Online Reputation Management: Proactive Vs. Reactive

Online reputation management can make or break your company’s image. There are now 2.4 billion Internet users across the globe, and that number is rising. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg further accentuated the move toward whole global Internet usage by announcing the establishment of internet.org — a consortium with handset makers, browser companies and network infrastructure manufacturers that will allow Facebook to connect the world to the Internet, despite economic hurdles.

Zuckerburg cites Internet connectivity as a “basic human right,” and says that the next century will bring about a shift from an industrial, resource-driven economy to a knowledge-driven economy. Even with the current numbers, the Internet stands as a driving force within the U.S. economy. Those connected to the Internet are actively seeking out information regarding the companies and brands they support. This legion of purchasers are more informed and aware that their buying decisions can make a difference, therefore, establishing relationships and paying close attention to online reputation can be the key component to being profitable.

What is Online Reputation Management?

Put simply, online reputation management studies your company’s reputation and branding online, using that information to create proactive engagements and quickly handle any bad press or reviews.

The Internet gives everyone the power to publish, so it is easier than ever for disgruntled consumers or former employees to voice their opinions of your products or services.

In the past, word-of-mouth could hurt a bit, but the viral nature of the Internet has made word-of-mouth reviews a powerful weapon — and the way that your company responds can actually create the largest impact. Good online reputation management is an ongoing process backed by the best in customer service. Superb products and great customer service are the best defense against bad reviews and negative postings.

When it comes to this area of reputation management, little has changed. When those who know your brand and believe strongly in your products and ideals are able to back you up, it is easy to dispel rumors and keep negative reviews from spreading.

Reputation management was originally a public relations function aimed at combating negative press articles or television exposés. One of the largest, and most studied, cases is the ABC News PrimeTime Live exposé involving Food Lion stores. Back in 1992, long before the mainstream availability of the Internet, ABC sent undercover cameras into a Food Lion store to broadcast gross mishandlings of food. The show was extremely powerful — during the week of the broadcast, Food Lion shares fell by $1.3 billion and profit losses nixed Food Lion’s expansion plans and led to the closing of 88 stores nationwide. Again, this was before the Internet age and social media. Can you imagine how much more devastating the story would be today?

With the mainstream nature of the Internet and the viral nature of social media, reputation management has become online reputation management and the story’s “reporters” are now everyday consumers — many armed with the hidden video equipment in their Smartphones.

Reactive Online Reputation Management

Most companies wait for a crisis to strike before they employ reputation management strategies. Reactive online reputation management is a lot harder, however. If your company does not have a solid basis built before a crisis strikes, there is little “reputation” to fall back on and Internet rumors will become rampant. Reverse SEO is one of the strongest weapons in the war of reactive online reputation management.

Using basic search engine optimization techniques, reverse SEO is aimed at creating content that will drive negative online mentions down in search, making it more difficult for the average person to find them when they research your company. Done successfully, reverse SEO techniques can help manage a company’s online reputation after a crisis by burying the negative news under company-provided material.

The first listing in Google’s organic search results receives 33 percent of all traffic, according to a recent Chitika study. The same study found that the second position garners 18 percent of all traffic and combined third and fourth place listings receive a resounding 20 percent. This means that 71 percent of all people only view the first four search listings. Taken further, 92 percent of all traffic from the average search focuses only on page one results. If your company can optimize content to dominate search, it is far less likely that the negative results will be seen.

Reactive online reputation management through reverse SEO is very difficult, however, because no Internet marketing firm or company is able to control search. Results will be completely dependent upon the validity and source of the negative information that is being combated.

Proactive Reputation Management

Proactive reputation management is an ongoing process and a best practice within the field of marketing. The proactive nature relies upon building a strong base of followers and providing meaningful interactions that will build brand image. To be effective, proactive reputation management relies heavily on monitoring, giving marketers insight into any problems that may be lurking and allowing them to build meaningful conversations with outspoken members of social media that are already supporters of specific products.

Many Internet marketing firms provide proactive online reputation management services, but most companies fail to make use of them. Instead, they wait for a crisis to strike and then fall into a pattern of reactive strategies that are far less beneficial. An active social media presence can be one of the biggest allies in a proactive reputation management campaign. By giving your consumers an approachable way to interface with you and your brand, your company can easily stave off negative viral reviews. But, presence on social media is not enough. A company must be an ongoing, active participant within a variety of social media realms to be genuinely proactive with their online reputation.

resource: http://www.sitepronews.com/2013/10/24/online-reputation-management-proactive-vs-reactive/

The Big Mistakes of Guest Blogging

Link building and SEO both have the potential to be an enjoyable and edifying experience for everybody involved. That said, it takes more than a little bit of skill, not to mention common sense, to be an effective guest blogger. Knowing what to do will point you in the right direction. However, a thorough understanding of what not to do is also going to be critically important as you go forward into the brave new world of link building.

