SEO North America

The Marketer’s Practical Approach to Social Media

admin — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 03:07:01 +0000

If you are a marketing professional, you likely don't live a day without being bombarded by messages about the importance of including new media, especially social media, in your marketing mix. From workshops by so-called "experts" who have been exploiting social media since before Al invented the Internet; to free webinars that result in a barrage of spam messaging, who has time to sort through the clutter and make sense of it all? Most marketers recognize the opportunities tied to participation in new media, but the question is how to do it effectively and strategically – in a way that makes participation worth the allocation of time and resources.

Why is New Media Strategy Important for a Modern Business?

The real problem for marketers is that a shift has occurred in how people communicate and where they interact with information and entertainment. Traditional advertising and marketing mediums are nowhere near as effective as they were three years ago. Here are just a few evidences of the migration to new media:

The Wall Street Journal has reported that advertising in US print directories is expected to fall 39% over the next four years "as people migrate en masse to the Web."

According to Wikipedia, the newspaper industry has shed 20% of its journalists since 2001.

According to Pew Research Center's Internet and American Life Project study, released in November of 2011, 66% of online U.S. adults use social media.

In July 2011, Knowledge Networks reported 38,000,000 people in the US age 13 to 80 said social media influenced their purchasing decisions, a 14% incréase over the previous six months.

TOA Technologies estimates that 1,000,000 people view customer service related tweets every week, with 80% of them being critical or negative in nature.

eMarketer has projected that by 2013 the number of US Facebook users will increáse to 152.1 million.

comScore determined that 176,000,000 US Internet users watched online video content in May 2011, an average of 15.9 hours per viewer.

Most of us are aware of the trends and shifts, so the question becomes one of how to adapt marketing strategies for effective participation.

How Can My Business Use New Media Effectively, Strategically?

Many marketers have reacted to the shifts and trends by rolling up their sleeves, reading books, attending webinars and seminars, and diving in here or there. While this is an admirable approach, many such proactive endeavors fizzle when the proponent realizes their effort requires objectives and strategies, and their communication needs to conform with the rules and etiquette of each medium in order to be effective.

While competence may be obtained on one social media node, such as Facebook, the vision blurs when it comes to how this competency relates to, or interacts with, other aspects of the Web presence – or the marketing strategy as a whole. In many cases, this initial fire gets doused by frustration or lack of directed time and resources, and the company ends up with a handful of inactive assets doing more harm than good for the brand and visibility of the entity. Sound familiar?

The key to effective use of new media and social media in your marketing plan is a strategic framework that dictates the objectives of each web asset – both as an autonomous tool, and as a component of your overall web presence.

New Media Strategic Framework

When using new media in your marketing plan, it is crucial to understand that the Web has evolved into 3 basic levels of interaction:

Consumption Level: This is the original level of the Web. The hallmark of this level is company-controlled information about products and services (a.k.a. company websites). The consumption level allows companies to facilitate interaction through contact forms, information requests, or ecommerce. It has evolved into a final level of Web interaction that users utilize when they are ready to proceed with a final purchase or consumption decision.

Credibility Level: The Credibility Level of the web has evolved because users recognize that the content generated on the Consumption Level is company controlled. In order to get beyond contrived marketing-speak, users demand technologies such as YouTube, the blog-o-sphere, directories with rating systems, and consumer-generated satisfaction surveys. These tools on the credibility level allow users to form their product or service consideration set based on more transparent content such as video demonstrations, blog posts, consumer feedback, and satisfaction ratings.

Conversation Level: The advent and popularity of social media has led to the development of the conversation level of the Web. This level of the Web features content that is completely user-generated and, in fact, facilitates real-time questions, answers and critique with regard to products and services. The nature of the social media tools allows this conversation to get exponentially beyond one-to-one interaction – opening the floodgates of many-to-many communication. Consumers rely on this level of the Web for forming their opinions and brand perceptions – often prior to seeking information on the Credibility Level or Consumption Level.

In order to remain viable and relevant, it is important for businesses to effectively participate on all 3 levels of the Web. And it's possible to do so in a way that enhances company brand, improves customer service, and maximizes entrance into the consideration set of target consumers.

By organizing Web assets according to their level of interaction, it brings direction to the purpose and objectives of the asset. For example, recognizing that establishing a YouTube channel will allow the company to participate on the Credibility Level, directs the purpose of the channel – to establish brand voice, demonstrate expertise, and showcase experience.

Once content is generated on any one node of participation, that content can, and should be, integrated into other nodes. For example, once a YouTube video is uploaded to the channel, the same video can be strategically embedded into pages on the website, or can be utilized to enhance the value of a blog post, a tweet or fan page announcement. By leveraging new content across the Web presence, you improve the efficiency of your effort, and keep all nodes more relevant and active for the user.

Branding is another key. Each node of your Web presence should be well encased in brand identity. The Web presence as a whole should be viewed as single user experience. Migration between levels should be cohesive in terms of visual identity (logo, fonts, colors, symbolism), brand promise, and brand messaging.

The strategic framework requires two additional areas of consideration:

Interactions of Value: It’s one thing to have branded, linked nodes of participation established, but another thing altogether to activate the nodes with content that will engage users. The rule of thumb is to create and feed the model with content that informs, entertains or both.

Search Engine Optimization: By interlinking the nodes of participation, you allow Google and other search engines to find and correlate the content and its corresponding key words and key phrases. This improves the organic visibility of the entire Web presence. Conducting key phrase research and understanding the terms people use when looking for your products and services will also enhance the value and strategy of your new media efforts.

Visibility Plan

Understanding the strategic framework makes improvement of visibility a methodical process. The visibility plan should cover 5 basic areas:

1. Branded Assets

2. Enhanced Citations

3. Strategic Listening

4. Engaging Content

5. Promotion

Using the strategic model above as an example, the visibility plan might include the following activities:

* Conducting key phrase research for content improvement/optimization.

* Enhancement and strategic activation of custom-branded, core social nodes on both the credibility level and conversation level of the Web.

* Optimization of directory listings, citations and ongoing establishment of inbound links.

* Activation of a blog, including a detailed content plan that aligns with traditional marketing initiatives and provides interactions of value. Enhancement of each post to include dynamic content (photos, graphics, videos) and key phrases tied to organic visibility objectives.

* Establishing a listening post for tracking of company mentions, competitor mentions, and key topics across the Web and social space – providing real-time market intelligence, competitive intelligence, and key opportunities for joining target-audience conversations.

* Weekly listening post reporting and flagging of key opportunities for response.

* Monthly assessment and reporting of Web traffic analytics and ROI.

* Review and collaboration on current SEO, SEM and PPC efforts to maximize performance and resulting lead generation.

* Design and deployment of a measurable, geo-targeted online advertising campaign – maximization of a monthly spend for geo-targeted advertising across local and national assets that align with the target audience demographic.

