Here are a few pretty cool tricks I learned at Blue Glass (an SEO conference in Tampa, Florida) when it comes to creating social triggers and online conversations.
First, spend less time creating content and spend more time promoting content. This is especially true for firms that crank out the content ever day. It's like content puke. However, none of the content properly shared and readers don't have enough time to digest the information and engage in a conversation before drowning in another piece of content by the same firm. Find that middle ground of creating and promoting content.
Second, create a controversy and allow people to argue about dumb things. This is easy. State your point of view on something and let it ride. Those commenting on your thoughts will start battling it out with each other on your Facebook page, blog, forum, etc.
Third, find two audiences and pit them against each other. For example, create a conversation about two sports teams; politics; food; exercise; healthcare, etc.
Fourth, draft behind topics or ideas. If a news item or topic is hot, join in on the conversation and write a blog post about how it effects your business or your industry.
None of the above strategies will work until you start creating content. Don't go overboard and create too much. Unfortunately, we see a lot of businesses that don't create enough content (or usually none at all).
Hosting should be easy. However, too many web design firms feel they "own" the website design and code (remember when someone paid you to do the work?). Other design firms don't want "too many cooks in the kitchen" in fear an inexperienced business owner will cause havoc if they change content (i.e., changing content is too difficult, etc.).
However, when choosing to change hosting and content platforms, always consider a potential search engine optimization disaster. Services and SEO options you had with the previous host may no longer be available. On the flip side, you may find yourself on the receiving end of better opportunities. Let's hope so!
Recently, one of our clients switched web hosts. In the short-term, it was an SEO disaster and we had to clean up a little bit of a mess (no biggie) in order to bring things up to par. However, the new host is all WordPress which now creates easier opportunities for our client to create new web pages and write more content. Of course, as you may know, the WordPress platform is extremely search engine friendly. Some additional SEO plug-ins will help as well!
One word of caution: Before switching hosts, make sure you have a "local" copy of your entire website, including your site's XML sitemap, downloaded and saved on a hard drive or local server. A complete directory and file inventory is required. Then, when the switch takes place to your new host, check to make sure all files have been properly moved and uploaded (in the proper folder structure) on your new host.
Have you experienced an SEO disaster after switching website hosting services?
YouTube presents endless opportunities for search engine optimization, social media and traffic for business owners.
Think about it: YouTube is the second largest search engine (behind Google). There are billions of views conducted each day for YouTube videos. Therefore, by "optimizing" your videos you will create potential higher position in YouTube and search engines.
Unfortunately, many businesses make video production the stumbling block. You don't need to hire a video company to record, edit and post your videos. You can simply create your own video production with an inexpensive video camera (we use a Flip camera here in our office), mobile phone or tablet. Actually, the "raw" video - without the glitz - is more real to viewers. They're not that interested in splashy introductions and loud music; just give them the information!
Once your video has been recorded and uploaded to YouTube, follow these optimization tips:
Be social on YouTube by subscribing to other video channels. Make relevant comments and remarks to videos in your industry. This will automatically generate a backlink back to your YouTube Channel.
If you're camera shy, start slow and try to record and publish one video per month and work your way up to two videos per month and so on. Include other staff members in your videos or interview customers and talk with them about how your products and services helped them solve a problem.
Ready to give videos a try?
Yes, search engine optimization is hard work and takes time. Social media might be considered "fun" (sometimes). Link building takes patience and your website needs to stay in line with Google's updates and rules.
The bottom line, of course, is to position your business to be in front of as many eyeballs as possible; to get them to find you and buy your products and services.
However, many times, we overlook the obvious and focus too much on the negatives (hard work; time; expense; etc.).
This time, let's make it easier by considering some easy tactics that can really help make the difference. Here are some online marketing strategies you might be overlooking:
Wow! That's a good list! How many of the above items are you ignoring?
Some businesses continue to resist the urge (or need) to start a company Facebook Page.
Why?
Sigh.
