It may not seem like a big deal, but if your company does not already have one, developing a mobile website should be pretty high on the priority list.  Why, you ask?

Well, because now, more than ever, people are using their mobile devices to find information on the internet while on the move—an action that will only become more common over time.  Accessing the web via a smartphone can easily be one of the most convenient occurrences of modern technology, but it can just as easily turn into a frustrating experience if the user is not re-directed to a mobile site.

A mobile website is a site designed specifically to be accessed only from mobile devices.  This being said, the design and content are geared specifically toward mobile end-users… translating to less content, larger print, and print that fits on any mobile screen (so you don’t have to scroll from left to right).

How do I decide which content to include?

So, we’ve established that your mobile site cannot simply be a carbon copy of your regular site.  But, how do you decide what makes the cut?

Simple.  When people access information from their smartphones, it’s because they are away from their computers.  What, on your website, would be the most useful information someone would need on the go?  Your address with driving directions?  Hours of operation or a phone number?  Upcoming events listed with their locations?  An understanding of your business and the information people need to know about it while out and about should help you answer these questions and help you determine what stays and what does not appear on the “landing page”!  Always include links to your other site, full articles, etc., so that you don’t lose anyone who is looking for something in particular.  But, just don’t let everything clutter the page.

How do I create a mobile site?

Good news—it’s easier than you think! If you would like try a crack at developing your own mobile website, some great resources that can help you are http://www.mobify.com and http://www.mobisitegalore.com/. If you would prefer to consult some of the experts, the Mobile Technology Association of Michigan lists some good resources, here http://www.gomobilemichigan.org/resources/companies/mobile-web-developer.html.

Having a mobile site that is user-friendly and provides relevant information can put you ahead of your competition.  Go get started!

Announce Yourself: SEO Press Releases and How to Use Them

So, now that you’ve got your webpage proofed for SEO and Google love (Google Page Rank), it’s time to get found on the first page of search (remember, very few people look past the first page of results when it comes to Google search results).

One of the easiest ways to boost your Google Search Results ranking is by writing and submitting a SEO Press Release.

How It Works

Keywords.  If you ‘ve been following this blog, you’re probably sick of the term “keywords,” but know yours and understand how important they are.  A Press Release is one more place where your keywords appear and are associated with your site.  Your keywords associated with outgoing links (considered inbound links to your site) will direct more traffic to your site.

Getting Started

First of all, know that you can write a press release for pretty much anything.  Offering a new product or service?  Having a friendly competition or giveaway?  Don’t hesitate—write a press release about it.

You can pay for some PR sites like www.PRWire.com, or do a quick Google Search for free Press Release Websites, create logins, and write and submit away!

Tips and Tricks:

• Submit a few Press Releases and your page will “move up” in results pretty quickly.  To hold your place in the Google Search lineup, it’s not a bad idea to submit a few Press Releases per month.
• Just like your page, you should keep your keep your keyword density at about 3-5%.  If you use your keyword too much, you may get flagged as Spam.  You want to include it just enough so Google will find your page relevant.
• Take advantage of multimedia.  Don’t hesitate to use video, graphs, charts, and link to other relevant content on the web (like other people’s blogs).

Common SEO Press Release Mistakes:

• Too many Press Releases.  It’s not uncommon for SEO Press Releases (if done properly) to bump a site onto page one of Google Search Results.  However, getting PR-Happy can backfire if you write too many.  Don’t go overboard.
• Writing an SEO Press Release like an ad.  It’s important to make sure your Press Release is informative, tells worthy information, and offers something of interest to the reader, but it should sound like a short article, NOT a sales pitch.
• Littering your SEO Press Release with your keyword.  Not only can it get you flagged for Spam, but it will also bore your reader.  If someone is reading your press release and see only your keyword but no other relevant information, do you think they will follow the link to your site?

Press releases are a great way to get found on the first page of search results, follow these tips and tricks and you’ll find press releases are an effective SEO strategy.

How Do You Rank?  Google, PageRank, and How To Rank HIGH!

If you’ve been following this blog then you’ve received an education on keywords:

Keywords identified.  Check.
Keywords placed. Check.
Keywords=optimized for success.