The Outreach Email

The outreach email is the first step toward getting your work out there for the world to see. At some point in your initial email, you want the blogger in question to have that Leonardo DiCaprio moment from Django Unchained: “You had my curiosity, but now you have my attention.” You can be certain that bloggers view outreach emails with as much trepidation as they do excitement, so coming across as professional, competent, and respectful is the first step toward a longer working relationship.

So what are the qualities of a terrible outreach email? Let’s have a look at an example and then take it apart to see what makes it so bad.

To whom it may concern,

You’re a well-known blogger, so I know you know quality content when you see it. I’d like a moment of your attention so that you can consider me as a guest blogger. I know that the content my client, [Company Name Here], has to offer will interest and benefit not only yourself, but your readers.

Kind regards,
[Insert Name Here]

Where to even begin? For starters, this email is almost hilariously generic. Problems start right away when the outreacher uses “to whom it may concern.” It’s almost always a good idea to know the name of the person you’re writing to. If first impressions are everything, then it reflects the fact that you’ve done, quite literally, the minimum research required. It’s also a sign of respect, which is critically important in this business.

Things don’t get any better from there. If you don’t know the name of the blogger you’re writing to, you certainly can’t know for sure that they’re “well-known.” While you want to come across as respectful, you never want to sound like a sycophant. All you need to do is let the blogger know that you respect them enough to have learned their name and done some research about their blog.

So what’s next? It’s generally considered bad form to mention the name of your client in your outreach email. If you’re new to outreach, you might be putting your clients in a bad light with your first few (potentially terrible) outreach emails. Keep your cards close to the vest for starters, then work from there.

One final note on this, and it’s pretty obvious: this email, as we noted above, is terribly generic. It doesn’t mention any of the specifics of what the guest post will cover, which of course will just cause more doubt about whether they actually know what the blog is all about. If they don’t know the name of the person they’re emailing, there’s no way to be certain that their content will be a good fit.

So we’ve got red flags everywhere, and this is only step one.

The Guest Post

Suppose you somehow get accepted with a terrible, generic, or excessively sycophantic outreach email. How else can you shoot yourself in the foot? This is the point where having at least some imagination is going to come in handy. One of the most frequent complaints among bloggers when it comes to guest posts is the use of frightfully obvious keywords. You’ll generally want to keep these in the body of the text, rather than pasted into subheadings. You come across as an amateur when each of your keywords is a subheading. As essential blogging techniques go, this is one of the fundamentals.

Next up: grammar. If you don’t proofread your guest posts, you’re just asking for public ridicule. Honestly, it only takes a few minutes. If you’re too lazy, there are even automated tools available such as Polish My Writing that you can use if you’re pressed for time. Generally, though, web-based tools like that should be used sparingly; there’s no substitute for just taking the time to correct any grammatical or punctuation errors yourself.

Here’s another big one, and it’s truly a shame that it even needs to be said. Don’t ever, ever copy content from elsewhere. If you’ve found work in online marketing, there’s a very good chance you’ve been to college, and before that, grade school. Plagiarism didn’t work in school’s microcosm of life, so don’t expect to get away with it in the real world. There are plenty of tools available for bloggers to check the authenticity and originality of the content they receive. If your work doesn’t pass a Copyscape test, it’s certainly not going to pass muster with your blogger.

Other Considerations

For the most part, what we’ve covered here has been common sense. To recap: do research before you begin your outreach, proofread your content, and don’t plagiarize. Simple enough.

That said, there are a bunch of other things you’ll want to avoid, as well as some generally helpful tricks, that you’ll want to keep in mind if you want to find success in this field. Ever heard the phrase “it’s all about who you know”? Of course you have. It applies readily to a career in online marketing. Generally speaking, bloggers are going to be more likely to respond favorably to someone who they were introduced to by a mutual connection. Something to be constantly aware of is how best to leverage your industry connections. What this means is you might want to bookmark LinkedIn for quick access to your contacts.

Another big part of this is to remember to keep records of who you’ve reached out to, and what their response was. There’s no better way of burning a bridge than to reach out to the same blogger a bunch of times with the same lousy pitch. Keep a spreadsheet or notes; do whatever you have to do to remember who you’ve reached out to, and who would be receptive to further communication in the future.

