We spend a lot of time here at SEO-e thinking about web copywriting and website content development without ever mentioning grammar…well this post is intended to make up for lost time.
As a professional web copywriter, I often find minor mistakes when editing a piece. No big deal – in the rush of trying to prepare a magnificent article or blog post, I’m often in a race to get my thoughts down before my brain turns to other things.
You may be thinking that grammar in the online environment isn’t too important. After all, there are little grammar rules here and there, like beginning a sentence with “and” that we can ignore. Sometimes bending the rules makes our copy flow much better than it would otherwise.
But that doesn’t mean it’s okay to completely ignore grammar rules.
The first reason should be obvious – bad grammar makes you look unprofessional. Many readers probably have a basic understanding of English grammar. Using “there” when you should use “their” is a common mistake that’s easy to pick up on.
Most of us probably haven’t been in an English class in many years. Especially writing professionally, it’s easy to forget about good grammar. After all, I don’t exactly think about why a comma should go somewhere, I just know it does.
Nevertheless, it can be helpful to take a few minutes to review basic English grammar. DON’T RELY ON SPELLCHECK AND GRAMMAR SUGGESTIONS IN MICROSOFT WORD OR OTHER WORD PROCESSORS. For one, they are often wrong and it’s better to know yourself anyway.
One resource I have found to be very user-friendly and easy to understand is The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation from Jane Straus. Her site has some great tips and sample quizzes you can take to assess your skills. And you can even sign-up to have her newsletter delivered right to your inbox.
Another resource we use to ensure proper grammar, etc. is the Chicago Manual of Style, which is by far the most extensive resource. If you’re mainly focusing on press releases, the Associated Press Stylebook is a great resource to ensure your press releases are correctly formatted.
Pay attention to your formatting and grammar. While one or two minor mistakes isn’t anything to get worried about, you need to ensure that content you put on your site is by and large grammatically correct.
A new theory about Google is swirling around regarding how quick the search engine crawls and indexes new content. Is the delayed crawling/indexing a penalty? Or is it a bug?…no one really knows for sure but there’s much discussion about it.
To quickly summarize what’s going on, webmasters are complaining about how they’re posting content and waiting – around 7 days to be precise – for Google to crawl and index their new content.
Not everyone is spotting this problem so that’s why some are speculating that Google is penalizing sites for doing something it sees as wrong. Another possibility being circulated is that there is an indexing bug triggered by certain types of sites or code sets.
Respondents to a webmaster’s complaint in the HighRankings forum contend that he needs more links pointing to his site. The frequency of content could also be a factor – sites who post new content regularly will see the Google crawler index their page more frequently.
Perhaps this particular webmaster has included a SEO-plugin on their page that embeds “no-follow” and/or “no-embed” tags and that’s what is taking so long…some of the sites evaluated suggest this could be the problem.
Are you running into any problems like this?
Also, we invite you to take a look at highlights from the just completed SMX West search expo conference in Santa Clara, California. While some of the events centered on pay-per-click, you’re sure to find some great SEO/online marketing tips as this conference draws some of the best and brightest in the industry.
When thinking about duplicate content, we generally only consider written content. Is what you are posting on your website original? Simply copying and pasting something from somewhere else is a big mistake- that much is obvious.
But something you may not consider to be duplicate content may be considered such by search engines like Google, Yahoo! and Bing. You see, they’re trying to return diverse content to their users …they have a vested interest in ensuring what they display on page 1 is helpful and diverse for their users.
That is what you have to consider – what do search engines consider duplicate? Not doing so could spell disaster for your site’s rankings. Site penalties can occur if a site is simply structured the same way for instance.
Continue reading for 6 not so obvious types of duplicate content to ensure you are not penalized for such an infraction.
1. Two websites share the same structure and content
Two websites having the same structure (i.e. same three column template) and the same content on a single page or site wide with the same linking scheme is prone to trouble. This is by far the most extreme example of duplicate content but the easiest to identify.
2. Identical structure with paraphrased content
Another scenario where two sites have an identical structure but the content is not 100% identical. Copywriters and content developers may see this as a grey area. But Google has a zero tolerance policy on this issue…content from one site simply cannot be a rehashed version of the same thing from another site.
3. Identical structure with similar content
In structural terms, it’s pretty clear two sites are identical. In this situation, the content on each site still has too close a resemblance. If it appears the content is managed in a similar fashion and presented in the same scope, the site(s) may be penalized.
4. Partially identical structure with similar content
While it may seem like splitting hairs, Google is very meticulous. Site A and Site B may only have a few pages that are identical but if the content between the two sites is sufficiently similar, they may take action and not index one of the sites.
5. Identical structure with reminiscent content
In this scenario, both sites have a similar structure and linking scheme while the content is relatively similar. Some content developers may think simply using a Thesaurus to change a few words may avoid detection but the search engines can spot this kind of move.
6. Unique structure with pieced together content
Two sites may have their own unique site structure and linking scheme but their content is simply scraped together from different sources the writer found. Search engines will flag this as duplicate content and act accordingly.
Image, videos and other document formats are sometimes ignored by the search engines since most don’t have the capability to spot duplicate forms of these types of content. They sometimes attempt to remove duplications based on file size, image size and file name however. Therefore in the future, it will be important you think about this as technology continues to evolve.
It should be obvious that simply copying and pasting content to your site is not only dishonest, it is robbing the original creator of that piece without due credit and compensation. But these other scenarios where search engines may flag your site are just as important. While you may not think your site is a duplication of another, what the search engines see is really what matters.
Facebook is by far the largest social networking utility with over 400 million active users worldwide. As far as social networking, especially if you’re a B2C company like an e-retailer or storefront operation, Facebook is the prime social network to focus your efforts on.
It can be a great place to build your brand online and interact with your customers. But many businesses try Facebook just to give up amid frustration and seeming failure.
Following these 8 steps can help make Facebook a worthy investment of your time and resources, helping your build customers and revenues in the long run.
