Oct
5
Keywords Demystified
Filed Under Laws and Rules of Thumb, Search Engines | 7 Comments
Needle in a Haystack?
There are millions of websites and billions of words of information on the Internet. You would think that finding anything would be like looking for a needle in a proverbial haystack.
Fortunately some of the savviest entrepreneurs have hired some of the smartest geeks to write some of the coolest computer programs ever written that allow us to find just about anything out there on the World Wide Web. These programs I refer to are what you and I call search engines.
The most popular search engines today are Google, MSN Live, Yahoo! and AOL. While Google is the most popular, each of the others has plenty of loyal users too.
The search engines travel throughout the Web reading web pages and saving information about these pages for future reference, a process called indexing. When a page has been visited and stored away, we say that the web page has been indexed.
What are Keywords?
When we want to find something online, we bring up our favorite search engine and type some words into its search box. These words which closely relate to the information we want are called search terms or keywords.
We enter keywords, and the search engine responds with pages of results called search engine result pages – SERPs for short – that it retrieves from its index files.
If we are happy with the results, fine. Otherwise we try entering a different keyword combination, or we change the order of the search terms and try again.
Every Search Engine Must Do This
A good search engine is one that consistently finds us the web pages that are the most relevant to our search based on our chosen keywords.
The top priority of a search engine must be to retrieve and return to us the most relevant and helpful web pages. If it doesn’t, then we’ll look to a competitor’s search engine instead.
Search engines always focus on satisfying users, not website owners and not even paying advertisers.
Crime and Punishment
Website owners sometimes try to deceive search engines by stuffing keywords into their web pages completely out of context. They hope thereby to drive their pages up to the top of the search results.
This tactic, a form of spam called spamdexing because it spams the indexing process, once fooled search engines, but that is no longer the case.
Spamdexing can be spotted by sophisticated search engine algorithms and punished appropriately. A site might even be delisted altogether.
Once this happens it could be a long time before the site re-establishes its credibility and regains its standing.
Golden Rule of Web Design
Create your web site content with your visitors in mind. Your visitors and search engines will react favorably, and everybody will win in the long run.
With keyword research you can find the optimal keywords to use in your web pages, words or phrases that many people are searching for, but not so many that the competition for those keywords will be too fierce.
This is a good place for creativity. Keyword selection is both an art and a science.
However, whatever keywords you select to use in your web page, keep this in mind:
Somebody will read what you write, so always be sure that what you write is worth reading.
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Aug
7
Top 10 Blogging Success Factors
Filed Under Favorite Posts, Search Engines, Social Media and Social Networking Sites, blogging | 9 Comments
Nearly every day I hear from people who want to know how to start a blog or how to have a more successful blog.
I admit that I’m still learning myself, but I’ve made great progress in the nine months since I started blogging.
This past month alone my Online Social Networking blog received 5,202 visits including 1,993 visits from search engines.
My Google PageRank is up to 3, and my Alexa traffic rank is 181,032. These stats put my blog in the top 1% of all websites.
What are the critical success factors contributing to my rapid progress?
My Personal Blog Philosophy
There are ten success strategies that shape my blog philosophy.
- Blogging Mindset - Writing and publishing a successful blog is a major project that requires very big commitment. Blogging requires that you move forward at all times. So often people start blogging and give up. They didn’t have the blogging mindset, and they weren’t willing to do what successful bloggers do.
- Research and Planning - Before I wrote one word on my blog, before I decided what to call my blog, before I purchased a domain name for my blog, I did plenty of research. Where should my blog be hosted? What platform should it run on? What will I write about, and which keywords will I optimize for? These questions and more were addressed up front and their answers formed my initial plan of action.
- Bias for Action - Getting started and keeping your momentum going is essential if you want to have a successful blog. While adequate preparation is important, a time comes when you must “draw a line in the sand”, stop preparing and begin writing. Your ongoing research and writing need to become routine. Don’t worry if your articles aren’t perfect. You can edit your posts after publishing them, and it could even help with the search engines to do so.