What else is important in getting found, you ask? PageRank, has a lot to do with appearing in top search results.

PageRank is Google’s way of deciding how important a website is. PageRank (PR) is roughly determined by the number and importance of links pointing to your website.  Think of every link directing traffic to your website as a “vote” to increase your PR.  With every link to your website, your PR potential goes up!  The quality of “votes” is also important and taken into account when your site is ranked.  Websites with high PageRanks of their own help your PR more than websites with low PageRanks (although, no “vote” hurts).  It’s not the only factor, but it is an important one taken into account by Google when your website is ranked for search.

PageRank is determined by other things, as well.  One thing that’s for certain—Google is looking out for your customer!   Pages that provide a better user experience are given a higher PR.  So, it’s important to keep your customer in mind when you’re creating a design.  This means that usability needs to be simple, to the point, and interesting.  It also means that the keywords you are being found for need to match the content of your website—Google will not have trickery!

What YOU Can Do To Increase Your PageRank:

-        Become active on various social media platforms.  Use Facebook, Twitter posts, and blog commenting all to link back to your page.  Linking back to your page will add value to your site and PageRank.

-        Add more pages to your site.  Your PR potential increases with the increase in number of pages to your site.  The more pages your site has, the more opportunity your page has for a higher PR.

-        Link to your homepage as much as possible, and include the “http:” http://www.yourhomepage.com.  If you link to www.yourhomepage.com/html www.yourhomepage.com/index, and yourhomepage.com, although YOU and I know that these are all the same page, Google will see them as different and calculate separate PageRanks for them.

What HURTS your PageRank.  What NOT TO DO:

-        DO NOT copy and paste content from another site.  Google does not support plagiarism and even if you’re quoting someone or something, keep it short, because it will hurt your calculation.

-        Don’t have ads running on your landing page.  Google sees these as directing traffic away from you.  These hurt your PR.  (And, why would you want to redirect someone from your first page?  You have worked really hard to get them there.)

-        Don’t list your keyword over and over and over again.  Your keyword should have a density of 3-5% throughout your site/page.  If your keyword density is too high, Google’s “feelers” will flag your site for spam (which means all of your SEO efforts were made in vain).

-        Keep your website and pages on your website focused.  If you’re a small company selling products that vary drastically, feature them on separate pages of your website.

Thank you to Janak Mehta of PREasy for his discussion on SEO at Pay Per Click Club.

So, you’ve done your keyword research.  Trends and Insights have got you jumping, and now it’s time to compete with the 50,000+ competitors out there to be found on the first page of Google Search results.  So, what will set your keyword apart?

Keyword Optimization, of course!

The placement, frequency, and geography of your keyword are all important pieces of your Keyword Optimization puzzle.

SAM, what is Keyword Placement?

When I refer to keyword placement, I’m talking about optimizing content by making sure that your relevant keyword is EVERYWHERE on and in your page!  Your keyword should appear in the body content of your site/page, should be tagged, AND should be a part of your URL.  A cute URL is not as important as a relevant one.

How often should my keyword appear, SAM?

Frequency is a VERY important factor in optimizing your keyword.  We call the frequency of your keyword, “Keyword Density.”  Keyword Density ≈ (Keyword Phrase) ÷ (# of words). Ideal keyword density is approximately 3-5%, and can be easily calculated at http://www.keyworddensity.com/.  Remember, a keyword density which is too low, won’t optimize your site.  If your keyword density is too high, you could be flagged for keyword spamming.

SAM, what does geography have to do with Keyword Optimization and SEO?

Great question.  I am referring to varying types of media.  And by using the word geography, I’m asking you to see your site/page, and all forms of media in a bubble-chart layout.  If you’re trying to populate the web with your content, you need to “cover a lot of territory.”  Make your mark in a video, podcast, blog, article, and connect them all to your website, making sure to use your keyword strategically in all locations.

Optimizing the keyword you wish to be found for must be well calculated.  Once you have chosen keywords with high search volume and low competition, it is wise to do some background checking to make sure the future with your keyword is looking bright.  Google Insights and Google Trends are two free ways to check out the history of your word and where it’s headed.

