May 18 2009
Your Best SEO Tool Is Staying Organized
Search engine optimization or SEO is a necessary practice to keep your website or blog visible. It’s not a task you do once and forget. The art marketplace and the Internet are constantly evolving. To make the most of your marketing effort, you need a plan.
Several opportunities exist for generating traffic and buzz. Forums, the original social media, are a classic means of reaching out in your niche community and networking. Use forums. They give you a great means of researching ideas. Blogging, of course, is another great way to connect with your readers. For artists, a blog that details the process behind the art is one way to add value to your art. Your art emerges with a personality and a voice.
Social media is the flavor of the day. Sites like Twitter allow you to connect in a whole new way. These sites also offer realtime answers to questions and research. Artists can network with other artists or find leads on potential clients. For clients, social media sites offer opportunities to understand the artist as a person.
Whatever mix of marketing you use, it is important to stay organized. A blog without regular posts will soon get lost in the evolving marketplace. A Twitter account with only broadcast messages will soon lose followers. To reinforce your authority position, you must take part regularly. A couple web applications can help you with your plan.
ToodleDo is an online application that is built around the classic GTD theme. It has a slick interface that is easy to use. Set up goals with lists of projects to help you achieve them. Adding a time estimate to each project gives you a handle on how to plan your day. It also allows you to use a helpful tool unique to ToodleDo. Let’s say you have a spare hour to get some work done. Simply give ToodleDo your time allotment, select what goals you want to work on, and ToodleDo will provide you with a schedule. This is perfect for the person who needs a list.
Another similar site is GTDAgenda. As the name would imply, it too used the GTD theme. The task list is nice in that it lists next actions, encouraging progress on a project. One feature I really like is the checklists. Checklists are tasks lists that are repeated weekly. Rather than having to create individual tasks, the list repeats. I like to use this as a means to record when I’ve done my daily marketing such as blogging. The site even allows you to track your progress and how often you’re completing your checklist.
Marketing is crucial to business. Having a plan and a means for organizing your efforts will help you grow your business.
