You may have heard this word a few times now, and you’re probably wondering, what is “inbound marketing” really like? I’ve heard people describe it several ways, including “It’s like doing a bunch of stuff online” or “It’s how you get customers using the Internet.” While they’re true, that’s like me saying “Planes take you to 30,000 feet” or “Running outside helps you bump into your neighbours.”

So what? They don’t give you the full picture, and can be difficult to relate to. That’s why we’ve broken it down and compared it to something more familiar: learning to play the piano.

Inbound Marketing Explained: It’s Like Learning The Piano

Yes, it really is.

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Small business is growing in Canada. As a company that helps small businesses grow and realize their dreams, there’s nothing more exciting for us than seeing growth in the small business sector across the country. That’s why this article on the growing Canadian entrepreneur community from Biv.com makes everyone at Spokal look forward to what’s coming our way.

The article cites a recent report from CIBC that claims a huge boom is coming for small businesses in Canada. Benjamin Tal, deputy chief economist at CIBC, says that over the next decade we may see the strongest activity in the startup community in Canadian history! [Read more…]

Before we get into the 5 places you MUST use keywords, make sure you’re familiar with how to blog for your business. When you feel comfortable with the concept of keywords, we’ll get started on how to use them in your blog.

Does It Matter Where The Keywords Go?

Yes. Think of it like a lab report. Did you ever do one of those in high school or university? It doesn’t matter how great your content or results are – if you don’t format it in the right way, you lose marks.

So where do your keywords go? 

Good question. After you’ve picked your keywords using an application like the Google AdWords Keyword Tool, it’s time to write your blog. There are 5 places you absolutely MUST use keywords to make sure that you have the best chance to rank for that word. If you don’t place keywords properly, Google will have a hard time figuring out what you do, which means your keyword research will be, well, a bit of a waste.

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So, you’ve learned how to use Facebook for your small business in Step 7 and how to use Twitter in Step 8, now it’s time to dive into the newest “social darling” of the web – Pinterest.

What’s Pinterest All About?

Pinterest is a visual network. If you love images and want to showcase the heart of your company, this is the place to do it!

When you use Pinterest for Business, try to find creative ways that show how your products and services fit into peoples’ lives – the goal is to display the heart of your brand. On Pinterest, you share photos that represent that are displayed and organized on things called “boards.” People can be kept up to date by following your entire business (aka all of your boards), or just one in particular.

Pictures Are Worth 1,000 Words 

Some people say Pinterest is easy – you “just upload photos and curate a gallery,” but that’s like me saying, “running a marathon is easy, you just pop your shoes on and go for a jog!” As with everything, you’ll succeed if you have a focus and a goal. When you use Pinterest, the goal is to showcase who you are visually, and what you stand for. Pinterest is extremely powerful, because we all know, pictures are worth 1,000 words.

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Now that you have a basic understanding of Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest from Step 6, it’s time to explore them in more detail so you can decide which ones are best suited for your business. The first one we are going to explore is how to use Facebook for Small Businesses.

Why Use Facebook For Your Business?

Facebook is an ideal channel for small businesses,  as it’s an opportunity to showcase products and the heart of your company. As we mentioned, it’s great for sharing news, company milestones, team events, pictures and your blog – anything that gives us a “behind the scenes” look at your company is ideal for Facebook.

This channel is a good way to increase the number of people that see your content; every time you post, you create an opportunity for people to share that post with their friends. Facebook also allows you to interact with people on a personal level, and since you’re not limited by how long your messages can be, you can dive into details and conversations with potential clients and customers.

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You’ve learned how important it is to link relevant blog posts to each other in Step 5a – we call this internal linking – to build authority and help Google understand what you do. Now we’re going to learn about the other 2 types of links: inbound and outbound.

What Are Inbound Links?

Inbound links are links that point from another website to yours – they happen when someone else finds value in your blog, and wants to refer their readers to you. Inbound links are one of the most important ways Google ranks your site. Why? Because they tell Google that other sites are relevant to yours, and that your site should be given a higher authority.

How Do They Help My Business?

Inbound links are weighted based on how important the site that’s linking to yours is. For example, if The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times are linking to your site, you’ll have a higher authority than if your mom’s personal blog is linking to yours (unless your mum is a stellar blogger, then lucky you!). The weight given to a link is known as “link juice.”

Now that you understand links aren’t just the paper chains you made when you were a kid, let’s jump into the different ways you can get inbound links!

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Now that you’ve finished Step 2: Getting Found using SEO for Small Businesses, it’s time to focus on the words that will help your site rank in Google. Dive in to Step 3: Keyword Research For Your Small Business and start getting found by potential customers!

How Does Keyword Research For Small Business Work? 

When someone wants to find something, they type words into a search engine – these are keywords. The search engine ranks the results based on their relevance and authority to the keywords, and displays the results. Since keywords are just words that identify what you’re talking about, any word can be a key word. You may not realize it, but you are using keywords every time you write a post, although depending on how you use the words, Google may or may not “see them.”

Your job is to learn how to use keywords effectively so when people search for a term related to what you do, your website will appear.  [Read more…]