Here are 12 to-dos that will help you succeed with your online marketing (in a somewhat particular order)…

1 – Critique your site

We’re always looking to improve ourselves – lose weight, eat healthier, make more money, etc. The best way to achieve these goals is to first identify our bad habits through honest self-examination.

Your site should have goals too – get more traffic, convert more traffic into leads, etc. In order to achieve these goals you will first need to critique your site and identify those “bad habits”.

Make an honest and objective appraisal of the quality of your site’s design, structure, content, calls to action, etc. You will need to look at your site statistics (Google Analytics) to see which pages are popular and which sections of the site need some love.

Think of this as the equivalent to sending your site to a shrink for some deep analysis. Sometimes you might be too biased to make an objective assessment. If so, consider bringing in a consultant.

Or you could ask a handful of clients to critique your site. If you ask clients, make it easy for them. Put together a survey they can fill out online within a few minutes, and make sure you ask them what would make the site better for them. Either way prepare to be surprised by the results.

2 – Develop a keyword list

Some will argue that this is the first thing you must do before engaging in any sort of online marketing. Be that as it may, it is simply important that you DO have a list.

As you engage in any online marketing activities – blogging, social media marketing, email marketing, white papers, video, eBooks, etc – you will want to have a list of targeted words and phrases that are important to you AND your clients. They are important in the sense that these are the words and phrases your clients use to find you in an online search.

There are a few ways to go about developing this list. You will again want to take a look at your site statistics to see what words visitors to your site are using to find you. You will also want to do some searches on those words and see what the competition is doing. I am over-simplifying a bit of course.

There are many resources out there to help you with this process. For the purposes of this article, I will leave you with some suggested resources…

1. Outspoken Media
2. SEOMoz
3. Search Engine Land
4. Search Engine People
5. Google

3 – Eliminate bad content

Hopefully as you review your site and your site statistics in order to develop a keyword list, you will realize that some of your content has got to go. Maybe it’s a page that gets no traffic because it’s out of date, poorly promoted or just plain wrong. Instead of putting “lipstick on a pig,” try a radical approach… get rid of it.

Bloat used to be OK. For some search engine professionals (who shall remain nameless), it was part of a content strategy. Not anymore.

It is much more effective to think about all content as it relates to the intended user. If it serves them no purpose or – worse yet – confuses or misinforms them, get rid of it. Pretty simple.

4 – Rewrite old content

Of course not all of your old content is completely useless. There could be old blog posts, white papers, case studies, etc that still hold some relevance. Instead of eliminating them simply because they’re old, why not try and re-imagine them (h/t to Content Rules).

Take a fresh look at old content. Perhaps try rewriting it or leave the original content and add to it. Think about a news story online. Sometimes news sites will leave the original story for context and then offer updates below.

Again, consider the user. What is the best way to rework this old content in a way to better serve a client?

5 – Develop a content strategy

If you haven’t read Content Rules by Ann Handley and CC Chapman, do so, soon. In this book you will find a very easy to follow overview of content marketing. In online marketing, content is king and content marketing is the king’s horse.

On today’s internet the companies that offer valuable information to users where they are seeking it are the clear winners. If you are a sought after resource online, you will get leads and your site will get traffic.

Content marketing is how this is done. You write blog posts that empower the user. You shoot video that educates and entertains. You create presentations and host webinars that inform. And you do these things through your channels – your website, your blog, your social media channels, etc.

But before you do any of this, you want to have a strategy. Once you have looked through your existing site (and ripped it apart) and identified the needs of your target audience, you’ll be able to better identify what content you need to create and where you should post and promote that content so it’s easy to find.

Some other resources that will help you with your content marketing efforts are these incredibly useful blogs…

1. Marketing Profs
2. Junta 42 and Content Marketing Institute
3. Copyblogger

6 – Update your design

Yes, design still matters. If you think design doesn’t matter, you must dress in the same gray clothes, drive the same gray car and all the walls in your house must be a shade of off-white. Let’s face it, we judge things on some level based on their looks.

If your site looks old and tired, you look old and tired. If your site looks out of touch, you look out of touch. And if your site is boring and uninspired… well, you get the picture. Try sprucing things up a bit. Maybe it just needs a little curb appeal. Maybe it needs an extreme makeover.

Either way, I am willing to bet there is always something you can do to improve the look and thereby improve the user experience of the site.

7 – Start blogging

Blogs are no longer just for bloggers. You don’t have to have aspirations of becoming the next Perez Hilton to be effective at blogging. You just need to know the needs of your target audience and write about it.

You are sitting on a mound of expert information that you need to share. Don’t believe me? Read this post about business blogging.

Or, simply look back through your email inbox, notepad, sales materials, presentation materials, etc. You talk to your clients everyday (members and volunteers are clients too if you live in that world).

Be the same expert in a blog that you are everyday in the real world. You will benefit from an SEO standpoint because of the useful keyword rich content you’re adding to your site. You will position yourself as an authority in your field. And you will steadily be “out there” talking about what it is that you do.

8 – Embrace social media

As you engage in a content marketing strategy, you will quickly realize that blogging, video, online presentations and the like NEED social media. You also need social media. Why? This is where your clients are. Yes, they are, trust me. The numbers do not lie.

