The Wonderful World of Google Plus and Social Media

May 24, 2013 By + 2 Comments

After a wonderful vacation, it’s back to reality and I’m finally getting caught up on blog posts.  Before I left, I had the most amazing experience on Google+.  I was somewhat of a late adopter when it comes to social media marketing and social networking.  My previous position in Corporate America didn’t necessitate learning how to use Facebook or Twitter for business (although it should have) and Google+ wasn’t even on my radar.

I jumped in feet first about six months ago and boy am I glad I did.  I’ve met people and made connections that I would have never dreamed of in a traditional networking model.  A connection I made on Twitter, led me to a Google+ Community called Open Social Media Initiative, #opensm.  Sherry Nouraini has a vision, and it’s to share information about social media in an open format and to provide open, accessible, and free education to help others succeed.

On Friday’s Sherry hosts a Hangout On Air for the #opensm community and anyone else who wants to join in; it’s a great way to stay on top of what’s happening in the word of social media and to meet great people from all over the world.  The topics vary from week to week, and often include an interview or presentation from a subject matter expert on topics such as Google Plus.  I had the awesome opportunity to be a guest presenter and we offered a three part workshop series on SEO: How Search Engines Find Your Content, How to Create Content Search Engines can Find, and The Dance Between Search and Social.

A few Friday’s ago she switched it up, and instead of a presentation, Sherry held open office hours and invited people from the business community to share their social media challenges and get input and advice from the panel.  We had a very interesting discussion about how to apply social media in the aerospace metal and specialty steel distribution industry.

It boggles my mind to think that I was sitting in my living room sharing SEO tips with people in Illinois, California, and Washington.  We had coverage from both coasts and the Midwest.

Shortly after the Hangout, I checked my email for the Pennsylvania Search Engine Academy and was excited when I saw a new message.  It was “delivered with high importance” which always makes me smile because it means that it’s an inquiry about an upcoming search engine marketing workshop or onsite training.

The message wasn’t about a workshop but may be even better in the long run.

“We are watching you (now) on the opensm hangout. We would really like to interview you, on the topic of SEO, for Social Web Cafe Interviews (http://www.socialwebcafe.tv). Deborah has mentioned that she would like to discuss the crossover between SEO and social media and give you a platform to advertise yourself and services.”

Thirty minutes later a connection was made and my interview was scheduled. I’ve since had the pre-production interview and learned some new tricks to making my videos more effective.  Next up the actual interview.

I can’t wait to write the next installment.

Until next time.

Cheers!

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Google Authorship – 7 Benefits Beyond SEO

April 26, 2013 By + 11 Comments

Google trends on Google Authorship from 2011 to 2013

The interest in Google Authorship is rising almost as fast as the increase of usage of mobile devices to browse websites and search the internet.  It got off to a slow start, but the adoption rate among search engine optimization and social media marketing professionals is quickly picking up steam.

I’m a little embarrassed to admit that when I first heard about Google Authorship it went in one ear and out of the other.  I couldn’t imagine setting up yet another profile on yet another social network just so my picture would show up on a search results page.

Thank goodness my colleague and fellow Search Engine Academy instructor Nancy Wigal kept encouraging and educating me about the importance of  Google Authorship and Google Plus and how they can help you achieve your SEO goals.  If it hadn’t been for her I may have waited to verify my authorship or even worse, I may not have done it at all {GASP!}

In a very short amount of time I’ve gone from being ambivalent about it to borderline fanatical.  I recently came across a good Quick Start Guide on Search Engine Watch, the second sentence of the article by Chuck Price was “If you aren’t on Google+, you’re on the path to irrelevance.”  It might have been that sentence that tipped the scale from mere supporter to full-fledged advocate.

Simply put, Google Authorship is going through a process which includes setting up a profile on Google+ to verify your identity as an author.  Or in other words they know that a real human wrote and published the content.

When I first heard about it, I thought, “Ok, so after I set up a Google + profile and now my picture might show up on a search result page, so what.”  How is that going to help me with SEO?

Don’t get me wrong, I thought it would be kind of cool to have my picture associated with a piece of content but other than that I didn’t really ‘get’ it.  And boy oh boy – did I totally miss the importance of Google+and why it should be part of your web presence and search engine optimization strategy.