Assessment of weekly and monthly reports that indicate traffic generated, traffic sources, click-through rates and other key performance indicators (KPIs) of the campaign.

* Ongoing adjustment and optimization of the campaign based on KPIs (Key performance indicators).

Having a strategic framework to work from is a major component of successful participation with new media. However, finding the time and capable resources for carrying out your visibility plan can be a challenge. Many companies are creating full time positions tied to new media deployment.

With the shift to new media, the market is producing capable experts, consultants and employees. Companies that stay on the leading edge of the shift to new media, using a sound strategic approach, are sure to gain a significant competitive advantage in the decades ahead.

About The Author

What if you could have the resources of an entire team of new media professionals – highly trained in the models and methods outlined in this article – all at a fraction of the cost associated with a new employee?

Jibe Media offers visibility services that are adaptable to the specific needs of your organization. From consultation, training and support to full service visibility plan deployment, Jibe's services can be obtained at a cost that is affordable, smart and effective.

Contact Jibe Media today for a free visibility assessment and proposal. Contact: Mark Farr 801.433.5423 ext. 201 email: mfarr@jibemedia.com

The 10 Best Social Sites and How to Use Them

admin — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 01:45:02 +0000

There is no doubt that social media marketing has taken the lead in marketing online strategies. Social media sites have exploded and continue to grow in number and popularity. If you own an online business, it can be very difficult to know where to begin in this extensive marketing arena.

There are dozens and dozens of social sites and more popping up all the time. I have compiled a list of the ten best social sites with which to get you started. I have chosen these sites by my own professional opinion and by actual popularity.

1. Facebook - Facebook has an estimated 850 million users! This is the most popular social site and my favorite as well. Facebook is very versatile in what you can do with your page. Be sure to open a business account and also read the rules for businesses. Fill out your profile completely. Add images and videos to your page to make it more interesting and interactive. Visit your page every day and post helpful information, links and resources. Answer all comments promptly.

2. Twitter - Twitter has 200 million estimated active users. I like Twitter because it is quick, easy and effective for marketing your business. You simply add tidbits of information, new product info, sales and/or specials, links, motivational quotes, etc. and tweet! Keep your tweets professional and beneficial to your followers. Don't tweet things like what you're having for dinner or what movie you just watched. Get involved with other tweeters and participate!

3. LinkedIn - LinkedIn now has over 150 million estimated users. The thing I like about LinkedIn is how you can participate in groups that interest you or will benefit your business. Join groups and be sure to participate in the discussions by offering real and helpful information and advice. Follow their guidelines on how to completely and effectively fill out your profile.

4. Google+ - Google+ is one of the newer social sites, but it already has an estimated 65 million users! I must admit, I have not done much with Google+ as of yet, but I do like the format and versatility of the site. Be sure to add the +1 Google feature to your website so people can click it to show they like your site. This will help you in the ratings. Again, be sure to complete your profile and spend time daily or at least weekly on your Google+ page.

5. Pinterest - With over 10 million active users, Pinterest is growing in popularity very quickly. Pinterest has come up with something a little different. You are given a pinboard to add visual items such as photos, graphs, videos, etc. Pinning helpful visual information is a great way to attract people to your pinboard. You can add comments as well. People respond more to visual items than just words so get over to Pinterest and start pinning.

6. Ecademy - Ecademy has over 17 million users. Ecademy is a membership site for business owners to connect, help and grow with one another. There are paid and frée memberships. Take the time to build relationships with other business owners. You can start your ówn clubs, write blog posts, and participate in discussions. This site is more involved than some social sites and will take more time to learn to use effectively.

7. YouTube - YouTube has an estimated 300 million users. YouTube is a video sharing site. Making an effective marketing video to share on YouTube can have a dramatic effect on your site traffic. Show your expertise with instructional and informational videos. You can also present slide shows to market your products and/or services. Set up an account and start uploading those business growing videos.

8. StumbleUpon - Despite a "stumble" in growth, StumbleUpon is now growing in popularity and has an estimated 20 million users. StumbleUpon is a social site that allows the users to share interesting and helpful websites. You will need to be an active user to reap the benefits from this site.

9. Ryze - With less than a million members, Ryze is not the most popular of the social networking sites but it can be effective. Ryze is similar to LinkedIn in that it is a place for professionals to grow, connect and help one another succeed. Join networks that target your business and network with other business owners.

10. Blogs - Blogs are very popular social sites and there are lots of them. Search for blogs that target your niche and become active with guest posts, comments, etc. Participating on blogs can help you make connections and get traffic you might not have gotten. Also, if you do not have your blog yet, be sure to get started. I would recommend WordPress, but there are other blog services available.

If you are a business owner, you really cannot avoid social media in this marketing age. So rather than ignore it, you need to study it, learn it and participate in it. Once you do, you will find it to be a very enjoyable and beneficial experience!

About The Author
Don't be one of the 95% of people who fail at their online business. Terri Seymour can help you make monéy online. Find out how to boost your traffic and sales with her popular "How to Build Your Online Business" ebook for FREE at: ==> http://www.SeymourProducts.com

Your SEO Content – It’s Never Too Late to Breathe and Reboot

admin — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 02:36:01 +0000

What I'm about to confess is going to sound awfully girly -

- But one of my favorite quotes comes from an episode of "Sex and the City."

Specifically, it's the episode where Carrie has relationship woes with her boyfriend du jour. I know, I know, that happened in every episode! But this episode was unique because Carrie's computer crashed. Towards the end – once her computer was fixed and her relationship was back on track – she said, "The best we can do is breathe and reboot."

Great double entendre, huh?

You never know when you're going to have to take a deep breath and reboot – whether it's your computer, your love life, or your business. In fact, if you've been in business long enough, there have probably been countless times when you've had to breathe and reboot – in the form of a new strategy, a new obstacle, or a new goal.

It's nothing to be ashamed of; rather, it's a badge of honor. That's because the businesses that can successfully breathe and reboot have a much better chance of surviving and thriving over the long haul. Sometimes, it's blatantly obvious when you need to breathe and reboot. Other times, it's not so clear.

If your SEO content isn't generating the results you want, breathing and rebooting is the only way to recover. Luckily, it's never too late to do it.

Sure, that subpar SEO article you published or that boring blog post you posted is out there forever. You might be able to delete it from your site if it's really bad, but with the way things spread across the world wide web, you're never going to be able to completely purge it from the universe.

The best you can do is breathe and reboot.

No matter how long you've been in business or how many pieces of SEO content you've published, it's never too late to revamp your strategy. Sure, some potential customers may be lost forever thanks to your past shoddy SEO content, but that's the great thing about the web – there are millions of people to attract, impress, and do business with. New ones will come along; it's up to you to attract and impress them.

So, how do you know if it's time to breathe and reboot?