That said, there are going to be some differences from group to group as to where they prefer to spend their time. So, take a little time and look around. They may be on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or in lots of different places. As an example, let’s use LinkedIn…

Are your clients spending time in LinkedIn discussion groups? Yes? Share your blog posts with them, along with posts from other experts you think would be of value to them.  Most importantly, engage them. Talk to them and have meaningful discussions.

Read this very short yet powerful post from Seth Godin to see what I mean here - One option is to struggle to be heard whenever you’re in the room…

9 – Develop an editorial calendar

Are you overwhelmed yet? Don’t be. These are tasks that can be easily integrated into your marketing and communications workflow (there really is no other choice). The key to success is to map this all out.

This can be done using what’s called an Editorial Calendar. Here is a post from Jason Keath in Content Marketing Institute that really lays this out nicely… How to Put Together an Editorial Calendar for Content Marketing

Mapping out your content marketing efforts in advance will allow you to see the bigger picture. It will also help you to set deadlines. If you commit to content marketing for your organization but make no written outline of the what’s and when’s, you will fail.

If you treat this like a regularly scheduled task that is just as important as say paying the rent, you will see results.

10 – Read

There is so much content out there. Go and find it, devour it and report back. There are books of course. Personally, I love my Kindle and it is loaded with books on marketing, social media, web design, etc. But, I also subscribe to a bunch of blogs and I check my Google Reader everyday.

I guarantee you that there is at least one blog out there that is filled with great information about your industry. Chances are there is more than one. The key is to find them and set some time aside each day or week to read the posts that catch your eye. And then report back to your followers, subscribers, etc on what you’ve read.

Reading is fundamental. It’s fundamental to your continued success. It keeps you in the game with a fresh perspective on what it is that you do. Start by setting some Google Alerts using the keywords from your list (see above). This way, you are guaranteed delivery of content related to those terms. You will have to sort through some junk, but you will eventually find some sources of great reading material and, therefore, wonderful inspiration.

You will want to subscribe to the usual suspects that show up in your alerts – the blogs and sites you go to time and again.

11 – Take the keys from the intern

I’m not sure when and why it became acceptable to give all online marketing tasks to your intern or part-time summer help. I like interns, I think they serve a great purpose. We even hired one full-time.

But, do you think they really should be the ones managing your brand and your online reputation? If you task them with managing your social media or your blog or your email newsletter, that’s exactly what’s happening.

Take control. At the very least monitor what the intern is doing. But even then, you really want to be much more involved than that. This is the front line. This is where the meaningful connections are made. I would not leave this up to the intern.

12 – Be a resource

We’ve been saying this since day one, literally. Our very first article (before we and everyone else had a blog) was titled “Turn Your Website into a Resource”. It’s still true today. As I’ve said already in this list, you are already an expert, be that expert online.

But don’t just be the expert that tells everyone what to do. Be the expert that everyone looks to for guidance, for the best information and for thought leadership. Do that by creating your online expert persona. Being a resource means you share anything that your readers, followers and fans would find useful, regardless of the source.

If you’re even the slightest bit successful right now, chances are you are doing this already. It’s just time to fine-tune your efforts to get the maximum return from your online marketing efforts. If you are struggling to find business, maybe it’s because you’re not “out there” enough.

13 – Prepare for the zombie invasion

Just in case, I added a 13th tip. It’s actually quite apropos. The Center for Disease Control or CDC has prepared an online communications effort aimed at protecting the population from a possible zombie invasion.

This is a great example of using content marketing, and a sense of humor, to deliver what is actually important information to the general public. This campaign was launched this year and has been an amazing success. Plus, it is quite fun.

I hope you got something from this list. If you are doing any or all of this already, good for you! Keep it up! If not, what are you waiting for??? This is the new norm! It’s time to embrace online marketing, content marketing and social media because its not going anywhere and more importantly, it works!

Did I miss anything? Let me know in the comments below…

“Our goal is simple: to give people the most relevant answers to their queries as quickly as possible. This requires constant tuning of our algorithms, as new content—both good and bad—comes online all the time.” - Google Webmaster Blog, from the Panda Announcement

In an effort to eliminate spam and irrelevant search results, Google has spent the past year making major updates as well as minor tweaks to their search algorithm (code-named Panda). Basically, Google is working to improve the user experience of the people using their search tool by eliminating the junk from the listings.

We are often asked about different “tricks” for showing up higher in the search results. Our clients are inundated with conflicting information about the best ways to rank in Google. But, look back at what Google says about its own updates…

“…give people the most relevant answers to their queries as quickly as possible.”

What’s the secret? Produce a quality website that offers quality information, correctly and effectively. Think about the user and stop trying to game the system. Instead focus on the user experience. What does the user want or need? How will they find it and what will they do with it once they have?

Instead of trying to implement SEO tactics trying to fool the search engines into listing your site higher than your competition, focus on writing useful content that is rich with keywords. This means your site has a content strategy focusing on targeting a specific user with information they want.

And when you’ve produced this content, share it. Use your social channels and affiliates to promote and share this content with your target audience. These social signals and back-links to your site will help Google’s spiders find your content and rank it appropriately.

I am not saying that all SEO consists of tricks. It is important to optimize a site for search engine visibility (H1 tags, page titles, meta descriptions, ALT attributes) and make sure you are creating links back to that site. Just keep in mind that if something seems too easy or a little shady, there might be something to that.

The problem with tactics is that they rely on the idea that you know something Google doesn’t. You can try and fool Google by using duplicate content, useless landing pages outside of your site, keyword stuffing, and other “black hat” tactics. But do you really want to go toe to toe with Google? You will lose.

