How I Use Social Media to Earn Links

Why the Majority of People I Know Use Social Media

In my opinion, most of my friends and family get on Facebook, Instagram, or some other social network to waste time. What they do in those networks seems to have no value. They post pictures of what they had for breakfast. They share videos of their kids burping. They spend so much time doing what seems to be nothing.

But in the mind of the marketer, what a gold mine that is!

How to Cater to "Nothingness"

Consumers like to take in content or media that bring back memories, make them laugh, make them cry, or make them think. If you can penetrate one of those emotions, you've earned a fan; someone who could potentially come back and like, or better yet, share everything you post to everyone they know.

Let's Look at the Real Estate Industry as an Example

I've gotten to know the real estate marketplace pretty well in terms of what consumers enjoy interacting with via social networking. It wasn't easy to find sweet spots, and there's never a 100% success rate, but here are a few ideas I've used that have definitely boosted brand awareness, traffic, and search engine authority as well:

• Post video walkthroughs of homes on the market to YouTube. In turn, share links to those videos on your Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ pages.
• Advertise your social presence by including links to your most active pages on business cards, email blasts, and banner ads. Make it a prominent message on your website that you can closely interact with customers and answer their questions straight from these social pages.
• Write a series of articles on a popular topic that relates to the audience of a particular social network. For example, write a series about tips on interior design with each article focusing on a particular room. Include bright, high quality photos throughout each article, and then post those photos with links to your articles on Pinterest (which is almost 90% women). Include hashtags like #interiordesign and #designtips.
• Post information about your local area that sparks conversation and is easily sharable; maybe a restaurant review with a photo of an great meal you had, your favorite hiking trail with a photo of you under a waterfall, or a great personal experience you had with your child's school. The important thing is to be personal and conversational.
• Be creative. Make a video series of what to look for when buying a home. In the videos, take the viewer around the interior and exterior of a home to show them certain areas to check before signing anything.

So many of our Utah SEO clients have seen the true value of social media by making the best out of what appears to be nothing. It's a testament that giving people what they want where and how they want it works. It's like giving candy to a baby.

Top 5 Website Design Fails

I'm writing this as a user, not a designer. Whether I'm searching for professional services, shopping, looking for entertainment, or doing research, I want to land on websites that give me what I want without distracting me with crap. So as a user, here is my list of the top 5 website design fails.

1. Stock Photography

Stock photography can be good at times when it's used sparingly and in the right places. But when it's not good, it's really, really, really annoying. When I see pictures on every page of random people in a conference room looking over a chart or talking on their headsets at their computers, I lose it. I just want to grab whoever found and posted those pictures and ask: "Who are these people? Why are they all smiling at each other? Do you know them? Are you friends?" Just be original, and take your own photos or at least put up a picture I can get something out of.

2. Background Audio

Whether it's background music or that little lady that pops up and tells you how to use the site like I'm a moron, I don't want to hear anything unless I click the "Play" button on a video or audio file. And don't make me scroll down to search for a way to shut the noise off. I'm just going to leave.

3. Ads

Why you advertising a bunch of nonsense that doesn't have anything to do with the content on your website? You look like a cheap magazine. If you're going to have banner ads, keep 'em simple. Keep 'em relevant. Keep 'em at a minimum.

4. Grammatical Errors

I spell words wrong all of the time, but when I do, I'm writing too fast in a personal notebook. I'd never publish anything on the Web that I didn't spell check first. I sometimes see pages and pages full of errors that a 3rd grader could point out (no offense to 3rd graders). Either take some spelling and grammar classes, run your content through spell check a few times, or don't publish your website. It's unprofessional and detracting.

5. Too Many Links

When you have 15 lime green hyper links in one paragraph, I'm not going to read that paragraph. I'm going to leave. Just show me one or two links that point to pages I might find interesting. Don't barf on me with over-optimization.

Now I'm Speaking to the Business Owner

You're on the Internet to get found and impress, right? Well how is it working for you so far? As a Utah web design agency, we've taken businesses from zero to hero on the Web because we know what consumers in certain markets are looking for visually and interactively in a website.

Call our designers at (855) 238-8444, and ask them about how we can make you stand out above your competitors.

R.I.P. to the Local Business Without a Responsive Website

What Does 'Responsive' Mean?

The literal definition of the word 'responsive' is "reacting quickly and positively." Now think of that in the online world. When someone lands on your website, it's important that they find what they're looking for as quick and as simple as possible, without distractions that could potentially deter them from the site. You want them to have the most positive experience no matter what.

Now what if you're a local business with a target audience that will view your website on their phones or tablets? Will your website be just as responsive as it was on a laptop or desktop computer? Will the headings, images, calls-to-action, and other important elements function and fit properly?

That's the true test of any website.

An Example of a Responsive Website

Amazon.com is the most popular online shopping website on Earth. Whether you're on your PC, your smart phone, or your tablet, Amazon.com is fully responsive and caters to whatever size your screen is.

Amazon.com on PC

Amazon.com on Tablet

Amazon.com on Smart Phone

E-Commerce or Not

Whether you're an e-commerce business or a local attorney, your website needs to cater to whichever devices your potential customers are using throughout the day. This will ensure satisfaction on their part and ultimately keep your business right alongside the competition if not above.

We're a St. George web design firm, and it's insane just how tech-savvy St. George, Utah has become over the past few years alone. College graduates with a hand on technology are starting new businesses that succeed because of responsive websites that convert. If you're not keeping up with the innovation, you're going to fall and fall hard.

Smack Someone Right in the Face with Your Content

The Average Attention Span

When I surf the Internet to either find an answer to a question or to find entertainment, I probably click through about 10 or 20 websites before I find something I can stick with. If something doesn't capture my attention in about 3 seconds, I'm leavin'.

