Search Engine Optimization

Over two weeks ago, Google launched what is now known as the Penguin Update, an algorithm update that was designed to fight spam in Google’s search engine results. However, many legitimate websites have been hit hard by the Penguin Update, most likely because the SEO companies they hired to improve their search engine rankings utilized spammy SEO techniques or over-optimized their sites. Many businesses have been devastated by the loss of traffic this update has caused them. According to Google, the update has been a success from their standpoint, so there will be no pushing back.

In the past, if you spammed Google and your site got penalized, you could file a reconsideration request. Google has specifically stated that those hit by the Penguin Update cannot file a reconsideration request, but if they clean up the spam, their sites should recover naturally.

The main reason that a lot of sites have been hit by the Penguin update seems to be bad linking practices, such as poor quality reciprocal linking and buying links from shady linking networks, such as the private blog networks that were recently de-indexed. If you start to clean things up now, you can expect to see your rankings improve when the next Penguin update is released.

Cleaning up the Spam

You’ll know your site was hit by the Penguin Update if your site’s traffic levels dropped on April 24. Take a long, hard look at your site to start. Do a full website audit, so you can uncover any potential problems that could have caused your site to be hit by the Penguin Update. On-page factors to look for include keyword stuffing, duplicate content, slow speed, malware, and a lack of fresh content. When it comes to off-page SEO, make sure that you have plenty of niche backlinks from quality websites and that people are talking about your site in social media and blogs. You can use webmaster tools to find unwanted backlinks from questionable, low PR sites.

Clean up the spam by getting rid of bad links and on-page spam you know you’re responsible for. Then, when the next Penguin Update comes along, see if your site recovers. If it doesn’t, do some more cleaning up or consider starting fresh with a new website. Google’s Matt Cutts has stated publicly that some websites will not be able to recover from the update and will have to start anew. But if you have never engaged in questionable SEO tactics and truly believe that your site was a false positive, file a report with Google.

If you outsource SEO tasks, only work with a reliable SEO company that engages in ethical SEO tactics. Furthermore, take the time to ensure that your website is as valuable and relevant as possible. Don’t risk your business by engaging in dubious SEO practices that promise quick, effortless results. There’s no getting around the fact that SEO is a long-term effort that requires hard work and persistence. There are no shortcuts or magic bullets!

Ecommerce is one of the most cutthroat industries out there when it comes to SEO because you’re competing against many other businesses that offer similar products, as well as affiliates. But receiving significant levels of search engine traffic is vital to the success of virtually every ecommerce website, so SEO is something that ecommerce business owners cannot ignore. Avoid these 6 SEO mistakes in order to maximize your ecommerce website’s rankings and prevent penalties.

1. Using manufacturer descriptions

Most ecommerce use manufacturers’ descriptions of products instead of writing their own descriptions. Ecommerce websites often sell dozens, hundreds or even thousands of different products, so it’s understandable why they do this. The problem is that there are many other ecommerce websites using the exact same manufacturers’ descriptions, which means you could end up getting hit with the duplicate content penalty. To prevent this from happening, write original product descriptions for all of your products. Or if that’s too much, write unique product descriptions for your best-selling products.

2. Slow page load times

Get rid of unnecessary code on each page of your ecommerce site so that the pages load as quickly as possible. Search engines are concerned with delivering a great user experience, so they are less likely to give ecommerce sites that load too slowly good rankings.

3. Not making the most important and popular pages easy to find

If you already know which pages or products are the most popular on your site, make sure those pages are within two clicks of your home page, site map, and other important pages. If your most popular pages are too hard to find, customers won’t stick around.

4. Not focusing on the best keywords

Determine which pages of your site have the best conversion rates and which keywords are delivering the most qualified traffic and then focus on those areas in your SEO campaign. Don’t waste time and money on keywords that bring you a lot of traffic if they don’t also bring you a lot of sales. Avoid measuring the results of your SEO campaign based on how much traffic you get. Instead, focus on attracting traffic that achieves results.

5. Not paying attention to affiliates

Many ecommerce businesses can profit from a good affiliate program. Nevertheless, it’s important to communicate effectively with your affiliates and let them know what they can and can’t do. For example, don’t let affiliates target your brand name in their SEO campaigns if your own site’s search engine results for your brand’s terms are weak. Otherwise, you’ll create unwanted organic SEO competition for yourself and end up paying for sales that could have come directly to you.

6. Making site-wide changes without testing them first

Commonly, ecommerce business owners hear about the latest SEO trends and then implement site-wide changes without doing any testing first. This often leads to the misuse of SEO tactics and a decrease in search engine visibility. If you want to improve your website’s SEO, implement new tactics on a small group of pages first and then measure the results before making site-wide changes.

For years and years, the SEO community has been manipulating backlinks to their advantage. As a result, Google has issues trusting links and SEOs. To remedy the situation, Google has introduced a new feature known as Authorship.

The Authorship markup is a tag that verifies an author of a web page. It allows authors’ Google+ names and profile pictures to be displayed next to their articles in search results. This is great news because Google can now verify who an article’s original author is and prevent people from scraping that content. The Authorship markup also helps authors grow their following on Google+. Additionally, search results with a verified author have a higher click-through rate because they are seen as more trustworthy than anonymous results with no name or picture.

What Google Authorship Means for Link-Building

Back in the day, Google used to treat all links as being equal. But when SEOs started to manipulate the link graph through over-optimization, Google had to scrutinize links to determine which links were trustworthy and which links were not. There are a wide range of signals that Google uses to measure how trustworthy a link is. For example, reciprocal links and footer links aren’t as valuable as they used to be. Furthermore, links aren’t as important a ranking factor as they once were because of the rising significance of social signals.

