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August 29, 2014 by

Press Release SEO Benefits – Are There Any Still To Be Had?

A recent conversation came up in the online marketing community about the effectiveness and benefits of press releases for SEO (search engine optimization) purposes.  With so much “clutter”, and with any small business able to purchase low-cost distribution of its “news”, many SEO gurus have written off using online press release distribution as a valid strategy to improve SEO rankings.

The question is if whether or not to skip using online press releases as part of one’s SEO efforts.  The answer is if you used them in the way they were used in 2008-2010 then their importance has diminished considerably, and using an online press release distribution service for SEO benefits will have to drop significantly in terms of priority on the checklist of actions to be taken.

If, however, you apply some of the advanced methods then you actually may find that online press releases actually can benefit you quite nicely from a SEO perspective!

These advanced methods include:

  • Having truly legitimate “newsworthy” content to share
  • Geo-targeting
  • De-optimized anchor text to the company website (home page or other)
  • Linking to one’s social media properties
  • Linking to one’s “Tier 1 properties”
  • Embedding YouTube videos (or other online videos) which already are optimized properly
  • Intelligent link building to the press release URL
  • Backlinking to the press release channel URL
  • Having “evergreen” content to be worthwhile long after the event was deemed to be “fresh” news
  • Leveraging the press release URL to authority websites and bloggers seeking guest content

There is a ton to discuss in each of the bullet points listed, so feel free to contact me with your questions.

Here is one of the recent article’s where experts call into question the effectiveness of online press releases, and you will see my first comment at this link:

 

Filed Under: internet marketing, press releases, search engine marketing, SEO
August 27, 2014 by

Stock Trading Lessons For The Selection Of Local Keyword Phrases

Greg, from Search Simplicity, recently asked me to contribute a guest post about helping select solid keywords for local search engine optimization (SEO) efforts.  Often, people only target two or three keywords.  By borrowing from the short-term stock trading principle of “multiple time frame analysis”, one can become much more artful in choosing keyword phrases to help accomplish the ultimate goal of any local SEO campaign:  getting the phone to ring consistently with first-time new customers or clients!

Here is the link to the article:

 

Greg modified the text a little bit in order to emphasize his recent real estate SEO post & industry-specific service.  That is fine with me.  Just know that when you see the word “plumber” that was the original example I used.  He did his best to modify, so I am okay with the adjustments.  Remember, it is his blog and I granted him the professional leeway to modify the text to serve his needs as well!

Feel free to contact me with your questions and if you would like to schedule an appointment about your local SEO efforts, not just the keyword research and selection process.   Thank you and please consider sharing this post (or the specific URL on the Search Simplicity blog) with those whom you think might find it useful.

Filed Under: keyword research, local marketing, search engine marketing, SEO
November 6, 2013 by

LinkedIn SEO For Small Businesses

Thank you to Mike Kawula for the opportunity to contribute to his recent blog post about tips to help small businesses use LinkedIn.  There were some pretty interesting, and potentially helpful, tips in this post:

One thing I mentioned is how an optimized LinkedIn page (personal page or company page) can be optimized for the search engines.  Most people don’t know that it is possible for their respective LinkedIn pages (including a company’s product/service pages) to rank in the search engines for specific phrases.  Consider adding this strategy to your SEO efforts by using intelligent link building services to your LinkedIn page.

Feel free to contact me with your questions.

Filed Under: LinkedIn, SEO Tagged With: , , ,
November 5, 2013 by

Google Penguin Update Recovery Tips Podcast

The other day I was invited by JenningsWire/AnnieJenningsPR.com to be the guest on a podcast.  I was asked these kinds of questions regarding the recent Google update and what kind of Google Penguin update recovery tips may be useful to help businesses (both local and national) improve their search engine optimization (SEO) efforts:

  • Google had its Penguin 2.1 update in the beginning of October. What took place?
  • Why is link building still important? Shouldn’t people just be focused on social media now?
  • Some SEO professionals recommend to their clients that they build links in “tiers”. Why do you think this is the case?
  • What else is missing from most companies’ SEO efforts?
  • Researching keywords has changed recently as well. What recommendations do you offer that are unique and not commonly suggested?

