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Hilltop Landscaping: what a company blog should look like

Author: Ray Gulick; Published: Apr 24, 2011; Category: Blogging; Tags: Blogging for Business, Local Search, WordPress; 2 Comments

Let’s just come out and admit it: most company blogs are horrible. Either they are never updated (I resemble that remark), or they read like press releases, in that dry, official tone of corporate PR that no one reads because it’s not actually meant to be read.

So, when you find a company blog that’s entertaining and informative, co-written by several people in a company who, as a group, post two-three times each week, who aren’t afraid to be real people in their blog posts: well, it’s beyond refreshing. It’s stunning. The Hilltop Landscape Architects and Contractors have a company blog like that. In less than four months (their current WordPress-based website launched in January, 2011), blogging has become central to their marketing efforts, and their website traffic is on a definite upward slope.

I have first-hand knowledge of The Hilltop as a customer (if you live in New Mexico and need landscaping, you should contact them). They are also my client. I designed and built their website and I work with them on an ongoing basis as a blog coach. I would love to be able to take credit for the quality of their blog, but I do little more than encourage them and make an occasional edit for clarity. I can tell you not all of the bloggers at The Hilltop were just waiting for an opportunity to write an occasional blog post. But they do it, and even (sometimes) find themselves enjoying it. And they are producing a body of work that is beginning to add up to a resource for people with various landscape issues.

Recent blog posts have dealt with practical matters such as windbreaks, dog-friendly landscaping, weed control, the dangers of topping trees, and landscaping methods for reducing danger from wildfires. There have also been posts on subjects such as sensory gardens, New Mexico blooming plants, and the importance of focal points in landscape design. And then there was the infamous April 1 blog post. This kind of variety (and I’ve only scratched the surface) makes The Hilltop’s blog both an information resource and a source of entertainment.

How do they do it? It starts with a commitment from the owner, Jim Forrester. The Hilltop has never had a marketing department; they’ve never needed one because the continual growth in Albuquerque and other cities in New Mexico kept them busy and growing. In the last couple of years, things have gotten a lot more competitive. Jim knew they had to do something to market the company’s services, but he found the idea of spending money on traditional marketing less than appealing. When he and I talked about how inbound marketing techniques could be used to gain business, he liked the idea. More importantly, he committed his time and his people’s time to make it happen. Among the eight Hilltop staffers who blog (including Jim), blogging is part of their job.

Once a week (recently every two weeks, because spring is their busiest season), we meet for an hour to discuss upcoming and potential blog posts and talk about such things as how to get backlinks, how to promote their blog posts, what to do when the blogging well runs dry, and other things related to blogging. There is usually a fair amount of laughing and carrying on; someone looking in the window might conclude there was no useful work being done. But they’d be wrong.

Take a look at The HIlltop’s blog. Read a few posts and then come back here and tell me what you think.

Google Offers Fresh Advice on SEO

Author: Ray Gulick; Published: Sep 29, 2010; Category: Business, Search/SEO, WordPress; Tags: Google, Google Analytics, Local Search; No Comments

Google gets a bit cute (the idea for the “Googlebot” holding flowers comes from a post on Google’s blog entitled First Date with the Googlebot; unless you’re kind of a geek, don’t bother reading the post), but they offer some solid advice in their recently updated Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide. If you care about searchbots’ ability to find and rank your website favorably, download it and then read it. And then alter your approach to SEO accordingly.

In 32 pages, the guide covers SEO Basics, Improving Site Structure, Optimizing Content, Dealing with Crawlers, SEO for Mobile Phones, and Promotions and Analysis. It also outlines best practices in each of these areas.

If your website functions as a marketing tool for your business or organization, you can’t afford not to be knowledgeable about SEO. If you have a WordPress-based website, the information in Google’s SEO Guide, and a Google Analytics account that you use to monitor your website, you have all the tools you need to turn your website into a search engine magnet.

And if you need help with any of this, you know where to find me.

Do Static, Set-it-and-Forget-it Websites Still Have Value?

Author: Ray Gulick; Published: Jul 14, 2009; Category: Marketing, Search/SEO, Zeitgeist; Tags: Local Search, Marketing, Zeitgeist; No Comments

It seems as though this question could be answered with a simple “yes” or “no” (I would argue “no”), but a conversation I had yesterday with Chris Madrid of New Mexico Community Capital’s IMPACT New Mexico program helped me understand two things: 1) that a static website can still have some value as an “online brochure.” and 2) how far we have to go in New Mexico in terms of businesses understanding not just “how” to leverage the web, but “why.”