The bottom line is that  If you have a Google+ profile you’ll be more visible in search results than if you don’t have one.  This started to happen as far back as 2009 (ancient history in internet time) when Google introduced Social Search, which was designed to help people quickly find publicly available web content from your social contacts. In January of 2012, they introduced Search, plus Your World, which incorporates personal results, profiles, people, and pages in search. In other words if you search on a term that someone in one of your circles has written about, their content will be far more likely to show up in your search results.

As with anything else related to SEO, there are additional variables that will be taken into account before a piece of content is considered relevant enough to display in your results, but who you are connected to and whether or not they’ve verified authorship is certainly one of them.

There are benefits beyond SEO as well, and if you’re an author of content I think you’ll welcome them.

Benefits of Google Authorship:

  1. Higher click through rates - statistically people click through at a higher rate on links with rich snippets
  2. Establish authority – a result with a headshot separates you from the back and reinforces that it’s a credible piece of content
  3. Keep your identity – a picture’s worth a thousand words – if you have a common name like ‘Beth Browning,’ you’ll be able to put the name with a face
  4. Beat plagiarism - he original author gets credit – wave goodbye to copy artists and article spinners
  5. Build Trust - it’s all about relationships and people and this is one more way to build trust in an on-line world
  6. Verify guest posts and comments – your profile follows along as you comment on blogs and publish posts on other blogs
  7. Elevate the value and role of writers – as businesses start to recognize the benefits, good writers won’t have to defend why they charge $100 or more for a blog post

If you’re contributing content and you haven’t verified your Google+ Authorship, don’t wait any longer – get started here now.

Join me here on Google+ for regular tips on SEO and more – I’m still learning, so let’s have some fun while we learn together – be sure to mention you read this post.

What are your thoughts about Google Authorship?

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Does Klout equal Clout? Do Social Signals Impact SEO?

April 1, 2013 By + 1 Comment

What is Klout and is it important?  Do Social Signals Impact SEO?

If you’ve never heard of Klout, you’re not alone. Klout is one of a handful of score cards that are intended to measure the level of influence an individual has in the online world particularly through their social media networks.  The others that I’m familiar with are Kred, TrustCloud, and Tweetlevel.  Klout, Kred, and TrustCloud take multiple social networks into consideration when calculating their scores and Tweetlevel provides a score that is specific to Twitter.

The topic of a social score card and whether or not it has any validity can spark a heated debate rather quickly.  It seems that people are firmly on one side of the fence or the other (if they’ve even heard about it).  For those who have heard of it there are many questions, including whether or not social signals play a role in search engine optimization and have an impact on relevancy rankings.

Does Klout or any of the other scorecard accurately measure your social media impact and does having a high score improve your chances of showing up in Google or Bing’s search results?  That’s the sixty-four-thousand dollar question. There’s a lot of buzz about social signals and whether or not they have an affect on SEO and there are as many naysayers as believers, especially as it relates to the concept of a social scorecard.

I completely understand the naysayer’s point of view regarding the social scoring systems that exist today.  The execution is flawed for a few reasons:

  • Much of the scoring has to do with activity without regard to the type of activity – if people in your social networks “like” and “share” your content and posts it boosts your score. I could be posting pictures of cats that people love, say I’m an expert in SEO, and have a high Klout score.  Just because I know how to post pictures that people love to share doesn’t mean I know what I’m doing when it comes to search engine optimization.
  • There’s a lack of participation and awareness about the scores, which minimizes the ability to compare one person’s score or “level of influence” to someone else.  Interestingly everyone already has a score whether they know it or not.  I just recently signed up for Kred and whala I had already been scored and it didn’t change even after I connected my social networks.
  • Each of the tools has an endorsement system, they are all different and again there is limited to no correlation between what someone is endorsed for, the activity within their networks, and what they’ve been endorsed for.

I think the concept is brilliant even if the execution is flawed and I’ve seen indicators that lead me to believe that Klout for one is trying to bridge the gap between expertise and activity.

"Ask me questions on Klout"The last time I checked my Klout score, I had a message that gave me an option to post an update to my personal Facebook page.  The update was an invitation for people to ask me questions on the areas of interest/expertise that I have associated with my account.

