The Importance of Video on Your Blog
May 8, 2012
There’s a couple of cool things about using video in your blog: not only are people more likely to watch it than read a ton of dense text, video actually affords you lots of creative opportunity to bring information to your “readers” in compelling (and memorable) ways.
Check out these stats……
- Visitors who view product videos are 85% more likely to buy than visitors who do not, according to Internet Retailer, April 2010. (via Invodo)
- From a study by Simply Measured, video on your brand’s Facebook Timeline increases engagement by 33%. (via VatorNews)
- According to a Google report from 2010, “Video exhibits higher click-through rates than non-video for both in-page as well as expanding rich media formats.”
- Ever since Google integrated video into its universal search offering in 2007, websites featuring video have gained a significant SEO advantage. When a company integrates relevant videos that match the content of its website, search engines find and index the video within the site’s context. This improves your overall website and video search ranking as it relates to your business’ keywords, and also allows search results to be presented with matching videos, making them more appealing, thereby increasing search-based traffic. (SearchEngine Land)
Does Your Blog Do “Off-Page” SEO?
May 2, 2012
By now, most of us have at least heard about SEO and we’ve been talking about it quite a lot the past few weeks or so…but there are two kinds of SEO that you can concern yourself with (possibly more, when you really think about it). There’s on-page and off-page SEO. On-page SEO is what you do to customize a blog post with header tags, keywords and images. Off-page SEO is what you need to do outside the blog to help rank the blog higher. The purpose of off-page SEO is to connect your blog with various high authority networks so the blog gets more back links, more traffic and will move higher in the rankings. There are a bunch of terrific tips for the off-page SEO….here are just a few.
(1) Do a lot of social bookmarking is platforms like StumbleUpon and Digg. The social bookmarking sites are crawled by search engines more often and they do have a very active user base. Bookmarking your blog on these sites will lead to traffic spikes often.
(2) Spend time to create forum profiles. Almost all forums are free to register. To get back link from forums, use the blog name as forum profile name. Example: If Zac wants to create forum account in ABC forum, he will give the forum username as Blogging Tips to get a back link like “http….ABC/user/BloggingTips” rather than “http…ABC/user/Zac”. The first link will point straight to this blog; hence, back link created.
(3) It is good to submit blogs on stat based websites like Quantcast and Website Shadow. These WhoIs sites generate free back links and also give free analytical report of registered blogs.
(4) If you are providing any service or selling any products through blog/s, write a Press Release and submit it to high powered free press release sites. The aim is to get indexed in Google News which will lead to higher traffic and free back links. Continue to submit new press releases every 15-days.
(5) Spend some time in submitting RSS feed to RSS aggregators. The feed could be blog RSS, RSS from article directories and web 2.0 RSS links. You can use feedage.com to convert a static html page into RSS format. Some of the best places to submit RSS feeds are bloghub.com, postrank.com, feedagg.com, feedage.com, plazoo.com and icerocket.com.
(6) Apart from blogging, you also need to write articles for publishing in web 2.0 networks like HubPages, Squidoo and Blogger. These web 2.0 properties are definitely high authority sites and links from these platforms work wonders for the blog’s off-page SEO.
Apart from web 2.0 properties, it is also beneficial to submit articles in article directories; however, after Google Panda updates, article directories have lost its value as a prominent off-page SEO tool so use them with discretion.
Did You Graduate From Link Building High School Yet?
9th Grade: Links You Can Build Yourself That Require Little Time Investment
Before I get into this, I’d like to stress that you should have a really good keyword strategy and make sure you’ve optimized each page on your site around a different keyword phrase. Any link you’re building should be designed to help a specific page rank high in the search engines for a specific keyword.
That said, the first set of links that every business should get are the ones that don’t require anyone else’s help. There are lots of business directories out there where you can just submit your URL, company name, and a description of your business. Some of them require approval. Some of them require a fee. Yahoo’s directory, Joe Ant, Aboutus.org are some of the ones you should do right away.
In this class of Level I links, there are also many social media sites where you can simply build links to your site. Most of these no longer pass SEO credit, but they’re still good links to get, assuming your target audience visits the site or these sites rank high for your keywords already.
It’s arguable that you should hire someone to do (or start) this stuff for you. It’s low level work that generates low level returns. Just make sure that you don’t hire a firm that will get you 1,000 links for < $1,000 dollars. If it’s too good to be true, it is.
10th Grade: Links You Build Yourself that Require Effort
Before I get into this level, I’d like to stress that launching a business blog should be done before doing this. Without having a blog on your site with lots of good, well-optimized content, you don’t really have anything to link to.
