SeniorHomes.com is launching the 2012 Best of The Web Awards today! The Best of the Web contest highlights the best senior living and caregiving websites, blogs, and resources for consumers and senior living professionals. Often, the amount of senior living and caregiving websites can be overwhelming and stressful. SeniorHomes.com wants to help take the stress out of the equation by compiling the best resources across the web. This easy to use guide not only helps caregivers and people in the industry, but recognizes websites that consistently provide great resources and information.

Last years, Best of the Web contest was a huge success with hundreds of nominees and voters.  We hope to see even more websites nominated this year and everyone voting for their personal favorites!

Nominate Someone Today!

We want to hear about your favorite websites, blogs, or newsletters.  Nominate via facebook or twitter by using the #SeniorhomesBOW and mention the websites name and link.

Or you can shoot us an email at bestoftheweb@seniorhomes.com with the websites name, link, and why you love it!

Award nominations are available in the following categories:

Consumer Resources

• Best Websites and Newsletters for Caregiver
• Best Senior Living Blogs by Individuals
• Best Senior Living Blogs by Organizations
• Best Senior Living Provider Websites
• Best Government & Education Resources
• Best Senior Living Online Retailers

Industry Resources

• Best Designed Senior Living Provider Websites
• Social Media Rockstars - Individuals
• Social Media Rockstars - Organizations
• Best Senior Living Industry Resources

Vote for your Favorites!

Has your favorite website already been nominated?  Go to it’s page and vote for it by liking or +1 the page!  We choose the finalists based on the who has the top votes.

Internet inquiries are a rapidly growing source of leads for assisted living and other senior living providers, with surveys indicating about 30 to 40 percent of leads are coming from internet sources in the senior living industry. Providers are reporting approximately 25 percent growth in the percentage of leads generated through internet sources over a 12-month period.

Eighty percent of baby boomers use the internet at least once per month; 47 percent of seniors (age 65 and over) use the internet at least once per month and steady growth is projected.

If you missed the Mature Market Sales Source webinar last week, check out the recording here with guest speaker Chris Rodde, CEO of SeniorHomes.com. Chris reviews the types of internet lead generation companies in the senior living vertical, outlining the differences between pay-per-lead, pay-per-move-in and subscription-based services. Learn these basics and outline your own strategy for maximizing leads obtained through internet sources with effective follow-up planning.

Check out the video recording of the recent webinar hosted by Mature Market Sales Source with guest expert Chris Rodde:

This morning at the 2011 ALFA Conference & Expo in Orlando, Florida, Jeff Jarvis, author of “What Would Google Do?” spoke to attendees about innovation and transparency in business. Jarvis is a thought leader in the new media field and runs the blog BuzzMachine.

Attendees were abuzz on Twitter about Jarvis presenting at this year’s ALFA Conference & Expo, and reviews raved about Jarvis’ ability to gear his presentation to a very specific audience. One of the most thought-provoking concepts Jarvis presented at today’s conference is “Do what you do best; link to the rest,” which is an important lesson for assisted living facilities minding their media presence and a common mistake made by many businesses attempting to build a web presence. It’s not possible to be everything to everyone, and it’s critical to understand the needs of your target audience inside and out and cater to them.

Jarvis covers this concept in a 2007 blog post on BuzzMachine.com in relation to the news media. Since we’re not going to pretend we can say it better, we’re going to link to him.

Jarvis focused this morning’s presentation on tailoring the concepts presented in his book to the senior living business, asking assisted living executives to consider what search giant Google would do if it were in charge of their organization. Jarvis stresses the importance of how the internet has dramatically changed the way businesses relate to and interact with their customers and the necessity of embracing new mediums to stay ahead of the pack and reach potential customers most efficiently.

Jarvis offered valuable recommendations and insights for assisted living communities wanting to maximize their internet presence. Gone are the days of setting up a website and being done with it. An effective internet presence today requires time, commitment and an effort to engage the community. He also described his theory that your worst customer is your best friend and your best customer your partner–in no industry is this more relevant than senior living.

What valuable lessons did you learn from Jeff Jarvis during this morning’s session? We’d love to hear your favorite take-aways!