I decided to play along and post the question on Facebook and hope to get some questions about search engine marketing or social media strategy.  I’m not quite sure how or if it’s going to work because only 14 of my friends are on Klout and given the fact that Facebook only shows your updates to somewhere between 12% and 16% of your friends it seems unlikely that I’ll get any questions.  But it does seem to be a step in the right direction.

In my opinion, there is a need for some sort of scoring system.  With the rate at which content is being created and the fact that anyone can create a website there needs to be some way for people (and search engines) to determine whether or not someone knows what they are talking or writing about.  Whether or not that comes in the form of a scorecard such as Klout remains to be seen.

There is some evidence that there is some correlation between having a strong social signal and search rankings.  In other words, if people are highly engaged with your content in the various social networks (meaning they are liking and sharing it), you may have a better chance of showing up in natural search results than someone who doesn’t have a strong social signal.  And there is no doubt that things like Google authorship can help when it comes to achieving your SEO Goals.

The jury is still out as to whether or not your Klout, Kred, or TrustCloud scores are important or valid, but I for one am not going to ignore them completely.  Will I tweet my scores? Absolutely not.  But I do believe that there will come a day that such a thing as an influence score exists and just in case it’s one of the tools I’ve mentioned I figure it doesn’t hurt to play along.

What’s your point of view on social scorecards and why?

Until next time.

Cheers!

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Internet Marketing – How Far Will Google Glasses Take The User Into Augmented Reality?

March 19, 2013 By + 4 Comments

Here is a little bit of internet marketing opinion and some search engine optimization thoughts, along with some historical trivia of interest.

By now you’ve probably heard about the new Google Glasses soon to be released. If we let our imaginations go with it, just how will Google glasses change the way we socialize?

The concept of wearing a pair of electronic glasses that can project various data over what we see in real life, is not too hard to believe. The concept of seeing someone in person, and perhaps the augmented data ripples through a bunch of social media tags with face recognition software that suddenly projects the name of the person you’re greeting so you can greet him by first name, even though a moment ago, you could not remember it.

Or how about receiving all kind of interesting statistical data based on everything you are seeing in real life?

Do you suppose in these lenses there might be Google adwords popping up with marketing messages all day? Possibly delivering personalized results on products that you are genuinely interested in based on your user search query?

How old is the concept of “augmented reality?”

The whole concept of electronic data being projected through some special lenses is actually originally referred to as “augmented reality.” Where does this term come from and how long ago was it first projected as something we’d see in the future?

For some of you, it will come as a surprise that the term was first dreamt up back as early as 1901 by an author of fantasy and science fiction Mr. L. Frank Baum. Not only did Mr. L. Frank Baum come up with the term augmented reality but you may also know that he was the author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

In fact according to Wikipedia:

L Frank Baum authored 55 novels and his works anticipated such century-later commonplaces as the television, augmented reality, laptop computers (The Master Key), wireless telephones (Tik-Tok of Oz), women in high risk, action-heavy occupations (Mary Louise in the Country), and the ubiquity of advertising on clothing (Aunt Jane’s Nieces at Work).

If you want to read up on this author’s life, click here.

How might Google glasses change the way we communicate? How far do you think it will reach? It should be interesting to see how diverse the functionality of such eyewear will be.

In time, one can only wonder where technology will take us. In the meantime, if you’re interested in the most up to date, real-time SEO information,check this page for the next SEO Mastery Internet Marketing Workshop coming in a community nearest to you.

Curious to see our list of detailed agenda topics for 2013? The SEO training agenda is here.

 

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What is SEO? Why is it so Important?

January 2, 2013 By + 6 Comments

What is SEO?

"SEO Panda and Penguin"The definition of SEO, aka search engine optimization, is an interesting topic these days.  In it’s simplest form, it’s the process of driving traffic to a website from a search engine results page.

You type a word or a phrase into the search box, hit the return key, and Whala!  Your search engine of choice displays thousands and sometimes millions of results for you to choose from.

Those results are not just random either. They are tuned around your personal search behavior and preferences as well as where you are conducting your search from.

The search engine results page contains a variety of links to sites that could range from Wikipedia, to retail, or a local business depending on the search term.  Now more than ever they also often-times contain links to social media sources such as blogs and customer reviews.