1. Have your own unique brand image for your profile
If you’ve been on Facebook for fun, you know everyone has their own picture of them self. But when you’re marketing your business, it may not look too appealing to just see a picture of you and/or your staff. Create something unique that will look interesting to someone, especially if it’s only a thumbnail size picture.
2. Post relevant interesting content
It’s one of the basics on any online marketing or SEO effort. Interesting, relevant content is required to keep people coming back. Simply post relevant content from other sites or link to custom content on your own site. Petty self promotion isn’t going to work too well in this environment.
3. Participate in the conversation
Utilities like Facebook are meant to be interactive. Participate in discussions on relevant topics or comment on someone else’s postings. Find every opportunity to start a discussion.
4. Increase interaction by adding apps
App devices on Facebook provide an entertainment value for your visitors. And if they invite their friends, you could potentially have a bigger pool of visitors learning about your Facebook profile and business. Pizza Hut put this to good use by creating an app to order a pizza through the utility – but an app can be anything from a game to special discounts. Check out AllFacebook.com Leader Board for ideas.
5. Direct new visitors to a custom page
Facebook automatically sends traffic to your wall, which can be uninviting. They do however let you use any page for your Facebook homepage. Create a custom page for new visitors instead and have an inviting place for people to learn about you. And change it periodically…like Skittles’ Mob the Rainbow entry page, which changes every month.
6. Post tags of your fans in photos and videos
This takes a little effort but include your fans in photos and videos. You could perhaps run a contest and ask fans to submit a picture of them with your product. After posting the picture, you can “tag” them, which their friends will see on their update
7. Create customized “tabs” on your Facebook page
Many large companies who use Facebook to their advantage have custom tabs at the top of their profile, which further personalizes your profile. You can use these tabs when introducing a new product or embedding a new poll or announcing an event, like the Threadless t-shirt company, who allows fans to vote on new design, comment and even buy their shirts directly through Facebook.
8. Consider Facebook ads to jump start your profile
It may be worth the investment to purchase some advertising on Facebook to give your profile the initial jump it needs. Getting subscribers to anything is a slow process in the early stages. Facebook ads generate qualified traffic by refining its subscribers by keyword, demographics and category, putting your profile in front of millions of people.
We can’t all have the millions of Facebook fans like Starbucks or Coca-Cola. But it is possible, using these 8 steps, to harness the power of Facebook effectively and draw in a large number of fans. According to Sysomos, over 77% of companies with a fan page have less than a 1000 fans.
Make your Facebook profile the best in your industry by considering these 8 steps.
As far as propelling your website to the top of the search engines, they don’t. While Meta tags have no significant impact on actual search engine rankings, they do provide value in how your website appears on a search engine results page (SERP).
Meta tags are basically text included in the source code of an HTML document that’s intended to describe the page to a search engine for the purpose of cataloging its content. There are two types of Meta tags – description and keyword
So do Meta tags matter?
Yes they do as the description found within the tag indicates what you want someone to see on a search engine results page. They help a searcher easily determine whether or not your page is relevant to their needs. Without it, many people will simply move on and think your site doesn’t offer them any value.
If you do not include a Meta tag in your source code, the search engine will glean your page and cherry-pick words it thinks best describes your page. This doesn’t work too well however and can result in terrible descriptions being displayed on a SERP.
You should be very careful in how you use a Meta tag though. Many SEOs have abused these tags in the past thinking it would garner them a competitive advantage. To avoid any potential problems, avoid repeating keywords and use only those words relevant to your site’s theme. Beware of any trademark infringements and check with legal counsel before using another company’s trademarked terms anywhere in your source code.
Typically, the character limit for both description and keyword Meta tags is 250, which includes spaces and commas. Anything past the 250 mark is generally ignored by the search engines.
Just be careful – improper use of a Meta tag could result in your site being penalized by the search engines.
A lot of our conversation about content development centers around landing pages, articles, blogs and other informative features of a website. It is fair to say that content is king…without valuable informative content, online shoppers probably will not even find your site and if they do, they will quickly leave as it will offer them nothing.
Writing home pages however is much different than writing general content. Not only does it have to draw someone in, it also has to support the second level pages that contain all of this informative content we speak of.
Continue reading to learn how a top copywriter Nick Usborne approaches homepages. Nick has had an exceptional copywriting career and offers many invaluable tips to maximizing the benefits of website copywriting.
1. Use your main homepage headline to highlight your site’s underlying value proposition
Someone coming to your site for the first time has a purpose – they are looking for something that you may offer. Therefore, your main headline has to communicate the value of your site and the products and services you offer along with gently explaining why your site is better than others in a similar niche.
This isn’t an easy thing to accomplish and gets more difficult if you try to do too much with your headline.
Therefore, you need to stay focused on the primary reasons behind why someone would be interested in what you offer and communicate that in a concise, easy-to-understand way.
2. Use sub-headings and short introductory text to clarify and expand your headline
Not every online business can communicate all they offer in ten words or less. It’s best to keep your headline short then use short intro text directly beneath it to further clarify and expand your message.
Be sure this intro text immediately follows your headline. Basically, be conscious of eye-patterns and how someone scans your webpage. Do not make them search for this statement.
3. Help site visitors find what they’re looking for
Unless you offer only one product or service, your homepage has to help someone find what they’re looking for in your secondary level pages. If 80% of your visitors only look at three or four different products, then include links to those secondary level pages in your homepage copy.
Use navigation links to provide access to all parts of your site but also include extra links to those areas of your site that are most popular.
4. Make first-time visitors feel comfortable and confident
Unless you are a nationally recognized brand, new visitors to your site are going to be naturally skeptical. They need reassurance that you can be trusted.
There are many ways to do this – including a third-party logo from the Better Business Bureau is one example.
But your headline and homepage copy also has to be written in a tone that’s inviting and belays their fears. Homepages are rarely sales pages – save that for the secondary pages. So do not include sales language in your homepage…simply write in a clear, honest manner.
Make your customers feel like you’re the mom & pop store down the street that cares about their problem and wants to offer a solution.
