How do I get links to my Web site?

by Mike Moran

The owner of a Web site that sells ski and snowboard equipment contacted me recently with a burning question, “How do I get links to my Web site?” His e-mail was filled with lots of geeky search jargon about reciprocal links and PageRank effects–enough that I suspected I wasn’t dealing with someone clueless about search marketing. Instead, I think this business owner had done a lot of research on search marketing and was asking me about what he’d been told. He was gearing up for a big link campaign, targeting ski resorts and any other place he could find. I think my advice to him brought him up short.

Link campaigns can be effective. It is possible to request links and receive them–it happens every day. But for the same amount of effort expended, you could probably write new content for your site that would attract links without you ever asking.

Why not put some excellent content on the site that those other sites would want to link to, such as a guide for which equipment works best in which kind of snow, or what the latest innovations in equipment are, or how to get good equipment on a budget? They’ll be much more likely to link to those pages than to your product catalog.

How about getting your kid to make a video about why certain kinds of bindings are preferred by some skiers? Or an article discussing the pros and cons of renting equipment at a ski resort vs. buying it? Your customers want to know about these issues, and you’ll get links galore, if your content is good.

What’s more, this kind of helpful and interesting content will be passed along in social media, which will get you more attention and even more links.

So, what would you rather spend your time doing? Begging strangers for acts of kindness by linking to your site? Or bestowing kindness on your customers with content that they want to read? If you choose the latter, trust me, the links will come.

Check out our small business news site.

GetListed or Weep!

by Miriam Ellis

Local Search takes a seat at the grownups’ table in 2009 with
GetListed.org, the brainchild of
gadget wizard, Pat Sexton
and Local Search expert, David Mihm.
In a Local climate where failure to claim your business listings can result in competitive hijacking,
loss of income and damaging misrepresentation, there is no time to lose in getting listed and
getting listed right. Sexton and Mihm have just made this vital task incredibly elegant
and oh-so-easy with what I believe is the most noteworthy tool yet created for the Local Search
industry.

What Does GetListed.org Do?

Just type in a business name and zip code and GetListed.org quickly returns you a set of results
that detail the status of your local business listing in Google, Yahoo, BOTW and MSN. In seconds,
you can see what data has been published about your business, whether you have claimed that data
as belonging to you, how many external sites are citing your business, how many reviews you have
and whether there are photos and videos embellishing your listings in these 4 major local directories.

Your business is given a percentage score by the tool, telling you how complete or incomplete your
local efforts currently are. And, if the tool shows you holes in your efforts, simply click the links
provided to perform critical tasks like claiming your listing.

This is the basic function the tool provides, but there’s more to love at GetListed.org.

The 3 Groups Who Need This Tool

Local Business Owners

Any business with a local focus will benefit for the rapidity with which this tool will show
them how they are currently listed and what to do to claim or improve their data. Though some
of the major local databases do make it relatively easy to get listed in their indexes, the king of
them all has made it more like a scavenger hunt than a straightforward process. I had to get
Mike Blumenthal to teach me how
to tell whether or not a business listing had been claimed in Google’s local application and it
was by no means intuitive. Lack of marketing of Google’s Local Business Center has left countless
business owners in the dark about the existence and importance of claiming their listings, leaving
them open to
competitive hijacking and loss of income.

Sexton and Mihm’s tool will make it simple for struggling local business owners to
find their way around the most crucial aspects of their online reputation and marketing. The layout of
the tool’s results is extremely sensible and clear.

Local SEOs

GetListed.org lets you create a custom dashboard. Simply plug in all of your clients’ businesses
and you now have a very charming tool for keeping track of where you are at with all of your
efforts for them. Additionally, I can see exactly how awesome this tool will be for those phone calls I answer wherein a local
business owner tells me his company name and I want to get some immediate information about where he’s
at in the local arena. Even as my conversation is rolling merrily along, I will now be pulling
up key stats about the business in question. GetListed.org will paint a bold, broad picture for
me with a couple of keystrokes.

SEOs In General

Anyone who is doing competitive research will appreciate the quick data this tool calls up
regarding clients’ competitors. The next time you are working with a business that has a local
element, all you have to do is start plugging in the names and zip codes of similar companies
in a given region and you will see not only where the holes are in competitors’ strategies but also
exactly where they are getting their reviews and those all-important citations from.

If you’re an
SEO whose main focus has been devoted to SM rather than Local over the past few years and you’re feeling
a bit confused by all of this talk of citations, 10-packs and One Boxes, GetListed.org will jumpstart
your confidence as to what some of the key concerns of Local Search are. This tool has the power
to help you find the competitive local edge many of your clients will be needing.

Mihm & Sexton Go The Extra Mile

Remember those old Ginsu knife commercials where you didn’t just get a set of knives, but you
also got the potato curler and the cabbage chopper? Mihm and Sexton have taken their efforts
beyond simply providing this powerful tool. The website offers a top notch Local Search article
resource, advice on increasing local visibility with paid programs like Adwords and BOTW Premium Listings
and a small directory of handpicked Local Search firms you can turn to for professional services.
There’s a blog going on there and tutorials for anyone who is feeling lost. You might
say that GetListed.org slices and dices and I found it so useful, I must have opened it up
a dozen times while it was still in beta.