Think about your current SEO content writing strategy. Is it squarely-focused on providing interesting, informative answers and solutions for your target audience? If it's not, you're completely missing the point of publishing SEO content in the first place! Remember, people head to the world wide web to get helpful information. If you're not giving it to them, how can you ever expect them to take you seriously and spend their hard-earned money on your products and services?

Even if you think your current SEO content writing strategy is "good enough," it may be capable of so much more. If you're doing any of these things, it's time for you to breathe and reboot:

- Looking like a "wannabe," instead of a "somebody"

Online, your reputation is everything. The SEO content you publish, determines how people think of you, so take an honest look at it – from a reader's perspective. If it's well-written, provides legitimate facts and figures, evokes emotion in your readers, and makes them WANT to keep reading, then your SEO content is showing people that you're a knowledgeable expert, who's chock full of great solutions.

But if your SEO content does things like providing fluff instead of facts, contains spelling and grammar errors, or just isn't all that interesting, it's telling people that you're a corner-cutter – and no one likes to do business with a corner-cutter. After all, if you're cutting corners in your SEO content, where else are you cutting corners? Will your products miss the mark? Will your services fall below expectations? When people have to ask questions like these, you're never going to close the sale!

By breathing and rebooting, you can focus your efforts on being a "somebody." If you start publishing higher-quality SEO content today, you can reach new customers and show them that you really know your stuff. Just don't take too long – if you do too much damage to your reputation, it can be too far gone to save!

- Talking more about yourself than your readers

Having an impressive set of credentials is nice, but it's something that belongs on your "About Us" page or in your resource boxes – not in the body of your SEO content. After all, how does talking about yourself and your accomplishments answer people's questions and solve their problems?

It doesn't.

The only time your SEO content should mention your credentials and accomplishments is when it's used to explain how it can help your readers. For example, if you were named one of the web's top bloggers by XYZ publication – and you're writing an article on how to be a better blogger – you can mention your honor by saying something like, "Once I started writing more conversationally, my traffic went through the roof, and, eventually, I was named one of XYZ's top bloggers."

But if your SEO content is nothing more than a diatribe about you, you'll be just like "that guy" at the cocktail party, who spends the whole night bragging about himself. It won't fetch you any friends at the cocktail party, and it won't fetch you any customers on the web!

The solution?

Breathe and reboot – with a new emphasis on your target audience, instead of yourself. With the right SEO content, it won't take long for people to notice that you have the skills and the know-how to help them!

- Not publishing a whole lot of SEO content to begin with

Lots of people think that they should skip the articles, the blog posts, and the newsletter series and just use sales copy to convince people to call or email them. If this is your philosophy, it's definitely time to breathe and reboot!

Here's why:

By offering next-to-nothing in the way of content, you're asking people to take too much of a risk. Remember, SEO content is the web's version of a conversation. If people don't have a way to "converse" with you right off the bat, they don't know what to expect from you. You could be great; you could be horrible. Unfortunately, they're probably not going to waste their time trying to find out which is the case.

Offering great tips in some SEO articles on your website or providing valuable insight on your blog is a great way to show off your expertise – and encourage people to make that phone call or send that email. But until you breathe and reboot, you're turning customers away!

By Nicole Beckett

About The Author

When she's not gathering inspiration from "Sex and the City," Nicole Beckett runs Premier Content Source and helps her clients reach new levels with their SEO content. As a former news anchor and reporter, Nicole knows how to engage readers and present hard-core facts in a compelling way.

Seven Ways to Spy on Your Competition

admin — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 01:11:27 +0000

Have you ever thought about what sort of super power you might like to have?

Flying, Invisibility, X-Ray Vision, Night Vision, Mind-Reading, Super Speed, Time Travel… You can see, I read way too many comic books growing up.

But… there is ONE super power that you have as a business owner.

It's kind of like X-Ray Vision or Mind Reading

Allowing you to see exactly what your competitors are doing at any given time. Where their traffic is coming from, where they are advertising, guest blogging, who their top JV's are, and a whole host of additional juicy info.

You just have to know where to look

And in this article I'm revealing 7 super cool ninja tricks for spying on your competitors.

So put on your spy glasses!

And let's dive in…

1. Find Out Where Your Competitor's Traffic is Coming From with Alexa.com

Most of you have probably heard of Alexa.com but most people don't realize it's true marketing potential.

You see what I love about Alexa.com is that it uncovers literally hundreds of different traffic sources.

Not only can you see your competitor's traffic stats but you can also see their top traffic sources by looking at the Clickstream.

Keep Your Customers Up to Date With Email & Social Marketing

Here are a few examples:

BodyRock.tv

Kikolani.com

Weblogbetter.com

You'll notice that Pinterest jumped into the top 10 traffic sources on BodyRock.tv

Some other top traffic sources include Facebook, Twitter, BlogEngage.com, and Google (of course .

Alexa is a really great starting point to find out who's sending the majority of traffic to your competitors.

You can uncover potential affiliates, top advertising spots, guest posting opportunities, and much more.

But we won't stop there

Here's another cool trick for you…

2. Find Out EXACTLY where Your Competitors are Guest Posting

As you guys probably already know, guest blogging is one of the best ways to drive laser-targéted traffic, build high-quality backlinks, and build relationships within your industry. But how do you find the best places to guest post?

Work backwards!

First find out who the most prolific guest bloggers are within your market.

Once you've done that we're going to do some special Google searches to find out ALL of the websites where they're guest posting.

So let's roll through an example real quick.

One person who has done a LOT of guest posting in the IM industry is Ann Smarty.

Now in order to find out all the different places where she has guest posted I would go to Google and type in the following searches:

"Ann Smarty" + "This guest post was written by"

"Ann Smarty" + "This guest post is from"

"Ann Smarty" + "This is a guest post by"

"Ann Smarty" + "This is a guest post written by"

"Ann Smarty" + "guest post" (sometimes you can just use this one alone)

Try those out and you'll soon have a complete list of places where you can guest post.

Also, if you're wanting to look for potential guest post opportunities within a certain industry, here are some other Google Searches you can use:

Replace 'Fitness' with your keyword term:

Fitness + "Submit Article"

Fitness + "Add Guest Post"

Fitness + "Guest Bloggers Wanted"

Fitness + "This guest post was written by"

Fitness + “Become a Guest Writer”

Fitness + “Submission Guidelines”

Fitness + inurl:guest-post-guidelines

Fitness + “Now Accepting Guest Posts”

Fitness + “My Guest Posts”

Fitness + “Submit a Guest Post”

Fitness + “Guest Post by”

Fitness + “Write for Us”

These cool little Google search queries will unlock hundreds of new traffic sources within your industry.

3. See What Your Competitor is Split-Testing

Next up is a site called the Wayback Machine.

This free tool reveals YEARS of split-testing data.

You can find this tool at www.archive.org.

Basically, this website allows you to see what your competitors’ websites look like over time.

