Peg McDermott
As a search engine, Google has become increasingly sophisticated over the years. Back in the day, it was pretty easy to fool Google into thinking your site deserved to have a high ranking, and SEO developed as a technique for marketers to make sure that their sites came up as high as possible. Of course, not all sites that achieved high rankings deserved it - often the quality of a site had little to do with whether or not it ranked highly in search results.
These days, consumers rely more and more on the social aspects of research when they're considering where to spend their money. In other words, recommendations from real people can mean as much or more to them than advertisements or other marketing campaigns. Testimonials are a great way to show that people find your product or service valuable, but how do you get strong, believable testimonials to use on your site?
In this age of Internet transparency, consumers have more options than ever before. Today's consumer does more research and, as such, is more well-informed than ever before making a buying decision. What this means is that it's increasingly difficult for your business to make an impression. In a sea of choices, what is it that makes your company stand out? Sure, you may have a good product or service, but how is a passing consumer to distinguish what you offer from the hundreds of other products and services that may appear to be just as good?
It may only be November, but with the holiday rush getting ready to overwhelm us all, 2013 will be here before we know it. That means that now is the time to start looking at the marketing strategies that did and didn’t work for your business in 2012, and plan for the changes you’ll need to make in the new year to continue moving forward.
Hangouts are probably the most underused and misunderstood feature of Google+, and businesses who aren't using them are missing out on a powerful opportunity to connect with customers, potential customers, colleagues, and even other experts in the same niche. If you can get comfortable with using Hangouts for marketing purposes, you can turn your company's Google+ page into a very popular place, which in turn will be good for your Google ranking, as well.