As the New Year looms around the corner, it is a perfect time to assess your business goals for the next 12 months. And if you are committed to your business’s online reputation and presence, let SEM Media offer a few tips for getting your business off on the right foot in 2012.
First, SEO is always best when served fresh. So let us take a look at your website content to ensure it’s fresh and up to date, especially if you haven’t done this in the last three months. This means more than writing a few new blog posts a week, but updating your non-blog pages can breathe new life into your website.
Second, make sure you have created tons of ways consumers can share your content online. Too often business owners assume that their great news will go “viral” without ever providing the easy ways for consumers to make that happen. SEO is far from static; it requires constant attention and vigilance.
And lastly, let SEM Media perform a keyword audit. By examining what is working on your site, we can replicate the good stuff and drop the underwhelming stuff. We know what to look for, so give us the opportunity to do what we do best: boost your ranking and your sales!
SEM Media lives and operates in the world of search. It’s how we learn and how we get our clients to the top of the search pack. So we find it interesting to discover just how the Internet world used two popular search engines this past year. Both Google and Yahoo! recently release their “Most-Searched” lists for 2011, and a few trends stuck out for us. Here’s a rundown of what we found.
Unsurprisingly, Apple dominated the search world this year, with “iPhone 5,” “Steve Jobs” and “iPad 2” landing in the top 10 fastest-rising searches this year. On Yahoo!, “iPhone” was the most searched term this year, edging out “Kim Kardashian” and “Katy Perry.” It was the first time since 2002 and “PlayStation 2” that a tech device topped the search query list.
The number one spot on Google’s fastest-rising search list was awarded to “Rebecca Black,” a YouTube sensation whose video catapulted to global fame after her video was discovered, reaching 100 million views within a month. This is a testament to the power of YouTube and viral videos. If you need assistance getting your message across via video and YouTube, SEM Media can help.
Of course, celebrities were often the target for the world’s searches, but if we can glean any hint of the future based on the past we saw this year is that people are excited to learn about products before they are available to the public. So if you want to create an Internet “buzz” about what you have to offer, you need a professional like SEM Media on your side. We can get you noticed online.
While we just touted the great things social media networks can do for your brand, we now want to offer some reasons why it pays dividends to be represented on local search directories and search result pages.
In a study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, which surveyed over 2,150 people 18 and older, most people turn to the Internet to look for news and information about local restaurants and businesses. In fact, 51% of those surveyed say they go online to find information about those places before going there, and 38% of those Internet users perform search engine queries for local business information; while only 3% turn to social networking sites.
Word of mouth still carries a very important and popular marketing message, as nearly one out of four respondents relies on word of mouth for information on a business. However, capturing that 38% of users who perform a search query is where new business can easily spring from, so make sure you’re represented there. Talk to SEM Media about your opportunities in local search results.
Branding and social media seem to be two peas in a pod, and yet neither works quite in same way. Social media can be a big microphone for your brand, especially through powerful social networks like Facebook and Twitter, but your brand image should go far beyond its social media presence to serve its purpose for your business. That is why SEM Media offers the tools to set up your brand on local search results pages and directories. We don’t rely on a single-mode approach; we attract business from everywhere we can.
However, your business brand should be represented on social media networks, and here’s why. In a recent study by AYTM, an independent online market research platform, the site surveyed 2,000 Internet users about how they like to interact with brands online. What they found is that of those 2,000 Internet users, 74% are on Facebook daily and 35% are on Twitter daily.
Furthermore, 58% of all surveyed said they have “liked” a brand on Facebook and 42% have mentioned a brand specifically in their status update. On Twitter, 29% of users follow a brand and 39% have tweeted about a brand. This indicates that users are willing to talk about your brand. You just need to give them a reason to.
So what reasons should you give them? According to the survey, an overwhelming 80% of users prefer to get coupons/promotions/discounts from a brand through Facebook and/or Twitter; while only 8% say they want to hear brand news, 5% want answers to questions, 5% are looking for how-to’s and only 2% are looking for interviews.
