Archive for June, 2010

Simple Steps to Improve Your SEO

Wednesday, June 30th, 2010

Not sure what SEO is?

Simply put, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an ongoing process of helping your site appear at or near the top of the search results. As soon as people started searching online, marketers and site owners started positioning websites using a wide variety of tactics – both good and bad. I’d like to share 3 simple ways you can help improve your rankings.

In the beginning, SEO was a very simple (and ugly) process of keyword stuffing. It wasn’t pretty, but it worked. To combat this, and to provide searchers with relevant results (and serve you ads!), search algorithms change. Frequently.

Not only do the algorithms change often, they factor in many different things when determining where your site will appear. Google proclaims to take 200 factors into account. 200!

Trying to dissect the algorithms of Google and Bing are beyond the scope of this blog. If you are so inclinded, you can find some terrific information about algorithms and patents from Bill Slawski’s SEO Blog.

Create quality content, on a consistent basis. Use the right keywords in your content. Participate in social media. You know this by now. Right?

Duplicate content, canonical issues, site architecture, 301 redirects, .htaccess, xml sitemaps. Sounds complicated right? Your eyes are closing. Hands over your ears.

SEO doesn’t need to be complicated to be effective. To prove it, here are 3 pieces of low-hanging SEO fruit for you. Enjoy.

Title Tags
Considered one of the most important ranking factors, the title tag is the information you see across the top of your browser. It tells visitors, and the search engines, about the contents of your individual pages.

Unique, relevant page titles are imperative. If each one of your page titles contains the same information, it becomes more difficult for the search engines to determine what parts of your website are most relevant to a search.

You can quickly see each of your pages that Google and Bing know about by searching for site:putyourwebsiteaddresshere.com. Here is an example you can use to plug in your own web address. When you scan the results for your site, do you see the same page title? If so, write some quality page titles. You have some fruit to pick.

Internal Links
Links which site visitors use to move through your site are called internal links. There are several different types including navigation bars, menus, and links which occur within the copy of your site pages. Internal links, specifically those within the content of your pages, are very important in helping pass “link juice” throughout your site. It is this “juice” which helps your internal pages rank.

Just as it is for external links (links pointing to your site from elsewhere), the anchor, or link, text is very important. Anchor text is the word or phrase that is the ‘clickable’ link. Use of relevant keywords in the anchor text is very important as it serves as a clue to the search engines about what information might be contained on the linked page.

Using anchor text such as “read more” or “click here” does very little to help with your SEO. Change your anchor text to keyword rich phrases which are relevant to the page they link to. For example, if you have a travel website and within the copy have a link to a page about cabin rentals, have the link text say “cabin rentals” instead of simply “read more” or “click here”.

Making changes to your internal link text is quick, easy and will help your internal pages visibility.

Easy (Easier…) Links
Link building is an arduous task, yet is of great importance to making your site more visible in search engines. Think of a quality link as a vote of confidence in the eyes of search engines. The more votes you have, the more they trust you and the higher your site will rank.

WARNING: Do not fall prey to link scams, or become a part of a link farm. A link farm is a grouping of many unrelated, and usually unscrupulous (think pills, porn and poker) websites. These types of links will damage your efforts.

Obtaining quality links is not easy, however there are a few places (and ways) you can look for the link low-hanging fruit.

Does your local Chamber of Commerce or CVB offer listings with website links?

Often times for a nominal yearly charge you can obtain a link with your membership.

Many events, or charities will provide a link to their sponsors.

By becoming a sponsor, you can kill two birds with one stone by helping out a cause, and building a link to your website.

Do you blog?

You can look for other blogs about the same topic and seek to trade blog roll links. Simple visit Google or Bing and search for intitle:blog your keyword. Here is an example used to find cabin rental blogs.

It is important to remember that SEO is a process, not an event. If you can chip away at the items above, you will see results.

Have you found any low-hanging fruit?

Tags: link building, SEO
Posted in SEO | No Comments »

Good Work, Good Friends, and Goodbyes

Monday, June 28th, 2010

Well, It’s my last post from West Virginia.

Of course, it’s digital marketing; I work wherever there’a an internet connection. Still…

I’ve lived in the Mountain State for almost 15 years. I’ve made life long friends here. I’ve become a part of this place, and it’s become a part of me. It will always be, in some way, shape, or form, home.

This is where I found my life’s work, too.

I have always written. In elementary school, it was cartoons, mostly. Later, I wrote a lot of passionately naive political manifestos. When I was in college, I wrote poetry and fiction in some embarrassing attempts at wooing women.