To make it even more interesting, there’s the whole concept of Social Signals, which in a nutshell is your perceived level of on-line authority and influence.  How it’s measured and whether or not it’s accurate and/or should have an influence on SEO has sparked a lot of debate among search engine optimization and social media marketing professionals alike.

Mind boggling, isn’t it?

So let’s back up a minute – just what is search engine optimization and how is it different from social media marketing?

The goal of both SEO and SMM is to drive qualified traffic to your website and they are two distinctly different activities.

Search Engine Optimization

  • Driving traffic to websites from Search Engine Results Pages (SERP).
  • Optimizing a variety of variables such as content, website structure, as well as internal and external links (just to name a few) to increase the visibility and position on a search engine results page.

Social Media Marketing

  • Driving traffic to websites from Social Media Platforms such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+ and Pintrest.
  • Generating and promoting content that provides and encourages readers to share it with their networks and drive traffic to your website.
  • Creating and exchanging user-generated-content (UCG) e.g. product reviews and comments.

So they have nothing to do with each other, right?

There are still people who believe that, but they’re missing the boat.   The focus of both SEO and SMM is to increase the visibility of your website and to drive qualified traffic (or in other words, new customers) to your business.

It’s not enough to just have a website, it has to be found.  It’s practically a guarantee that if you’re doing one but not the other, or worse yet neither, the only people finding your website are your existing customers and maybe Aunt Martha.

People can debate all they want, but the two have become intertwined,and that one little word “content” is why no one should be blindly executing a strategy that doesn’t take both into consideration. If not, the efforts are doomed to failure.

If the social media advocate is creating content that is low quality, contains links to poor quality sites or isn’t optimized for the right keyword phrases, SMM could be undoing the SEO efforts.

Likewise, if the SEO efforts are done in a vacuum, and lack insight into what content is engaging the most readers in the social media platforms, they may be optimizing for the wrong things.

If the social media marketer is doing their job, they are listening at least as much if not more than they’re talking and are in tune with the problems customers are having.  In turn they are generating and promoting content that answers questions and helps their readers solve problems.  In order to do this, they need to understand how to create content that is optimized for search engines.

If the search engine optimizer is doing their job, they’re researching keywords that should be incorporated into the content and help increase visibility and drive traffic.  I’m not sure how they can do a good job at this if they don’t know what questions customers are asking.

So, back to the original question once again – what is SEO?

SEO is still the process of optimizing web pages so they will be found on Google, but it’s also a lot more.  It’s about integrating with the other internet marketing strategies such as social media marketing, content marketing, Pay Per Click (PPC), blogging, and website design.

It may sound overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be.  Whether you choose to take a workshop such as the ones offered by the Search Engine Academy, or pursue self study and on-line tutorials just take a deep breath and dig in.  Your business and your customers will thank you.

Were you surprised by the definition?  Share your comments below.

Until next time.

Cheers!

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Search Engine Academy Rolls Out Brand New SEO Training Modules Globally #SEO

November 5, 2012 By + Leave a Comment

For November, we are pleased to announce our newest and freshest upgrades to the SEO Mastery Workshop
live training program around the the globe. I thought it might be appropriate to give you a first hand look
at many of the newest subjects to be included at all of local the Search Engine Academy Workshops.

Here is a quick overview of the entire 5-Day SEO Workshop:

Day 1 – Basic SEO Essentials

  • What is Search Engine Optimization
  • How Search Engines Work
  • Organic Versus Paid Search
  • Anatomy of a Search Results Page
  • Why Apply SEO to Your Web site
  • How to implement SEO
  • The Benefits of Doing SEO
  • Examining a Stress Free System of doing SEO
  • Google Trends
  • Making Your Content Effective
  • The New World of Web Content
  • Google Panda and SEO
  • Google Webmaster Tools
  • Questions and Answers