One last thing: don’t be a mercenary. Don’t send multiple proposals to the same blogger just because your first pitch was turned down. Move on, learn a thing or two, and start looking elsewhere. There are, as that tired saying goes, plenty of fish in the sea.

resource: http://www.sitepronews.com/2013/10/24/big-mistakes-guest-blogging/

You can Use Yourself Best SEO Tools

In the world of SEO, you’re really only as good as the tools you use. Those who take on DIY SEO with a firm intuitive stance do so at their own risk. For most of us, what we assume folks will do to search and find our business on the web doesn’t come close to hitting the mark. We should never bank the success of our business on the instincts we have about our customers – especially when there are plenty of tools to validate and guide us.

The good news is, there are oodles of tools out there built to help the DIY SEO marketer. The bad news is, it’s incredibly tough to filter out the good from the bad. Let this article do the interviewing process – these tools and services are tried, tested, and approved to actually help you achieve and maintain ranking improvements.

Tools for Keyword Research

All SEO is built on a foundation of strategically selected keywords. While your keywords may change over time, they truly do create the structure from which all content, copy, and marketing directions are based on. Therefore, it’s advisable to use a couple of different free or paid tools to help you target the ideal keywords for your business.

Google AdWords

Google’s suite of products vary in efficiency and usefulness, but AdWords is a slam dunk. This tool is beneficial not so much for actual hard numbers, but as an analysis for how popular a given search term is in the current market. Use it as a means of comparison for your top keyword selections. AdWords is excellent at visually displaying what terms work best. It’s also aces at inspiring you to branch out, and generating additional keyword ideas you may not have yet considered.

SEO Book

Completely free and highly useful, SEO Book has a slew of offerings to enjoy while you hunt for the perfect keywords. Check out the keyword density analyzer, a PPC keyword wrapper, page comparison tool – even a typo generator that displays the common misspellings for selected keywords. Don’t move forward with your keywords without first consulting this site for validation and assistance.

Tools for Paid Search and Keyword Ranking

While organic tactics are absolutely necessary for long-term success, some businesses choose to use paid search for a quick shot of ranking adrenaline. Here are some tools and services that can aid in this process.

SEMRush

SEMRush offers a few free tools for the SEO practitioner, but their monthly subscription product is really where the meat of their service lies. Use SEMRush to discover what keywords your competitors are using for both organic and paid search results (free accounts only see the top 10, whereas paid accounts get the whole enchilada.) Paid accounts also have access to organic rankings for any domain, search volume for keywords, total number of search results, and many more informative parameters.

PPC Partners

Paid search is a challenging space to take on as a DIY-er, so this is one area where you’re best served to enlist an expert. There are a lot of pay-per-click (PPC) firms out there, and who you choose should be a direct reflection of your business. For most small business owners, hiring a reasonably priced, mid-sized firm is ideal. You’ll get personal attention from experts who have bona fide experience. Since you’re looking to invest real cash in this paid search, make sure to find one that has testimonials to back up their claims.

Two examples of reputable, results-orientated PPC providers are Webrageous and JumpFly. Both get high reviews for things like customer service, response, innovation, and fair pricing structures, so they both represent a good place to start your quest for stellar paid search results.

Tools to Monitor SEO Results

All the SEO efforts in the world are meaningless if you’re not tracking the actual success or failure rates. It’s not always easy to decipher the story that analytics are actually attempting to tell, so it’s important to choose tools that help demystify the process, and provide how-to guidance in reading each segment.

Authority Labs

Authority Labs keeps it simple – enter a domain into their main interface, and you’re able to track keyword rankings effortlessly. That’s the free portion of the site. If you’re willing to pay for a Pro plan (or just enjoy the free 30 day trial), you can watch up to 50 domains and 1,000 keywords (unlimited for higher subscriptions.) This is powerful stuff to gauge how your keywords are truly performing.

Raven Tools

If you’re opting for a paid tool across the board, Raven Tools is a sure bet. Built by an SEO agency for SEO experts, Raven covers just about every aspect of SEO planning and tracking. Their metrics tracking is absolutely stellar. It’s powerful in part because Raven Tools draws data from a bevy of sources, including SEMoz, Google Analytics and Webmaster Tools, and of course, Google AdWords. It’s a bit like one-stop-shopping in the world of SEO. The interface is intuitive, how-to guides are easy to read and very effective, and you’ll be thrilled with the level of detail and variety of available tools and assistance.

resource: http://www.sitepronews.com/2013/10/21/best-tools-seo/

Google’s Hummingbird Update: 5 Changes You Need to Implement

The Google Hummingbird update was launched without any formal notification by Google. Various sources indicated it may have been launched around the last week of August or the first week of September. It was an update specifically geared to deal with handling more complex search queries.