Social signals are powerful because they say a lot about the trust, timeliness, and popularity of a website. But links still matter and link-building isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Google introduced Authorship in order to improve the quality of links and verify that they’re trustworthy. If Google can verify who the author of a link is, they place far more trust in that link because links with authors tend to be of higher quality. After all, few humans would be willing to claim authorship of spammy links.

Google weighs authored links differently, depending on the Author Rank of the link’s author. The more well-known an author, the more authority his/her links will have. Even if you’re not a well-known author, your links will still carry more weight than the links of an anonymous person.

How to Take Advantage of Google’s Authorship Markup

The first step is to start using the Authorship markup, so you become more trustworthy in the eyes of Google. And when it comes to link-building, try focusing on who you’re getting links from, not where. Google Authorship offers a gold mine of information. You can determine who an author is and how popular he is on the social web. This will assist you tremendously in your link-building and relationship-building efforts because you can aim to connect with people who have relevant websites and social media clout.

The Authorship markup is still very new, and its importance is likely to increase over time. Although some SEOs may try to create fake Google+ profiles so that they can use the Authorship markup on spammy sites, this tactic won’t be sustainable in the long run because it will be next to impossible to maintain multiple fake Google+ profiles and grow their followings. To achieve long-term success, webmasters will have to focus on building authority websites with true social media clout.

Keyword research is a simple process, yet many people overcomplicate it and take a lot more time than necessary to find the right keywords to target on their websites. Here are 13 tips that will help to streamline the keyword research process.

1. Stop relying on your own logic

One of the most common keyword research problems is people’s tendency to rely on their own logic and guess at keywords rather than explore all of the data that’s available.

2. Notice the difference between spoken and written word

Rather than targeting the same descriptive terms as your competitors, think of the keywords your customers use when they talk to you.

3. Explore keywords related to specific seasons

If appropriate for your industry, consider exploring keywords related to specific seasons.

4. Explore acronyms

Look for commonly used acronyms in your industry to access unexplored data that your competitors are probably ignoring.

5. Give searchers what they are looking for

Rather than putting your objectives first, give searchers the valuable content they are looking for when they search for particular keywords.

6. Determine what your customers really want

Most people focus on the keywords themselves, but it’s best to look at the big picture by determining not just what keywords users are searching for, but what the intent is behind those keywords.

7. Focus on less competitive keywords

Unless you have a huge marketing budget, you’re probably not going to be able to rank for highly competitive keywords, like “credit cards,” “mortgage” or “auto insurance.” Instead, focus on less competitive keywords, such as keywords related to your geographic location.

8. Continue performing keyword research

In online marketing, change is inevitable. Even after your site’s launch, you’ll have to perform keyword research periodically to ensure that your content keeps up with current trends in your industry.

9. Use social media data

Social media and SEO are becoming intertwined, so it’s vital to take social media data into consideration when performing keyword research for your site. Use sites like Social Mention and Topsy to monitor the use of keywords in social media and determine which ones are the most popular.

10. Avoid industry jargon

The goal of keyword research is to generate traffic from visitors who are interested in your products and services. But just because they’re interested in your offerings doesn’t mean they understand all of your industry’s terminology! Don’t go overboard with industry jargon and technical terms because your target audience may not understand them.

11. Don’t copy your competitors

Don’t target the same keywords your competitors are using – there’s a good chance that they aren’t even using the best ones! Dig around to find the high traffic, low competition keywords your competitors are likely to overlook.

12. Use Google’s auto-suggest feature

In the past, it was necessary to use keyword research tools to find keywords to target. Nowadays, you can just type words into Google’s search bar to find keywords that people are searching for.

13. Check the page rank, backlinks, and domain age of competing pages

Google page rank and the quality and quantity of backlinks are some factors that indicate how important a website is. Furthermore, the higher a site’s domain age, the more authoritative it is considered to be. If all of the pages that rank on the first page of results for a target keyword have a high page rank, tons of high quality links, and a high domain age, you may want to look for less competitive keywords to target.

In March 2012, Google’s Matt Cutts made a public statement that over-optimized websites would be penalized. Shortly thereafter, thousands of blogs and several prominent blog networks were de-indexed from Google. Most of the blogs removed from Google’s index were of low quality and had little authority, but even some sites with a high page rank were de-indexed. Furthermore, many sites saw a drop in rankings after these changes were put into place because some of the inbound links came from low quality domains.

Many SEO experts believe that by the end of the year, link-building and SEO as we know it will no longer exist. If you’re worried that your website may be affected by Google’s latest moves, here are some over-optimization techniques you want to be sure to avoid.

Keyword Stuffing

If the keywords in a web page’s title tag, URL, and inbound link anchor text all match, it raises red flags for Google because it doesn’t look natural. For the best results, mix up your inbound link anchor text a bit when building links to your site by using related keywords instead of the exact same keywords over and over. The same goes for your content – don’t stuff it with your target keywords! Make sure your content reads naturally.

Administrative Linking

Do you own a network of sites that are all interlinked? If so, you may want to take it easy with the interlinking because Google is starting to devalue those links. If you interlink excessively, your site may even get penalized or de-indexed.

Generic, Keyword-Rich Domain Name

Many internet marketers purchase generic domain names that match the keywords they want the sites to rank for. The problem is that their websites are typically of low quality and contain no valuable content. It’s a better idea to purchase a branded domain name because it’ll rank better in the long run. Google doesn’t like generic domain names.

Too Many Ads above the Fold

Are there too many advertisements above the fold on your site? If so, Google may penalize your site. The majority of your valuable content should be above the fold, and the ads should be towards the bottom.

Not Enough Valuable Content

Make sure your site provides rich, valuable content. Otherwise, your site’s rankings could take a hit! On an SXSW panel earlier this year, Matt Cutts specifically mentioned that these algorithm updates were designed to “level the playing field” for sites with great content but not-so-great SEO. This may be bad news for those who’ve honed their SEO chops over the years, but great news for content marketers, content writers, and anyone who specializes in creating high quality content for their online audience. Just be sure to add fresh content to your site on a regular basis in order to maintain its search engine visibility.