But it was guiding, and not writing, that brought me to West Virginia. I lived life on the river, kayaking and rafting. In the winter, I would ski patrol at a mountain that embodied West Virginia’s idea of what skiing means (think skiing + nascar / squirrel hunting).

And, yes, I loved it. I loved it all, and was passionate about the fact that I lived a good portion of the year outside. I was skiing and snowboarding and paddling and hiking, and loving life in the mountains.

But what I was really doing was collecting stories. I was on the front lines of tourism, and for the thousands and thousands of people I met, I was the face of West Virginia. I talked to and got to know countless people, people that entrusted me to make their vacations better. They trusted me with their time.

I take what I learned from those years into everything I write. They say to write what you know, and I know people. I know what they want and what they don’t want, most of the time. My preferred style of narrative is loose, informal, and friendly, because that’s how I know people. It works, if the subject fits. The metrics that out.

Like those thousands of people who trusted me with their time, all of our partners trust me with their words.

It’s a huge responsibility. I write, and I’m speaking for them. I’m saying what they want to say about their businesses, to the people who will decide if they, in turn, will trust them. I like that.

I’ve been very fortunate to find such good work. I did what I love, in a place that I loved. And now, I’m moving. I hope my new home in Colorado can live up to life in the Mountain State.

The bar is set pretty high.

Tags: blogs, content, Social Media, writing
Posted in Partnership | No Comments »

The Strategy Behind Planning Your Blog Posts

Friday, June 25th, 2010

If you’re a good blogger (i.e. you post regularly, always have things to write about), then congratulations.

I have a cookie for you. And, hey, keep on writing that post.

For the rest of us, it’s not so easy. While we know blogging is important for many reasons (for me, it’s SEO!), it can still be a tough nut for non-writers to crack. Planning posts is second-nature for good bloggers, and is something that can help us bad bloggers move to the right side of the tracks.

As an example, I started the Matterhorn Marketing blog back in 2006. Despite knowing the importance of posting, I was never able to get it together to maximize its value to the business.

Why Planning Your Blog Matters

The importance of planning posts, as a part of an underlying content strategy, can help eliminate the paralysis by analysis that prevents a lot of us from becoming one of the good guys.

Simply brainstorming topics that are of interest to you, and more importantly are of interest to your audience can help create an outline of post topics. This alone can prove to be a valuable step.

I mean, I’m certain that I’m not the only one that knows they need to feed the blog, logs into WordPress and then stares blindly at the dashboard thinking, “what should I write about?”

Our resident content strategist and house-blogger, Ben Curnett, has placed me (as he does with all of our partners) on a pretty simple path by providing a framework which makes posting regularly seem less, well, scary.

Additionally, the bar has been set low. I know (I know!) can write a few hundred words per week. I know you can too.

Simply put, planning blog posts for the bad blogger.

Create a list of topics which interest you AND your audience
Plug those topics into a calendar
Set attainable goals

The benefits of regular postings are numerous. As an SEO (Search Engine Optimization’er) at heart, I always find myself approaching content creation from that perspective. As a result of creating consistent posts, a few of the SEO benefits you can expect are:

Google and Bing will visit your site more often. They love fresh (good) content.
You’ll create more opportunity to be found through long-tail search. More on long tail terms in another post… it’s on my schedule.
You’ll provide more opportunity and reasons for people to link to you.

How do you plan your posts and what benefit do you receive from it? Or, perhaps a better question, how would planning help you?

And why haven’t you done it yet?

Tags: blogs, content strategy, Digital Marketing, Pat Strader, planning
Posted in Blogging, SEO | No Comments »

If Digital Marketing Were Lego…

Monday, June 21st, 2010

…what would you build?

It’s worth thinking about. One, because I write for digital marketing. Two, because I play with lego A LOT with my kids. There’s probably not a better toy out there to get our imaginations flowing than Lego stuff. BTW, you don’t need kids to play with Lego (but it’s a nice excuse).

Here’s the thing: I see most business building exactly the same things they built before digital marketing existed. It’s a terrible waste. All these beautiful, genius tools laying around, and what do people make? Billboards.

I have some ideas about the parts and pieces of digital marketing as they might relate to the world’s greatest toy.

First, take an inventory of what you’ve got. Every single Lego set you ever open starts with exactly the same instructions: separate pieces according to color. When you start to build, the organization you institute at the beginning of the day will help make something amazing. If you don’t organize, on the other had (this is coming from someone who willfully ignored the instructions once), you can look forward to spending all that creative energy searching instead of building.

Also, follow instructions. No need to reinvent the wheel when you just start building. There are tried and true steps to making something recognizable that people can appreciate and use.

