Use SEO to Improve Your Social Media Listening
Posted on 06. Nov, 2011 by Jay Baer in Blog, Search Marketing Advice, Small Business Internet Marketing, Small Business Marketing, social listening, social media monitoring, Social Media Staffing and Operations
Listen! It’s the first commandment of every social media program. Pay attention. Find out who is talking about you, in what capacity, and where.
It makes sense. You can’t use social media as the new telephone unless you know how to get a dial tone first. But almost every company I come across could and should get better at listening.
Listen Harder
Too often, companies assert that indeed they are listening to the social media conversations about them. But then when you dig deeper you find that they are listening almost entirely for mentions of their brand name. That’s listening with only one ear open, at best. In their social conversations, customers do not go to great lengths to mention your company in precise and perfectly phrased ways. And that goes double for Twitter, which features horrific crimes against abbreviations and a litany of #notascleverasyouthink hash tags.
At every price point, there are many outstanding tools available to help your company listen to social conversations. But they are just tools – empty vessels that only work their magic based on your commands. The real work must come from you, and it requires taking a broader look at what you should be listening FOR in social media.
Breadth Equals Listening Acumen
Not just your brand name, but also your products, employees, retailers, suppliers, events, and competitors. And often, the best business intelligence from the social Web comes from conversations that are about your category, not a particular company or product in that category.
If I tweeted “I sure wish I could find noise-canceling earbuds that were actually comfortable.” (i was recently in the market for such an item), even if you were listening for all the items listed above (employees, retailers, etc) you would likely never find this tweet, robbing you of product marketing insight – and possibly the chance at a real-time engagement and sale,
To solve this listening breadth dilemma, what I recommend is to take the list of keywords that you have targeted in paid and/or organic search, and incorporate them into your social listening, too. If you care enough to pay Google a per-click fee for that term, you certainly should care enough to listen for it in social media.
Go make this happen and you’ll be amazed at how much more robust (and useful) your social listening program becomes.
Use SEO to Improve Your Social Media Listening
Posted on 06. Nov, 2011 by Jay Baer in Blog, Search Marketing Advice, Small Business Internet Marketing, Small Business Marketing, social listening, social media monitoring, Social Media Staffing and Operations
Listen! It’s the first commandment of every social media program. Pay attention. Find out who is talking about you, in what capacity, and where.
It makes sense. You can’t use social media as the new telephone unless you know how to get a dial tone first. But almost every company I come across could and should get better at listening.
Listen Harder
Too often, companies assert that indeed they are listening to the social media conversations about them. But then when you dig deeper you find that they are listening almost entirely for mentions of their brand name. That’s listening with only one ear open, at best. In their social conversations, customers do not go to great lengths to mention your company in precise and perfectly phrased ways. And that goes double for Twitter, which features horrific crimes against abbreviations and a litany of #notascleverasyouthink hash tags.
At every price point, there are many outstanding tools available to help your company listen to social conversations. But they are just tools – empty vessels that only work their magic based on your commands. The real work must come from you, and it requires taking a broader look at what you should be listening FOR in social media.
Breadth Equals Listening Acumen
Not just your brand name, but also your products, employees, retailers, suppliers, events, and competitors. And often, the best business intelligence from the social Web comes from conversations that are about your category, not a particular company or product in that category.
If I tweeted “I sure wish I could find noise-canceling earbuds that were actually comfortable.” (i was recently in the market for such an item), even if you were listening for all the items listed above (employees, retailers, etc) you would likely never find this tweet, robbing you of product marketing insight – and possibly the chance at a real-time engagement and sale,
To solve this listening breadth dilemma, what I recommend is to take the list of keywords that you have targeted in paid and/or organic search, and incorporate them into your social listening, too. If you care enough to pay Google a per-click fee for that term, you certainly should care enough to listen for it in social media.
Go make this happen and you’ll be amazed at how much more robust (and useful) your social listening program becomes.