- Experimentation and Tracking - Every blogging enterprise is different, and you’ll need to find the mix of strategies and tactics that are right for your blog. If you install Google Analytics, you’ll be able to track your blog’s traffic. You’ll know what is working and what’s not. Materminding with friends and mentors is another way to gain valuable insights.
- Correction as Needed - When you discover something that’s not working, you’ll look to refine it or replace it. Ongoing tracking will provide you with the feedback you need to make the necessary correction in your direction to stay on course.
- High Quality Content - Quality content to me means writing with both the reader and the search engines in mind. It means writing well, revising the text many times, proofreading, etc. It also means choosing topics that will make readers want to return to your blog. Please don’t write long run-on paragraphs. Make it easy for your reader to go through your article on the screen without having to print it out… Because they won’t. And one more thing, until you have tons of visitors reading your blog every day, don’t even consider cluttering it up with cheesy ads.
- Online Social Networking - The best way to find readers and subscribers for your blog is at social networking sites. For this purpose you can use most business networking sites or networking sites that cater to bloggers such as Entrecard and MyBlobLog. Carefully inviting site members to visit your blog is a nice way to reach out to them — not at all spammy. Make it easy for your readers to subscribe. My readers have three ways to opt in, registration, RSS Feed and autoresponder.
- Search Engine Optimization - Treat every blog post as a website that will one day stand on its own, because it will. It will eventually works it’s way down and off your blog’s cover page. Use keyword research to find the best words and phrases to use in your articles. Make sure that your main search terms are neither too general nor too competitive to earn you good placement in the search engines. Don’t limit yourself to using only your primary keywords in your text. Using all relevant search terms, even the ones that are hard to compete for, will turn you article into a search engine magnet.
- Social Bookmarking - Using social media sites such as Digg and del.icio.us to anchor and promote your blog posts is very important. Social Marker will help you find more bookmarking sites and facilitate the bookmarking process. Be sure to familiarize yourself with the terms of service of each of the social media sites you use, so that you don’t get banned. Bookmark articles using their individual URL, not your blog’s URL, since each article is its own website, not just a part of the blog.
- Patience and Time - Over time your traffic will increase, so will your credibility, and you’ll gain subscribers. Don’t expect much before three months, and give yourself a full year to become a blogging superstar.
For more articles on blogging, blog marketing and SEO see Blog Marketing and SEO Training.
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Aug
3
Social Media Learning Curve
Filed Under Favorite Posts, Networking and Marketing Strategy, Search Engines, Social Media and Social Networking Sites, blogging, communication | 13 Comments
The Case for Social Media Marketing
It is becoming increasingly more difficult and more expensive to reach potential customers using mass media. That’s one reason why so many marketers are turning to Web 2.0 social media marketing.
Not only do marketers want to reduce their advertising expense, they also want to connect more directly with people and learn how to better serve their target market.
Social media marketing is especially attractive to small business owners operating on modest budgets, since most social networking sites and other social media sites are generally free to use.
Steep Learning Curve
They read a story such as Beyond Blogs in the June 2nd issue of Business Week, and they rush off to embrace Web 2.0 social media unprepared for the steep learning curve that lies ahead.
The social media landscape is uncharted and sprawling. Social media sites are vying for your attention, and searching the Internet for advice turns up sharply conflicting recommendations.
Need for Mentor
Clearly you need a mentor, somebody smart and knowledgeable with especially strong communication skills. You should find somebody with whom you feel comfortable, because you’ll definitely be getting to know each other. Picking a mentor is difficult.
Effective Communication #1 Challenge
Once you find your mentor mastering essential social media marketing skills will be difficult. To get fully up to speed might take a year or even longer.
That is the bad news.
In my opinion, the hardest part of social media marketing training is learning effective communication, i.e., to write, speak, listen and persuade well and in a professional manner.
There are certainly plenty of technical challenges to overcome, but by far communication is the chief obstacle new social media marketers face. If you happen to have the right mix of communication skills, you’re way ahead of most newcomers.
