Past columns have talked about making sure your web site is ready to receive visitors before you spend your time, money and effort inviting them, and that concept is so important.  You have only the one chance, probably, to make that favorable first time impression, and if you don’t grab them in the first three seconds or so of their initial visit, you’ve likely lost them to your competition.

This is not the same thing as saying your web site needs to be beautiful – - really, it means only that it can’t be ugly.  Purpose and process are far more important than pretty, something I have written of often, and yet folks still get hung up on the pretty.

Attention spans are very short in real life today, and shorter, still, on the Internet.  If a user has spent time and effort searching for something in particular, they want that particular something quickly once they find it.  Your “call to action,” what to do and how to do it, is far more important than your pretty, so if you need a definition of “purpose and process,” there it is.  Tell your visitor what to do and how to do it, and then get out of their way.

Graphical works better than words, and if your product or service lends itself well to a graphical call to action, put it “above the fold,” where the visitor will see it as soon as the page opens.  Purpose and process – - give your visitor what he or she wants.  Make it easy for them, and stay out of their way.

But, let’s get back to how the Internet is used. It’s a single word – - searches.  People use the Internet to search – - for products, for services, for news, for answers.  What do they use for their searches?  Search engines.  Google, alone, is used for 1 billion searches per day world-wide.  The average Internet user conducted about 33 searches online per month in 2009  and that number is expected to grow to about 50 in the next five years.

Google represents about 67% of the searches conducted every day, more than any other search tool.  Last year, both Google and Yahoo began incorporating real time search from Twitter and blog feeds.  This will contribute to the growth of searches per month because it makes the results of those searches more relevant.  Search tool bars for Internet Explorer and Firefox will contribute to the growth of searches, too.

How does your web site end up as one of those search results?  By its content.  Searches are still word value-based, irrespective of the search tool used.

What does that mean from a practical standpoint?  Do your research, find out what the inventory is for every conceivable word or phrase someone might use in a search for which you want to be found, and then make sure there’s enough of a search inventory to warrant having those words on your site.  In other words, find out what people are already searching for that has to do with your product or service, and then make sure your web site content is crafted around those keywords.

When you’ve done that research and have your list of keywords you know users are already searching for, then and only then are you ready to create content.  Without the knowledge aforehand that comes from solid research and well-conceived plan, the chances of success that come from a carefully coordinated strategy among all of the resources and online tools is diminished greatly. And when I speak of content, I mean content on your web site, content on your Twitter page, content on your Facebook business page, content in your blog.  If you haven’t done your research, assembled your Plan, and coordinated all of that content before you undertake its creation, you’re really just wasting your time.

Everything in its place, in proper order, all aspects correctly interwoven.  This is the best practices approach to the development of an overall Internet Marketing Plan, and is far more likely to achieve the success you hope for – - not high follower numbers on Twitter, not high friend numbers on Facebook; rather, visitor traffic to your web site with a high conversion rate.

“Followers” and “Friends” are nice, but a good conversion rate is the brass ring.  Get your web site ready first, make your Plan first, create your call to action first, craft your unified content first.  Then, you’ve maximized your chances for success.

Google made some major missteps in rolling out its Buzz, but that will pass.  Once Facebook introduces its own email product (development well underway), the competition will become even mightier.

What does this mean for your web site marketing strategy, and is there a common element addressing both of these tools to improve your traffic?

Well, obviously, you need a presence on Facebook.  Your presence can’t be static, though.  It is no more true with Facebook than it has always been for your web site.  The “Build it and they will come” Internet strategy has never worked, and it still amazes me that so many think they simply need a web site to make their fortune.

Actually, let’s expand the discussion about social media to include Twitter, because it’s an excellent tool in its own right as a part of an overall social media marketing strategy.  And, the right tool for the right job applies as equally in this mix.

The element common to all of these tools, one so often overlooked or neglected, is actually the starting point in your social media marketing strategy.  The concept that “Content is King” has morphed just a bit, but it is as valid a concept today as it ever was.

Think about this carefully:  Social media works only if you have compelling content and something interesting to say.  Punch up your copy first – then invite guests.

Your strategy in the social media arena will be wasted energy if you have nothing of value to say on your website.  Traffic is one thing; but a clear “call to action” and meaningful content to back it up must be in place before the guests arrive, or the effort you invested inviting them will be for naught.

We’ve preached content growth and content refreshing, carefully planned, strategized and crafted around the most appropriate keywords for your business, for years.  It’s as true and necessary today as it has ever been, and it’s the reason we’re writing this piece to our blog today, as a matter of fact.

We want visitors to find a good take-a-way, something worthwhile and of value.  We want our visitors to find enough of interest in our content to help with their own online efforts, and hopefully something sufficiently useful to make them want to return later to learn something else of use.

We’ll then use our social media strategy (Twitter and Facebook, at least) to promote this piece, and hope it brings those visitors.  Excerpt feeds to our home page place these thoughts prominently for those visitors to see, as does our use of the Twitter Widget in the home page’s right side bar just below those excerpt feeds.