The Science and Results of Real-Time Content Optimization
Posted on 10. Oct, 2011 by Jay Baer in Blog, content marketing, content optimization, real-time, Search Marketing Advice, Small Business Internet Marketing, Small Business Marketing
I’ve been writing Convince & Convert for more than three years, and I continue to be grateful and delighted that you choose to spend time here, when faced with a tsunami of blog options.
I continue to find it fascinating, however, that even though this blog is probably considered successful within its very small niche, approximately 70% of the visitors here are first-timers (according to Google Analytics). And approximately 35% of you came from a search engine.
You know what drives magazine subscriptions? Newsstand sales. Readers don’t start loyal. They sample the product first, and decide they want consistent consumption. Blogs work the exact same way, except Search is our newsstand.
I’ve read several posts from other bloggers eschewing the need to pay attention to the principles of search optimization, arguing that the “community” and “engagement” and “sharing” will supersede the impact of search.
They are wrong, and a new research project I just finished proves it.
Real-Time Content Optimization
For a seven week period, I worked with InboundWriter – an easy-to-use tool that helps optimize your writing. During that period, I created seven new posts here using InboundWriter, and rewrote five classic posts to make them more search friendly.
The results were significant and immediate.
- Traffic from search for the posts I rewrote using InboundWriter increased by an average of 33%
- Four of the five rewritten posts achieved top 10 Google rankings for key phrases I targeted
- Six of the seven newly written posts achieved top 10 Google rankings for key phrases within 48 hours of publication
And these results weren’t unique to Convince & Convert. Our research also included content from toy e-tailer ebeanstalk.com and blog network linkorbit.com. In each instance, we found increases in search traffic – and in some cases significant bumps in time spent on site.
Specificity Creates Satisfaction
Whether they can precisely articulate it or not, the reality is that readers are looking for something when they come to your blog. If you can give them content that is focused and uses the words and phrases that they use, you have a better chance of attracting and keeping those visitors.
As conversion optimization guru Bryan Eisenberg (and co-author with me and Pelin Thorogood of the study) says:
“More and more marketers are realizing the benefits of content strategy and optimization as a way to drive online results. This study shows for the first time the value of leveraging real-time search intelligence during the content creation process, as opposed to in separate steps or not at all.”
There are several ways to make your content more search-friendly, but InboundWriter (in public beta) is perhaps the easiest to implement – especially for writers without SEO background. The InboundWriter website (or WordPress plug-in) recommends appropriate keywords based on your sample copy and an examination of other (even competitor) websites you select. Then, the system gives you a live, real-time SEO score (1-100 scale) that changes as you write and edit. It’s intuitive for all, and is completely free for the first batch of documents you create each month. The full-blown plan is $19.95/month.
To read the complete research paper, including methodology and metrics for each participating site, please visit http://www.inboundwriter.com/impact.
(Disclosure: I was paid to help draft this research, but began using InboundWriter – and seeing results – before beginning a consulting relationship with them)
The Science and Results of Real-Time Content Optimization
Posted on 10. Oct, 2011 by Jay Baer in Blog, content marketing, content optimization, real-time, Search Marketing Advice, Small Business Internet Marketing, Small Business Marketing
I’ve been writing Convince & Convert for more than three years, and I continue to be grateful and delighted that you choose to spend time here, when faced with a tsunami of blog options.
I continue to find it fascinating, however, that even though this blog is probably considered successful within its very small niche, approximately 70% of the visitors here are first-timers (according to Google Analytics). And approximately 35% of you came from a search engine.
You know what drives magazine subscriptions? Newsstand sales. Readers don’t start loyal. They sample the product first, and decide they want consistent consumption. Blogs work the exact same way, except Search is our newsstand.
I’ve read several posts from other bloggers eschewing the need to pay attention to the principles of search optimization, arguing that the “community” and “engagement” and “sharing” will supersede the impact of search.
