SEO Archives

5 Ways to Boost SEO with Social Media

July 16, 2013/by Corey Padveen

What can you do to boost SEO with social media?

There is a lot of debate over whether or not social media factors into your search rankings. There are those who firmly believe that social media is the ‘next big thing’ in SEO, and those who feel as though the power of social media has been taken out of context as it pertains to SEO, and that is has not real benefits at all.

The fact of the matter is that social signals do have an impact on SEO, and that you can, through the use of a few key practices, boost SEO with social media.

Focus on Google Authorship

Whether it is through blogging, Google+ or YouTube, you should try, whenever possible, to increase the authority of your name on Google.

Google Authorship is an important social signal when Google ranks its results. Ever see a blog article pop up in Google with a little picture on the left? That’s a ranking factor that should be considered when writing. The more authority your name has on Google’s social layer, the more likely those articles are to pop up when someone searches for a specified keyword.

Share Links with Your Content

When it comes to social signals, link-sharing on social networks is very similar to link-building through anchor text. While keywords do not necessarily hold as much weight on social media, your links do. When someone shares a Facebook post linking back to your site, or retweets a link you shared, search engines tend to pick that up.

Don’t miss out on an opportunity to get noticed – share some links (when they are appropriate).

Consistency

Your presence needs to be felt on social media and your content needs to be ongoing. You should be partaking in conversations on a regular basis if you want to see your search rankings improve. This results from two things. First, your content will be shared more regularly on social networks. Second, the effect of your presence on social media means a greater potential for people to search for you outside of these networks.

Social media networks are a great way to get your name out there, so be there as often as you can.

Go To the Source

Google is the world’s largest search engine. Google+ is a social network owned by Google. Ergo, one can easily conclude that Google+ is important to search rankings in Google.

It’s a fact. In a recent infographic created by Searchmetrics that measures 2013 ranking factors on Google, Google +1s topped the charts. Sharing interesting and engaging content on Google+ is going to lead to +1s on your content. +1s mean more love from Google. Join Google+ Communities, join conversations and share relevant material and you can be sure to see your rankings improve.

Integrate Social Media and SEO

These are not two standalone factors that increase your business. Social media and SEO needs to be approached together. Granted, one strategy might have been in place before the other, but that does not mean that they cannot be integrated into one another.

Look at your keywords, where your traffic is coming from and where you are finding success on both social media and SEO, and create a single strategy where the two act as complements, not competitors.

These are just a few ways you can boost SEO with social media. How have you found social media has an impact on SEO? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

Social Equity: Social Bookmarking Your Business

July 5, 2013/by Corey Padveen

How does social bookmarking your business on sites like Reddit and StumbleUpon generate Social Equity for your brand?

There is virtually no shortage of benefits when it comes to social bookmarking your business. In addition to building links, increasing your readership and targeting niche audiences, it is a relatively simple process that adds significant value to your business.

There are two areas in which social bookmarking generates Social Equity: SEO and visibility.

Social Bookmarking and SEO

It wasn’t long after social bookmarking sites like Reddit came about that SEO experts began to notice that links shared to them were treated as backlinks by search engines. While there is much that new techniques on social media have to offer with regards to SEO, backlinks are still an excellent means of increasing your SERPs.

The ability to create links to each piece of content on your website is a valuable tool, and these links remain in search engines and on social bookmarking sites indefinitely. Staying power and the ability for users to find your business through search on both engines like Google and bookmarking networks like StumbleUpon mean real value added in terms of findability and reach.

Social Bookmarking and Visibility

In keeping with the theme of findability, one can also look at the value added from social bookmarking sites as increasing your brand’s visibility inexpensively, quickly and to a very targeted market.

Similar results might require significant SEO efforts. The ability to categorize your content, share it to engaged audiences and provide pseudo titles and meta descriptions on these networks is a tremendous asset. Furthermore, results arise much quicker and, once again, generate a certain staying power for your brand online.

By showcasing your content to niche audiences, you gain a certain attribute that most other social networks do not afford: longevity. On networks like Facebook, where a post has a shelf life of roughly a few hours, or Twitter, where a tweet’s shelf life can be as short as a few minutes, the ability to maintain one’s presence for an extended period of time is virtually invaluable.

Over time, with ongoing attention paid to such a practice, a ripple effect will take place and your content will make its way across the internet, all leading back to your landing page, blog or website. It is hard to imagine too many other techniques as simple as social bookmarking that add that kind of value to a brand.