While these guidelines are not the only elements to writing a good homepage, they are the most important. Like Nick, we try to write homepages in a clear, concise manner. We use homepages to help visitors learn what the site is about and find what they’re looking for without too much trouble.
Ever wonder how a search engine like Google disseminates web pages on the Internet to produce the best results possible for its searchers?
This week, engineers, product managers and executives at Google will be meeting to determine how they can make their search engine smarter. As you know from our recent post on the topic, Google has made many changes over the course of its 10+ year history.
Google has become synonymous with search, commanding around 2/3 of search traffic. But that isn’t making them slow down as they strive to “organize the world’s information” as the company’s mission statement says. None of the upstarts like Facebook, Twitter, Yelp and others present a threat to Google in their own right. But going forward, search will not simply be dominated by Google but rather incorporate a combination of services.
The biggest threat to Google however is Bing, Microsoft’s revamped search engine. They’re trying to fill in places they feel Google’s algorithm falls short, namely in the health, reference and shopping sectors.
While Bing is increasing market share, Google is still miles ahead of them in the simple task of dissecting a search and returning relevant results. Using contextual signals, Google has been able to master the ability to figure out what a searcher is looking for.
Google culls data from all of its searchers to achieve these ends by seeing the search terms people use along with what they re-enter into the search if what they’re given isn’t satisfactory.
And the most incredible thing, Google makes these changes under the radar. Searchers have no idea that their searches are constantly dissected and that the company is always trying new things to improve its algorithm.
Occasionally, we drop in on different presentations circulating online to give us insight into the state of the inbound (i.e. online) marketing industry. HubSpot’s 2010 report gives us some good insights into what’s going on.
The bottom line is this – inbound marketing techniques cost much less, around 60% in fact, than traditional media (outbound marketing) techniques. Therefore, considering the economic climate in 2009, social media and blogs in particular saw tremendous growth over the course of the year.
As you will see in the webinar, the cost per sales lead for inbound marketing channels is much lower. To illustrate, 63% of survey respondents say that the cost for generating a lead through blogs and social media came in lower than expectations…compare that to only 34% of respondents who say the same regarding telemarketing.
Results from HubSpot’s study also indicate that 51% of companies plan to spend more on inbound marketing in 2010. Much of this is due to the poor economy, as companies look to get more for their marketing dollar.
Another trend you will notice – smaller companies spend a higher proportion of their marketing budget on inbound marketing channels like blogs, social media and SEO.
The next section of the webinar focused on changes in business blogging and social media. One graph in particular illustrates the importance of good business blogging. As you will see, the more a company posts something on their blog, the higher the chance they will snag a new customer.
In the end, all inbound marketing channels have to work together in order for your efforts to be successful. You can’t simply focus on your blog without ensuring it is crawled and indexed by the search engines, for example. And you can’t simply focus on SEO without providing timely and valuable content to your readers.
Check out the webinar from HubSpot here – it takes about 30 minutes to watch the presentation but it’s well worth your time.
Communicating information using charts and graphics provides a useful and fun way to learn about new things.
Search engine marketers now have a handy resource they can use to maximize search engine rankings and online conversions. These easy and fun charts from ProspectMX provide an easy-to-use reference for creating great websites.
Their original chart, “Link Building 101,” has some great insights into how you can get other sites to link to you. Examples of link bait, how to find good sites to link to and the most beneficial social media/news sites are just a few of the things you will find here – all presented in a fun environment that’s sure to pique your interest.
Prospect’s newest chart, “Universal Search Optimization,” gives some great tips on mastering the web’s newest way of ranking web sites, etc. Learn about ‘local search’, image/video optimization, press releases and more. Going forward, search results will increasingly include photos, videos and news, not just individual websites.
Take a look at Prospect’s charts today…print one out and post it on your wall!
Quick and easy reference materials like these are great to have when you’re stuck trying to get your website to the top.
Other sites linking to yours are one way search engines evaluate your site to determine where it should be displayed in a search engine results page. The more incoming links a site has, the more important the search engines see it.
But it depends on the type of links too – simply having a bunch of links pointing to your site isn’t going to pass muster.
It’s possible to go out and pay lots of money and do other nefarious things to get links to your site. Search engines like Google and Bing can see this, as they can differentiate between sites that have natural links to it versus ones that have artificial links.
So what’s the difference between the two?
First, the anchor-text, or the keywords that contain a link, is very diverse with natural links. One link to a site may contain “search engine optimization firm” and another may be “online marketing experts” for example. Artificial links though will have more uniform anchor-text…all of the links pointing to a site will only have one or two terms for its anchor-text.
This is one red flag to the search engines that you have an artificial link structure which in turn, causes your site to lose the rankings battle.
Another difference between natural and artificial links is the rate at which links appear. Sites with a natural link structure will see consistent increases in their link count while sites with an artificial link structure will see sudden and dramatic increases then a lull in activity.
Sites designed around a natural link structure do not have reciprocal links. Meaning, the site linking to them did it voluntarily and does not expect a link back in return. Almost all links in an artificial environment are reciprocal.
And finally, natural links point to resources that can be of further use to the reader. Artificial links mainly point to link farms and other places that serve no purpose in making the site more useful for its visitors.
Remember these differences when thinking about your site’s link structure. You should strive to create the most natural looking link structure as possible. From a search engine’s point of view, the best links are those that are unrequested…search engines reward those pages and sites that get voluntarily links for great content.
We’ve been discussing over the last few months changes in the online marketing world that can possibly have an effect on how search engines rank and display websites.
Things like the unveiling of personalized search as a standard feature of Google to the rise of social networking applications are just a couple of examples of such changes. It’s fair to say that based on our research and experience, social networking and bookmarking utilities have gained a big foothold in the online marketing equation.
Take all of this, along with the release of Google Buzz and some proposed partnership agreements between Google/Bing and social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook, and you’ve got some indications that a major shift is underway in how the search engines rank and display search results.
