by Staff Writer | Dec 6, 2016 | Content, Marketing, SEO
Two of my neighbors recently reminded me of what the separates a a quality site that will rank vs ones that don’t. The simple direct answer is CONTENT. The currency of search.
My neighbors have dabbled in internet marketing and revealed to me that they were pretty smart when it came to online marketing. It made me wonder if online marketing was either so easy that anyone could do it or if my skills and expertise made the difference when I helped someone.
In our conversations I was reminded of the biggest challenge with marketing that I face and what separates a quality campaign is “CONTENT’.
When new content is created online search results categorize the information. This information if written well converts into action. When this idea is simplified and you look at competing to get your message out with millions of other people at times you and myself may get overwhelmed and give up before you give yourself a chance.
The big takeaway for me was that the difference between success and failure online is CONTENT. The internet the way it is now has broken the barriers for mass communication by simplifying the systems that now the difference between a a winning marketing campaign comes down to the quality and quantity of the content.
While I have simplified the value of content the complexity is how to turn your content into online currency. The reason you will need to collect this currency is that when you have enough content the exchange becomes influence.
In other words when you have quality content and you are competing to get in front of more people (specifically getting your website ranked) the quality and quantity of your content that is searched for will normally rank better and in more locations.
There are many roadblocks to creating content so as a reminder to me since I am always creating content for every type of medium and I wanted to share the way I generate my content consistently and four of my favorite tools I use to consistently produce relevant and original content; because for me I am always looking for the unfair advantage, and when I really take a close look at my successes and speak with the everyday marketer I am reminded that the advantage in search queries comes down to having content on your websites and on your social platforms.
Generating Content
Tip #1
Write your thoughts everyday. Either in a blog or a journal, or social platform.
Content Resources
Idea Tool #1
My Spin Rewriter Software spinrewriter.com
Idea Tool #2
Get Ideas Here answerthepublic.com
Idea Tool #3
See What Is Trending socialmention.com
Idea Tool #4
See the most popular posts on social media trendhunter.com/socialmedia
For more info on messaging and content visit another post of ours below:
13 Elements Successful Sales Message
by Staff Writer | Sep 15, 2014 | Marketing, SEO
I have a friend that does SEO very well. What separates him is his passion for selecting the right keywords. He spends hours looking for keywords using multiple tools and strategies to identify the perfect match for his client. I personally think that he is old fashioned in his approach, but I have mad respect for him because he is extremely dedicated to getting this part of SEO just right for his client.
The reason why keywords are so important for my friend are that they are the foundation for any successful seo strategy. Keywords are the language of internet search. When we know the words that people are using we can get our information in front of our target audience.
Now I am more of a believer that you can make some mistakes when starting if you have the right tools. Ever since google made the keyword search tool a pay to play option it has changed the keyword game and required marketers like myself to be more creative and dig deeper to find the right keyword. Now we can get keywords from other places but finding the right keywords is more of a challenge when you have a huge selection and the values are not listed next to the words.
Because there are so many options for finding keywords and understanding all the different methods for finding keywords that people will react to I wanted to run through the quick methods I use and reveal the tools that I use when I am getting started and need a place to start (which usually is all you need).
Again these are non traditional methods and are great for getting started on a project.
Method #1
Google “Search Suggest”
The quick explanation
Go to google search > Type in first keyword > Collect suggested keywords from google
Watch this video that goes into detail for more info.
Method #2
Non Google Keyword Tools
So we know that google will only give you their keywords if you have an active adwords account, this was a super smart for google and a great way to make keywords valuable again. With that said the google keyword tool is awesome but does have two limitations that I wanted to point out before I share the newest tool I reccomend. Limitation number one is that you didn’t get LSI keywords, or Buyer keywords similar to what you would find on Amazon. Limitation number 2 the keyword planner is complicated and the amazing stuff like the suggestion tool in the planner is hard to find and use. I am sure that I can find a few other issues but all I have to say is that there are tools that are available that collect all the data you need from multiple sources and drill down to get you the best keywords to focus on for your various projects.
The tool that just came out recently that compiles keywords from multiple locations and then arranges them based oin value and relevance is the one that I really like, because for a small one time price you have everything you need plus this tool will verify with numbers why you should use the keyword you suggest. For more info visit the link to Serpinatr and watch the demo below:
Method #2
Youtube Tags
This method is one that is awesome for ranking videos. Basically you get keyword tags from high ranking youtube videos. Because youtube has tags in every video you can see what someone is trying to rank for, and see if google picked it up. It used to be a tedious process to find these tags as explained below, but thanks to my friend Derral Eves he created a google extension that helps you get these tags quickly bypassing the steps listed below. check out his tool called tubebuddy. Or you can watch this video that explains the long way and has another extension you can use.
Best of luck finding those keywords. If you need help choosing the right keywords contact us and we can certainly do our best to answer your questions.
by Staff Writer | Sep 6, 2014 | Marketing, SEO
While I love SEO I had to step away from it for a while. In 2015 it seemed like everyone became an expert overnight and I also became tired of being told by potential clients that even though I had amazing first page case studies my methods were not the way everyone else got ranked.
Now while I will never give away my best secrets I will share a few in my posts that you can use to improve your ranking and also see that there is not just one way to get ranked on google.
So a detailed explanation of how to get ranked quickly is from Peter Sorensen at http://soundslocal.tcdmcs.com/how-to-rank-your-website
Now the quick explanation requires two steps.
Step #1
Get Content on your website
This means post articles, pictures and videos on your site. google finds words and ranks sites by finding and categorizing words. If you need help finding what to write. for ideas visit answerthepublic.com and for help with writing try spinrewriter.com
Step #2
Get your SEO Schema correct
Maybe %1 of SEO experts will focus in on this simple fix, but with the correct schema on your site you will have about a 99% better chance of being ranked quickly.