Do you share your content on social bookmarking sites like Reddit, Digg or StumbleUpon? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

4 Features Every Blog Post Should Have

June 25, 2013/by Corey Padveen

There are certain features every blog post should have in order to both be seen as a quality article by your audience and work to help build your readership.

There are some elements that put certain blogs in a category above the rest. While some of the better blogs out there are very different from one another, each post has certain features that every blog post should have. These features are what add to the overall high quality of the blog, and for yours to reach that same level, you should be incorporating these features that every blog post should have.

Though there are certain elements unique to one post or another, the four elements below should always find their way into each of your posts.

Shareability

You want your content to reach as many people as possible, right? Well then you should include means through which your audience can share it!

Adding share buttons to your blog should be one of the first things you do once you get started. The easier it is to share your great content, the faster your audience and reader loyalty will grow!

Images

Sure, images look great and add a visual aspect to your posts, but including an image with the proper alt tags is an excellent way to get found. It is important to optimize your blog for search engines in every way possible, and properly tagged images are one way to do that.

The presence of an image or two also means that Pinterest now becomes a player in the social sharing game. Recently, the photo pinning network surpassed Twitter as one of the top sources for social referral traffic and it shows no signs of stopping. So add images to your blog posts – they are far more valuable than you might think.

Questions

Get the conversation started and engage your audience every time you post. End your article with a question, or ask your audience for their thoughts. You might have a group of readers that want to take part in the conversation but still need that extra push to get involved, so give it to them!

Succinctness

You are not writing a novel. The poetics and imagery are not nearly as important as the substance. (Unless of course you are writing a blog about poetics and imagery.)

Online attention spans are not very long – only a few seconds, actually. You need to grab your audience’s attention fast and share what you need to quickly. Filling an article with fluff will mean a higher bounce rate. But if you are clear and concise you can surely expect reader to come back for more.

These are just a few features every blog post should have. There are certainly more, but these are among the most important – no matter what type of blog you are writing.

What other features have you found to be important when it comes to successful blogging? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

5 Tips for Using Google+ Effectively

June 5, 2013/by Corey Padveen

Google+ can be a tremendous resource, but you need to know how to use the network properly.

These 5 quick tips for using Google+ effectively will surely boost the engagement and traffic generated from Google+. The network – naturally owned and operated by the search giant of the same name – possesses several inherent benefits that are unique to the platform. Yet, so few people are properly utilizing the channel.

By implementing these tips for using Google+ effectively it won’t be long before your activity on the network becomes one of the pillars of your social media marketing success.

Engage with Your Audience

Though many critics argue that Google+ is a desolate wasteland on the web, the reality is that there are hundreds of millions of accounts, and even if a fraction of those are active, it is more than you will find in most other forums.

Engaging with your audience – whether it is on your account, your business page or in a community – is going to be crucial to finding success on the network. The loudest critics are often those that are not taking full advantage of the networks many features.

Build Your Circles

Shared circles are an under-utilized and under-appreciated feature on Google+. Did you know that there are plenty of users our there with hundreds of circle members that you can join for free? Search for public circles, or take advantage of the app Public Circles to find already existing communities and join in. And speaking of communities…

Join as Many Communities as Possible

Communities – one of the newer features on Google+ – set the network apart from the rest of the social media world. Communities are groups of individuals with a common, expressed interest. Furthermore, unlike Facebook, there is no EdgeRank-type algorithm that limits what these community members can see within the community; effectively, you post it, they read it.

Sharing relevant content to different communities is a great way to boost your exposure, engagement and referral traffic from the network.

Remember the Benefits to SEO

Google+ is Google. In 2012, Google’ Senior VP of Engineering, Vic Gundotra noted that Google+ is a ‘social layer’ to Google, and that everything the network does will now take social into account. When it comes to SEO, that means that Google+ will add tremendous weight to your search rankings.

Use Google Authorship

Finally, take advantage of the Google Authorship feature – the benefits to both SEO and authority are outstanding.

This relates to the tip above. The Google Authorship feature is weighted quite heavily by Google when determining search rankings. Google registers when you have been featured on another blog or website, and brings everything together under the Google+ umbrella to increase your rankings.

By taking advantage of these tips for using Google+ effectively you can be sure to see your activity, engagement and referral traffic boost.

Have you already implemented any of these tips? How have they helped your activity on Google+? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

Monitoring Your Online Reputation [INFOGRAPHIC]

June 3, 2013/by Corey Padveen

Are you actively monitoring your online reputation?