They are wrong, and a new research project I just finished proves it.
Real-Time Content Optimization
For a seven week period, I worked with InboundWriter – an easy-to-use tool that helps optimize your writing. During that period, I created seven new posts here using InboundWriter, and rewrote five classic posts to make them more search friendly.
The results were significant and immediate.
- Traffic from search for the posts I rewrote using InboundWriter increased by an average of 33%
- Four of the five rewritten posts achieved top 10 Google rankings for key phrases I targeted
- Six of the seven newly written posts achieved top 10 Google rankings for key phrases within 48 hours of publication
And these results weren’t unique to Convince & Convert. Our research also included content from toy e-tailer ebeanstalk.com and blog network linkorbit.com. In each instance, we found increases in search traffic – and in some cases significant bumps in time spent on site.
Specificity Creates Satisfaction
Whether they can precisely articulate it or not, the reality is that readers are looking for something when they come to your blog. If you can give them content that is focused and uses the words and phrases that they use, you have a better chance of attracting and keeping those visitors.
As conversion optimization guru Bryan Eisenberg (and co-author with me and Pelin Thorogood of the study) says:
“More and more marketers are realizing the benefits of content strategy and optimization as a way to drive online results. This study shows for the first time the value of leveraging real-time search intelligence during the content creation process, as opposed to in separate steps or not at all.”
There are several ways to make your content more search-friendly, but InboundWriter (in public beta) is perhaps the easiest to implement – especially for writers without SEO background. The InboundWriter website (or WordPress plug-in) recommends appropriate keywords based on your sample copy and an examination of other (even competitor) websites you select. Then, the system gives you a live, real-time SEO score (1-100 scale) that changes as you write and edit. It’s intuitive for all, and is completely free for the first batch of documents you create each month. The full-blown plan is $19.95/month.
To read the complete research paper, including methodology and metrics for each participating site, please visit http://www.inboundwriter.com/impact.
(Disclosure: I was paid to help draft this research, but began using InboundWriter – and seeing results – before beginning a consulting relationship with them)
Build Backlinks – 14 Easy Ways
Posted on 09. Aug, 2011 by Nicole Sorochan in Blog, Guest Posts, Search Marketing, Search Marketing Advice, Small Business Internet Marketing, Small Business Marketing
Google optimization is based on the premise that the more people that like to your website, the more valuable it must be and the higher ranking it deserves in search results.
And almost two decades since it was devised, beneath the sophisticated mathematics, the hordes of MIT grads swallowed into the research and development department, and hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue lies a simple principle: Google optimization works. Popularity is a pretty good indicator of a website’s value.
But what constitutes popularity online? From a search engine’s perspective, backlinks from another site pointing to yours is a meaningful vote of confidence.
We’re not talking here about links you put on your own website, although those “internal links” are indeed important and often underutilized. Let’s focus on how to build backlinks other people use to point attention toward your website via blogs, articles, social media sites, and so on. For example, “Here is my review of the best restaurant in New York (link pointing to your business).” And while tweets, likes, and +1’s are now becoming important ranking factors alongside links, having websites link back to you is very much still a basic requirement for getting search engine fueled website traffic.
There are an infinite number of places you could conceivably build backlinks for your website, and the vastness of the task can be paralyzing. But you have to start Google optimization some where. You shouldn’t wait passively for people to finally decide to link to you. So over the last few weeks my agency has dug up this list of easy-to-build backlinks you can get for any website. These will help get the popularity ball rolling, and even if your site has been around a while, you should go back and make sure you have these link sources covered.
14 Easy Places to Build Backlinks
Why haven’t you heard of these link sources before? You have. But you’ve probably been told they are a waste of time by your Web developer, who claims these big, popular sites aren’t useful for Google optimization.
The reason is that most powerhouse social media sites like Facebook and YouTube put a small piece of code called ‘the no follow’ tag into most areas of their site. As the name implies, the ‘no follow’ tells search engines: if someone tries to build backlinks to their site from here, don’t follow it. Instead, ignore it.