Links from Low Quality Sites

If your site has links from low quality sites, its rankings could take a beating. So, use a backlinks intelligence tool to analyze your backlinks. Remove links from sites that have been de-indexed or that have few or no social mentions. Additionally, look at the page rank of all the sites linking to you. You should be concerned if most of the domains linking to you have a page rank of n/a or zero.

There are two types of SEO: off-page SEO and on-page SEO. On-page SEO consists of SEO work that can be performed on a website itself, such as SEO-friendly web design, meta tags, and internal links. Off-page SEO refers to SEO work that is external to a website. Link building and social media marketing are examples of off-page SEO.

On one side of the fence are the people who say, “Content is king,” and on the other side are the people who say, “Links are supreme.” The on-page SEO vs. off-page SEO debate is common and longstanding, but the reality is that both off-page and on-page SEO are vital to a website’s success. However, new websites (i.e., websites that are less than two years old) typically require more off-page SEO because it builds their authority. On the other hand, if your site has been online for several years and contains multiple pages of high quality content, you may be able to achieve your goals with on-page SEO alone, as long as the keywords you’re targeting aren’t intensely competitive.

On-Page SEO

The stronger your on-page SEO is, the easier it will be for your site to gain authority. Writing optimized title tags is one of the most important aspects of on-page SEO, but it’s something that many website owners fail to do. Your home page’s title tag is hands down the most important piece of on-page SEO on your entire website. So, change your title tags to ensure that they include the keywords you want to be found for. Each title tag on your site should be unique.

Good internal links are also important to achieving rankings for your target keywords. Make sure that your internal links use anchor text that contains your target keywords. Other on-page SEO factors to keep in mind include URL structure, sitemaps, and site speed. It’s also important to avoid on-page SEO tactics that could get your site de-indexed, such as hidden text, hidden links, cloaking, doorway pages, and mirror pages.

Off-Page SEO

Although on-page SEO is vital to your success, it’s extremely unlikely to work on its own unless you have a high authority website that is several years old. That’s where off-page SEO comes in. Off-page SEO primarily deals with inbound links. Factors that come into play when search engines evaluate your site’s inbound links include keyword frequency, volume, neighborhood (what sites the links are from), and velocity (how fast you got the links). Off-page SEO has the power to take a site that’s virtually unknown to the top page of results in a matter of weeks.

The Bottom Line

SEO generally requires a balance of on-page and off-page tactics in order to be successful. Factors that determine how much time and energy you should commit to on-page and off-page SEO include the quantity and quality of your inbound links, the age and authority of your website, and the amount of supporting content it has. The more competitive the keywords for which you want to rank, the more precise your on-page SEO and the more trusted your domain have to be. Competitive keywords also require a significant amount of supporting pages and inbound links.

Let’s say that you’ve created an amazing video to promote your website. You’re probably thinking, “Now what?” No matter how breathtaking your video is, it won’t help you build your brand, generate leads, and boost your company’s search engine visibility if all you do is upload it to YouTube and wait for something to happen. It’s essential to effectively market the videos you put out to ensure that they’re seen and heard by the right people.

Why Video?

Publishing videos is great for your site’s SEO because it boosts page quality, relevance, and keyword instances. Videos also increase the amount of time that users spend on your site, which is another indicator of page quality in the eyes of search engines. People are also more likely to link to your site if it contains videos. In addition, video thumbnails help your site stand out in the search engine results pages (SERPs) and improve click-through rates.

Make Sure That Surrounding Content Is Related to the Queries You’re Targeting

Merely embedding a video into a blog post is not enough if you want to rank for related queries. Google and other search engines can’t decipher embed codes, so surround your videos with text and images that are optimized for the queries you’re targeting. You could summarize the video in writing or talk about how the video was produced. You could also link to other related videos, turning your post into a rich, linkable resource that people will continue to reference over time. It’s also a good idea to include a full transcript with each video you post, so you can add more content to the page and help out users who can’t watch your videos for whatever reason.

Don’t Forget On-Page SEO

The title of your videos should be catchy, so people are more likely to watch them and link to them. You should also make sure that the titles and file names of your videos include target keywords, as long as they don’t compromise the quality of the titles. If you’re using a video hosting service like YouTube, add keyword-rich tags to your video, as well. YouTube even has its own keyword research tool that you can use to determine what relevant keywords video enthusiasts are searching for.

Create a Video Sitemap

Create a video sitemap to ensure that search engines are able to crawl and index all of your videos. Video sitemaps are similar to regular sitemaps, as they point to the URL of each video and list additional properties of each video, such as their duration.
Video sitemaps also make it easier for Google to add your videos’ thumbnails to the SERPs. You can refer to the Google Video Sitemap Guide or use a WordPress plug-in to simplify the process of creating a video sitemap.

Make Your Videos Easy to Share

Add social media icons to your video posts so that they’re easier to share. If you use WordPress, plugins like Shareaholic and Digg Digg come highly recommended. If you don’t feel the need to include buttons for so many different social networks, you can just grab codes from each social network that you’d like to include.

Start a Series

If you create a video that is particularly well-received, consider developing a series of related videos. Video series encourage people to return to your site and continue exploring your content.

Businesses with big, popular websites are lucky because they don’t have to do very much to get their content on people’s radars. Whether they introduce a new product or service or publish an amazing new article on their site, they can be certain that they’ll get plenty of links from it because they already have an established following. On the other hand, if your brand barely has an online presence, you’ll have a tough time attracting attention, building your search engine rankings, and driving traffic to your website without some good old-fashioned link-building. Here are some surefire ways to build links to a brand spanking new website.

Connect with Your Offline Network Online

You have to earn people’s trust before they’ll link to you. So, why not initiate your link-building efforts with your offline network? Your offline contacts already know, like, and trust you, so they’re far more likely to link to you than a total stranger. You can easily connect with your offline friends, clients, and colleagues online by using Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, all of which enable you to connect with people on your email contacts list.