Reputation management is of growing importance online, and your reputation can be tarnished with as little as one negative post in the right place, by the right person. In order to avoid such detrimental events from taking place, you need to be on top of your game and effectively monitoring your online reputation.

There are a few figures that you might find surprising. For instance, while it might not be shocking to see that 42% of U.S. adults have performed a search on an individual or a brand before doing business with that person or company, it might surprise to read that 45% of those people discovered something online that changed their perception, and ultimately their decision to do business with that person or brand. That’s an incredibly powerful tool!

It should also be noted that among the statistics in the infographic below, one of the most important to take into account is the fact that 92% of consumers trust opinions that they have seen online. This means that no matter how much of an outlier one customer’s bad experience might be, nearly everyone who reads will consider it when making their decision. Managing and monitoring your online reputation – whether it is on social networks, blogs, forums or other media – is an extremely important task.

The detailed infographic below highlights said importance of managing and monitoring your online reputation, and provides a few great tips that can help you effectively maintain a positive image for your brand online.

Take a look and let us know if you are properly monitoring your online reputation. Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

4 Ways to Increase Sharing of Your Blog

May 29, 2013/by Corey Padveen

Blogging can be an excellent business tool, but how can you increase sharing of your blog to get the most out of it?

You might be writing great content. You might be seeing your audience grow organically online. You might even see some backlinks popping up around the web to your blog. But how can you increase sharing of your blog to a wider audience?

There are a few tested and proven ways of going about increasing the sharing of your content, and these tips should help you increase sharing of your blog in no time.

Integrate Sharing Plugins on Your Blog

It may seem like a given, but you would be surprised at how many blogs do not make it easy to share. There should be a number of options all over your blog that allow users to share you content.

Put yourself in the position of your readers: you read an article, you like it, you want to post it to a social network. Would you be more motivated to do so if you had to copy the link, open a new window, log into your social account, paste the link and share it, or simply click a button and share it to every one?

Yeah, we picked the second one, too.

Promote Yourself

The best way to get your content out there is to get the sharing started yourself. Waiting for the numbers to increase organically is a slow, sometimes frustrating process. Give yourself an extra boost and get it started yourself by sharing all of your content on every network for each post.

Short and Original

Making it an easy read and something completely original stands a much greater chance of increasing shares when compared to a long, repetitive, unoriginal post.

People like reading content they have never seen before. Even if it is a subject that has been discussed a hundred times, a personal view is always going to captivate an audience. That, coupled with the short, to-the-point style of writing is going to encourage readers to share the great piece.

(Hint: Lists are among the most shared content on social networks, so try and organize your content into an easily navigable list for your readers to sift through.)

Ask!

According to Dan Zarrella at HubSpot, asking for a re-tweet generates four times the number of re-tweets. There is no shame in asking your readers to share your content. After all, you want people to see what you wrote – that’s no secret.

When sharing your own content, add that little request into your post and see how the response is significantly higher (assuming, of course, it is still great content) than it was before.

We all want to see our content get shared, and these tips are a great way to get you started when it comes to increasing the number of shares your blog posts are getting.

How do you increase sharing of your blog? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

Social Equity: The Big (Now Even Bigger) Value of Tumblr

May 24, 2013/by Corey Padveen

Tumblr has long been a great tool when it comes to creating Social Equity, and recently it’s value increased even more.

At the beginning of the week, Tumblr was acquired by Yahoo!, and the value of the social blogging platform increased significantly; and that is up from a significant value to begin with.

Blogging is one of the most crucial components to getting found online. Companies that blog get 55% more traffic and 70% more leads. Blogs are a great way of establishing your expertise and developing brand loyalists. We discussed the value of blogging in a Social Equity segment not long ago. The added value of Tumblr is the inherent social aspect.

Tumblr is a social network designed specifically for blogging. The value added to your business is derived from the existing base of readers (Tumblr users) and the integrated social sharing capabilities.

The Social Equity Derived from Tumblr

As noted above, there are two major factors that contribute to the Social Equity derived from your business’s use of Tumblr.

First, there is the existing readership. When you create a blog – either a standalone blog or one on your company’s website – you have to work at reaching a new audience. Essentially, you are one of the billions of pages on the web vying for the attention of a very distracted bunch. Furthermore, you are trying to get a group with an 8-second attention span to read a post containing several hundred words – that’s a tough goal to accomplish.

Tumblr’s existing user base of 216 million monthly visitors are coming for the express purpose of reading an article. The ability to optimize your blog and reach out to an already established audience means a great deal of time and effort saved, and a greater chance of showcasing your brand and expertise to an engaged audience.