Your mentor can teach you personal and business branding, online social networking, blogging, video marketing, social bookmarking, SEO and other important skills. He or she can also critique your communication style, but it will be you who will connect directly with your target market and build vital business relationships.
Get Started Now and Learn as You Go
Now the good news.
You don’t have to master every skill, dot every “i” and cross every “t” before getting started.
Find a good mentor to guide you, jump in and get your feet wet. Learn by doing.
As Mike Litman always says: “You don’t have to get it right, you just have to get it going.”
Your results will serve as feedback to help you to make the necessary corrections along the way… and that is good news.
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Jun
27
New Information Product
Filed Under News, Search Engines | Leave a Comment
Marketing and Keyword Research
I met Marcus Hochstadt several months ago through our participation at one of my favorite social networking sites for bloggers called Entrecard.
I recently previewed and gave a thumbs up to Marcus’ new keyword research home study course which will help you identify niches in both US and international markets.
The training is geared to both newbies and advanced Internet marketers. I got some great ideas from watching the videos.
Marcus shows in great detail how to use a number of free but powerful research tools.
Here’s what I wrote in my review:
I enjoyed your course very much.
I liked your in-depth look at free tools that people can leverage and assess online market potential as well as select relevant keywords.
Your introduction made a case for research, and I was lead to believe that the course would be for beginners. Once I got into the body of the course, I realized that it is also valuable for professionals.
I have experience, so I found your course very valuable, because it took me to places where I hadn’t gone before.
Read the course details and place your order at Marcus’ blog.
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Jun
8
Website or Online Presence?
Filed Under Networking and Marketing Strategy, Search Engines | 6 Comments
I’m taking a couple of days off from work, and I’m leaving you with the following thought:
A website is not necessarily an Internet presence.
Some websites are no more than online business cards. They display the owner’s contact information along with some eye catching graphics, but provide little or no information about the business or organization.
I admit that such a site is not very common, but they do exist.
Here’s one that actually belongs to a web designer who is selling “Engine Optimized Web Solutions”:
Pretty amazing isn’t it?
Seeing is believing!
If there is information, but it’s contained in a flash presentation, then from a search engine’s point of view the site is devoid of content. Search engines are unable to decipher flash or pictures.
When pictures are part of a website, it’s important to tell the search engine what the picture is by using an “alt” description atrribute in the HTML “img” tag. Then the picture adds search value to the site. Also, if for some reason the picture doesn’t load, the description will appear instead.
If there is a lot of good information on the site, but there’s no way to capture a visitor’s contact details, or there isn’t an effective search engine optimization strategy, then the website is merely an Internet-based brochure.
Mosts websites are online brochures and no more. They lack an effective lead capture mechanism, or they lack an effective keyword strategy, or all too often they lack both.
Blogs are naturally full of rich content. Add to the mix a choice of subscription methods for lead capture and good keyword research, and you have the makings of a blog marketing strategy.
In my Blog Marketing and SEO Training series, I hope to provide you with lots of creative input as you develop your online presence.
Don’t miss any posts. Register, it’s easy, or subscribe to my RSS feed! You can also subscribe by e-mail using the form at the top of the home page sidebar.
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Jun
5
To Blog, or not to Blog, that is the Question
Filed Under Networking and Marketing Strategy, Search Engines, blogging | 4 Comments
Or is it?
Your plate is very full. Don’t get me wrong. I understand. I really do.
You wonder how you could possibly fit blogging into your hectic schedule. You also wonder whether you have the wherewithal to adequately research and write articles week after week, something that you believe good bloggers ought to do.
Before addressing these issues, let’s take a step back and discuss a scenario that you’re familiar with if you engage in business networking at your local small business association, chamber of commerce or business networking group.
Business Networking Model
At a business networking meeting, you meet several people you feel you’d like to get to know.
You exchange business cards, and being a sharp networker, you resolve to get in touch with these new contacts as quickly as possible once you return to your office. You know very well that if you want to get something going, you’ll have to be the one to take the first step.