My enthusiasm for the launch of the tool is 100% genuine. Sometimes, Local Search feels to me
like it’s only gained a sort of cult following, and while I actually enjoy that about the niche,
a classy tool like GetListed treats this field of SEO with the dignity and importance I believe it
merits. David and Pat have just made my job more enjoyable and they’ve developed an aide that I think
will be of tremendous use to the Local public.

Check out our small business news site.

Social Media Reminder: Think Before You Speak…

by Jennifer Laycock

I ran across several interesting posts yesterday on the social media conversation front. Some of them made me nod my head in agreement, but one of them made me absolutely cringe. Once again, watching someone’s mistakes reminds us all of the need to listen to our mothers when it comes to how we interact with social media.

Yesterday afternoon I came across a post by Alan Rimm-Kaufman talking about how we’re judged by what we write in the online world. Alan was playing off a post by Seth Godin, but was mostly focusing on a post Peter Shankman made about Ketchum’s James Andrews and his poor choice of Twitter commentary during a recent trip to FedEx headquarters.

It all started when Andrews made this Tweet shortly after arriving in Memphis:

True confession but I’m in one of those towns where I scratch my head and say “I would die if I had to live here!”

What Andrews didn’t realize was a FedEx employee who was attending his presentation for the FedEx communications team saw his Tweet and passed it along to other members of the management team. The response from the FedEx team was swift. It read, in part:

Not knowing exactly what prompted your comments, I will admit the area around our airport is a bit of an eyesore, not without crime, prostitution, commercial decay, and a few potholes. But there is a major political, community, religious, and business effort underway, that includes FedEx, to transform that area. We’re hopeful that over time, our city will have a better “face” to present to visitors.

James, everyone participating in today’s event, including those in the auditorium with you this morning, just received their first paycheck of 2009 containing a 5% pay cut… which we wholeheartedly support because it continued the tradition established by Mr. Smith of doing whatever it takes to protect jobs.

Considering that we just entered the second year of a U.S. recession, and we are experiencing significant business loss due to the global economic downturn, many of my peers and I question the expense of paying Ketchum to produce the video open for today’s event; work that could have been achieved by internal, award-winning professionals with decades of experience in television production.

Additionally Mr. Andrews, with all due respect, to continue the context of your post; true confession: many of my peers and I don’t see much relevance between your presentation this morning and the work we do in Employee Communications.

It’s a cringe worthy response…one that left me feeling a bit embarrassed for Andrews. After all, who among us hasn’t shared our thoughts on a subject without really thinking it through. Granted, anyone who is going to speak on social media or online marketing to a company like FedEx should be familiar enough with the concept of a public forum to watch what they say…but at the same time, we all insert a foot in our mouth now and then. Andrews offers up his final take on the situation on his blog.

Andrews’ blunder serves as a powerful reminder to the rest of us though. Social media IS a public forum and anything you say can (and likely will) be used against you in the court of public opinion. Not knowing Andrews, I have no way of knowing whether he was joking around or speaking with destain. Of course that’s kind of the point, isn’t it? The FedEx team he was coming to speak with likely didn’t know either. Nor would many of his followers.

That’s why in the world of social media, you need to remember an important lesson your mom probably taught you growing up.

Think Before You Speak

I have no problem believing Andrews probably didn’t mean his comments quite the way the FedEx team took them. Then again, isn’t that usually the case when we offend someone? That’s where the entire idea of thinking before you speak comes from. We can never know how someone else is going to interpret our words. Add in the fact that words are written (no voice inflection) and are limited in their context and you’ve got a recipe for disaster.

While social media is all about being yourself and being real, it’s still essential to carefully consider the things you say. You need to remember you are speaking to a public forum and anyone who wants to look can find out what you’ve said.

Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, forums, blogs and the zillions of other places you can share your opinion aren’t closed forums. You never know who is reading them. Beyond that, you never know who will come in down the line and go back and read what you wrote weeks, months or even years ago. Think before you speak. If you can think of someone you wouldn’t’ want to hear you say what you’re about to say…you probably shouldn’t say it in a social media venue.

Images courtesy of Creative Commons license from Flicker users: Mel B..

Check out our small business news site.

Social Media…it’s about the tools right?

by Beth Harte

There seems to be a school of thought among marketers and businesses that social media is just about the tools like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, other social networks and that’s it. It’s like saying nail, hammer, wood, and ruler.

If we look at the definition of social media from Wikipedia:

“Social media are primarily Internet- and mobile-based tools for sharing and discussing information among human beings. The term most often refers to activities that integrate technology, telecommunications and social interaction, and the construction of words, pictures, videos and audio. This interaction, and the manner in which information is presented, depends on the varied perspectives and “building” of shared meaning among communities, as people share their stories and experiences…”

See that word that’s highlighted, discussing? That’s an important word in the definition of social media because it gives social media a new context. It’s one thing to just share information in a one-way traditional marketing sense and something quite different to do it via social media. Why? Because with social media there’s an inherent notion that what is shared will be, well, potentially discussed. And usually discussions take more than one person to happen.

Now, here’s the catch…the definition also goes on to say “the manner in which information is presented, depends on the varied perspectives and “building” of shared meaning among communities.” So what the does that mean?