Over the years, search engines have evolved a lot from their beginnings. For example, keywords were the only consideration in ’95 but by ’97, search engines began looking at a site’s links. Next, around 1999 and Google’s inception, the PageRank algorithm was introduced. By ’02, anchor-text links were important and by ’05, temporal data, or when links were obtained and the age of the content, became important ranking factors.
But with the events of the last couple of years, it’s becoming apparent that a site’s “social graph” is becoming as important a ranking factor as its “link graph.” Search engines, primarily Google and Bing, are relying more on social networking sites to gauge the popularity and usefulness of a website’s content.
Take a look at SEOMoz’s newest Whiteboard Friday video for more insights into the changing world of search.
So what are the most important aspects of copywriting – the things that motivate someone to hit the “buy” button? Is it the headline, bullet points, benefits or testimonials from other users?
Part of being successful at copywriting is finding that “hungry market” – those people looking for a certain solution to their problem who cannot find one. You could write the best sales copy or content in the world or have one of the superstars do it for you and it won’t matter; you will be dead in the water unless you appeal to that “hungry market.”
So how do you find that “hungry market?”
Most conventional sources point to keyword research, which is very useful in determining terms to use in your copy. Some keyword research tools can teach you how to find a market, find out who they are and what they want…but focusing solely on this misses a key point.
More importantly, in addition to these attributes, you need to find out how they want it. To be successful at copywriting, you not only need to know the right market but have the right offer with the right message delivered in the right way.
Keyword research simply cannot ensure you deliver a message in the right way.
So to write effective copy, you need to ask and answer the following three questions according to copywriting pro David Garfinkel:
Who is your market?
What is their problem?
And how do they talk about it?
The third question is key – which is the one most writers ignore.
Keyword research is like a recipe, a list of ingredients. However, you need to use the ingredients in a certain order and amount for the dish to turn out right. Keyword lists are simply the ingredients – misusing or leaving out an “ingredient” can ruin your dish, or copy in this instance.
Search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo! find your website through other sites linking to it. A site with a large number of quality sites linking to it signifies a certain importance to the search engines, boosting your rankings in the process.
There are many ways you can acquire links to your site. They can be purchased from a link farm, or you can get people to link to you through social networks like Facebook, StumbleUpon and Digg. In the end, the highest quality links come from sites in a similar industry whose audience will find your content appealing and useful.
Allowing the structure of links to your site to become too homogenous can cause many negative consequences for your site and its rankings. Links coming from only one type of site, or only to your homepage or links that all have the same anchor text links are all red flags to the search engines that your site has an unnatural link structure.
As a result, search engines will penalize your site, perhaps even de-listing it from the search engines.
To avoid trouble like this, you should attempt a general 80/20 link balancing act, which means:
80% of your links should come from sites that are topically relevant to yours with the remaining 20% coming from unrelated or marginally related sites
80% of incoming links should go to your homepage with the remaining 20% (at minimum) going to sub-pages within your site
80% of links should have your keywords in the anchor text while the remaining 20% having a less optimized link, like “click here” or your URL as the anchor text
80% of your links should be one-way and the remaining 20% reciprocal
Of course, these are just general guidelines but a good rule of thumb to avoid any problems with the search engines. You don’t want your site to appear over-optimized to the search engines so you need to balance your link ratios to avoid this red flag.
Building a blog for your business is a great way to build search engine rankings and develop a following online. All leading online marketing experts agree that providing consistent, relevant and interesting information about your niche through a blog goes a long way to building trust with prospective customers.
But at one time, we were new at something and probably made mistakes along the way. Blogging is no different on that score.
So if you’re just beginning or interested in starting a blog for your small business, here are 7 common mistakes you must avoid if your goal is to turn your blog into a traffic generator and revenue source.
1. Never launching it
Perhaps the most common mistake people make. You write your first post or two while killing some time. They’re great, informative and focused…but they never make it online. You have to get started to finish, and it’s not a blog until you actually publish something online.
2. Using a sub-domain (ex. myblog.wordpress.com)
Another common mistake is simply going to a blogging platform like WordPress and TypePad and opening an account. These are great utilities for posting and managing your blog but if you’re going to the trouble of starting a blog in the first place, it’s worth your time and money to invest in your own domain that you control from the beginning. It’s very difficult to change later on.
3. Spending too much time on design
Many blogs never get launched because the owner spends the majority of their blogging time worrying about design. Looks are great, but the core purpose of a blog is relevant content. Besides, you can easily change the design later on so focus on creating great content instead.
4. Not telling anyone about it
In a blog’s infancy, no one knows about it. There are no links to it and search engines are not ranking you, perhaps not even indexing it. Therefore, the only way to get traffic to it is through direct contact. Tell your friends online and in the flesh of your new blog and utilize social networks to spread the word.
5. Getting discouraged too early
Blogging is no different than most things in one regard – it takes time to build up to success. Give yourself at least six months and maybe even a year before suspending the blog for lack of traffic. It’s hard to get some momentum but once you do, good things start to happen.
6. Too many plugins and “blidgets”
Many bloggers make the mistake of loading their blog up with a bunch of bells and whistles without paying much attention to their content. Resist the temptation to do this and invest your time in content, comments and categories instead.
7. Monetizing too early
Search engines like Google make it pretty easy to throw some ads on your blog. If you’re serious, you need to focus on building an audience first and worry about monetization later. Posting ads for revenue too early will discourage people from looking at your blog long before you have built the critical mass needed to make any real money with it.
Blogging can be fun and rewarding but it takes time, as any real success does. Don’t be discouraged, keep working at it and your efforts will pay off in the long run.
*Subject for this post courtesy of HubSpot’s Blogging Team. Subscribe to their email listserv at http://www.hubspot.com/.
Just what is the best way to unveil a new or vastly expanded site to the world? What I mean by “best way” is the best method for achieving high search engine rankings quickly.
There’s no universal way to answer that question. Every SEO/SEM has their own strategies that they implement, test and tweak. Simply throwing something up there and forgetting about it is a terrible idea.