Second, there is the social aspect that is inherent to Tumblr. As we mentioned, Tumblr is a social network. The ability to share your content across multiple networks and to reach an audience that expands far beyond your Tumblr followers is of great value. It means that you can quickly build your clout on the network (as well as others) and engage users on Facebook and Twitter (the two additional networks to which you can share your content directly from Tumblr) that might have otherwise never known you had a blog.

Tumblr’s New Value

The biggest news of the week was Yahoo!’s acquisition of Tumblr. While it is speculation at the moment, one can make a few educated assumptions about what that will mean for the future of the network.

As we have seen with Google+ and YouTube, social networks operated by search engines tend to be given heavier weight in search rankings. Therefore, we can safely assume that this same added weight will be given to Tumblr (with regards to tags, keywords, links, etc.) in Yahoo! search results in the very near future. This adds considerable value on top of what was already an impressive degree of Social Equity from the features above.

To read up on some additional facts and figures related to Tumblr, read this article.

Are you using Tumblr? Where do you see the value derived from your activity on the network? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

8 Tips for Optimizing Posts on Social Media

May 21, 2013/by Corey Padveen

Optimizing posts on social media can significantly boost your engagement, reach and influence across a number of networks.

When it comes to optimizing posts on social media, there are certain elements that are universal, and should be applied to posts on every one of your networks. Below we have showcased some of the most important tips when it comes to optimizing posts on social media.

Engage Your Audience

No matter where you are posting, you should be sharing content that engages your audience. Sure, sharing fun facts and information is important, but are you following that up with a related question? Where is the incentive to get your audience commenting, liking, sharing and talking? It is always going to be important that you keep engagement in mind no matter where you are posting.

Optimize Your Content for SEO

Each network contains different elements for SEO. (To find out more about those in detail, read some of these articles.) It is important that SEO is on your checklist when it comes to social media. Each network possesses different benefits when it comes to SEO, and in order to increase your findability, you need to incorporate those into your posting strategy.

Maintain Your Voice

The voice you create for your brand on social media needs to be clear in everything you write. Consistency is going to be crucial to getting your message across. After all, on social media, people are engaging with your brand’s personality, not simply your company. By maintaining that personality across all of your posts, people will be all the more willing to engage with you.

Consistency is Important

A posting spree followed by weeks of silence is going to hurt your brand. Consistently sharing relevant content with your network will keep your brand on the forefront of their mind, and it will do wonders when it comes to converting those fans into customers. Furthermore, sharing content on a regular basis will encourage visitors to return to your page frequently.

Make Sure You Are Linking Back

Social signals are of ever-growing importance in the world of SE (see the point above) and using social media as a back-linking strategy is going to be a big asset. When creating content on any of your chosen networks, be sure that you are linking back to your site whenever possible. As your build your network, this will serve as one of the most important linking strategies you have in place.

Engage in Conversations

Social networks are great for broadcasting your brand and showcasing your expertise, but the best way to see your referral traffic skyrocket is by engaging in the conversation with your network on your own posts. When someone responds to a tweet, post or update on any of your channels, you should engage with them. Whether it is a retweet, a share, or a simple ‘Like’, people will appreciate a reciprocal effort to engage.

Explain Your Links

Simply sharing a link with no explanation as to where it is going will mean a low click-through rate. Create a short but enticing description to go along with your link. Perhaps as a question that encourages the reader to find out more. When linking on social networks, provide readers with a reason to click on it.

Be Visual

There is a reason why Pinterest is so popular – human beings are visual by nature. Google+ is a great place to share images, and on Facebook, photos generate 104% more comments than the average post, and 53% more Likes. Use the visual nature of most social networks to your advantage, and get your content seen.

These are just a few tips you can use when looking to optimize the content you share on social media. Can you offer any other tips? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

5 Tips to Optimize Landing Pages for Conversion

May 20, 2013/by Corey Padveen

If you properly optimize landing pages for conversion, then you can expect higher clicks, results and engagement!

Social media is a great referral source for landing pages, and with every landing page we are hoping for some form of conversion. Whether that is a sign-up, a download or a purchase, we want visitors to take that next step.

In order for a landing page to work in your favor and lead to that next step, you need to properly optimize landing pages for conversion. There are several ways you can go about doing this – after all, optimizing a site or a page may differ depending on who you are trying to target. But when it comes to surefire ways to effectively optimize landing pages for conversion, there are 5 main items that should always be on your checklist.

Is there a clear Call-to-Action (CTA)?