To see if your schema is correct visit search.google.com/structured-data/testing-tool, then give us a call. One of the reasons most websites have bad shcma is because it is not that easy to get set up.
by Staff Writer | Sep 5, 2014 | Marketing, SEO
A colleague of mine asked me what my SEO methodology was regarding new clients. I had to watch my tongue because I have strong opinions regarding SEO and they are all correct. I really like to think that I am better at SEO than most simply because I use non traditional methods and have spent years following the different updates and strategies to get rankings consistently.
I don’t like revealing my secrets about SEO because I don’t like creating extra competition but I figured that I could give a few tips that are recommended by google to keep you interested and coming back to my site for part 2. Now if you were to get started online and wanted to get your site ranked this what I would tell you in the first 5 minutes.
- Buy a domain that matches your purpose
- Put as much content that relates to your service or product on your site
- Verify your site with google as a business and as a webmaster.
After we got the basics down I would recommend getting listed on Directory Submission Sites and getting listed on Article Submission Sites. If my client had a low budget and wanted quick results then I would recommend getting a full service press release.
By following these steps when setting up your website you set yourself apart from 90% of the other websites, and will usually get your site ranked on the first or second page of google. These rankings should hold until you do something smart or stupid.
There are a few more methods that I use that are non traditional that I will share in upcoming posts. In the meantime see what google has to say about SEO from the biggest search site on the planet by visiting support.google.com and google.com/insidesearch for a better understanding of the online search process.
by Staff Writer | Sep 3, 2014 | Marketing, SEO
This is a follow up to SEO Methodology v1 which was very concise but has some excellent tips to get your website ready for quality rankings. So now that we have the basics of SEO down let’s jump into getting to the top of page 1 for a google search.
Now this is a dream for some but in reality ranking on the top of google for a search term can be awesome the results you expect can be limiting. I say this because when you get eyeballs on your site and people are not reacting two things happen you either blame google and give up on your site or if you understand marketing you realize that your message needs to be more compelling.
So as a review from SEO Methodology v1 remember to get to the top of google you will need relevant content. if you want conversions you will need quality content that creates a reaction. This will be discussed in other updates but for now the purpose of this post is to give you the direction on setting up your site to get to page 1 of google and end up at the top.
My philosophy for SEO is that getting to Page 1 on google requires the right recipe and ingredients. For example if you were going to make a cake the end result is to trust that the cake will rise, and taste good. So when you are working to get your site noticed by reaching the first page of google for your keyword be sure not to add the right ingredients for your audience.
Assuming that you
Have purchased a domain that matches your purpose
Put as much content that relates to your service or product on your site
Verified your site with google as a business and as a webmaster.
The next three steps are to
4. Identify your keywords
5. Write or buy related content
6. Structure your site with the right schema
KEYWORDS are probably the easiest part of SEO to understand but the most difficult to use. The mindset behind keywords is that google uses keywords to find your site. Their purpose as a search engine company is to categorize the internet. When you accept this concept using keywords in your website begins to make sense. Unfortunately using keywords on your website must be done correctly (kind of like knowing how much yeast to add to get bread to rise). When search was younger there were dozens of ways to make keywords boost your site to the top of a search. However due to heavy manipulation and billions of websites competing for that top spot ALGORITHMS and rules were put in place to limit the manipulation but mostly to improve the user experience.
The problem is that to limit the manipulation google didn’t share all the rules or algorithms as they matured. While this was frustrating for people that were just getting started and the guy who was just setting up his website the good news was google left clues and if you knew someone that had answers you would find yourself getting to the top spot of google for a time.
I think google realized that they could only limit the manipulation of the search results but because they change the rules and algorithms all the time it is important to follow the ones you know.
The use of keywords has been one of those rules that changes all the time but is a rule that google will share occasionally. Wikipedia does a great job explaining keyword density so if you have time check out their article here.
For our purposes the basic rule of thumb for now is to limit your keyword density in your pages or posts to less than 3%.
Again a simple topic like keywords should not require so much thought but it does, so in future updates look for more info about keywords.
RELATED CONTENT is critical to SEO success but for some it is difficult to write something original especially if it is on the same topic and from a different perspective. Most people will give up at this point in their quest for great rankings, mostly because it can seem pointless. While I thought I could avoid this step I have seen over and over again that when you give google more words and content that relates to you then you will have more opportunities for google to rank you.
The good news is that the criteria for quality content is fairly low and based on a formula. This formula is simply to get the keyword density correct. Write a minimum of 5 paragraphs, and add either a picture, video or related link to your post or page.
There are a few more detailed elements to creating qualifying content but if you do this as a habit google will find and rank your page or post. Now I would recommend that the content make sense and that your content is original because there is software that can find you if you plagiarize.
With that said there are a few ways to get past writers block and create content even if you are terrible at writing.
- Use curated content. Kristina Cisnero from Hootsuite wrote a beginners guide on how you can curate content here.
- Get Ideas from this site answerthepublic.com. Just type in what you are thinking about and they will create questions for you to add and answer
- Buy articles but check with copyscape before using the info. This will keep you safe with the law and keep you relevant with google.
STRUCTURED DATA is the latest most under valued part of SEO because it is super nerdy and hard to figure out. I am fortunate enough to have partnered with a few SEO nerds that gave me access to there tool that creates structured data for any of my clients sites and my own obviously.
While you can read up on what structured data is here. The end result of structured data is that when you structure it the correct way google will reward you and choose you because you followed there rules.
The best way to see if you have the correct data structure for your site is to go to googles structured data tool.