Here are some interesting examples to look at:

http://wayback.archive.org/web/*/http://www.womenapproachyou.com (Check out how their squeeze page has changed over the years. Priceless data.)

http://wayback.archive.org/web/*/truthaboutabs.com

http://wayback.archive.org/web/*/http://fatburningfurnace.com

http://wayback.archive.org/web/*/golfswingguru.com

4. Keep a Close Eye on Your Competitors

Want to find out exactly when your competitors make a change to their landing page, squeeze page, or sales page?

You can use a service like Copernic Tracker to keep tabs on what sort of changes your competitors are making.

That way, you’ll know exactly when they’re testing a new headline, design, offer, etc…

Pretty cool huh?

5. Find Out What Sort of Display Ads Your Competitors are Running

Here’s a really cool tool for any marketer.

It’s called Moat.com and it’s essentially a banner search engine.

It allows you to search thousands of banner creatives from companies across the web.

Lots of competitive intelligence and marketing goodness…

Example 1: Moat

Example 2: VResponse

Example 3: Rackspace

6. Study Their Backend

Ok, that sounded kind of weird

But you can learn a lot by studying OTHER people’s sales funnel (especially outside your own market).

A lot of times people start doing the same ‘ol thing within a certain industry. But by studying OTHER markets, you can often find new ideas that you can implement into your business.

I like to study the most competitive markets online because that’s generally where the most innovation is taking place. The Dating market, Relationships, Health & Fitness, Weight Loss, and Finance. Study those markets voraciously and you’ll find LOTS of ideas for your own business.

7. Get on Their List

Yes, I know your inbox is probably already full. But I would strongly encourage you to become a subscriber of ALL of your competitors.

Plus, you can get an even deeper view of their business by purchasing their products. That way, you’re able to see their backend funnel and see exactly how they market to their buyers specifically.

Study ALL of their different marketing funnels:

* The Prospect Follow-Up Sequence

* The Buyer Follow-Up Sequence

* Testimonial Acquisition

* Affiliate Follow-Up Sequence & Training

And of course – you can often times get more innovative ideas by studying the different marketing funnels of people OUTSIDE of your market.

Within any one particular industry, different strategies tend to start repeating themselves. But… if you study OTHER industries – you can often find new innovations to bring to your own market.

By Kim Roach

Kim Roach is the official Marketing Lab Rat at Buzzblogger.com. If you’d like to discover ALL 24 of Kim’s favorite traffic sources, go to http://www.buzzblogger.com/traffic-lab.html to claim your FREE

Underground Traffic Report.

Keyword Optimization – How To Optimize for Google Search Results!

admin — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 05:00:38 +0000

Keyword Optimization…Overlooked Keyword Research and Processes

Keyword optimization, better known as Keyword Research, is the researching, the analyzing, then the choosing of the most suitable keyword phrases for your content. Keyword research and optimization done right will create a funnel of qualified and targéted traffic back to your site from the search engine results pages (SERP's).

Proper keyword optimization is the finding of those targeted and profitable keywords and keyword phrases that your potential visitors will enter into the search engine's Search box, which will bring up the most relevant sites to a particular subject.

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This process will play a large role in determining where you will land in the Search Engine Results Pages… it could mean the difference between not being found anywhere on the Web, or being the first site that users click on when performing a search.

This keyword optimization procedure is NOT a onetime thing… this is something that needs to be done each and every time you decide you want to bless the World with your brilliance of the written word.

Choosing the proper keywords for your site is absolutely critical for SEO… finding yourself within the search engine results pages (SERP's) for keyword phrases that you are targeting isn't too shabby either. However, proper keyword research and optimization is probably one of the most common areas overlooked by online marketers.

Overlooked Keyword Optimization & Research that Search Engines Use!

The whole purpose of the list below is to familiarize yourself with crucial optimization elements that are often overlooked by the average blogging professional, yet the search engines look for while crawling your site.

Best SEO Keyword Research Practices

Let's Start with the Long Tailed Keyword Phrase: Long tail keywords are a way of expanding on a core, generic word to be made into a more specific targeted keyword term. Example: A Generic Broad Keyword – "Knives"; a more targeted, Long Tail Keywords Phrase – "Handmade Damascus Knives." What you have done here is narrowed down the visitors search by giving the specific information that you are offering for "Knives."

Since the Google Panda Update was developed "to give people the most relevant answers to their queries," it might be in your best interest to target keywords that are related specifically to your content. You might consider this your best method to find your main targeted keyword phrase suitable to your article topic.

You can use the Free Online SEO tools like the Google External Keyword Research tool to find the keywords that potential visitors will associate with the information you are offering.

Keyword Variations: This is just another way of saying that not each Internet searcher uses the same words to find information… you need to think like your visitors and create some different variations of your targeted keyword phrase adding words at the beginning, the end, the middle, etc.

Example of keyword variants from the above long tailed keyword phrase: "Custom Damascus Knives," "Damascus Hunting Knives." These types of keyword phrases you can put within your written content where it sounds right and makes sense.

Keyword Synonyms: Fairly self-explanatory… these are words that have similar meanings and the search engines are looking for word association within your content.

Keyword Stemming: This is the growth of one keyword phrase that is related to your website article by using suffixes, prefixes, or adding pluralization. This is another way of making one keyword phrase into many additional new keywords that you can use in your article.

Example: blog, blogs, blogger, blogger's, blogging, weblog, weblogs… you get the idea!

Semantically Related or Relevant Keyword Phrases: The use of these relevant keyword phrases in your content will allow the search engines to determine relevancy by the subject matter, rather than keyword density. In the world of organic or the natural search, semantically related content refers to words that are connected thematically to a specific search query.

For example: Canon Cameras, Nikon Lenses, SLR, Zoom Lenses, Tripods, etc., can all be synonymous with the word Camera. Creating sentences and paragraphs using semantic keyword variations in your article can improve its relevancy score in the search engines' ranking algorithms.

Best SEO On-Page Keyword Optimization Practices

Let's Start with the URL Structure: URL, which stands for Uniform Resource Locator, essentially is an address which is used to find your website pages. Without them there would be no means of navigating from one page to another.

Making your URL file names relevant to the content contained within the page is not only an important organization factor, but both search engines and your visitors associate the name of the page with the content that it contains. Just as it makes sense to have relevant keywords within your web page for the topic you are writing about, you should name the file URL after your main keyword phrase.

Your URL file name needs to contain only the keyword phrase that you are targeting. It does not need to be the full sentence of the main article headline… the shorter, the better!

Main Article Headline: Capture the visitors attention with a compelling and relevant headline in regards to their search, or lose them. You have less than 10 seconds to grab their attention before they move on. And, of course, you will want to place a keyword phrase describing your content within the article headline.

Keep in mind that your Article Headline is a brief summary of the content contained, it does not need to be more than 5 to 7 words long.

