November 18th, 2008 — public relations
I sometimes find it frustrating how the various facets of my work are put in silos: SEO vs. PR vs vs Social Media vs Link Building… when, in fact, they all overlap and bring benefits to each other. The chain of love goes something like this:
Get Found [search engine optimization]
Get Connected & Talked About [social media]
Get Visited [link building]
Get Orders! [ultimate end game]
Sometimes it’s unpopular with the Social Media Set to directly equate their ’special world’ with something as crass as search engine results. I call those folks snobs, and I happen to believe in the following statement:
Success in social media = getting noticed in search!
My services include SEO and SMO (social media optimization) and Link Building and Digital PR - and they’re all pointed in the same direction: at conversions and sales.
I’ll let you make your own decision on where/if the lines blur between the difference disciplines of web marketing; here’s some recommended reading:
November 13th, 2008 — mainstream media
My recent shots at mainstream media aside (remembering I was part of the MSM for decades!), I am happy to report that folks are still reading print. That’s the evidence of the Google U article in Biz Magazine Nov 2008 I authored.
Several businesses called me after reading the article - my outline of the business benefits of search engine optimization, including the case study of a retail website I helped get better page rankings. That company, Custom Orthotics Design Group, Ltd., is quoted in my article:
“…[Linda] Laakso turned to a professional SEO agency that conducted extensive keyword research, wrote the pages to SEO specifications and conducted linkbuilding – all with the purpose of getting those two [new product] web pages ranked high on Google’s list of search results. Within two weeks, Custom Orthotic was listed in the top five results for the search terms specific to her new products! The investment of a few hundred dollars gave her web exposure like she’d never had before.”
I think the sidebar I wrote to accompany this article, titled “How to Find a Good Search Engine Optimizer” was equally as popular with readers; any warning flags in a sea of SEO specialists are appreciated!
Anyhoo, I’m happy with any way I can get more businesses to embrace search, social media, digital PR and all other aspects of Internet marketing - heck, even print can be worth the effort!
November 6th, 2008 — blogging
Dozens of blog search engines exist, and you would be foolish to miss the opportunity to list your blog (for free) in the best of them. Remember, these search engines only accept BLOGS, not other kinds of websites - so be sure to submit the exact URL where your blog lives, e.g. http://www.company.com/blog.
Google Blog Search
Technorati
Ice Rocket
Search4Blogs
Blogarama
BlogSearch
Blog Catalog
Blog Digger
Blog Explosion
Blog Finds
Blog Flux
Bloggernity
Blog Hop
Blog Pulse
Blog Rankings
Blogtagstic
Sarthak
Get Blogs
Globe of Blogs
EatonWeb
October 30th, 2008 — page rankings
My son’s baseball team has a cheer: “WE’RE NUMBER 1, NOT 2, NOT 3, NOT 4… WE’RE GONNA WIN, NOT LOSE, NOT TIE THE SCORE!”
I’ve had that ditty in my head for weeks now since I wrote 20 new pages using SEO best practices for TheraVitae Co. Ltd, makers of VesCell adult stem cell therapy - and virtually every single new page ranked on Page 1 of Google’s search engine results within two weeks of them going live (surpassing even my best expectations)!!
We’re talking Page 1 spots - including many in the top 4 - for highly competitive, well-searched terms like “heart failure epidemic” and “the process of stem cells” and “health facts on the heart” (in the latter case, spot #1, ahead of authority sites such as National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and leading health site MedicineNet)…
Included Video SEO
And more than a dozen other search terms/keywords, including those used for seven new optimized corporate video pages (such as the one optimized for “use of stem cell for heart repair” now on Page 1 of Google results). I’m a big proponent of Video SEO; I got this client to upload all of its patient testimonial videos to a few dozen of the leading video-sharing sites beyond just YouTube.
Great Rankings Also From an Optimized Blog
While most of my client’s Page 1 organic search rankings came from superlative SEO writing on the new pages from the microsite created, a handful of the first-page rankings came from the optimization of the corporate blog, plus links from other news aggregators, dozens of top blog search engines and directories in which I listed the company, and a new batch of inbound links from leading sites of related content.