You can listen to the podcast here or click the image below:

JenningsWire_Banner_LOGO_For_Bloggers_Jpg_Format_2013

 

The audio content is roughly 10 minutes long.  One of the topics we covered is about using intelligent link building in the upcoming months.  Click this link for more information to read a recent article about which types of links to consider for your new link building efforts.

Filed Under: Backlinks, link building, Podcasts, search engine marketing, SEO Tagged With: , , , ,
August 20, 2013 by

Reaching The Entire DFW Market

Some business owners throughout the Dallas Fort Worth region truly can serve the entire DFW market and even additional markets.  Unlike smaller services which can serve a realistic radius of 5-10 miles (or an even smaller radius), these businesses have a different vision such as:

  • there is enough profit margin in the transaction to justify the time and expense to travel to a small town across the DFW Metroplex and conduct business
  • the business is so unique, or perceived to be so specialized, that prospective customers across the region want the product, service or other benefits associated with the particular business
  • the business can ship products and/or already has representatives near to the smaller towns in DFW

One question is which types of businesses can justify marketing to a wider radius than just the regular small 5-10 mile radius which is common with many local businesses?  Another question is how to reach the smaller towns without having to become a member of each local chamber of commerce or placing ads in every newspaper or print publication across the region?

Types Of Businesses Which Qualify

Here is just a short list of the types of businesses which can pursue larger-radius marketing at the DFW level or even state-wide:

  • Corporate relocation services
  • Specialty legal and financial services
  • Industrial products
  • Higher end home improvement services (e.g. interior design, remodeling, etc.)
  • Custom home builders
  • Surveyors
  • Higher end home repair services (sewer line installation, etc.)
  • Etc.

How To Reach All Of DFW And Beyond

The first thing you need to know is that there are over 200 towns and cities which comprise the DFW region.  This is not just Dallas, Collin, Denton or Tarrant Counties either.  The neighboring counties also are included as there can be highly-qualified prospects in the small towns throughout every DFW county.

To narrow down the options of how to reach these people, and do so in a budget-sensitive manner you have a few options:

  • TV ads — obviously you must be hyper-vigilant about your budget and any tracking you can generate here
  • Same with radio ads
  • Classified ads are a great way to get exposure.  Be sure to optimize your ads to include the towns and cities which you serve; and be sure to play nice by the terms of service and posting rules for the various online classified ads you intend to use
  • Direct mail targeting specific neighborhoods in specific zip codes.  A good mailing list broker, who can highly target your prospects across the region, would be a very wise investment here
  • Paid press release distribution can be beneficial, especially if you mention specific towns in your content
  • Pay Per Click (AdWords) is a smart way to start.  You can target each specific town, but you want to send the traffic to optimized (town-specific) landing pages on your website.  Also, be sure that there is some sort of benefit easily visible to the prospective customer and a “call to action” (e.g. “call today” or “download this coupon”)
    • Note that there are other pay-per-click services besides Google AdWords, Yahoo’s advertising, and Bing’s advertising services.  Please contact us for these alternative options where your competition may not be advertising
  • For business-to-business (B2B) advertising in the Dallas Fort Worth region you may consider targeted advertising within LinkedIn
  • You can do demographic-based targeted advertising, especially town by town, in Facebook.  Just note that:
    • depending on the devices your prospects use, you may not get complete exposure on Facebook to those using mobile devices
    • you likely will have a higher conversion rate if you send the traffic to a page you control within Facebook.  Most Facebook users don’t like to be led automatically off of Facebook at first, so consider sending the traffic to Facebook page you control regularly which has consistently-updated benefit-laden content (coupons, discounts, helpful tips, entertaining videos, etc.)
  • Search Engine Optimization (SEO).  This is one of the trickier, but possibly soundest ways to get hyper-targeted prospects.  You can have created for you a multi-niche website (or a blog which resides alongside your website) which has town-specific optimized pages.  Ideally, the content on each of the 200+ towns is unique including article content, images, any embedded videos, etc.  Just so long as the combination of text/images/videos is unique you should be good, especially for phrases people type in which may have relatively low competition in the search engines.

