Photo courtesy of here.

On August 2nd, the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber is hosting “Web 2.0 Blogging Bootcamp.” According to the event description, the bootcamp is for “especially valuable for companies with limited marketing dollars, including non-profits.” Cost to participate in the four-hour long camp?  $300.  As a community service to those area institutions who cannot afford $300 per person, The Cincinnati Beacon is proud to present some totally free suggestions for how to leverage new technologies for an enhanced business marketing strategy.

My number one suggestion:  utilize free social networking tools as a way to increase search engine visibility.

A site that is still rather unknown is Scribd.com—a social networking service for documents.  Documents hosted are indexed by Google the next day, usually.  Being creative with how to incorporate Scribd documents which include solid keyword density (a topic I will discuss below) can work wonders to generate some free start-up attention for your web project.

The old standards can still be useful, too—like , , , and so forth.  Remember to use keyword density, however, when writing descriptions for your posts.

Number two suggestion:  utilize keyword density.

There are three ways people will discover your web presence: search engine results, a link from another site the user reads, or being told about the site directly (by a friend, an advertisement, etc.)

Keyword density is one measure used by internet robot spiders to index a site’s relevance to a particular search.  If, for example, you run a small business that repairs shoes in Cincinnati, then a phrase like “Cincinnati shoe repair” is something on which you’ll want to capitalize.  Use those “keywords” as often as you can—in the text of posts on your site, or as small words in the footer of your site. 

Make words small by using the “small” html tags, for example:

You can actually just repeat the phrase “Cincinnati shoe repair” as many times as you like in small letters at the bottom of your home page.  Some people don’t like how this looks, but it can be a cheap solution to increasing your web visibility.

Number three suggestion:  incorporating blogging.

Google actually seems to privilege information hosted from their own network.  So, if you have a blog with Google’s service, you will be more visible on Google information searches.  Naturally, Google is not the only search engine people use, but it’s something to keep in mind.

There is nothing wrong with outsourcing your company’s blogging efforts to a third-party system like Google.  Besides, the reciprocal links will give both your sites a higher ranking, too.  But if you host your blog at your own server, or somewhere else, make sure you include an RSS feed.  This feed can be used to plug you into networking systems like Technorati.  When possible, find blogrolls on which to get your site included.  That will also increase your visibility through services like Technorati.

Fine, but what about content?

So maybe you’ve read all this, followed links to learn more about social networking tools and other free services you may not have known about, and you feel ready to go.  There remains just one problem:  what is your content? 

Think of your networked web presence as a way to update people about your services:  if you are a business that provides a service, write about your experiences in the field; if you are a non-profit, don’t be afraid to tout your record, your acheivements, your future goals.  Don’t obsess, but don’t be neglectful, either.  I have personally always thought that an interactive site should be updated at least once weekly.  That gives people a reason to keep coming back, and maybe to find something they will forward on to a friend or colleague.

Anyway, that can hopefully get some people started.  I have other suggestions I’ve learned from my experiences, but those cost $300.  It’s a special price I have for non-profits who don’t have a lot of money.

• Share This Article!
Listen to this article

del.icio.us

Furl It

Anonymous comments are allowed, but you can log in above to stamp your name and to avoid typing the anti-spam code.