Isn’t it better to focus on delivering value to those that matter most, your clients? Isn’t it a better strategy to be a resource for clients, potential clients and referral sources? Of course it is. And judging by the way things are going with Panda this is going to matter more and more in the future.

So, our advice? Stop gaming the system. The only proven SEO “tactic” is hard work, research and providing value to the targeted user.

Do you agree? Let us know your thoughts on SEO tactics.

Like this article? Why not share it? See the share options in the bar below…

The best form of marketing for any business is when an actual human being validates the experience of the product or service. There will always be times when customers may not have the access to another human being to talk directly and get a recommendation. In the past decade or so consumers have increasingly turned to search engines to provide the feedback personal networks traditionally did.

Search engines like Google will return results that include:

• Websites of companies related to the terms
• Wikipedia pages connected the terms you use for the pages
• Addresses of local businesses
• Results from review sites that mention businesses
• Content from websites that provide useful tips on the subject
• Videos related to the subject
• Related search terms and
• Of course the highly visible ads related to the  term being searched

Try the search for the Frederick Restaurant “volt restaurant” on Google and see the results. Hint to Volt Restaurant is that they could add some more video content or reviews. A caveat about my observations above is that Google results will differ depending on your location and if you are signed into your Google account or not. If you are a user of Microsoft’s Bing search engine – the same search for the Volt Restaurant produces similar results and in fact lays more emphasis on reviews.

Hopefully by this time you are convinced that spending some time on creating a strategy for encouraging reviews will be well worth your time. Customers may be talking about your business anywhere…

1. Off platform: Review sites, blogs, communities etc that are not connected to your online presence
2. On Platform: A form on your business website, forum or blog where customers can provide you feedback
3. Offline: Comment cards, visitor’s books or conversations at gatherings or parties

For off platform reviews you should setup a listening program, even a basic Google Alert, to see where people are talking about you. Consider adding reviews to your On Platform areas as part of your web presence strategy.

Here are the steps you should take for a review cycle:

1. Remind people that you would like a review – This can be in the form of a sign in your business, on billing receipts or order confirmations.
2. Make it easy for them to review by providing them a link in an email, a QR code on the billing receipt or links on your website, Facebook Page, etc.
3. Once you receive a review be sure to thank the reviewer. I am definitely wowed when I hear from the business owner in response to a review. This step is important even if the review is not complimentary as this is a chance to make it right and subsequent visitors will see that there has been an interaction with the business. The bad review may not influence their decision. I have seen first hand how negative review conversations with the reviewer have often converted them into becoming even more regular and passionate advocates for the business.
4. Reviews themselves can be scored by how useful a review was to other visitors. When a review gets a score or is “Liked” by other visitors you should convey this back to the reviewer.
5. Sometimes reviews become hugely popular and are seen by a lot of people, the reviewer may be thrilled by the number of people who see the review . I was thrilled when the review I wrote on a Cleveland Hotel for TripAdvisor was seen by 35 people.
6. Featured reviews are reviews that often make it to the home page of the site or is placed in a prominent position. This should be communicated to the reviewer.
7. Rewards – Cash awards are taboo but you could give reviewers rewards by elevating them based on the number of reviews or scores. Getting reviewers to go from “newbie” to “ expert” maybe an incentive for more reviews. Google Top Contributors were thanked with a trip to the Google headquarters http://b.shashi.co/oo4dMj

The best thing you can do for your business is to help your customers help you by making it easy for them to share their good experience with you and your products. Would you like to add your experience as a business in harnessing the power of your customers? Please comment below and let us know.

Shashi Bellamkonda : Social Media Swami, Network Solutions

Shashi Bellamkonda is the Director Social Media for Network Solutions a company that provides domain names and online tools for small business customers and an adjunct professor at Georgetown University and serves as a member of the Marketing Advisory Board of SCORE . The employees gave him the title of “Social Media Swami” Shashi  has  contributed  to the Washington Business Journal, American Express OPEN forum, SmallBiZtrends  and other tech blogs like Smallbiztechnology.com and Techcocktail.

Recognized as one of the Top 100 Tech Titans by the Washingtonian magazine in 2009 & 2011 and awarded the honor of being in The 100 Small Business Influencer 2011 Champion List by Small Business Trends and Smallbiztechnology.com. Featured as a speaker at national and regional small business, communications and marketing at conferences such as Digital East 2010, SXSW, IABC, PRSA, and Affiliate Summit.

1. Accesibility
2. Keyword Targeting
3. Content Quality and Value
4. Design, Quality, UX and Usability
5. Social Account Setup
6. Link Building

For more on SEOMoz or to read a transcipt please visit http://www.seomoz.org/blog/an-seo-checklist-for-new-sites-whiteboard-friday

So what does this mean for organizations with marketing budgets that aren’t the size of a small country’s GDP?  Don’t worry, there is still time.  Content marketing is about the long tail.  It is about engagement.  Huge corporations still struggle with this in a major way.

To be successful with content, you need to know what content to create, how to best to create it and how to use it to your advantage.

Let’s go ahead and assume that we all agree that content is important for successful inbound marketing.  Now what?  I am going to give you 5 tips for using content to drive traffic, improve conversion, build a presence, and be successful with your online marketing.