With increased dependency on Google, users had started to enter more conversational kinds of queries which demanded instant answers from Google rather than a set of specific pages which might contain the answer. The core search algorithm of Google was updated with Hummingbird.

With this algorithm enhancement, Google laid more importance on conversational search and semantic processing of queries. Instead of processing a query simply by matching the presence of words on web pages stored in the index, Google now understands the real context of the query and returns exact “answers”.

As a result, there are some changes that you must implement on your website in order to make the most of this update. These changes are outlined below:-

Add Question Answer Pattern Content

People are looking for answers and, if your site can be adapted towards a question answer pattern kind of content, then that would work best after the hummingbird update. It’s not strange to see QA sites rising up the rankings. That does not mean you need to start rewriting all your existing content and add a QA pattern to it, but focusing on creating articles that contain a “How to” approach and that present definite answers to user queries will help. Please remember that not all sites can match this pattern and an interesting point here is that not all queries demand a QA like pattern being returned by Google.

Increase the Domain Authority of Your Site

Domain authority has been rising in importance following each Google update. Google wants to present the most authoritative content to its users and one of the best ways for it to identify genuine sites is by judging the quality of content and the links pointing to them. So having links from High Quality Resources always helps to boost your site’s search engine presence. This isn’t new. Links held a similar importance in the past and will continue to be important in the future.

I should point out here that Google has increased emphasis on counting natural backlinks versus unnatural but relevant backlinks. Following a properly planned link baiting strategy to acquire natural links is preferable to acquiring links using the old school methods of article syndication and cheap content marketing. Earning links by serving your customers well and increasing your brand value is the strategy to follow for the long term.

Use Schema Mark Up

Schema mark up is a revolutionary vocabulary that can be implemented on any site using any languages like microformat, microdata and RDF. Rich snippets like ratings and reviews, recipe preparation time, data highlighter, product pricing, etc. are all forms of schema mark up. The best way to enable Google to clearly understand the content displayed on your site is with the help of schema vocabulary. Many webmasters are unaware of this, but the point is, you can implement schema mark up on almost every type of content irrespective of your industry. This is a golden opportunity to increase the semantic value of your site and make it stand out in the search results.

Implement Mobile SEO Tactics

The number of mobile search users is constantly growing and having a mobile friendly site is your best bet to accommodate these users. Hummingbird has especially adapted itself to serve the needs of mobile users. Catering to a mobile audience by creating a mobile version of your site with a faster loading time, fewer images, easy navigation, etc. is another way you can meet the expectations of the Hummingbird algorithm. Most importantly, your site should be easily crawlable and load quickly. Users hate sites that are slow and Google always panders to its users.

Use Google Authorship

If you haven’t implemented authorship on your site then make this a priority. The big brands always remain an exception but for the rest of us (which are the majority), the best way to let Google identify you and move from the anonymous web to the named web is by using Google authorship. With the diminishing value of search rankings and the increasing value of traffic, you can’t leave any stone unturned to improve the click-through rate of your site. To attain this goal, use authorship. People tend to click more often on search results displaying an author image as opposed to anonymous search results.

It is important to mention here that Google hasn’t disclosed the exact changes made to its algorithm, but a study of search patterns indicates that implementing the 5 strategies noted above is the best course of action in relation to the Hummingbird update which has affected around 90% of all search queries.

resource: http://www.sitepronews.com/2013/10/18/googles-hummingbird-update-5-changes-need-implement/

The Best Google Marketing Resources That You Can Using

Google still maintains its spot as the top search engine around the world, even with the number of new ones that pop up across the Web. Millions of people use Google everyday all over the world because of the great search experience. Because it is such a trusted site, online marketers often use the many tools and resources offered by Google.

Small businesses can greatly benefit from the options that are made available from Google. There are plenty of cheap and even free resources that you can utilize in order to improve your marketing strategy for your business.

Market Research

Think Insights

Think Insights allows you to access studies about how different demographics use the Internet. This will help you get a better idea of what online campaigns will work best for your brand and also inspire you with a gallery of creative campaigns.

Consumer Surveys

Surveys are a great tool for market research. You get very accurate data with either general or targeted surveys. The cost varies from 10 cents per response to 50 cents per response, depending on the type of survey you choose.

Global Market Finder

If you want a simple tool to help you determine your potential customers, this is it. You only have to enter a keyword that relates to your business and select the region you are looking to promote your services or products. The tool will take that information and give you the best opportunities for that region.