But an interesting way of rolling out a new or renovated site was explored on a recent WebMasterWorld discussion thread. A senior member of the community, Wheel, is expanding a site he manages from 21 to approximately 5,000 pages. He’s looking to take a new approach to rolling out his site – let Google index all of it up front then go back and use Google and the site command to determine which pages to internally link to.
A popular SEO tactic is linking to other pages in a website from popular keywords. This gives you added boost in the search engines for that keyword phrase.
What’s different about Wheel is that he’s going to post all of his pages once and let Google go ahead and index them. He says he’s doing it this way because he has so much content that it would be impossible to sort through it all. Therefore, he will go ahead and get it all indexed then use his site command with keywords…[site: wheeldomain.com keyword+here]… to find the pages that contain that specific word(s) he wants to rank for. He will then choose the strongest pages and link to other pages on the site with that keyword.
Interesting method indeed, which drew mixed response in the forum since this method may initially seem backwards to most search engine optimization professionals. Some say Google will degrade his site outright while others think it will be wise to unveil the site in bits and pieces rather than all at once.
One reply to Wheel’s question at the bottom is pretty interesting – I suggest taking a look at it.
Often dubbed “the new YellowPages” by techies and SEO professionals, local search through Google Maps is one form of online marketing that’s slated to see astronomical growth in the next few years…it’s even perhaps a revolution of sorts in waiting with the casualty being the fabled phone book and YellowPages.
Think about it…how often do you search for local businesses using your phonebook anymore?
But going forward, people won’t be using their computers to search for local businesses online. No, they’ll be using their SmartPhone – Blackberry, IPhone and more. And 2010 will see a plethora of new SmartPhones sweeping the market from all major service providers.
What’s the consequence of this? For any local business that relies on YellowPages to advertise their business, it means a shift in how people find them. If their listing doesn’t appear in Google Maps and online, they will be missing out on a lot of opportunities.
To illustrate, a recent training course at Planet Ocean witnessed a demo of the power and ease of Google Maps’ smartphone utility. A 35-year old attendee used his phone to access Google Maps and search for orthodontist in the area he was located – all possible because most smartphones come equipped with a GPS tracking device.
Therefore, all he had to do was enter the keyword into the search and the device automatically displayed locations of orthodontists closest to his current location – along with directions on how to get there!
And these listings come equipped with customer reviews and other relevant information for making a buying decision!
The moral of the story is this – smartphones are in actuality mobile computer devices jam-packed with features one would normally not associate with a “phone”. Could this be the newest “gold rush” to hit the U.S.? In the real gold rush in Alaska in the late 19th century, real fortunes were made not in gold, but selling the tools to mine for gold.
So if you’re in search of opportunities in online marketing and SEO, it would behoove you to consider local search and how your business must be able to harness it or lose out to more prepared competitors.
SEO Advantage partner firm Channel Intelligence, a retail marketing consultant from Orlando, is announcing their first webinar for the new year, How to Win in 2010.
In addition to providing insight into what you can expect for the online retail market this year, CI will outline the strategies that brought success to their retail clients in the toughest economic climate in 26 years.
Despite the worst recession in a generation, CI clients not only survived but thrived. CI’s upcoming webinar will break down the strategies and tactics that were successful in the face of a severe economic contraction. CI will also present some common pitfalls you should avoid.
Other insights to be covered include: which tactics and strategies met with success across various shopping channels in 2009, which channels brought the biggest results, how retailers used re-targeting display ad campaigns to their advantage, and the best performing retail products and categories in 2009.
Optimizing press releases for the search engines can give your website a big boost in traffic and profits – if it’s formatted and presented correctly.
Press releases don’t need to be exclusively about big news events at your company only but rather serve as a vehicle to notify the public of recent developments at your company like a product launch or change in staffing.
Continue reading for 7 steps you can employ to generate a surge in traffic for your website with a press release optimized for the search engines.
1. Keep it short
Keep your press release short and to the point, generally between 400 and 500 words. Most news sites will not accept a press release that’s long winded. Press releases should serve as a brief synopsis of the topic at hand that includes a link to where the reader can learn more.
2. Write it yourself
If you feel comfortable writing and English is your first language, you can write it yourself without much difficulty. Just follow some successful examples as a guide on formatting, etc. Reading tips about structure and format can help but it won’t match what looking at one in the flesh will do. If you’re not comfortable writing it yourself, consider hiring a firm that specializes in online copywriting or a freelancer.
3. Write a headline that grabs attention
Headlines serve as a preview for the reader, foreshadowing what the press release is about. Therefore, it’s important the headline grabs the reader’s interest so they will continue reading. After all, it’s well known in the copywriting world that many people do not actually read things online word for word.
Titles are also a great opportunity to place strong keywords that will draw the attention of search engines.
4. Get the reader hooked in the first sentence(s)
You have a narrow window of opportunity to draw the reader into reading the rest of your press release. Keep it simple in the beginning by simply stating what you’re going to talk about and why it should be important to them. But beware of using too many adjectives and adopting a sales tone as press releases are actually news stories. Editors and news services will ignore your press release and it will receive no exposure if it is too sales-y.
And strategically place keywords throughout the body of your press release to garner more attention from the search engines.
5. Be accurate with your statements
Be sure that information you include in your press release is factual and verifiable. Erroneous information will harm your credibility, perhaps permanently damaging your credibility. Therefore, facts should be presented in a clear and concise manner and be easily verifiable by the reader.
6. Make your press release stand out from the rest
Press releases don’t have to be completely boring. There are ways you can format it to appeal to more readers and the search engines. Finding a hook to make the reader desire more information will accelerate the progress of your press release.
7. Distribute your press release to different outlets
There are many outlets to distribute your press release besides posting it on your website. To get the most traffic and profits from your PR, you need to spread it around. There’s no telling how far a press release can go once it’s viral. Check out our articles on free and paid press release distribution in our search engine optimization knowledge center for more.
Social networking sites like StumbleUpon, Digg and Twitter are great ways to let the world know about your company’s news. Link to the PR or post it on these kinds of sites too for additional traffic.
