Two years ago, a sketchy sales guy came to my door when we lived in Calgary and conned my wife into signing up for an energy contract that would have cost us a bunch of extra money per year. When we read into the contract we immedietly called and cancelled the contract. I was steaming, and wrote a blog article about Alberta Energy Savings. A year and a half later and the blog article is in the top 10 search results when you search for the companies name. I’m sure when people are doing research about this company they see my blog post (and the many others as well). A tech/brand savvy company would join this conversation, try to change our minds, do some kind of damage control. Almost two years, I’ve heard nothing. But you can be sure people looking into this company hear from me through my blog.
There are over 40 comments on that article many are stories larger than the blog post it’s self. The page has become a place for people that are dissatisfied with this company (and some that think people who have been duped are somehow getting what they deserve) to share their feelings and stories. The good news is some of the comments are from people like me that realized what this company was about and had the contract voided before they were unwittingly stuck with insane energy prices. The power of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and social media (blogs) has helped many people (over 500 a month to that article alone) make informed decisions. (though somewhat one sided, my side)
It doesn’t take a web developer to do any of the stuff I describe above, it’s really quite simple. Note: it doesn’t have to be a complaint, happy news in my opinion is better reading…but hey, we have to write what we know right? Just happens when I complain it’s on subjects people are interested in…odd…
How can you make your voice heard?
1. A really easy place to start is with a free wordpress blog, write your articles use all the tags and categories they provide you with. This site uses wordpress though it’s not the free hosted version linked above.
2. Make sure your article (especially the title) contains the words you think people will use to search for your topic, repeat key words (in context, make it readable or people won’t read it).
3. Spread the word, post your blog post to Twitter, Facebook, email it to your friends with a little blurb about what the article says (if they are interested they will read it, if not they can delete it).
4. Wait, it takes time for content to show up in the rankings.
Increasingly the internet is being used by people to voice their opinions about subjects that are of interest to them, if there are people with the same interests, and your content is relevant your voice can be heard. These instructions are pretty basic, there is a lot more you can do to get your message out there. If you have questions on how you can get your voice heard I’d be happy to help.
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