The latter option (the blog/website with town-optimized pages) gives you additional benefit.  For example, here is a website which has town-optimized pages for varying business niches.  Here is one for a series of highly-related niches.  And here is a site with optimized pages for just one niche.

The benefits here are:

  • That you can control specific content for each town or city in which you want to market.  For example, if you want to give coupons in one town but not another you can do so
  • You have optimized pages to which you can send your pay per click (PPC) traffic such as traffic Google AdWords.  This increases the odds of gaining a higher “quality score” for your ads (assuming everything else is done right) and possibly saving money by reducing your per-click costs
  • The optimized page could rank well in the search engines for the times when the phrase is entered alongside the specific town (e.g. “your business Plano TX”)
  • You even go “deeper” than the specific towns.  For example, if you want to offer incentives to people in specific HOA’s or parts of a town then you can do so.

If you would help on any of these topics then you are welcome to contact us with your specific needs.  Thank you for your time and consideration to share this post.

Filed Under: AdWords, internet marketing, lead generation, local marketing, online marketing, pay per click, search engine marketing, SEO, small towns Tagged With: , , , , ,
June 3, 2013 by

Thoughts When You Want To Buy PR5 Backlinks

I have added an updated blog post on the various thoughts to consider, and questions to ask, when you are looking to buy PR5 backlinks or any other links on pages with “authority”.  There are many factors to increasing the odds of your ranking # 1 in the search engines, and they go far beyond backlinks.

Nonetheless, an intelligent strategy employed when you buy high PR links should be a consistently good move.  People have asked me why high authority links vary so widely in price, from both the permanent links as well as those which cost money each month.  Many of the reasons why are explained in this new service offered:

Your options include finding an already high-authority site in your niche and paying for the link.  Likewise, you can find a page with PR5 and put your link on that (with contextual content or without) for a monthly fee.  You also can own the PR5 page by purchasing a quality domain and configuring it to meet your audiences needs with valuable, unique content and then include the desired keyword in the anchor text of the link.

These pages can further be shared with social signals such as sharing the helpful page on Facebook or LinkedIn.  You even may want to include images and/or videos if you are allowed to place your own blog post on the site, assuming that the content will remain on the page with the PR5.

You also have to see how many links are pointing to the site where your link will show up.  If there are too few links then that page’s PR is on “shaky ground” and may lose authority during the next search engine update.

Again, there are several factors to consider when looking to buy a PR5 link.  Make sure that where your link ends up truly has authority and relevance in order to give the end user a quality experience.  Be sure to click the link above to find out more about we can help you with your specific needs and budget.

Filed Under: Backlinks, SEO Tagged With: , , , ,
May 30, 2013 by

SEO For Agencies

A marketing, advertising or online media agency representing large clients often are under the obligation to give their clients maximum exposure to first-time customers (or clients) or those who have not used the company’s products or services for a long time.  One such way is to help the clients their websites on top of the search engines.  While this is terrific, it may not be enough to help the clients ultimately get what they want:  more first-time customers or clients who are not already on their contact lists or social media pages.

Here are several things for any agency to consider when a client wants to “rank on the top of the search engines”:

  • SEO, by its nature, is a game of “leap frog”.  By being able to help the client outrank the current website at the top position, it is probable that one day someone may leap frog your client.  Many clients think that once they reach the # 1 position that they will stay there indefinitely.  This, obviously, is a myth and needs to be explained at the outset in order to manage expectations
  • The search engines, especially Google, are forever changing their algorithms to give THEIR users maximum experience.  Remember that each major search engine is, or is a part of, a publicly-traded company… and they have to make quarterly revenue figures!  They do this by taking “market share” away from other web properties so that the new fan of the search engine, ultimately, will one day start clicking the ads which generate revenues for the search engine.  This means that the client must provide enough dollars AND help to the agency (content, tips, images, videos, etc.) which give the agency and any SEO outsourcing firm it uses the tools needed to keep the search engine’s users happy
  • You must spend the time up front to choose the RIGHT keyword phrases!!  This means really getting inside the heads of the prospective customers & clients to figure out what they type into the engines, in some respectable quantity each month; and then you need to know the phrases which are indicative of a searcher who is close to taking action today.  While it is great to rank for a generic phrase like “weight loss pills”, it also helps your client to rank for a phrase such as “weight loss pills free shipping” as it is indicative of someone looking to buy today.  Obviously, an agency’s clients need to experience a ROI as quickly as possible so helping them get new customers and clients as soon as possible makes sense
  • There are other factors such as helping the agency’s clients with their on-page SEO factors.  These include giving the search engines more confidence to promote your clients at the top of the page.  Such factors include having the keyword on the page (but not too frequently!), page loading speed, lowering the “bounce rate”, making sure that all links work properly, all page redirects are in order, there is a visible sitemap, there is a privacy policy and terms of service and/or disclaimer which is unique to the client, etc.
  • Would the client be happy seeing something other than their website rank at the top?  For example, if the client sees his/her company’s LinkedIn page rank # 1 – while the website ranks # 8 – for the targeted keyword phrase would this be satisfactory to the client?  If not, what about optimized videos or a Chamber of Commerce directory listing or the client’s BBB page?  The reason why this discussion is needed with the client up front is that the search engines – to keep their users happy – are to favor websites which already have built-in “authority”.  All things being equal, the search engine’s end user would not have a problem (thus, preventing “defection” to another search engine and clicking on THEIR ads) if he/she sees legitimate and recognized authority sites ranking near the top for their desired phrases.  By promoting such pages which mention your client, it is possible to see those pages skyrocket faster because:
    • most of those properties have tons of quality links pointing to them
    • are mobile-friendly
    • have good page-loading times
    • tend to have lower “bounce rates”
    • etc.

All of this is a lot to consider rather than just promising a client that an agency will “rank his/her website at the top of the search engines”.  By taking the time to address these issues, both sides can have realistic expectations and then craft intelligent strategies to go after those goals.  Doing so, ultimately, should keep the client happy because everything is being done to help the client get more customers or clients through the search engines.

If you represent an agency and would like any help with your clients then you are encouraged to contact me.   Additionally, here are some of the possible link building services for agencies which might interest you.

Filed Under: agencies, SEO Tagged With: , , , ,
May 23, 2013 by

Next Best SEO – Presentation From McKinney Texas

I want to thank Debra Pope for the invitation to present to her Networking University members who attended the workshop. It took place in the area of McKinney and Allen Texas on May 14 2013.

During the presentation I covered what is known as “Next Best SEO”.  This is where business owners, who simply want the phone to ring with prospective customers or clients, have additional options besides just attempting to rank their respective websites in the search engines.  What many of the attendees didn’t realize is that their websites, or ones given them by a corporate office, may – in fact – be violating several of Google’s best practices.

We covered many of the ways in which a business can grow through the use of internet marketing, of which SEO (search engine optimization) and SEM (search engine marketing) were just a part.  We briefly reviewed other online marketing techniques such as video, pay-per-click, press releases, online classified ads, etc.

The attendees also learned that each major search engine is, or is part of, a publicly-traded company; and each wants to make ITS quarterly figures!  The goal, then, is to give each search engine’s users the best possible content in a way which is user-friendly, is authoritative and relevant.  One way to accomplish this is to rank OTHER web properties – in addition to the companies’ websites – in order to help get the phone to ring.  Several examples were included in the presentation.

Four (4) action steps were given at the end of the presentation to help any business begin to improve the chances of receiving a call, e-mail or walk-in from a first-time customer or client by SEO efforts on other web properties.  These were labeled also as “promote the promoters” strategies.

Feel free to download this PDF from the workshop:

If you are interested in getting help to promote your website or other web properties which mention you favorably (or otherwise give authority) then you are welcome to contact me.

