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Social Media & SEO Training for Small Businesses

SEO, SEO training, Social Media Marketing, social media training, , , ,

seo & social media trainingLearn how to apply search engine optimization (SEO) and social media marketing tactics to your small business from the Internet Training Expert Peter Marino.

Eventbrite - SEO & Social Media for Small Business

Event Details

Are you unsure about how to advertise effectively online?
Do you need guidance with social media management and marketing?
Are you stumped about how to get ranked locally on Google?
Well this ongoing course will give you insights, know-how and guidance for all of the above and more!

Peter Marino will personally teach you how to:

  • research keywords for SEO
  • be seen locally on Google maps
  • mix both ads and SEO for best results
  • manage many social media accounts at once
  • how to follow your cash keywords on Twitter
  • automate blog post publishing
  • how and why you need to invest in content
  • figure out the best PPC campaign for your business
  • advertise on Facebook and LinkedIn
  • why you should have a responsive website design
  • much more!

Each course is only 90 minutes so you’re not overwhelmed with information all at once and given on a weekend to be sure you have time to make it.

First course will be about local SEO and how to implement it and a brief overview of social media tools.

To learn more about private SEO workshops catered to your business go here.

Eventbrite - SEO & Social Media for Small Business

Is Backlinking Still Important?

Link Building, Organic SEO, SEO, ,

Is backlinking still important?Link building is still the mainstay of how major search engines rank websites but the interpretation of link data has changed ever since the Penguin update was launched. Bad link building is one of the easiest ways to get penalized, but good link building can be the hardest part of your job (even more so in certain niches).  So, what can be considered definitely as a bad link or a link that should be “disavowed”?

  • Site wide footer links / multiple links from same domain
  • Blogroll link
  • Forum posting / profile link
  • Free directory links
  • Links from same class C IPs
  • Links from spun content
  • Links to different industry websites from the same article / content
  • Links from link-farm directories / pages
  • Links from non-English sites (for example – .ru, .jp, .cn, etc.)

If you have fallen prey to this techniques earlier by some unethical vendors who claim to be experts, it is always advisable to get rid of such links either manually or disavowing the links via Google Webmaster Tools.  From our end, we have adopted the below techniques as far as building links is concerned.

Backlink Analysis – Balancing of followed links to nofollow to have a natural profile. Check backlinks and traffic of sites from which we are getting links to find and weed out sites which are themselves hit by this update.

  • Link Velocity – The first and most significant observation that stood out among sites which were affected by Penguin update was link velocity. We have reduced our link velocity since the update. Getting too many links quickly will be flagged easily by Google.
  • Anchor Text Diversity – Continue to vary anchor text and lower the % of specific key terms focus. We have been doing this since 2012 and will continue to work the %’s.
  • Link Diversity – Sites performing well have good link diversity including links from Guest Blog Posts, info-graphics, videos, local business directories, presentations, coupons submissions etc. Since Google prefers a diversified link profile. We recommend getting links from these sources. Most of these sources are also now part of new deliverables.

Apart from this, to get quality links you can also consider link reclaiming. Link reclaiming is the act of finding sites that mention you, your brand or a related story and simply asking for a link.

There are a number of ways to find opportunities for link reclamation:

  • Web Mentions – Google Alerts is the most popular tool for monitoring mentions on the web, but Moz has also just released an alert function for their Fresh Web Explorer. Set up an alert for your brand name and when a site mentions you without linking send them an email.
  • Images – Use Google’s Search by Image tool to find out where people are using your images and ask for a link credit, this works almost 100% of the time.
  • Videos – If you are hosting video on YouTube you can use their analytics platform to see where your videos are being watched on external sites. Visit those sites and ask for a link to your website to supplement the video.

If you incorporate these rules to your online strategy you’re more likely to rank higher while also providing a good user experience which is ultimately what Google wants for its users.

What is Good Content to Google?

content marketing, How to, Organic SEO, SEO

digital contentUsing content as the foundation of your SEO strategy is not a new concept, but the definition of “good” quality content is ever-changing. Although the Panda update punished sites with thin content, there still are sites which use such content to rank higher. It might help temporarily, but will definitely affect in the long run.

Good content:

  • Drives traffic through searches related to your industry
  • Builds authority in the eyes of users and search engines
  • Increases engagement with your brand on social media

So what can be termed as good content?

Content in 2014 will not be just limited to the pieces of text you will add to the website or blog. You will need to think outside of this and make sure to develop a range of different media like videos, presentations, whitepapers, infographics, how-to’s etc. These become your assets and can be one of your best sources of links. Basically, you have to provide content which is useful to the end user.  Google’s Hummingbird algorithm, though not in full effect is going to become more and more of a player as search becomes more mobile and voice oriented. Therefore, be sure to include questions and answers as well as location data, when relevant, in your content. This will provide more value for your end users and the search engines alike.

content marketingNot to forget your site pages, you should be constantly improving your static assets (especially landing pages) to improve conversions and provide the best user experience. Engagement and conversion metrics are not just important to your bottom line, they’re important to Google providing the best results. In a nutshell give the people what they are looking for and Google will reward you with good rankings.

What Will 2014 Bring for Local Search Marketing?

Link Building, Local SEO, SEO, Small Business Marketing, , ,

Local-SEOAs opportunity grows for businesses to connect with customers via search, so do the challenges of determining the best approach. Here are a few local search happenings to expect in this year.

National to Local Approach for Brands

The idea of a coordinated national to local strategy will become a reality for more brands and local businesses in 2014. Many local markets (and vertical industries) are very competitive and keyword saturated, making it difficult for national and regional brands, as well as for independent business owners, to win the online visibility game on their own.

National marketers that depend on the success of independent business owners (franchises, dealers, contractors) will find they can create a platform effect with a coordinated national-to-local approach to SEO, social media and content marketing.

Mobile Optimized Websites

Making sure a business’ website is mobile optimized might mean the difference between being found by customers on a mobile browser or not. With more consumers shopping via mobile, it is clear that site traffic is moving to mobile. So, being mobile-ready is a must.

In 2013, we witnessed Google giving prominence in mobile SERPs to local businesses that properly configured their websites for mobile devices, and this will be a growing trend in 2014.

Some websites could even be penalized by Google and the other major search engines if they’re not optimized correctly. Also on the mobile front, strategies like click-to-call will become even more interesting as they play a larger role in the digital lead generation strategy for many business verticals.

Google will Focus more on Ratings & Reviews

In 2013, Google focused on ramping up its local ratings and reviews. It will continue to try to gather this rich, hyper local content from local consumers to grow Google+.

In another sign of this effort, businesses with verified Google listings will continue to reap benefits including having the ability to see customer ratings and reviews in their Places for Business dashboard and the ability to reply to those reviews.