Not to mention links born from the presence of TheraVitae/Vescell now on Twitter, Flickr, Facebook (driven by grateful patients), Squidoo, YouTube - the result of the Social Media Strategy I put in place for them.
Tight budgets didn’t keep this burgeoning biotech pioneer from taking the initiative to reach prospective patients - by getting on Page 1 and by joining online conversations.
May your own organization have the same foresight!
October 26th, 2008 — social networking
One of the fastest growing social networking sites in ‘08 was Ning - outpaced only by Twitter and Tagged.
Oh sure, you’re thinking, that Ning thing….
It’s OK, I didn’t get savvy to Ning.com until recently either - and I join virtually every social media site I come across (unless it falls in the “jackass” category of pix ‘n video of drunk people falling down.)
Despite its decidedly Dr. Seuss-y name, Ning is actually a very useful and easy way to build a social networking community of your own - centered around a personal interest, business concept, whatever. (Free if you use the .ning.com suffix; $5 a month if you use your own URL.)
Ca-Ching for Ning?
Big question in these economically stressed times: Can you make money and/or extend brand leadership using Ning? Appears so; here are just two examples I came across in the Ning phenomenon:
Fire Engineering - B2B Ning set up by giant US mainstream publisher, PenWell; prominently displays how to subscribe to their magazines and their e-newsletters.
Oracle - long a leader in Web 2.0 ventures, the software giant lists in Ning as “the social network for Oracle people” and clicks through to an established URL.
Rather than customer-facing Nings - a la Facebook pages - it appears that most company Nings, at this time, are intranets (for employee eyes only) and for HR-recruitment purposes and, of course, the plethora of grassroot communities (happy and not-so-happy customers and the unwashed masses… think Facebook groups.)
Use Ning to Learn About… More Social Media!
You can even join a Ning group to learn more about Ning and the other gazillion social media tools and channels that are taking off with a bullet. (Yeesh, eh? SM can be a real day-drainer; keep your eye on the prize, folks: brand lift, online reputation management, viral buzz about your company.)
For example, at Beginners’ Guide to Social Media for Home Businesses, 895 members share tips n’ tricks for smaller companies learning how to blog, facebook, twitter, ning, squidoo, linkedin, delicious, youtube, etc. etc. ad naseum.
October 23rd, 2008 — domains
I have confessed in this blog before, I have a bit of a domain buying ‘problem’ - as in, I cannot resist buying up good names… But naturally, I have too many to put up live, so I am selling off a whack of them. (Contact me for details on price.)
prosocialmedia.com
futuresocialmedia.com
socialmediaclimber.com
socialmediaphiles.com
B2Csocialmedia.com
socialmediaB2C.com
bizsocialmedia.com
socialmediafan.com
socialmediafans.com
churchsocialmedia.com
assetSEO.com
SMOideas.com
MSMtoWeb.com
MSM2Web.com
BackroomShenanigans.com (perfect for these USA political times!)
October 21st, 2008 — local search
I had breakfast last week in Naples, Florida with a very smart attorney, the partner of his firm tasked with the web side of business - although he confessed a dire need to learn the ins/outs of the latest Internet marketing.
His eyes visibly widened as I chatted over eggs about social media optimization as well as newer aspects of search engine optimization (SEO) - such as local search, and blended search - requiring optimization of one’s videos and photos as well as text.
Local SEO, in particular, caught his attention. I asked if his company was appearing in the cluster of local business results (complete with Google map pointing to their street location) at the top of Google’s Page 1 when one types in, say, “Naples Florida attorneys”.
He said no, that wasn’t happening, and the web guy he’s been using hasn’t mentioned there is a way to break into that high-profile cluster of local results.
I assured him that his site can join the Local Cluster Phenomenon easily, quickly and cost-effectively. Now I really had his attention. With the economic downturn hitting southwest Florida as hard as everywhere else, competition is fierce - and if the law firms down the street are snagging new business from the Internet, he and his partners better be, too!
Google Map Says ‘This is Where It’s At’ in your Region
Back home after my Florida business trip, I googled “naples florida attorneys” and reviewed the cluster of local businesses that resulted - the pages of 10 of this gent’s competitors, all located within a few miles of his Naples office.