Tip One – IDENTITY

Know yourself and what you do.  Seems simple right?  Sure it is.  But, have you taken the time to write this out?  Do you know your own story?  How does it read?

Before you can start churning out all of this great content for your web site, Blog, or social media outlets, you better know who you are talking to and what you need to say.  To figure this out I suggest you start with a little creative writing.

Take 30 minutes with a blank page and start writing.  Answer the following questions:

1. Who are you?
2. What is your history?
3. What do you do today?
4. What makes you different from your competition?
5. Who cares?

Don’t take too long to write this, just the facts, keep it simple.  We are looking for the essence of who you are as a business or organization.  Leave the technical or detailed stuff for white papers and Blog posts (a little foreshadowing for you).

Put it down, walk away and do something else.  After you’ve had some time apart from your story, come back to it and read it again.  Does it still sound like you?  No?  Make some edits and repeat the last step.

Yes, it does sound like you?  Good.  Now, share it with a few of your best clients, colleagues, associates, members, etc. and get some of the best feedback on your business you’ve ever read.  The feedback you get will help you to determine how these people think about your organization.  Make a note of this; you will want to refer back to it often.

Tip Two – INSPIRATION

I don’t care what anyone says, writing is hard.  Even if you are writing about something you care deeply about.  It still takes time and dedication.  It also takes a lot of inspiration.

Ideas beget ideas.  Even if you disagree with someone else’s idea, it can still get your creative juices flowing.  The process of creation generally starts with some sort of catalyst.  So, where do you get good content ideas?  From other content.

So, start reading blogs, newsletters, trade journals.  Watch YouTube videos from experts in your industry.  Devour.

Here are some ways to get great content delivered to you everyday…

• Google alerts – Let’s say you are a bike shop, well set up an alert on “biking”
• Blogs and newsletters – Some of the better blogs out there will have a way to subscribe.  This could be an email newsletter or an RSS feed
• Subscribe to YouTube channels – there are some great retreads of seminars, presentations, etc out there.
• Competitors – Seriously, what are they talking about? What aren’t they talking about?  Figure out how you can do it better.

Now that you have these channels open and are receiving lots of inspiration, start jotting down ideas.  Keep a notepad on your desk or wherever you do your best thinking and fill it with scribbles only you can understand.

When you find the time to write something, you can go back to your list for ideas.  Make sure you jot down on this list where those ideas came from, in case you need some reference points.

Tip Three – RECYCLING

Not all content you create for online marketing has to be brand spanking new.  Try looking back through all of your past materials for some things you can re-use.

If you are a technical firm you might have a series of white papers you’ve written in the past.  Can these possibly be repurposed for your web site or Blog?  Or could they inspire a Blog post that references and links back to the white paper, also on your web site?

How about lengthy emails you’ve written answering a client’s question?  This is often a great source of inspiration for Blog posts.  Think about it, a client has asked you about something specific.  You fire back a brilliantly written explanation that the client is thankful to receive.  Well, turn this into a Blog post.

If you are writing content for your web site for the first time or you are looking to enhance or refresh your content, you can certainly look to these same places for ideas.  You can also look back through your past marketing materials.  Which of them were wildly successful?  How can you recreate that success online?

You don’t always need to reinvent the wheel.  You might just need to put some air in the tire.

Tip Four – WRITE

If you are going to go to all this trouble, you want to make sure you are actually able to write.  You want to have the tools in place so that you can write and post content yourself.

I know this might sound obvious but so many of our clients come to us talking about content but have no plan for how they will create and manage it from day to day.  With blogs and content management systems today you can create content easily and on YOUR SITE.

That is really the key.  If you are going to write, make sure you are writing for your own site.  Don’t just give all of your good content away by posting it on Facebook or any other site that isn’t yours.

Sure, sharing content and guest blogging are both beneficial but you don’t want to give it all away.  Even with all of this transparency and openness today, ownership is still important.

There are various levels of content management systems for various levels of budgets.  WordPress, for example, is a scalable content management solution that can be templated or completely customized, depending on your budget.

You want to make sure you have all of the tools in place so that you have no excuse not to write when the time is right to write.

Tip Five – PROMOTE

You cannot create content in a vacuum.  This is marketing, you need to share.  If you don’t put your content out there then who is going to read it?  The more you get this content out there (see our post on SEO) the more traffic your site will get.

If you are blogging, do your own “syndication.”  You can easily link your Blog to your Facebook page or tweet your latest Blog posts.  In fact, most social media outlets will have a place where you can add the RSS feed directly from your Blog.  Just make sure it is on your site first so the links you are building come back to your web site.

To promote the other content on your web site, simply promote your site.  Place your web address on everything.  Place it in your email signature, on business cards, in your advertising, your social media profiles, etc.

Email newsletters are also a great way to promote your content.  You can include summaries of your latest blog posts, information about specific product offerings or updates about what is happening in your company.

Promoting your content will make you a better writer.  Promotion and tracking help you see what content works and what content is dead weight.  You will see which Blog posts are getting comments or feedback.  You can tell which pages of your site are popular by checking your web statistics.  You can see what topics in your email newsletters are getting clicked.

The feedback you get will help you to find out more about who you are.  And it will inspire you to create more content and seek more inspiration.  It is a cycle that is perpetuated by the successes and failures it creates.

All of this leads to more qualified traffic, better conversion rates and a more successful inbound marketing strategy.

