Posted by Jody Raines
Ingredients for SEO?
Search Engine Optimization and conversions don't just happen. I
have to chuckle every time someone tells me that they want to come up #1 for Google, or that they "just had the website optimized". What do they think that means, exactly?
What's Cooking?
Think about it. Every day the Internet changes. It's a dynamic, bubbling cauldron of information, constantly churning and never at a standstill.
Just because you may have come up at the top of Bing today, does not mean you will in the next search. Just as you "optimized" so is the competition. There are millions of new pages added to the Internet every day.
So, how do you compete? How do you create a website that's going to be an effective too? Remember that it's not about the traffic - it is, however, about the conversions!
Here's the recipe! It's a simple 4 step process for creating an optimized and efficient website:
1. Gather your ingredients: make a list of suspected keywords that your target audience may use to find your product. Evaluate and select appropriate keywords based upon:
- Search Volume - How many monthly searches are being conducted for these phrases?
- Difficulty factor - How many other sites are competing for these words. What kind of authority do these sites have?
- Relevance - How defined are these words for your target market. Are they too general. Are they specific? Dependent upon the terms where do they fall within the purchasing decision cycle?
2. Mix well: On Page SEO - How do you use the keywords in order for Google, Bing, Yahoo or other search engines to recognize them?
- Keywords in Title, URL, Headings, Page Text. Check to be sure that the keywords are exact. Even adding an 's', or changing the flow will impact the optimization.
- Optimize description - yes, Google does use the description, and it should match the content of your page.
- Keywords in meta keyword - general consensus is that Google does not use the meta keywords, however, there is some evidence to support Yahoo using them. Best practice is to have them. I use them to keep me on track for each page.
- Don't forget to use keywords for alt text - great way to include and optimize for misspellings. Google can't read pictures, so be sure to have the alt text there.
3. Add Toppings: Developing authority requires time and -
- Inbound links - For two websites that are both optimized similarly, the site with the greater authority will rank higher. Authority is conveyed by others linking to your website. Most links go to the blog, and not the website - essentially because the blog is helpful info, while the website is more static and generally product or service focused.
- Anchor text - the text that points to a page helps the search engines identify what the page they are pointing to is about. Try not to optimize for "click here". Ask for descriptive anchor text.
- Authority of the site - sites with greater authority that link to your site tend to help your sites authority. A ton of inbound links from Craigslist aren't going to help as much.
- Directories - There are free directories where you should be listed. See the last blog post for 5 easy links that you can do on a rainy day or a Sunday afternoon.
- Blogs - Blog posts are a great way to share your thoughts and perceptions and to have inbound links to your website.
- Tools and lists - Creating a list or pointing out tools are great to develop inbound links. Others enjoy
4. Bake - keep an eye on it:
- Track searches and keywords - Google analytics is great for this and Hubspot's platform is excellent. Tracking for changes in keywords and measuring progress will help to stay ahead of the curve. Continuous improvement is important.
- Track inbound links - Continue to develop relationships and share information that is link worthy. Lists and reference tools are great to share for inbound links.
- Track visitors - How are visitors finding you and what do they do when they visit your site? What's your bounce rate? Did they find what they are looking for?
- Track leads - A potential customer who shares contact information is a lead and deserves prompt follow up. What is your mechanism for doing this? How do you track these leads?
- Track sales - Great that you got a lead, now how many of those leads are converting to sales? By associating the leads that close with the way they entered the funnel - such as which keyword or which piece of collateral they were attracted to - will help to optimize that kind of content or those keywords, and ultimately will result in streamlining your website.
ENJOY!
Posted by Jody Raines
Link building is an important part of any SEO (search engine 
optimization) program. Local search and getting links are one area of developing SEO for a website that are often overlooked.
This should be one the first things that is done, because it is simple and easy and can be accomplished quickly. Plus the results with inbound links from adding your site to a few free directories can be seen quickly.
Because Fridays during the summer months are sometimes unproductive, here are 5 sites where you can add your website and feel that you've accomplished something before you head out for the weekend!
