The question of whether or not you are “real” may sound ridiculous to you, but when it comes to the internet, the answer may determine the nature of your relationship with customers, patients and clients. There are countless content and link farms out there that companies and businesses use in hopes of promoting their websites, but these types of services may do more harm than good.
Search engines are getting smarter everyday, and they can often identify blog posts and directory listings that have been created by content and link farms. This means that they can also penalize a website that uses this strategy by lowering their ranking on SERPs, search engine results pages.
Google isn’t the only one that doesn’t trust this tactic. Web users are savvier and are showing that they do not respond well to brands that are not personable, responsive, or clearly created by a real business or person. They trust advertising less and consumer reviews more. They turn to social media, which has to be managed by real people, before they turn to generic content. They want to know that there is someone behind the computer screen who is listening to them so responding to your target market really does mean something.
To achieve the believability that your customers want and expect you to have, make blogging and social media one of your top priorities. Whether you write them, have an employee do it, or hire a marketing firm to help you, be sure that you are communicating and publishing information on the web. You’ll benefit both with your search engine results and your relationship with customers,, clients or patients. To this end, keep in mind that looking professional does not mean looking institutional and impersonal. You can look professional and friendly and approachable at the same time.
