June 28, 2012
With search engine algorithms constantly changing, continually altering the way they index and rank websites, how does one approach the increasingly complex world of SEO? The answer, in fact, is surprisingly simple: create good content.
There are certain key elements that, regardless of what other techniques you use to appeal to search engine spiders, you simply must master. Focusing on these aspects of your site will ensure that you meet the basic SEO requirements and that your site ranks well when Internet users perform a search related to your area of expertise.
- Your title is the first thing that search engine spiders—and Internet users—will see, so be sure that your crucial keywords are there. Typically, the closer they appear to the beginning of the title, the better it is for your site’s ranking. There are actually two options for adding titles: the one that appears to visitors to your site and the alternate code title in your title tag, which is, in fact, what most search engines actually use. This enables you to create a more catchy and engaging title for visitors and a more search-friendly title for your title tag.
- The meta description of your site should be brief at no more than approximately 165 characters so as to be completely visible in search results. You should include keywords in the beginning of the meta description and provide an accurate summary of the page so that searchers can be clear on what they will find if they click on the link.
- Your content should be updated frequently. Content that is not refreshed regularly will soon be ranked lower on search engines. This is one of the reasons that blogs have become so popular on many sites. Blogs that are posted frequently are a terrific way to keep your site fresh. Generally, sites with more substantial content—say, more than 300-400 words—will rank higher in search engines than sites with little content. Most importantly for SEO purposes, however, your content must be clearly relevant to your keywords and phrases.
- The frequency with which you use keywords and phrases will affect your ranking in search engines. However, you must walk a fine line. If you use your keywords and phrases too much, search engines will think you’re trying to game the system and you will be penalized. The way to gauge your use of keywords and phrases is to look at your overall keyword density as measured against the length of your content. A good guideline is about two to three percent keyword density; anything over five percent is considered stuffing.
- Do include relevant links in your content as they will help your search engine ranking. While linking to other sites may seam counterintuitive, doing so shows search engines that you are connected to other content. You can also include links to other pages within your own site and to what is known as anchor text.
Remember, there are many factors that go into SEO, so don’t necessarily expect to have a handle on everything. What I’ve outlined are the basics. They will give you a foundation for establishing a website that will rank well in search engines.
Thanks!
Sean
Internet Marketing Training – Internet Marketing Course – Internet Marketing Blog
(Image by Stuart Miles)
June 26, 2012
The savvy business owner knows that social media marketing is a business must these days. An advertisement without the now familiar Twitter icon is virtually nonexistent. More and more, if you look closely, you will see a new symbol making its way into the media. It’s called a hashtag (#), and you’ll see it on television shows, commercials, and in magazines. For businesses, it can be a useful way to break through all that Twitter traffic and get your brand noticed.
If you’re on Twitter, you’ve surely seen the hashtag. It’s followed by a word or phrase (without spaces between the words), and it’s used as a search term to organise tweets around a specific topic or theme. Often when there is an event that is dominating the news—such as the uprisings in the Middle East or the tsunami in Japan—people will use a hashtag so that users who aren’t following one another can group tweets on the event into a single stream.
For businesses looking to attract attention to their tweets, hashtags present an opportunity. All you have to do is input your tweet and put a hashtag in front of the word or phrase that you wish to highlight, which can be at the beginning, middle, or end of your tweet.
Let me give you an example. Suppose you’re a handbag retailer. You might have an idea for a tweet that looks like this:
Summertime and the living is fine. This week we’re offering 50% off new summer fabric handbags.
To take advantage of hashtags, you might do something like this.
Summertime and the living is fine. This week we’re offering 50% off all fabric handbags. Great summer colors. #SummerBags
Note that I’ve capitalised the word “Bags.” Not everyone one Twitter does that, but I find that it helps readability to capitalise each word when you hashtag a phrase.
A cautionary note about hashtags: Be sure that your hashtag is not already in use for something unrelated, or even potentially embarrassing, to your business, or you could end up doing serious harm to your brand. Also, don’t hijack an existing hashtag that might be sensitive. There are a number of ways to uncover trending hashtags, such as the site Hashtags.org. You can also just run a search in Twitter using various renditions of keywords and phrases until you find one that works for you. While it’s fine to use trending hashtags, however, don’t use them in a contrived way or you will diminish your brand.