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One of the biggest upsides to living in a communal setting, such as assisted living or skilled nursing facilities, is the ability to connect with like-minded older adults, build relationships and achieve a sense of community. Yet many older adults enter these settings fearful of meeting new people and hesitate to take part in the activities offered, and thus they fail to make valuable connections that could greatly improve the quality of this stage of their lives. Connected Living aims to reduce this anxiety by creating a social network designed specifically for older adults in senior living, recently reported by BostInnovation.com.

The Connected Living network enables seniors living in senior living communities to make contact with and keep in touch with not only fellow residents in their own community, but with family and friends from their home communities and even years past. Seniors are taught how to use the simple, Facebook-like interface and how to share calendars, send emails and upload photos. Seniors can post their interests to their personal profile (dubbed “MySelf”), and members within the same community can connect with one another based on shared interests and activities.

To encourage residents to share their life stories through social media, Group Sessions are open to all residents, which teach residents about technology and how it can be used to share personal moments and memories with loved ones–memories that may otherwise go unshared. Sarah Hoit, CEO and Co-Founder of Connected Living, says, “Aging in America is changing, and we are transforming how generations connect with each other, share their life experiences, learn together, and access health services.”

The benefits of social networking aren’t limited to residents of assisted living facilities, however. Aging in Action reports on a Canadian study that shows caregivers showed significant improvements in stress levels by participating in an internet-based intervention program, whether through web-based chat or video-based group therapy. The group participating in group video therapy not only had reduced stress levels, but also showed improved mental health.

The future of technology shaping senior living and caregiving has only just begun. New and exciting innovations are yet to be made which will streamline seniors’ and caregivers’ ability to stay connected, meet new people, learn new things, and receive support from those in similar situations.

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Big news in the search engine optimization world last week: Google has announced a major change to its algorithm, designed to push lower-quality content mills down further in the rankings and improve the overall quality of search results users see when entering search terms. According to Rob Fore’s blog, this is bad news for sites that depend solely on user-submitted content and ad revenue, such as Ezinearticles.com, other article directories, and sites known as “content mills,” which typically pay freelance writers to write short articles on broad topics packed with keywords to gain high search engine rankings, and thus boost ad revenues.

Google’s official blog reports that the algorithm change has noticeably affected 11.8% of search queries. You’ll notice by searching for a few key words that sites that used to regularly appear on page one, such as eHow.com, are now pushed back to page two or three.

So what does this mean for assisted living marketing?

Well, if you’re not focused on your web presence, it means nothing. If you are–and you should be–the change has a number of advantages, provided that you approach your content in the right way. If you have high-quality, original, relevant content, your assisted living website will benefit. Eliminating content obtained through article directories or that is otherwise non-original will reduce the odds of being pushed back in the rankings. Sites with niche content (content that offers in-depth information on a narrow topic) should perform better than those with broad content covering hundreds of topics.

If you use article marketing as part of your web visibility strategy, it will be important over the next few months to measure any performance changes. You’re likely to see less traffic from these sites as they no longer dominate the first few pages of Google search results, but many assisted living marketers use article marketing strictly as a means for generating backlinks. It’s not yet clear whether the value of these backlinks will be affected by the change.

That said, you should focus the majority of your efforts on creating value-added content for your assisted living niche and publishing it on your own website. Don’t rely solely on article directories and content farms for backlinks, and don’t spend tons of time crafting original content for publishing on these types of sites. If you’re going to make the effort to create quality, original content for publishing elsewhere, try placing those articles (as guest articles or blogs) on other industry-related niche websites that will now be more visible in search engine results pages (SERPs).

Walker Marketing recently released the results of a study investigating how online and social media trends influence decision-making among unpaid caregivers. The survey population consists of 210 completed surveys by unpaid caregivers who cared for an ailing family member or friend within the past 12 months. Most participants have incomes between $30,000 and $50,000 per year. Specifically, researchers were interested in learning how social media impacts home care decisions.

Walker Marketing’s findings are consistent with that of Pew Research, which found that social networking use among the 50+ population is rapidly expanding — increasing from 22 percent in April 2009 to 42 percent in May 2010. Walker Marketing found that 92 percent of respondents indicated that they consider the internet to be either “very valuable” or “somewhat valuable” as a source of healthcare information. Sixty-five percent indicate that they regularly read internet news sites or blogs.