But, it starts with the content of the site.  We’ll say it again:  Social media works only if you have compelling content and something interesting to say.  Punch up your copy first – then invite guests.

By taking that first step, by offering that meaningful content, you’ll be ready to entertain and inform your guests when they arrive.  Neither your time nor theirs will be wasted, and you’ll have a much better chance to engage them in a solid conversation.

That is the point of the exercise, after all.

Facebook is the world’s largest social networking site. Depending on whose statistics you use, it’s either the most frequently visited site each day, or it’s number two behind Google, 400 million members strong.  YouTube, Yahoo and Live round out the top five.  Facebook is moving toward its initial public stock offering, and everything it can think of is being monetized.

If you visit the site, you’ve already seen those advertisements in the right side bar.  More of that is coming, and as it does, your privacy is going.

You know how you’re asked about allowing your profile to be accessed every time you want to take one of those silly “Quizzes” on Facebook, like “How Well Do You Know So-and-So”?  If your email address is listed in your profile, you’ve just been added to someone’s mailing list and can expect to be receiving marketing emails.

Privacy has long since disappeared, and on the Internet, and especially on Facebook, whatever thin veil you think might still exist is useless in hiding any of the good parts.  Notwithstanding Facebook’s published Privacy Guide, your info is not the least bit safe.

Money has everything to do with it.  Currency on the Internet is traffic, and in that sense, Facebook is a currency printing press. Eyeballs on the site in those numbers make the Googles of the world salivate.  Add to that the email addresses for e-newsletter marketing, and, well . . . you get the point.

And lest you think the toothpaste can be jammed back into the tube, try getting that embarrassing Facebook update off Facebook’s server, or out of Google’s cache.  The only option you have is to take comfort in the notion of once burned, twice shy, and vow never to put anything anywhere on the Internet you can’t live with forever.

But, it still comes down to money.  Privacy issues can stand in the way of monetization, and when that choice has to be made, the answer is clear.  Making money is not a bad thing, mind you.  The costs of maintaining sites like Facebook, Twitter and so many others is substantial, and business is business.  It’s why the sites and systems were developed in the first place.

Just be careful.  Forever is a long time.

We wish the Library and Staff well and hope they will have fun with the new site.  It’s a valuable community resource, and we’re sure they will manage it well.

We have a client in Dublin, and a site developed through our Dublin office, and the site is Dublin Vouchers. It serves as the on-line component of Dublin Local Business Directory, a business that has as its off-line component a coupon booklet distribution to tens of thousands of households. The site has a blog, and posts to a regular monthly schedule.  An excerpt feed pulls the first few lines to the home page, thus helping refresh the content there.

The business also has a Twitter account, and our client keeps active through his account.  He’s acquired many followers in just his first few months, and his readership continues to grow.

We took it one step further, though, and added a Twitter feed to the home page of the site.  You’ll see it on the left, below the business voucher search engine.  Every time a new “Tweet” is posted to the Twitter account, it feeds to the home page of the site.  By including a keyword in the “Tweet,” valuable copy is added to the site, and the home page content is refreshed.

Now, to the value part.  One of the keywords our client wanted to be ranked well for on Google, Yahoo and Bing was:  “vouchers for dublin businesses.”  We helped him include this keyword on both his Twitter page and his home page, and counseled him to include it in his blog posts and home page content, generally.

When you search, for instance that keyword on Google, you will find his web site ranked #1 and #1 for it.  If you look just a little more, though, you will see that his Twitter page is ranked #5 for the same keyword.  Not only does that make his site easier for someone to find in a search, it also means some competitor has been bumped over to the second page of search results.

Twitter is a micro-blogging site.  Each “Tweet” is limited to 140 characters, and that includes letters, punctuation and spaces.  But, it’s all content, and as we continually report, content remains king.  Twitter is another online tool for content generation, and its value depends on how you use it.

In the case of Dublin Vouchers, he is using it wisely and well, and the proof is in the results.  #5 on Google for the keyword of his choice.  Social Networking sites have great value in introducing people to each other, and as you can see on Dublin Vouchers, they can have great value in search engine optimization benefit.

We wish NEAPMS great success with its new site as well as its conference in 2010.

Perhaps an example might help. I hesitate to tell the story because I don’t want to create the impression it’s SEO lightning that will strike the same place time and time again. There’s no magic to it, and just taking the time to read the Webmaster Guidelines Google offers will tell you that. And, SEO efforts achieve varying degrees of success at different speeds depending on the web site, its subject matter/products/services, and a site owner’s dedication to engage in ongoing best practices.

With that said, let’s look at Inuit Images. John and Victoria have been operating an Inuit Art Gallery for thirteen years, and their web site was ten years old when they called KISS. The Inuit sculptures, carvings, drawings and master works are beautiful, authentic, and both prehistoric and contemporary.