As any Lego builder can tell you, having a prescribed set of steps allows for a rhythm, which can be incredibly helpful in some of the more tedious parts of the process (be honest: it’s not all lightning bolts of creative genius).

Once you’re there, and you’ve got some good models set up, experiment. Create. Try. Fail. Participate. Those legos won’t build themselves. They’re tools; you’re the maker. Make something that represents you. If you’ve got no idea how to start, ask a six year old. They’re pros.

And, if you’re not into reading between the lines, here’s how I’m imagining the pieces:

Strategy: Big, wide flat pieces. They’re the ones that form the foundations. In those huge models, this is usually what you see at the bottom. They tie everything together.

Content: Big, thick blocks. These are the ones that give structure to your shape. They’re bulky and they take up space. Use these to make what you’re building bigger. This is your blog, your photo stream, your video channels. Every piece that you add helps give you more substance.

Connections: Those stick-things. We didn’t really have them when I was growing up, but every model I’ve built with my kids has the Lego rod-and-nut connectors. We’ve started to build our own creations with them, too, and they’re a strong way to bring different elements together.

Ratings: Let’s call them greebles. These are the little odds and ends that you put on your creations to give them character. They’re not absolutely necessary, but they make things interesting. And they’re there whether you use them or not, so you might as well get creative and break up the surface a little.

So, what do you think? Is this a stretch? Or does it “click”? (sorry, couldn’t help myself)

Tags: content, Lego, marketing mindset, marketing strategy
Posted in Digital Marketing | 2 Comments »

What Social Media Can Learn from One of Baseball’s Biggest Blunders

Wednesday, June 16th, 2010

Baseball fan or not, you have likely heard about the blown call heard ’round the world.

Another painful recap, in case you haven’t: On June 2nd Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga pitched baseball’s 21st perfect game. Almost. Due to a blown call at first base, on the last batter of the game, he will never receive credit for it.

For those of you who care little about baseball, pitching a perfect game means no hits, no walks, no one on base. Since 1876 there have been 392,358 Major League Baseball games played, this would have been just the 21st game that was perfect. Think about that.

This may be a reach (ok, it is), but I believe there are some parallels here for social media marketing. The events of the game and subsequent actions of those involved is a modern parable for anyone using social media and business.

The Setting
Galarraga had retired 26 batters in a row. The 27th batter had hit a groundball to the gap between first and second base. Not quite routine, but not out of the everyday for a major league first-baseman. The throw, to Galarraga covering the base, beat the runner by a step. It was not a close play.

The Action
First-base umpire Jim Joyce, inexplicably called the runner safe. This split-second decision-making is a cornerstone of umpiring baseball. Watch a play, process it, quickly make a call. With no instant replay capability, like the NFL for example. Outside of homeruns, the call stands. No amount of arguing or post-call reflection could change the call.

As is common in baseball, on questionable calls, players and coaches will argue with the umpire over the call. Oftentimes vehemently, oftentimes with the umpires giving nearly as much as they get. In this instance, Joyce aggressively defended his call, arguing and swearing just as much as Tigers manager Jim Leyland. You could tell Joyce felt he had made the correct call.

Meanwhile, Galarraga acted with complete class. Shaking off the nearly incomprehensible call to toe the rubber and retire the final batter of the game. He did not argue, he did not pout.

The jawing with umpire Joyce, Tigers coaches and players continued after the game. Again, it was obvious that Joyce felt he had made the correct call.

The Post-Game Review
Within minutes Joyce had watched a replay and determined he had blown the call. He immediately took full responsibility, and went as far as apologizing face-to-face to Galarrage outside the team clubhouse. Something unheard of being done by Major League Umpires.

“I just cost that kid a perfect game,” said Joyce, who became a full-time major league umpire in 1989 “I thought he beat the throw. I was convinced he beat the throw, until I saw the replay.”

The Review from “Above”
Many immediately began clamoring for Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig to overturn the call, and award Galarraga his perfect game. Going to the highest power in the game for a do-over of sorts, created a scenario for opening a HUGE can of worms. While it would not have set precedent, the infamous George Brett pine-tar incident was reversed, it would have added a twist of epic proportions.

What is the Parallel?
Despite all the training, experience and acquired knowledge, those participating in social media on behalf of their business are going to make mistakes.

It’s not so much the mistake that is made, but the subsequent actions that define the ultimate outcome. In some cases, effectively addressing a mistake can create positive feelings. Case-in-point, Joyce was voted as the game’s best umpire, less than two weeks after the infamous call.

When you make a mistake, own up to it. Acknowledge it. Apologize if you need to. Don’t run and hide, don’t blame others, and don’t be afraid to show your emotions.