Unfortunately most people simply won’t follow up. They’ll hope that you’ll be sufficiently impressed with them and their business card, brochure or website to pick up the phone and call them to get the ball rolling.
You’re not as impressed as they would like, but you do understand business networking and human nature, so you take the initiative and give them a ring.
Your phone converation goes well. You ask enough questions to build rapport and to identify at least one business problem they have for which you should be able to provide a solution.
You sense that it’s too early in the relationship to try and sell them your idea. Instead you’ll maintain contact with them to build mutual trust and respect in accordance with the First Law of building relationships: Nobody cares what you say until they know that you care.
At this point what do the textbooks tell you to do?
They say that you should call periodically and look for newspaper and magazine clippings to send — along with a personal note of course.
Suppose that you have a hundred good contacts, and suppose also that you want to mail and speak to each one about every two months. That’s about eleven calls and the same number of news clippings per week or about two of each per day.
Even if you’re a sociable person, that’s going to be a hard schedule to stick with over a long period of time. You would have to be a master networker to make such a scheme work for you.
Blog Marketing to the Rescue
Fortunately blog marketing comes to your aid.
You invite your contacts to visit your blog, and ask permission to register them as a subscriber.
If they accept, you’ll be able to keep them in the loop with a reasonable amount of effort. Even if you write only one blog post per week, they’ll still hear from you every week. They have the option to comment on your articles and start a conversation within your blog’s community.
They can get to know you really well, and this will help as much or more than sending them clippings every couple of months. They may even give you cues to let you know when they’re ready to do business. You’ll be able to pick up the phone and tell them your idea, and they’ll be favorably pre-disposed to accept it.
All this is wonderful, but there’s even more.
Put Your SEO Training to Work
Many people will find you through the search engines if you’ve done good keyword research, and if you’ve paid enough attention to ongoing search engine optimization.
Make it easy for your visitors to subscribe, and those who like you will.
The search engines will be working on your behalf even when you’re sleeping or on vacation. They work 365/7 and never complain.
Save Time and Effort
If you are very busy, or you’re not sure how to research and write articles, you can rely on the tried and true clipping method. However, you’ll clip online articles instead of newspapaper or magazine stories.
You’ll frame these online articles for your readers in your post, just as you would have done using a short personal note accompanying newspaper clip. You’ll also provide a link to the site where they can read the entire story.
This approach saves you time and effort, and you can still write original content for your blog as frequently as you wish.
In Conclusion
Add to this rationale the Top Reasons Why I Blog, an earlier post, and your decision “to blog, or not to blog” will most likely be affirmative.
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Jun
1
Keyword Research Paying Off Big
Filed Under Search Engines, blogging | 7 Comments
Surging Ahead in the Search Engines
Extensive keyword research and long-term persistence are starting to pay off in a very big way.
Last month, in Blogging and Search Engine Marketing, I patted myself on the back for my SEO progress during my first six months publishing this blog.
I didn’t at all expect that in May I would receive more visitors from search engines than in all previous months since my introduction to the world of blogs.
These visits were above and beyond the 2,000+ visits that I received from my subscriber lists and from online social networking at Entrecard, MyBlogLog and social networking sites.
Furthermore, slightly more than 30% of those search engine visitors stayed on my site long enough to read something.
Of the 787 search engine visits to my blog in May, 239 “stuck”.
Why so much growth in one month?
My keyword research helped me choose search terms that were ambitious yet realistic. And my persistence helped me to establish PageRank and credibility with Google and the other search engines.
I continue to add lots of content to my blog and bookmark all my content on major social media sites.
Do you think I might top 1,000 visitors from SEO in June?
SEO Training
The good news is that what I’m doing here with search engine optimization is duplicable, and I hope to empower you through our Blog Marketing and SEO Training series to develop a massive web presence and achieve great success in your particular niche.
Whether you’re starting a small business, growing an established business, or building a network marketing business, I can’t think of a better way to increase website traffic.
Are you ready to receive thousands of search engine visitors to your site?
