Big Feet: Growing your online footprint

Big Feet, a support group for retired NBA players? Nope, just a few tips on how to increase your presence on the Wild West of the Web. (Don’t forget about the <a href="http://biznik.com/members/joel-ballezza/events">companion workshops</a>) This article will cover how you as a professional can increase your footprint online through low and no-cost techniques. Having a strong presence on the web means that customers, potential partners, news reporters and authors can find you easier through search engines like Google and recommendation sites like <a href="http://digg.com">Digg</a>. This means more contacts, sales, and a larger impact in your industry. As my spam box says “want to get bigger?” Your online presence grows through two main efforts: Passive Growth - Your audience grows organically <ul> <li>Links  Customers link to your site because they like you</li> <li>Services  Sites list you because they like/hate you (<a href="http://yelp.com">Yelp</a>, <a href="http://getsatisfaction.com">Get Satisfaction</a>)</li> </ul> But you’re on Biznik so you’re not the passive type, so there’s also… Active Growth - You make small efforts to broaden your audience <ul> <li>Search Engine Registration</li> <li>Blogs</li> <li>Online Communities</li> <li>Service Sign-up</li> <li>Web Analytics</li> <li>Non-Tech / Offline</li> </ul> How do these active efforts fit together to broaden your step? Lets check it out… Search Engine Registration - While all search engines constantly scrape the Internet to find information, you can also directly register your domain.  Visit these links to register for <a href="http://www.google.com/addurl/">Google</a>, <a href="https://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/submit">Yahoo</a> and <a href="http://search.live.com/docs/submit.aspx">Live</a>. This helps to ensure that search engines check out your site on their next sweep through the ‘hood. Blogs – This is probably the most powerful single thing you could do to broaden your presence online. In addition to writing your own articles in your area of expertise (<a href="http://friendlybit.com/">web development</a>, <a href="http://blog.insweb.com/">insurance</a>, <a href="http://bankingreview.blogspot.com/">banking</a>, <a href="http://blog.home-and-bedroom.com/">interior design</a>, etc) on your blog or on Biznik, you can also comment on popular blogs like <a href="http://mashable.com">Mashable</a>, <a href="http://techcrunch.com">TechCrunch</a> or The NY Times <a href="http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/ ">The Lede</a>.  Why is this so rad? Well, after you post your comment on the article – adding your pearls of wisdom and insight, or <a href="http://biznik.com/learn/articles/starting-a-business/tips-to-launch-your-business-using-free-and-almost-free-stuff">new resources</a>, toss in your name and your business, and hyperlink it to your site (email me if you don’t know how to do this). That post then acts as a business card for folks to stumble upon AND it is an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inbound_link">in-bound link</a> for your site so that Google then lists you higher in their search results.  Amazing stuff huh? It works, its great, do it like eating vitamins; daily, and in a month’s time you’ll be stomping around like Shaq (Get it? Feet reference, oh boy, I get no respect) (NOTE OF CAUTION: Don’t spam. This is not cool on Biznik or in the broader community. Only comment when you have a legitimate message or resource to add. It’s kind of like the saying …if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all) Online Communities - I know you might be a little Bebo-Facebook-MySpace’d out by now, but outside of finding a date or discovering how many children your HS prom date now has, these networks are super-handy at introducing your skills and services to a larger community. Just think – MySpace has 100m+ profiles, Facebook 70m+ and Biznik has the most targeted community for independent professionals - so having a place at the table in these communities is just a good (and free) business practice. <ul> <li>Create a profile, including a description of your services and a link to your site</li> <li>Import Google contacts, when available</li> <li>Monitor monthly to ensure content is up to date</li> <li>Push out announcements when you have a new service, your company goes public or you run for office</li> </ul> In addition to connecting with folks inside these online communities, the public pages of these sites add up to more in-bound links to increase your Google/Yahoo page rank for when folks are searching for you. So, go make Mark Zukerberg happy and get your <a href="http://biznik.com/learn/articles/starting-a-business/how-businesses-become-fans-with-70-million-facebook-users">Facebook Page</a>. Service Sign-up – YouTube, Flickr, <a href="http://GetSatisfaction.com">GetSatisfaction</a> and a myriad of other online services aren’t just free resources to support your company, they are great ways to broaden your profile online. Create accounts, upload applicable media (video/photos) or just use them as services to support your own site – (Free streaming video and photo slideshow – why not?). Web Analytics – I don’t want to use peer pressure here, but come’on, EVERYONE IS DOING IT. <a href="http://google.com/analytics">Google Analytics</a> is a free web stats service provided by Google. By inserting a small bit of Javascript in the bottom of each of your web pages, you not only get great info on who is visiting your site and from where, but Google can search your site better meaning a high Google page rank. In short, its free and great. Just do it. Offline Options – I’m sure you’re wondering how you’re going to increase your ONLINE presence with OFFLINE and non-Web stuff. Well, it actually works pretty well. Put urls on your business card, resume and in your email signature. Toss up your logo and email address on banners and posters that you take to conferences and other events. People see it and think “Wow- she/he is awesome, I’m totally going there”. If you’re so inclined, get a door-sized magnet touting your services and put it on your car. People spend a lot of time in traffic so it might just increase your online traffic. Enough of those off-line “impressions” generates a broader online presence and more visitors to your website. Check out the Biznik profile of Rick from <a href="http://biznik.com/members/rick-sader">Lone Eagle Digital</a> for your printing needs. Closing - So in short, the Web is a wild west with tons of junk everywhere. You owe it to your business and yourself to take a strategic effort to rise above the noise and connect with folks through a broader online presence.  Good luck! Want custom answers on how to advance your online presence in your specific field of work/expertise? Register for Josh & Joel’s <a href="http://biznik.com/events/2008/5/6/big-feet-growing-your-online-footprint">Big Feet Workshop</a>.  Also – check out our upcoming <a href="http://biznik.com/events/2008/5/8/simple-search-engine-optimization">Simple Search Engine Optimization</a> worshop.  If you have any questions or would like to share more resources, <a href="http://biznik.com/members/joel-ballezza/">let me know</a> and I’ll toss them up. Best- Joel  ______________UPDATE May 3, 2008 - Great questions brought up by <a href="../../../members/elge-premeau-0" title="Go to Elge's profile">Elge</a>. See comments below.    2008-05-02T22:31:40Z

2008-05-03T10:12:33Z

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Broaden your digital footprint and try out some handy low/no-cost techniques to increase your presence online. Also, check out the <a href="http://biznik.com/members/joel-ballezza/events">companion workshops</a>.

Big Feet: Growing your online footprint

2009-02-24T09:44:14Z