5 FREE DIRECTORIES YOU SHOULD BE LISTED IN:
1. Google Local business listings are free! Be sure to add pictures and pick categories for your business listing. Use keywords. This is the listing that wills how up in the search next to the map...
2. Yahoo Also for business listings. Free for basic listing, which should be sufficient. Takes about 2 weeks to show up.
3. Bing Why not add your listing to the Bing local listing. Bing has grown in popularity as a search engine. It's free, and doesn't take much time. Note: site is not Safari or FireFox friendly, best viewed in (groan) IE.
4. Yelp Yes, the same place where you go to dish on a local restaurant also has a place to list your businesses. This is a neat social application - you can rave about others businesses and invite them to rave about yours.
5. Best of the Web The interface is a bit klugey - don't be discouraged. This is good inbound link and helps your SEO. It took me about 5 tries before it finally let me register - either didn't like my user name or felt I typed my email differently (which I didn't). Eventually it will take your info...
Give yourself about ten minutes for each site - but in under an hour, you'll have a good headstart on helping get found on Google, get found on Bing, and get found locally.
Posted by Jody Raines
Search Engine Optimization is not a magic bullet. Despite the best keyword optimization and keyword ranking, the best search engine submissions mean little when it comes to conversions. 
Hitting the target when it comes to being found on Google is only part of the process. Conversions are the name of the game. What is a 'conversion?'... Conversions are that elusive goal - when the visitor submits his or her information in order to become a lead.
But, wait, it's important to be found, right? All I have to do is get to number 1 on Google! Then I'll have tons of traffic.
Traffic is great. I can point out many websites that generate traffic.
Traffic is not synonymous with conversions.
You can have a gorgeous website that has tons of traffic, but... keep in mind that traffic that does not convert to sales is just traffic. Of course, you want to have people visit your site, but you want to be sure that they are potential customers, right?
A common mistake I see is that clients want to increase traffic to their website. Visitors to the site are important, and what may happen is that the client spends money on a ppc (pay per click) campaign or on SEO (search engine optimization) or even SMM (social media marketing) all in a a misguided attempt to increase traffic. The thought is that more traffic is going to generate more sales. Unfortunately, they should really be concentrating on capturing more sales from their visitors. This means improving the conversion rate.
Without the right formula in place to create conversions, you are really wasting your money on paying someone to drive traffic to your website.
Think about it. If your website is not set up correctly, with reasons for the visitor to interract and share their info, then what are you doing, other than pouring money down the drain? You are missing the target!
There are some simple things you can do to improve your conversions and improve the profitability of your business.
1. Make it easy for the visitor to know what to do.
Do you have a "call-to-action" or offer for your customer? When they come to the site, what are you asking them to do? If you are like most of the websites, you don't have one. Your HOME page is the most heavily trafficked page on most websites, should you have some offer there?
2. Keep your navigation clean and simple.
I see many websites where there are just too many choices. Keep it clean and make navigating back easy. If I saw something on the last page that I wanted to read, how can I get back to it? The 'back' button is not the answer. Have an easily navigated site that's logically created.
3. Think of how your customer will use your site.
Many of the larger corporate websites as well as the website diy'ers have this problem and they don't even realize it - they set up the site from their perspective, not the visitors perspective. Think about this and you will realize it's huge; if you set up the site by product category versus set it up by user need, think again. I'm looking online for something specific. Make it easy for me to find what I want. While you are at it, you know that customers who usually buy "A" may also want "B". Use a "do you want fries with that" mentality and suggest other items that may be of interest, or which have been purchased in combination by other customers who bought that item.
Bottom line - it's great to have traffic, but you may need to improve your visitor's experience before you start inviting them over. Get everything ready and then let the traffic begin.
Posted by Jody Raines
Finding new business can be difficult. If potential customers aren't knocking down your doors or calling you... then its likely you aren't practicing "Inbound Marketing".
Cold calling is one of the most dreaded processes in the sales world. It's time consuming and painful. To some, it feels like seeking a needle in a haystack. Yes, eventually it will bring in sales, and it's certainly better than doing nothing, but there is a more effective way to generate sales and leads. And that's by using your website and social media as a 'net' to capture leads. It's called inbound marketing.