If we go back to the tools analogy, it could mean that co-workers on a job site are going to make sure that the nail, hammer, wood and ruler are used in a way that works best for everyone. Let’s call it tool consensus. So, the manner in which the tool is used, it could be used in silence or while discussing the project going on at the job site and that ultimately depends upon the tool consensus.

There is a point to the analogy, really. Marketers and businesses need to understand not only the tools, but how the communities want the tools to be used. Some communities might appreciate the silence and some might really want to discuss the project. And no one community will be like any other. In fact, a community could be mixed in consensus. Perhaps it’s not just about the tools after all…and wouldn’t it be best to offer a little of both until consensus is reached?

Check out our small business news site.

Just Call It Marketing

by Eric Brown

Confused by all of the stuff swirling about surrounding Social Media and how to Market your Small Business. Apparently, we can’t yet even figure out what to call all this stuff, as Beth Harte logged almost eighty comments on her blog when she posed the question. While the Marketers rant about what to call it, perhaps we as Small Business Owners and Operators, can simplify it as just “Marketing”

But Where to Start
Start here;Train, teach and lead your organization to a fundamental understanding that It is always about the marketing, and that We are marketing in everything we do. With that our chances of creating remarkable increase exponentially.  But,………….., that’s what all the books tell you, right? Well, something interesting is emerging. Seth Godin coins the term Tribes, and small, medium and large Tribes are popping up everywhere. Our responsibility is to facilitate leadership of these Tribes, and leadership my friends has nothing to do with control. You simply cannot control the message, but you can participate in the conversation. Here is what Seth says about Tribe Management. 

How About an Example
I share as much as I can from First Hand Experience, and I hope you find value in that. It seems that sharing what has worked and what has not with you may have some positive impact. We started a company blog for our Small Business about three years ago, and it only ever sputtered along at best. It wasn’t until we, or I got out of the way that it took off. We turned it over to a Tribe, our most passionate customers. We recruited six staff bloggers, all of which were either current or past residents. The rules were pretty simple, the UrbaneBlog is about cool and hip happenings, interesting establishments and people in and around Royal Oak MI. It is not about our company. Be respectful and be responsible for your posts and comments. That’s it, those were and still are the rules.  The results have been satisfying, and our traffic and following has taken off exponentially. We helped to Shape the Tribe, and leaders within our core group of Evangelists have emerged to Lead the Tribe. Pretty Cool!

A Confirmation
Apparently, “Looking Within” and tapping your best customers, the evangelists’ may work best, as evidenced by a story that Jeremiah Owyang from Forrester Research posted on his blog about Walmart and how they have changed their blog strategy. Quoted directly from Jeremiah’s blog post;

“Rather than forcing the message with their own branded community, fake blogs, and corporate blogs, Walmart gets it right by creating a platform for customers and pundits to tell their story

 So why is this a change for Walmart? It’s pretty simple. Rather than Walmart trying to tell the story themselves with a community, and blogs. They’ve now figured out how to let their customers tell the story on their behalf -and that’s the difference. At Forrester, we call this ‘energizing’ which is commonly known as word of mouth, rather than “talking” which is the company speaking directly with the market, learn more about the five objectives. Given that corporate blogs aren’t trusted -and people that you know are -this is the way to go for Walmart.

Sometimes, the companies that have the roughest start (like Dell) with social end up being the case studies of success, I have a suspicion Walmart could fall into that category.”

So, What to Do
Start practicing, it isn’t so easy to “Let Go”, but it isn’t all that hard either once you try it out. There are lots of folks out there doing it with success when you look around, ask questions, but get started. It may well be a sure fire way to Market your products, by Looking Within.
 

Check out our small business news site.

Linkbaiting Using Linkbait to get Links

read part 2…

Definition: Linkbait is a piece of content, tool, video, widget , web page - designed to attract high number of quality links from other websites / blogs.  The purpose of the linkbait is to increase incoming links to a website, thus increase the importance of the website for search engine optimization purposes.

Apart from SEO linkbaits generate traffic, visibility and brand image.

Linkbaiting is NOT manipulation of any sort it is rather an enticing proposal that benefits all who link to it. If blogger links to your content it is because your content offers something new or something of value to their audience. Focusing on manipulation or looking for loopholes in social media system can backfire more than help. To do linkbaits well put your mindset on value not found anywhere else on the web.

“Linkbait has limitations. It’s no good for: CTR-based ads, conversions, supportive, emotionally sensitive comments and instant subscribers.” - seomoz

Linkbait Graph

Development > Launch (public relations) > Links > Direct Traffic > Search Ranking.

·         Content is developed over a period of few hours / days / weeks

·         Content is launched and shared with bloggers, webmasters, news sources and submitted to social media networks like Reddit, StumbleUpon, Digg, etc.

·         As bloggers/webmasters link content, their audience discovers it and links to it well, where in turn their reader link (network effect). If content is located on non-commercial domain (very important), it is promoted on social media sites where more bloggers and webmasters discover and link to it.

·         Previous stage creates direct traffic to the article and website. Brand gets few recognition points.

·         After several months / weeks search engines pick up all new links, giving a boost to your piece of content and to overall site link popularity. Once the piece is several months old you can adjust the title to be more keyword rich.

