Change is a good thing. It may not always feel like it what with the 13 Panda updates, and even the Penguin update, we experienced in 2012, but it really can be a good thing. And Google algorithms aren’t the only things capable of change, either.
What every business must ask themselves as we head into the New Year is how are we diversifying our tactics; how are we developing new ideas, new techniques, new mindsets? Right now, staying stagnant is most definitely not the best policy. Here are some areas where we could all afford to mix it up a little in the New Year:
Linking:
There’s a million new faces that link-building tactics have taken on in 2012. Guest blogging and link outreach, to name a few, have proven that there’s more than just one way to get a good backlink. It’s essential for your link building strategy to be diverse—the same single piece of quickly thrown together content distributed to 1,000 sites is not going to help your rankings, it’ll do anything but. Instead, look at where your links came from this past year and pick at least 1 new tactic to try this coming one.
Traffic sources:
We all know that our rankings on Google matter. It’s tempting to argue that if you’re successful there, why diversify? But we also know that the internet is an entity always in flux. Things can change in the blink of an eye. That’s why it’s important not to put all your eggs in one basket and to make sure you think past Google alone—a scary thought, we know, and one that comes at a higher price. But it also means you’re not dependent on one source for all your traffic, and run a far lower risk of being unprepared if, or when, change comes.
Marketing Strategies:
With all the resolutions you’ll be making on January 1st, it’s important to include one very essential one: to better, and broaden, your marketing strategy. When marketing is at its best, it’s fairly effortless. What we mean by this: if you build a brand and you believe in it, marketing it comes naturally. If you’re trying to trick customers into getting something less than stellar, that you know is less than stellar, well then, marketing is no longer a natural extension of your business but a kind of underhanded mousetrap. Make a real effort to look into what makes your business, your services and your products worthwhile this year, be confident in what you have to offer and be open minded in the ways you share that with others—and marketing will flow naturally from there.