Let’s begin with Insights.  Head on over to http://www.google.com/insights/search/#.  When you arrive on this page there will be a place for your term, and drop-down menus to the right which allow you to customize by location.  If you’re selling books on Amazon and most of your sales base is across the United States, then you would not need to customize your location beyond “United States.”  However, you’re a local business, like a chiropractic office, it’s important to see what’s happening where people will be looking for you.  As an example, let’s search “Chiropractic” in “United States>Michigan>Detroit” over the past 12 months.  Your search will yield a few different measuring tools:

1) A graph that will show the popularity of people searching for your term over the designated period of time you chose.

2) Interest by Region. In our Chiropractic search, for example, we are shown how cities within the Detroit area compare.

3) The search terms themselves—the actual keywords searchers are using, and the terms that are being used more and more.

One easy thing to spot with these results is the popularity of your keyword… and the graph makes it easy to do this.  IF your graph has a steep or consistent negative slope (inevitable if we were trying to sell VHS players over the last 10 years), it’s possible you’ll need to look for new keywords that people will continue to search for.  Our “Chiropractic” results graph indicate that peoples’ desire to find chiropractors over time is pretty consistent.

Clean past and present?  Let’s turn to what Google thinks the future holds.
Google trends (www.google.com/trends) will allow us to predict the future of our term.   Let’s continue checking out the Chiropractic Market in Michigan.  After typing “Chiropractic” into the search bar and choosing the geographical area of United States>Michigan, you will see a graph showing the trends of the search term in the past.  To the right of the graph will be the most recent relevant news relating to your search term, and below will be the cities in your area that Google predicts will be up and coming.  It looks like the Upper Peninsula will be in need of chiropractic services in the future!

Worried your search term is getting too specific?  DON’T!  You WANT specific!  Sometimes less volume of “landers” on your page is not a bad thing, IF the people landing on your page have landed in the RIGHT place!  We like to visualize this with this nifty dinosaur graph. 

Thanks to Left Click Blog for the image.

The Dino’s height represents the number of searches being completed (at the head), whereas the Dino’s tail indicates the generic (on the left) versus specific (to the right) keywords at the bottom.  Using more specific keywords puts you in the “Long Tail,” increasing your probability to optimize and be found by a relevant audience.  The longer the tail, the more targeted your keyword is toward the audience you’re going after.  A longer tail indicates that of the people who land on your page using those specific terms, the percentage of them that are valuable to you and your business will be higher.

The moral of the story; thoroughly research your keyword to see if trends appear to be in it’s favor.  And, longer tail keywords (phrases with numerous terms in them) target a more relevant audience and are more likely to be of higher value to you.

How to Figure Out Your Best Search Terms Using Google Search Bar and Google Keyword Tools—FREE!

Last week we touched on how to do the initial brainstorming for keyword research—some good ways to find out which keywords you may want to actually research.  So, you’ve got the list of terms that you think people may use to look for you, your product, or your service on the internet (to solve their problem).  NOW what?

It’s time to find out what the numbers say.

Where do I go first?
Well, there are a number of products you can use to find out which words are working and which words are not.  The good news?  There is a free version of almost all of them.  Google offers: Google Search bar, Keyword Tools, Insights, and Trends to help you with your keyword research. Some other products out there include: Wordstream, Worktracker, and Keyword Discovery.  For now, we’re going to focus on Google Search Bar and Google Keyword Tools.

Let’s start with the Google Search Bar.
Sound familiar?  It should, because you probably use it every day.  We’re talking about the exact same search bar you type your searches into when you’re looking for something.  Maybe you haven’t noticed it before, but whenever you search for a term or phrase, when Google provides your results page(s), Google indicates how many results are yielded (and how long it took for the results to appear).  Example: Search “mashed potatoes” and you will see that 17,200,000 results were found within 0.16 seconds.  “Mashed potato recipes” yield 357,000 results in 0.19 seconds.  Google Search Bar is the easiest, least complicated tool to use.  If you’re looking for terms to be found for, you can decide pretty quickly whether or not you stand a chance (competition against 17 million other results for “mashed potatoes” and you want to land on the first page?  You can probably stop right there…)

Let’s pretend you searched “mashed potatoes” or something else, and your results yielded 24,000 results instead. We would advise you to proceed checking out the statistics on your term (as a rule of thumb, 30,000 or less is a good place to start).  Head on over Keyword Tools, through AdWords or Google.