Tagging and Analytics

Tag Manager

If you are Marketing Online, your business will definitely benefit from Tag Manager. This tool allows you to manage your tracking tags from one spot without having to mess with code on the back end.

Universal Analytics

This is a step up from Google Analytics and is said to change the way you think about marketing analytics. It brings new flexibility and functionality to reporting. You can include both online and offline data and track through multiple channels.

Search History

Trends

Marketers often overlook this resource, which can be used to find valuable historical search information. This gives you insight into how your target audience conducts searches. You can even get a seasonal breakdown of keywords throughout the year.

Zeitgeist

You can use this resource to look at past and present trends for specific countries. This can be a good way to gain inspiration for content from different angles.

There are many marketing tools available for you to use for your business. They can help you expand your business and conduct valuable research that will help you develop a solid strategy.

Google is one of the best resources that you can turn to when you need a helpful marketing tool. Try them out and see how much easier it is to grow your brand online.

resource: http://www.sitepronews.com/2013/10/16/best-google-marketing-resources-youre-using/

8 Quick Content Ideas to Inspire Your Business Blog

Fresh, engaging content is constantly stressed as one of the most important aspects of Internet marketing. It’s great to have a blog for your business, but you’ll only reap the benefits if you post frequently and post new ideas. Nobody will want to look at your blog if you don’t update or if you’re writing the same things as everyone else.

Coming up with content ideas for your business blog can be difficult and tiring, but it doesn’t have to be. TopRank created a BigList of the Best Online Search Marketing Business blogs, and looking at these blogs can give you some inspiration for content for your own blog. It’s important to focus on presenting or repurposing content in new ways that are exciting and engaging for readers.

After scanning through the list, I found a few of my favorite examples that can help you break down how to create interesting content for your business blog:

1. Write a weekly roundup post. There are multiple ways to do this, but it’s a valuable way to add a modern element to your business blog through sharing weekly industry news. You can choose to break the post into chunks, and discuss the top industry news of the week in each one. Or you can link to your favorite articles that were written throughout the week, which can help boost your connections with others in the industry.

2. Expand on your comments. If you’re struggling for blog post ideas, look no further than your own blog comments! If you’re prone to leaving meaningful comments on news sites and other blogs in the industry – which is a great way to boost your visibility – scroll back through these comments. You’re more than likely to find brilliant ways to expand those comments into full-blown blog posts – and once you’ve written the post, you can then link to it in the comment section.

3. Fix your readers’ problems. While this type of post is similar to an FAQ post, it gives you a chance to go a little deeper and address broad problems your consumers might be facing in the industry. For example, this post addresses four SEO nightmares and comes up with solutions for readers. The author is relevantly addressing common problems the audience might deal with on a daily basis. This type of post will help you frame yourself as a valuable source in your industry and a place readers will want to continually turn to for knowledge.

4. Collect tweets. If you’ve already written and published a lot of factual, in-depth posts on your business blog, why don’t you try including an opinion piece? This will freshen up the types of posts from your business, making it easier for your audience to connect. Try compiling a list of opinions on a certain issue – by listing or taking screenshots of tweets regarding the particular issue, you’ll provide your readers with access to the bigger picture of what others are saying. This will also show that you’re paying attention to social platforms.

5. Make a how-to video. Every consumer wants to read about inventive ways to use your products. If you want to write a how-to post, break it into steps and make it visually clear for readers. However, video can make the how-to come to life for your customers. If you’re an SEO company, you can film a user’s Google search process, adding color, thought bubbles or screencasts to show the importance of page rank in a fresh way. Try using Vine or Instagram, so you can connect with social platforms and make your post more interesting.

6. Hold interviews. Interviews, whether you present them in a video or transcribe them into words, will allow readers to learn about other angles to your industry. For instance, you can try interviewing one of your employees to give a behind-the-scenes view of your business. You can also interview a fellow industry leader and start a back-and-forth discussion. Either way, interviews can give your readers a wide array of insights and viewpoints.

7. Host a webinar. If you want to create a post that gives readers facts and breaks down a serious topic of discussion, try developing a webinar. This webinar discusses common SEO myths, while holding point-counterpoint discussions. Webinars are an effective way to let readers see all sides of an issue, so they can form their own opinions – and hopefully share them with you by commenting on your blog post!

