PLAYING IN TRAFFIC

SEO WEBINAR – Learn How to Be the Answer to the Question

January 17th, 2012

I’ve been presenting an SEO webinar at the Super Zoo trade show in Las Vegas for the last five years and one of the things I’m fond of saying is that to succeed with SEO you have to “be the answer to the question.”

No, grasshopper, I’m not speaking philosophically, what I mean is that to succeed in SEO you have to try and anticipate how people are searching and take steps to have the products or services you offer return themselves in those results.

So to bring greater clarity to an ever-evolving field, we’ll be conducting an online webinar on January 24th, 2012, that will explain what SEO is, what it is NOT and how it can be tapped to grow your own business.

Please note:  while some of the examples used during the presentation are aimed at the pet industry in particular, the lessons and principles being taught apply to ANY business.

Sign up or get complete info here.

Posted in Continuing Education, Keyword optimization, SEO | No Comments »

What’s the Deal With In-Bound Linking?

January 7th, 2012

Way back in the old days, say 2004 or so, link building was a simple proposition:  I link to you, you link to me, we get better positions in the search engines, I’m happy, you’re happy, everybody wins.

In 2005, Google began personalizing search results for each user.  Depending on their history of previous searches, Google crafted results for logged in users.  The rejiggered search algorithms caused a negative impact on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and reciprocal linking (either puposely or incidently) and became a waste of time at worst, ineffectual at best.  Sites that exchanged links with each other basically cancelled each other out.  A newer method was to triangulate links with Site A linking to Site B and Site B linking to Site C and Site C linking to Site A.  And then in August 2009, Google announced the rollout of a new search architecture, codenamed “Caffeine”. The new architecture was designed to return results faster and to better deal with rapidly updated information from services including Facebook and Twitter, further diminishing the old reciprocal link methodology but giving increasing creedence to social media and one way links.

Whew!

So why bother at all you might ask?

Because in The New World Order of search engine rankings, mainly established by Google,  the search giant has determined that various link schemes were trying to game the system (read Google’s take on link building here).   But at the same time, Google was placing even more value on inbound links for determining what content was relevant to the keywords typed into their search window nearly 11 billion times a month!

Bottom line:  inbound links are a “vote” of confidence in the eyes of Google.  The more inbound links a page or a website has the more important that page must be in terms of relevancy, popularity and importance, etc.  And for Google, it’s ALL about relevancy.

BUILD IT AND THEY WILL COME?

And according to Google, the best way to get natural, organic inbound links is via the “Field of Dreams” method:  Build it and they will come.

Which, from a business perspective, is not always practical and can take months if not years to achieve based on organic results alone.

So should you abandon an inbound link building strategy completely?  Absolutely not. 

While you want to avoid getting just ANY type of inbound links (avoid Link Farms at all costs) you can definitely help the process along.

Here are some strategies, as part of a well-rounded inbound linking plan, that you can use to proactively generate and attract quality, relevant, inbound links:

INBOUND LINKING TACTICS

Guest Blogging – You already blog diligently for your own business, right?  Try reaching out to some relevant blogs that you read and follow and offer to provide them with an original article.  While the article will be well-written and informative  and not self-serving or salesy, you can expect to be able to add a link back to your own site as part of the author resource box or writing credit.   To find blogs that allow do-follow links (many blogs do not allow the value of your return link to impact the search engine ranking for reasons too  numerous to get into here) you can check out Do-Follow directory sites such as DoFollow.info and Followlist.com.  FYI, this blog is do-follow so you get the value of any posts or comments you make here.

Blog Commenting – Not up for writing well-researched and documented blog posts?  A great way to get started blogging is by commenting on other, related blogs.  Every blog comment you make can include a link back to your own site either from your profile link or within the comment itself.  Again, use the do-follow directory links above to find blogs that definitely allow your “link juice” to flow where you want it to — back to your own site. 

Press Releases - Assuming you have some genuine “news”, press releases are a great way for generating inbound links back to your website.  Many professional press release distribution services like PRWeb or PR Newswire allow you to add multiple keyword links throughout the body of your press release.  When your release gets picked up by Yahoo! News or USAToday.com with a link back to your site, that can have  a huge positive impact on your search engine rankings.  Here’s a great article that explains the benefits of press releases in improving your SEO.

Article Syndication – Similar to press release distribution, article syndication via sites such as EzArticles.com and others can be used to seed your own links around the Internet.  An added side benefit is that other people and business owners who read these article repository sites can use the content for their own sites provided they keep the author resource box with your link intact, spreading your content and links even further.  Here’s a great article on Article Marketing 101.   One bit of confusion that sometimes dogs the article syndication concept is the concern over duplicate content.  Rather than explain it here, read this useful tutorial about duplicate content in Google’s own words.  Bottom line:  article syndication is fine as long as each article links back to the original writer.  It’s when you buy and distribute Private Label Rights content that someone else wrote and you slap your name on it that you run into trouble.