So it is with most everyone else on planet Earth. What lures people in? What peaks their interest enough to stay on a page and read through the content?

1. The Headline

In the word's of Wayne Campbell, the headline has to be "something extraordinary, something big, something mega, something copious, something capacious, something kajunga!"

Use the headline of the page or article to tap into the viewer's emotions. In just a few words, sum up how the content they're about to read is going to bring value to their life. Here's one example of an article with an effective headline that Angela Stringfellow mentions in her article about how to write attention-grabbing blog post titles:

• Topic: A Papa John's employee offends a woman by leaving a racial slur to describe her appearance on her receipt. 
• Good Headline: "Papa Johns Fail: 'Lady Chinky Eyes' Goes Viral" 
• Bad Headline: "Papa Johns Employee Offends Customer

Even though this is pretty racist, it definitely grabs your attention and might even tug on your emotions. Either way, you'll probably read it. Here's another example of a few recently published articles all from The Onion that I personally enjoyed:

• "Taylor Swift Now In Long-Distance Relationship With Curiosity Rover"
• "Financial Sector Thinks It's About Ready to Ruin the World Again"
•  "Report: 89% Of Americans Just Want To Go Home Right Now"

Now I'm not saying you have to be funny with everything you write. If you're not a funny person, don't try to be, because people can pick up on that and then choose to never read what you publish ever again. But try writing about a subject in a way that no one else has before with opinions that might not have ever been expressed by another voice, and then use your headline to express that.

2. The First Paragraph

So you actually got someone to at least click on your article from reading your awesome headline. Now you just have to get them past the first few sentences. One thing you should NOT do in the first paragraph is go on and on about something that's not relevant to the headline. GET TO THE POINT, and do it fast.

Use keywords that coincide with the headline to reassure the reader that, yes, this is relevant to what they're searching for. Once you're finished introducing the subject, move on in to the good stuff.

 

3. The Rest of the Article

There are so many things you can do with the body of your content that will not only keep people satisfied but influence them to maybe share it with others because it's easy to flat out easy to read. Here are just a few ideas:

• Make a list like I just did.
• Add high quality images that apply to the content where appropriate.
• Use other forms of media like videos, gifs, or infographics.
• Don't write 5 paragraphs of text without slipping in something visual in between.
• Use quotes from other relevant sources, and try to separate those quotes from the rest of the content to help them stand out.
• Most importantly, have a passion about what you're writing. If you're writing just to write, don't write.

 

From Experience

Speaking in business terms, the content strategies that we as a company implement into our Utah SEO campaigns have to be catered to each business' specific characteristics. That means time, research, trial and error, and whole lot of patience in order to get to know the individuals we're trying to convert.

So, in a way, you need to stalk your audience. Study what they like to read, share, and comment on. Try and replicate that content using your own unique voice, and in time you'll grow your fan base and reputation for being an authoritative source of great information.

The Negative Effects of Paid Links on Your Websites

To Those Who Are Unaware

Google is much smarter in 2013; smart enough to know a good back links from a bad bad link. If you have ever used paid link directories to boost your search engine rankings, you might have recently experienced some big drops in rankings. Why?

Simply put, paid links are unnatural. They exist to manipulate rankings. This is against Google's guidelines, and anyone using paid link directories will be penalized.

Learn more about the negative effects of paid links on your website and what you can do to make sure you are in good standing with Google if you've ever been involved with paid or unnatural link building.

A Word to Businesses

We're an SEO company in Utah working to produce valuable links for businesses through social networking and PR. If you need  help cleaning up your link profile, we're here to help.

Call us today at (855) 238-8444, and let's get your reputation back.

Bringing a Good Name Back to Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Pretend You Don't Know Anything About SEO

One of the most annoying repetitions I see in the SEO industry is this phrase: "SEO requires that you create valuable content and social media interactions." Yeah, that's very true. But the companies I see proclaiming that never end up producing valuable content themselves.

So pretend you don't know anything about SEO. Pretend you're just a normal business owner who simply knows how to treat your customers right. You come into work every day with a knowledge of who you're selling to, how they think, what they look for in a product, and what actually sells in the first place. That is value. That is the essence of SEO.

"Valuable" content means that when someone reads what you wrote, they start thinking differently. Something in their head clicks, and they say, "Wow, this guy has a really good point."As a result, they begin to share what they've learned with people around them, ultimately trying to convince them that what they read is worth considering.

None of that can happen without a deep knowledge of who you're speaking to and how they might react.

First Thing's First

The point is that when establishing an SEO strategy, you must think like a business owner rather than a traditional search marketer. Forget the keyword density. Forget the links. Forget the rankings. All that stuff comes later.

First, think about what would interest you as a consumer. What would you read? What would you share? What would you mark as spam? If it's boring to you, it's boring to everyone else. Put the business owner's touch into everything you produce, and CARE about who you're writing to.

1. Learn the business model.
2. Learn the product/service.
3. Learn the target consumer's mindset.
4. Follow their interactions on social media channels.
5. Read their reviews on similar products/services.
6. If it's something cheap, buy it yourself to get a firsthand look at what's being sold.
7. Interview people who would most likely need the product/service.
8. Read what competitors are posting and how their customers are reacting.
   

 

Conclusion

As a Utah SEO company,  we've learned from the mistake of caring too much about the search engine robotics-side of SEO and less about first impressions of people with short attentions spans browsing the Web. Take our advice, and put more effort into creating "valuable" content.

The What, Who, Why, When, How, and Where of Inbound Marketing

Marketing has evolved into something that requires more than just optimization and analytics. As search engines "grow up," as its users change habits, as the Internet community expands, inbound marketing becomes a necessary strategy.

Here's a great illustration of the fundamentals of inbound marketing.