Linkbait Essentials

Linkbaits can come in any format: blog post, static HTML page, video, mp3, PDF, tool, software, etc. It’s a matter of your abilities. In this section we’ll focus on textual linkbaits, since those require no technical knowledge.

·         Select topics that other people do not want to touch / talk about due to controversy / complexity / lack of knowledge / ignorance / laziness. Observe bloggers and websites and see what they lack. Fill in the holes where appropriate. Some industries outright lack authoritative content (few very competitive fields we’re in have 0 competition in terms of quality content, making linkbaits easy), while others are oversaturated (SEO, internet marketing).

·         Fill the holes authoritatively. Once you spot something that industry lacks, fills in the holes with all you got. Make your content THE content when it comes to that topic. Examples: analytics,  marketing optimization.

·         Content must be placed where people can see it. Quality content alone does not attract links. How can I link to you when I don’t even know your content exists? I won’t. Once you create quality content, use basic public relations strategies. Notify friends, bloggers, webmaster and submit to social media sites in order to create awareness. Having few online friends helps here, as they assist you in spreading your piece.

·         Understand hot content. For example if articles on a specific topic make a lot of headlines, then articles on related content have a good chance of getting similar level of publicity. Browse through social media sites for inspiration. The key is timely delivery and enough social media friends to help you vote the story up on time.

·         Do not sell products. Commercial offers erode potential of linkbaits. If you’re parked on a commercial domain clean out any product / service offers from the linkbait page / section. Some social marketers go as far as creating separate websites for linkbaits and then direct accumulated link power to the commercial domain.

read part 2…

Linkbaiting part 2, Linkbait Hooks and Strategies

Read Part 1

Linkbait Hooks

Linkbait hooks are different types of baits with which you can attract links. The baits include: news, humor, resource, list, etc. Look at it this way: sitting on the lake with a fishing rod you can select different baits like worms, lures, spinners, etc. You have a similar selection when it comes to “link fishing”.

·         News Hook – being number one to break fresh industry news, with expert commentary on the topic. Example: search engine land.

·         Humor – laughter is social glue. People love to laugh and if you can make them laugh they’ll love you for it.

·         Research – offer your own research in areas with little study.

·         Content - “If you think you’re giving away too much information, you’re on the right track.”- copyblogger.

·         Story Hook – stories are one of the most effective selling tools. Browse clickbank sales letters and you’ll notice extreme number of sales letter with some story spin. Stories let you present a problem and solution to the problem in a way that readers can relate to.

·         Free Stuff – Give away goodies like free templates, tools, books, pdfs, etc. Free is a powerful word, as I used to work in sales and we were not allowed to say the word free, but use “no cost” instead. FREE can help you attract links online.

·         Lists and 101s – offer people high quality lists of best content on a specific topic and they will bookmark it for easy reference. Example: Online Copywriting 101: The Ultimate Cheat Sheet

Come up with your own link bait hooks. Sometimes the biggest fish is caught with the bait that no one tried before.

Linkbaiting Strategies

Releasing successful linkbaits can be real tough with no name, reputation and brand. A newcomer is usually met with distrust and caution so it will take time before you linkbaits reach largest network effects. To establish a reputation for yourself, first find a hole to fill in your industry that you have knowledge about and that no one else has filled in yet. Going up against well established players is tough and does not bring the same yield as unsaturated niches. If the field you’re in crowded and there’s little room, try shooting for specific topics, for example “link building blog” (like wiep.net) or “all about keyword research website” or “apple and blueberry pies blog” etc.

Once you have an unsaturated hole to fill in, start developing authoritative content. Remember, there’s still no reputation so your first linkbait will need to be extraordinary. It must overload and overdiliver in order to render brand name irrelevant. In fact first pieces usually help shape the brand, thus those pieces must overwhelm readers with quality. After delivering few linkbaits of this nature, bloggers and readers will wire unconscious associations of your brand with the quality of your linkbaits and perceiving you as a reputable source of information on the topic.

Continue delivering information of highest quality and you will be able to get away with lower quality articles later on. For instance, browse Sphinn.com for headlines and read several article. You will that see many articles with high number of votes do not deserve those votes. What’s going on? The answer is – someone had established himself / herself as an authority in the past and now enjoys respect of opinion and network effects of other bloggers even for mediocre content. The secret is – they have gained their name.

Some more link baiting tips:

·         Linking to other websites – be careful as your reputation is at stake each time you link out. Paid reviews and paid links can hurt reputation, so be careful. Readers trust your reputation to find quality information and plain ugly sale pitches lower it.

·         Offer private information, insider techniques, legal insight, leaked documents etc.. Controvercy and word from a person on the “inside” always gets attention.

·         Link to people who link to you. Bloggers check their trackbacks to learn what others say about them, thus you can attract attention by mentioning their names.

·         Participate in topic discussions on blogs and forums. Offer detailed opinions as opposed to “cool post” comments. If you can make other person defend / change their views in a factual manner they will remember you. You can also make friends this way and having online friends help you spread you linkbaits to wider networks, and get more incoming links as a result.

·         Take advantage of YouTube, Metacafe, Delicious and other mediums that help to spread your word. I uploaded a video resume on you tube without any intention to spread it and it has received around 50 views in few weeks. Pretty low, but it shows that if I had a helpful video there some people would spot it.