This was and is done to prevent spammers. If you didn’t have the ‘no-follow’ tag, spammers would create thousands of Facebook profiles, LinkedIn profiles, and YouTube accounts just to link those sites back to their website. The ‘no-follow’ breaks the connection you are trying to make between one website and the next, defeating the purpose of a link from the perspective of Google optimization (people can of course still click the link and visit your site directly).
But it’ s a fallacy that all social media sites have no-follows. In fact, many sites provide juicy link opportunities. You just need to find them. And we did.
These are all real links, and are entirely legitimate and approved for optimization by Google.
We recommend creating profiles for key employees and founders. Be sure to add custom links with anchor text (“anchor text” is the actual words that comprise the link. You want these to be search terms for which you want to be found, not your name or company name. This anchor text helps Google determine what other sites think your site is about) . Your profile link on Google Profiles will be devoid of a no – follow and you can add much additional information along with the link including videos and photos. These profiles are especially important now that Google Plus has launched.
Create a local business listing for all of your offices. Use target keywords in the profile and description fields. This is a great source that is devoid of no – follows and has high visibility in the search results. A Powerful, easy, and effective place to build backlinks.
Build a company profile, as well as individual profiles for key employees and founders. Select “Other” when setting your first web site link to create custom anchor text. Also take advantage of the two additional links available, but no custom anchor text is allowed.
Digg is great for traffic generation, and while not the powerhouse it once was, is still a large community. Plus, you can submit articles you want to promote, and links to those articles are followed by search engines.
Even if you’re not a check-in maniac, you should set up Foursquare profiles, as the link you associate with your account is followed.
An article submission site in the Digg vein. Very active with highly engaged users. The links you submit will be devoid of the no – follow attribute .
Create as many Squidoo “lenses” as you like, about any topic. A lens typically consists of a blog post-esque article, with links to other recommended sources.
An article discovery site that’s exceedingly busy and popular. Drives significant eyeballs all around the Web. Submitted links are followed.
Even if you don’t know a burger from a baba ganoush, create a profile on Yelp. The link in your profile is followed. Links in comments, however, are no-follow.
This local business portal allows you to create a profile for your business and is devoid of the no – follow attribute. Use target keywords in the profile and description fields, and anchor text if possible.
Create a custom YouTube channel for your company . While comments and any links you include in your description will have the rel=”nofollow” attribute, YouTube gives you a link in your profile that is devoid of no – follow.
Article submission is becoming a bit dated in terms of Google optimization and building backlinks. Large content repositories like this and Hubpages (below) may have been devalued somewhat in Google’s most recent “Panda” overhaul of its algorithm. But you can use this site to recycle blog posts that you have published elsewhere, and pick up an additional link.
Write articles on topics of your choosing, with custom links and anchor text . Significant link potential here. Devalued a bit in Google’s new Panda update.
Also in the Digg and Reddit category. You get a link in your profile , and you can submit news stories and articles. All article links are followed.
When You Build Backlinks Be Complete
When it comes to Google Places, Local Listings, LinkedIn and basically all your social pages and profiles, a complete profile is much more powerful than an incomplete one. It’s just more information that search engines can use to figure out what you and your website are about. So fill out all the details and include your main keywords in those profiles (for example, ‘we are a landscape company from Dallas specializing in large commercial and educational institution projects’).
All of this takes a bit of time and grunt work, but if you do it Google will have a richer collection of sites pointing back to yours in a consistent, powerful way.
Got a juicy link opportunity we missed? Put it in the comments.
In the meantime, check out Jay’s comprehensive look at the rise of social SEO and Google Plus.
Guest post by Nicole Sorochan, a multi-media creative vagabond and co-founder of Victoria, BC based One Net Marketing, a direct response digital marketing agency specializing in search, social and display advertising.
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