Day 2 – Basic SEO Essentials

  • Linking Strategies Through External and Internal Linking
  • Key Concepts – Authority, Relevancy and Pagerank
  • A Comparison of Various Links
  • Links and Google Penguin
  • External Linking Strategies
  • Types of Links
  • Understanding Link Diversity
  • Authority Site Links
  • Getting EDU Links
  • Building links externally to you
  • SEO Strategy for Cleaning Up Links
  • Tips for Finding Links
  • Try a Link Discovery Tool
  • Tips for Finding Links
  • The Power of Internal Links
  • Internal Linking Strategies
  • HTML Sitemaps
  • XML Site Maps
  • Directory Style Sitemaps
  • No Follow Attribute
  • Absolute Versus Relative Links
  • How to Stay Out of Trouble with the Search Engines
  • Disavowing Links
  • Getting the Most Out of Your Blog
  • Blogging and SEO
  • Optimizing Your Blog Posts
  • WordPress and SEO
  • Tips For Increasing Your Chances For Popular Posts
  • Understanding the Value of Trackbacks
  • How to set up and use Trackbacks
  • Blog Resources
  • Blog Search Engines
  • Student Website Reviews
  • Questions and Answers

All New Search Engine Academy Training Announced
Day 3 – Advanced SEO Workshop

Advanced Keyword Research
Keyword Forensic Analysis
Other Advanced Keyword Research Tips
Semantic Search
Resource Links
Natural Language Processing (NLP)
Understanding How To Take Advantage of Themes

 

 

  • Information Architecture
  • What is IA
  • Why Do IA
  • 4 I/A Categories
  • Labeling Systems
  • Global Navigation System
  • Local Navigation Systems
  • Contextual Navigation Links
  • Supplemental Navigation Systems
  • Site Search
  • Examples of Well Developed IA
  • Local SEO
  • Google’s Venice Update
  • Major Data Providers – Who powers whom?
  • How to Submit to Top Data Providers
  • About Universal Business Listing
  • Rating Local Search Factors
  • Business Listing Quality Guidelines
  • More Google Quality Guidelines
  • Google Local
  • Google Local – Photos, Videos and More
  • Video SEO
  • Optimizing Your Videos
  • Video SEO
  • Keywords for Video
  • Create a Video Sitemap
  • Video Distribution
  • Mobile Search and SEO
  • Mobile SEO Strategies
  • Duplicate Content Issues
  • Crawler and Indexing Issues
  • Student Website Reviews
  • Questions and Answers

Advanced Day 4 – Google Day – A Day Dedicated To All Things Google

  • Paid Search
  • Planning Your Paid Search Campaigns
  • Google Adwords
  • Google Display Ads
  • Personalization of Search
  • Google Plus
  • Google Authorship
  • Google Analytics Advanced for SEA
  • Google Webmaster Tools
  • Google Panda and Penguin Rollouts
  • Measuring What’s Important KPI’s
  • Advanced Google Analytics
  • Student Website Reviews
  • Questions and Answers

Day 5 – The Final Day of Advanced SEO

  • Competitive Intelligence for SEO
  • Why do CI for SEO?
  • More Reasons for CI
  • How to Do Competitive Intelligence Analysis for SEO
  • Off page Factors
  • How to Analyze What You Collect
  • Social Media and SEO
  • Social Media Platforms
  • Social Media Guidelines
  • Social Media and SEO
  • Measure Social Media Reach
  • Schema.org and SEO
  • Schema.org and Google
  • Schema.or Resources
  • 5 Schema.org Applications
  • Site Technical Issues
  • Diagnosing Problems
  • URL Canonicalization
  • 301 redirects
  • Crawler and Indexing issues
  • Source code Validation
  • Persuasive Copywriting for the Web
  • Anatomy of A Sales Letter
  • Components for Building Sales Copy by component
  • Examples by Category
  • Student Worksheets and Examples
  • The Power of Article Writing
  • Life After Google Panda Update
  • Guidance on Writing Quality Articles
  • Easy Ways To Find Markets For Your Articles
  • Creative Commons
  • Press Releases and SEO
  • Tips for Press Releases
  • 9 Reasons to Optimize Your Press Releases
  • Tips for Professional SEOs
  • New Customers the smartest Way
  • Build A Genuine Reputation Right Now
  • How To Convert Prospects to Clients by Establishing Credibility
  • Steps for Building Powerful Proposals
  • Building and Defining Your Business in the SEO Industry
  • Questions and Answers
  • Certification Exam

Where are the next SEO Mastery Workshops being conducted?

See a complete list of Search Engine Academy Locations and dates here.