So next year, why not give your brand fans and followers the gift they really want: great deals on your great products. It will turn out to be the gift that keeps on giving back to your business.
On November 7, Google opened up its new social networking site, Google+, to businesses for creating brand pages. Some social media strategists and SEO companies, like the group here at SEM Media, are hopeful that Google+ Brand Pages can solve three “sticking points” found with Facebook’s Brand Pages, which are:
Better Search Opportunities – Trying to generate click-throughs to your page on Facebook can be difficult, as they have a lower CTR (click-through-rate) than non-Facebook URLs. This is likely due to the fact that when a user sees the Facebook.com domain show up in their search, they feel it is irrelevant to their query. Therefore, a low CTR increases the cost of driving such traffic to a Facebook page, which costs advertisers more money. *Want to know more about CTR, contact SEM Media today.
Better Customization – A Facebook ad is fairly simple and allows for few creative opportunities. It is predicted that Google+ pages will follow a model closer to YouTube Channels, where a brand can advertise on their own page and have a custom skin. *Want to have a custom YouTube Channel skin, contact SEM Media today.
Better Analytics – Those who have used Google Analytics already know the level of detail found in those reports, which include time spent on page, referring sites and geographic location of visitors. One could easily expect that Google will offer similar analytics on who the Brand Page’s fans are and where they are coming from. *Want to know more about Google Analytics, contact SEM Media today.
Google just unveiled official Brand Pages for its Google+ social networking site, and here is how you can set one up for your business in four easy steps. Keep in mind, however, that Google doesn’t allow contests or promotions on Google+ pages (yet), but we at SEM Media already know that those will be important when or if they do arrive.
The first step is to create or sign in to your existing Google account and then visit http://www.google.com/+/business/. What hasn’t been made clear in other tutorials published this week, but is very important, is that unlike Facebook Google+ Brand Pages are not set up for having multiple Admins, so anyone who wants to manage your Google+ Brand Page must have access to the Google account used for setting it up, and with that comes access to the account’s email, photos, documents, etc.
Next, you will be able to choose an appropriate category for your organization. The choices are: Local Business or Place; Product or Brand; Company, Institution or Organization; Arts, Entertainments or Sports; Other.
Now you will need to add your business’s information, such as name, website and choose a sub-category relevant to your product/service. Under “Recommend links” you can add a link back to your website, your Facebook page, Twitter account, etc.
In the last step, you will want to add a tagline, photo and then finish it out by letting people know about your page. Google will help you create a Brand Button that can be placed on your webpage.
And there you go, you’re on Google+.
If you have further questions about the value Google+ can have for your business and its search relevancy, contact SEM Media today. In the meantime, check out SEM Media’s Google+ page and add us to your Circle.
Online marketing is not as easy as it looks, and before you roll your eyes because this is coming from an online marketing expert agency, let’s consider the facts – or more rightly, the myths.
Myth #1 – Keywords are all that – Yes, keywords are an important part of an online marketing strategy, but they are part of it, not the whole thing. So before you dump all your cash into a pay-per-click search campaign, let us not forget the power of the organic search. Keyword ads pit advertiser against advertiser to land a top ad spot for a specific keyword. But people find websites by searching for them too, not just wildly clicking on every ad that crosses their path. So a balance must be struck between keyword advertising and organic search, which includes providing blog content, email campaigns and other online marketing opportunities.
Myth #2 – Nifty design means good marketing – You do want people to find and buy your product easily, and you want them to see and understand your message clearly. But just having a fancy website isn’t going to get traffic to it. And too many times people bury the things that help get them found by search engines by covering it with website gimmicks (thinking specifically of a long Flash animation sequence for one). Flash is virtually invisible to search engines.
Myth #3 – It’s all worthit – If you ignore your return-on-investment (ROI) when running a marketing campaign, you might as well leave your hard-earned cash on the streets. While good advice and expert application does cost money, you should be able to see that every dollar you spend gives you something in return. The end goal of online marketing is to grow your business, not necessarily just increase traffic.