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May
28
Blogging, Blog Marketing and Search Engine Optimization
Filed Under Favorite Posts, Search Engines, Social Media and Social Networking Sites, blogging | Leave a Comment
Our blog marketing and search engine optimization series is under way.
In this ongoing series we are looking at blogs and blogging in connection with several online marketing channels:
Quite obviously blogs are not laid out sequentially like a book. Even if you write in sequence, your material will be presented to the blog’s reader in reverse sequence. Therefore, I created this post to organize my blogging articles into a handy table of contents.
This is a good place to mention that I’m not writing a textbook or an all-encompassing reference on blogging and blog marketing. Rather, I’m raising issues that could be critical to your success and sharing my thoughts and opinions about them.
There are many books and blogs that deal extensively with the details of blogging, business networking and search engine marketing. I love reading such books, and as we progress, I’ll tell you about many of them.
Disclaimer
I am not giving you business direction or assuming any measure of responsibility for your business decisions. While I believe that my ideas are sound, it is you nevertheless who will determine your path and assume full responsibility for your business results.
Blog Marketing Articles
Top Reasons Why I Blog
Top 10 Blogging Success Factors
Don’t Make This Mistake
Narrowing Blog Focus
Blogging and Search Engine Marketing
Blogs and Blogging for Fun and Profit
Blog Marketing
Before You Begin Blogging
Creating a Home for Your Blog
Web Hosting for Your Blog
To Blog, or not to Blog, that is the Question
My Personal Branding Strategy
Search Engine Optimization Articles
Keyword Research Paying Off Big
Website or Online Presence?
Blog Monetization
Blogs and Blogging for Fun and Profit
This page will be updated frequently. To return here again, bookmark the page in your browser or on your desktop — or look for the Blog Marketing SEO Training link on the blog’s sidebar.
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May
25
Creating a Home for Your Blog
Filed Under Networking and Marketing Strategy, Search Engines, blogging | 4 Comments
Your web presence is an asset not unlike real estate.
You’ve probably heard about the three most important factors in real estate.
They are:
- Location
- Location
- Location
A little exaggerated, perhaps, but not much. Properties can always be fixed up, but they can never be moved. If you buy a lovely house in a bad location, you’re stuck in that location.
What are the three most important factors in a web presence?
- Content
- Content
- Content
Or are they?
Location is an important factor in the value of an Internet property too.
When you set up your blog in a blogging community such as Blogger.com or Wordpress.com, you benefit in several ways:
- You get free rent; you don’t have to pay for hosting
- You’re up and running very quickly; no WordPress.org set up and no upgrades to struggle with
- You might get indexed right away — no big deal — but you might also get page ranked quickly, and in the short run perhaps that helps you
- Your community might work a like a social networking site and give you extra exposure
The main thing you give up is control.
If you accidentally — or intentionally — violate the community’s terms of service, they may very well terminate your blog. It happens, and it’s painful.
After all your hard work, you discover that you built your house on a mushy landfill.
Certain widgets or other site customizations may not be as straightforward either compared to marking up a Wordpress.org blog.
Look at it this way. You’re building a site for long term use. Do you really want to be under the thumb of a capricious landlord who can put you and your belongings out into the street on a cold winter night?
Having said all this, it’s still your personal call. The advantages of a Blogger.com site may outweigh the disadvantages as far as you are concerned, especially if you’re funds are tight right now.
And that’s fine. As long as you’re making a well thought out determination for yourself.
My personal choice was and still is WordPress.org. I use a variety of Wordpress plug-ins which I will list and discuss seperately.
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May
25
Before You Begin Blogging
Filed Under Networking and Marketing Strategy, Search Engines, Social Media and Social Networking Sites, blogging | 2 Comments
The decisions you make and the actions you take before you set up your marketing blog are at least as important as the steps you take once your blog is up and running.
Proper planning can help you avoid many false starts and much backtracking.
Start by asking yourself basic marketing questions such as these:
- How will you monetize your blog? For ideas refer to Blogs and Blogging for Fun and Profit.
- What will you sell?
- Which are your target markets?
- Can you reach them through advertising? Offline business networking?