That said, there are two very common link building techniques that work well that don’t require you to be a “thought leader”. Yet. These activities require a bit more time investment and a small financial investment. They are article marketing and press release optimization. With both of these methods, you have to create relevant content that will appeal to your market. So, it requires more time than Level I. Also, the process of getting your articles syndicated and your press releases submitted and picked up – takes effort. You might consider hiring a wired pr firm or a strong SEO firm to do some of this stuff for you.
If done correctly, both of these methods can significantly increase the links to your site. Also, if you write your articles and press releases with a keyword strategy in mind, and with links that support your keyword strategy, it can significantly increase your rankings for specific keyword terms. Run your press releases and your articles through press release grader to determine whether they’re going to help.
11th Grade: Links You Network For that Require a Significant Time Investment
This part of link building is kind of like sales. Cold calling can be done effectively with persistence. But, networking, getting referrals, giving first, the law of attraction, etc is a better way of getting new clients.
Link building is the same way. If you’re more of a cold caller type, and there are lots of potential places you can get a link, you might consider just creating a list of webmasters and asking them for a link.
If you’re a natural networker and you’re in this for the long haul, I’d recommend being a bit more patient. Apply your persistence and spend your time building relationships.
No matter what route you take, the goal of this level is to make yourself visible among people interested in the same topics as you. This process is a bit self promotional. But, you must promote yourself in a way that you’re adding value. You master this level by acting like a resource for people in your industry. How do you do this? It’s all about networking and building meaningful relationships. The first step is reading other people’s blogs. Then, commenting on them. Then, eventually starting a relationship where you’re communicating 1-on-1 with them. I recommend you take the leap from reader to 1:1 with a blogger, by pointing them in the direction of other people’s content that might be interesting to them. In the non-marketing world, this usually happens through email. In the marketing world, this usually happens through Twitter. If you’re techy, this might happen through Delicious. If you use StumbleUpon or Digg, those are great platforms to share things with peers. Even google reader lets you do this kind of networking. But, it can certainly happen through any social networking platform or system that enables 1:1 communication.
From a link building perspective, the ultimate goal of this level is to get invited to write a guest article for other people’s blogs or website. For example, I wrote an article about inbound lead generation for Aaron Ross not too long ago. In the article, I linked to relevant resources on my blog and the HubSpot blog and site. These are great links from an authoritative source. Aaron reaches our target market sending relevant traffic. These links also help us rank for our target keywords.
During this process, you’re also building up a group of people that will most likely begin following you…
Seniors Rule! (12th Grade): Links Other People Give You Because You Create Remarkable Content.
This level is like the last month or two in high school when you’ve already passed midterms and you’ve been accepted to the college of your choice. You’ve done the hard work already. Now, it’s time to go to parties and enjoy being the carefree big man on campus.
You don’t necessarily halt the activities above. But, you spend more of your time just creating remarkable content. (And some link bait.)
At HubSpot, we do some guest articles once in a while and we optimize our press releases. But, mostly we just put time into churning out content on our blog and producing other online marketing resources like webinars and white papers. Some of you seem to think this stuff is pretty remarkable. As a result, it generally creates great conversations in our comments, strong attendance at our webinars and lots of white paper downloads. And regularly, people link to our webinar announcements and blog articles of their own accord.
This doesn’t start happening overnight, unless you’re already famous. We have a lot of advantages at HubSpot. Website Grader’s success, funding in the bank, successful clients, smart founders who started blogging before they had a product and now… a lot of employees who contributor to the blog, a strong social media following, etc.
But, we did it in < 2 years. If you’re a small business and you follow the path above, there’s no reason why you can’t stake your claim on the web. Link building is an important part of that. Hopefully, this post demystifies the process a bit and gives you a roadmap to get started.
The biggest mistake that newbie internet marketers make is thinking that creating great content on their blog will be all it takes to be successful internet marketers. My biggest frustration is when newbie bloggers pack up shop after just a month of writing because the blog doesn’t have an immediate impact on their search traffic and lead volume.
At the end of the day, if you publish great content on the web AND connect, relate and build relationships with other humans, really good links will come naturally. Until then, put in some homework and earn your way through link building high school.
Photo by CarbonNYC
Article: SEO, Content and Bloggers
April 24, 2012
Terrific article on content, your website’s blog and one of the most important parts of the process: taking action.
Stuck for Content? (Part 2)
April 4, 2012
Yesterday’s post on ideas for content was SO POPULAR (thank you, thank you) that I thought this might need to be expanded upon! Hey – maybe you could use even MORE ideas about what content to add to your site or your social networking sites OR your blog….SO….here goes….
1. Start a Regular Feature
Create a regular feature on your website e.g. “Web design tip of the week”, “SEO tip of the month”, etc. Regular features are another great way to create new content for your website and improve your SEO performance. It also helps promote loyalty and encourages customers to visit your site regularly.