The right SEO and online marketing agency can help you avoid falling for the myths that are out there. So before you think online marketing is easy and can be done overnight, look at how many tens or hundreds of pages of websites go ignored during your next search. You need to be on the first page of search results, and you need someone who can get you there.
Your business’s website will always be your first and primary wave of attack when it comes to SEO, but when you’re already doing as much as possible with your website for search optimization, there’s only one place you can go to grow – to another website. Specifically, we’re talking about creating a YouTube Channel to boost your business’s SEO.
YouTube is one of the best ways to get SEO content on the Internet without breaking the bank. On a YouTube Channel you can tag and index every video you post, which increases the odds your brand will appear naturally in searches for keywords aligned with your business.
So how do you go about building a YouTube Channel? It’s pretty simple. We have laid it out in three simple steps.
Focus on Your Topics – While not everyone would want to watch a video commercial about what you’re selling, many will actually want to watch an informative and entertaining video that illustrates how they can choose the right product (that you sell) for their needs. But you may be able to go even further with your videos and share expertise beyond the sole focus of your products. For instance, if you sell baked goods, you can post videos about where your ingredients are sourced or interview those who grow or process the foods you use.
Get on Camera – You’ll obviously need a camera to record your videos, but you don’t have to hire a professional videographer or buy a multi-thousand-dollar piece of equipment. In fact, if your video retains some element of being “homemade” it will actually have more appeal to go viral and not look as much as like a commercial. Before you go on camera, jot down about 10 talking points you want to cover so you won’t sound like you’re reading a script. Plug your website at both the beginning and the end of your video, and always include a link back to your website in the video.
Use VSEO – Once you have your video uploaded you’ll need to enter a title, description and tags for it. This is VSEO. Whatever your key phrase is for your video, use it twice in the title. In the description, include a link back to your website. For tags, pick 10-15 relevant keywords pertaining to your video and your business.
You’ll be surprised how quickly your videos will generate traffic back to your website. It only takes a couple hundred views before Google will start picking up on your video for your key phrases.
Very few business owners aren’t thinking about SEO as they strive for online success, as SEO is vital to determining how well their business website is ranked by search engines. But is SEO the only key to attaining online success? Let’s first consider what SEO and online success are and then we’ll find out.
SEO (search engine optimization) is a process where a website has its pages built to appeal to search engines. This is done by utilizing certain sets of keywords or search terms and then having other websites link back to your website, which builds up your online reputation. Understanding how to create Titles, Headings, Descriptions, Bold Text and Alternative Text for Images all helps with SEO and page ranking. Integrating keywords into your site’s content at the proper density is also a key component of SEO (you can’t have keywords appear too few or too many times).
Your ultimate goal, again, is to have other sites link back to yours, thus increasing your reputation. Some people believe that you can do this through “blackhat” practices like link-farming and paying for others to link to your site. Search engines are very smart these days and most “blackhat” techniques actually do more harm than good for your site, so it’s best to avoid them.
Now let’s say that your page has achieved a No. 1 ranking on search engines. That means you’ve made it, right? You’ve earned total online success? Actually, there are several other important components to online success that will help you convert traffic into sales, which really is the key to success. Is it not? Here’s a good short list of what, above and beyond SEO, will help you achieve real success:
Social Media – Using social media to market your business is almost a no-brainer these days. It creates customer loyalty and gives you the chance to put your company or product in front of a lot of people frequently.
Web Design – You should have someone outside your business look over your website and provide good feedback on its look and feel. If your website is hard to use, no one will use it.
Traffic Analytics – Understanding your traffic is very important. If you don’t know where people are coming from to find you or where they’re going once on your site, you’ll have no way to gauge metrics like conversion. Traffic is a good thing, but having the right kind of traffic is even better for business.
Email Marketing – Email marketing can be an important way to reach new customers and retaining your existing ones. Consider creating a regular newsletter every week or month with useful information and special offers.