From Keyword Tools, you will be able to search terms and find out the volume and competition for searches, as well as learn some groovy stuff about your website and the websites of your competitors.

Next visit www.adwords.google.com.
From the tabs at the top, choose, “Tools and Analytics,” and from the dropdown, choose “Keyword Tool.”  From the landing page, type into the word or phrase box whatever it is you’re looking to see.  As an example, let’s continue with our “mashed potatoes” theme.  Type it into the box, click search, and look below to use the tools.  You will find that under “search terms” you will see your keyword, how many searches are completed each month locally, yearly, and what your competition will be like.  One goal when choosing keywords is to have terms that yield HIGH VOLUME and LOW COMPETITION.  This combination means a lot of people are searching for your term, but not a lot of websites are using that keyword to be found.

Below “search terms” is a laundry list of terms and their stats under “keyword ideas.”  These results are Google’s recommendations of similar terms.  The similar terms may be terms you have already come up with as possibilities OR may offer terms you never thought to consider.

Already have a website?  Check this out…
Head back up to the top of the Keyword Tools page.  Directly below where you typed your keyword(s) is a search bar for “website.” This tool is what you can use to see the keywords Google believes are relevant to your website. Moving out of the realm of potatoes, we’ll search www.searchwithsam.com.

Now, let’s examine the results.
Google thinks that “pay per click on Google,” “pay per click with Google,” “pay per click at Google”… are the most relevant to www.searchwithsam.com.  It’s possible that you may even see some search terms that you used to get here listed below.  This is a great tool to see how Google sees your website AND the websites of your competitors.  Go ahead, choose your own website and try it out.

Some key tips to remember:

-        The more words you have in a keyword, the more targeted you can get (it’s easier to optimize)

-        The goal is to be found on the first page of search results

-        High volume and low competition are ideal when choosing words to be found for (will make being found on the first results page more realistic)

Check us out next week for how to read insights, trends, and How to use the “Long Tail.”

SEO is Not About You
It is perhaps the hardest lesson for anyone to learn, but especially for newbies when figuring out how to optimize their web content with Search Engine Optimization (SEO).  Starting a new blog or business is FANTASTIC!  YOU have all sorts of new ideas to enlighten the world with!  YOU are enthusiastic about what you have to give and the lives you will change with YOUR new fabulous blog!  Well, we’ve got news for YOU.  It is NOT about you.  As a matter of fact, it has nothing to do with you.  Well, maybe a little, but when it comes to search, it all boils down to who the prospect is, what they’re looking for, and making sure you’re a true match.

You think you know what customers need better than they do?  That may be true, but the customers still have to find you… and whatever they’re looking for, you better be it.

Where to start?  It’s called keyword research, and it’s really the foundation for all web activity.

Are You Found for the Right Searches?
What it boils down to is that every time a person types a word, phrase, or query into Google, Bing, or any other search engine, it is noted and recorded as a search.  If you have an online presence, your goal is to be found for the RIGHT searches, i.e. when you have what the searcher is looking for.  Investing in the time up front to do some keyword research will help you to ensure that the traffic directed toward your site is maximized AND meaningful.

Who Really Matters?
-        Until YOU or your product are famous, no one is looking for you… they are looking for an answer to their problem. You may have started a company selling green peas and have decided that you’re going to start calling green peas, holiday peas, and make them the next big thing.  Well, that’s fantastic, but you are not Cher and no one knows what your genius holiday peas are yet.  Thus, no one is looking for you or your peas, and you will not be found.  If you’re famous, you can do what you want.  If you’re the average Joe or Jane, you need to conform a little.

-        High volume traffic does not mean meaningful traffic.  Just because someone is landing on your page does not mean you’re a rock star.  It does you (or them) no good to accidentally land on your site if you don’t have what they’re looking for.  Thus, it’s important to use the right keywords in your site, your URL, blog titles, etc.