Do you have a number 6?  Let me know, comment below…

A great content resource is Content Rules by CC Chapman and Anne Handley.

However, I can make two statements with confidence…

1. Social Media is not going anywhere.
2. People are still using search to find information.

The real debate here should be about online advertising, but that’s another Journal altogether.

When looking at SEO (Search Engine Optimization) today, you have to factor in a few more things than in the past.  In previous years, you only had to worry about content, and before that (in the olden days), you could get away with a decent set of META Tags and a nice smile.

Today, you need to consider Mobile, Blogging, Bing, Facebook, Twitter and more.  You simply cannot just focus on Google, although it is still very important.  For this post, I want to focus on 4 things you can do now to make sure your SEO is on target and the traffic is coming…

1. Link Building
2. Social Media Marketing
3. Site Structure and Code
4. Tracking and Measurement

Link Building

This is, as it sounds, building links to your web site (inbound links), as well as building an effective linking structure within your web site.  Of course, the best inbound links are from the big boys, i.e. Google, Bing, etc.  These occur through indexing, where you are ranked and listed favorably for specific targeted keywords and phrases.

But there are other ways to build the number of good inbound links to your site.  Think of it this way, you are a restaurant and you need customers.  The inbound links are the roads that lead to your restaurant.  You want more roads leading to you, but you want these roads to bring the right clientele.  So, you want roads coming from the right parts of town, making the trip for your targeted clientele an easy one.

So, how do you build these inbound links?  This can be in the form of guest Blog posts on a popular Blog in your industry or a Blog for a partner company, trade org or friendly competitor.  All you have to do is ask them if they would be interested in you writing a guest post.  The worst they can do is say no.

These guest posts will contain links back to your site.  And, in that post, include references to articles or your services that link back to specific pages on your Blog or web site.  Then, within your own blog posts, add links to the services pages you reference in your post.  For example, you see that we’ve linked to the SEO services page on our site from this post.

The links can also be in the form of simple listings, a member page on a Chamber site, a profile in a group site, trade organization, etc.  Make sure you optimize these pages to include keyword-rich profile bios and link to as much as they will let you.  If they allow you to add in the RSS feed for your Blog, do that.  Take advantage of these listings to the fullest.

Another way to build these inbound links is to distribute your press releases to online publications.  Depending on your budget, this could be something you do yourself, or you might use a service like PRWeb.  Either way, getting your press releases picked up about a new product, new hire, expansion, book or published article, award, etc, is a great way to build keyword-rich links back to your site.  If you have the money, use a good service and a quality copywriter that knows SEO and the web.  They get you the most reach for you money.

Social Media Marketing

We know social media is not going anywhere, but I will argue that the vast majority of small businesses do not know how to use it to bring traffic to their web site.  Social media is social, promotional, conversational, and interactive.  What it isn’t is direct sales.

Social media marketing is about getting the word out and then getting a response.  You don’t want to go crazy and post your web address on a bunch of Facebook profiles or post ads in LinkedIn groups.  This will drive people nuts.  Instead, you need to engage.

Post useful information in your Twitter stream that you did not write.  Be a resource.  Then, when you post something from you, they are more likely to click.  All the while, all of this leads back to your Twitter profile with your web site link on it.  And these Twitter posts are getting picked up by Google and Bing.

If you have a Blog, use a tool like NetworkedBlogs on Facebook.  This tool is very useful for promoting Blog content on Facebook and also has some great promotional programs.  With this tool, you can create great keyword rich inbound links back to Blog posts on your web site.

If you are on LinkedIn, start a company page for your business.  Then, link your Blog’s RSS to this.  More links.  You can also start discussion threads in LinkedIn based on your most recent Blog posts and link back to that post.

Are you seeing a pattern here? Engage –> Be a resource –> Blog –> Integrate with Social Media –> link back to your Blog and your web site.

Site Structure and Code

The code and structure of your web site are very important for lots of reasons, SEO being one of them.  Search engines will search through your site (indexing) using the code as a guide, bad code = bad indexing.

There are many ways to enhance your code for search engine visibility.  A few right off the bat are page titles, proper use of heading tags, ALT attributes and overall code structure.  These are all areas within the site’s code that should contain targeted keywords that are well organized.  If you are not sure if this was done properly, ask an SEO expert to take a look.  They should be able to give you a pretty quick assessment of your code.

Site structure is important as well, mainly when it comes to navigation.  For example, if you use Flash in your web site, do not use it for your navigation, since search engines do not read Flash and it will block or hinder indexing.  Or, if you are using landing pages, make sure there are easy ways to bypass them or that they link to your main site effectively.

You don’t want to put up coding or structural “road blocks,” as these will block the indexing of your site.  Another tool you can use to make sure the engines index your site properly is an XML site map.  An XML sitemap is a file that lists all of the URLs (web addresses) that exist within a web site.  The search engines use this as a guide to the content contained within.

Mobile search is booming.  More and more users are looking for you on their handheld devices.  Coding will matter here as well.  Not just in how the page looks on a mobile device but also how the site is structured.  Because when a SERP (Search Engine Results Page) lists your site on a mobile browser, you want the link to be to the appropriate page and you want that page to be structured so that it drives conversion, quickly.

This is all somewhat geeky stuff so make sure you have adult supervision before going in and making and major coding and structural updates, especially if you have something like WordPress or Joomla and are using a plug-in.  Plug-ins are great but if you do not know what you are doing, you can potentially do damage.