Thank you again to everyone who attended!

Filed Under: internet marketing, lead generation, local marketing, online marketing, Presentations, search engine marketing, SEO, Tips, Training Tagged With: , , , , ,
May 9, 2013 by

May 14 2013 Workshop – SEO For Properties Other Than Your Website

Next week (May 14, 2013) I will be leading a portion of an afternoon-long workshop regarding a rather unique element of internet marketing.  The topic will cover search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM) for web properties OTHER than your own website!

Here is the breakdown of information:

  • Who:  Steve Smillie (Lynx Search Marketing) will be talking about your website’s design and your e-mail marketing + Mario Wilson (Market With Mario) will be talking about social media marketing.  I will talk about SEO for your other web properties (LinkedIn page, YouTube videos, etc.)
  • What:  3 events will take place that afternoon:
    • Luncheon
    • Workshop
    • After Hours Event
  • Where:  Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites (Fairview/McKinney).  3220 Craig Dr, McKinney, TX 75070.  Hotel desk phone is (469) 952-2044.  The hotel is on Craig Drive, south of Eldorado Parkway and west of Highway 75/Central Expressway
  • When:  Luncheon is 11:30 and the Workshops begin at 1:00
  • Why:  The common goal for each of the 3 speakers is to help any business owner or executive discover new ways to reach unknown (as of yet) prospects and convince them to contact the business for more information
  • How:  You can sign up at the event registration links here:
  • Price:  There is a fee for the lunch and another for the workshops.  All fees go to Networking University
  • Discount Codes:  Early1 is the code for the luncheon.  Member 1 is the code for the workshops.

Questions about all of the events are welcome to be directed to Debra through her contact information  at Networking-University.com.   You are welcome to contact me with questions about my portion of the workshop that afternoon.

Filed Under: Event, local marketing, SEO, Training, workshops
July 10, 2012 by

Getting More Out Of Any Chamber Of Commerce Membership

An Online Marketing Strategy To Leverage Your Local Chamber Of Commerce Membership

In the upcoming weeks I will post more about how any small business or medium-sized business owner or executive can boost his or her online presence through the business’ chamber of commerce membership.  Obviously, most of the benefits from any chamber membership comes from the “real world” participation:  weekly or monthly breakfasts, attending ribbon cuttings, going to quarterly or annual luncheons, and any opportunities to meet new people coming into the area through chamber events.  The ability to gain online marketing benefit, however, is not often as obvious.  In a moment you will learn one of the many strategies you can employ to get more online exposure through your chamber of commerce membership.

This blog entry helps three parties to benefit:

  • The prospective customer or client benefits because he or she is able to find products or services in the local market which have the possibility of meeting some sort of minimum standards
  • The business owner or executive wins because he or she feels that the membership paid to the local chamber of commerce is providing extra benefit above and beyond what was promised initially; and the business has the potential to grow through acquiring new customers or clients who never heard of the business previously nor were referred in any manner
  • The local chamber of commerce wins because its website gets more exposure and, therefore, can help the chamber gain more credibility and (passively) the possibility of attracting new members

First, you will want to know why your receiving calls about “SEO” services are so prevalent.  The underlying assumption is that by ranking at the top of search engines for a phrase which have some degree of consistent demand (number of searches each month) you will receive a good degree of pre-qualified prospects to a web PROPERTY.  Please note that this does not necessarily mean that the property must be your website.  It could be an online video on your YouTube channel, a press release, a local newspaper article about your business or a page on your website other than your home page.  Also note that ranking first does NOT mean an automatic number of new customers or clients.  This is because many elements have to be in place for someone to call or e-mail you out of the blue.  Such elements include price, guarantees, reviews, your promises, ease of finding contact information and several other factors.