A constant stream of well prepared, optimized press releases can be a boon to your site’s rankings and traffic. Harnessing these steps when you’re preparing a press release will help you maximize your online marketing potential.
WARNING – We’re going to stray a bit from SEO today and venture a little bit into the philosophical.
However, it goes without saying that Google’s new personalized search strategy is making waves among search engine optimization experts. How will personalization for anyone using Google, not just members logged into their accounts, affect the search results they see?
Answers to this question and many others like what this new feature means for websites who use organic search marketing channels will probably take a bit of time to answer.
Google has maintained user history for quite some time now – installing a “cookie” on a user’s web browser, which logs your searches with the engine. Now, they are taking this data to personalize your search results without your knowledge up front. While the cookies can be disabled on your browser and the personalization setting disabled in Google itself, most users and clients won’t take the time to do it since they probably don’t understand what’s going on in the first place.
One webmaster/SEO discussing the topic on a forum says it’s not an easy task to keep Google search history turned off – once this user turned his Google search history off, it somehow was turned back on without his knowledge.
Which is what leads to so much concern about this change – a user’s privacy and how it is compromised with this sort of policy – a big concern among webmasters and SEOs to say the least, as evidenced by a discussion on Google’s change at WebMasterWorld.
What are the implications on one’s privacy with a move like this? Before, users had to “opt-in” for personalized search results. They could request this personalization if they wanted to. Now, it’s “opt-out”…so now unsuspecting web users are having their prior search history and location dictate the results they see.
Not only does this carry consequences for privacy, it also can limit what someone sees. Now, their access to all available sources will be limited to what Google thinks they want to see, not what they need to see necessarily…a new precedent indeed.
We’ve probably made scant mention of it here before but it’s an important concept to understand on its own, and that is proper keyword density.
In 2003, Google did a major update to its ranking algorithms. SEOs refer to this as the “Florida update,” as it marks the day when search engine optimization became difficult. Before November ’03, SEOs would simply say you should liberally use keyword phrases on your pages. The Florida update changed all of this.
Now, web pages that use keywords too aggressively are filtered out of search results altogether (Matt Cutts explains a little more in the video below)
“Over-optimization” describes over-use of keywords in your site’s copy. Not only does excessive keyword use get your site filtered out of search results, it makes your copy look unprofessional to readers. Most people who see a web page with the same phrase in every sentence won’t take it too seriously.
Instead, modify keywords and use variations of your main phrase in your site’s copy. Four ways you could accomplish this include: singular vs. plural forms of keywords, use synonyms, add relevant modifiers and change the order of the words.
There are tools available to help you find different variations of the same keyword phrase. Take advantage of these tools from Quintura, Google and/or Bing to research different ways you can phrase keywords.
There’s also a very easy way to locate extra keyword phrases and that is when you are typing your main phrase into Google, search suggestions appear below the input bar. You can diversify your keyword phrases with these suggestions for a quick solution.
Either way, do not over-optimize, that is use the same keyword phrase on a page too many times. Your readers will pick up on it and your site will get in trouble with the search engines. While we can’t tell you a magic number, read your copy as if you’re an outsider. You should be able to tell pretty easily what’s too much and what isn’t.
It’s always interesting to see the trends in marketing online. How are people looking for information online?
For me, it continues to be a Google search using keyword phrases that closely describe what I’m looking for. I find searches like these to be very useful most of the time and if not, I can tweak the words I’m using to find what I’m looking for.
So it’s no surprise to me that organic search continues to be a preferred means of locating information online – and growing too.
According to new data from comScore, over 131 billion searches were conducted worldwide in December, 2009, a 46% increase over December ‘08. Searches in the U.S. alone grew by 22%, despite the country’s now two-year old recession.
And the U.S. continues to be the largest country on Earth when you consider online searches. While growth for 2008-2009 was much larger in countries like Russia (92%), France (61%) and Brazil (53%), the U.S. still accounts for the lion’s share of online searches.
So where do these searches originate from?
Well as we’ve reported here, Google still handles the majority of online searches – over 67% in December, 2009 with 58% growth between 12/2008 and 12/2009. And not just search engines are included in this list, which reflects a large number of searchers who go beyond the “core” search engines Google, Yahoo and Bing. Ebay came in 5th with 2.1 billion searches, growing by 58% year-over-year. Facebook handled 1.6 billion searches, a 43% increase year-over-year.
Data like this underscores the importance of optimizing websites for the search engines. It’s clear that an increasing number of Internet users rely on organic search to find what they’re looking for online.
I’m pretty sure I’ve used the phrase “best practices” here on the search engine optimization e-blog a time or two and now feel like kicking myself for doing so.
Intuitively, best practices don’t make any sense in the SEO profession.
Best practices grew out of organizational management techniques that became popular in the mid-to-late ‘90s. The idea was that certain groups who achieve “best practices” could then teach those practices to the entire organization.
From a practical point of view that makes sense…but in order for “best practices” to work in a strategic sense, the environment must be relatively static and homogenous…two characteristics online marketing & SEO don’t have at all.
Something that works today may be obsolete by the middle of next week in this business.
Instead of working under a static rule set that’s worked in the past for something (old) and has been popularized (is average), which is what best practices essentially are, use metrics to experiment with what works and what doesn’t.
It’s appealing to think there’s a magic formula of best practices you can employ and then just sit back and watch the sales come in.
But the Internet, you and your competitors are constantly changing.
In the end, “best practices” can offer the value of a good starting point to begin experimentation but nothing more. Establishing a good feedback loop and basing your decisions on results of your experimentation means you will go much farther than just re-hashing someone else’s “best practices” plan.
Focus on your business and be ready to constantly modify what works and what doesn’t.
One question that those of us in the search engine optimization profession constantly wrestle with is whether to provide prospective clients with a ranking guarantee. Many firms will not budge without that guarantee, which makes a SEOs life even that much more problematic.
Forum discussion at Crea8site illustrates the dilemma.
As optimizing websites for the search engines becomes more complex and personalized search options from Google and Bing gain more popularity, viewing success through the prism of search engine rankings alone can be disastrous. The science of SEO has evolved way beyond simple keywords and listings.