Tracking and Measurement

Of course this is all meaningless if you don’t know how well it’s working.  The great thing about SEO is that you can track and measure the results of your efforts.  Metrics through tools like Google Analytics can tell you a lot about how well your site is doing.

With Google Analytics, you can track what keywords were used to find your site, what your most popular pages are, what search engines people used to find you and so much more.  The tricky part is navigating this information and understanding what it all means.  Google offers demos and tutorials on using Google Analytics, and we have also written a few blog entries about the subject you might find useful.

There are other tracking tools out there that serve more specific purposes.  For, example, you can see what kind of influence your Twitter account has using tools like Klout.  Or you can use the many site grader tools (Google offers these as well) out there to get an analysis of your site’s current effectiveness.

The one problem with these tools is that it usually just gives you raw data (and some of this data can be incomplete).  Some give a little advice on how to use that data but you really need to be able to apply this information back to your overall marketing efforts.  This is why SEO should always be a strong part of your overall marketing plan.  It all ties together.

I hope you find these tips useful and that you now see that SEO is still very important.  If you do what we suggest in this article, the search engines will index you and hopefully rank you favorably.

Questions, comments?  Let me know if the comments area below…

One – HTML5

You may have heard some people talking about Apple and Flash.  Basically, Steve Jobs and his crew have decided, once again, not to support Adobe Flash (you know, all that cool video and animation stuff on web sites) on their iPads, iTouch, iPhones, etc.

This has really upset Adobe and Flash evangelists (as well as Apple haters).  But, this does not mean you can’t have animation on these devices.  You just need to use something other than Flash.  That something is HTML5.

HTML, or Hyper Text Markup Language, has been the standard language for all web sites since forever.  And it has gone through some updates and enhancements over the years.  HTML5 is the latest standard to come out for publishing content on the web.  While not all browsers currently support it, it looks as if most will soon.

With it you can do things typically only available with Adobe Flash, Microsoft Silverlight, etc. like video players, rich animation or drag and drop functionality.

Of course, there are still some limitations.  Flash is still the preferred language for most of this.  But while HTML5 may not be a complete game changer, it has made this type of feature more accessible as a possible web site enhancement language option.  Just don’t drink all the Kool-Aid just yet; HTML5 is not quite a universal standard. Be sure to consult with a professional.

Some HTML5 benefits:

• No plug-in needed to watch video as long as the browser supports HTML5
• Standardizations for future HTML coding will cover more elements contained within a web site
• Works on Apple devices and will allow developers to show video and more on mobile devices that do not support Flash

Two – WordPress as a CMS

Yes, WordPress has been around for a while.  I believe at the time of this post, WordPress 3.0.1 was available for download.  But, WordPress is still in the early stages of adoption as a Content Management Solution or CMS. Typically, it’s been used primarily as a blogging platform.

You may have seen these sites, very basic with a look and navigational structure that seems strangely familiar.  The reason being is that there are a bunch of free WordPress sites out there using a free theme – a templated look that you can plug-in to your WordPress blog to spruce it up a bit (“templated” meaning you aren’t the only one with that look).

Of course this is not ideal for companies looking to maintain their brand online and to establish a unique and effective web presence.  Recently, however, developers have updated the source code so that you can control so much more of your WordPress web site.

It’s only been since version 2.8 or so that you’ve been able to create unique sub pages, landing pages, and blog templates.  With these enhancements, companies can now build their site on a WordPress platform without losing the richness of a fully customized site with user targeted content layers.

Since WordPress has certain editing tools built into it, it can also be used as a full Content Management System.  Now, companies that were faced with a tricky CMS choice – Adobe Contribute (low end, cheap and limited), proprietary CMS (middle to high end, usually cost prohibitive) or Open Source like Joomla or Drupal (high end, free code, high cost development) – have a more scalable solution.

Some WordPress as a CMS Benefits:

• The source code is Open Source which means it is free and requires no fee or license
• Source code is well supported, documented and can be easily migrated
• Search Engines, so far, tend to index these sites very well
• The admin interface is straightforward and user-friendly

Three – Third Party Social Media Integration

Social Media is nothing new, but the ways in which you can integrate it into your marketing strategy has turned Social Media into a viable marketing enhancement option for most businesses. Basically, this means unifying your message across multiple media outlets.

In the early days of Social Media, some companies, in an effort to be bleeding edge, abandoned their traditional web marketing efforts and put all their eggs in the Social Media basket – case in point, Skittles.  The problem with this approach is that you ditch what the masses are used to in hopes to be first in a marketing trend and… your clients don’t get it.

Now, with certain trends like Facebook’s Open Graph Initiative, Twitter, and other available APIs, you can link all of these without abandoning your web site as your organization’s online communication hub.  You can feed your blog posts into your homepage, your Twitter posts (tweets) too.  You can feed your blog posts into your Facebook fan page and your LinkedIn profile.  And your YouTube videos can go on all of it.  And so on and so forth.

The companies that are doing this while still treating their web site as their marketing “home-base” are really seeing the benefits.  Your message is spread further and through more channels.  Search Engines have more ways to find your content.  And your target audience is better able to find you, interact and convert.

