Thursday, December 16, 2010

SEO: Backlinks

What are backlinks? Why do I need backlinks? How do I make backlinks?

What: Backlinks are links which you, or someone else places on the internet, which links to your website or blog.
Why: You need backlinks to improve your page rank because google uses backlinks to decide where to place your website on their search results. If you have a lot of backlinks (links pointing to your website), Google will think, "oh this website is important because so many other sites refer to it. I will improve its pagerank."
How: You can either 1) make your own backlinks or 2) exchange links with other websites.
1) How do I make my own backlinks?
You can make backlinks by posting on forums which let you use an html signature, post on yahoo answers or write articles and submit them to article sites like squidoo for example.
2) You can also exchange links with other webmasters who have relevant sites to yours. I wouldn't suggest exchanging links with competitors.

Monday, December 13, 2010

"Good Will" Marketing

How can I get more customers / patients for my company / practice?
For companies or businesses whose clients are in a specific area, try doing something that will get your name out there, create a good perception of you, have the community praise you.

For example: As a dentist, its your job (one way or another) to get clients. You can either wait for them to come to you, hire 1800 dentist or place ads in the newspaper/yellow pages, etc. OR you could do something which involves the people you want to do business with, the community around you. People are bombarded with ads every day... people will forget your ad in the newspaper, penny saver, or whatever direct mailer they get. What people remember is the good things you do for the community, for kids, for people in need. People want to do business with people like that.

Example: A dentist, who cares about kids teeth will offer a "candy buy back" program. He buys back candy from Halloween and donates/gives it to soldiers in Iraq.
Yes, the dentist is spending money buying the candy back, but the "good will" or "good deed" will stay in peoples minds way longer than any kind of advertisement.