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Get More Content on your Blog through Guest Posting

February 7, 2011 By admin

Guest posts on your blog offer many advantages. As you know (…and probably have heard a gigillion times) content, content, content.

Being successful at blogging requires a steady stream of fresh, engaging content. The more the better but usually once a week is the absolute minimum. Two years ago for instance, we were posting 3 posts a week on SEOe.

But building that content takes time – time to research, time to write, time to edit and time to manage comments and so on. With only so many hours in the day, it may seem daunting and maybe even impossible to write enough posts readers find engaging and informative.

If I had a nickel for every blog that gets started and putters out, I could retire to a life of leisure tomorrow.

Unfortunately though, many blog owners and small businesses find it very challenging to maintain a flow of consistent copy.

MyBlogGuest.com is a service where you can connect with other bloggers and find great guest material

Guest posting has several benefits for both blog owners and blog writers.

One benefit for you – the blog owner – is that you can maintain steady flow of content much easier. For example, if you’re too busy to write something from scratch yourself, find an article on MyBlogGuest.com to use.

Two ways blog owners can get material for their blog

One is to find articles authors have already posted on the site. There’s a wide range of topics available.

The other is to find authors in your niche and contact them directly.

Of course, guest posts benefit the blog owner by widening the audience. If you have a guest posting something on your blog, their readers are naturally going to be interested. And don’t forget the opportunities for networking and getting a fresh new perspective from others in your field.

For writers, guest blogging helps build their brand, reach new audiences and build links to their site(s).

To get more benefit from MyBlogGuest.com, you should write two or three posts/articles and put them on the site for distribution. Someone will eventually pick them up and use them on their blog. Of course, they have to be members to do this and must follow strict guidelines for crediting the author and linking to their site.

Ann Smarty, creator of MyBlogGuest.com, has a tremendously powerful tool here. I look forward to using it and helping others use tools like this to help them build their blogs. Expect to see more guest posts (…perhaps one a month) here on SEOe going forward.

And if you find any other services like these, let us know by leaving a comment.

My Blog Guest

Filed Under: Copywriting/SEO Content Development, Online Marketing, Tip of the Day Tagged With: , , , , , ,

4 Components of the Marketing Funnel and how they relate to Social Media Channels

November 16, 2010 By admin

Anyone with a cursory knowledge of marketing is aware of the AIDA funnel – Awareness, Interest, Desire and Action.

Even in the age of SEO and social media tools like Facebook, this marketing funnel is still extremely relevant although some slight modifications are required. Each section of the AIDA funnel represents an important component of your marketing process. They help you set expectations and even determine metrics to measure your goals against.

Continue reading for a breakdown of this marketing funnel along with some additions in the new age of social media.

Awareness, Interest, Desire, Action

Awareness, Interest, Desire, Action

Awareness

Awareness is the bread and butter of any social media channel – whether it is Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter or any of the minor networks. Rather than being your point of sale, they’re more like your communications and outreach tools…think of them as the spokes of a wheel that lead back to the hub. The hub in this case is your blog, landing page(s), shopping cart and other places designed to convert visitors into customers.

Conversation frequency, increased mentions and sentiment are a few of the metrics to consider with awareness. Remember, you have to let people know you’re out there and that you can solve a problem they have.

Interest

Once you have their attention, you have to pique their interest. You can do this by offering something special like buy one, get one free, free shipping or some other offer. Provide compelling reasons as to why you’re better than the competition and how you can solve the visitor’s problem. If you’re talking about a specific product or service, link to a specific landing page rather than a homepage.

Click-thru rates (CTR), retweets/Facebook status updates and conversations about your products are a few of the metrics to consider.

Desire

Social media can also help build desire for your products and services. However, your corresponding site needs to be easy to use in order to carry that desire all the way to the end. If your site is hard to understand or navigate, then you’re likely going to kill any desire your visitors may have. Move your customer from interest to desire by having a clean, navigable site with lots of information.

Bounce rate, time on site, pages viewed and incoming links are some of the metrics you can use to determine the effectiveness of your efforts.

Action

At this point, your site is the primary tool. You’ve built the desire so all that’s needed from here is for you to close the deal…social media isn’t going to have much influence here. Therefore, like desire, you’re going to have to be sure you have a usable site that’s easily navigable.

Metrics like conversion rate and ROI will give you a full picture of how well your efforts are working…and the ones your boss will be most interested in.