Capture Your Customer Data – Whenever you can, however you can, get the details of your existing customers. You can do this from data entered when they make a purchase, or you can offer something for free and have them enter some details about themselves. Capturing and using this data can help you create more meaningful ad campaigns and offers in the future.
Many business owners think that SEO and PPC (pay-per-click) advertising are separate beasts with completely different strategies and results. Yes, there are different, but they are certainly not mutually-exclusive. In fact, we have compiled eight good reasons why SEO and PPC perform better individually when they are used together. If it helps, you can think of SEO and PPC as two sides of the same coin, and that coin is called “search.”
Test Your Keywords with PPC – You can use PPC advertising to effectively test and refine targeted keywords. This allows your long term keyword strategy to evolve by testing the conversion rates of the keywords you choose. With the feedback you get you can alter your SEO strategy accordingly.
Visibility on Social Networks – With social media sites like YouTube, LinkedIn and Facebook, you can target ads to precise groups or demographics. The data you pull together from these social PPC campaigns could uncover hidden truths about your target audience and help you refine your SEO strategy.
Address Negative Press – With all the review sites, status updates, tweets and “likes” people participate in online, it’s possible that someone will eventually say something negative about your company or product. What you can do is make your business the first point of visibility through SEO and PPC campaigns so you can present yourself in a positive light instead of being trumped by something negative.
Use Site Search to Pick PPC Keywords – By using site search on your website, you can pull that data to show you what people are looking for when they are searching your site and then target those keywords on a larger scale through PPC ads.
Combine AdWords Results with E-Commerce Feeds – Through Google you can now link to a specific product page through a PPC ad, so users can be taken directly to a page where they can make a purchase.
Make Your Best PPC Ad Your Organic Content Strategy – By examining your best PPC ads, you can pull that info and content to create title tags, meta descriptions and page content for what you want to rank organically. PPC gives you quick feedback for what might work through SEO.
Shared Keyword Data – If you run an organic search campaign and a PPC campaign together, you’ll be producing twice the amount of data you can analyze and more quickly determine which organic and PPC keywords yield the highest conversion rate.
Being Visible – Perhaps the most obvious benefits to using SEO and PPC together is the increased exposure your business will have on the Internet and in search results pages. If your business dominates both organic and paid search results it will greatly increase your web traffic and establish your presence in your market.
Did you know that there’s an algorithm behind Facebook’s newsfeed? What you read there doesn’t just magically appear; it is placed in accordance to an algorithm called EdgeRank. EdgeRank works by factoring in the following components of a Facebook post:
Affinity – How often people interact with a page – be it a friend’s or business’s page.
Edge Weight – The type of content being posted matters. This includes: photos, videos, status, check-ins and liking,
Time Decay – The older a post is, the less likely the chance a person will see it.
So with EdgeRank in mind, you can use it to put power behind your business page’s Facebook posts. Follow these strategies and you will greatly boost your effectiveness.
Posts made between 8 PM – 7 AM experience 20 percent more user interactivity.
Fan engagement is 8 percent above average on Wednesdays.
Posting 1-2 times per day creates 40 percent higher user interactivity.
Posting 1-4 times per week results in 71 percent higher user engagement.
Posts with 1-40 characters generate the highest level of engagement. And on a retail page it is especially important to keep it short, as these posts generate 86 percent more fan engagement than posts over 40 characters long. Interestingly, only 5 percent of retail Wall posts are less than 40 characters.
Question posts generate twice as much engagement as non-question posts.
Fill-in-the-blank posts generate nine times more Comments than any other type of post.
Coupon posts or those with “$ off” included generate the highest level of fan engagement. Furthermore, “$ off” posts are twice as effective as “% off” ones.
By keeping EdgeRank in mind while managing your Facebook page, you’ll increase the ROI on the time you spend social networking, and we always want to stretch our dollars.
If you’ll pardon the loose affiliation, it seems that when it comes to blogging WordPress gets all the words in the press. This open source program is so easy to use, and there are lots of pretty templates to choose and plug in to your site so you’re up and blogging in mere minutes. But with the recent and growing security vulnerabilities, hacked themes and headache-producing exploits surrounding WordPress these days, you should be made aware of the alternatives out there.