 

 

 

 

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Filed Under: 301 Redirects, Adwords, Content Marketing, Duplicate Content, Events, Google Analytics, Google Webmaster Tools, Insights for Search, Link Building, Local Search, Mobile Marketing, News, Pay Per Click, PR Web, Press Releases, SEO Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Has your SEO Practioner Ever Told a Little Fib While doing Your Web Analysis?

September 11, 2012 By + 2 Comments

Have you ever heard your SEO practioner tell you a fib and if they ever did tell you one, could you be able to recognize it? It may start as early as the SEO describing your Web analysis. Or it can start with the use of redundant dialog perhaps to describe their services. Some extraneous explanations of some secretive process that only they know about.

Have you ever been advised, “I have a very good friend at Google that can pull some strings.” Better run the other way.

Or how about this one…”I can guarantee you top number 1 rankings!” What’s wrong with that, you ask? Google themselves tell you to run the other way from anyone making that claim.

Before I go on, in all fairness I do know lots of honest, top quality SEO practioners who would always tell their clients the truth. If you need the name of a top, quality SEO who will live up to their claims write me and I’ll make some suggestions of people who I know are top quality.

But for a minute let’s look at another subset of people who think they can bluff their way with some techno babel. What kind of dialog has your Webmaster given you in their Web analysis?

Descriptive words are the best way to attract and communicate effectively with any audience, regardless of what a person is writing about or trying to explain. But sounding redundant is one of the worst things possible for an author or a speaker, teacher or educator to do. After all, in the human dialog there are thousands of descriptive terms that are available that are fully capable of describing even the most technical or intricate subject matter regardless of Web analysis.

If you have ever hired a Search Engine Optimization or Internet Marketing practioner, have they perhaps told you little stories or fibs giving you some sort of explanation of what it is they do, that just seemed to make no common sense at all to you.

Has Your SEO Ever Told You Little Fibs and How Can You Know?

A professional search engine optimizer (one who has been trained in the skill of gaining top search engine visibility to your Web pages to the most correct searching audience) should be able to describe what it is they do and how they do it. But too many times, there are those who claim to be experienced in SEO, but have never had any professional training.

There are far too many people that seem to talk the talk, but honestly have only learned what they know through trial and error. Try something they hear from someone, if it fails go back and change it. Then try something else to see if it helps or hinders. One of the biggest problems with the trial and error method, is that it can be very expensive for the person who has put their trust in this person or company (because their talk was so impressive.)

Learning to recognize redundant techno babel when you hear it, can help you sort out someone who knows precisely what they are doing, from that someone who is just taking your cash and only talking the talk.

Let’s give you some actual examples and see if you have ever any of these typical stories that some Webmasters may tell you.

One of the oldest cons has got to be:

  • “I’m going to submit your Web site to hundreds of search engines to get you listed in the search results.”

Why this is false: There are only a few major search engines you need to focus on such as Google, Bing and Yahoo. Also just getting you listed is not enough. I actually met someone who was considering coming to training one time and he bragged about charging some client $60,000 to get him listed with the search engines. Now he was in trouble because
months later the company had gotten no results so he was thinking about coming to learn. Being listed in a search engine means nothing unles you pages are coming for the right key terms and then, for the right searching audience and then, for the maximum percentage of the time.

Here’s another one.

  • “Google changes is algorithm continually so you need to pay me each month so I can tweak the source code and reverse engineer the algorithm.”

Why this is false: It is impossible to reverse engineer a search engine’s algorithm. It don’t make sense to continually change the source code to try and keep up with Google’s algorithm changes. It is true that you need to continually work on a Web site each month because all the other competition will be working on theirs. But a precisely optimized Web page don’t need to be changed to stand the test of time. Remember, you are not trying to beat Google. They don’t care if you rank top spot for a phrase, but it’s your competing Web pages you are trying to stay ahead of.

How about this one.

  • “I like to measure each influential ranking signal one at a time, like the Keyword proximity in the Title Tag and the link reputation etc.

Why this is false: There are nearly 200 ranking signles and they cannot be measured “one-at-a-time” in isolation and expect any true accuracy. The reason is that all ranking signals have an effect and an influence on all the other ranking signals, so IF you are going to accurately measure them, they mused be measured a very specific way and all at the same time (if you want exact preciseness.)