Lastly, it’s fine to use more than one hashtag in a tweet, but don’t overdo it. More than two or three hashtags will make your tweets look a mess, and people may just dismiss them as spam.
Thanks!
Sean
Internet Marketing Training – Internet Marketing Course – Internet Marketing Blog
(Image by Eldh)
June 22, 2012
Have you ever been confused by SEO? It seems that every time I turn around someone is offering some sure-fire strategy or service that guarantees results. These services promise to have you at the top of search engines. Companies and consultants are promising to be the best SEO expert that exists. For many business owners and marketers, this leads to a cluster of confusion. They find themselves asking questions that only lead to more SEO lingo they don’t understand and being told what services they must invest a lot of money into in order to see results. How can you get out of the SEO quicksand and know what’s real and what isn’t? A good starting place is three SEO myths that are actually false.
Do it yourself
If SEO is so simple, then why do so many experts offer their SEO services for a fee? If a SEO service provider is worth their weight, they will have solid examples of their work. They will be able to show you the numbers that prove their success rate. Many business owners become so frustrated before asking the right questions that they think they can simply provide this service on their own. This is a huge mistake.
While you can make a dent and increase your rank by consistently creating content and using the right keywords and onsite meta-tags, most of us do not have the technical expertise required for real success with SEO. This is why you need to screen professional SEO consultants and trust their expertise. A tip to keep in mind, an expensive SEO consultant does not equal a good SEO consultant. Do your homework and ask a lot of questions.
It’s all the same
SEO is not a uniform process. What works for one business will not always work for another business. Steer clear of cookie cutter SEO providers. It’s true that general SEO basics do exist, but your SEO strategy needs to be unique for you. Discuss different strategy options with your SEO consultant to tailor a system that will work for you. Keep in mind that SEO does take a little bit of time when it is done properly. You won’t jump to the front of the line overnight, but you will increase your rankings over time. This is the ultimate goal.
I need more linksbacks!
Don’t get caught up on having a zillion linkbacks. While linkbacks are important, you must remember that it’s quality over quantity. Linkbacks only work when you have developed an organic relationship with the sites that you are linking to and the sites that are linking back to your site. Build the right kind of relationships with the right kind of people. This will serve you better than buying linkbacks or putting as many linkbacks into your content as possible.
SEO is an extremely effective strategy to increase your ranking, your visibility and ultimately your sales. Take the time to do it right!
Thanks!
Sean
Internet Marketing Training – Internet Marketing Course – Internet Marketing Blog
(Image by Digital Art)
June 21, 2012
Has your social media routine become out of control? Do you find that you are spending hours a day on a variety of social media sites trying to acquire a following? When we take a good hard look at how much time we are investing in our social media efforts, many of us will discover that hours upon hours are being used. This excessive amount of time, spent on trying to acquire more customers and leads via social media platforms, is actually working against you. You are taking time from doing what is most important, which is your work. How can you optimize your social media routine to have it work for you and to see excellent results?
Egg Timer
If you don’t have one already in your kitchen, go and buy one immediately. This will be the best investment for the least amount of money that you can make. Put the egg timer next to your computer and set it for 15 minutes. Do this twice a day to time and monitor the time you spend reading blogs, commenting on articles, posting on Facebook and tweeting on Twitter. By using an egg timer you are forcing a schedule that keeps you accountable for 30 minutes out of each business day. You shouldn’t be spending more than 30 minutes each day and the egg timer will remind you when to stop.
A good strategy is to use the first 15 minutes to read and respond to what is being said on your blog, on Twitter and Facebook. Spare a few minutes each day to answer questions and address any possible complaints. Use the second 15 minutes to engage. This is where you will comment on blog posts and build solid relationships with your online audience. It’s a hard habit to form, but once you get started, you will find that your time is being managed optimally.
Utilise RSS Feed
Aggregate all of your news, the blogs that you visit and the feeds from your social media platforms into once place. Hours can be lost in a week simply by taking the time to look up all of the sites you want to visit and organizing your bookmark toolbar. Keep it simple and use your RSS Feed. This will give you one place to look each day to see what is happening. When something notable stands out, you can visit that site. The benefit is gaining precious minutes that can be used to close a sale and not get lost on the Internet.
We all lose time when we are online. Take a few minutes to incorporate an egg timer and a RSS Feed and you will save a great deal of time and energy.
Thanks!