But before we go there, what is it we all really like about WordPress? It’s just so blatantly easy. But its triumph is also its downfall. WordPress is frequently used by spammers for mass site deployment. Have you ever seen a service that “guarantees” to get your content spread throughout 5,000+ websites instantly? More likely than not, these blackhat tricksters are posting content on sites they built through WordPress as dummy sites, which means there is no real value in having your content on there in the first place.
Okay, enough belaboring the point. Other blog sites, also known as CMS (Content Management System), can just about as easily get your blog out to the world as WordPress. One of the cool ones out there right now is Jekyll. It’s based on OctoPress, a sophisticated CMS that sounds all too familiar to WordPress, but Jekyll is easy to use, easy to experiment with and you can even import your existing WordPress blog into it without a hitch.
Textpattern is another blog service that looks and feels a lot like WordPress, so if you’ve gotten use to WP but want something a little different, check it out. MovableType is a CMS that pre-dates WordPress. If you want to get back to the “roots” of blogging, look no further. And last but not least, good old Notepad can get you there. Yes, you’ll need to hand code everything, but it’s incredibly hard to hack and you have control over every aspect of your blog.
In the nitty gritty world of SEO, some come out on top while others languish in the back pages of search results. It’s up to your SEO agency to fight the good fight on your behalf, ultimately winning the coveted top spots on sites like Google, Yahoo! and Bing for your keywords. And along the way, every good SEO agency should be following these four virtues of SEO.
Be Proactive – With SEO work, there is a lag between what’s done today and the effects it generates down the road. With SEO you never get immediate satisfaction, and that is why good SEO practitioners plan ahead and take proactive steps. In fact, SEO strategists should live by calendars so they can launch campaigns early enough to get the results they want on a timeline that makes sense for the client’s business. You know that saying, “Christmas in July”? SEO agencies are likely building Christmas campaigns throughout July so they can capture the holiday shopping crowds. That’s being proactive.
Be Persistent – In baseball, players get multiple chances to hit a ball. They don’t walk up to the plate, take one swing and if they miss, go back to the dugout to pout. The same goes with SEO. Sometimes it will take multiple swings to hit a campaign out of the park. That’s why persistence is key to any good SEO approach. Your campaigns will have highs and lows, so be ready to weather them out.
Persevere – Ultimately, it’s the search engines that are in charge of your SEO strategy. If they aren’t finding what you’re feeding them, perseverance is needed. You must be prepared for periods of no-growth, or even decline, because the world of SEO can be volatile. Put your head down and trudge through. It will always be worth it on the other side.
Be Patient – Patience can be difficult when there are bills to pay and mouths to feed, but patience in SEO is kind of like financial planning. You might not see your results until the next quarter. Sometimes, no matter how good the planning, SEO work follows its own timetable, so be patient.
SEO is a $16 billion industry, and it is one of the top ways a small business can connect with customers exactly when they are ready and willing to make a purchase. SEO is also one of the best ways small businesses can grow their online sales. But business owners are busy running their businesses, so they need a “takeaway” from all the current SEO-speak that boils down what to watch with SEO trends.
One of the top SEO trends to pay attention to and talk about with your SEO agency is integrating online and offline marketing efforts. While $155 billion of consumer goods were sold online in 2009, $917 billion worth of retail sales were quoted as “web-influenced” that same year, meaning that consumers are first searching for what to buy online before going out to buy it offline. Small businesses should be paying attention to how customer search influences their buying decisions.
Another SEO trend to watch is the use of mobile devices for local search. If you have a business that targets specific regions or meets geographically-specific needs, you need to be present in local search and map results. One way this is done is through segmenting potential customers with geo-targeting and paid search advertisements. This will get the right ad in front of the right consumer.
The last SEO trend we will mention here is social media advertising. News just broke on Mashable that Facebook will be giving away $10 million in free advertising starting in 2012 (in $50 increments to qualified businesses). And if you didn’t already know, Facebook surpassed Google as the most visited website early last year. Social networks allow online marketers to hyper-target advertising opportunities that can land new customer segments and complement existing paid search campaigns.