8. Answer questions. An FAQ post is a common idea, and while you can easily get questions from your customers or by talking to your sales staff, try looking at a site like Quora to help you learn about what people are asking on social platforms. Then, compile the questions and answer them in a blog post. This shows you’re paying attention to what’s happening throughout social channels, and you’re creating content that is focused on the current questions and concerns of your audience.

Visual elements, such as video or info-graphics  are always quick and simple ways to make your business blog more exciting. Don’t be afraid to look at what other blogs are doing to attract readers or lists like the one TopRank created. And do whatever you can to create posts that address a real, current issue among your readers. Posts like this will help you achieve the best response.

resource: http://www.sitepronews.com/2013/10/17/8-quick-content-ideas-inspire-business-blog/

Pinterest Testing ‘Promoted Pins’ — Its Version of Ads

Ads are not ads on Pinterest — they are promoted pins, and they are making their first appearance on the virtual pin up board today.

“We wanted to let you know that we are starting our first test with promoting pins today, so you may spot a few in your search results or category feeds on the web or in mobile apps,” reads a blog post from Pinterest CEO Ben Silbermann.

Via eMarketer

“They work just like regular pins, only they have a special “promoted” label, along with a link to learn more about what that means. Remember we’re still just testing things out right now, so we’d really like to hear what you think. We’ll be listening closely to what you have to say, and will continue to keep you posted about how things go.”

Promoted pins are no surprise to Pinterest users. Silbermann announced last month that ads would be making their debut on the social network in a bid to ensure Pinterest is around for many years to come.

“Pinterest is where you keep your wishlists, vacation plans, dream home ideas, and other things you want to do soon and in the future,” Silbermann said.

“That’s why for us, it’s so important that Pinterest is a service that will be here to stay. To help make sure it does, we’re going to start experimenting with promoting certain pins from a select group of businesses.”

All promoted pins will be in good taste as well as pertinent to Pinterest users, he said. That means there will be no banner ads or pop-up ads.

Instead, all ads will look like regular pins but with a special ‘promoted pins’ designator.

The advertising initiative may be coming at the perfect time for Pinterest.

A new study by STRATA, a media software company, showed that 25 percent of marketers would spend their Social Media Advertising dollars on Pinterest. The social network tied for fifth with Google+. Facebook was the top choice at 90 percent, followed by YouTube at 55 percent and Twitter at 53 percent. LinkedIn followed in fourth with 35 percent.

resource: http://www.sitepronews.com/2013/10/09/pinterest-testing-promoted-pins-version-ads/

Popularizing Your Content is Increase in Business Promotion

Content promotion is something that a lot of people seem to struggle with but I’m here to tell you today that it doesn’t have to be difficult or challenging, even when you haven’t done it before.

There are a series of steps that you can follow that will give you a huge head start, even over those that have been doing this for longer than you.

Before I dive right into this guide and go through all of the ways that you can make this easy, I need to tell you about the mistakes that you need to avoid:

The first mistake that people make is thinking that by creating a piece of content that it automatically deserves to get loads of links, social shares and traffic – in some cases this may be true, but great content promotion starts with the content. If you read your favorite blog and find a piece of content that sucks, are you going to want to help promote it? No.

So start off on the right foot and make your content as engaging and as awesome as possible – if this sounds a bit too vague for you, take a look at your competitors and what they’re doing – then go beyond it.

The second mistake that people make is not devoting enough time to promoting their content, but when you spend 5 hours creating an awesome piece of content, spending 5 minutes promoting it or just clicking publish isn’t enough.

#1 – Create a Checklist

Before you dive into promoting your content you need to know exactly how you’re going to promote it.

To ensure that you are as productive as possible you need to distil this down into a streamlined process that you can use for every post.

This could include:

• Sharing on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Linkedin and Pinterest
• Emailing your mailing list
• Submitting to niche social networks (e.g. – BizSugar.com, Inbound.org)
• Sharing in social communities (e.g. – G+, Linkedin, Facebook)
• Sharing in other online communities (forums, groups etc)
• Paid advertisements (e.g. – StumbleUpon PD, Sponsored Tweets, Facebook Ads, Outbrain)
• Mentioning people and brands you linked to (Tag in Facebook posts, G+ posts and mention in Tweets)
• Emailing people and brands you linked to

This is not an exhaustive list by any means and this will entirely depend on the vertical or niche that you’re operating in.

Certain social networks might just not work for you and others will. For example, if your content is more business focused, sharing on Linkedin and exploring Linkedin Groups will be more effective.

#2 – Promote Every Post

This may seem trivial, but it’s surprising how often people just click publish and don’t bother promoting a post, or have particular reasons for not promoting certain posts – maybe it’s a guest post that they’re not too concerned about being all that visible.