Host a Giveaway or Contest

Hosting a giveaway or contest is a great way to attract attention to your business and generate a slew of links to your site. Just be sure to give away something that’s related to your business so that you attract attention from the right kind of people. iPads are a popular giveaway prize, but don’t give an iPad away unless you run a business that’s related to iPads. Otherwise, you’ll temporarily get attention from people who are craving an iPad, but few, if any, of those people will become your customers.

Get Local Press Coverage

You may be able to get some press coverage in your local community by helping out a local charity or doing some community service. Contact local journalists whenever you have something newsworthy to announce because many local journalists are hungry for stories to cover and would be delighted to put your company in the limelight because it gives them something to write about.

Write Guest Posts

Guest posting is one of the most effective ways to build your reputation and generate valuable backlinks, especially when you’re starting out. The benefits of guest posting include not only getting link juice, but also traffic, brand awareness, and possibly even conversions and sales.

Join Online Communities

If you’re just starting out and few people know who you are, it’s a good idea to hop onto relevant online communities where your target audience hangs out, so you can connect with them and gradually build your brand and reputation. Just don’t make the mistake of dropping a link in an online forum and then never showing up again. It’s essential to spend time in an online community and network with other forum members if you want to achieve worthwhile results. It’s better to build a big presence on one or two forums by making valuable contributions and building lasting relationships than it is to have a superficial presence on multiple forums.

Link-building is one of the toughest aspects of SEO. It takes hard work, persistence, and an immense amount of creativity to come up with unique, effective ways to build links on a continual basis. Here are 7 little-known ways to find potential link opportunities:

1. Check out blogrolls

When you’re exploring the interwebs looking for potential link opportunities and find a good site to approach, don’t stop your search there. If the site has a blogroll, visit all of the sites linked to there. If the sites listed also offer high quality content and are relevant to your industry, approach them, as well.

2. Explore lists

Top 10 blog posts, Twitter lists, and other curated lists are a great source of link opportunities. For example, if you have a website selling Blackberry smartphones and want to get links from other websites about Blackberry smartphones, look at Twitter lists that are related to Blackberry smartphones to find potential link opportunities. You can also find potential sources for links by using the search engines to look for lists of the best or top 10 Blackberry websites.

3. Participate in a guest blogging community

One of the quickest and easiest ways to find link opportunities is by searching guest blogging communities, like My Blog Guest or Guest Blog Genius. These sites, which are designed to help bloggers find blogs to submit guest posts to and help blogs find guest posts to host, save time when it comes to securing link opportunities. Not all of the sites listed in guest blogging communities are of high quality, however, so be cautious about which sites you submit your articles to.

4. See what Facebook pages your target websites “like”

You can easily find related sites by looking at the Facebook pages of websites you want to get a link from or have already gotten a link from and checking out what websites they “like.” For example, if you are trying to get links for your party supplies website, you can look at the Facebook “likes” of a party planning website to find relevant link sources.

5. Look for people tweeting about relevant topics

Look for people tweeting about a certain topic by searching tweets and Twitter profiles. You can also use a paid tool like Tweet Adder to find and automatically follow related Twitter users.

6. Search LinkedIn

Find relevant contacts by searching LinkedIn. Searching LinkedIn is a great way to find bloggers, journalists, and other people who own or work for websites that offer good link opportunities. If you have the name of a website or company but don’t know the email address of a specific person who works there, search LinkedIn in order to make direct contact with people at that website or company.

7. Use HARO

Peter Shankman’s Help a Reporter out (HARO) service is a daily email featuring inquiries from reporters looking to interview people on a variety of topics. Subscribe to HARO’s emails and when you find an inquiry related to your area of expertise, respond and try to secure an interview. If your feedback is published, you’ll likely get a link back to your site.

We’ve talked about the importance of guest blogging numerous times. Not only is guest blogging a great way to build your brand, it’s also an excellent method for generating quality links and driving targeted traffic to your website. But many business owners don’t do nearly as much guest blogging as they ought to and it’s often because they don’t have the time or don’t know what to write.

Many people new to the guest blogging world make the mistake of writing articles that sound more like advertorials than informative, useful content. If you want to be a successful guest blogger, it’s essential to write content that provides helpful information and lands with the host blog’s readership.

Research the Archives

Get to know the host blogs you’re targeting well by digging through their archives and getting a feel for their style and the topics they cover. You can also check out their “FAQ” pages to determine what questions their readers commonly ask. Perhaps your guest article can provide an interesting take on the information contained in the FAQs.

You can also expand on other articles on their site, adding your own personal story to take the point further. You don’t need to have anything groundbreaking to say to write a successful guest article!

Explore the Comments Section and Gauge Social Media Reaction

Get ideas for new topics to write about by reading the comments on a host blog’s older posts. Some people may ask questions that weren’t answered in the post or provide insightful tips in the comments section, which are great fodder for blog posts. Look at the articles that have the most shares, tweets, etc. to determine what type of content has done well in the past. Write content about similar topics to increase the chances that your articles will be accepted and well received by a site’s audience.

Outsource the Writing

If you’re not a good writer, there’s no need to fret. You can outsource the writing! Contrary to popular belief, if you outsource writing, you aren’t going to end up with terrible, keyword-stuffed garbage from a far-off land. There are plenty of talented, affordable writers to choose from in the United States, Canada, and other countries where English is the first language. Social networking websites, bidding websites, and online classifieds are great places to find quality content writers who can help you write guest articles. If you don’t have time to scour bidding sites and sift through writing samples, consider working with an SEO company that provides writing services.

Repurpose Old Content

Did you get one of your articles published on a high authority site? Congratulations! That’s wonderful, but that’s also far from being the end of it. You have to get articles approved on numerous high authority sites in order to enjoy the lasting benefits of guest blogging.