Social Media – And last but certainly not least is social media.  In case you thought (or hoped) social media was a passing fad, I can assure you that from an SEO perspective, it’s not.  In fact, Google has given so much weight to social media “shares” “likes” and “tweets” that social media’s impact is really the “new inbound link.”  Read our past blog post that features a video in Google’s own words about how drastically social media is directly impacting search.  To use social media to your own advantage make sure to create a business Facebook page and a Twitter account and link them together.  Or if you don’t want to engage in social media, at the very least, add social media sharing tools to your own website so OTHER people an share your content if they want.  This is assuming you have content worth sharing.

BOTTOM LINE:  Content creation is the new lead generator — the new marketing medium.  More content and more inbound links equals more search engine traffic, leads, prospects and sales.  If you want to have success online you’ve got to suck it up, roll up your sleeves and engage!  You know when you start seeing Twitter hastags on TV commercials it’s time to join the party.  So get out there!

Posted in Blogging, Marketing, SEO, Social Media Marketing | 1 Comment »

How Do You Take Advantage of Internet Marketing?

December 9th, 2011

Marketing on the Internet is more than just having a great website.

It’s a brave new world of exciting and innovative marketing platforms and tools designed to put your products and services in front of the people looking for them.

So assuming you have an updated, easy to navigate website with a clear call to action, there are many proactive steps you can take to maximize your website investment and increase the likelihood that people looking for the products and services you offer will find you and buy from you.

Here are some services that you may want to consider to generate relevant, targeted, search engine traffic, phone calls and even foot traffic into your place of business:

Pay Per Click Advertising

Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising involves bidding on relevant keywords to your business.  The most popular PPC program being Google’s, although Facebook also offers a simpler PPC program, too. 

What It Is:  PPC is a way of advertising your website or specific pages of your website on search engines and related sites.  You can set very specific budgets such as daily, weekly, monthly and you can target your ads to run in very targeted geographical areas by city, state and even zip code.   

Bottom Line:  You only pay when someone clicks on your ad.  If you bid $1 for a particular keyword and someone within your geographical settings searches for your keyword and your ad is triggered to display, you will pay $1 if they click on your ad. 

Pros:  you’ll know exactly what keyword phrases people are using to find you and you’ll only pay for what they click on.  Perfect for highly-defined marketing objectives.

Cons:  It can get expensive if you don’t budget properly so it should only be used as part of a specific campaign with a verifiable and MEASUREABLE call to action like filling out a form or downloading a coupon.  General branding and awareness campaigns are best left to those with very deep pockets. 

Custom Facebook Pages

If you’re already doing some type of marketing of your business on Facebook, having a custom Facebook page can really ad purpose and focus to your efforts.  So assumming you have a business Facebook page, and not just a personal Facebook page, a custom Facebook page acts like the front door to your Wall.  It’s the perfect place to put a specific call to action and also get people to “like” your page which is a form of “opt-in” similar in concept to email marketing.

What it is:  A way to put some “teeth” and purpose into your Facebook social media marketing efforts.

Bottom Line:  It’s a low-risk, medium-reward effort than can help increase likes which exposes more people to your brand and marketing efforts.  It’s also the perfect addition to a PPC program on Facebook because now you’ll be able to “capture” new visitors who like your page.

Pros:  Can give measurable purpose to your Facebook marketing efforts.

Cons:  Without spending money, time, or both on driving traffic to your Facebook page, having a custom Facebook page won’t do much by itself.   

Videos

Videos are a great way to gain additional exposure to your business.  In fact, did you know that YouTube is the second largest search engine after Google (which owns YouTube!)?  By creating helpful and informative videos and posting them on YouTube you can gain new visitors and clients who never would have found you otherwise.

What it is:  Anyone can create videos to post on YouTube, whether they be montages set to music using tools such as Animoto or talking into a webcam.  The beauty of posting your video on YouTube is that they can be keyworded so they come up in related searches (both on YouTube and Google itself) and can be easily posted to your own website, your LinkedIn profile, Facebook and more.

Bottom Line:  Videos are an inexpensive and powerful way to add a new dimension to your marketing efforts.  They aid with your SEO and can be useful tools for product demos, addressing frequently asked questions, training and lots more.

Pros:  Can be simple to create and, most importantly, easy as pie to post on YouTube to be viewed by a large audience.

Cons:  Bad lighting and bad sound quality can sink your efforts and reflect badly on your brand.  It’s OK to have an amateur production — just don’t make it painful to watch.

Mobile Version of Your Website

With U.S. Smartphone penetration expected to reach 50% by the summer of 2012 according to comscore, it’s more important than ever to have a website presence that’s formatted correctly for iPhones, Androids and Blackberries.  While there are many mobile website solutions providers out there, the most important tip you can get from reading this is to look at your own website on a smartphone and see what comes up.  In the case of websites heavy with Flash, you might be surprised that the screen displaying (or not displaying) your website is blank.  The point is, find out and take action to remedy the situation.

What it is:  Having a mobile version of your website means a lot more than merely displaying correctly on Smartphones.  It means having a version of your site that actually takes advantage of the platform itself, such as prominent phone numbers that dial with the push of a button, links to maps and GPS systems and email links that send messages right from the phone.

