With the new search engine guidelines and rules, 2013 presents a great opportunity for businesses to dramatically strengthen their online presence. Since July 2013, the old SEO rules do not apply in the same way. Now is the best time to commit to a digital marketing plan that works for your business. With Google allowing its Hummingbird to spread its wings, companies that use good marketing tactics will reap the rewards in time. Below is a list of key factors to get every business on your online list of things to do. You should also keep a list of sites, emails, and passwords that are used for everything you do. Trust me, when you get to a certain level, you’ll be glad to have the list. You must also keep track of the results of every aspect of marketing. Something simple to be able to check the improvements on a monthly basis, and check your profitability in the time invested.

1. On-site optimization and keyword research

Make sure your website is well designed. A good mix of headings, text, and images is required to fulfill SEO thinking. Aim for about 300 words in the copy of the text, make sure the headings are labeled H1 and that all the images have the correct name. All of this will help search engines associate your site with what people are searching for. With access to your site code, create a sitemap, create accounts for Google and Bing webmaster tools, and submit your site to both directories with the sitemap.

Then focus on how your site appears in search engines. Use a digital SWOT analysis of your business and focus on generating relevant keywords, creating meta tags, creating title tags, and reinventing the landing page to maximize your visibility to your potential customers.

This first step will improve your results instantly. You will see a great return on investment in a couple of months.

2. Optimization, links and backlinks outside the site

Outside jobs are an equally important part of a strong digital marketing campaign. The focus of off-site optimization is to have the internet point and look at you. Try to connect your website to existing high ranking websites. Google Rank of 5 or higher and high Alexa traffic ranks are what to look for. Avoid sites that have more ads on the pages than content.

Social media basics: Include business profile page creation on the top 5 most visited social sites in your plan: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, and Pinterest. Each business page must have links to your website and, in return, links from your website to these pages. Each page should be set up with content about your business, text and images, contact details and opening hours. You should also spend time on pages, links, circles, etc. relevant to start with your followers and followers.

Social Media Extras – In addition to the top 5 sites, you can also choose additional social media sites to be a part of, which will really set you apart from the competition. Best of the Rest: Includes Tumblr, Stumbleupon, Foursquare, Squidoo, and Instagram.

Depending on the level of engagement with social media, you may need professional assistance to stay on top of all of them. Ideally, each social media channel needs 45 minutes to 1 hour per week to update with new content and network across platforms, gaining new followers, likes, and links.

Backlink Strategy – It’s important these days to focus on quality, rather than quantity when it comes to backlinks. Depending on your business, different links will work for some and not for others. An important start is to appear in local directories and also focus on your competitors’ links. Search for ‘free online directories’ on Google, and a list of website submission directories should appear. Please take the time to complete and submit them. Note that some take longer to process than others, so keep a list of what has been accepted and what is still processing. Some directories offer paid features. These can be nice features, but be sure to do some homework and use the best value option to get an adequate return on your investment. I have come across cases where 1 particular directory offers free commercial links to websites and offers minimal paid services to promote their social media, and a complete package including a home page with SEO features on their sites for less money in a year than it costs. rent a combined domain and hosting package. It also helps you by association to use your existing rankings to your advantage for your keywords. You can go even further and also search for companies, suppliers, agents, users, etc. your business deals with on a daily basis, and start a dialogue with each promoting the other’s websites via a backlink. In this case, there is strength in the numbers, and a credible bond will serve both of you well.

3. Video:

The next best way to promote your business is to create a video to highlight your products and offers. The availability and popularity of sites like YouTube and Vimeo make it essential to participate. Getting a 2-3 minute video created on your behalf, uploading it to YouTube, and embedding it on your site is the best place to start. While video publishing may not make money directly, smart companies use video marketing as a tactic to improve consumer engagement, clicks, and traffic. They also help drive search traffic, as the major search engines began ranking videos on their results pages. Including video in emails increases open rates by 5.6% and click-through rates by 96.38% compared to standard email marketing. Videos are 50 times more likely to rank on the first page of Google for their respective keywords. They also increase traffic for businesses when shared. There is always the opportunity to go viral.

4. Mobile apps and sites:

Generally, most websites are between 900 and 1000 pixels wide. Not surprising, but they are designed to be viewed on computer screens. Smartphones generally want to see sites around the 350 pixel area. If you don’t have a responsive layout that fits the size of the screen the site is being viewed on, it will look awful and the viewer will move on. Test your site by clicking here. An app or mobile site is a great way to make your existing website fit this generation of what the internet looks like – the mobile phone. The apps are great, but they can be expensive to produce. The app market is growing and building involves complete content from your existing website. Applications vary in size, cost, and function. A mobile version of your site and mobile technology like SMS and QR codes can reach the same market. By using directory sites, your mobile site will be easier to find and more useful to the end user, your customer. Using the same code as your website, a single mobile website can reach users across many different types of mobile devices, while native applications require a separate version to be developed for each type of device. Mobile website URLs easily integrate with other mobile technologies.

5. Current quality blogs and content:

Write, write and write. Increasingly, search engines are putting a lot of faith in any new movement they can track down. Creating and adding new content to your existing site qualifies as this. When bots and spiders visit your site, if there is new content to report, the search engines will take it as a positive. If you run a site like a blog, of course with new posts, you are adding new content. The content and quality of blogging is assumed to be in your own hands. Remember to write both original and quality material. Don’t copy and paste someone else’s work just to have something new to post. That undermines the legitimate process. If you like what someone else has done, like it and give it public involvement and credibility. If you can’t write enough new material, you can look for guest authors, who will be happy to write for you for credit. If you have a business site and have no interest in blogging for content, some points to keep in mind on your site are simple things to correct. Make sure you have a copyright on someone on the home page. Make sure the dates and years are correct. New customers are more likely to use commercial websites when it is clear that the sites are maintained and have the current years included in their copyright. Get in the habit of checking your own website frequently, looking for any aspect of the content that can be updated. At the very least, integrate shareable Facebook or Twitter links and an email link if possible. This will help you share your content on the web without you having to. Other visitors will do it for you if they like what they see.