The keys to SEO are that it includes a diverse approach, has a very positive ROI and that it capitalizes on trends like the ones outlined above so your small business can gain a competitive edge. Talk with your SEO agency to find which of these trends is best suited for your business.
Bing (and Decide), the latest major search engine that has slowly been chipping away at market share for search, can now do more than recommend restaurants, shopping sites and daily deals. Now Bing is offering Action Buttons for seven of its popular search categories, including airlines, couriers (like UPS, FedEx, etc.), restaurants, banks, rental cars, software downloads and hotels. The action button allows a search customer to take action directly from the search page. For example, if you search for an airline, you will be presented with the options to Check In, check Flight Status or Book a Flight. The top three choices will be presented based on Bing’s algorithms and what people find most helpful.
Bing still indexes sites, showing a small “table of contents” below the page title in the search results. So why is this different? In short Bing’s Action Buttons are more organic in nature and pull from actual search data to determine which three choices to show. Whereas indexes just mirror most of what’s on the site, the Action Buttons get to heart of what’s most useful about that website.
As this service grows, Bing says it will consider which other “verbs” (or Actions) can be added. It seems that both Action Buttons and indexing websites is really about digging deeper into what a website has to offer, and it could help those who are searching realize that one site is better than another for their purposes without ever actually visiting those sites first. Perhaps Bing will also look into broadening the categories for which Action Buttons are offered.
So this suggests the question, “Can you boil down what top three links on your website you would want Bing to link to as Action Buttons?”
As 80% of corporations now use social media to promote their business and interact with their customer base, a new career is budding. It is that of the social media strategist, and recently the Altimeter Group compiled a report from LinkedIn data that summarized the personality traits, education, career paths and responsibilities of current-day social media strategists. This information may be useful to anyone looking to manage part or all of their social media outlets or when looking to hire a social media strategist or SEO agency that specializes in social media management.
The first sign of a true social media strategist is that the person or agency has a Twitter account. 100 percent of all strategists have Twitter account because, simply, you can’t preach what you don’t know.
The second qualifier for a social media strategist is having the ability to multi-task, as managing social media includes everything from crafting posts/tweets, analyzing data and building successful campaigns. A good SEO agency can do all these things, perhaps offering different experts for different fields.
A social media strategist should be able to adapt and want to learn the latest trends in accordance with the changing demands of doing business through social networks. And while education matters, it doesn’t mean having a Ph.D. Only about two-thirds of job descriptions on LinkedIn for social media strategists ask that the applicant have a bachelor’s degree (although 80% of current strategists do).
Management is a good skill to have, and over a third of strategists come from a management-level background. On par with having the ability to multi-task, this role requires managing tasks as well as managing people.
A good strategist can not only take the initiative; that person can also create one and rally support for it across the organization. They communicate well and can monitor the progress of their efforts. Interestingly, budget management is noted as one of the least important skills a strategist has, but managing ROI is the most important one.
Above all, a social media strategist is a forward-thinking individual or agency. If you look for that skill, you’ll be in the right hands.
Online marketing is not as easy as it looks, and before you roll your eyes because this is coming from an online marketing expert agency, let’s consider the facts – or more rightly, the myths.
Myth #1 – Keywords are all that – Yes, keywords are an important part of an online marketing strategy, but they are part of it, not the whole thing. So before you dump all your cash into a pay-per-click search campaign, let us not forget the power of the organic search. Keyword ads pit advertiser against advertiser to land a top ad spot for a specific keyword. But people find websites by searching for them too, not just wildly clicking on every ad that crosses their path. So a balance must be struck between keyword advertising and organic search, which includes providing blog content, email campaigns and other online marketing opportunities.
Myth #2 – Nifty design means good marketing – You do want people to find and buy your product easily, and you want them to see and understand your message clearly. But just having a fancy website isn’t going to get traffic to it. And too many times people bury the things that help get them found by search engines by covering it with website gimmicks (thinking specifically of a long Flash animation sequence for one). Flash is virtually invisible to search engines.