Image File Names: Image optimization is included in best SEO practices and will help aid in determining relevancy as spiders crawl your site. The best approach to this is to use the keyword phrase you have chosen for the file name. By optimizing your images with appropriate keyword phrases for your targeted topic, you will get the attention of the search engines and get better rankings for your topic keyword phrase.

Use Heading Tags to Show a Hierarchical: Use Header tags, the h1, h2, h3 tags to apply significance to topics on your page. Be sure to include keywords or keyword phrases within the heading tags if possible.

“The Header Tags help structure the content on your page semantically, and are useful for targeting the key topic of the page. The h1 tag should be similar to the Title Tag with some variation, and should serve as the overview of the content written. The h2 tags and subsequent tags can narrow the focus…make sure you use only one h1 tag for your article (usually the Article Headline), however repeated h2 and lower tags are acceptable.”

Keyword Prominence and Proximity: Prominence refers to how close to the beginning of the page’s Title, Headings, Meta description, including sentences or phrases, that your keyword or keyword phrase is placed. Proximity refers to how close two or more keywords are to one another… the best uses would be for the Long Tail Keyword Phrases.

Example for Proximity…if your keyword phrase was ‘Free Keyword Density Tool’, the search engines will judge the keywords proximity to each other as follows. Of course, the first example is the best:

“Visit our site for the Free Keyword Density Tool, you will love it!”

Or you could say “Visit our site for our Keyword Density Tool, you will love using it, and it’s free to use!”

While writing your materials, be sure to keep Prominence and Proximity in mind for proper keyword phrase placement within your content.

Cross-Linking Using Keywords: This is another element in the SEO structure that can be classified as important for organic SEO. Cross Linking is using anchor text (linkable wording) to navigate within your internal linking structure. Of course you can also use anchor text to navigate to outside sources.

During the creation of your article, if you happen to have mentioned something that relates to an article in another post, link to it…this will also help reduce your bounce rate and aid in user experience.

The Title Tag: Your title tag is quite possibly the most important element to pay attention to if you have an interest in raising your search-engine rankings for a particular keyword phrase. The search engine will use the wording contained within the title tag as the main determining factor for what the content is all about.

The Meta Description Tag: Even though it is not important to search engine rankings, it is extremely important in gaining user click-through from search engine result pages (SERPs). You should optimize each and every Meta Description tag on your web site because these description tags are part of the display information that visitors see when your site is listed in the search engine results pages.

Closing Comments for Keyword Optimization and Research!

THERE IS MORE… the majority of these Keyword Optimization processes are covered in greater detail in the following article “TOP 10 On-Page SEO Factors to NEVER Forget!” By performing these keyword optimization research and analysis processes each time you publish materials, you will eventually expand your keywords database to ultimately be effective for ranking your site for 100′s if not 1000′s of keyword phrases over time. Doing these techniques will allow your website to expand its main keyword phrase into an unlimited number of variations, which can help you gain more traffic.

By John Engle

About The Author

John Engle, is a Search Engine Optimization Blogging Specialist Taking SEO by Storm. He Specialized in Keyword Research and Blog Post Optimization. If You are a Busy Entrepreneur that Would Rather Concentrate on What You Do Best, Leave the Keyword Research and Optimizing to an SEO Specialist, Hire John as Your Blog Manager and SEO guy.

SEO Siege: How To White Wash Your Competitors

admin — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 00:10:03 +0000

Search Engine Optimization is the vehicle that's going to bring people to your websites. Without getting to the top of Google and other search engines, you're not going to get close to reaching the amount of traffic you need to earn revenue from your websites.

Getting to #1 in Google isn't that hard when armed with the right information. In this article you'll discover exactly what Google and the other major search engines want from their top ranking websites, and exactly how to give it to them.

Advanced SEO Tactics

In this section, I'm going to talk about a few advanced techniques that I use to move up the Google rankings on more competitive keyword terms. These strategies do require more work than the methods mentioned earlier, but they also carry a LOT of power and if applied correctly can massively boost your search engine rankings.

Advanced Tactic #1 – Link Wheels

While Link Wheels are nothing new, they are massively under used and can be very powerful indeed.

The way to create the wheel is to link from each Web 2.0 site to the next, as well as include a link from each Web 2.0 site to your site using your target keywords.

Generally speaking, the bigger the wheel you create the more powerful it will be. The reason Link Wheels carry so much power is because each site adds to the strength of another. Each Web 2.0 site passes on link juice to the next in a nevér ending cycle.

In theory, Google can pick up on link wheels, but the worst case scenario is that they don't give you credít for the links.

If you want to take a conservative approach to link wheels, then you can always decide to build an "open link wheel." In an open link wheel, the wheel is left incomplete. While these wheels aren't as powerful as closed wheels, they are still very effective and a little more natural looking to Google.

Advanced Tactic #2 – Creating Satellite Sites

This is another powerful strategy that I use regularly to boost my search engine rankings. This technique can be done in a number of ways, but the most powerful approach, and the way I approach it, is to create a series of 3-4 different websites on 3-4 different hosts (or at least different C-Class IP addresses). Different C-Class IP Addresses allow your website to look like it's on a different host (so that Google sees it as being unrelated to your other sites) when in reality it may be within the same hosting account.

Some people apply this strategy without varying the hosting accounts (IP addresses). This is fine in theory except for the fact that Google will see the websites are hosted on the same server as your main site and as such will most likely assume that you have created the site in order to give yourself a backlink. They will therefore discount the value of the link provided. This advanced tactic takes time to implement but can be very rewarding in the long run. If you really want to ramp this method up, create six satellite sites (two on each unique server) and link them back to the main site.

Advanced Tactic #3 – Create Your High PR Link Catapults

This is one of my favorite tactics of all and probably the single most powerful SEO strategy mentioned in this article. What this strategy involves doing is building up your group of High PR sites (these will become what we refer to as your Link Catapults) and using them to link back to your sites. When it comes to getting top rankings in Google, building back links is the most important and most beneficial thing you can do. The more links you build, the higher your website will move up the rankings – but not all links have the same value.

Some people estimate that Google places a factor of 10 on links coming to your site for every page rank that increases. For example, one link from a PR1 website is worth ten links from a PR0 website. One link from a PR2 website is worth ten from a PR1 website (100 from a PR0 website).

The exact value isn't known, but what we do know, is that a link from a website with a high page rank is MORE valuable than a link from a website that has a low page rank. Getting links from high PR websites is time consuming and generally more difficult than getting links on low PR websites – that's where this advanced strategy comes into play – it's possible to create our own high PR websites in order to get high value links that will boost our rankings!

Now for someone who hasn't ever done this before this might sound complicated and expensive, but the truth is that PR3 and PR4 websites can be bought for as low as $12 (the average I spend for a PR 4 website is around $30 but I've bought several in the past for $12!) and they are extremely easy to purchase and setup – the entire process might take you 30 minutes to an hour to complete once you have the domain.

