Small businesses know by now that they need a website AND visibility in the popular social media sites like Facebook and LinkedIn, and maybe Twitter, YouTube, and others too. It’s not just about having your own website anymore.

So most of you have got at least one social media profile kinda sorta thrown together, like a basic LinkedIn profile. But then I hear: uh, what, huh? What now? One of the goals of my blog (and my business) is to help folks get past those stuck places. So here are some tips.

Sorry to say, you won’t actually be that visible in social media without some optimization of your profile, for starters. So let’s focus there for this post.

As a business coach and as someone who gets a lot out of social media, I often get asked how it works.

Both beginners and regular users of social media can benefit from these tips. I see even the most advanced users skipping key steps.

At Least Do These Things for All Your Social Media Profiles

1. Link to your website within your profile description.
   Can’t believe how often this gets left out! Add a link even if there’s no stated place for a link. For instance, use the left sidebar area on your Facebook Page to include a link.
2. Add links to your social media profiles in your email signature and on your website.
   You’ll need a custom URL to make it look nice in email. See below.
3. Include a real photo of yourself to make it more human.
   Virtual world connections increase when there’s a real face.
4. Use real names so people can find you.
   Use your real name and your real business name wherever those fit. Avoid abbreviations and lesser known names for your business. (If you or your business have common nicknames, use those in the description so that you’ll be found by those names too.)
5. Use your target keywords throughout.
   Use them in your profile description, tags, your “interests,” your summary, video tags, and in some of your posts. Don’t stuff with keywords. Use them as would be helpful for a real member of your audience. (Psst, choosing keywords is a fine art. Hiring an SEO pro for that is usually worth the investment.)
6. Connect with others; be helpful; recommend others.
   The more you give value to others, the more they’ll do the same for you. You link to them, they’ll often link to you. Kindergarten rules still apply.
7. Focus on connecting with influencers.
   Focus more attention on people who might influence your ideal customers (AKA “target audience”). This includes popular bloggers in your subject area. It also includes people who might commonly refer to you. Consider where your influential folks are active on the web and focus more attention there. (This is one of the main reasons Twitter is so popular and effective. Bloggers and other influencers hang out there.)

Specific Optimization Instructions for Your Profiles

• Video: Optimize LinkedIn Profile for SEO (Hubspot)
  Short and sweet by one of the experts in social media and search engine optimization (SEO).
• Video: How to Create and Optimize a Facebook Page (Tyrone Shum)
  Step-by-step tutorial in only 8 minutes.
• Where to Get Your Custom URL for Facebook (Facebook)
  Facebook Pages have long URLs that are tough to add to your email signature. Here’s how to change that.
• Twitter Grader (Hubspot)
  Get suggestions for your Twitter profile with this free tool.
• It’s Time to Prioritize Video (AKA YouTube) (by me)
  Includes everything you need about why and how to optimize videos and YouTube profiles.

Taking It to the Next Level

• 7 Ways to Get More Out of LinkedIn (Mashable)
  If you do at least the first 5 of these things in LinkedIn, you’ll see results.
• Video: Using Twitter for Linkbuilding in SEO (Seer Interactive)
  When you’re ready for some advanced creative ideas for getting big results in Twitter, check out this talk.
• Webinar Archive: Social Media Optimization (SMO) is the new SEO (Hubspot)
• Ask for ratings, comments, and “likes.”
  Don’t just sit there and wait for them to come to you. Suggest it by doing things like adding a Facebook “like” widget on your website so people can spread the word about you with one click. Also, send people to your online videos, slideshows, online business listings, and other postings and invite them to post reviews there. Reviews, ratings, and “likes” lead to higher ranks.
• Don’t forget blogs.
  Blogs are social media too. Blogging is SEO on steroids. Even if you don’t have your own blog, you can comment on other people’s blogs and gain visibility. Heck, I hope you’ll comment below. My blog gives “link juice,” meaning search engines will give value to the links in my blog comments. (I delete spammers.)

Where to Learn More

Of course there are zillions of resources about getting the most out of social media. Here are my favorite resources for staying on top of my game:

• Search YouTube for your particular question and you’re bound to find answers.
• Hubspot – leading-edge web marketing business offering lots of free webinars and tools
• Mashable – THE social media news and web tips blog
• Book: The Referral Engine, by John Jantsch

See you online somewhere. Find me on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and of course here on my blog. (See how I cleverly threw that in. Just trying to be a good role model.)

You’ll get a big boost for your business’s visibility if you are listed in a few key places on the web. You don’t even need a website yet. You can get found now.

I know, there are zillions of options for online business listings, with a wide range of prices. Many good ones are free but which ones are worth your time?

Here’s my cheat sheet for you, based on my years of real-life experience with many types of local businesses.

I’m giving you the ones that are known for making a difference for local businesses, for one or both of these reasons:

• Helping your website’s search engine rank (because getting more links to your website is golden for boosting your ranks).
• Sending direct referrals to you.

If you don’t yet have a website, I recommend getting a free Google profile or LinkedIn profile and link all your listings to that profile until your website is ready. For clarity, I do think all businesses need a custom website but don’t let not having one yet be an excuse for not going after new business now.