Sean
Internet Marketing Training – Internet Marketing Course – Internet Marketing Blog
(Image by Stuart Miles)
June 14, 2012
Are you paying attention to the online reviews of you and your business? Unlike the days when all a business had to worry about was an unsatisfied or upset customer complaining to their friends and family, in this day and age, an irate customer is broadcasting their unhappiness to the entire world via the Internet. Sites like Yelp have made it easy for consumers to write an instant review of a product or service. It is not uncommon for these reviews to have an almost devastating effect on the business. The truth is, not all of your costumers will be 100% happy with their purchase. How can you combat these negative comments that may show up online? Do you have a damage control strategy?
Bookmark Review Sites
Do you know which sites your customers and potential customers frequent to leave reviews or read reviews? There are many different review sites, some are legitimate and some are not. Make sure that you are checking sites such as Yelp on a regular basis to see what your customers are saying. The best way is to bookmark the site and to set up Google alerts for your name, your business name and any other phrases that are associated with your business. You can have reminders sent daily or weekly, simply pick what is convenient for you. Take a few hours out of ever week to check these reviews.
Damage Control
If there is a negative review or if you have a very unhappy customer it is critical to be proactive and to act quickly. Don’t try to delete their comment or buffer the comment with a lot of customer satisfaction reports. You should have the contact information for all of your customers and most review sites leave a place for the reviewer to state their name or general biographical information. If possible, contact the customer and see if you can fix the problem. In most cases, consumers will take their issues online before contacting you directly to complain. The key is to use your best customer service skills and try to reverse the consumer’s negative mindset. At this stage, you may ask them to post another review that puts you and your business in a much better light.
Be Transparent
Treat online reviews as you would an in-person complaint. If you are unable to contact the person directly, or if you are faced with multiple negative reviews that are similar in nature, issue a public statement. This not only address the issue that your customers have, it also announces to the public at large the best practices of your company. You shouldn’t try to argue with those that have complained, simply address the issue and attempt to solve the problem.
A huge percentage of consumers turn to online reviews before buying a new product or visiting an establishment. While not all reviews will be favorable, if you take to heart some of the above strategies, you will find that the naysayers will not have a disastrous impact on your business.
Happy Marketing!
Sean
Internet Marketing Training – Internet Marketing Course – Internet Marketing Blog
(Image by Stuart Miles)
June 12, 2012
If you are like the majority of marketers or businesses out there today, your social media efforts fall into two categories. Either you are actively embracing social media or you are ignoring social media in hopes that it is a passing phase. If you fall into the later category, I wish you well but you are missing the boat. If you fall into the category of embracing social media, I ask you, do you have a clear understanding of how to use social media well? Let’s take a look at a company that is rocking the social media universe and see exactly what it is that they are doing that is making them such a success. After we see what it is that works, you can mimic those strategies into your own social media marketing campaign.
Coca-Cola has over 42 million Facebook fans. In fact, they have 42, 525,826 fans and on any given day, over 300,00 fans are ‘talking about’ them on Facebook. While this company has millions of dollars to invest in their advertising and marketing efforts and these efforts are on all forms of media, television and print, for our purposes we will focus on Facebook. Are they spending a fortune on Facebook ads? Are they using fancy graphics and expensive video to promote their products? Are they constantly self-promoting their soft drink in order to sell more? Well, we can’t gauge how much they are spending on Facebook ads but we can answer the other two questions. The answer to if they are constantly self-promoting and posting a ton of flashy images is no.
This past Friday, they shared a link for the London 2012 Olympic Games. The post was very simple. “London is calling – Light up Times Square with your cheers to the athletes! #CheersTeamCoke” This post provides the fans with a few different elements. One, it supports the Olympic Games, which inherently does not fall under self-promotion. Two, it shows support to the athletes who are participating and finally, the underlying self-promotion or call to action is extremely subtle. They aren’t saying “Buy Coke to support the London 2012 Olympic Games”. They are suggesting that having Coca-Cola supports the games and that by drinking a coke, you are supporting the games as well. See the difference? How can you incorporate this technique into your own Facebook marketing?
Keep it simple. This is what we can learn from Coca-Cola. While your brand may not achieve a following of over 42 million, you can keep your posts quirky, fun, informative and subtle. Drop the overt self-promoting status updates and actually give your fans what they want. Coca-Cola is a great example of many brand fanpages out there that we can observe and mimic. Consider it a free education.
Happy Marketing!
Thanks!