Catapult SEO Formulas

If you want to earn revenue from your websites by getting top rankings in Google and driving free traffic, you MUST follow through with link building. If you stop now and don't complete the link building, everything you've done to this point will have been a waste.

If you want to drive traffic to your site, I would recommend that you take advantage of the above techniques to boost online traffic to your site. What is your opinion based on the above traffic generation system?

About The Author

Bill Achola helps people build remarkable traffic and writes about SEO Pricing Packages. If you liked this post, you may also enjoy his guide to Blog Promotion Guide.

The 10 Commandments For Online Marketíng Success

admin — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 03:45:14 +0000

Just like there are reckless and foolhardy methods you can use that will absolutely assure marketing failure, conversely, there are sound, proven, time-tested techniques that will greatly enhance your chance for marketing success.

Following are The 10 Commandments For Online Marketíng Success…

1. Thou Shall Have a Clear Vision and Goal

There's an age old proverb by Thomas Edison that famously states:

"He who fails to plan, plans to fail."

Truer words haven't ever been spoken. You need to have a plan before you start a business. Why is a business plan so important? Because a properly constructed business plan is like a roadmap to your goals – a GPS if you will.

Having a business plan will give you a much clearer vision of your goals and objectives, and will keep you on track and enable you to operate more efficiently, and achieve your goals more expeditiously.

One important caveat about business plans: They aren't written in stone, and more than likely, you will have to change or adjust your plan multiple times along the way to keep yourself on track. That's just part of the process.

If you need help writing a business plan, you can obtain a free business plan template from BPlans.com.

2. Thou Shall Educate Thyself on the Fundamentals of Marketing

Take time to educate yourself. Does it really matter if you build that website now, or a few months from now when you're more prepared? Of course it doesn't.

Starting a business is like building a house. You start with a strong foundation, and then you build on it. Well, in business, being knowledgeable about basic marketing fundamentals is your strong foundation. You just have to build on it.

That means taking the time to learn how to do things the right way. Be patient, and prepare yourself for success. By "failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail." Study and apply basic marketing fundamentals.

Slow down, and read a few marketing books. To get started, I highly recommend Web Marketing All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies. It's actually eight books in one, and is written by multiple authors. It's perfect for newbies, and touches all the bases including…

* Establishing a Web Presence

* Search Engine Optimization

* Web Analytics

* E-Mail Marketing

* Blogging and Podcasting

* Social Media Marketing

* Online Advertising & Pay-Per-Click

* Mobile Web Marketing

3. Thou Shall Learn and Implement Basic SEO Techniques

I don't consider myself an SEO expert by any means, but I've taught myself enough basic SEO, so that I can at least optimize my own website well enough to generate a decent amount of organic (free) traffic. Learning how to optimize your website should be one of the very first things you do. You don't need to become an expert. Simply focus your attention on basic SEO techniques. For example, make sure your title tags contain your primary keywords.

Also, make sure your description tags are properly optimized. And don't cram your web pages with keywords. Sprinkle them in intermittently… naturally. A web page stuffed with keywords will be interpreted as spamming by the search engines, and your pages WILL be penalized as a result. And don't keep using the same keywords over and over again. Using different variations of your keywords is the best approach. It looks more natural to the search engines and will give you a much larger keyword footprint.

Believe it or not, these simple but basic steps really do make a difference. One of my favorite resources for learning basic search engine optimization techniques is Jill Whalen's, HighRankings.com.

4. Thou Shall Advertise and Promote Thy Business Consistently

Free advertising methods such as article marketing, forum marketing, social media marketing, etc., are all proven traffic generators – provided they're properly executed. But it's also important to have a sufficient amount of money set aside for paid advertising. You will have much better sales conversions if you combine proven, free advertising methods like the aforementioned, with laser-targeted, paid advertising, such as pay-per-click, ezine advertising, text link advertising, etc.

And don't overlook offline advertising methods either. For example, college newspapers, community shopper newspapers, car magnets, local business journals, and flyers. The most important thing is to advertise and promote your business consistently.

5. Thou Shall Give Customers Easy and Convenient Payment Options

Believe it or not, as popular as it may be, not everybody likes PayPal. So be sure to give your customers alternative payment options.

In addition, make it easy for customers to get from the product page to the checkout page. Don't make your customers jump through hoops, clicking thru page after page after page to give you their money. If you do, they will become frustrated and abandon your shopping cart. It's estimated that 71% of shoppers abandon shopping carts in the middle of a purchase.

How easy is the buying process on your site? How easy is it for customers to quickly find what they need and checkout? More importantly, could you make the process even easier?

To find out, have a few of your friends test your website for shopping user-friendliness. Have them make a small purchase as a simple test. (Don't worry, you can cancel the transaction on your end later).

Getting some honest feedback on the user-friendliness of your website's buying process is a win-win situation for everybody. You make shopping on your website easier and more pleasant for your customers. And improvements you make in that regard will boost your sales conversions.

Like I said, it’s a win-win situation for everyone!

6. Thou Shall Have a Clean, Easy to Navigate Website

Have a clean, user-friendly site that makes it easy for visitors to find what they’re looking for. Don’t be afraid of a little white space… it’s a good thing. Also, if your website has a lot of content and/or pages, add a search box to make it easier for your visitors to find what they’re looking for.

In addition, if you don’t already have one, install a sitemap. A sitemap is collection of hyperlinks that outlines a website’s structure. These links allow visitors to quickly navigate to any section of a website listed in the sitemap. If you don’t have a sitemap, the easiest way to create one is with XML Sitemaps Generator.

By the way, in addition to making it easier for your visitors to navigate their way around your site, sitemaps make it easier for search engine spiders to crawl your site as well.

7. Thou Shall Monitor and Track All Advertising

In order to ensure that you’re not throwing your money down the drain when it comes to your marketing campaigns, it’s important to track your advertising. Always make sure to carefully track all of your direct mail, pay-per-click, ezine, banner ads, etc.

These are measurable by the amount of responses you get per dollar spent, and you can quickly analyze results to determine whether or not to continue using a particular method of advertising, or if you need to make any adjustments.

Google Analytics allows you to accurately track your advertising for free.

8. Thou Shall Adapt to Changing Marketplace Environment and/or Trends

I’m sure you’ve heard the saying…

“Adapt or fail.”

Its meaning is self-explanatory. Either adapt to your current surroundings or perish! Not only is this true in life, it’s true in business as well. Events and circumstances change at warp in the business world. That’s even more true today with the advent of the Internet. And businesses that recognize and adapt to changes the quickest are like the proverbial early bird that gets the worm.

Keep a sharp eye on the media for changes and trends in the marketplace. In addition, tools like Google Trends and Yahoo’s Buzz Index help make identifying trends a snap.