Fortunately, there’s no need to write or pay someone to write an article from scratch every time you want to submit guest content to a new site. You can easily repurpose old content and submit it to a different blog. Or better yet, you can explore subtopics of an article you’ve already written in order to create completely new content that expands on your previous content.

There are many people who claim that press coverage is worthless and that it doesn’t bring more leads and sales but in most cases, they’re wrong and only say that because they haven’t experienced the benefits of press coverage for themselves.

Being featured in the media offers numerous advantages for businesses because it provides social proof, links, website traffic, and credibility. It can also lead to more publicity, clients, and partnerships. Without further ado, here are 10 ways that you can get more press coverage for your company and promote your website.

1. Determine what your USP is

If you want to get the media’s attention, you have to determine what makes you stand out and use it to your advantage. Your unique selling proposition, or USP, is what differentiates you and makes you better than your competitors, so it’s what you’ll want to focus on when trying to get the attention of the press.

2. Build relationships with key reporters

Want to get quoted in stories about your industry? Then build relationships with reporters. When a reporter you’re following writes a good piece, send him a quick congratulatory note about it. Make sure the title of your email is catchy, so it stands out in a crowded inbox. If you get a response, keep the relationship alive by sending them your thoughts anytime breaking news happens in your industry. He just might quote you in his next story!

3. Stay on top of what’s hot in your industry

This is related to #2 because in order to provide smart, timely quotes about what’s happening in your industry, you need to know what’s going on.

4. Say unusual, unexpected things

Reporters like to quote people who say unusual, unexpected things in their stories because it makes for entertainment, so don’t be afraid to stray from the norm, as long as whatever you say won’t damage your reputation or hurt your bottom line.

5. Be active on LinkedIn Answers

By providing solid answers to people’s questions that are related to your industry on LinkedIn Answers, you can position yourself as an expert and increase the chances that journalists will contact you.

6. Conduct market research

Conduct market research on trends in your industry and then write articles about your most interesting findings. Journalists love referring to solid market research.

7. Set up your Google authorship profile

Ever noticed how Google results sometimes include a photo of the author and provide information about the author’s Google+ account? Well, that’s a new feature that Google recently rolled out called Google authorship. By setting up your Google authorship profile, you can boost your credibility, stand out in the search engine results pages (SERPs), and attract more clicks.

8. Grow your following on social networks

Spend a little time growing your following on social networks by joining conversations and sharing great content. Journalists that need an authority on a topic are likely to look at the size of your following to gauge your level of expertise.

9. Seek out guest blogging opportunities

Guest blogging in your industry will not only help you gain visibility and build your authority, it’ll also enable you to build links back to your website and attract the attention of reporters.

10. Display signs of social proof on your website

Social sharing buttons that display the number of tweets, likes, and shares your content has gotten are good to have because they increase visitors’ confidence in your website and make you look like a credible source to reporters.

Want to improve your website’s organic search engine visibility? One of the keys to building a stronger online presence is content creation. But coming up with good ideas for writing content on a regular basis can be a struggle, and you can’t just put out anything that comes to mind if you want to maximize results. Here are 8 tips for improving your website’s organic search engine visibility with content.

1. Write content about related information

Content that targets important keywords in your industry will perform well, but you may also find that content about indirectly related topics brings in quality traffic. For example, if you own a hotel in Cabo San Lucas, you can write articles about events taking place in Cabo. People searching for information about events in Cabo who click on your content in search results will then learn about your hotel.

2. Answer questions

When conducting keyword research, find out what questions people are asking about your industry and then write articles that answer those questions.

3. Create a glossary

A glossary that contains definitions of industry terminology can be a great addition to your website. Deploy the glossary across several different pages of your website so that each page has an increased chance of ranking well in search engines for target terms.

4. Write a white paper

If you’re in the B2B sector, a white paper can increase your website’s organic search engine visibility while boosting conversions. White papers also help to convey your expertise and assist potential customers in making purchase decisions. In the B2C sector, you can write a free ebook or report and it’ll have a similar effect.

5. Write a top 10 list

Create a top 10 list or two for your industry. For example, if you’re a cosmetic dentist, you can write a top 10 list like, “Top 10 Cosmetic Dental Procedures.” Another great way to attract links and attention is by creating a top 10 list of leaders in your industry. The people or companies that you feature in your list are likely to link to your article and share it with their audience.

6. Write case studies

Case studies that demonstrate how clients have benefitted from using your products or services won’t only improve your search engine visibility – they may also increase conversions!

7. Write about the industries you serve

Most business owners only provide general information about their services and do not create content catering to the specific markets and industries they serve. However, many of your potential customers are searching for information related to their specific industries, so your best bet would be to create content for each industry that you serve. You can increase search engine visibility and conversions as a result.

8. Create product manuals and instructions

If you sell products, many of your potential customers are likely to be searching for manuals and instructions for some of the products you sell. Consider creating a database of product manuals/instructions with download links on your product pages, if copyright rules allow it. You can also create your own videos and instruction sheets for products that you sell and then share them on your website.

In the SEO world, getting authority websites to link to your site has long been one of the most effective methods for improving search engine rankings. The authority of the sites linking to your site account for a significant portion of your website’s search engine authority. So, the more influential the site that’s linking to you, the more valuable the backlink is. But attracting links from authority websites is easier said than done.

There are two types of authority websites: absolute authorities and relative authorities. Absolute authority websites are large, popular websites with a vast presence, like Wikipedia or the Huffington Post. Relative authority websites aren’t as big, but they dominate their respective niches. While links from relative authority websites aren’t as valuable as links from absolute authority websites, they still carry a lot of weight, particularly if they’re relevant to your industry.