The truth is that it’s in your best interest to promote every post on your blog or website because it will help you get more traffic, more shares, earn more links and even rank better in Google.

If you have a WordPress based website you can make certain elements of this content promotion thing easier. For example, you can now connect WordPress to your Buffer account which will allow you to automatically share your content. Dev from WP Kube wrote a great guide on how to set this up here.

#3 – Avoid Mindless Link Dropping

I’ve witnessed countless examples of just dropping links in online communities or groups with no thought at all.

This type of thing doesn’t work and makes you look like you don’t have a clue about how to build engagement online.

You need to remember that “real people engage with real people” and there’s actually a real person sitting at the other side of that computer.

Mindless link dropping just looks like spam and will only hurt your reputation online – but if you approach this with the intent to start a discussion on the topic you will be much more successful.

Here’s an example from Reddit a while back:

reddit

There’s not a crazy amount of comments but this gets people involved and invested in the discussion and will motivate them to talk about it and hopefully share it.

#4 – Link Out to Influencers and ask Them to Share

When you first start off you’re essentially just promoting content to a non-existent audience, but what if you could tap into someone else’s audience with minimal effort?

Well you can and the easiest way to do this is just link out to an influencer within your industry – the important thing is mentioning them in a positive light.

The next step is to ask them to share which can be done easily on Twitter, but it’s worth backing this up by emailing them directly.

Sometimes just mentioning the person or company you’ve linked to is enough and this can work on a cross platform basis. For example, in a recent blog post I wrote for Benchmark Email I linked out to Rafflecopter and mentioned them on Google Plus – within 5 minutes they shared my tweet with their 260,000+ Twitter followers.

The reason this works is because when an influencer shares your post with their followers it increases the perceived authority of the influencer to their followers.

There are particular things you need to remember if you go the email route because sending out a bunch of generic emails just won’t work. Like content promotion, blogger outreach doesn’t have to be difficult, something I show you here.

#5 – Tap into Social Communities

I mentioned Best Social Communities earlier on but I wanted to draw some closer attention to it because when done right, it can have great results. When you produce the right content other people will share your content in social communities and the effect can be extremely impressive.

For example, In September I published a blog post that was then shared in a LinkedIn group by one of my readers. This subsequently brought 1,300+ visitors to my site over the course over 20 or so days.

linkedin

I’m not saying that every time you or someone else shares your content in a community on Google Plus or Linkedin would bring this sort of traffic, but if you don’t try, then chances are it won’t happen.

There are also other benefits that search engines such as Google will take into account such as positive social signals. For example, there is a huge correlation between G+1′s and positive rankings in Google.

#6 – Use Triberr

I couldn’t write a post on promoting content without including one of the most effective content promotion tools of them all – Triberr.

The way that Triberr works is that it brings people with similar interests together into ‘Tribes’. When you join a tribe as a follower, you can share the content of full members, and when you get promoted to a full member, you can then import the RSS feed from your blog and the other tribe members will have the opportunity to share your content.

The great thing about Triberr is that the majority of people that use it already have their own established audience and it’s a great way to immediately get your content shared by industry influencers.

Summary

Now you have a road map for promoting your content in a way that will get you results. The important thing is that you now put this into action, create great content and devote the time that you need in order to promote it effectively.

The worst thing would be for you to spend all of your time creating this great piece of content and for it to just gather dust in a corner, never to see the light of day when it could make such a big difference to so many people.

resource: http://www.sitepronews.com/2013/10/11/popularizing-content-difficult/

What is does Affect from Google Hummingbird updates in SEO?

Lately it seems like Google has improved its ability to provide direct answers to your search questions. These improvements are part of Google’s new search algorithm called “Hummingbird,” which is the biggest update to their search engine since the “caffeine Update” in 2009. To sum it up, Hummingbird helps Google provide more relevant knowledge to searchers – meaning the update has enabled Google to better understand the content it indexes.

Google’s new algorithm has the power to quickly analyze long, in-depth search questions instead of examining them word by word. Then, Google will be able to find and rank answers to the searched question from their indexed content.

Aside from more precise search results, Google has also made updates to other features, such as Google Now, that impact mobile devices. Updates like this affect every part of your marketing equation, but in ways that can benefit your business.

Just because Google has changed its algorithm doesn’t mean SEO is dead or ruined. Let’s examine how some of the Hummingbird updates affect your SEO efforts.

Google Now Cards

Google specifically describes Google Now as “the right information at just the right time.” The feature aims to provide “cards” with valuable, current information throughout users’ days; Google is clearly trying to increase the productivity of users’ searches, specifically on mobile devices.