9. Thou Shall Listen to Customer Complaints, Suggestions, and/or Feedback

Does your business have procedures in place to listen to and follow-up on customer complaints, suggestions and/or feedback? If not, why? Here are 4 good reasons why you should have effective customer follow-up procedures in place:

1. Respect. They’re your customers for Pete’s sake! It’s the right thing to do.

2. Repeat Business. Your best customers can save you money on advertising with repeat business. The money you save on advertising can be used in other areas to help grow and strengthen your business. Always reward your best customers with “special” deals that aren’t available to anyone else.

3. Word-of-Mouth Advertising. If you keep your customers happy, they can help grow your business with critical word-of-mouth-advertising (referrals) to friends and family, as well as complete strangers. Word-of-mouth advertising is critical to any business.

4. Market Research. Your customers can help you with market research by giving you valuable feedback on ways you can improve your products and services. All you have to do is give them the opportunity to do so. Ask them questions via surveys and questionnaires.

10. Thou Shall Follow-Up With Customers

When was the last time you communicated with your customers without asking them to buy something? If you have to search your memory banks for the answer, then “Houston we have a problem!”

You see, as human beings, we all like to feel wanted and appreciated. It’s in our DNA, and when we don’t feel wanted and appreciated it upsets us.

Think about it. Doesn’t it upset you when you don’t feel appreciated?

Of course it does. Well, your customers feel the same way. And here’s something very important you need to keep in mind:

The only reason your business even exists is because of YOUR customers. Don’t ever forget that. Without them, you have no business. So take them for granted and risk losing them to your competition at your own peril.

Remember, you’re not the only game in town. And if your customers feel unloved by you and decide to run away from home, there will always be another company waiting with open arms to take them in.

That’s why, instead of always sending your customers a sales pitch, every once in a while, you should reach out and send your customers a “thank you” note, thanking them for their business, and telling them how much you appreciate them.

It will pay huge dividends…I promise you!

David Jackson is a marketing consultant and the owner of Free-Marketing-Tips-Blog.com – Powerful,free marketing tips to help grow your business! free-marketing-tips-blog.com

A Real World Guide To Twitter and Facebook

admin — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 03:53:35 +0000

To develop the insights for this guide, I watched 23 different Facebook and Twitter accounts for a period of three months and monitored over 2,865 status updates. I personally consider this a fairly small data set, but it is large enough to show some important trends that warrant consideration and further discussion.

As the clients that my firm writes for are in diverse markets, purchase different service engagement levels, and have unique starting levels of follower/fans, it is impossible to state from my data unequivocally how to specifically grow a social networking account. However, there are some statistical averages and trends that I have found and wanted to share with you.

Facebook Page

Although it appears that all accounts had increases using the second schedule, the variance in the full statistical data does not allow me to make such a blanket statement. Additionally, although I monitored both Facebook and Twitter accounts for this report, there were such small differences in Facebook numbers for many accounts that it is best to consider the second schedule best to use mainly for Twitter growth.

When I looked at the overall data, I found that followers grew at about a rate of 5% using the first schedule and grew on the average of 10% on the second schedule. Although not every account had the same growth and some accounts actually grew faster on the first schedule, the recommendations in this guide were based on overall average growth across all accounts.

It is important to note that although we used a very specific schedule unique to our needs, your results may be different. I feel personally that setting a schedule and being consistent about posting at the times you personally choose are important. You may want to test several schedules to see what works best for your audience.

The Changes Facebook Has Made That Have Impacted Business Pages

Facebook made some very big changes in the fourth quarter of 2011 that have impacted how businesses can use Facebook Pages and how they interact with fans.

As a quick review, here are the changes:

1. Facebook got rid of the ability to send a note out from your Business Page to all fans. The best feature to have a Business Page in the first place!

2. Removed tabs and the ability to do FBML markup pages. (You now have to use iframes).

3. Killed off the notes and discussion sections.

4. Removed the ability to auto feed your blog to your Facebook Notes Page.

5. Lowered the value of a like. No one needs to like your page to see your wall or to interact with you and post on your wall.

6. Changed the News Feed for personal profiles. People must now subscribe to your updates to be assured of seeing them in their News Feed. Now Updates are typically lost in the "noise" that is a part of the News Feed.

These are some very serious changes and have really strangled a business's ability to connect with users on Facebook. As a result, these changes have caused fan growth for pages under 100 fans to come to a near halt.

I do not recommend that brands and businesses abandon Facebook. Business models change and what Facebook has done to kill off brand and business interaction will certainly change over time. For now, I personally feel that these changes were made to drive businesses into Facebook pay per click advertising before the Facebook IPO. As monetization of the Facebook platform is essential for their continued growth, these strategic changes most certainly have been made to force businesses to "pay to play" on Facebook.

I still feel that businesses should be on Facebook keeping a presence there, but maybe not in the same fashion as we recommended in early 2011.

The Reality of Facebook Follower Growth and Engagement Challenges

I started following our client Facebook accounts right when Facebook was altering the data it reveals on fans and their interaction levels. Again, I would not consider the data I have recorded as scientifically accurate, but I did see some trends on fan growth for pages with different starting levels of fans.

About The Author

Nancy McCord is the founder and President of McCord Web Services LLC which provides Twitter and Facebook status updates, blog writing services, and Google AdWords account set up and management. Since 2001, Nancy McCord has developed a reputation as an expert on web visibility and how to use social networking for business. You can visit Nancy and her firm atwww.McCordWeb.com. Connect with +Nancy McCord at Google+, @mccordweb on Twitter and on Facebook.

How to Create Killer Website Landing Pages

admin — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 03:46:15 +0000

What is a landing page… this is a page on your website, focused on important information about your company, your products or services, informational and educational content related to your business, sometimes offering free materials to the visitor, such as e-books, etc.

What are landing page goals?

* Obtain a registration typically generating a contact lead.

* Explore and convey your company's valued proposition offér that differentiates your site from all the others that the visitor may also be visiting to research their purchase. Define your distinct ability to provide something more than all the other sites.

* Communicate the value of your branded product and your organization's integrity.

* Just in case the visitor does not want to provide their information at the time of the visit, be sure to communicate predominantly other contact means, providing them with the control to contact you (e.g. your primary company phone, sales numbers, technical and even basic information lines of communication). This provides contact information without forcing their hand into providing you their information.

A landing page must be keyword-rich, optimizing it for the search engines. The search engines crawl these primary landing pages. The first step is to have an attention-grabbing

Header tag, subsequently, it should be followed by content that provides a solution via your products or services that address the visitors particular issue. Landing pages are the key to a successful website. You utilize these main landing pages to capture your audience and keep them on your site, which will result in conversions and a ROI. These are the gems of your website and should be optimized as such.

