How to Get Found and Be Available Online

November 7, 2014
5:31 pm

Posted by DMA Solutions Team

Food has power on the internet. Not only are people searching online, but they’re searching for food related content. You may have noticed the popularity of sites like allrecipes.com and theKitchn, not to mention the massive amounts of food inspiration found on Pinterest, where food & drink is the most popular category!

So, if you’re a marketer of fresh food, you’ve probably thought to yourself, “I wish I could be the result of these food searches online.” Well, you can, and in fact that should be one of your goals for 2015. How can you become the result for when consumers search for the products you grow, market and sell? Here are 5 things to consider when positioning your company to “get found” and “be available” online:

1. Optimize for Search Keywords

Your website and blog are the “hubs” where customers and consumers come to find information about your products, so naturally these two engines need to be optimized for search so that you can get found. You can do this by selecting a handful of keywords you want to be found for relative to your products. Look for keywords with medium to high traffic levels but low difficulty in ranking. Once you’ve selected your keywords, develop content and add it to your website so that web crawlers can identify that you are a source for that search term. For example, if you want to rank for “gluten free Thanksgiving recipes” this month, you can work towards developing blog posts, recipes and other pages on you site that say “gluten free Thanksgiving recipes.”

2. Invest in a Blog

Speaking of blogs, blogs are an extremely valuable asset in the quest to “getting found” on the internet. If you don’t have a blog, I highly recommend you consider building the development of one into your 2015 marketing plan. Blogs are a huge SEO booster because search engines love to pick up on your new, regularly updated content. By adding new content to a blog on a consistent basis and using the keywords you want to be found for in your posts, you will significantly increase your credibility with web crawlers.

3. Be Mobile Optimized

If your website is not optimized for mobile viewing on various devices, you are going to lose your audience. Period. Don’t believe me? It happened to us! Take a look at your analytics and see how many of your visitors are coming to your site on a mobile device and compare it to the bounce rate. You may be surprised! 50% of marketers stated back in 2013 that they were already offering a rich, mobile optimized web experience on tablets and smart phones for their visitors. (Kenshoo Social) It’s almost 2015 – time to get with the times and make sure your digital presence is fully optimized for mobile viewing.

4. Measure, Measure, Measure

We can’t say this one enough! At DMA, we’re deep in our analytics on a weekly if not daily basis to measure and see what is working for us and where we have opportunities. Measuring your referral sources, in particular, is an important part of understanding why you are currently being found and recognizing opportunities to get found. Take a look at your website referrals and ask yourself: how are people finding my website? Who are they? What are they viewing on my website? What AREN’T they viewing? The answer to these questions will help to drive your decision making relative to your digital strategy.

5. Listen, Connect and Engage

If being found means being present online, then being available is interacting and engaging. We’re willing to bet that if you are reading this, you’ve already established a Facebook page, Twitter profile, Pinterest account, etc. on behalf of your brand. But are you actively listening to your audience and reaching out to connect with new consumers each and every day? For example, if you’re a tomato grower and you are actively listening on Twitter, you may see a consumer tweet that they are wondering why some tomatoes are yellow. Because you were listening, you can now respond to this consumer and share a helpful link for them to learn more from you, establishing a new connection. They didn’t know who you were before, but because you were available online when it counted, NOW they know your brand. You’re available, and the doors just keep opening from there.

These five tips are in no way a quick fix or “one size fits all” cure for being found online, but these are the things you should be thinking about as you plan for 2015. SEO, blogging, mobile optimization, social media strategy and understanding your analytics and performance are all pieces of the puzzle that should have a place in your marketing mix next year. Download the Produce Marketer’s Master Calendar for content ideas that will help you frame out the possibilities for 2015.