Create Quality Content

You’ve probably heard time and time again that “content is king” because quality content is ultimately what attracts links. Types of content that do well in terms of attracting links include controversial, opinionated articles, articles featuring expert advice that demonstrate your authority in a subject, and personal articles that give a glimpse of who you are and where you come from. Now, don’t assume that creating this type of content will automatically attract a ton of links for your site. You need to develop a solid archive of quality content in order to prove yourself to the so-called Linkerati.

Once you have created a lot of great content to share, get in touch with authority sites, giving them a good reason to link to your content. For example, if you’ve written an article about the owner of an authority website, that person might be interested in sharing it with his followers. Another effective way to get an influential person’s attention is by writing an article that critiques something he did. This might also bring some haters to your doorstep, but you can’t expect to achieve worthwhile results with your linking efforts unless you dare to stand out!

Hang out Where Your Target Audience Hangs out

Determine exactly which authority sites you’d like to have link to you and then hang out wherever they are. For example, if you are a social media marketing consultant and would like to get links from authority websites in the social media marketing niche, go to social media conferences and rub shoulders with A-list social media marketing bloggers and website owners. You’d be surprised at how far face-to-face interaction can take you. It’s a lot more personable and memorable than an email.

Write Guest Articles

Guest blogging has become an extremely popular link-building technique for one reason: it works. Authority websites in various industries are always in need of great content, so you can help them out by offering well-researched, entertaining, and informative articles for their readers. Simply include a link back to your website to get some link juice out of it. Writing a monthly column is another great way to accumulate valuable links and drive targeted traffic back to your site. You can also approach authority websites, ask them what kind of content they need, and then offer to create it for them if they include a link back to your site.

Content may be king online, but even the king is powerless without a powerful headline. After all, if your headlines don’t attract clicks, the content won’t get read. And if the content doesn’t get read, your website won’t generate leads and sales.

Lots of people may see your headlines in social networks or in search results, but it won’t matter if they don’t click. Here are 7 tips for writing irresistible headlines that grab people’s attention.

1. Go to the magazine aisle at the grocery store

Need a hefty dose of headline inspiration? Then look no further than the magazine aisle at your local grocery store. If you’ve ever waited in line at a grocery store, you probably know how tempting it can be to buy one of the magazines on the rack beside you. From enticing you to read about Jennifer Aniston’s latest outings or how to achieve the six-pack abs you’ve always dreamed of, magazine headlines are hard to resist. Women’s magazines, men’s magazines, and tabloids in particular are a great source of headline inspiration.

2. Use numbered headlines

List posts, like this one, are common because they work. People like digestible content online and list posts tend to be easy to swallow. The “7 ways to…” and “5 reasons why…” headlines are overused and abused, though, so only try them every once in a while. Friends don’t let friends abuse numbered headlines.

3. Highlight the benefit

People are enticed to click on an article if the headline highlights the benefit of reading that content. Answer the “What’s in it for me?” question in a headline, so people know exactly what they’ll get out of reading your article. Here’s an example: “Find out how to lose that pesky tummy fat, once and for all”

4. Ask a provocative question

Create curiosity in your headlines by asking provocative questions. For example, a good question-based headline would be, “Do you make these common mistakes in your business?”

5. Be clear and concise

Clever, quirky headlines may be fun to come up with, but try not to confuse your readers. Stick with clear, concise headlines that are easy to understand.

6. Use the “how to” headline

“How to” headlines are effective because many people have a desire to improve themselves and their lives. For the best results, highlight the benefit or final result of following the advice you’re giving in an article. For example, instead of writing a headline like, “How to start a courier business,” write, “How to become your own boss by starting your own courier business.”

7. Mention hot trends

People love to be in tune with what’s going on right here, right now, so don’t hesitate to write about hot trends in your industry and mention target keywords related to the trends in your headlines. For example, you’ll see lots of headlines about the social network Pinterest in online marketing circles because its popularity is growing by leaps and bounds at the moment.

Many businesses spend hundreds of thousands of dollars each month distributing press releases online. For some companies, press release distribution is their only link-building strategy. They assume it works because it allows them to accumulate backlinks, which obviously carrying weight. What these business owners don’t realize, however, is that they could be wasting their time and money by placing so much importance on online press release distribution.

Online press release distribution should only take up a small portion of your link-building efforts because it isn’t an effective link-building strategy on its own. If you’ve spent any time building links, you likely understand the importance of accumulating links naturally, incorporating social signals, and acquiring links from unique domains. The primary problem with sending out press releases through press release distribution sites each month is that you’re getting backlinks from the same domains over and over again.

Moreover, when you submit press releases through an online press release distribution service, the same content gets submitted to various hubs with identical links and anchor text. This doesn’t look natural to the search engines. What’s more, press releases aren’t very “social” in nature because they aren’t widely read and people typically don’t share them in social networks.

Why Press Release Distribution Is Still Important

Press release distribution isn’t effective as a standalone link-building strategy, but it often does form part of an effective link-building campaign. Press releases also help you manage your online reputation and build your brand because they tend to rank well in the search results when people search for your company’s name.

Only write press releases for your company when you have news that’s truly worth sharing. Focus on quality, not quantity. Publishing two to three high quality press releases that share important news each year is far more worthwhile than publishing multiple press releases about uninteresting topics each month.

How to Improve Your Link-Building Campaign

The most important aspect of any link-building campaign is reaching out to the right people. You need to create excellent, link-worthy content and then share it with influential bloggers, social media users, etc. You also need to make an effort to get your work published on popular websites. When you publish an article on a respected website, it’ll increase traffic to your site and help you garner valuable links. In addition, grow your following on social networks like Twitter and Facebook. Your followers and fans are likely to share the content you publish and help you attract even more links.

If you are an authority in your industry, publish your best content on your own website to reap the full benefits. But if your website still isn’t well-known and your readership is small or non-existent, publish your best content on a popular website. That’ll help to build your site’s authority, traffic, links, and overall reputation.