As a boss (in this case Selig), don’t make your team feel gun-shy about participating. Is every move going to be right? No, but by not micro-managing, you give them freedom to participate. Provide training, and set guidelines if necessary to work towards preventing a gaff and support your team.

How do you handle mistakes?

parallel

Tags: baseball, social media mistakes, social media policy
Posted in Digital Marketing, Inspiration, Marketing | 2 Comments »

Is Social Media Your World Cup?

Monday, June 14th, 2010

Here’s what I think:

For most small business owners in America, digital marketing is like soccer. They don’t understand it. They don’t see the strategy. They don’t have the skills it takes to implement their tactics. They can’t execute.

I grew up with a superstar soccer player in my family. My brother was a force to be reckoned with on the pitch. He was a huge, fast, and often angry defender who would make strikers fear a breakaway if they heard is terminator-like stride chasing them down. My bro stopped more goals with his feet than most keepers ever will with their hands.

I, on the other hand, sucked.

Slow and clumsy, I was an easy target for anyone with a half decent handle on the ball. I stopped playing soccer when I was about 10, and the world rejoiced.

But I have a huge appreciation for the game. I understand it on a deep level, and I know what the players are trying to do as they move the ball.

Most Americans don’t. Or, actually, most American’s didn’t, until now.

Soccer has moved out of it’s infancy in America. Right now, we’re seeing a revolution in the game where it’s no longer really acceptable to say, “I don’t really get it,” or worse, “It’s just so boring.” America is moving on.

The same thing is happening with social media. As a small business owner, it’s not okay to not understand social media marketing anymore. You must get in the game, understand your strategy, create ideas in the space and execute them.

Or here’s your result: you’ll get burned. Juked. Nutmegged (google it).

If you don’t become a social media marketing player, or at least an avid fan, you’re going to lose. As the rest of the country celebrates, you’ll be the one wondering what the big deal is. Your business will pay a price.

Here’s how social media is like World Cup soccer:

-It takes time. There’s a lot of work that goes into a goal. Set plays (strategy) and constant practice (tactics) eventually produce a payoff.

-It takes skill. You can’t expect to walk on the field and be successful without putting your time in to learn the game. Be persistent and skills will grow.

-It takes care. No two ways about it. You have to change your perception of what the game means before you can see any benefit. If you don’t care about it, it won’t ever work for you.

-It takes a team. If you try to do it alone, you’ll fail. The whole point is to build the best team you can, people that will share the ball and work together.

-It takes ideas. The most brilliant plays are inventive, new, beautiful. Ideas move fast. The best ones turn into goals.

What are your thoughts? What are the consequences for ignoring the world as it changes?

Tags: content, Digital Marketing, getting started in social media, Goals, World Cup
Posted in Social Media | No Comments »

What Should You Put In Your Business Blog?

Monday, June 7th, 2010

Don’t start blogging without asking yourself this question. Please. Just take a moment, grab a pen and paper, and answer it.

If you do this one tiny pinch of content strategy, you’re going to save yourself a ton of headaches. And you’ll save your current and future fans, all the people that like you, the mild discomfort of having to ignore you.

Most business blogs suck big chunks of awfulness precisely because no one ever did this. The reason? I think it’s because businesses entering a new phase of digital marketing look too hard at the tools and not enough at the technique. It’s an old-model mentality, one that lets businesses feel comfortable ignoring real change while putting up the facade of actually being engaged with their customers.

You can tell pretty quickly which ones are using the “no strategy” form of content strategy. Ask yourself if what you’re reading fits nicely in a catalog or brochure. If the answer is yes, then you’re reading a blog that hasn’t thought it through. They’ve just changed media.

So what’s the answer? It’s going to depend a lot on your widget or your service. But there are some general guidelines you can use to help:

Introduce yourself.

In the first person. (Unless you’re Mr. T. Then you can use the 3rd person). Blogs aren’t sales letters. They’re editorials.

Projects.

What are you working on? How are you progressing? What’s exciting about it? Most importantly, how can other people use the expertise you’re putting into it?

News.

What’s going on in your field? How does what’s happening affect how you operate?

People.

No better way to be personable than by talking about people. How about the ten best things about your UPS guy? And further, if you can’t talk about people comfortably, you should re-examine more about your business than just your blog.

Yourself.

How’d you come to do what you’re doing? What are the most interesting parts? What are your dreams and goals for your work?

What else? I’d love to hear your thoughts if you’re blogging, or if you’re thinking about it.

Tags: blogs, business trust, content, content marketing, writing
Posted in Blogging | No Comments »

How I Use My Social Media Schedule

Thursday, June 3rd, 2010

Very few people at small businesses are dedicated to full-time social media marketing (it’s coming).

