, if you plagiarize work, they will know that you are not the original author and they will actually punish you by demoting you in your rankings. –So make sure that all your content is original.

At Clear Imaging, we like to give this analogy to our clients. Your website is like a mansion; it is large, stable and has aesthetic beauty to it (the overall design). When your site goes live, this “mansion” is empty; it is your job to fill each room with beautiful paintings, rugs and furniture (I’m talking about content here people). Don’t think that the search engines will be overwhelmed with how beautiful your site is and automatically rank your site because of that, you have to furnish your new site with content… Because content is king.