Once your linkbaits pass the “prime” you can include anchor rich text links to your other pages to pass link power. You can also blend in commercial offers, but be careful.

Good luck.

Read Part 1

SEO Pricing: 5 Things to Consider When Shopping for a SEO

pby Stoney deGeyter/p
pChoosing a SEO to manage your website marketing has never been easy, but during these tough economic times it’s more important than ever to choose wisely. No one wants to be the guy at the end of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, who chose the wrong chalice. You’re site will be nothing but a shell of it’s old self with the Knights of SEO standing over you saying, “He chose… poorly.” Uh, yeah… “Information that would have been helpful yesterday!” (to mix my movie quotes.)/p

pimg align=”right” src=”http://www.searchengineguide.com/images/shopping-cart.jpg” alt=”SEO Pricing” /If you’re a small business shopping around for the right SEO to help you out, there are a lot of things you need to consider before jumping in and hiring a SEO subcontractor or firm. Even if you’re on a tighter-than-normal budget–and really, who isn’t right about now–you can’t shop for SEO simply on costs alone. That’s like buying an economy car when you really need a mini-van. You just need to find the mini-van that offers the best features at the right price./p

pNot all SEO providers are the same and not all sites require the same type of SEO service. All thing must be taken into proper consideration. Here are five things that are relevant to the overall pricing and success of your optimization campaign./p

pstrongSize of your site/strong/p

pThe size of your site will be a significant factor in how much work will be necessary to optimize. The smaller the site the easier the overall optimization will be. But if you’re dealing with a site with lots of pages or products then the optimization becomes much more complex. Even the pre-optimization work on larger site’s is more time consuming./p

pThe difference between optimizing small and larger sites can literally be thousands of dollars per month. As you start shopping around and getting quotes for SEO, you need to be aware of the size of the task that you’re being quoted on. /p

pstrongCondition of site/strong/p

pWhile size of the site has an effect, so does the site’s overall condition. I’ve run across many smaller sites that were so completely screwed up that nothing short of a complete re-development was in order. This sucks for the small business owner, but when you didn’t invest in developing the site properly the first time, it means you either have to do it again correctly or simply suffer through ineffective SEO. Of course, you’re still paying for that SEO so you’re better off going for the re-development./p

pIf your site is in relatively stable condition, from an architectural standpoint, then that will cut down the cost significantly. This is especially true for larger site’s where one change can be implemented across thousands of pages instantly./p

pThere are a lot of factors that are considered when looking at the site’s condition. Things such as the architecture, usability, design appeal, usage and customization of title and description tags, page content, site navigation and internal linkage, all need to be considered when analyzing the condition of the site and what needs to be done to get it into proper order../p

pstrongKeyword options/strong/p

pThere is a huge difference in optimizing a site for a few dozen keywords, versus optimizing a site for several thousand. There are many sites in niche industries where keywords are pretty limited. Usually we can still come up with a list of a few hundred, but sometimes it’s even fewer than that. But in other industries the keyword variables are wide open and there can literally be an unlimited number of keywords that can be targeted./p

pThe more keyword options there are for your site, and how quickly you want to get any and all of those keywords optimized and performing in the search results, will be a contributing factor in the cost of your campaign. If you are fine with a slower approach then costs can be reduced significantly. But if you want to be more aggressive, optimizing more keywords more quickly, then the cost will go up significantly./p

pstrongExperience/Skill of SEO/strong/p

pSome SEOs charge $25/hour while others charge several hundred, and there is every shade in between. Not all SEO firms charge by the hour, but the quote for services is based on the number of hours of work estimated and how much the SEO believes they are worth for that amount of time, so essentially, everything is hourly based. /p

pWhile you may not want to pay $200/hour for services when you can get it for $50, there is a skill factor involved in each pricing structure. Not everybody who charges a lot is worth it, but very few are worth more than they charge. Selecting a SEO with the skill level necessary to do the job and do it effectively is essential to your long-term success. Keep in mind, also, that more skilled SEOs will not only charge more per hour, but they will likely get more done in less time. At the same time, they are more likely to find and fix problems that would be left unaddressed by the lesser skilled providers./p

pAnother factor to consider is the difference between hiring a solo-SEO consultant and a SEO firm. While firms tend to have more overhead that needs to be paid for, they often have a wider skill range to work from. It’s often difficult for one person to be an expert in SEO, architecture, copywriting, usability, link building, and social media all at the same time. In such cases these jobs will often be farmed out at a profit for both individuals/companies doing and managing the work, or simply performed less effectively./p

pstrongServices offered/strong/p

pThe amount of services offered in a SEO contract can vary from company to company. It’s not too difficult to reduce costs of the SEO service by cutting out non-essential services. But frequently enough, essential services are cut as well, in order to get costs down. Cutting costs by cutting essential services is bad for everybody. Not only will you not be performing but then you’ll blame the SEO who will in turn point out that you may need to purchase additional services in order to perform./p

pWhile not every service is necessary for every kind of SEO contract, you need to make sure that the essential services are in place. And from there, you still need to keep an open mind if other services may need to be added to give your campaign an added boost./p