Actual traffic and conversions are the important considerations but traffic is the only thing the SEO can realistically do. Without traffic and conversions, your clients will eventually become frustrated and stop investing in their website.
In order to make a SEO firm/client relationship work, each party needs to work in tandem on pricing, rankings, content, service, etc. to get maximum yield from their investment.
A big part of optimizing websites for the search engines involves content. Not only does keyword-rich content attract the attention of search engines, online readers and shoppers seek informative resources to aid in their purchasing decisions.
Therefore, online content is an invaluable part of both marketing online and search engine optimization. So what’s the difference between writing standard sales letters, essays and other items versus writing online?
First is the mindset – online readers skim pages looking for the information they need. Hard copy readers are generally more leisure in their reading, spending more time on each page. In a fundamental way, each type of reader interacts with the piece in much different ways.
Remember receiving direct mail pieces in your snail mail box? What the envelope said and who it was from was a big factor in determining whether you opened it up and read it.
Online copy on the other hand has other factors at work – like the title. First, readers look at a title and if it entices them enough, they’ll continue reading. Next, Google focuses on the first 65 characters looking for keywords. Therefore, online copy has to have both a title that draws a reader’s interest and contains keywords for Google to index.
Continuing into the body, online copywriters have to consider different elements than traditional sales letters and other hard copy mediums don’t. Keyword density and calls to action are just a couple. Also, online writers should consider shorter paragraphs, bullet points and other ways to format the document’s layout to make reading easy, especially for blogs.
And online copy is generally much shorter – a typical article is around 600-800 words, typical blog posts range anywhere from 200 to 500 words. So, a call to action including keywords (not too many keywords though as this is a red flag to search engines and readers) has to be done in a much smaller space.
Keep these things in mind when writing for online mediums…and remember it’s much different than hard copy mediums. Articles, blogs and even press releases have to factor in these kinds of issues in order for them to achieve maximum success.
Developing a strong presence on social networking and bookmarking sites doesn’t involve complex formulas or algorithms. Sure, sites like Digg and Reddit have algorithms but it would behoove you to focus on the 2 major pillars of success on these sites – great content and a network of users to promote it – rather than focusing on racing to the front page.
Building your network involves more than just adding users to your friends list. Participation is required and is how you get noticed. Voting for, spreading and commenting on other users’ content shows you’re willing to work hard and contribute to the community.
Keep reading for a basic outline of 9 do’s and don’ts of building your social bookmarking networks online.
1. DO friend, IMvite and follow power users but DON’T become a pest
The best place you can start building your social media presence is by making friends with power users. They have literally hundreds, if not thousands of friends and a vote on your content from them can often translate into additional votes from their followers.
But remember, people are busy. They don’t have time to digg, vote or retweet 100 links a day or have time for juvenile questions like “How many diggs does it take to hit page one?” Be sure you vote on their content and they will eventually take notice.
2. DO participate in the SOCIAL part of social bookmarking but DON’T be a troll
Commenting and participating in conversations on social networking sites isn’t so much about being social as much as it’s about being noticed and showing you take time to look at other’s submissions.
But don’t be too controversial and don’t reply to something just to disagree. You can be funny but not everyone shares your sense of humor so be careful.
3. DO embrace multiple social networks but DON’T spread yourself too thin
There are literally thousands of social media networks and instant messaging utilities out there. Joining multiple social bookmarking sites like Digg and Reddit is a great way to expand your reach. Manage your time wisely though. Creating and maintaining a profile is a lot of work so don’t spread yourself too thin.
4. DO submit content from community favorite sites but DON’T submit commercial content
When you’re a part of a social bookmarking community like Digg or Reddit, it’s likely you will notice certain sites producing outstanding content on a regular basis since they’re always on the front page. Being the first to submit new content from these sites is a great way to get noticed.
On the other hand, submitting content that has no place in the community you’re in is one of the sure-fire ways to fail at social bookmarking. If you appear as a marketer, folks will vote your stuff down and remove you as a friend. Be sure what you’re promoting is worthy of votes!
5. DO submit content from a variety of sites but DON’T consistently submit content from a single site or short list of sites
This may seem obvious but a lot of people will only submit their own content and occasionally make comments on or vote on other stuff. This is a red flag that you’re only in it for the marketing, which is something you don’t want to look like.
The best way to avoid looking like a marketer is to submit articles, etc. from a wide variety of websites.
6. DO sign in, vote up, retweet and comment regularly. DON’T leave huge lapses of activity in your account(s)
One of the keys to successful marketing through social bookmarking sites is being a regular. Taking too much time away could mean all of your hard work going to waste. It’s not that you can’t take a well deserved vacation. But the more available you are to vote and spread submissions of others, the more influence you will have in pushing your own stuff.
7. DO perform favors for your friends but DON’T ask for too much without giving something back
Help your friends out and they’ll help you! Don’t wait to vote up or retweet your friend’s submissions. If you go out of your way for them, the more likely they’ll do the same for you.
Don’t ask too much without giving something in return and if you ask someone to vote or retweet something, be sure it’s top quality content. Eventually, people will avoid or ignore you altogether if it’s not.
8. DO act like a human being, DON’T act like a computer or robot
The purpose of social media is to be “social”, not just amass hundreds of friends in some desperate attempt to look important. If you’re trying to get content out to as many people as possible, you need to act like a real person. Be friendly and have conversations with others online from time to time.
9. DO keep at it and DON’T give up
Like anything, building a network for social bookmarking sites takes a lot of time and hard work. You don’t have to spend all day everyday on social media to be successful. But you need to find a routine you’re comfortable with and stick with. Persistence is the key to success.
Of all the online marketing channels – organic search/SEO, referrals and PPC – where does the majority of traffic to a site originate from?
Does someone do a search on Google using keyword phrases to search for the products and/or services you offer online?
Or, are they referred to your site from an online directory like YellowPages or Google Maps? Or, do they see your PPC or social network ad?
