I have a website, isn't that enough?

Standard rules apply:  We have a concept, create a rough storyboard, and get a website!  Yahoo!!  I have a website.  See?  I type my domain name and look!!!  There it is!  My pictures, my products, and my rambling are all right there for the entire world to bask in it's ingenious glory!  We check our e-mail and cross our fingers that people will be so inspired that they will, of course, seek out our respective sites and clearly be so inspired by the chic template we have chosen they will thoroughly read all the content we threw together (which of course is written in papyrus or comic sans) and the orders/work will come streaming in hand over fist.

So we check our e-mail...

Still checking e-mail...

The frenzied e-mail checking slows...

So now what?  

While I have often thought about making my website just a splash page that says, "I'm good at what I do"  "trust me", I have a sneaking suspicion that a minimalist attempt at marketing would lead to a minimal return.  Since my long term goals include eventual world conquest, I have begun to slowly take a hard look at SEO.  

What is SEO?  If these three letters don't mean anything to you, stop reading right here and do a google search.  

If you are still reading this, I would like to share a few things I have found that have helped my Utah based photography company begin to get slightly more traffic to my website.

First and foremost, you need to be able to see the traffic to your website.  Seems pretty basic, huh?  Yea, it is.  I want to know how much traffic I get when I post something, and I want to see where the traffic comes from.  Google saves the day with Google Analytics.

"Google Analytics is the enterprise-class web analytics solution that gives you rich insights into your website traffic and marketing effectiveness. Powerful, flexible and easy-to-use features now let you see and analyze your traffic data in an entirely new way. With Google Analytics, you're more prepared to write better-targeted ads, strengthen your marketing initiatives and create higher converting websites."

This is a great place to start.  Check it out.  It's free and it's fairly straight forward to use.

Once you have your tracking in place, don't be afraid of Facebook and Twitter!  Free is our friend.  I'm sure you have a personal facebook page, right?  Well, get one for your company.  Facebook is doing an awful lot of work to promote business traffic.  Their "insights" include a complete demographic break down on who is looking at your website.  Guess what that means?  Yup, there's your target market.  If the people viewing your website is not your target market- you better re-evaluate your marketing strategy.

Ok, now streamline it!  You have a twitter account, a personal facebook page, a business facebook page, and roughly 6 e-mail accounts.  Make sure your website had "buttons" that link to your FB and Twitter accounts.  People will click them.  Also, make sure that your twitter/FB pages have your website on it.  You will be surprised how much traffic you will see from FB.

Also, you can set up your FB page so that any status updates you post will automatically post to twitter.  Perfect.  Two birds with one stone.  Then go even further and check out  Tweetdeck .  From here you can check FB and twitter at the same time.  Of course, you can get tweetdeck for your smart phone.  That's right, kids!  Social Media on the go!  Let's face it, less time spent in front of the computer can be a good thing too.  

Ok, the structure is in place.  (deep breathe)

Since this post is getting quite lengthy, here are a few links that will help you continue to make yourself and your company more visible.  

Start with  Simple SEO Strategies.

Once you have somewhat digested that site, take a look at This killer site.   Yes, this site is for photographers.  The content is great and guess what?  Google search what else you would like to find information on.

I don't pretend to present myself and some traffic-driving internet guru.  That is exactly why I wanted to share this stuff.  If I can do it, you can to.  There are so many ways to promote your business that just need a little bit of creativity to help shake things up a bit.  Get out there and be seen!  

Have other websites that you stumbled upon with more fun info about this stuff??? Share it in the comment section.   Have questions?  E-mail me :)

Happy world conquest!