Certainly I understand that for small businesses just starting up, a website may not be their first priority. In terms of cash flow and number of hours in a day, they may be at capacity in just getting their business on its feet. But businesses have to do some marketing. The problem is many business owners have little or no expertise in nor understanding of marketing. As a result, they end up with a yellow pages ad and a banner in front of their place of business. If they’re lucky and they have great products or services, they will get enough word-of-mouth to allow them to survive. Some kinds of businesses, like restaurants, can even thrive on that formula. For many (perhaps most) businesses, that’s not enough.

So what value does a static, seldom-if-ever-updated website still provide? Assuming someone knows the name of the company or the URL of their website, they can find their way to it (not likely Google will be much help in finding it by searching on anything other than the company name). To some customers, having even a static website adds credibility to the company as long as the information on the site is not obviously outdated (if things appear badly dated, however, it can have the opposite effect).

If a static website looks nice, is easy to navigate, and tells a coherent and compelling story about the company and it’s products or services, prospective customers who find their way there may, in fact, decide to do business with the company. This is the nearly two decades old “online brochure” model of online marketing. It’s better than no website, but it’s never worked great (not even in 1993, when I launched my first website) for one simple reason: it doesn’t attract much search traffic. Which means not many people ever see the website. It’s like buying a television ad that runs at 3 am.

This is a strategy that absolutely depends on driving people to your website by putting its URL on business cards, yellow pages ads, mentioning it on radio spots, etc. Those techniques, with rare exceptions, have never resulted in much traffic for business websites.

So, static websites, if kept at least marginally updated, are better than nothing. But that misses the point. Marketing, rather than a (sometimes expensive) frill, is an absolute necessity for almost all businesses: it’s what keeps the customers coming. The online marketing game isn’t about providing cred to the 5-6 people per week who see your online brochure. The online marketing game is about getting found online by the hundreds and thousands of local people searching online for local products and services offered by your company.

Fundamentally, search engines have changed the game by focusing on local search results. It used to be that in order to see local results, I had to type in “Santa Fe” after whatever I was looking for. No more. Search engines now deliver local results (if any) based on your IP address, which indicates your geographic location. This both takes advantage of and fuels a trend in the growing use of search engines in looking for local products and services. If your website is not a search engine magnet, you’re missing out on business. It’s that simple.

Static websites are rarely (if ever) search engine magnets, no matter what might be done to make them more search engine-friendly. Blogs and actively updated websites with content management systems often are, if done with search engine optimization in mind. So you tell me: do static websites still have value?

Jumping on the Blogging Bandwagon, or Not

Author: Ray Gulick; Published: Jul 4, 2009; Category: Blogging, Marketing, Search/SEO; Tags: Blogging, Local Search, SEO; No Comments

Bandwagons are lots of fun to jump onto: there are usually a lot of upbeat, excited people already there. Many of them are convinced the bandwagon is taking them to a lovely, special place where their dreams will be fulfilled. And possibly they will be. The problem is, when people are in a state of expectant dream fulfillment, they talk as if they’ve found the "one true answer." And if it’s the one true answer, everyone should be on the bandwagon, right?

We think you need a better basis for making a decision to blog or not. We believe there are questions people in companies can ask themselves, the answers to which may indicate whether or not blogging will help them achieve their goals. Blogging can enable people (and the companies they work for) to do great things that they would not have imagined before they started blogging. It can also be a complete waste of time, money, and effort. There is no ideal company profile by industry, size, or geographic location that indicates the likelihood of successful blogging. In every case, that likelihood rests with an individual’s (and their company’s) ability and desire to have a successful blog. Blogging is not for everyone or for every company.

Make no mistake: we are blogging enthusiasts. We believe blogging creates opportunities for businesses that no other form of communication can provide. We also believe effective blogging can be learned, but only if circumstances support learning.

We’re writing a white paper (it will be available on EvoBloggito) to help you determine if those circumstances exist in your company and if blogging is likely to benefit you and your company. There is no "passing score" for the number of questions checked. It’s up to you to determine both the answers and their bearing on your decision of whether or not to launch a company blog.

If you decide to blog, the whitepaper will also offer some guidance and suggestions to help you get started on the right foot. Because getting started is the biggest step you’ll take.

Video: How to Add Your Business to Google Local Business Center

Author: Ray Gulick; Published: Jun 26, 2009; Category: Marketing, Search/SEO, Video; Tags: Local Search, Marketing; No Comments

This video from fall, 2008 is a pretty good explanation of how to add your business to Google’s local business center to appear in Google local search results and Google maps. Well worth the nearly 8 minutes of your time. Kudos to Small Business Web Guru for making this clear and concise video.