Dive In! Top 5 Tips for Navigating the Mysteries of SEO & Content Creation for Senior Care
Mystery writer Agatha Christie said it best. “The secret of getting ahead is getting started.” Most of us senior care veterans came to the SEO and content creation party late. We’ve had to work hard to catch up and (little gasp here!) get ahead. Several times over the past few weeks I have had senior level assisted living marketing clients ask me for recommendations on who to follow or what blogs to subscribe to. They are intimidated by the “techiness” this whole area of business seems to have at its core. And for most senior living marketing leadership folks there just aren’t enough hours in the day to learn all of this. It is difficult enough to keep up with the senior care industry and with sales strategies. How much more information can one brain hold?
My first piece of advice… dive in! You may have to hold your nose at first, but it will get easier.
Tip #2: Set up a free app like Flipboard on your iPad or tablet. Subscribe to RSS feeds from our industry go-to people and your competitors. Then read the articles on Flipboard while you are on the treadmill or exercise bike or in the always 25-minute long line at the grocery store.
Tip #3: Visit each of these great sites and pick one or two to add to your Flipboard this quarter. These are the people and sites I find most relevant and insightful:
- Hubspot – These guys are the best. Even if they are associated with that other Cambridge school. Subscribe to their blog and you will soon feel like an inbound expert! The company founders also wrote one of my favorite books for rookies. Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media and Blogs is a must read if you are new to inbound. I would think about heading over to your local bookstore and buying this book as your first step to learning more.
- Search Engine Land – This site may seem more than a little intimidating at first, but keeping subscribing anyway. If Google hits us with another critter named update, you can learn more about it here.
- Matt Cutts – If that name doesn’t ring a bell, no worries. Matt is the head of Google’s Webspam team. His posts and videos help us make sense of what Google is up to. Definitely worth viewing as you have time. And he’s cute. In that “I should have been nicer to the science guys in high school” kind of way.
- SEO Moz Beginners Guide to SEO – This is a great site and this is a terrific guide to getting started down the road to SEO. You can download the pdf if you prefer to read it offline…in front of Scandal or Castle. But please…not in front of the Kardashians.
- Content Marketing Institute – Warning…you may become addicted to the many resources this site has to offer. Which is good, I think, if you are reading while running on your treadmill or pedaling on your exercise bike. Hey, CMI could actually help improve your health! Your heart can’t afford for you not to follow them…
Tip #4: If you haven’t already done so, sign up for our RSS feed. Add us to Flipboard. We’ll continue to help you navigate the maze.
Just a reminder about what else we can help you with…
p.s. I know. I’m a writer and I ended a sentence with a preposition. Please don’t tweet about it or send me emails. It just sounds better than with which we can help doesn’t it?