Next, you have to know that the search engines want to give its users the very best possible results.  This is because each major search engine is part of of, or entirely, a publicly-traded company… and they need to meet analysts’ quarterly earnings expectations!  Therefore they want you to use that one site for ALL of your “who, what, when, where, why, how” questions.  This is because they know that out of every 100 queries made through their engine a certain number of people will click one of the paid ads where the search engine earns revenue from the advertisers.  Therefore, the more queries made through that particular engine equals more revenue for the parent company!  It is a “market share” game for the search engines, and therefore each engine always seeks out the best ways to return quality results so that you stay loyal to it and not “defect” to another search engine.

Remember that in any local market, the chamber of commerce’s website tends to be “authoritative” to these search engines.  One of the reasons why is that you cannot “spam” the chamber website very easily, if at all.  If a web property which you control appears on the chamber website then it likely had to go through some sort of human approval process (assuming a degree of human control) before it can be read by the search engine robots/spiders.  This type of control process lends itself to making each link on the chamber website more “trustworthy” than most other links in your local market, and you can begin to use this your advantage.

Finally, let’s cover a trend at the time of this blog post in the world of search engines. Many people now have easy access to “spammy” links in large volume.  What you want is to never have anything deemed spammy touching your website.  Ideally, the only links you want actually pointing to your website are located on web properties which the search engines respect.  These could include helpful videos on video-sharing sites, links to your site on press releases, local newspaper websites pointing to your home page, local directory websites, endorsements from happy customers on their social media properties, and similar types of links.  One of these types of quality links is a link from the local chamber of commerce’s website to your website.

Remember earlier that you read about ranking web PROPERTIES, not just your website’s home page.  Here is where your chamber of commerce membership begins to pay off in terms of helping you in the search engines.  Let’s take a look at an example for this website on the McKinneyChamber.com website, although it applies to anyone who has a membership in most chambers of commerce around the U.S.:

Internet Marketing Services McKinney Tes

Internet Marketing Services On The McKinney Texas Chamber Of Commerce Website

Note the website link (URL) which is http://www.mckinneychamber.com/Internet-Marketing-Services/MORETHANSEOCOM

Now take a look at the query in Google for “online marketing services McKinney TX”

McKinney Texas online marketing services

Chamber of commerce sub-folder (directory) appearing in the search engines

You can see that the sub-folder (directory) for “internet marketing services” on the McKinneyChamber.com website is ranking # 2 for this query.  The first three listings are paid ads, and the Chamber’s website is the second in the “organic” results.  Odds are that the Chamber has not spent a lot of time or money (if any!) promoting this specific sub-folder (directory), yet it still ranks near the top of the results.  This is just one of many examples of where a chamber of commerce’s website has authority in the search engines.

Even though my website’s listing is not directly showing in the results, the directory listing category page on the chamber website where my listing appears is ranking well.  This is fine to me as it gives authority to this website as well as anyone’s business who meets the Chamber’s minimum standards for appearing on that page.

In order for your business to gain more exposure, you can further boost your chamber page listing in the search engines with quality links.  For example, if you write a press release and are permitted to use up to three links then consider a strategy like this:

  • a link to your website’s home page (or another page on your site which best serves the interests of the press release’s readers)
  • one of your social media properties (Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, etc.)
  • the specific listing for your business on the chamber website

Please refrain from buying “spammy” links and sending them to your local chamber’s website as that will not benefit you in the long run (and maybe not even in the near term either!); and buying those links won’t help your fellow chamber members either as there likely will be no search engine reward for doing so.  Instead, whenever you have an opportunity to promote your page on the chamber website then do so.  Roughly 5-10% of your link building efforts can go to your business’ chamber website listing.  You can dedicate the other 90-95% to building quality links to your home page, “inner pages” on your website, articles, local directory listings, social media properties, videos and other helpful content you have produced for prospective customers and clients to find you.

I hope that this strategy begins to help you change how you look at your membership in any chamber of commerce around the country.  There are many more ways to leverage your membership in order to gain new customers or clients online.  If you cannot wait until the next blog post to discover these methods then you are welcome to contact me for more information; and we can discuss your strengths to increase the chances that your chamber membership will produce more customers through strategic online marketing.

Filed Under: chamber of commerce, internet marketing, local marketing, search engine marketing, SEO, Tips Tagged With: , , , ,
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