More than half (61 percent) of respondents indicated that they were either “very likely” or “somewhat likely” to communicate with other caregivers utilizing home health services in a social networking medium, such as a forum or social media site. Slightly less (53 percent) of respondents who have used home care in the past say they use the web regularly to search for caregiving-related information.

It’s true that physicians largely drive healthcare referrals. However, 91 percent of respondents indicated that they were “somewhat likely” or “very likely” to conduct their own research of a company after receiving a referral from a professional. Further, 78 percent said that while they do rely on professional recommendations, they would ultimately make their own decisions based on research.

There are two clear takeaways from this research. First, it’s clear that social media is now a core component of word-of-mouth marketing. Home care providers should closely monitor their online reputations and target attempts to send a consistent marketing message. Second, it’s imperative to offer a comprehensive resource for website visitors above and beyond standard company information. With more than half of caregivers seeking caregiving-related information online, providers who offer robust resources will be best positioned for converting visitors into solid leads.

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When it comes to gaining admissions, many assisted living providers are still under the “provide great care, the admissions will follow” school of thought that became outdated the moment “website” was a household word. While providing quality, compassionate care is a core component of running a successful assisted living facility, residents have come to expect exceptional care — they are, after all, paying for it.

Offering stellar amenities, friendly and accomodating staff, and pristine living conditions aren’t enough to make you stand out from the crowd in the information age. Savvy senior care providers know that great care is just one component of an overall marketing campaign — one that drives visitors to your company website, encourages happy customers to share their experiences, and makes it easy to find you online. The fact is, most people searching for an assisted living facility will make the web their first stop.

Your web presence should compliment a great reputation and positive word-of-mouth marketing. When a customer hears about the great care your facility offers, and they visit the web to learn more about you, what do they find? Do they find a great Facebook page, a quality website, news articles, listings in senior care directories that allow them to submit a query online, and photos and information about the happenings in your community? Or do they find a yellow pages listing with a phone number but no link to a company website?

Today’s consumers want instant information at their fingertips. You must make it easy for the community to learn about you and your services. Savvy seniors — and their family members — want their need for technology to be met.  If you don’t have an online presence, it can lead people to assume your facility lacks technological amenities. It can also turn some consumers off because they have to do more work to find out what they want to know (i.e., now they have to pick up the phone to schedule a tour, but they really wanted to check you out online prior to making that kind of commitment).

If you’ve got a great reputation that you’re not enhancing with an online presence, you’re missing out on a ton of leads. It’s simple and easy to list your community with us, and it’s a great place to start your online marketing campaign.

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Selecting the appropriate keyphrases is the first step in a successful SEO strategy. It’s an easy process, even if you’re doing your own SEO.

The first mistake many website owners make is to choose the most obvious keyphrase. For example, deciding to optimize your website for the term “assisted living” without first conducting any research. In many cases, a broad term like assisted living isn’t the best choice. For example, if your company runs one facility in one location, you’ll spend a lot of valuable time trying to optimize for a highly competitive term that won’t offer you the most benefit.

A few easy steps can help you determine the most appropriate keyphrases for your assisted living website.

1. Make a list of possible keywords and keyphrases. Include geographical terms, such as Bellevue assisted living or Washington assisted living. Senior care is a very localized industry, and geographical terms are usually easier to rank for. If you have multiple facilities in different cities or different areas, you can optimize a page on your website for each geographic location. In order to simplify the process, research keyphrases for one area at a time.
2. Use a tool, such as Google AdWords Keyword Tool or SEO Book Keyword Suggestion Tool (free registration required) to find the most frequently searched for keyphrases on your list. For example, a search for Bellevue assisted living on the Google Keyword Tool shows that there are 1,300 average monthly searches for that term. Also listed are closely related terms, which may give you more ideas. Narrow down your list to those with 1,000 or more monthly searches.
3. Use Google’s search page to find out how many relevant websites appear in the search engine results page for each keyphrase. Using the example of assisted living, we find 1,200,000 results. Bellevue assisted living brings up 139,000 results.

In general, it’s easier to rank for terms with less competition. But you should also consider the quality of the competition by looking at the first page or two of Google search results. If you see low-quality or spammy sites in the top 10 or 20 results, it might be easy to beat those sites for ranking.