When I get to your landing page, do I know what to do next? Is it clear how I am supposed to proceed? This is going to be the most important element to any optimized page – you need a clear Call-to-Action.

According to the inbound marketing experts at HubSpot, you’ll want to avoid negative action phrases like “Submit” and focus more on phrases like “Download Now”, “Get Your Free Trial”, “Speak to an Expert” or “Buy Now”. This reduces anxiety and friction for the visitor.

Do You Convey Who You Are?

When I get to your landing page, do I know who you are? Be sure to brand your page. Consistency is everything when it comes to online marketing; you are creating a personality with which people are interacting, and that personality needs to be as apparent on your landing pages as it is on your social networks.

Is It Simple?

Am I going to be turned off by your landing page? Using flash, too many colors and varying fonts is going to turn people off and result in lower conversion rates. You are going to want to keep it simple, to the point and clean. The easier it is for the visitor to find and click on your CTA, the higher those rates are going to be.

(Extra Tip: The only area where there should be a contrasting color on your landing page is in the CTA button.)

Is Your Page Properly Formatted?

Headlines, images, and forms are just a few examples of professionalism when it comes to landing pages. And professionalism is key. If your page is all over the place and I don’t feel like it was put together with professionalism in mind, I am, in all likelihood, going to leave the page without asking for more information, buying now, or downloading your e-book. Proper formatting goes a long way.

Here are some examples of stunning, effective landing pages.

Can Your Content be Shared?

I love what I see. I not only want to get more information for myself, but for my colleagues and friends. Is there a simple way for me to do it?

Make sure your content is shareable. I shouldn’t have to copy your link, go to my Outlook, create an email and do the work for you; the more steps there are, the lower the conversion will be. With the click of a button (using ShareThis, for example) I should be able to share your content to every one of my social networks and my entire email address book.

While you are going to want to configure some landing pages differently based on the audience you are looking to target, these elements should remain consistent across every one of your landing page campaigns.

Have you seen success with landing pages? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

Social Equity: Big Value in Company Pages

May 10, 2013/by Corey Padveen

Social Equity receives a major boost with the added value from company pages on different networks.

From LinkedIn to Facebook, there is a way to feature your company, its services, history and expertise on almost every network. the result? Major Social Equity.

In this week’s Social Equity segment, we look at how company pages on Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ and YouTube add value to your business.

Facebook and Google+

We all know about Pages on Facebook and Google+. But with so much taking place on the networks, it is easy for your content to get lost in the noise. The most frustrating part? You might have some great content and a product that attracts a lot of potential customers. Having Facebook and Google+ Pages allows those leads to find everything you are offering in one central place.

Facebook takes a lot of criticism for their EdgeRank algorithm. But the truth is, EdgeRank provides a means of filtering out the noise so that those who “Like” your page, product and content have all of the information you share to the pages featured on their news feed.

The value in Facebook and Google+ Pages is simple: these are hubs that allow reciprocal engagement between your brand and fans in a central place while offering you a chance to share content towards which they have expressed an interest. On the plus side (that’s a pun, considering the point that follows) +1 and shares from your pages add a considerable benefit to your SEO, which further derives value to your business.

LinkedIn

The Company Page on LinkedIn is the strongest in terms of adding value to your business.

First, there is the Services tab. The ability to showcase your products and services to an engaged audience disrupts the conventional model of print advertising. Furthermore, the ability to link these sections to appropriate landing pages means both the ability to create backlinks and the ability to drive sales and traffic through LinkedIn.

Second, there is the ability to build a following on your page (as with other networks) and share content to those followers in an effort to drive new business. Unlike Facebook and Google+, LinkedIn offers the ability to broadcast and showcase your business to the engaged audience following your page. Users are following you knowing that LinkedIn is a medium in which companies aim to derive new business, and an active, engaging and popular page translates into Social Equity.

YouTube

A YouTube channel is an important feature, and one that can be very beneficial both in terms of its value to your business’s image and your overall Social Equity.

The ability to centralize all of your videos means two things: first, viewers can easily find your videos and, on the channel, discover more about your business and research your company further, outside of YouTube. Second, the optimization of a channel and your videos can be a tremendous SEO tool. Lone videos in the YouTube universe can easily disappear. With a discoverable, optimized channel, your business is easily showcased to your audience in video form.

Effectively, the true value of all of these pages lies in the disruption they cause to conventional marketing. No longer are you required to focus on print marketing. These pages are your corporate portfolio, and they are live, evolving elements that continually showcase your business.

In which social media company pages do you find the most value? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

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