Ultimately, there’s no such thing as a “one-size-fits-all” link-building solution. Every site and industry has unique needs that must be considered. As a business owner, strive to maintain a diverse link profile and never put all of your eggs into one basket – that includes press release distribution!

Building a business blog is simple, but building a successful business blog that brings you a steady flow of leads is another story altogether. Whether you’re a small business owner running your own company blog or an in-house employee helping to manage your employer’s blog, these tips may help to take your business blog from unknown to internet famous.

Participate in Communities Where Your Target Audience Hangs Out

Explore different social media networks, forums, and blogs to determine where your target audience gathers. Create accounts at all of those sites and start participating. Be a good community member for a while without trying to hawk your wares. Eventually, people will be eager to visit your site and learn more about you because of your valuable contributions to the community.

Make Your Blog’s Content SEO-Friendly

There are more than three billion searches performed each day on Google, so it’d be silly not to get a sliver of that traffic to come to your site by optimizing your blog posts for the search engines. Contrary to popular belief, SEO doesn’t affect the quality or creativity of your content. When done right, SEO is virtually unnoticeable. With simple on-page SEO tactics and link-building techniques, you’ll be able to boost traffic levels and get your content in front of more people.

Target Audiences That Are More Likely to Share Your Content

People who are extremely active in social media and/or who have blogs of their own are generally more inclined to share content, so create content that they’ll be eager to spread. By targeting groups of people who are likely to share your content, you’ll be able to expand your audience and reach.

Sign up for Major Social Networks

If you’re not already a member of major social networks, like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+, sign up now. Fill out your profiles completely, follow the who’s who in your industry, share your content on a regular basis, and ask thought-provoking questions that engage your followers. If you consistently share relevant, high quality content and interact with people in a positive way, you’ll build trust and credibility.

Link to Your Own Posts and Those of Others

Continue giving the gift of traffic to older posts on your blog by linking to them in your newer posts. In addition, link to other bloggers’ content in your blog posts to attract their attention and build relationships with them. They may even link to your content in the future if they like what they see.

Write Guest Articles

Write articles for other sites with links back to your site, so you can build your brand and reputation in your industry. You can also accept guest contributions on your own site to attract more traffic and build relationships with other content creators.

Participate in Q&A Sites

Participate in Q&A sites like Quora and Yahoo! Answers by answering questions that are relevant to your industry. Include a link back to your site in your answers. As long as you provide helpful, in-depth answers to people’s questions and provide a relevant link, no one is likely to accuse you of spamming or link dropping.

If you do business online, chances are you have a contact form on your website. For many business owners, the goal of a website is to funnel visitors towards a contact form to take the relationship to the next level. From requesting a quote to placing an order, a contact form can be used for many purposes.

In order to increase conversions and prevent people from abandoning your contact form, make sure that the form is as user-friendly as possible. Below are some tips for optimizing the contact form on your website.

1. Clearly highlight required fields

It’s very annoying for users to submit a form, only to discover that the submission failed because they didn’t fill out the required fields. Make sure it’s obvious which fields users are required to fill out by highlighting them with an asterisk.

2. Include a statement about privacy

Include a statement about privacy below the contact form to build trust and increase conversions. Something like, “We respect your privacy,” will do the trick.

3. Avoid asking too many questions

Sure, you want to know a lot about your prospects and why they’re contacting you, but as with any relationship, take it slowly. Avoid asking too many questions, so you don’t overwhelm your website visitors or put them on edge. Only try to get the answers you absolutely need. You can get the rest of the data you need later on in the process of converting prospects to customers. The simpler and more concise the form, the better it will convert.

4. Make a versatile contact form

A good contact form will enable your customers to perform a number of tasks, from asking questions about your services, to talking to you about press opportunities, to requesting a quote.

5. Make your contact form easy to find

Make sure your contact form is as accessible as possible by making it easy to find. Your contact form should be in your main navigation and be accessible from all of your main product or service pages.

6. Avoid using CAPTCHA

CAPTCHA is about as user un-friendly as it gets. Many people decide not to fill out a contact form simply because it has CAPTCHA. Others give up after several unsuccessful submission attempts. There are other ways to prevent contact form spam besides CAPTCHA. For example, you can require users to answer a question like, “1 + 1 =” to verify that they’re human.

7. Use a call to action on the submit button

Submit buttons with explicit calls to action like “Get a quote now” or “Learn more about working with us” convert better than buttons that say “Submit” or “Click here.”

8. Include a contact form above the fold

Contact forms located above the fold in the upper right hand corner of a web page tend to perform the best. In addition to including a contact form above the fold, put one at the bottom of the page, as well, to emphasize the call to action and maximize conversions.

The web is becoming increasingly social, so it’s essential to build a social media presence in order to boost your business’s credibility. Benefits of building a strong social media presence include improving the way visitors feel about your website and reducing the amount of risk they sense when doing business with you.

Anyone can start a blog or website and do business online. That’s why it’s more important than ever before to build credibility and trust. Now that search and social are becoming intertwined, it’s especially important to get involved in social media. Here are some tips for boosting your business’s credibility factor through social media marketing.

Increase Your Social Authority

Increase your social authority by posting social media updates several times a day and interacting with other users on a regular basis. The more social authority you have, the more other users will trust you and the higher your site will appear in search engine results.

Network with Power Users in Relevant Niches

When using a social networking site like Twitter, network with power users in relevant niches. In social media, it’s not just about how many people you know – it’s about who you know. Engaging with power users helps to boost your credibility as an authority in your niche.

Encourage Sharing

Encourage social media users to share your content by including sharing options on your website and asking readers to share your content if they like it or find it useful. The more your content is shared, the more credible your site will appear in the eyes of users.

Be Personal

Contrary to popular belief, acting “business-like” in social media won’t boost your credibility. Businesses that have embraced social media in a personal way, such as Starbucks and Dell, have had the most success with the medium. Customers want to do business with companies that show they are real human beings. So, don’t be afraid to mix personal information and business information in your social media updates – let your customers can get to know the real you.