pAll of these factors weigh heavily in the overall cost of any SEO and online marketing campaign. If your funds are limited then you may be tempted to go with a budget SEO provider. But keep in mind that SEO is an investment. If you invest little, you’ll likely get little. But as you increase your investment then your return usually becomes exponentially greater./p

pEverybody needs to budget and you don’t want to get into a contract that you simply cannot afford to pay. Considering each of the areas above carefully will ensure you’re selecting an SEO provider that will provide you the best service, giving you the most value for your invested dollar. The last thing you want is to be budgeted out of success./p
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Six Lessons from a Wooden Boy: Lesson Three: Don’t be a Social Media Jackass

pby Jennifer Laycock/p
PThere’s just something about the anonymity of sitting behind a computer screen that makes people do stupid things. Few but the boldest sales person would walk into a class reunion and try to close a sale with the alumni at their table, even fewer would walk up to a stranger’s table at a restaurant to start shilling their offerings. Nonetheless this very thing happens every single day in the realm of social media. People walk smack dab into the middle of conversations and start hocking their wares without a second thought. /p

PThat brings me to the third lesson in this series: Don’t be a social media jackass./p

PemIn this six part series, I’ll be exploring six valuable lessons you can learn from the classic story of Pinocchio and offering up some input on how to apply it to your own marketing plans. If you are just joining the series, catch up on past articles:br /br /

a href=”http://www.searchengineguide.com/jennifer-laycock/six-lessons-from-a-wooden-boy-part-one-s.php”Six Lessons from a Wooden Boy: Part One: Search Engines Want to be Real Boys/a/embr /
a href=”http://www.searchengineguide.com/jennifer-laycock/six-lessons-from-a-wooden-boy-part-two-o.php”Six Lessons from a Wooden Boy: Part Two: Online Reputation Means Straight Talk/abr //p

PbLife Has Rules and So Does Social Media/b/p

Pspan class=”mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image” style=”display: inline;”a href=”http://www.searchengineguide.com/images/pinocchioass.php” onclick=”window.open(’http://www.searchengineguide.com/images/pinocchioass.php’,'popup’,'width=201,height=272,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0′); return false”img src=”http://www.searchengineguide.com/images/pinocchioass-thumb-300×405.gif” width=”300″ height=”405″ alt=”pinocchioass.gif” class=”mt-image-right” style=”float: right; margin: 0 0 20px 20px;” //a/spanIn the story of Pinocchio, the wooden boy eventually finds his way to Pleasure Island and makes friends with a boy named Lampwick. On Pleasure Island, little boys break all the normal rules of society. They drink, they smoke, they swear and they gamble. Of course there’s a price for these actions; over time, the boys gradually turn into donkeys. It’s not until Lampwick transforms into a donkey and Pinocchio sprouts a donkey tail and ears that he makes the choice to leave the island with Jiminy Cricket./p

PThe world of social media really isn’t so different. A HREF=”http://www.searchengineguide.com/jennifer-laycock/dear-miss-social-media-manners.php”Social media has rules of engagement/A just like society. In fact, A HREF=”http://www.theharteofmarketing.com/2008/10/emily-post-miss-manners-and-social-media.html”the rules of social media/A very carefully mimic the rules of real life interactions. Social Media users are expected to be polite, to listen more than they talk, to offer more than they take and to generally, behave themselves in an upright, pleasant and professional manner./p

PUnfortunately, one too many businesses takes a look at the perceived party atmosphere and dives in head first without giving second thought to the consequences of their actions. They hear about how many companies are increasing profits via social media and they run in with both guns blazing and no second thought to how to engage their audience. They throw the rules of society out the window and focus on doing what they think will most benefit them./p

PLike Pinocchio and Lampwick in a land without rules, they often end up making asses of themselves. /p

PbFind Your Balance/b/p

PWhile doing business in the land of social media really isn’t that different from doing business anywhere else, the stakes can be a little higher. Make a bad impression by pushing too hard at a Chamber of Commerce meeting and you’re likely only going to offend a few local business owners. Do it on Twitter or LinkedIn and the ripple effect could extend around your industry and around the world. /p

PThat said, there are four simple things you can focus on that will help you navigate the sometimes choppy social media waters. /p

Pspan class=”mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image” style=”display: inline;”a href=”http://www.searchengineguide.com/images/socialmediapie.php” onclick=”window.open(’http://www.searchengineguide.com/images/socialmediapie.php’,'popup’,'width=558,height=426,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0′); return false”img src=”http://www.searchengineguide.com/images/socialmediapie-thumb-500×381.gif” width=”500″ height=”381″ alt=”socialmediapie.gif” class=”mt-image-center” style=”text-align: center; display: block; margin: 0 auto 20px;” //a/span/p

Pb1. Listen: Make Sure You Don’t Dominate the Conversation/b/p

Pspan class=”mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image” style=”display: inline;”a href=”http://www.searchengineguide.com/images/listeningsmm.php” onclick=”window.open(’http://www.searchengineguide.com/images/listeningsmm.php’,'popup’,'width=500,height=333,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0′); return false”img src=”http://www.searchengineguide.com/images/listeningsmm-thumb-300×199.jpg” width=”300″ height=”199″ alt=”listeningsmm.jpg” class=”mt-image-left” style=”float: left; margin: 0 20px 20px 0;” //a/spanThe absolute biggest, most unbreakable rule of social media is to listen. If you do absolutely nothing else in social media, it should be this. Why? Because the biggest value in social media is the insight you can gain from getting to know your customers. /p