What is inbound marketing? It's understanding how people make purchasing decisions and then using this information to position your company in a way that -
1. Your company is found
2. For the right reasons
3. And customers voluntarily reach out to you.
Is this magic? In a way it is... it's a science of search engine optimization (SEO) coupled with savvy marketing tactics including social media marketing (SMM).
Often my clients reach out to me because they think they want more traffic to their website. It's not traffic that they want... what they really want are conversions or sales.
Lead generation. Return on investment. Determining what your potential customer is seeking and then using an internet marketing strategy that uses the power of the internet to help clients find you and helps you to generate business.
So, if you think your web site is just fine, and you like doing cold calls, keep up the great work.
If you feel that there is a better way to position your business to generate leads, then join the inbound marketing generation!
As a Hubspot Certified Partner, we practice inbound marketing strategies and help position websites and social media including blogs, Twitter, Facebook, 4Square, Linkedin, Flikr, YouTube, UStream and other social media sites. That's why I'm sharing this video by Hubspot that shows outbound marketing versus inbound marketing...Made me chuckle, and hope it brings a smile for you too.
Yep... Cold Calling is for losers...
Posted by Jody Raines
If your website isn't producing leads, perhaps you should
consider beefing up your blog. Blogging adds content, value and information and gives your potential customer a reason to find you. Here are 5 sustainable reasons that you should consider spendin
g more time on the lifeblood of your social media program, your blog:
1. Credibility. Based upon the less formal structure of a blog, your articles can encompass a wider range of ideas for utilizing products and services as well as share how-to's and guides. Generally, people turn to the Internet when they start to research their purchase, and the blog articles are a great way to answer questions that someone early in the purchase cycle may be asking.
2. Links. A well done Blog will feature the type of content that people and sites want to share with others. Some of the types of articles that you'd find on a blog are lists of links for resources, great how-to's and references for the rest of us. Sometimes blog posts can be controversial, and get attention on a more viral approach by being shared and discussed by others. This activity results in in-bound links, more than the factual information typically presented in a web site.
3. SEO. Blogs can be written by cleverly incorporating keywords into the article. Whether the goal is to be number one on Google, or whether it's to be found for certain keyword phrases, adding a blog post is like adding another page of content. As long as the info is presented in a readable and enjoyable format, it can add great value to be found in Google and to improve keyword ranking.
4. Anchor Text. One way that Google can distinguish what a page is about is by anchor text that links to the page. While you may not be able to control anchor text from outside sources, you can control anchor text within your own website. By using keyword phrases or keywords as the anchor text to link to pages within your site, you are reinforcing the optimization of your page content.
5. Fresh Content. Frequent updates to the site result in more frequent indexing by the search engines. While the company website may be somewhat static with the exception of new product additions, a blog is updated regularly. The fresh content not only lends the opportunity to add keywords and links, it also serves as an opportunity to improve ranking for your site.
If you haven't added a blog yet, it may be time to start blogging. If you already have a blog and haven't actively been posting, keep in mind that it's never too late to start.
Make a resolution to improve your site's Google Ranking and Alexa ranking performance by adding a well-focused blog with interesting and timely content.
Posted by Jody Raines
Search Engine Optimization is important for every website. It's the art and science of positioning a web site to be found in the search engines for specific keywords. Everything else being equal, the authority that your site builds through incoming links will differentiate and elevate your site in the ranking race.
So, what is the best way to build links? According to Matt Cutts of Google, there are ten ways you can effectively build links. He doesn't recommend all of these, but they all work:
1. Original Research. This can be as simple as keeping a diary of how effective your outbound email is, and what seems to get more opens or click throughs.
2. Newsletter. Information that you share in the newsletter is a great source for inbound links.
3. Social Media. Participating in the conversation in Twitter, Friendfeed and Facebook (among others) is excellent for link building. Get to know your customer and spend time where your customer is.
4. Get a blog. Establish yourself as an authority. Build up your blog to become a resource of information. Post great content or things that you find interesting or humorous.
