Google’s Hummingbird is all about authority:
-
Do you know how to solve a problem?
-
Can you educate someone?
For a Professional Services Technology firm, these two questions define their entire day interacting with customers. Staying current and solving problems is done on a daily basis. Google wants this info. Google wants you to blog and be social. Google wants you to inbound. You're perfect for it. After all, you already know you're the expert, right? You prove that every day!
Hummingbird arrived on the scene in late 2013. Changes are simple but important to tech firms. In fact, they’re ideal for technology gurus. The new algorithm looks for meaning in sentences. Keywords and short phrases still rank well but content that provides context has the potential for much more visibility. This is a huge window for small firms looking to grow their footprint in a niche market.
A quick case study:
Let’s say you have a small software development firm. Your name is Software Steve and your new company is Software Service & Solutions. You worked as a developer for several years and set out to build your own company. You can leverage your present network for your first few jobs but how do you develop a customer base outside your immediate circle?
-
Join existing networks as you develop your own online presence. A great starting place for Software Steve might be the Microsoft Partner Network. Enrollment is a free, easy, three-step process:
Enroll in the Microsoft Partner Network
-
Develop your online presence by optimizing your website for Google Hummingbird and creating valuable content for your industry. Start inbound marketing even though you think nobody is listening. Share your posts inside your local network first - your own website blog, your LinkedIn company page, Facebook, and Twitter. Coordinate these efforts with “calls to action” free informational downloads (e-books, white papers etc), and combine them with landing pages that trade “value” (contact information) for “value” (free content). If the content is meaningful, those who need it will find it and more will join them as you network in the digital space. Once you create good content it is there for life; it’s a one-time investment that keeps on paying you back with high quality leads.
-
Become a development partner on Microsoft Pinpoint. Microsoft makes it easy: “Once registered with MPN, you can profile your company, solution and application on Microsoft Pinpoint to appear in our [Microsoft’s] Pinpoint Directory page as a PixelSense partner for customers to find.”
Become A Development Partner on Microsoft Pinpoint
-
Get listed on pixelsense.com. Once you have helped customers by building solutions you will be recognized by Microsoft as a proven service provider. You may get showcased on the pixelsense website. Hummingbird will eat this up. If afforded the opportunity, publish content on a partner’s website with calls to action that lead customers back to your own website. Your biggest problem will be what to do with all the extra business, and that is a good problem to have!
Anyone with the knowledge to answer “why” questions only needs to do so. Google will find you when you put out good content. As an expert in your field, the hard part is already in the books, becoming an expert. Telling your story is easy. Just sit down and start explaining what you know. People who want the information will find it, share it, and eventually come knocking on your door. Repeatedly generating high quality content is the way to get found. Hummingbird is built for you - take advantage of it!