Yet, even with that tenure on the Internet, the web site did not rank well for keywords associated with their art. We were asked to give their site a face lift and help them be found a bit easily in searches. We performed our due diligence on keyword inventory research, assembled a list of keywords to target, wrote new page titles, meta description and structured copy, helped them find a new look and feel for the site, and launched the new version in early October.

Last week, we reviewed the site’s first month performance and were delighted to find that its rank position for the targeted keywords, which for the old site was not in the top 50 results in any instance, had improved into the top 25: “inuit art” has them ranked #25; “inuit art sculptures” at #8; “inuit sculptures” at #13; “inuit art books” #24; “eskimo art” at #6; and, “inuit art gallery” at #18.

These are keywords for which their site wants to rank well – - they all have to do directly with their gallery offerings and the pieces they present. There’s no mystery here, either. You assemble the list of keywords, craft the copy around it, and review the statistical data periodically to see how the content is performing.

Results are not always this quick, to be honest, and not often as dramatic. We always assume the first month will simply establish a baseline performance for the second month’s stats, and hope for some movement by then. The basics don’t change, though, and the exercise is still the same.

Of course, there is more to the work than these steps. There’s link building strategies, social networking (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, etc.), as well as content growth and refreshing, to mention a few. Websites are perpetual works in progress, frankly.

But, that’s where it all begins: compelling content that targets the right keywords; words in all the right places; keywords in the right frequency; page titles; headings; main body text; all coordinated for a solid and strong indexing by the search engines.

It does work.

There’s a great and memorable quote from the movie, a line spoken by its narrator : “There are eight million stories in the Naked City; this has been one of them.”

Now, let’s speed ahead to the present, and the Internet, and social media, and the so many ways in which we communicate today online.  Specifically, Twitter.  And . . .

“There are eight million stories in the world of social media, and this is one of them.”

I opened a Twitter account months ago, sat on the sidelines for a while simply observing.  I saw no value to running up the “followers” numbers, or to “following” thousands.  While I can multi-task, I also like to pay attention to those with whom I communicate, and there was just too much fluff and useless drivel, and re-tweeting, and tweet-spam and all other manner of unsubstantiality.

So, I watched, and found a few fellow travelers who seemed to have something to say worth listening to, and followed them.  A few even seemed to find what I had to say interesting enough to follow me, too.

One such fellow traveler is Gunther Sonnenfeld.  We’ve become sort of friends, or at least fans of each other, and we’ve chatted occasionally through direct messages.  I’ve read much of what he writes online, a very smart guy, and I’ve learned a lot from him.

One of KISS’s clients, Onset Computer Corporation, a giant in the world of data logging equipment, and the owner of the HOBO brand of data logging “stuff,” was in the market for services I know Gunther offers.  Brock Phillips, our Onset man on the scene, asked if I knew anyone who could help him take the pulse and temperature of Onset’s market and clientèle.

I reached out to Gunther, and as a consequence, we had our first actual, real, honest to goodness, personal contact – - over the telephone. Although it was our first phone contact with each other, there was no need for awkward introductions or pregnant pauses in the chat, and we got right to business.

Social media, Twitter to be precise, had made us aware of each other.  We’d already had the opportunity to review each other’s work, and speaking for myself, at least, I found his of great value and worth.  It was a natural for me to offer the introduction, Brock to Gunther and vice versa.

They’re speaking this week about a project together, and my hope is some commerce gets done.  It would make a terrific story to add to the “eight million” of them out there.

Social media networks have great value if they are used properly, a great vehicle for presenting oneself.  Gunther will tell you that . . . after all, that’s one of his niches, social media marketing. Check it out on his site:  ThinkState

The moral of the story?  Make sure you have a social media marketing strategy in place, and then work it.   It’s helped KISS – we found a resource for our client, Onset Computer Corporation; and we found a prospect for our friend, Think State’s Gunther Sonnenfeld.

Their pieces are stunningly beautiful, and we went to extra lengths in the presentation of their photographs in three sizes, including the use of Lightbox for the largest size.  The sculptures are in ivory, as well as soapstone and bone.

The Arctic people’s culture is fascinating, and the Inuit Images gallery offers an incredible selection of pieces in many mediums.  Please visit their new site and see what we mean and why we were so taken by the art.

We wish John and Victoria well with their new web site.  We’ll be with them for a while as we monitor their site statistics and adjust their copy for the most advantageous search engine indexing and rank positions for important keywords.

Dublin businesses and anyone wishing to reach consumers in the Dublin market can open accounts in the site and create vouchers to be made available to those consumers.  There is an off-line component to Micheal’s new venture, also – print versions of vouchers that will be distributed door to door in the areas where the businesses are located.

We wish Micheal well and the very best success.  We’re been asked to remain involved in the management of the system, and will be writing for its blog and Twitter account as part of our SEO marketing services for Dublin Vouchers.