Jul 15 0 comments
RWSM Basic Info

I Got Google Voice!

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Dec 16 1 comments
SEO News

Finding Nina

The woman who, 20 years ago, sent me the very first email I ever got from a stranger, is at the top of the Search Engine Marketing business. Nina loves the leading edge and is usually teetering right on top of it. The view from the front is always the best when it comes to internet marketing and now it’s the best place to be found.

Read a nice profile of Nina Hale and her Search Engine Organization business in today’s StarTribune.

Nina Hale Consulting

Sep 23 0 comments
K.I.S.S., Tips and Tricks

Follow Me Tricks

The hardest part of SEM (just like in real life) is getting powerful people to say nice things about you.

Here is a quick and dirty trick for getting good “link juice” to your web site:

Sign up for each of these services, create a profile and be sure to include a clickable link back to your web site:

Panoramio – a cool photography + Google mapping tool.

YouTube – Yes, YouTube. Generally considered a “walled garden” like Facebook, there is a way to code your outgoing link so it carries along the authority of the YouTube name. This one is tricky – drop me a line and I’ll show you how it’s done.

Zillow – even if you’ve only got a passing intereset in real estate (and I LOVE window shopping for homes online), you can create a backlink opportunity here.

Facebook (rather than link to the general FB page, feel free to check out one of our clients, Bev’s Cafe). There is a way to throw a rope ladder over the garden wall. It just takes a little know-how and well, just ask.

Spamming these kinds of sites is bad. Don’t do it. But do learn from the idea of leaving your web site’s URL in the right places. Sort of like putting your card up at the local Caribou bulletin board, or just dropping it in the fishbowl for a free lunch (and mailing list sign-up).

P.S. Don’t know how to find the list of web sites who DO link to you? Drop me a line and I’ll send you a report.

Sep 18 0 comments
K.I.S.S., Tips and Tricks

Got Happy Customers?

You have customers who love you and love your service. They order lunch every day, they browse all the new titles in your book shop window, they need regular tree trimming or they have a late-day latte every day around 3:00.

How do you get them to rave about you on your site?

Ask them to review your shop on your web site!

That way when people search Google for your business, they see user ratings that give you that word-of-mouth popularity you already have!

How about putting a page of links to the best review sites? For restaurants, Chowhound, for Twin Cities performers, HowWasTheShow – these authentic, niche driven sites are pure gold when they link to your site and best of all, people raving about you is the best advertising of all!

On the other hand, if someone complains, there’s not much you can do. That’s the risk of “buying” customer appreciation instead of paying for artificial popularity boosting gimmicks.

So the K.I.S.S. of the day?

Print a card or a link on your sales receipt with directions to your web site and leave it by the cash register or include it with your invoices. You can go a step further by encouraging people to sign up for email updates on your web site and rewarding them with a 10% off coupon or a free cup of coffee!

Jul 30 0 comments
K.I.S.S., RWSM Basic Info, Tips and Tricks

What Is Google Searching For?

There are two major ways to get your web site to the top of Google’s search engine.

1) Pay top dollar for search terms (“keywords”) people are likely to use to find you.

2) Have a perfect web site (in Google’s eyes).

That’s when it gets complicated and time-consuming for the small business owner. Google considers your site’s popularity (the number of people already going to your web site or linking to it) as only 22% of the important elements of a web site.

That leaves domain name and hosting trust, on-page keyword use and all kinds of other esoteric, abstract stuff. It’s a pain in the butt for a small business owner with little time to be mucking around on his or her web site, trying to find the magic combination of words, keywords, images, meta tags, inbound and outbound links, number of pages, interlinking of those pages, etc.

Here’s an awesome, quick presentation from SEOMOZ.org.

So here’s your daily Search Engine Marketing (SEM) K.I.S.S.:

“Small web sites don’t need to buy popularity, but they do have to be creative.”

Wait a second. Isn’t that how it was in high school?

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Jul 16 1 comments
RWSM Basic Info

SEO For The Little Guy

RWSM-LOGO72dpi150You’ve got your web site.

You’ve got your email address.

Why isn’t your phone ringing?

Where are your customers?

Now it’s time for SEM–Search Engine Optimization Marketing.

Yes, it’s all about pushing your business name to the top of search results on Google.

And yes, it’s all about having your site all tidy.

But there is also a huge, sophisticated industry out there and there are some powerful, expensive SEO consultants and tactics.

But what about you, the small business?

That’s where Red Wing Search Marketing comes in.

We’re not high paid consultants but we do know tried and true tactics used by the big guys and we know how to make them work–affordably–for local business.

Red Wing Search Marketing is for businesses all around the Red Wing, Minnesota area: Hastings, Cannon Falls, Wabasha, Winona and, in Wisconsin, Pierce County, Prescott, Hager City, Diamond Bluff, Ellsworth, Bay City, Maiden Rock, Stockholm, Pepin and Nelson.

If you simply want to make the most of your presence on the Internet a good one, like a three-dimensional, adaptable, editible Yellow Pages ad–we can do that for you.

If you provide online products or services, we can help you do that, too.

We apppeal to your neighbors and regulars or bring the world to your doorstep.

Besides, it’s really fun.

We’ll show you how.

[Right now, we're busy setting up this site's own SEM and when everything is ready, we'll be here.]

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