Arlington Entrepreneurs

Most people have, on more than one occasion, typed their name into Google just to see what would come up. It's something Cathy Zolner does a little more frequently than others.

The Arlington resident doesn't necessarily Google her name, but instead she searches for holistic health coaches in the Arlington area. After all, that is her field of work.

Zolner owns her own business – Nourish to Flourish – but like so many other small businesses, she struggles to keep up with the ever-changing internet, specifically the social media websites as well as Google. On May 4, Zolner, along with a number of other small business owners that are located in and around Arlington showed up at the Community Room of the Robbins Library to learn more about how to better market their product through the Arlington Entrepreneurs Free Networking Seminar: Social Media for Health and Wellness Professionals.

"I don't think you can be in business and not know what's going on in the computer world," Zolner said. "You have to take the time to learn what's going on, either by hiring a consultant or learning on your own, but you have to do it."

When Margy Rydzynski started her social media website – Arlington Entrepreneurs – 18 months ago, the hope was to connect Arlington small businesses to one another, and hopefully teach them how to market their product better. Rydzynski set up the site so to enable networking between businesses, similarly to LinkedIn, which helps business professionals connect with one another.

"I want to help members of Arlington Entrepreneurs understand these social media tools, allowing them to use them to help grow their business," Rydzynski said.

According to Rydzynski, approximately half of the small businesses in this country don't have a website, which she believes is a major hindrance for companies trying to expand and grow.

"You need to understand the online virtual community; you don't want to start spamming because that's a good way for people to ignore you" Rydzynski said. "The first thing people do is ask, 'where's the website?' A lot of people find all the information they need online, and if you don't have a site you're at a major disadvantage."

Along with Rydzynski, the small business owners received advice from Dawn McGee of Free To Be Consulting, along with Jason Lefter from Page 1 Google, Inc.

The two gave the crowd suggestions on how to optimize their website in order to increase the number of traffic to their site. They also stressed the importance of using social media websites, such as Facebook, to spread their business. But, they warn, if you do become more internet-savvy, it's important to constantly update your information.

"One of the biggest dangers of the internet is if you're static," Lefter said. "Your information needs to be constantly refreshed. On Google, someone else could write something about you and that could be the first thing that pops up if you're not updating constantly."

With over 33 billion searches a month and 80 percent of those being run through Google, Leffert strongly suggests small businesses learn how to increase their search optimization. He recommends that businesses use Google's geo-targeting, in order to target their specific consumer area.

"The mentality of the consumer is the higher up on Google you are the more relevant or the better product that you have," Leffert said.

It was that idea of search optimization that interested the majority of the small business owners in attendance.

"I never realized how ad placement works with Google and that's something I need to work on," said Julie Stephenson, a personal masseuse who owns and operates Massage Paradise Found. "I learned a lot more ways to market myself and I now know how important it is to market myself."

Even though the task of marketing online and through Google seems daunting, the business owners in attendance last night know it is the key to running a successful business.

"Search engine optimization is crucial," Zolner said. "I use the computer for everything, I'm always on it. It's really important to target your audience and use these tools to improve your business."