-        Think of their search as a question, and your site to be the answer—your keywords must be married.  Your prospect is not going to change their thoughts or behavior, so if you want to be found, you’re going to have to make the move.

Nobody Thinks About it the Same Way You Do
Want to get started?  Aside from using some fabulous analytical tools (which we will touch on next week), one of the best things you can do for you, your site, and your company, is to consult some searchers.  Your searcher consultants can be friends, strangers, family, or anyone who is not tied to calling your green peas, holiday peas.  We did this last week during our Pay Per Click Club Meeting and found that everyone had some surprising and exciting results (a few people even had the “it’s not about me” aha moment).  Find just a few people, explain your business, who the average customer/searcher is (are they men? women? age? occupation?), what they are looking for (hopefully the answer is your product), when they are looking for (is this a quick search while they’re on the road? in the office?), and ask them what they would type into Google if they were looking for you!  Keep an open mind, don’t have hurt feelings, jot down the results (you will need them when we get to the analytics)This is the simplest way to get yourself outside of your head and thinking about your business/service/product/site from the perspective of the searcher.

Stay tuned… more to come on SEO.

Social media is quickly becoming one of the most effective ways for businesses to promote themselves.  Many small business owners find the concept of social media and its potential to be confusing and intimidating.  It doesn’t have to be if it’s learned in small steps.  No one mastered all the social sites in a day, and you won’t, either.  So take your time and poke around a bit.  Most importantly, start following people who do what you do and watch how they use social media.  It may or may not be done well, so don’t start to copy them until you get a feel for what’s working and what’s not.

Step 1: Sit back and watch.  You’ll find that many users do this.  Not every consumer who has a social media profile uses it to communicate.  Many use it to check in on friends, brands, competitors and the news.

Step 2: Evaluate what you’re seeing.  Are the brands you’re following engaging their audience by asking questions and responding to inquiries?  Or are they spouting information only about themselves?

Step 3: Understand how to best use each of the social media sites you’ve identified.  Facebook is different than twitter.  For example, while you should post often enough on Twitter so that you appear on the first page of a Twitter search for your keywords*, you don’t want to post that frequently on Facebook.  Nor do you want to use Twitter lingo and hash tags on Facebook or LinkedIn.

Step 4: Once you decide to begin, give users a unique experience with you.  Emphasize what makes you different and spin your posts to reflect how that benefits the reader.

Step 5: Create custom graphics for your Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and any other site that allows customization to backgrounds.   Having consistency throughout your social media sites lends to familiarity and comfort for your audience.

Step 6: Put yourself in the shoes of your audience.  Is their user experience with you enjoyable?  Will they feel it’s worth sharing with friends or colleagues?  If you notice your content is not being commented on, look at who you’re targeting, are they likely to comment on posts?  Look at the content being posted, are you asking questions that will encourage readers to participate?

Step 7: Advertise.  Pay per click advertising is available on social sites, so target your audience with eye catching ads drive relevant people to your pages and events.

Step 8: Set expectations you can measure.  Having an opt-in form on a Facebook page is a lot like having an opt-in form on your website.  Measuring how many opt-ins you get can be a good indicator of how effective your social media efforts are.

Step 9: Build a relationship outside of social media with an e-mail marketing campaign.  If you collect e-mail addresses on Facebook, make sure your e-mail messages direct your readers to come back and visit your Facebook page.  Be sure to provide relevant content and keep the selling to a minimum.

Step 10: Stay engaged.  There’s no point in doing any of this if you can’t dedicate the time and resources to keep up with it.  Make a commitment and stick to it.  There are free tools available to help you manage the content you put out there, so you can make efficient use of your time.

Search Ad Marketing helps small businesses get started with social media marketing.  We provide assistance with strategy as well as ongoing management.  Contact us today for help with getting your business active in social media.

*Super advanced strategy!  As of the writing of this post, Twitter receives 1.2 million searches per month.  A good strategy is to post as often as necessary to appear on the first page of search results for keywords relevant to your business.

During recent years, branding a company using social media has become a hot topic.  Marketers are quickly changing the way they brand their business.  Traditional marketing used to build company reputations have given way to building reputations that are defined by media as a whole.  Marketing, branding, management, and reputation of employees are now all part of a businesses image.