Two More Levels to the Marketing Funnel – Loyalty and Advocacy

Loyalty and advocacy are two components that should be added to the AIDA funnel to better reflect the realities of social media and marketing online. Maintain loyalty by thanking customers through Facebook and Twitter and let them know you’re always available to answer questions or address concerns.

Advocacy is another important component of social media marketing, and the most desired. Customers who are happy with your products/services will let their friends know. But to make this happen, you need to make it easy for them to share your brand. “Like” and “Retweet” buttons in convenient locations are a great way to help this along.

The AIDA funnel certainly isn’t perfect and not all of the steps are required. You don’t need to live and die by this funnel…people can skip a level or go through multiple levels at once.

But it’s important to factor the AIDA funnel into your online marketing strategy. It should help you focus and prioritize your efforts for success.

Filed Under: Copywriting/SEO Content Development, Online Marketing, Social Media, Tip of the Day Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

5 Steps to Obtaining Organic Links through Blog Comments

October 14, 2010 By admin

Anyone who manages or owns a blog knows about comments and how many of them are simply spammers looking for links. After seeing so many “spammy” comments on your blog, it’s hard to imagine you can earn legitimate organic links from commenting on other people’s blog.

Well in fact, you can if you do it right.

If done properly, you’re really developing relationships with other bloggers rather than fishing for links. Over time, this is a way more beneficial and practical approach. Other bloggers will see you read their material and benefit from it and may even cite something you write in one of their posts, giving you another organic link right there.

So how do I gain organic links for my blog through blog comments? Continue reading for 5 steps you can use to do just that.

1. Read the entire post you’re commenting on

You wouldn’t think so but many blog comments have absolutely nothing to do with the material in the post…this is a red flag for a ‘spammy’ comment. Be sure and read the entire post before commenting and either have some constructive criticism or a question to ask.

2. Identify yourself

You will also want to include your name in the right field. Many spam links contain keywords the link builder is trying to get links for. If you must include keywords, be sure you have your name first.

3. Be friendly and personal

Another way to build organic links and build relationships is to be friendly and personal. Address the blogger by their first name and thank them for the good post…just a couple ways to be friendly

4. Contribute something valuable to the discussion

Don’t simply say “great post” or something like that. Add to the points they mention in their post or provide some constructive criticism or ask a question. If you disagree with their conclusions, respectfully state why…don’t be rude about it.

5. Come back again and keep in touch

Don’t simply leave a comment and never return. Check in often and comment when you have something to add. Consistent visits and comments help you build the relationship that will lead to a link. Be sure to subscribe to their comments so you can see if they reply to you or if someone has something to add to your comments.

Commenting on others’ blogs is a great way to network with like minded professionals and build your online presence.

Links signal to the search engines that your blog and website are important and view links as a vote of confidence from whoever is linking to you. The bigger the site linking to you, the bigger the impact it can have. But start small in the beginning and grow the quantity and quality of your links in tandem.

Filed Under: SEO Technology, Tip of the Day Tagged With: , , ,

9 Steps to Properly Filming a Video Interview

August 11, 2010 By admin

More and more, adding interviews to your website and blog are a great way to drive interest and traffic to your site. But many online marketers have yet to adopt this strategy out of lack of experience and equipment.

What you first need to have is someone to interview, or an interviewee. You can find someone just about anywhere – maybe a coworker or the CEO of your company. Or maybe even a client or a prominent figure in your industry who can share their views with your readers.

Once you have someone in mind and they have agreed to be interviewed, you need to prepare for the actual filming. Continue reading for 9 steps to properly film a video interview to ensure your interview goes as smoothly as possible and accomplishes your goals.

1. Know what your interview is about beforehand

First thing you need to do is develop your questions and send them to the interviewee ahead of time. The interview itself isn’t the time to figure out what your story will be about…be prepared for that before you even enter the room.

2. Take a moment and get to know the interviewee before setting up

Before you get your camera equipment out, take a few moments to build a rapport with the interviewee. This will get both of you in a more relaxed state of mind for the interview. If one or both of you are new to interviewing, you will need to calm down before going any further. Let the interviewee see you care about them and are appreciative of their time.

3. Setup camera equipment before they sit down

Wait until you have setup your camera equipment before having the interviewee sit down. Once you’ve set all of the equipment up, have them sit down to make your final adjustments.

4. Make sure you like where the interviewee is looking

Once your camera is setup and the interviewee is in place, be sure you’re okay with where the interviewee is looking. You will want them to maintain eye contact with you so don’t stand directly behind the camera but next to it a couple of feet away.