Myth #3 – It’s all worthit – If you ignore your return-on-investment (ROI) when running a marketing campaign, you might as well leave your hard-earned cash on the streets. While good advice and expert application does cost money, you should be able to see that every dollar you spend gives you something in return. The end goal of online marketing is to grow your business, not necessarily just increase traffic.
The right SEO and online marketing agency can help you avoid falling for the myths that are out there. So before you think online marketing is easy and can be done overnight, look at how many tens or hundreds of pages of websites go ignored during your next search. You need to be on the first page of search results, and you need someone who can get you there.
Ever stop to think about where blog traffic comes from? It’s not all that mysterious – blog traffic is driven by a balanced strategy of SEO (search engine optimization), syndication, use of social media and guest posting. Whether it’s for a hobby blog or a B2B blog, the tricks of the trade are the same, and properly used, they all bring in more blog traffic.
Knowing that it takes the above-mentioned tools to build and drive blog traffic, here are some important tricks of the trade to understand about blog traffic. It’s the stuff that every good blogger knows.
First, it takes time to build an audience of blog readers. Keeping a blog requires persistence and patience. A blog requires traction, and traction requires covering a distance over time. Even your early blog posts can bring in a lot of traffic over time, so be patient.
Referrals and direct traffic go hand-in-hand. If your blog is read by someone who finds it on a referral site, it will also likely be bookmarked, subscribed to via RSS and visited directly from your URL. So think of every referral as a future direct visitor and don’t take one more seriously than the other.
SEO doesn’t create overnight success. Nobody necessarily trusts a leader they met five minutes ago, so to establish your authority (both in the reader’s mind and to search engines) it takes time. And with blogs, we think in terms of months and years, not days and weeks. As long as your blog has the right SEO in place, it will make a positive difference in getting discovered and building credibility. If you’re not sure if you have the right SEO in place, talk to a professional.
Social media is vital to blogs. It has been shown that of the top dozen traffic sources to blogs four of them are social media websites. And the top-performing social media site that produces the most blog traffic is Twitter, so get on there and get your content shared.
Get syndicated. Why work so hard bringing traffic directly to your site when you can have your content syndicated and exposed to a lot more eyes? Research blog directories and RSS syndication sites (large ones and small ones) and you will notice and increase in traffic to your site.
And last but not least, post frequency matters a great deal. Nothing kills a blog quicker than a lack of blog posts. Blog readers depend on fresh content, and referral sites are trusting that a blog will have something to offer their readers. If not, kiss high blog traffic and continuous growth goodbye. Post at least several times a week, and if you’re struggling to meet that deadline, bring on more bloggers who can help you.
A recent report by Wired magazine showed that Google is looking into how it can use Google +1 data to rearrange its search results. This is something many either feared or looked forward to, but the fact that Google hasn’t yet announced just how much of a role it will play in the order of things is what is most disconcerting about the topic.
Google has said it uses over 200 signals to determine site rankings, but it can also be a given that some signals are more important than others.
In a recent email, Google announced that it “will study the clicks on +1 buttons as a signal that influences the ranking and appearance of websites in search results. The purpose of any ranking signal is to improve overall search quality. For +1’s and other social ranking signals, as with any new ranking signal, we’ll be starting carefully and learning how those signals are related to quality.”
The Google +1 button now makes it easier for people with accounts to share content, not just promote it or give it a virtual “fist bump.” People who +1 a page or website can also choose to include it in their Google+ Stream, showing it off to their friends.
The flipside to implementing Google +1 data into search rankings is that it could lead to all-new blackhat SEO operations where some try to manipulate search results in their favor, which is one of the things Google’s +1 offering could have actually reduced. Only time will tell how this potential black mark will be handled.
Until then, many businesses and websites are utilizing Google +1’s utility and encouraging fans and visitors to “fist bump” their page. And other creative minds have decided to sing about it. Check out the video below.