What would you do if you had to create a Facebook page today with no strategy and no Fans?
Let's pretend and let's get started.
Here are some tips to begin building your audience from scratch:
It also always helps to view other business' Facebook page in your niche. If you are a plumber in Cleveland, you can certainly get some ideas from a plumber in Birmingham.
Talk to your current customers. Ask them what they'd like to see on your Facebook Page that would keep them interesting.
Unfortunately, most businesses make their Facebook Page all about them. They tell you how fantastic they are; how long they've been in business and all the fabulous features of hiring their firm (or buying their products).
Needless-to-say, this is a horrible Facebook strategy.
Instead of it being about the company, it needs to be about the customer. Things they might find important include:
Think of things that will help your customers engage with you.
Need more help? Drop us a comment here!
No one said search engine optimization (SEO) is easy. It’s hard work. It’s technical and it takes time to see positive results (provided you’re doing everything correctly).
There are many technical elements that need to be addressed and, if necessary, fixed in order to improve rankings. Here’s a brief roadmap to help you get started:
And we’re just getting started here!
Once you’ve covered the basics (aforementioned list), then it’s time to get down and dirty by making better decisions through research and reviewing data. Note: You’ll find some cool information here, but you’ll need to invest time in order to read and study the data.
Start by downloading and using Screaming Frog, an SEO spider tool, which returns a ton of data based on the crawled URL. Here, you will find internal and external links; response codes; meta tag codes; header tags and more. You can also use Screaming Frog to investigate competitor’s websites.
Once you have collected your Screaming Frog data, consider cross-checking it with data from SEMRush (it offers both free and paid versions). Find out how your website’s categories are ranking. Look for weaknesses and opportunities. Also check your data in MajesticSEO, Google Analytics, GoRank, Raven Tools and Schema.org.
Don’t settle on search engine rankings in Google in determining your SEO expertise. Consider all other factors, especially quality traffic, conversions, sales, leads, etc.
It's true: the more you share online, the more opportunities you are creating for potential customers to find you.
Think about it. If your website is your only online marketing tool, you have limited the number of opportunities for people to find you.
Now think about the endless list of opportunities you can create and share:
Although we've just scratched the tip of the sharing iceberg, it's important to know that the more content you can create, the more sharing opportunities you will have.
Time to get started!
Although you may still see flashing banners and receive e-mails selling you thousands of inbound links (i.e. spam), the mysteries and myths of link building are forever gone.
Over the last few months, there are more new services offering to clean up bad links than there are SEO firms promising you the top ranking in Google (which is another myth we’ll save for a different day).
The easiest way to earn a quality link to your website is to write and publish great content on your website. This includes blog posts; articles; white papers; videos, etc. Great content always earns comments and social media shares.
If no one is commenting on your blogs and comments, then you should start the conversation. A good idea is to end your blog post with a question. Encourage your readers to leave a comment. Publish comments; respond to them and start a conversation within your blog.
Ask readers to share your blog posts through their social media channels.
Here are some other effective methods to learning quality links to your website:
What techniques are you currently using to earn quality inbound links and traffic to your website?
Small businesses – and we’re talking “true” small business here – need to utilize and embrace the whole idea behind content marketing.
As a review, “content” includes everything from writing blogs, articles and white papers to creating and publishing videos, photographs and more.
“Content marketing” is the process by which you are able to publish your content on other websites (online trade journals, blogs, video websites, etc.), which gets the word out about your business; which in turn generates traffic to your website and creates social media sharing opportunities.
While large businesses with bigger budgets and full-time marketing teams can crank out tons of content, small businesses can be as equally as effective in their local market and niche. The more fresh content a small business can produce and publish, the more opportunities they will create to appear in search engine results.
Here are some ideas small businesses can use to develop content:
In a local small business market, creating content on a regular basis will increase your visibility; your brand and traffic to your website. Local competitors may not be willing to invest in content marketing which leaves open opportunities to surge ahead.
Are you ready to implement your local content marketing strategy?