Google Now Cards are primarily directed at sporting events, weather, other entertainment events, restaurants, directions and more. With this feature, Google now has the ability to understand that when you’re searching for a specific restaurant, you’re not looking for a definition of a restaurant; instead, you want to know where the restaurant is, how long it’s open today, if there are any specials, what they are serving on their menu, etc.

By providing users with instant information and knowledge, Google is increasing the accuracy and efficiency of their searches – which seems to be the theme of the Hummingbird algorithm. You should consider Google Now Cards when it comes to your marketing strategies, because they may be a small part of how Google goes about ranking and indexing sites.

What Does This Mean for Your SEO?

One important way Google Now can impact marketers is through location. Since the feature is based on location, if you haven’t already, it’s important to set up a Google Plus Local account for your company – this is where Google pulls a lot of its data.

You should also consider configuring your email marketing campaigns to Gmail, so users can confirm and view events. This will allow Google Now cards to show up in their searches. When users want answers to a question, they are going to be looking for local results that directly influence their immediate quest for information.

Hummingbird Search Results Are More Specific

The Hummingbird update will make “conversational search” much easier for users. In other words, search results will be more tailored and specific to the content users are searching for.

Before Hummingbird, your results might have been generally related to your topic or question, and Google may have pulled pages that only had one or two words from your search question. But with the Hummingbird update, Google should be able to understand the entire meaning behind your searches; it will be paying attention to each word in the search, so the full extent of the conversation is considered when displaying your results.

Because it will be crawling and indexing sites differently, you should see results that more closely match your needs. Reportedly, Google searches will now be better at a variety of tasks:

* Understanding specific concepts
* Understanding the relationships between concepts
* Understanding more complicated and lengthy questions

Google Hummingbird mainly involves understanding the full meaning of a search query, which impacts SEO, but not as heavily as you might think.

What Does This Mean for Your SEO?

Don’t panic about Google Hummingbird ruining your SEO efforts. If you’ve been keeping up with SEO for all these years, Google says there is really nothing new you need to worry about. The main words of advice remain the same: produce original, relevant content.

As explained in Forbes, the main concept you should understand is where is Google going? When a user searches, Google’s new goal is displaying exactly what that individual needs. Since Hummingbird is focused on getting rid of irrelevant and unimportant results, this change should actually allow you to rise above your competition.

If you’ve already been busy creating content and building links from trustworthy websites, the Hummingbird update will allow you to continue ranking high since Google is looking for sites like yours – sites that provide valuable answers to their searchers’ queries.

If you’re still wary about the Hummingbird update, check out Danny Sullivan’s FAQs on the Hummingbird update. He explains it perfectly when he says that “Hummingbird… is a new engine built on both existing and new parts, organized in a way to especially serve the search demands of today, rather than one created for the needs of ten years ago, with the technologies back then.”

Google has simply replaced its engine and made searches more on target with what users want and need in today’s world.

Get white hat SEO Services by seowebmount

resource: http://www.sitepronews.com/2013/10/09/will-google-hummingbird-affect-seo/

Google Changed Its Search Algorithm, Affecting 90% Of Search Results

Google rolled out the most significant change to its core search algorithm a month ago and almost nobody noticed. The change is designed to handle conversation search queries, such as "How do I tie a bow tie?" as well as it handles keyword search queries, such as "White House history." It affects 90% of search results.

The company officially unveiled it to the press yesterday in California:

"It is really big," said Google search executive Amit Singhal.

In fact, Singhal said that what Google has done is the equivalent of switching out the core "engine" of Google's search system for a new one. It's perhaps the most significant change since 2001, according to the Search Engine Land blog.
But the new algorithm, nicknamed "Hummingbird," has been operative for a month now, and yet few noticed. That means it's basically a huge success. The last time Google made a slight tweak to its algorithm ("Panda"), in order to weed out spam and scraper sites, many mainstream web publishers screamed in protest as the search traffic they were used to receiving began plunging.
The fact that few have been screaming tells you that the new algo is doing exactly what Google wanted it to do: Work seamlessly.
You can get more details on conversational search here.
One last thing: At least initially, Hummingbird feels a bit like Facebook's Graph Search, which is designed to handle more abstract or "latent" search queries such as "What movies do my friends like most?," where users do not necessarily know what they are looking for.
resource: http://www.businessinsider.in/Google-Changed-Its-Search-Algorithm-Affecting-90-Of-Search-Results160-160And-No-One-Noticed/articleshow/23174114.cms