Data recently compiled at HubSpot definitively proves that organic search is the primary driver of traffic to websites – which underscores the importance of them being search engine friendly. From the survey of 2,100 of its customers, the company shows that site traffic coming from online searches is 67.2% greater than from referral sites and 156% greater than PPC.
They further break the data down by industry – traffic from search engines is much higher in manufacturing, medicine/health services and retail. Referrals play a more important role in other industries like technology, software and online marketing but still does not exceed online search as a primary source of traffic.
So from this data, it really depends on your industry in determining what you allocate to each of these online marketing areas.
In terms of organic search and SEO, Google is by far the most popular search engine still, handling 71% of online searches this past November according to Hitwise. The two closest were Yahoo! at 15% and Bing at 9%.
It’s clear though – having a website optimized for the search engines is key to driving traffic.
As the Internet has evolved over the years, websites have grown more complex. You don’t need me to tell you that many websites contain a wealth of information on their respective niches.
And with the advent of social networking and other means of finding and disseminating information, web users are growing ever pickier about the websites they visit. That’s why installing site search on your site is an important step in building search engine rankings and boosting conversion rates.
There’s many reasons why more site visitors are immediately going to a site search to find information on a website. These include confusing navigation, cluttered design and even pure impatience. In fact, studies suggest that a person will leave a site if the search function is poor or not there around 80% of the time.
But site search has even more benefits for webmasters and SEO professionals. With the proper analytical tools, site owners can get a lot of information about their site visitors and how they navigate around their site. You can transform your site into a “customer centric” from a static “one size fits all” approach.
Take a look at our newest article in the search engine optimization knowledge center regarding the benefits of site search and stay tuned to the SEO-e blog for recommendations on good site search tools you can easily purchase for your website.
In order for a spider to crawl your website and index it in the search engines effectively, the web address or URL for your webpages should be as simple as possible.
As we’ve discussed in the past, sites with static URLs that are simple are crawled and indexed much more efficiently than those containing dynamic characters and session Identifiers.
Session IDs are most common in ecommerce sites and are embedded in a URL so the website can track their customers from page to page and they are used keep track of items in a customer’s shopping cart. But these IDs cause problems for search engine spiders because they create a large number of links for the spider to crawl. This can create a situation where the search engine indexes essentially the same page over and over. Search engines like Google refer to it as a ‘spider trap’.
Below are a couple of examples of how session IDs can give the appearance of an endless number of pages within a single site. A spider coming to your website may find a page with the following URL:
This is actually the same page as before, just with a different special session ID but the spider sees it as a brand new URL. Because of this confusion, search engine spiders are programmed to avoid pages containing these session IDs.
While Google and others are trying to improve their ability to crawl URLs with session IDs, it’s best to avoid them whenever possible. It’s best to avoid them until you absolutely must track what a customer is doing, like when they start adding items to their shopping cart.
It’s also possible to store session IDs in cookies rather than URLs. Changing this may require the expertise of a web programmer though.
The gist of the story is this – the more dynamic variables in a URL, the more difficult it will be for search engines to index your pages. To maximize your position in the search engines, use simple URLs that are easy to locate, crawl and index.
It’s a common building block of optimizing websites for the search engines – links to your site are an important part of a search engine’s algorithm and thus, where your site appears in a results page.
So suffice it to say that link building is an important part of optimizing a site for the search engines.
But how do you track sites that are linking to you?
Many webmasters and SEO professionals use different tools like Google Webmaster Tools, Yahoo! Site Explorer and others to track link building. Sadly, many of these tools are inaccurate and provide different results as expressed in this HighRankings Forum thread. The undependability of these tools is best stated by Rosemary, who says “one month Yahoo would show 10,000 inbound links and the next month only 300.”
Needless to say, it is difficult to rely on tools that you don’t know much about and have no control over fixing bugs and other malfunctions. And none of them are 100% accurate.
Especially if you do SEO work for other people, you need a way to track who and how many sites are linking to you…spreadsheets are one way to do this.
Many replies in the thread focused on spreadsheets and their usefulness in effectively communicating link building efforts to clients. Many SEOs, including us, use spreadsheets to track where and when someone links to a site we’re working on. Spreadsheets also provide accountability, which is impossible with online tools like Google Webmaster Tools.
One more thing to think about that was mentioned – one webmaster in the thread said they don’t focus much at all on link popularity but simply compare their site’s position to others in that niche. Perhaps this is a good way to think about link building since you’re shooting for high rankings in your niche keywords anyway.
Let us know your experiences with link building and tracking who’s linking to you and when.
It’s been fun and a pleasure contributing to SEO-e over the course of the year. I’ve certainly learned a lot researching and writing posts on optimizing websites for the search engines and online marketing in an all-encompassing manner.
Along with our search engine optimization library, SEO-e communicates news, tips and best practices in a range of areas – SEO, copywriting, site architecture, current events at Google affecting webmasters, social media and more. We take a lot of pride in bringing you important information to optimize your site for the search engines in an easy-to-understand fashion.
We look forward to bringing you the best in 2010…now on to what we’re all here for!
Naturally, we all look forward with anticipation to what next year will bring. Our industry is constantly evolving so it’s absolutely necessary we look forward and see where we’re headed. Certainly in any effort, being malleable in adjusting your strategy to changing circumstances is a critical component of success.
Our friends over at SEOMoz recently compiled their 8 Predictions for SEO in 2010 where they share their insights into where the industry is headed. Some things are out – like real-time search at Google and Bing. Since its hastened introduction last month, reaction to it has been mostly negative. SEOs are concerned about the quality of content searchers bring up for instance.
But other things like personalized search are here to stay. It’s not clear what affect this will have on optimizing your site for the search engines but we’ll be sure you know when we learn something new.
There’s other developments in the search engine business world that’s going to affect us in 2010 as well, especially if the feds approve Bing and Yahoo’s proposed merger. We just might be referring to it as “Binghoo” this time next year.
But take a look at the 8 predictions and see what’s expected for 2010. And of course, check with us into the New Year for the latest events and tips on optimizing your site for the search engines.