First, Get Listed in All the Right Places

This checklist of tasks is listed in priority order:

1. First and foremost, get in Google’s free local business directory. Back up the bus and do it right now. If you do nothing else, do this. I get at least 5 more calls a month as a result of my Google business listing.
2. Now do a search in Google for the most likely thing people would search for when needing your type of business. For example, if you are a summer camp owner, search “summer camps.” Then look for the first camp directory in the top 10 Google results. That directory is worth paying good money to get listed in. In most cases, if you get one new client (and you probably will), it will pay for itself.
3. Get listed in some of these other popular and free local business directories (listed in priority order):
   • Superpages
   • Citysearch
   • Yahoo
   • Yelp (In May 2010, “over half a million calls were made to local businesses directly from Yelp’s iPhone App.”)
   • YellowPages.com
   • Bing
   • Best of the Web (BOTW) Local
   • Angie’s List
   • LinkedIn
4. Find and join the most popular local trade organization if it includes a link on their website. As a coach, I joined the Western Mass Coaches Alliance and have gotten multiple good referrals from that web listing.
5. Find a top trade-specific directory or two to join. For example, I’ve known  health professionals who have boosted their Google ranks after getting listings in either The Health Professionals Directory or Healthcommunities.com.
6. If you have a blog for your business, submit your blog to these top blog directories.

Second, Optimize Your Listings with Ratings and Reviews

One of the main reasons some businesses show up higher in the free listings is because they have more positive ratings and reviews. It’s OK to ask your past and present clients to review you there. They are often happy to help. You can’t edit their reviews so it’s all legit.

There are other ways to optimize your listings, such as using good keywords in your business description, and adding images. Feel free to leave questions in the comments box below.

See also: Optimizing Your Social Media Profiles To Get Found

What If I Get a Bad Review?

Some people ask whether to worry about getting bad reviews in these directories where anyone can leave a review. If you’re spending time worrying about that, you might need to worry more about giving better service in the first place.

If someone reviews your business unfairly, you can report it to the directory publisher and they will listen. If it is a fair review, then respond to the person and make it right.

Consumers rule in today’s social media world, and that’s a good thing because good service wins! Embrace it. Work with the tide not against it.

More Resources

• How To Get Your Business Listed On Major Local Search Engines, Yellow Pages Sites and Social Local Networks
• Local Search Ranking Factors 2010

[Click to view the embedded video.]

[updated Aug. 9, 2011]

If you have something to say or promote (e.g., looking for work or new clients), making a short and simple video should be moved up on your priority list.

When you see how this small business video sample (featured here) draws you in, you’ll want one too.

These two reasons should convince you:

1. YouTube is the second most popular place to search, after Google.
   We’re all so worried about our rank in Google, but what’s your rank in YouTube?
2. To get work in a today’s economy, you have to stand out and have a unique appeal. What better way than with the personal approach of a video? Video is growing, but there’s still time to be ahead of the curve.

Just about every corporation and small business is creating a branded channel on YouTube, but there are still relatively few marketers who have managed to harvest the full potential of the platform.
~ 10 Killer Tips for Creating a Branded YouTube Channel (Mashable, 4/25/10)

There’s a third important reason to think about adding video and other multimedia content to your approach. Google and other search engines are prioritizing multimedia in the search results. Notice how you commonly see video, images, and other options interspersed in your search results? That could be you!

There are new opportunities to get on that first page of search results, and businesses need to create multimedia content to take advantage of this new real estate. That means posting videos to YouTube, photos to Flickr, and tagging this multimedia content as thoroughly as possible.
~Hubspot

What, Where, and How?

Here are some good starting places for making and promoting your video(s):

1. Great sample of a job seeker’s self-promotion video. It worked!
2. One of my most popular posts is about optimizing video content. I just updated it to include the latest tips and resources.
3. Top 10 YouTube Tips for Small Businesses (Mashable, 4/23/10)
4. Get help from video pros like Media Shower Productions or Kbest Productions.
5. Post your video on multiple video sharing sites at once with TubeMogul.
6. Making  your own video? See: Free eBook & Kit: How to Use Online Video for Marketing

Ready to Commit?

I admit, making a video for my website is still buried in my to-do list, but I am going to commit to you now that I’ll do it within six months.

Yikes, so much else to do…<fighting it out inside>. And the introvert in me hates being videotaped… blah, blah, excuses, excuses. OK, I did say prioritize so here I go.

How about you?

One of my web marketing coaching clients asked me this question that comes up so much that it was worth a blog post.

After finishing website edits, excitedly launching a new website, posting online videos, and promoting the business in a few more places online, she asked me:

Do I have to learn Twitter now? Please, let there be an end to this web marketing! I am walking away from the computer now…walking…farther…away.

My response:

You don’t have to learn Twitter. But web marketing never ends, sorry to say. Some things eventually start to coast as your fans take over spreading the word for you, but you should always at least  monitor and tweak your efforts so you can keep up with the times.

For now though, you’ve already accomplished so much! So I think your next step is to pat yourself on the back and reap some rewards!

Of course, the full answer is more complicated than that. But sometimes it’s time to sit back and notice all that you’ve already accomplished.

In her case, she has achieved and learned so much, and had so much fun along the way, that she might be ready to start her own web marketing business. I think she’ll stick to being a musician though, especially with all the new opportunities coming in.

Put yourself on the map.

Make sure you’re found in the primary online listings. It’s free!

All three major search engines, Google, Yahoo, and Bing, offer a free and easy way to include your local business in their listings.

Here’s where to start:

1. Get a local listing in Google.
   • Google’s tips for creating a great listing
   • You can even create coupons on your listing.
   • Watch a quick video for more details.
2. Get a local listing at Yahoo.
3. Get a local listing at Bing.

After I added myself to Google’s listings, I am now one of the top results in Google for my target search phrases!

Make this is a top priority if you’re a local business. Fast, free, effective — the best kind of marketing task.