Be Picky about the Content You Share via Social Media

Reciprocity is important in social media, but don’t feel the need to share mediocre content just because that particular content creator always shares your stuff. Build your reputation as a social media user who consistently shares high quality content. Otherwise, people will start ignoring you.

In addition, don’t just promote your own content on social media sites. Become a respected voice in your industry by sharing the best content from other content producers in your industry. That way, people will come to see you as a trusted source of industry information.

Don’t Be Pushy

There’s nothing that’ll hurt your credibility more than using pushy sales tactics. People use social media to socialize, not buy products or services. Let your followers get to know you first before running promotions.

Establishing credibility via social media marketing takes time. You have to do all of the above for a long-term period in order to establish credibility and achieve worthwhile results. Just like in the offline, traditional business world, you can’t expect people to instantly trust your business. Building trust and credibility is a gradual process, but it’s well worth it in the long run.

2011 was a difficult year for the SEO world. From the Google Panda update to the removal of keyword referral data in Google analytics, the changes in search have made it all the more difficult to rank well for target search terms. But the New Year is upon us, and many SEO pros are gearing up for what is to come. Here are 5 SEO predictions for 2012.

1. Search and social will become inseparable

Google and other major search engines have continued to hint at the fact that social media plays an important role in search engine rankings. In 2012, it will become clear that no company can hide from the social web. Not only do social signals come into play in ranking algorithms, social media is becoming the primary method for users to discover and share new content online.

2. SEO will move towards content marketing and inbound marketing

SEO is becoming something broad and all-inclusive that incorporates content marketing, blogging, social media marketing, and web analytics. SEO companies will likely start focusing less and less on traditional SEO tactics, like link-building, site architecture, and keyword research to prioritize audience building and outreach. Increasing audience interaction with your content is critical because it enforces your brand’s authority, both in the eyes of search engines and users. The search engines continue to weed out sites with low quality content, so you also have to make sure that your content is engaging, informative, and useful. Keyword-stuffed articles you paid $5 for on a bidding site aren’t going to cut it anymore.

3. Google’s focus on paid search will back fire

Organic search engine results still get approximately 80% of all clicks, but that percentage is dropping, thanks to Google’s aggressive paid search ad displays that take up the first six positions. Nowadays, when you search for products, you’re bombarded with star ratings, reviews, prices, and product photos above the fold. While this is pushing more and more businesses to rely on paid search ads for traffic, Google’s strategy may end up backfiring in 2012 because people will become frustrated with being served so many paid ads and will start ignoring them in favor of organic results.

4. Brands that want greater search engine visibility will be forced to join Google+

It’s already happening. Google is encouraging more brands to join the Google+ network by making Google+ circles and +1s visible in their results. As more people join Google+, it will become easier for Google to link search and social signals. The downside of giving Google so much control is that they’ll obtain even more data about our online behaviors, which will make them an even more dominant force online than they already are.

5. Mobile search will become increasingly important

Optimizing your site for the mobile web isn’t just something to consider – it’s critical. Traffic levels to mobile websites are already significant, and they will continue to rise in 2012. Brands that do not have a mobile website and that don’t optimize their web presence for mobile users will suffer. Brands also have to manage content delivery effectively across various types of mobile devices, including smart phones, tablets, and game consoles, in order to maximize the value of mobile users.

Google has been getting a lot of flack lately in the SEO community for purportedly favoring big brands in its search results and kicking small businesses to the proverbial curb. According to critics, Google has managed to divert attention away from its questionable business strategies by publicizing projects like its self-driven cars and Google Plus, neither of which generates revenue for the Internet giant. Meanwhile, Google’s revenues have increased by billions of dollars this year and revenues from Google’s AdSense partner network have plummeted. What has Google done in order to grow so much, so fast, and why is its AdSense partner network suffering the consequences?

The Death of Organic Search Engine Rankings

Aaron Wall, a renowned SEO consultant and the founder of SEOBook, mentioned in a recent blog post that when he searched for the query “HD monitor” on Google, he could only see paid ads and links to Google pages above the fold. Based on his observations and Google’s sudden revenue growth, many critics suspect that Google is strategically directing search engine traffic to sites from which they can profit. This seemingly minor change has the potential to hurt many small business owners and affiliate marketers, who depend on high organic search engine rankings to generate traffic and sales. Google’s Matt Cutts even called independent affiliate marketers, “an unnecessary step in the sales funnel.”

Google is likely keeping the prime real estate in the SERPs for itself in order to boost profits. By becoming the largest affiliate, Google can quickly displace thousands of affiliate marketers and small businesses that rely on affiliate marketing income to survive. It’s a scary prospect, but Google will ultimately pay the price by killing the goose that laid the golden egg.

The Future of Online Marketing

People are bombarded with advertising and marketing messages on a daily basis, so they recognize ads quickly and tend to tune them out. Therefore, a good number of Google users are likely to head straight to the organic results when they perform searches. And if people continue searching for information on Google and realize that there is nothing but ads above the fold, they will probably begin to feel distrustful of Google’s search results and start using a different search engine. People use search engines to find relevant information, not ads.

Ultimately, it’s up to consumers to decide which search engine they’ll use, and if Google keeps this up, it’s likely that many people will seek an alternative. The world is ready for a new search engine, and Google’s making it easier for a competitor to take over the market by putting its own profits first.

Businesses that rely on the web for leads, sales, and profits can minimize their dependence on Google by building other sales funnels into their sites. From display advertising to social media marketing to email marketing, there are a variety of other effective online marketing strategies that you can implement. Other things that business owners can do to decrease Google’s power and influence in the online world is use a different search engine, avoid clicking on Google’s paid ads, and try other PPC ad networks besides AdWords.