- Can you connect with them at social networking sites such as MySpace, Facebook, Direct Matches, Yuwie or Ryze? While you’re building credibility with the search engines, you can use online social networking and forums to enlist subscribers and readers for your blog.
- What can you write about in your blog or what other content can you offer that will attract them?
- Which keywords are they searching for that are relevant to your project?
- Which keyword searches can you realistically compete for?
- How will you position your products and brand yourself?
Asking these questions up front will make it possible to develop a coherent plan of action, and we will consider them in coming weeks.
You will need to choose a home for your blog, and that raises another key question.
Will you join a blogging community such as Blogger.com or Wordpress.com — or will you host your blog independently? I explain in Creating a Home for Your Blog why serious bloggers usually prefer to host their sites independently, and later we’ll look at what that entails.
And you will also need to evaluate your marketing and technical skills. Where are you on the learning curve? What will it take to get up to speed? Will you require some amount of personal guidance to get off to the right start?
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May
22
Blog Marketing
Filed Under Favorite Posts, Networking and Marketing Strategy, Search Engines, blogging, communication | 3 Comments
Blogging and Personal Branding
Personal blogs and business blogs often factor into the marketing mix of both large and small businesses.
Blogging is interactive and enables direct communication with the customer or end user, a subtle form of business networking.
Blogging as a form of networking is not as direct as attending a meeting of a chamber of commerce or a small business association — nor does it replace online social networking at social networking sites. However, it builds credibility while refining and reinforcing the blogger’s personal or corporate brand image.
Search Engine Optimization
As I stated in Top Reasons Why I Blog, “Blogging endears me to the search engines.”
Search engines love to deliver fresh content to their clientele, and that’s what blogs are all about. Each blog post creates new content for search engines such as Google to sink their teeth into.
Search engines send visitors. Some of those visitors become readers and bond with the blogger and his or her company or cause.
Make Money Blogging
This bond presents opportunities.
For example, when bloggers are looking directly to monetize their blogs, as is very often the case in the world of blogs, their readers are often redirected to another site or to a sales page to purchase an endorsed product or service.
This transition is easy once a trusting relationship has been created between blogger and reader.
To learn how to make money blogging, my previous post, Blogs and Blogging for Fun and Profit, is a good place to start.
We’ll continue to explore the relationship between blogging and search engine marketing.
Be sure to visit the Blog Marketing and SEO Training page.
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May
19
Business Networking Sites
Filed Under Search Engines, Social Media and Social Networking Sites | 5 Comments
Online social networking sites such as MySpace or Facebook have become considerably heterogeneous over time. They support diverse agendas and activities.
One the other hand, social networking sites such as myYearbook or Linked In have retained their strictly social or business networking character.
Social Sites for Every Business
Business is embracing social networking, and most new social networking websites seem to lean more towards doing business than towards socializing.
I came across an excellent list of business networking sites and social media sites that will help you create a strong web presence for yourself or for your organization.
Inside CRM published a collection of 50 Social Sites That Every Business Needs a Presence On. The entries are listed in five categories:
- Social Bookmarking Sites – such as reddit and Digg
- Business Networking Sites — like Ryze
- Niche Social Media Sites – including Sphinn and Tweako
- General Social Media Sites — such as Wikipedia
- Job Sites – like Yahoo! Hot Jobs
I don’t know whether their list will be updated periodically, but it is certainly an excellent jumping off point.
You can also consult Mashable’s Catalog of 350+ Social Networking Sites, Seth Godin’s Web 2.0 Traffic Watch List and Ning Social Networking Sites for additional ideas.
You Need a Strong Web Presence
Are you an established entrepreneur or manager?
Are you opening a small business, a network marketing business or a consulting practice?
Even if you’re an employee in a corporation, you need a solid web presence to comptete in today’s Internet-based world.
When somebody Google’s YOU or your niche, what will the search engine return?
More on search engines and search engine optimization coming in future articles. So don’t miss any posts. Register, it’s easy, or subscribe to my RSS feed!
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