Stop Guessing & Start Seeing Results: Bring More Visitors to Your Website by Using the Words They Google

Keywords are a must for any website but it definitely takes time and energy to figure out what keywords will work best for your website in your community. In our last blog post, we talked about 4 Steps to Knowing What Your Community Types into Google. Once you determine your list of keywords, you then have to use them effectively so they have an actual impact. Pasting them in willy-nilly defeats the purpose; you need a strategy that targets specific keywords to specific pages that incorporate specific content related to the keywords.

4 Steps to Knowing What Your Community Types into Google

Search engines love keywords. In fact, keywords are critical to any Search Engine Optimization campaign. If you don’t take the time to figure out what words and phrases work best, any plans to attract more visitors won’t get very far. And, all the work you’ve put in to your website will be a waste of time and money if no one is actually finding your site online.

Have You Googled Yourself Lately? Your Reputation is on the Line

Once upon a time, just for fun, all of us would search our own names in Google just to see how we ranked. The act of ego-surfing was done on the sly so we didn’t come across as  caring whether we could find anything about ourselves in the first few pages of the rankings.

Today, not taking the time to Google ourselves and our companies is simply irresponsible. Controlling what searchers find and claiming your business name on the major search engines is part of an effective online reputation management (ORM) plan and makes perfect business sense.

So where should you begin? The first step is actually knowing how your firm looks online when families are searching for you. This is the initial stage of your ORM Plan. Yes, this takes more than a few minutes and can be quite extensive but the following steps can help get you started to assess your current online reputation and determine what needs to be done to improve your online presence.

Koch Funeral Home Wins the “Extreme Funeral Home Makeover Online Edition” Valued at Over $20,000!

Koch Funeral Home in State College, Pennsylvania is not only celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2013, Owner & President, Glenn Fleming is the winner of the “Extreme Funeral Home Makeover Online Edition!”

2 Common Social Media Stumbling Blocks and How to Overcome Them

Recently, I made a presentation to members of a few associations in the upstate New York area. I spoke with members about changing times in funeral service and expectations from today’s consumers, and some of the things I heard from attendees were not new to my ears. I actually hear many of these stumbling blocks when it comes to funeral homes using social media as I  speak to the 20+ groups each year. So, I figured it was time to address them in a blog post.

MacKinnon & Bowes announces a strategic partnership with FrontRunner Professional

MacKinnon & Bowes and FrontRunner Professional will provide funeral professionals with an even higher level of answering services.

MacKinnon & Bowes, the choice of funeral professionals around the world for over half a century, recently invested over $200,000 on state-of- the- art answering service software to allow for a new level of interactivity with the FrontRunner solutions. The new system will provide instant notification of new calls and other critical information to MacKinnon & Bowes operators through a host of new messaging and connectivity features. This service is very competitively priced and offers a level of service that no other answering service can match.

FrontRunner Unveils New Pet Loss Business System at Pet Loss Business Development Conference

FrontRunner will unveil the new “An Unforgettable Friend” Pet Loss Business System this week at the Pet Loss Business Development Conference. The Pet Loss Conference is an educational forum that focuses on the dynamic ways in which to develop appropriate Pet Loss Memorial Services within a community. The conference will run in 3 cities in 5 days in Albany, NY on July 22nd, Baltimore, MD July 24th and Orlando, FL July 26th. Ashley Montroy of FrontRunner Professional will be presenting on the power of Social Networking for Pet Loss. The Conference is being sponsored by Matthews Cremation Division and NFDA.

Is Your Funeral Firm Website Performing Well? Here’s How to Find Out!

Interestingly enough, when we asked “how do you know how your website is performing?” many funeral professionals candidly told us “I don’t; I have no idea.”

Here’s another question many didn’t have an answer for: “do you have a Google Analytics account?” Unfortunately, many of those who said “yes,” were quick to answer “no” to the next question:

Do you review your monthly analytics report?

Lots of folks, it seems, just don’t have the time to investigate how their website is performing.

If that sounds like you, make a commitment right now to take the time to review your site analytics—or simply assign the responsibility to a staff member. You can sign up for Google Analytics very easily, but it won’t do you any good if you don’t use the analytics reports you receive to make necessary changes in your site contents.

Two New FrontRunner Partnerships Build on a Legacy of Innovation

The vision on which FrontRunner was built years ago—which continues to drive us forward into the future—involves a “strength-in-numbers” approach to serving the funeral profession. Leading a vast network of distribution and integration partners, FrontRunner has continued to set their bar higher every year, motivating leadership to seek out partnerships with innovative, cutting-edge businesses.

Just this month, FrontRunner’s President and CEO Kevin Montroy announced the formation of two such partnerships. “Partnering has proven itself one of the most powerful business tools for dealing with fast changing markets, technologies and customers—and if that doesn’t describe the funeral profession, I don’t know what does,” Kevin confided. “Change is everywhere you look, and our most recent partnerships will serve funeral firms very well by giving them new marketing and promotional options. Together, we can do more to offer funeral professionals innovative technology solutions of quality and value, at reasonable cost.”

Are You a Pet Loss Professional? Here’s Your VIP Invitation

Recently I’ve been busy preparing for my presentations at each of the three Pet Loss Business Development Conferences scheduled during the last week of July, 2013.

I’d like you to be there. In fact, I don’t think you can afford to miss it. And, with three locations to choose from, you don’t have to:

July 22nd, Albany New York
July 24th, Baltimore, Maryland
July 26th, Orlando, Florida

This annual educational forum focuses on the dynamic ways in which your funeral firm can develop appropriate Pet Loss Memorial Services within a community. Don’t hesitate: click here to learn more, and to register.