Sick of no one visiting? So you’ve figured out how to get a blog up and running in Montana and maybe you even made a post or two. Now what?
It’s great writing your thoughts and feelings each day, but if no one’s reading, what’s the point?
You could be like me – I wrote in journals for years and no one read that shit and no one cared and when I started blogging that served me well. I talked to a brick wall for more than a year before you dropped by (except you) and still am in many cases.
But can you do that? And why bother when you can use social media to increase the number of eyes on your Montana website quickly? Yep, I’m talking about increasing the traffic to your Montana website and I’m talking about using social media to do it.
Is that worth something to you? I thought so, so go buy one of my books, huh?
Good, now, let’s get into it.
It’s great writing your thoughts and feelings each day, but if no one’s reading, what’s the point?
You could be like me – I wrote in journals for years and no one read that shit and no one cared and when I started blogging that served me well. I talked to a brick wall for more than a year before you dropped by (except you) and still am in many cases.
But can you do that? And why bother when you can use social media to increase the number of eyes on your Montana website quickly? Yep, I’m talking about increasing the traffic to your Montana website and I’m talking about using social media to do it.
Is that worth something to you? I thought so, so go buy one of my books, huh?
Good, now, let’s get into it.
Analyzing Social to Understand Social Media in Montana
Many people just call social media ‘social’ so don’t act all confused if you hear that. And today I want to use one established site as an example.
I was talking to the owner of this site just today actually because they were thinking of hiring my services. They decided not to, and their loss is your gain. Here’s the site:
I was talking to the owner of this site just today actually because they were thinking of hiring my services. They decided not to, and their loss is your gain. Here’s the site:
Website Design for Montana
This site is called Brown Box Branding and it’s based out of Michigan and offers SEO and social media and content marketing services to struggling, up-and-coming websites.
What I want you to notice are those three social share buttons at the top right hand corner of the screen:
What I want you to notice are those three social share buttons at the top right hand corner of the screen:
Using social media in Montana
I want to make it clear that I’m writing this article for people that don’t have a lot of social media experience.
Those three buttons are Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ and they’re the three legs of your social media marketing stool, or how you get people interested in whatever it is you’re doing…buy your product…or vote for you.
Obama used this shit to get elected and one of his main advisors was from Montana and knew how to make this shit work for him. So listen!
When I get to a site that I find even remotely interested in I’ll go ahead and click on all three of those buttons, 1-2-3, with my mouse button while holding the Ctrl key on the computer so they all open quickly in three new windows at the top of my browser (I use Google Chrome)
This is what I get for the first social media account for that site, Twitter.
Those three buttons are Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ and they’re the three legs of your social media marketing stool, or how you get people interested in whatever it is you’re doing…buy your product…or vote for you.
Obama used this shit to get elected and one of his main advisors was from Montana and knew how to make this shit work for him. So listen!
When I get to a site that I find even remotely interested in I’ll go ahead and click on all three of those buttons, 1-2-3, with my mouse button while holding the Ctrl key on the computer so they all open quickly in three new windows at the top of my browser (I use Google Chrome)
This is what I get for the first social media account for that site, Twitter.
Using Twitter in Montana
Twitter for Montana websites
On this account the Brown Box Branding company is doing really kick ass! They have more than 8,000 followers and about an equal number in return. That’s not a very good ratio in my opinion (you want to be more important than those that follow you)
But they have an audience…or do they? I scrolled down and found that most tweets by Brown Box had about 6 to 10 favorites or retweets…not a whole lot for 8,000 followers.
This goes to show that many times – and I’ve seen this before – many times you’ll have lots of followers on Twitter but they’re not engaged and are pretty much worthless actually.
That’s not always the case, but it is a common problem, and that’s attracting followers outside of your main niche or industry, which in this case might be Montana politics.
Let’s continue with the next social share icon, Facebook.
But they have an audience…or do they? I scrolled down and found that most tweets by Brown Box had about 6 to 10 favorites or retweets…not a whole lot for 8,000 followers.
This goes to show that many times – and I’ve seen this before – many times you’ll have lots of followers on Twitter but they’re not engaged and are pretty much worthless actually.
That’s not always the case, but it is a common problem, and that’s attracting followers outside of your main niche or industry, which in this case might be Montana politics.
Let’s continue with the next social share icon, Facebook.