5. Stay in one place

The interviewee will keep looking at you so if you’re wandering around, that will look weird on film. Stay in one place and maintain eye contact with the interviewee.

6. Focus your camera closely

A big face in an online video is a good thing…focus your camera closely to get more of the interviewee’s face onto the screen.

7. Be aware of your background

Do your best to have a background free of any distractions. Don’t have anything going on behind them and check to see how any tall objects like power poles or trees look on the video. You don’t want to have your interviewee look like they have tree trunk growing out of their head!

8. Pay close attention to lighting

While you don’t want the interviewee to be squinting because of light in their eyes, you don’t want to have sunlight or strong light behind them either. This will make it difficult for viewers to see the interviewee. If you’re indoors, you may need to move lighting or get a lamp to balance out other light sources in the room.

9. Wear headphones to filter out abstract noises

Any kind of noise can come along and ruin your video. Keep your headphones on to monitor any abstract noises that may come along and ruin your video.

These are a few of the things you need to keep in mind when filming an interview. Below you can see some both good and bad ways to position someone on camera.

In the end, you can edit the film, post it on YouTube, link to it through your blog and include a short summary of the interview for those who prefer to read (…and to reap some of the advantages of SEO). And you can let the interviewee know when it’s up so they can link to it from their blog, giving you another high-quality link to your site.

Filed Under: Online Marketing, Tip of the Day Tagged With: , , , ,

Proposed Legislation Will Place Additional Burden on Webmasters and SEO Marketers

June 28, 2010 By admin

In our periodic look at what’s happening on a regulatory level, two bills are currently working their way through Congress that could potentially affect webmasters and online marketers…making yourself aware of any new requirements is important for effectively managing a small business online.

Ignorance of the law is no excuse for the authorities so it’s important we’re all on guard so we don’t find ourselves in any trouble.

Privacy bill could mean increased disclosure requirements, privacy protections

One idea floating around Congress that’s seeing traction is an Internet consumer privacy bill being proposed by Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA), chair of the House Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Technology & the Internet.

Rep. Boucher’s bill is more of a privacy bill for consumers. Its main target is online advertisers who target consumers through behavioral advertising. Many online advertisers – including Facebook with their new ‘like’ features – examine behavior patterns online to target advertising to relevant parties, which in turn increases conversions.

Behavioral technology tracks a user’s searches, how long the stay on a page and even the sites they visit. Data is then taken by advertisers to establish behavior patterns and online demographics.

Web advertisers fear this bill will require web users to opt-in, causing them to lose an important tool in how they target potential customers. However, Rep. Boucher says he supports an opt-out option where web users can choose whether they want their information shared or not.

“If I were [a publisher or advertiser], I would want Internet users to have a sense that their experience is more secure, that they know what information is collected about them, and they be given much more control. They will be more trusting of electronic commerce. . . .it’s good for business,” says the representative from Virginia.

Whatever happens, there will certainly be increased regulation like new disclosure requirements and legal forms indicating how a site tracks data and uses it.

Financial Reform Bill grants new powers to FTC

Tucked inside the financial reform bill passed by the House last November was a provision expanding the Federal Trade Commission’s powers to allow them to impose civil penalties on companies engaging in “unfair” or “deceptive” trade practices.

Since the mid-1970’s, the agency had to hear public testimony and a congressional review had to occur before any penalties could be imposed on the business. With this new power, the agency will basically decide for itself with no public scrutiny what constitutes unfair advertising practices.

Ad industry groups fear this could lead to the FTC acting as an “unelected legislature,” basically giving it free rein over regulating Internet commerce.

The financial reform bill is currently being debated between the two chambers. The House passed its version late last year and the Senate this past April. Both chambers are reconciling their differences, which will need to pass. President Obama has indicated he will sign the bill when it arrives on his desk.

This bill seems more dangerous than Rep. Boucher’s privacy bill since it directly expands an agency’s enforcement authority.

Appointees to the FTC are chosen by the President so vesting this much authority in a centralized executive authority could be dangerous from a checks and balances perspective.

Boucher’s privacy bill is understandable in a big way but it will certainly add new requirements for webmasters and SEO marketers. The combination of the two could be a double whammy for any of us marketing our businesses online.

Stay tuned…

Filed Under: Forum Watch, Online Marketing Tagged With: , , , , , ,
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