Some Third Party Social Media Integration Benefits:

• Unified messaging translates to Social Media
• More ways to engage your target audience (find them where they live)
• A stronger opportunity for your message to go viral
• Can maintain more control by keeping your company owned web site as your information hub

We hope we have helped you see some of what is happening now and see how it could be of actual use to your organization.  As is in the case for most of what we post, these trends are proven and can be viable options as marketing add-ons.  If there are others you would like us to expound upon, please comment and let us know.  Of course, if you have questions or would like some assistance with implementing these tools, etc, please contact us and let us know.

Unfortunately, in order to cut corners or maximize budget, many marketers will resort to some practices that do more harm than good. The worst part about this approach is that they probably don’t even realize they’re making a huge mistake.

Most of these mistakes fall under the category of Black Hat SEO (also known as Spamdexing). These are tactics used to gain visibility in search engines by trying to “buck the system.” The search engines get wise to this very quickly and will punish these sites by dropping rankings or blacklisting them altogether.

We put together this quick list of 3 common mistakes that Do-It-Yourself SEO marketers make:

1 – Bogus link exchanges or bad outbound links…

Mistake…You may have seen ads for these services in your inbox. Basically companies will send out email blasts and place ads on web sites promoting a link exchange service for some ridiculously low price.

There may be some of these that are legit, but we haven’t seen them. They set you up so you’re automatically listed as a link on a bunch of web sites in exchange for you showing a list of links on your site.

The problem is that once you sign up this happens automatically. The list in question that is posted on your site… SPAM mostly. You end up with links to mortgage services or gambling sites or worse. And this will result in a rapid fall in rankings and possibly blacklisting.

A better approach… Instead of going for an “easy button” approach, try building a linking strategy. Links to and from your web site can be a very effective way to build improve search engine visibility.

Try spending some time each week looking for industry-related sites that your target audience would find useful. You can create a resources section on your site for these links. In addition to this, consider adding links to useful web sites throughout your content where appropriate.

To get your site listed on other sites, try submitting articles or Blog posts to industry or topic specific web sites. Make sure you are listed on your organization sites, like Chambers, Associations and anything where you are a member. Social media is another way to get links to your site out there. And, of course, ask to be listed on web sites where it would benefit you to be listed.

The general rule of thumb is to make sure that the places where you are listed relate in some way to what it is you do and what is important to your target audience.

2 – Keyword stuffing…

Mistake… Some marketers tend to have selective hearing when it comes to keywords. They hear that keywords are important and it stops there. What they miss is that keywords need to appear logically within the content and code.

Instead, marketers just load their web site with the keywords that they think are important wherever they can. Your content becomes unreadable and looks like a list of nonsense.

Worse than that, your site is now entering Black Hat territory. If search engines suspect you are pumping your content full of keywords for no other reason than for rankings, they will most likely blacklist you, or at the very least, you will lose rankings FAST.

A better approach… This is simple, your site’s content needs to be written for your target audience, not just for search engines. You want to be mindful of the words you use and how they appear (See our article on SEO).

When writing or updating your content, it helps to have your target keyword list handy. Refer to this list as you write content and try to insert these words into that content. However, make sure that the words you insert belong there. Do they make sense and add to the relevance of the content as it relates to the needs of the reader?

There are other areas of the site, within the code specifically, where you can add more keywords. You have to be careful here as well, making sure that the keywords are added correctly and that they relate to the content on that page.

3 – Duplicate content…

Mistake… Duplicating content can be a legitimate and useful practice. You may present newsletters or press releases as PDFs and HTML for different uses. That content may also appear in other web sites for legitimate reasons.

Where you need to be careful is how you are using content from other sites on your web site. The problem is using content, with or without permission, that appears identical to what exists on the site where it originates. Lots of spammers will do this and search engines have been fighting the practice.

A better approach… Your best bet, when you have permission, is to use a small portion of the content within your own content. Quote or reference certain portions of the content without completely copying the original.

With your own content, it is fine to reuse content in other areas, but you might want to rework it a bit to be sure it makes sense in the location where you are duplicating it. This is where you need to spend some time crafting useful content site-wide and not just copying and pasting content to increase keyword density.

Submitting your articles for duplication is fine, just be sure that the sites to which you are submitting are appropriate to what it is that you do. And make sure that the sites that publish your content give you credit and a link back to your site.

The Point

There are other examples of Black Hat SEO and other mistakes you can make with DIY SEO. The point is to become aware of what works and what doesn’t. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. Your best bet is to consider your target audience and what they want from your site.

If you would like to discuss this in more detail, please contact us or give us a call at 301-668-5006. We can certainly help you develop a legitimate and effective SEO plan.

It is a question we hear all the time.  While there is no easy answer to this question, there are some helpful guidelines you can follow.

We invite you to take this 3 question quiz to see if you are managing your site properly…

Question One

Has it been more than 3 years since your site was designed or overhauled?

A lot has changed in terms of usability, HTML/CSS and SEO since as recently as 3 years ago.  If your last major site design or overhaul was more than 3 years ago, chances are your site is out of date.  Some of the major changes are as follows…

• Screen resolution norms

  According to most recent reports, the majority of users have a minimum resolution of 1026×768 but a lot of older sites were designed for an 800×600 resolution.  This means that these older sites are not making full use of the space available and on most of today’s monitors the site can appear to be small.  See our article on screen resolution.

• SEO Standards

  In the last couple of years Search Engine Optimization standards have changed.  No longer are Meta Tags enough.  See our previous article on SEO for more on this.