Using Facebook for Montana Websites
Facebook for Montana websites
In this case Brown Box has just over 2,500 Likes on their page, which again, is really good. However, I see that they also have that same problem with lack of engagement.
In other words, they’ve got a lot of people to like them, but not a lot to keep tabs on them. That’s like having a boat but never using it, so it might just be wasting more of your time and money than you want. After all, what benefit are you getting…and how do you even measure it?
To answer that, let’s take a look at the final social share account, and that’s Google+.
In other words, they’ve got a lot of people to like them, but not a lot to keep tabs on them. That’s like having a boat but never using it, so it might just be wasting more of your time and money than you want. After all, what benefit are you getting…and how do you even measure it?
To answer that, let’s take a look at the final social share account, and that’s Google+.
Google+ and Montana Website Traffic
Google+ for Montana websites
This account has the least followers, not even 150, and the views are therefore quite low, just over 9,000. And this, my friends, is the social account that will be driving most of the long-term traffic to your site.
See, Google is where people are finding your site, unless they’re typing in your exact link or following a link from another site…most of which will be socially-shared links.
So people type stuff into Google like “seo services” in this case, and you hope to hell that your company, Brown Box in this case, comes up.
See, Google is where people are finding your site, unless they’re typing in your exact link or following a link from another site…most of which will be socially-shared links.
So people type stuff into Google like “seo services” in this case, and you hope to hell that your company, Brown Box in this case, comes up.
Conclusion
I hate to hope myself, and that’s why I use social sharing instead. I get over the problem of lack of followers on some networks by having that huge Google+ presence, which in turn is responsible for a fairly large percentage of the more than 4,500 direct links I’ve received from Google this month…about 100 times more than any other website.
But more importantly, Google has now indexed that content and those keywords and now when someone types in whatever to Google, I’ll come up, at least for my content.
That’s called SEO, and what I talked about for a long time up above is how you can cue that social sharing into your SEO to make your website come up in the rankings and get more traffic, people reading, and ultimately for you here in Montana, people voting.
Of course that means adding new and relevant and exciting content, and that’s where people like me come in. People pay me to do this, but right now I’m stealing traffic your site could’ve had. So now I’m getting those votes and you’re not, and I’m not even running. You might still be in this year’s race, but in the long-term game, I’m pulling way ahead of you.
So get started with your social accounts, or you’ll be left in the electronic dust.
Bonus for you smart folks
Is Brown Box being left in the electronic dust? To check that I’ll go to Alexa, which is a site that lets you measure the traffic of other sites…or see how many people are visiting.
But more importantly, Google has now indexed that content and those keywords and now when someone types in whatever to Google, I’ll come up, at least for my content.
That’s called SEO, and what I talked about for a long time up above is how you can cue that social sharing into your SEO to make your website come up in the rankings and get more traffic, people reading, and ultimately for you here in Montana, people voting.
Of course that means adding new and relevant and exciting content, and that’s where people like me come in. People pay me to do this, but right now I’m stealing traffic your site could’ve had. So now I’m getting those votes and you’re not, and I’m not even running. You might still be in this year’s race, but in the long-term game, I’m pulling way ahead of you.
So get started with your social accounts, or you’ll be left in the electronic dust.
Bonus for you smart folks
Is Brown Box being left in the electronic dust? To check that I’ll go to Alexa, which is a site that lets you measure the traffic of other sites…or see how many people are visiting.
How much traffic do Montana websites get?
Sometimes you get nothing if the site is too small, but in this case I see that Brown Box is ranking, as you can see:
Using Alexa to measure traffic on my website
Unfortunately, many of those popular hits are coming from India, exactly the place they don’t want, as they’re targeting smaller companies…aren’t they? Let’s just say if your site was getting a lot of traffic from India, it wouldn’t be good.
A much better idea is to use Google Analytics to figure out where your own traffic is coming from, but that might be too difficult for you if you’re an out-of-touch and old candidate running for the legislature.
In that case you might want to hire someone like Brown Box, or one of those guys in India. Good luck!
A much better idea is to use Google Analytics to figure out where your own traffic is coming from, but that might be too difficult for you if you’re an out-of-touch and old candidate running for the legislature.
In that case you might want to hire someone like Brown Box, or one of those guys in India. Good luck!