5. How to's or Tutorials. Share information on how to do something and others will link to your info.
6. Build a resource or service. Open source applications that are posted have many inbound links and traffic. Do the work once, and they will come.
7. Good site architecture. Make sure your site can be crawled and indexed. Make it easy to get to your pages and be bookmarked.
8. Make a few videos. These can be simple as talking, but they are effective for generating inbound leads.
9. Controversial posts. This is not recommended, but it can be effective. Posting something controversial can get a conversation started.
10. Lists. Building lists of resources is also not recommended but can be an effective way to build incoming links.
To hear more about effective link building, here is Matt Cutts of Google explaining his thought on how to be effective:
Posted by Jody Raines
If you are like me, you've been glued to the television on at least one occasion, watching the activities of the Olympic Games in Vancouver. How exhilarating to watch these incredibly talented athletes perform at the pinacle of their chosen event. The competition is fierce, there is just one gold medal winner.
When it comes to having a terrific blog, there are some analogies that can be made with the Olympic champions. For example, when a prospect hovers above the search bar in a search engine, and types in their query, is your content going to be among the results? Will you be the Gold Medalist when they decide to click on a link?
Partially, this has to do with relevance, partially with your understanding of the audience, and partially with creating really great blog topics. The relevance and understanding of your audience are related to SEO and search engine optimization - in other words, understanding what terms to use, which relevant keywords will lead to being discovered, and how to create content that will rank for those terms. That's very important to being found, but you also have to have Gold Medal topics - you know, the one that gets clicked and read... This article is about how to create blog topics.
Great blog topics. What are they? In a nutshell, the idea is to create topics that creates interest in the reader. It's a way to share knowledge, develop relationships and create a flow of interested parties to your website.
What makes great topics? And how do you know that you have a great topic?
Before writing an article, I typically ask myself these three questions that I've boiled down into simple rules to follow when deciding what to write about:
1. Is my topic helpful? If my blog topic is preachy or salesy, I toss it. Frankly, there are enough people blasting you with commercials. That's not what 'inbound marketing' is about. The topic has to be of interest to companies or individuals in order to attract interest and readership. I liken this to the old days on the Atlantic City boardwalk - you may remember walking past those shops where they had an auction taking place - or maybe they were trying to get you to buy those knives that never get dull...? In any case, there was someone outside the store who was 'hawking' at you, or soliciting you to get you to come and participate. Today's consumer is smart, and when they decide to opt-out or block you, you are left without a way to appeal to them. If however, you offer information that they need at a time when they are looking for exactly what you are presenting, then you have a chance of appealing to them through opt-in marketing! Your prospect finds YOU and asks YOU for the information.
2. Can you tell me how-to? Many of my best clients are companies that understand what I do. They also recognize why I am good at it. It's not a matter of whether they can do it themselves - most likely they can. The value is the depth of knowledge and the level of understanding that I bring to the table. Here's what I mean - you are an attorney who practices divorce law. Can someone buy a kit to do-it-yourself-divorce? Yes. Is that advisable? Not really. So, if that's the case, explain what the pitfalls are, and how to protect yourself if you go that route. The people who are looking for this advice are in the market for what you offer. They may have thought that they would save money by doing it themselves, and that is what they are seeking. However, what they find (assuming that your content is well thought out and developed and that you used appropriate keywords and SEO positioning strategy) is that it's not as simple or easy or inexpensive as they originally thought. Now you are in a great position to help them.
3. Is it relevant? No one wants to read the same old stuff that you published last week. It's got to be fresh and new and timely. If the Olympics are today, then discuss the Olympics. If the Word Series is today, don't discuss the Olympics, discuss the World Series. In a day and age when 140 character micro blogs (such as Twitter) rule the planet, you have to be timely and relevant. Consider news events, topical events and activities that are compelling for angles and buzz.
Bottom line - keep your postings helpful, entertaining and relevant. Like the Olympic athlete, it takes training - the more you do it, the better you get. So, practice often. Learn from others. Watch the competition, and then when it's your turn, make it original and make it your best.