PYou can listen to your target audience talk about your company, your competitors and even just about the problems they face in every day life and the solutions they’ve found for them. You can ask questions and listen to the feedback. You can ask for ideas and suggestions. /p

PYou’ll notice how often the world listen got used in this section…there’s a reason for that. Listen. Listen two to three times more than you talk. It will pay off, I promise./p

Pb2. Connect: Make New Friends and Keep the Old/b/p

Pspan class=”mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image” style=”display: inline;”a href=”http://www.searchengineguide.com/images/friendssmm.php” onclick=”window.open(’http://www.searchengineguide.com/images/friendssmm.php’,'popup’,'width=500,height=333,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0′); return false”img src=”http://www.searchengineguide.com/images/friendssmm-thumb-300×199.jpg” width=”300″ height=”199″ alt=”friendssmm.jpg” class=”mt-image-right” style=”float: right; margin: 0 0 20px 20px;” //a/spanThe second biggest benefit to building a social media presence is your ability to connect with people. Social media can provide an avenue to build a stronger relationship with the casual acquaintances you already have in the industry and the social side of it can help you daisy chain those relationships to get introductions to other people you might like to connect with as well. /p

PListening in to the conversation is great (and highly useful) but it’s not until you begin interacting and building relationships that you really start reaping the full reward. /p

POf course the key points there are “connecting” and “building relationships.” You can’t simply hone in on a few people and start talking at them, you need to find the people who have similar interests and begin finding ways to build those friendships and business relationships. Doing that takes time and taking the time to do it the right way “protects” you from accidentally breaking the rules and looking like a common fool. /p

Pb3. Add Value: Find Unique and Genuine Ways to Help/b/p

Pspan class=”mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image” style=”display: inline;”a href=”http://www.searchengineguide.com/images/helpsmm.php” onclick=”window.open(’http://www.searchengineguide.com/images/helpsmm.php’,'popup’,'width=500,height=332,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0′); return false”img src=”http://www.searchengineguide.com/images/helpsmm-thumb-300×199.jpg” width=”300″ height=”199″ alt=”helpsmm.jpg” class=”mt-image-left” style=”float: left; margin: 0 20px 20px 0;” //a/spanOnce you’ve taken the time to listen to the conversation and find ways to begin building relationships, the next step is to add value. Social media is about the collective sharing and spreading and development of knowledge. It’s about building resources and becoming resources./p

PLike many other areas of life, the people who work the hardest to help others often reap the greatest rewards. Those who spend time lazing around and leeching off of others enjoy brief moments of success before finding themselves in a heap of trouble, often doing more work than they needed to in the first place. (Much like the boys who turned into donkeys and were hauled off to work the salt mines in Pinocchio.)/p

PBy the time you’ve reached point three, you really should have spent enough time listening and building relationships to have some idea of what your online community needs. Sit down and figure out how to meet those needs and you’ll start building the type of reputation that builds your bottom line./p

Pb4. Measure: Know What You Want to Get from the Experience/b/p

Pspan class=”mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image” style=”display: inline;”a href=”http://www.searchengineguide.com/images/measuresmm.php” onclick=”window.open(’http://www.searchengineguide.com/images/measuresmm.php’,'popup’,'width=500,height=375,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0′); return false”img src=”http://www.searchengineguide.com/images/measuresmm-thumb-300×225.jpg” width=”300″ height=”225″ alt=”measuresmm.jpg” class=”mt-image-right” style=”float: right; margin: 0 0 20px 20px;” //a/spanFinally, you need to have some idea of what you are looking to get from the experience. There’s no sense investing your time in social media without some type of goal. Keep in mind, your goal doesn’t have to be sales related…it may be as simple as establishing at least one new industry contact a week or building a network you can gather feedback from for future product launches./p

PWhatever your goal is, make sure you identity if before you begin building your social media strategy. Your goals will heavily influence the strategy you put together and finding ways to track your results will hold you accountable for the time you are investing./p

PbUp Next/b/p

PPinocchio may have found it fun to hang out on Pleasure Island soaking up bad living and doing whatever he pleased…but it didn’t take long before he began to see the consequences of those actions. Life in social media is similar. Spend too much time ignoring the “rules” of society and you’ll end up looking like a jackass./p

PIn the next lesson in the series, we’ll take a look at what Jiminy Cricket has to do with online marketing. /p