Interestingly, not all of those competitive websites were well done, not by a long shot. My samplings turned up insufficient content, poor navigation and information architecture, and dubious, outdated SEO practices. Still, clearly enough local content was put into these sites to merit inclusion in the coveted Local Business Results cluster.
I smiled. How easy, then, it would be to break into that local business cluster (and stay there) - using ethical practices, great writing, SEO design, appropriate metacontent, video/image optimization and more to keep Google happy.
I smiled even more as I looked through my Roledex for that Naples lawyer’s card to give him a jingle - and get the mighty SEO ball rolling… man, I love my job!
October 13th, 2008 — social media
At first glance, social media and religion might seem like strange bedfellows…
But they’re actually perfect mates. What could be more symbiotic than online collaboration to encourage sharing between believers, and/or to reach non-believers?
When I took on Toronto-based Liberty International Church as a client, you could say I “saw the light” as to the power of the Internet for faith communities.
Now, I am not a member of the clergy and I do not have a vested interest in Christianity conversion. Liberty church chose my company to design, develop, SEO, write and add social media to their web presence.
Media as a Social Agent of Change
I’ve discovered that the intersection of religion and social media is a ’sweet spot’ showing the role of mass media as a social agent, an agent of change.
This Toronto church - whose main focus is to affect change in the lives of inner-city families in need - can now reach even more community members (and find more volunteers to help out) through their SEO and SMO-friendly website!
Here are just some of the ways Liberty International Church stays in touch with its congregation and searches for souls to save:
So, I don’t know what your experience with church has been, but a place of worship that understands how to reach people using today’s methods of communications (beyond hard pew benches and dusty hymn books) is very exciting to me…
So much so that I just bought the domain, churchsocialmedia.com - brings home the old-time “church social” (hoedown or picnic) to roost online!
October 12th, 2008 — Twitter
I just passed the 100 mark in the number of people following me on Twitter - the increasingly popular social media channel that combines instant-messaging and ‘micro-blogging’ via the site, Twitter.com. (More than a million people are Twittering.)
100 is, for me, a lot of Followers - especially since 99% of them are strangers, many on the other side of the world. So what is it that draws them to my Tweets (posts on Twitter): My pithy words? Great link sharing?
The answer lies in the name of my Twitter account - writingSEO - which is visible to all and searchable.
So, 100 folks with a like-minded interest in SEO have done a search across Twitter.com and my name came up… logically, they clicked on ‘Follow’ to see if I have SEO pearls of wisdom to share.
An Audience is Born
Suddenly, I have an audience! Enough of a following to start Twittering more frequently and try to keep every post relevant to SEO and, hopefully, with lessons learned from my own business and questions to generate discussion amongst my Twitter peers.
The end game: idea-sharing, collaborating, sales leads (I’ve already had a few inquiries from fellow Twitterers as to my SEO and SM services), intellectual engagement, brand management, improved visibility in the marketplace… It’s all good.
And it all started with an optimized name. I confess, when I bought the domain, writingSEO.com, I didn’t consider its keyword-rich branding carrying my business much beyond the site/blog itself. But now that I have social media accounts, I see the full value of the name I chose.
October 8th, 2008 — social media
One of my clients was desperate to generate more leads and turn them quickly into customers when they hired me to develop SEO and SMO (social media optimization) strategies for their Web presence. I was happy to oblige, but with the clear cavet that this is the order in which results are speedy:
- Google AdWords (paid search)
- SEO (organic search results - getting on page 1)
- Social media channels
I am not alone in warning that social media - in particular, social networking site participation, Twittering, even blogging - takes time… lots of time and most of all, EFFORT. Consistently reading other blogs, forums, Twitter posts, Facebook entries, etc…. and then responding appropriately.
The blog, mediaPlucK, recently included in its post, “7 Social Media (Must) Not Do” the following advice:
Social media is about making and sustaining connections. The only way you can grow your influence is long term. Stop crying - if you do not like the fact that it takes time, don’t do it at all.
At the Search Engine Strategies conference in Toronto I attended a few months ago, one of the presenters quipped, “If you want immediate results from social media… you’ve started too late.”
I urge clients to get going EARLY on your social media strategies - with clear objectives that are aligned with which social media channels you join. Know why, how, when to use social media… then sit back - no wait, LEAN FORWARD - at your computer and let the conversations begin!