Professionals are expected to act appropriately in their work place.  For years, successful professionals have advised keeping your personal and work lives separate. Three years ago, following this simple rule was not hard.  Now we’re faced with being friends with colleagues and clients on social networks where they can see how we behave “off hours”.   Our reputations are now being determined not by our work ethic, our volunteer activities, or how we behave at school, but by a search results on Google!

So, does this mean we shouldn’t use Facebook and Twitter for personal use?   Absolutely not!  But ask yourself this, what do you, as a person wish to be known for?  If you don’t want to be known as the guy who gets drunk every weekend and takes embarrassing photos, than don’t post that information.  In personal branding, “bad” behavior weighs more than good behavior.  For every 4 hour drunken excursion you share on Facebook, you’ll need to do 40 hours of volunteer service to even the scale.  The rule of thumb is this, assuming you have a grandma you love and respect, don’t post anything you wouldn’t share with your grandma.

Here are some simple questions to use as guidelines when using social media:

1. Nothing you post on the Internet is private.  This is also true for what others post about you. Strong security settings are important, but do not guarantee complete privacy.  Consider this rule before you post pictures, political views, opinions, etc.  Would you be okay with your boss, grandma, or pastor seeing them?
2. Your behavior outside of work now can now influence your job.  Ask any Human Resources person what the first steps of the hiring process are.  You will hear that Google, Twitter, and Facebook searches are used to evaluate you.  If you already have a job, your public personal life is a reflection on your employer.  Your employer will always keep this in mind.
3. The internet is called the world-wide web for a reason.  It reaches further than any of us could have dreamed.

Although wide use of the internet is fairly new, it is like a history book. Everything we do is recorded and easy to find.  If used appropriately, it can be the most positive tool for our careers and reputations.  If abused, small mistakes can write destructive chapters.  In the book of world history, how do you want to be remembered?  For what would you like to be known?

Last week, I noticed in my Twitter timeline that a Tweeter @mentioned my friend as having unfollowed her (along with 16 others).  My initial reaction was of bewilderment as to why this information was important enough to share.  My second reaction was thinking, “Why does she care?”  For all Tweeters, it boils down to this: Why are you using Twitter?

If your purpose for using Twitter is strictly personal, then following people to see how many followers you receive in return is a perfectly legitimate strategy (or lack thereof).  However, if your purpose for using Twitter is to market or brand a company, service, or person, then following people who solely follow in exchange for a follow will not add value to your business or campaign.  Just like any type of networking, positive promotion develops based on conversations started, and relationships established and nurtured.  Your strategy should focus on choosing tweeters who will help you to reach out more directly to your target audience.

So, you’re asking, “How do I start?”  When looking at a Tweeter’s profile, try to identify the following, based on a profile picture, bio, and past tweets:

Would your audience benefit from what he/she has to say? Has he or she posted content that you can retweet or links to articles that you and your audience may enjoy reading?  If you are in sales and someone tweets primarily about their dog, this will not help you and it will eat up valuable viewing space in your timeline.

Are their followers likely to overlap with your targeted audience? Would their audience be interested in hearing what you have to say?  (Most likely, if your answer to the question above is yes, than this one is, too.)

Do they tweet regularly? If the individual’s last tweet was three months ago, then forget about it.  The ideal person to follow tweets a steady balance of original information, retweets, and mentions multiple times per day.

Is his/her public identity parallel to the morals/reputation of what/who you are trying to market? Remember, who you are following and who is following you is public.  If someone you follow appears or tweets inappropriately, by following, you have chosen to associate with them.

That being said, don’t worry if you’ve collected a pool of Tweeters to follow who don’t fit the descriptions above.  If you’re using automation tools to target followers, sometimes you’ll get a bad egg.  Do as my friend did and simply unfollow them.  If the Tweeter you’ve unfollowed @mentions you as having unfollowed them, so what?  Let it go.  Clearly their strategy isn’t one of good business if they tell the world they’ve been unfollowed.  You have a strategy, you have a goal, they don’t fit, so “good-bye”.  I hope this explanation about the importance of carefully choosing who to follow, and unfollow, on Twitter will help you use Twitter more successfully for your business.