2. Allow Guest Posting On Your Blog
Once you have established yourself, ask others to post. You know, others are looking for these opportunities to publish and you can create great new alliances to boot. Don’t be shy….ask.
3. Create Case Studies
This is a terrific way to show your prospective clients how you work, showcase your results and toot your horn a little at the same time. Prospective clients do want to see how things work and how you work before they will tip a toe in the water. The format of this is easy: your client’s issue, your approach and how it’s implemented and then – the result!
4. Create a White Paper
Write a white paper or report on a topic important to your industry or on a hot topic within your niche. Try to make it as informative and in-depth as possible. Publish your report on your own blog, write a press release to promote it as well promote it on social media, other blogs, document sharing sites, etc. Well written informative reports tend to attract a lot of back-links and coverage across the Internet.
5. Create a Best Post List
Any list of tips – Top Tips for Attracting New Clients, for example – are bound to attract readers. For example, this post is a good example of the “best” post list.
6. Monthly List of Posts
Following on from the previous point, you can also create a monthly list of best posts on a topic and publish it on your blog around the same time each month. You can feature content from your own site as well as from other external sites. This can become a regular feature on your blog.
7. Monitor & Write About Trending Topics
If you have noticed a trend that connects to your expertise, by all means, right an article. For example, I have noticed there are a lot of entrepreneurs who have been in business for over 20 years and they are now struggling with how to wrap their heads around the social media entry into marketing. It is such a complete shift from the “push” advertising days that an article is warranted. No, this is not original material, but my experience with it as it relates to a certain industry might be. Write from your perspective and how you have made changes to accommodate your clients. That’s going to be very attractive to other clients in the same boat.
8. F.A.Q’s
Once a week, take one of the questions you are asked all the time and make a blog posting out of it. I am asked ALL THE TIME about SEO as it relates to the writing for websites I do. Take the opportunity to talk about this and offer a snippet of expertise and a few tips to help.
9. Research Social News Sites
Take advantage of social bookmarking and social news sites such as Digg, Delicious or Stumble Upon, that syndicate content from thousands of users and websites are also great for researching ideas for new content for your website or blog. These sites are excellent tools to find new topics to write about.
10. Publish Interviews
This is one of my favorite ways to add content to my blog. I am a CONSTANT recommender of books and articles on a wide variety of subject that interest my clients. Pick up the phone and ask for an interview — most authors are thrilled with the exposure. Interviews make great content and feature regularly on successful blogs. Don’t think you have to interview someone famous. You can interview any professional from your industry, colleague or even a customer.
Make it EASY for Your Prospects to Work With You
March 8, 2012
I know this sounds like, “duh, MJTVgirl….you into the wine a little early today?” — but, in reality, many of us have this issue. Any of these sound familiar?
- “I don’t want to put prices on my page – each client is sooooo different,”
- “I will put up ALL the things I could ever conceive of doing for a client on the website. They will find what they are looking for,”
- “A website is the place I can showcase everything….that way, everyone will see how incredibly talented I am!”
OK..no. No. And most definitely NO.
Let’s address pricing: do you realize that you are missing a HUGE SEO opportunity if you don’t talk about pricing? What if you wrote an article that addressed “How Much Does it Cost to X” – fill in your specialty or product. Wouldn’t that be an article you think a LOT of your prospective customers would be searching for? Particularly if you are in a business where the pricing is not necessarily so available? If you are clear about your pricing, say it.
In terms of a business that custom-fits the product or service to the client need, that is fine, however, I would recommend you come up with “products”: packages that you know many of your target customers would want. This is a great way to show them the product/service you are offering can be boxed-up in a meaningful way — and they can get their heads around what you do. If you are so vague about how everything will work, they won’t trust you and will go elsewhere.
Next – there is not really such a thing as a competent generalist. Most of us do some sort of specialized work. Whether it is for one or two industries or within one category. For example, both of these could be true: “I build pools” OR “I build high-end, custom pools.” If you have a beautiful mansion and are looking for something really unique, who would YOU call? The point is, be specific to what you’re offering. The narrower (narrower?) you can be, the more expressive and the more you can address specific issues — these are your clients. Searching for help and finding that level of specificity feels like slipping into a warm bath. Ahhhhhh……
One more little point on this: If we are the pros, why would you leave it up to those who seek the help to “figure it out” on your website what you do and how you can help them? I would never want to leave it up to a customer who is looking for help to accurately diagnose what type of help he or she needs. In a service industry, that is my job. All they know is “something isn’t working and I need help.” For god’s sake, help ‘em find help.
The third no-no is really just an ego issue. Remember — the best copywriting, the best kind of content addresses the NEED – and it’s not “hey, wonder where I can find a guy with a HUGE ego to help me?” No one is searching for that. They need your help. Let them find you. OK?
mary jo cranmore