Have you ever asked an SEO practioner for advice once you are finally in top spot and so you say, “What should I do now that I am in top spot.”

The SEO practioner gives you a rather strange response in a reverently (nearly whispering tone of voice) saying…”Don’t touch it. Whatever you do…don’t touch it.”

The only possible reason an SEO would respond this way is because they are fearful if you change anything the top spot will be lost. More over, what this reveals mostly is that that SEO probably does not understand why the page is in top spot, so they are fearful to change it.

Remember, these are only a few common examples. Perhaps I’ll write a Part 2 with more examples in the future.

Are you interested in having your staff upgraded with the full scope of exact SEO, Social Media, Analytics, Mobile Search, Video search engine optimization and more?

Did you know that our certified Master SEO trainers are happy to give you a quote on the complete SEO Workshop and 6 Month Mentoring program conducted in-house at your corporate facility. It is far less expensive to bring one of our trainers to you in-house, than it is to send your whole team out to us.

We have globally located SEO educators in communities in across the United States, in Canada, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong Indonesia, The Philippines, United Arab Emirates and soon in Central and Eastern Europe.

For a no obligation quote on in-house training, give any one of theses SEO educators a call and ask them for a quote to bring them to your facility.

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Filed Under: Google Analytics, Google Webmaster Tools, Insights for Search, Link Building, Local Search, Mobile Marketing, PR Web, Video for SEO, Workshops Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Pinterest for Internet Marketing: 7 Things Not To Do

April 20, 2012 By + 1 Comment

It functions uniquely, yet works like a combination of Flickr and Delicious and at the same time, and seems more popular and relevant than Google+. While Pinterest is still the new Internet marketing kid on the social media block, it serves a niche that promises its staying power. If you apply time and interest in learning the ins and outs, it can act as a powerful business tool applied to anything from sales to customer relations. However there are 7 newbie slip-ups to avoid in order to get the best results.

What is Pinterest for?

1. Don’t jump in blind- Do a little research first, find out what Pinterest is capable of, what its strengths and weaknesses are and how its users exploit it. Now, pair it to your Internet marketing plan and see where it can be most effective.  Refer to our previous post, What is Pinterest and Why Should I Use it as an Internet Marketing Tool?

2. Pinterest is a community not a straight forward marketplace, so don’t focus solely on “the sell”. Pinterest is an ‘invitation only’ community, and even now to log on you have to be linked to a Facebook or Twitter account. Its purpose is to share ideas and objects among friends and parties with similar interests. Don’t exploit the community, but rather, be a participating member. By returning value, you will get more than anticipated.

Treat it like a Personalized Community

3. Don’t be afraid to be friendly- This lesson is a natural extension of #2. Find ways to interact by conversing with customers and users who have expressed interest in your boards, pictures and products, or maybe allow users to add to new boards (if you allow this be sure to monitor it closely). Use it to get to know your customers and potential customers and branch out and interact with users who have boards dedicated to categories that are similar to your business.

4. Don’t just fix it and forget it- Many people use Pinterest daily, so keep your boards active so people continuously have new ideas from you. Try to be responsive- like Twitter, it is often a dialogue, except in pictures. You can use it to more personal ends, posting interesting ideas for expansion or ideas for a new product, it shows users what your ideas and business culture is like.

Explore how it works for your Business

5. Don’t expect it to do more than it is meant to do- It isn’t a store and does not replace the core of your social media outreach. Remember that it can be an effective tool, but it is one piece in the arsenal of your social media campaign. Also remember that it should be a fun, non-intensive project.

6. Don’t forget to track- Find out what works and what your community wants. Look at the metrics, what people like, how they buy and re-pin, and reshape your Pinterest activity to best support your business based on this information.

7. Don’t use Pinterest alone- Your Internet marketing strategy should be to connect your other social media sites and your main website. Re-direct interested parties to learn more about you and your business. Everyone prefers to interact online in different ways, so give people options. Don’t forget to connect to like businesses and piggy-back off their traffic; you have a unique niche to fill, exploit it by getting out there in as many ways as possible.