So between balancing all of your other responsibilities, you have to find some time, some dedicated time, to participation. Plain and simple. If you don’t, here’s what I predict will happen: You’ll get bored on the slow return (ROI and otherwise), you won’t follow the metrics, and, most tragically, you won’t make any worthwhile connections with customers that are reaching out to you.

It’s the digital equivalent of sticking your head in the sand. Before you do that, try this: use a schedule.

I work first hand with a whole lot of technophobes. These are people that don’t like tech under the best of circumstances (irony alert: now it’s their job!). I can guarantee you that a schedule clears the clutter, sets the bar low, and allows for a path into the world of social media marketing.

Ever see people in the gym staring at the equipment? Those people don’t have a plan. They won’t see any results. But what about the woman who goes at 6 a.m. for 45 minutes on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for aerobics and at 3 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday to lift weights? Better, right? That’s the way to do it.

Here’s roughly how I use my social media schedule:

1 hour in the morning: When I get to work, I spend the first hour catching up on social media. Mostly, I use my RSS reader and Twitter.

I go through my reader to find blog posts that might be interesting. Of these, I choose 4 or 5 to make comments on. They’re often the same blogs, because I like what the authors have to say (though I branch out, too). I’ll also post to twitter anything I find that’s interesting.

As I do this, I’m also searching Twitter. I’ve set up different feeds to bring me information on what people are saying about different subjects. I can comment on what those people say, or, most often, re-tweet what they’ve posted to show it to anyone listening on my network.

Twice each week, 1 hour in the morning: I blog. I have a good idea who our audience is, so I like to plan in advance what subjects I’m going to cover here. I talk about content, mostly, and how it relates to digital marketing as a whole. Most of it is basic, and I try to offer actionable items that people can put into practice right away. Pat writes about SEO tips mainly, sometimes high level, but most often it’s stuff that everyone can use. Again, he’s including actionable items.

Once we have a post up, we announce it on Twitter. It’s nice to see that people that I’ve RTed will often return the favor, so our content gets spread around

20 minutes mid-morning: Just before noon, I’ll check in on Facebook. There’s some research that shows that around 11:30 is the best time to post updates on Facebook for business pages, so I look around to see what our clients are up to, how they’re posting information, and what other businesses in their vertical are doing. I check metrics on pages that I’m an administrator on twice a week, so I know exactly what kind of communities are being built.

20 minutes in the afternoon: Time to check back in with Twitter and Facebook. If anything weird happens, or if there’s a problem, the earlier we catch it, the better. Also, there might be some direct messages or posts that I want to respond to.

15 minutes in the afternoon: I’m subscribed to several linkedin groups, so I’ll usually read the threads. I do more lurking there than anything else, but meeting @LewisHowes at SOBCon 2010 inspired me to get more involved. I’ll update you.

And that’s about it for the social media part. The rest of my day I spend writing and managing projects. (I know- I must be living right!) There are other things that will be incorporated as time progresses; mobile marketing is becoming a much bigger part of our content strategy, for instance. And that’s all part of it; it will have its place on the schedule just like the rest.

A note about timing: For me, it’s just as important to step back from social media as it is to participate. IT’s easy to get caught up in the conversation, and before I know it, I’m missing out on my writing and management work. That’s why the schedule is so helpful; it works for off time, too.

I’ll also say that I never separate one from the other. Participating in social media is just as much a part of my work as writing. Anyone who told you that social media will take care of itself lied.

What’s your schedule look like?

Tags: blogs, content, getting started in social media, social media schedule, writing
Posted in Social Media | 2 Comments »

3 Quick Ways To Improve Readability On Your Site

Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010

The situation is this: readers wander around in the largest library in the universe, looking for information. If it’s not easy to find, read, and digest, they move on. Quickly.

Here are three ways to keep that from happening:

Short Sentences If you can make one sentence into two, do it. If you can use smaller words, do it. Keep your paragraphs to two or three sentences. Don’t make your readers sit down to a 7 course meal when all they want is an apple. Keep it brief.

Use Subheadings A great way to break up and categorize text is to use subheadings that group your ideas into small parts. It’s the perfect setup for readers that skim, and they all skim. Make it easy.

Use Bullets As a general rule, if you have a list with four or more items, use bullets. They’re easy to read and attract the eye. The reason they work is because the extra grammar constructs of paragraphs have been stripped. Bullets are most often pure info, which is very attractive to readers. Numbered lists work well, too.

Just using these three tips alone will hugely improve the readability of your web pages. Tailor them to your writing style, your audience, and your info.

Your readers will thank you.

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

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