PemImages courtesy of creative commons license from Flickr users a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/carbonnyc/1359721335/”Carbon NYC/a, a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/eschipul/1050931279/”Eric Schipul/a, a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/yourdon/2905921539/”Ed Yourdon/a and a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/aussiegall/286709039/”Aussiegall/a./em/p

pbr /ba href=”http://www.smallbusinessbrief.com”Check out our small business news site./a/b/p
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Big Project/Small Budget: Where to Begin Your SEO Campaign

pby Stoney deGeyter/p
pMany businesses owners focusing on SEO for the first time, especially those with limited budgets, can often find themselves caught like a deer in the headlights wondering just where and how to begin. SEO, even for smaller sites, can often be a big project, especially if you’re trying to run the business at the same time./p

pThe question becomes, how many hours a week can you afford to invest (or pay for,) and what should you do first with the limited time on hand? There are several aspects to the SEO process and each one is important in it’s own right. It’s not always easy to say “do this first” until a site evaluation has been performed, as each site’s needs are different. But you have to start somewhere, right? /p

p align=”center”img src=”http://www.searchengineguide.com/images/pocket-change.jpg” alt=”Pocket Change” //p

pWhile I can’t put together a definitive path that you can use to work through your own SEO process, I will provide a general order of importance of different areas. This can be used as a guideline for analysis to determine where you do need to begin the optimization campaign./p

pstronga href=”http://www.searchengineguide.com/stoney-degeyter/the-best-damn-web-marketing-checklist-fo-3.php”Site Architecture/a/strong/p

pIf the architecture if your website is messed up or has significant issues, then the overall performance of your site will be limited. You can focus on links, keyword targeting, content, etc, but if the architecture isn’t right then all of those efforts will be far less effective than they otherwise would be. Think of architecture as the foundation that the rest of the site needs to be built upon. If the foundation is crumbling, it’ll create a whole mess of other problems, despite how much effort is put into other areas of performance./p

pThe primary focus of the initial architectural check should be on search engine spiderability of the site. Can the engines navigate properly from page to page? Are the right pages given correct level of importance via hierarchy? Is there anything preventing the search engines from getting to all of the content? These are important questions that must be asked and answered. /p

pOnce you know your site is “search engine friendly” and the ability of your site to perform is in check, you can then focus on other areas to help improve actual performance./p

pstronga href=”http://www.searchengineguide.com/stoney-degeyter/comprehensive-guide-to-keyword-research.php”Keyword Research/a/strong/p

pIt’s hard to say if keyword research should come before or after you address certain site architectural needs. For the most part, keyword research should come first because you will use what you uncover to build a proper architectural platform. However, there are many architectural issues that can and should be fixed immediately so your site can get properly indexed by the search engines. Keyword research can take a bit of time so fixing the most important architectural issues first will be to your benefit./p

pOnce the most important architectural issues are addressed, start digging into your keyword research. Before you can do any focused optimization or marketing of your site, you really do have to know what keywords are most important, and how they should be implemented across your site. While the actual keyword optimization process can, and usually does, take time, the research will help you define a clear path in moving forward./p

pstronga href=”http://www.searchengineguide.com/stoney-degeyter/seven-building-blocks-of-a-destination-w-2.php”Usability/a/strong/p

pUsability is often overlooked in the implementation of the SEO campaign, mostly because SEO can often conflict with the site’s overall usability performance. That doesn’t need to be so and usability and SEO can, and should, work hand in hand. In fact, usability should trump SEO in nearly all cases. While it’s important to get people to your site via search engines, the engines are not the only way visitors find you. So when usability takes a back seat to SEO you’re forcing your visitors who come to your site through other means to view your site through optimization eyes./p

pWhen usability trumps SEO, every visitor that comes to your site, regardless of how they got there, has the best experience possible. Instead of finding a site that’s clunky, they find a site that gives them what they need as seamlessly as possible. Any usability improvements will help you increase conversion rates and the number of value of each sale made. As traffic increases, via on-page optimization and other marketing efforts, your sales numbers will rise at a rate greater than if usability wasn’t factored in, making your optimization efforts far more valuable. /p

pstronga href=”http://www.searchengineguide.com/stoney-degeyter/the-best-damn-o.php”Keyword Optimization/a/strong/p

pIt seems somewhat odd that an article about SEO shows actual keyword optimization as the second to least important. That’s not to say that the on-page optimization isn’t important; it is! But it’s only valuable once the issues above have been properly addressed. Focusing on optimization before you have fully researched your keywords leads to improper targeting and poorer performing campaigns. Same with usability and site architecture, these things must come first if you want the optimization to be effective./p

pThere are a number of ways you can go about optimizing your site: 1) You can focus on one page at a time, starting with your most important pages and keywords first. 2) you can do a quick run-through of the entire site hitting key elements first, then go through again hitting the secondary and then tertiary elements, 3) you can focus on product pages hitting very specific keywords, then working your way back to the broader, more highly searched but less targeted keywords. /p

pIt doesn’t matter how you move forward, so long as you are aware of the short and long-term success potential of any approach./p

pstronga href=”http://www.searchengineguide.com/stoney-degeyter/multiple-path-l.php”Link Building/a/strong/p

pLink building should not be overlooked, or considered less important. Often sites can perform strongly on link building campaigns alone. However, such campaigns are far more effective once the keyword strategy has been laid out (if not yet fully implemented). This aligns the keyword targeting efforts both on and off the page, making both far more successful overall./p

pAlso keep in mind that generic link building campaigns can begin in the very early stages of the SEO process, but you’ll do better saving the more specific keyword targeting efforts for once you have a solid idea where keywords will be targeted on the site./p

pAs each site is different and has different needs, so the path above needs to be flexible. Many of these areas overlap and can be performed simultaneously. Some can be done in stages leaving room to begin stages of another area as needed. But overall, this is a good framework allowing you to see where you can begin with your optimization and analyzation efforts, and help you get a better feel for how to progress with your optimization campaign./p
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