SEO

Ever since I became a content marketer, Google+ has been a bit of an enigma. At first, people questioned whether it would be the social network to battle Facebook and usurp Mark Zuckerberg’s throne. But adoption was slow, and Google+ quickly went from being called a "Facebook Killer" to a “Ghost Town.”  As 2013 draws closer, however, Google+ finally seems to have found its niche in the inbound marketing world, with its value tied not to its reach or engagement but to its ability to influence Search Results.

Recently, I've been absorbing all kinds of new information on Search Engine Optimization (SEO). I've talked to professionals, read some e-books, delved deep into blogs, and I’m even in the midst of a great hardcopy book on the subject. Over this time, I’ve explored the topic from many different angles- external link building, on-page tactics, and building content with optimization in mind- and I’ve come to the conclusion that, just like anything else in building a successful business, there's no easy way around SEO. There's no miracle code that you just set and forget, either. You really need all the components to optimize your site.  

The Ultimate Guide to Picking the Right Search Engine Option for Your Business

Have you seen the recent Google+ commercials? Although the idea of a social networking site having a commercial at all is a bit odd, I have to say that I love them! They clearly demonstrate the features of Google+ in a way that tugs on your heartstrings. These commercials and the overall rollout of Google+ have proven to be somewhat controversial. Many people feel that Google+ is being jammed down their throats and debate whether there is enough engagement on the site.

The Perfect Inbound Marketing Recipe?

145,000 – that is the number of results that I got when Googling, “chicken parm recipes.”  My guess is that excluding duplicates, there are recipe variations well into the six figures.  I’ll bet there are some fantastic ones that only the gourmet types – and that wouldn’t include me – can make as well as some that can be whipped up by a novice in a flash.  The bottom line is that the recipe chosen will depend on the need, preference and skill set of the cook.  The same dinner bell rings true for Inbound Marketing programs – there is no one perfect recipe that every firm should use.

I frequently work with SEO gurus to help boost search engine optimization for our clients’ Web sites.  Note, I don't know the how-to when it comes to the technical end of building backlinks, etc. -- but hey, that's what the SEO experts are for!  What I have learned is to apply some pretty simple rules of marketing to make sure we get results for the SEO effort.  To SEO experts -- that might mean scoring high for ranking high on selected keywords and phrases.  What does that mean to the client?  Not a whole lot if it's not getting the intended result -- raising their Web traffic and hopefully getting Web leads.  What can marketing experts do in working with SEO experts to help meet these goals?  Following is a case study where we've had success solving this exact problem.

There are SEO professionals who specialize in getting your firm top search engine rankings on targeted keywords that you want your firm to be found under. They tend to use mostly “off-page” tactics to boost the rankings with Google and other search engines.   An off-page SEO strategy leans on search engines to determine the linking structures of other sites in relation to your site to build better ranking.  The strategy to completely offload this task to build links through article indexing sites seemed to worked great—for awhile—until Google caught up with some SEO gurus who were able to change rankings in a way that was lessening the quality of the Google search.  Google changed its algorithm in an effort to block out these lesser quality sites from showing up in searches where they clearly didn’t belong.  

In today’s economy, businesses with their dwindling budgets are constantly being forced to try to do more with less. The good news is that even companies with limited marketing resources can engage prospects and win new customers.  The solution is inbound marketing! Instead of throwing away money on traditional “push” advertising techniques, pull your customers in through inbound marketing.

Hopefully you have all survived the hectic craze of the holidays and you are enjoying starting the New Year off on a fresh page. While I am not a huge fan of the weather we’ve been experiencing this January, I do love that this time of your brings with it a sense of a fresh start and new beginnings. I have been enjoying reading all of the blog posts about marketing resolutions and predictions for the coming year. Here are a few of my favorites from the past week! What have you been reading up on?

It feels like fall is finally here, and so is our B2B Marketing Roundup. This summer we began sharing a weekly summary of our favorite articles and posts covering B2B marketing topics and we plan to keep the interesting content coming well into the cold autumn months! This week’s posts include copywriting tips and design rules for B2B, an all-encompassing Google+ guide and others. What are you reading up on this fall? We’d love to hear!