Sean
Internet Marketing Training – Internet Marketing Course – Internet Marketing Blog
(Image by DeusX Florida)
June 7, 2012
There are many choices that businesses have when it comes to do the mechanics of making your website mobile. Once you have a web developer in place, there are certain best practices that you must adhere to if you want your site to truly be successful. There is nothing worse than boasting that you have a user-friendly, consumer based mobile website that in truth, is clunky and confusing. To avoid having people hop off of your sight quicker than you can blink, keep the following ideas in mind.
Simple
The purpose of a mobile friendly website is for ease of use by consumers on (typically) their smart phone. If your site is complex, loaded with images that take forever to load and difficult to navigate, you will have a ton of unhappy customers. Keep things simple and uncomplicated. Most of the consumers that are utilizing your mobile friendly site are not visiting to spend a lot of time browsing; they are looking for something specific. Know your market and give them what they want. For some businesses, this may be easily finding locations and directions to a storefront, some consumers will want to read and write reviews and many will want to purchase. A great tip is to make it very easy for the consumer to contact you.
Concise Content
Consumers still want great content. By using bulleted lists, not using too many links that are located close together and having the content clearly marked helps your customer find exactly what they are seeking. Use as little text as possible and have things as simple as possible. If you are a restaurant, having your locations, reviews and menu on your mobile site provides your target market with the exact information that they want. A great tip is to think ‘taps’ and not ‘clicks’; the majority of smart phone users uses have touchscreens, so design your mobile site for touchscreens.
Test & Re-Test
Not all mobile site designs work the same on all smartphones. This will prove to be extremely frustrating for your consumers. If the consumers using an iPhone have a great experience but those using a Blackberry have a subpar experience, you are left with a percentage of your demographic that are unhappy. When your mobile site is in the design phase, test it on a variety of different styles and brands of phones. Make sure that your consumers are seeing exactly what you want them to see. A tip to remember is that not all smartphone users are technologically savvy. Don’t get overly complex and test your site before making it live to the public.
Mobile marketing and mobile friendly websites are becoming more and more popular. Consumers turn to their smartphone before logging on to their computer. Keep your mobile website simple and give your consumers exactly what they want.
Thanks!
Sean
(Image Creative Commons)
Internet Marketing Academy
Internet Marketing Training – Internet Marketing Course – Internet Marketing Blog
June 5, 2012
Social media management is a buzzing field. As more businesses build their brands and market via social media networks, the need for almost 24/7 monitoring appears to be a necessity. We can quickly get caught up with spending a large percentage of our day on the computer. We are constantly checking our Facebook fanpage, wondering if our posts will receive more ‘likes’ and comments. We scan search streams on our Twitter API’s in the hopes that we have been re-tweeted or that we gained new followers. We quickly fall down the rabbit hole of social media management. The flaw with this marathon of social media activity is burnout. How can you avoid social media management burnout?
Unplug
While social media networks are running 24/7, this does not mean that you need to be plugged in the entire time that you are awake. When we are plugged in to our computer or smart phone, we are keeping our brains stimulated on a continual basis. Our vision is affected by the backlight and our bodies are affected by sitting in stasis for long periods of time. For the most part, we are unaware of the stress staying online induces for our bodies and our minds. Therefore, it is crucial to unplug. Take time to step away from the computer and put the smartphone on silent. Trust me, the world won’t stop simply because you decided to take a break. In truth, when you return to your social media accounts you will be refreshed and rejuvenated.
Get Social
When is the last time you engaged in old-fashioned social activities? Face-to-face interactions are worth their weight in gold. We find ourselves energized by hanging out with friends and family. We will also find ourselves buzzing with new ideas and inspiration after a great networking event. Get out of the house and spend time with people. This will improve your interactions on the online world immensely.
Read
When is the last time you picked up a magazine or a book? I’m not talking about your ereader or the articles that are in your RSS feed. I’m talking about holding an actual book or magazine. When we are holding a book or magazine, we are using more of our senses to experience and digest the information we are reading. This allows for better information retention and for a greater capacity to put this newfound knowledge to use. Reading is one of the best ways to apply information to your online activities. Once you get those creative juices flowing, you will find yourself inspired and refreshed. You will also experience an energy boost. Take the time to read.
Thanks!
Sean
Internet Marketing Training – Internet Marketing Course – Internet Marketing Blog
(Image by Stuart Miles)
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