You should also consider the number of searches a term is getting. Obviously, the more searches, the greater your chances are of having visitors click through to your site. However, with greater search volume comes greater competition, so finding the right balance is key. There’s no hard or fast rule, and it really depends on your goals. For a longer keyphrase or a geographically-focused term, close to 1,000 or more monthly searches is a good number. For broad, general terms, you should look for a considerably higher search volume.

You can always hire an outside SEO agency to conduct research and optimize your site, and it’s likely that they would use a much more complex process to determine the best keyphrases for your assisted living website. But if you’re going the do-it-yourself route, these few simple steps can help you select keyphrases that will bring you good results.

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In December 2009 and January 2010, Econsultancy, in cooperation with ExactTarget, conducted a survey of 1,000 marketers from the United States and the United Kingdom. The study aimed to identify marketing budget increases for 2010 and the allocation of marketing budgets across media channels. They found that nearly half of respondents (46%) planned to increase their overall marketing budgets in 2010, and two-thirds (66%) planned to allocate more funds to digital media.

More interesting, though, is the number of marketers who reported plans to actually shift some of their budget from traditional to digital channels — 28%. Why? Well, for one, it’s easier to track results from digital media than from traditional advertising. It’s significantly less complex to obtain definitive numbers of leads generated from an online ad, using simple tracking mechanisms, than it is to determine how many leads were generated from a print ad.

The study also found that companies who consider their brand reputation an important measure of marketing effectiveness were the most likely to be shifting more marketing dollars to digital media.

The blog Online Marketing cites several studies, all of which also indicate a shift to online media usage. For example, Strong Mail’s 2010 Marketing Trends survey showed that 90% of 1,000 respondents planned to increase or maintain their online media spend in 2010, with social media marketing and email campaigns topping the priority list. Among offline marketing tactics, trade shows and events are still considered strong contenders.

Our prediction? We’ll continue to see marketers shifting their traditional advertising dollars to the more controllable and measurable online marketing tactics as companies learn how easy and effective internet lead generation can be.

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Websites have come a long way from the standard brochure-style sites of the past. Websites now have the capability to be engaging and interactive — and it’s these sites, known as “sticky” websites, that tend to keep visitors around and coming back. It’s possible that many of your competitors still feature the standby, brochure-style site offering essential information on an attractive (or unattractive) background. Adding a little engaging content is all it could take for your website to stand out from the crowd.

Here are a few easy and inexpensive ways to ramp up your content:

1. Host a blog. Your blog can be hosted on your domain, or on a free platform, like Wordpress or Blogger. It’s generally a better idea, from an SEO perspective, to host your blog on your own domain, because the constantly updated content and any links that are attracted will boost your site’s rankings. If your website is designed using Wordpress or Joomla, hosting a blog within your own domain is easy. If you have an HTML site, you may need the assistance of a web developer to set it up, and if you don’t want to deal with that, you can simply sign up for a free Wordpress or Blogger account and link to it from your main website.
2. Feature articles on topical content. Many website owners make the mistake of providing information related to their business, but not their industry. People browse the web searching for information — give it to them. The more keyword-rich content your site has, the better your search engine positioning. And guess what? The next person looking for information on “paying for assisted living” could come to your website, have their question answered, and learn about your facility in the process.
3. Let your visitors make your content viral. Use a service such as Add This to create buttons for your visitors to share your content (all that topical content from #2) on Facebook, Twitter, Google, LinkedIn, and more. If your content is good, your visitors will literally build backlinks for you while driving traffic to your site.
4. Don’t be afraid to link out to relevant sources. Linking snippets of your content out to relevant, reputable, and valuable resources isn’t bad. Many website owners get hung up on the importance of inbound links and become fearful that outbound links will hurt you. Choose your outbound links carefully, with the mindset that your goal is to provide value to your site visitors, and link only to relevant pages. Outbound links to the appropriate sources can actually help establish your credibility and authority.
5. Link your content to relevant pages within your own website. This practice makes it easy for your web visitors to quickly navigate around your site as they read and look for information. If one of your pages is optimized for the key phrase ”activities of daily living“, and you use the phrase in another article, use the phrase as anchor text and link it to your optimized page. Links from within your own site don’t carry as much weight as links from another website, but they don’t hurt you, either.

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