Bottom Line:  A mobile version of your site will soon become a necessity not a luxury.  Get in front of this change because ready or not, it’s here.

Pros:  Put your business where your customers are — on their phones!

Cons:   There’s a lot of confusing information out there about mobile.  Some plans are a one-time cost while others are a monthly expense.   And while we’re at it — no, a mobile website is NOT an app — that’s something else entirely.

In-Bound Linking

The search engines give  a lot of creedence to websites with a lot of other sites linking to them.  All things being equal, if site A has a hundred inbound links and site B has a thousand inbound links,  site B will be ranked higher. 

What it is:  Inbound links are considered votes of confidence within the search engine algorithms.  If quality sites are linking to you regarding a certain topic, you must be an authority on that topic and will therefore be returned higher in the search engine results since search engines strive to return results that are as relevant as possible.  Inbound links are an endorsement of relevancy.

Pros:  Once you accept the fact that links are important there are many ways to acquire them to your site starting with creating sterling content!  Have you heard the saying that “Content is King”?  It’s more true now than ever.

Cons:  Inbound links are no longer “you link to me I’ll link to you.”  It’s gotten way more complex since  the search engines have gotten wise to link swaps.  One-way links are the new normal or you have to triangulate them, meaning site A links to site B and site B links to site C and site C links to site A. 

Pick & Choose

Along with traditional social media marketing, like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, and location-based marketing, such as Foursquare and Facebook Check-in Deals, there are a lot of exciting things going on in the world of Internet marketing that you need to be aware of.  Don’t be overwhelmed by it.  Familiarize yourself with what’s available, reach out to experts who can advise you and try one or two new things every three months or so.  Do more of what works, ditch what doesn’t and have some fun in the process.  Yes, it’s a brave new world indeed!

Posted in email marketing, Marketing, Sales, SEO, Smart Business, Social Media Marketing, Video | No Comments »

Is Social Media a Distraction for Your Business?

November 13th, 2011

For small and medium-sized businesses, embarking on a social media strategy can be a burdensome cross to bear.

It’s a lot like eating your vegetables —you know you need to do it but it’s not always the most appetizing of prospects.  But if you don’t do it will your business fall behind?  Will your competition pass you by?

These are all valid questions but the questions you really should be asking yourself are:

• What exactly IS a social media strategy?
• What do I hope to gain from a social media strategy?
• Do I have the time and or money to participate consistently?

Here’s What We Recommend to Help You Decide

A social media strategy means constantly pushing out a mix of information about your business and your industry.  It also means asking questions and giving answers.  So ask yourself:  do you have a lot to say?  Are you comfortable writing?  Do you have time EVERY DAY to make at LEAST one post to Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter or Google+?  Because that’s what it takes.

If not, that’s ok.  One easy option is to at least add social media sharing buttons and capabilities to your existing website so other people can at least share your content. 

Which brings me to my last point.

If you do nothing else, at least create, or HIRE SOMEONE ELSE TO CREATE content for your website.

“Oh, but now we’re talking about writing again and I just want to focus on getting more customers and clients for my business.  I’m too busy making the donuts to write about making the donuts.”

Well, the fact of the matter is that creating relevant, timely and ongoing content for your website needs to be a part of your on-going marketing strategy.  Whatever your business, YOU are the expert and creating content that addresses commonly asked questions about your products or services is a great way to MARKET your business on the Internet.

Creating these types of pages on your website an be done once a month, a lot less frequently than a full blown social media strategy.  These can be farmed out to a professional writer, PR agency or Internet marketing firm.  For instance, we charge $250 to write an article for a website.   Does that seem like a lot of money to invest in your own marketing?  Use keywords and monitor the page with Google Analytics to see the type and volume of search engine traffic that your article/page attracts.  Having an article that gets picked up in the search engines and helps create a warm lead is as worthwhile an investment in your business as buying a newspaper or magazine ad and one that you can become more valuable over time. 

And over time you’ll be building a library of content that may allow for the implementation of a social media strategy.  To help get you started, write a list of the 10 things people most frequently ask you about your business.  Then write a list of 5 or 10 things that you WISHED people asked you about your business.

You now have a year’s worth of topics to roll out on your website that you can also easily post to your LinkedIn profiles, Facebook, etc.

Everyone is or should be a content creator.  It’s the way marketing is done today.  The adage that “Content is King” has never been more true or meaningful to your bottom line if done strategically and consistently.  As with social media or even straight-up advertising — that’s the key — consistency.

Posted in Marketing, Social Media Marketing | 2 Comments »

New Facebook Page For Pets Pets Pets

October 14th, 2011

When pet retailer Pets Pets Pets of Califon, NJ, wanted to increase their Facebook “likes” and incorporate their email signup box into their Facebook presence, we created and installed a custom Facebook page and welcome tab to entice new visitors to join or signup.

We were able to utilize their existing Constant Contact account and integrate it into their Facebook page along with store hours and links to their main website.

Posted in Social Media Marketing | 5 Comments »