Clay Posey Marketing Fusion

Get found on the internet

Have you ever noticed that the internet is getting crowded?  Run almost any search and get hundreds of thousands if not millions of matches in Google.  Here are some amazing stats:

1. There are over 1,000,000,000,000 unique URLs in Google’s index.  That’s ONE TRILLION folks! (source)
2. There are over 133,000,000 Blogs indexed by technorati. (source)
3. At the time I’m writing, somewhere over 2,688,656,000 tweets on twitter since it started and that will rise at a rate of 300 per second! (source) Yep, I timed it.
4. There are over 250 MILLION Facebook users and 120,000,000 of them log on at least once each day. (source)

And here we are, the inbound marketing crowd telling you that you can get found on the web and have your customers come to you!  Yeah Right. (was that a “Bah! Humbug!” I heard in the background?)

So how do you rise out of the trillions of users on the trillion sites to be found?  Reality check: You don’t want or have to get found by everyone.  You just need to reach the folks who have a need for your offering.

The key to it all is CONTENT! Before we talk about search engine optimization (SEO), before we talk about pay per click (PPC), or banner ads, or display ads, or even affiliate advertising, realize that CONTENT IS KING.  Compelling Content.  Here are 6 tips for creating compelling content.

1. Use varied fonts, sizes, italics, and colors within your site.  Be dramatic in your presentation and layout of your content.
2. Use fresh, streamlined words as you write.  Play with language!  Use words in surprising ways if you can without distorting the meaning.  Keep it fresh with frequent updates and additions to your site.
3. Have a point and get to it.  Especially in your blog.  When we do talk about SEO, we’ll discuss the importance of each page covering only one topic.
4. Work on the architecture of your site.  Build a site that encourages people to check out one more page.  Yes you write for search engines, but write for people too.
5. Use a variety of media – video, audio, pictures (with alt tags of course) to enhance your words.
6. Write for your audience – know your target audience and talk to them about what is important in their world not yours.

Most importantly – just do it.  The web is a fluid medium.  I’m reminding myself that adding content is really more important that adding perfect content!  You can always revise later.  Just Do It!