• Cascading Style Sheets

  These act as the electronic style guide that browsers use to display your site correctly.  Advances in CSS in the last couple of years have increased the speed in which a site loads, the usability of a site for people with disabilities as well as the overall look of the site.

Question Two

Have you updated your site’s content in the last week, month, year?

The overall “age” and effectiveness of your content is what most determines the success or failure of your web site.  If your site has not been updated for months or even years, you are not using this medium to its fullest potential.

With all of the tools at your disposal you should be able to make at least basic text updates to your site in house.  Here are some regular updates you could be making…

• Press Releases

  Any updates regarding service offerings, hiring’s/promotions, awards, etc should be included in your site’s PR/News area.  These can include lots of great keywords and geo-terms which help with SEO.  They also are a way to keep people informed and engaged.  Check out ours.

• Newsletters/Articles

  Do you publish a print newsletter or better yet an email newsletter?  If so, are you posting versions of these to your web site?  Like the press releases, these are also great ways to increase your keyword count while also offering yourself to your target audience as an online resource.

• Blogs

  Beyond newsletters, blogs are quick and relatively inexpensive ways to easily post useful information on your web site.  The great thing about blogs is that they only really need to be about 250 – 500 words to be effective.  You can also set your blog up where people can subscribe and leave comments.  See the MANY blog posts we have written, all containing lots of tips AND keywords.

Question Three

Are you managing and tracking the effectiveness of your web site?

OK, so now you have determined whether or not your web site’s design is out of date and whether or not you are making enough updates to your site.  How do you know if these efforts are working for you?

There are techniques and tools that allow you to track the success of very specific elements of your site…

• Landing Pages

  More and more we use “landing pages” for targeting and tracking activity for specific areas of a web site.  Think of a landing page as a home page for a specific topic, service, etc.  By creating landing pages you can more effectively drive qualified traffic to perform the action you most want them to take.

• Google Analytics

  We implement Google Analytics in the code of most of the sites we build.  It is a free analysis tool that helps you track visitors, referring sites, search engines, keywords used, and much more.  See our article on Web Analytics for more information.

• Call Tracking

  Sure you might be tracking your contact form inquiries, but what about the calls that come from people visiting your web site?  Some companies will use either dedicated phone lines or extensions and then track the calls versus the page views tracked in Google Analytics or their stats package.  Companies that rely on their web site as a lead generator should really consider doing something like this to evaluate the overall effectiveness of their web site.

Evaluate and Adjust – all the updates, redesigns and tracking in the world is incomplete without a solid plan to implement the necessary adjustments along the way.  A web site is never complete; it is a living breathing thing that needs constant attention and adjustment.

Based on your analysis and tracking, you should be able to judge what pages/areas are effective and which are not.  You can also track what keywords people are using and more importantly, not using, and then adjust your content based on that.  If you make the time to manage your web site effectively, you will see it grow as a powerful piece of your ongoing marketing efforts.

If you’re interested in learning more about the marketing efforts mentioned above please contact us to setup a meeting and we will figure out the best approach for your business

RSS (Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary) is a format for delivering regularly changing web content. Many news-related sites, weblogs and other online publishers syndicate their content as an RSS Feed to whoever may want to subscribe to it.

Some examples of popular RSS feed subscriptions that you might have seen are:

• New York Times
• The Washington Post
• USA Today

Why should you publish an RSS feed and or subscribe to RSS feeds on your web site?

RSS Provides Your Web Site with Consistently Updated and Topical Information

RSS data feeds are updated regularly.  When this information is pushed to your web site, it is posted with the newest articles first.  Most web sites will also drop the older articles based on parameters set in the RSS set up. The resulting information that is posted is keyword rich and since the actual feed was hand selected by you, it’s targeted to your audience.

This means your site, set up properly with an RSS feed, will contain relevant content that is updated regularly – giving visitors an ongoing excuse to keep reading and coming back.

If you post a newsletter or other regularly updated information on your site, it can be converted into an RSS feed very easily. An example of one that Wood Street set up for our clients can be seen at MacRo’s Web Site. This RSS feed allows visitors to subscribe to the web site content and view the latest articles through their web browser.

RSS Improves Spidering and Search Engine Rankings

Spidering refers to the process that search engines like Google use to “crawl” through your site’s content and determine your site’s ranking based on what they find.  Frequent spidering is a good thing and RSS news feeds keep the search engine spiders coming back to grab the latest content.

Tests have shown that sites using RSS feeds are spidered almost as much as the sites from where the feed is generated.  This means your site can really do well for specific terms contained within that feed.  Since spider results are a major factor in the ranking process, these feeds will help your site achieve higher rankings.

While all of this sounds technical, it is really quite simple.  The more search engines visit your site and see keyword rich content, the better your ranking will be.  Targeted RSS feeds with keyword rich content will increase visits by both viewers and search engine spiders, which will boost your overall rankings.

Ready to add some RSS services to your web site?

Wood Street can help you can readily share your content, newsletters and news (publish), or pull feeds (subscribe) from other sites for your web site users and clients.  Wood Street can help you publish an RSS Feed of your content that your clients, site viewers and other sites can subscribe to.

If you would like to add and enhance the keyword rich content on your web site, draw new users, and keep people coming back more often, Wood Street can help you Subscribe to RSS Feeds from one or more sources. These RSS feeds can then be embedded and integrated into your site and enhance your SEO efforts.

Contact us today and let us help you with your web and marketing services.