The user is taken to your first landing page and immediately, literal seconds pass, before they make the decision to stay and explore your site, that is how very critical landing pages are. Literally, this means that within less time than someone can truly perceive what they are looking at, they are drawing conclusions that will impact the rest of their experience.

Make your landing pages count by using some basic optimization techniques, such as the following:

* Instantly conveying the value your site offers and creating strong incentive to contact you by providing a clear title and description and an enticing layout.

* Focus your visitors, every chance you can get, to contact you by providing links, images linking to the contact us page; you may even provide free informational materials to get them to complete the contact us form.

* Always include your social media sharing links, encouraging visitors to spread the word that your website has something valuable to offér.

* Beware of what information you request in your contact form. You cannot expect them to fill out a complete page of information and be willing to do so. Just keep it simple, but be sure to obtain the important information needed to contact them.

Not only do you need to optimize your landing pages for search engines, you should take a step-back and consider as to what key words the user is entering in the search engine. These terms and phrases speak to the search engine and provide a better way to have the visitor find your landing pages. In the same thought, your meta-tags, each individualized for each landing page, must convey the common terms visitors are searching for. Marrying the landing page content with audience intelligent meta-tags is another feather in your website cap. Essentially, make a point to consider exactly what is driving visitors to your landing page.

Some thoughts on your page layout… it is a fact that the eyes are drawn to certain things and you should use this research to your advantage. Here are some factual layout points to consider:

* A studied and proven focal point on a landing page as the visitor moves left to right on your page, is grabbing their attention with faces. That's right. Faces intrigue visitors and they will immediately be drawn to them. A poignant trick is to utilize facial images, but incorporate them into your landing page copy, tying one to the other.

* A controlled, often fixed design will be your best option for the visitor's experience. It keeps the layout clean and delineated, without overwhelming the audience.

* Provide multiple and consistent ways for the visitor to easily communicate their needs and interests. The communication between the audience and your company is vital to your conversion rate, which means you transform a lead into an actual customer of yours.

* Your audience will tend to view your landing page from the upper left hand side first, so leverage images and content to provide the most punch in this location. Utilize their natural viewing of the page to your advantage.

* It cannot be stressed enough how very important the headline and web page title are. They are key items that have the greatest potential to provide an impact on the viewer, reflecting your conversion rate and ROI. Include keywords that leverage your websites relevance.

Landing pages can literally make or break your conversion rate and ROI. Do not venture into a website without researching what you need to present to the audience, build their trust, and obtain leads.

About The Author

Article by Jess Holmes. I have an AS in Paralegal Studies from Edison College. I have a BA in Information Technology from Florida State University. I have a Master's Degree in Software Engineering from Capella University. I am the Owner/Vice-President of PageDragon.com. My specialty is Internet Marketing, SEO, and SEM. I also perform website design and programming for our clients.PageDragon.com can customize an intriguing look and feel for a clients website that will catch anyone's eye. PageDragon.com takes your awesome website and makes it shine on the search engines.

Five SEO Benefits of Guest Blogging

admin — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 02:24:48 +0000

Guest blogging as part of a content marketing strategy should be a part of every website’s SEO campaign. Not only does guest blogging help with your website’s link building, it also increases your overall online brand presence and industry authority, as well as helps your company connect with potential customers at multiple points during their buying cycle.

Here are 5 SEO benefits of guest blogging:

Link Building

This seems like the most obvious SEO benefit of guest blogging, and is probably the main reason companies are always on the lookout for new guest blogging opportunities. Most blogs will allow their guest bloggers a few links in the author bio section, so be sure you take advantage of that! Try to get a full http link to your website as well as two hyperlinked anchor texts if the blogger will allow it. Vary your author bio on different blogs to target different keywords and keep your link building, looking natural to the search engines. If you have a good enough relationship with the blog owner, you might be allowed to drop a link or two in the actual post itself back to your website, company blog, or other posts you have written for that blog to help with internal linking.

Increáse Online Touch Points

While your website is your most valuable piece of online property, it shouldn’t be the only presence, your company has online. A successful SEO campaign depends on creating multiple touch points where customers can interact with your brand and be pulled into your website. Guest blog posts are one such touch point. Having a blog post on another industry site not only helps establish your credibility as an industry thought leader, it also gives potential customers that haven’t ever heard of your company, the opportuníty to learn from you. Great content marketing should focus on educating the consumer and hitting them at every step of the buying process. The more guest posts you have on industry blogs the more likely you are to interact with a potential customer, every step of the way.

Build Relationships With Industry Bloggers

In my opinion, it is much better to become a regular contributor to an industry blog then just try for a one-time deal. Even if you can submit one article every other month, go for it! The more times you publish content on an industry blog the stronger your relationship with that blog owner is going to be. Somewhere down the line you might be able to leverage that relationship and ask them to write a post reviewing/promoting one of your products. It’s much easier to ask for such a post after you have been publishing content on their blog for six months.

The more comfortable a blog owner is with you the better. You might be able to jump from one post every other month to one post a month or even one a week. Maybe they let you add a few more links to your post or list you as featured author. But building that kind of relationship takes time and lot of writing.

Drive New Visitors to Your Site

Having links in the author bio and the post itself is not just good for link building; it can also help drive new, targeted traffic to your website. Someone that clicks on a link in your guest blog post is interested in learning more about your company and your industry. They might be at the beginning of their buying cycle and are just trying to get a feel for the companies out there, or they might be looking for more information about a certain topic and feel you are a reliable source or maybe they are looking to purchase and want to get in touch with your company. For whatever reason, that visitor clicks through to your site, giving you the chance to convince them to convert. At the end of the day that is what SEO is about – increasing the volume of visitors being directed to your website.

More Content to Fuel Your Social Media Marketing Campaign

Social media, much like SEO, thrives on content. The more content you can share, Like, tweet, update and post, the more reasons you are giving your target audience to interact and engage with your brand. Remember, social media should not be treated like another advertising platform. Consumers are driving the conversations on social media sites and expect brands to talk with, not at, them. Every time a piece of content is shared on sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Google+, a social signal is created that tells the search engines that this piece of content is valuable. The more times your content is shared, the more links it gets, the more valuable it becomes and the better it ranks in the SERPS! Every published guest post can be added to your social networks to help keep them up-to-date with great content.

Just remember that before you start worrying about guest blogging, your business blog is supplied with a steady stream of great content! A 100 guest blog posts are no substitute for your blog. Once your company blog is well underway, it’s time to start looking for guest blogging opportunities that will help your SEO campaign succeed.

About The Author

Nick Stamoulis is the President of Brick Marketing, a Boston SEO and social SEO solutions firm. With nearly 13 years of Internet marketing experience, Nick Stamoulis shares his SEO knowledge by contributing to the Brick Marketing Blog and publishing the Brick Marketing SEO Newsletter, read by over 150,000 opt-ín subscribers. Contact Nick Stamoulis at 781-999-1222 ornick@brickmarketing.com