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How to Effectively Use Pinterest for Your Internet Marketing

April 13, 2012 By + 2 Comments

Like other social networking websites, Pinterest has become an effective Internet marketing resource for many small to medium businesses. While it hasn’t reached the numbers of visitors of larger websites like Facebook and Twitter, it’s steadily gaining momentum.

Consequently, Pinterest is a website that can bring in a considerable amount of traffic to your business when utilised correctly. With that being said, let’s discuss some ways to effectively use Pinterest for your business.

Fit In

One of the most important aspects of using Pinterest is to make sure that the products your business sells fit into the overall scheme of Pinterest. At this point in time, the majority of Pinterest users are female and thus products that appeal to the female demographic will do very well.

With that said, however, Pinterest is gaining popularity with male users every week and have many categories that are of interest to their current male users. Categories that have proven to be popular with males include: Cars & Motorcycles, Fitness, Geek, Men’s Apparel, Outdoors, Photography, Science and Nature, Sports and Technology.

Appearance

Another way to optimise your pins is to make them aesthetically pleasing. In most cases, this can be accomplished by making sure your boards are uncluttered and relatively simplistic. One of the biggest ways to turn off potential customers is to over complicate your boards and give them a messy appearance. Since humans are visual creatures, ensuring that your boards are appealing to the eye can go a long way.

Integrating other information besides focusing solely on products can also be helpful. When you only focus on promoting your items, it comes across as overly self serving and can hurt your credibility. To avoid this you could include things like tips or niche related information.

Categorise

It’s also vital for you to appropriately categorise your boards. For example, if you have a board that features tee shirts, you should place it under a category such as clothing, fashion or apparel. Doing so makes it easier for potential customers to find your boards and can boost your traffic numbers.

Engagement

Along with all the other things, you should be thoroughly engaged in the Pinterest community. Just like other social networking sites, being active on a consistent basis tends to help you acquire more friends or followers than not being an active member of the Pinterest community. For example, you should repin items that you like and that fit in with the type of business you have.

Also try commenting on items and follow other users, particularly those that have achieved popularity because in many cases they will follow you back and they have a greater reach to people on Pinterest.

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What is Pinterest and Why Should I Use It as an Internet Marketing Tool?

April 10, 2012 By + 1 Comment

Social networking sites have increased in popularity and recognition in rapid proportions throughout the few years it’s been present on the Internet. From Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter to any other social network site present, the trend continues on as millions of people continue to use such software on a day-to-day basis in their Internet marketing endeavours.

What Does Pinterest Bring to the Social Networking Trend?

Another social networking site that is gaining momentum today is Pinterest. Basically, Pinterest is a social photo sharing website that utilises a unique ‘pin board’ style platform designed for its members to create and facilitate theme-based photo collections.

This can range immensely from special occasions to hobbies and interests and so on. Pinterest is a social sharing site that enables users to browse at other user’s pin boards. It lets you manage and share all the things you find interesting, sourced from the Internet itself. Pinterest gives you the option to upload your own pictures, repin photo’s on Pinterest community boards or ‘pin’ images or videos directly from the Internet.

Users typically utilise pin boards to devise plans for events like weddings and birthdays, decorate their households or create an archive of their favourite recipes or DIY projects.

You can think of Pinterest as your own virtual bulletin board for all your online based interests. All you have to do is create a profile with multiple customised boards that are then opened for pins or links to posts on different boards. For example, you may have a board entitled ‘Home Decorations’ and as you search the Internet, you can add relevant links of interest to this virtual board for future reference.

Advantages of Pinterest as an Internet Marketing Tool

  • It is new and gaining popularity each day-
    The publicity of Pinterest is expanding overtime with more and more members flooding the network and using the features and services it offers. Pretty soon, it could be as huge as other social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, yet with a twist of something fresh brought to the table.
  • It gives your business more personality and offers potential clients a visual account of your business -
    What better way to show your businesses personality than through a series of pictures? Not only can you give Pinterest users a visual account of your business, but you can also let your personality shine through in your interactions with other Pinterest members.
  • It easily links in with your other Internet marketing platforms including your business’s website, blog, Facebook and Twitter account -
    Pinterest offers you many options to share ‘pins’, including facebook, twitter, email or code to embed images into your blog. No muss, no fuss.
  • Cost effective-
    Pinterest doesn’t incur a fee to register or use. All that you need to spend is your time.
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