Everyone wants to come up on the first page of Google! The problem is that Google keeps changing the rules. Here the the SEO basics that you need to know.
Class notes: https://azsocialmediawiz.com/wp-content/uploads/SearchEngineOptimizationSEOBasics.pdf
If you’re Social Media novice, you probably think Twitter is a waste of time. It’s not. Tweets come up in Google searches. Thus, each time you share a blog post on Twitter it gets indexed in the search engine helping with SEO. Think of Twitter as a never-ending news ticker. Use it for exposure and to find your target market.
Class notes: https://azsocialmediawiz.com/wp-content/uploads/Twitter.pdf
Pinterest is THE social media network if you’re trying to reach the consumer with products or services. Though it is more B2C than B2B, Pinterest is more powerful than Instagram when it comes to SEO because when someone pins a picture or video from your site, it takes the link with it. Thus, it helps tremendously with search engine optimization.
Class notes: https://azsocialmediawiz.com/wp-content/uploads/Pinterest-1.pdf
YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine next to its parent, Google. “How to” is the most searched-for phrase. This class covers the basics of YouTube and the 2nd video covers how to optimize your channel for SEO and branding.
Here are the class notes: https://azsocialmediawiz.com/wp-content/uploads/YouTubeBasics.pdf
This class shows you how easy it is to blog on a WordPress website. How to optimize each blog post for the search engines (SEO), add pictures, tags, categories and keywords. Learn how to blog effectively and save time!
Google Plus is still alive and kicking! It’s Google being social. Anything posted public on Google+ gets indexed in the search engine, thus helping with SEO (Search Engine Optimization.) Ignore at the peril of not getting found!
Class Notes: https://azsocialmediawiz.com/wp-content/uploads/GoogleBasics.pdf
Today’s marketing is all about Content Marketing. This is the first class of the Master Class series that explains the basics of content marketing and how it works in combination with Social Media and Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
Here are the class notes:
https://azsocialmediawiz.com/wp-content/uploads/BootCamp1-ContentMarketing.pdf
What would you do if I told you that taking a few seconds to do something that will improve your search engine optimization, keep visitors on your site longer, increase your page views and decrease your bounce rate, you’d do it, right? I hope so. Taking just a few seconds to use categories and tags in all your blog posts will absolutely help.
In a WordPress blog, they are over on the right column about halfway down the page. Choose no more than 3 categories. You can choose as many tags as are relevant to your blog article. Think of the category as the general topic of your post and the tags as the major keywords that you mention in the article.
Below Categories are the Tags. Add as many as pertinent to your post. Don’t over do it. Choosing these comes easier after you’ve done your keyword research. Always add your name and your company name to the tags. If you’re local, add your city. Think of different ways to say the same thing. Once you’ve used tags in more than one post, click on “Choose from the most used tags” and you’ll see a “tag cloud”. The ones with in the larger font are the ones that you use most often. Just click on them to add them. Saves a ton of time!
Over on the left menu, under Posts, click on Categories. Here you can add all the topics that you plan to blog about in advance. You can always add a category on the fly from the right menu.
Then, on the left under Settings, Writing, find “Default Post Category”, and choose one of the most generic topics that describes your blog. This way if you forget to pick a category, it won’t be under “Uncategorized”. “Uncategorized” doesn’t help whatsoever – it definitely isn’t a keyword! If you have blog posts with “Uncategorized”, they’ll be automatically changed to whatever topic you indicate here.
When blogging regularly, at least weekly, and using categories and tags religiously in all your blog posts, you’ll start to see an increase in the number of page views per visit and a decrease in the bounce rate.
You can easily add them to past blog posts by going to “All Posts” from the left menu. You’ll see a list of all your posts and columns for both categories and tags. Hover your mouse over the the post title and you’ll see links. Click on “Quick Edit” and you’ll be able to add the relevant categories and tags for that post. Click on “Edit” to open the full editing screen if you need to.
In conclusion, this is just a small part of what it takes to blog effectively. The easy-to-follow tutorials in the Social Savvy Solution Online Training Center will guide you through planning what to write about, how to blog on WordPress, how to get exposure and drive traffic to your website with social media marketing and how to see what’s working and not working each month.
For only $20 a month and you can watch all the videos at your own pace, at whatever time works for you! Cancel at any time, but you’ll see that the valuable update videos produced each month are worth every penny.
The purpose of blogging weekly is to keep Google happy and attract new visitors to your website who will convert to leads or clients.
What does Google want? Google wants fresh, relevant content written for the human reader.
What do your potential customers want? They want answers to their problems, information, advice or to be entertained – and the want it now!
The last thing Google or a potential customer wants to see is that your last blog post was March of 2012. OK, you may not be that bad. But even a month old is too old.
First, if you haven’t updated your site in years, it won’t come up on Google search. Over 83% of searchers are on a mobile device. If your site is not mobile-friendly and responsive, you absolutely won’t come up. Basically, the only traffic you’re getting to your site is from someone who clicked on the link on one of the social media networks or they have your business card. Too few, I bet. Or they Googled your business name exactly. Most all business will come up for their name. But if there’s another business with a similar name, and their content is more recent, they’ll come up first. Not good.
Let’s say it’s an entrepreneur looking for a contractor in a specific city because she’s opening a new business. She goes on LinkedIn and searches for “commercial contractor my city”. She sees that the 2 folks that come up are not in her network. But, they have the links to their respective websites. The searcher clicks on the links and goes to the websites. Contractor 1 has a website that looks dated – old fashioned. She clicks on About Us to read about the company, who are they, how long have they’ve been in business, etc. Then she clicks on Blog. The last article was in 2012, just text, long paragraphs and no pictures or videos. Under Portfolio, there are pictures with no descriptions. You can’t tell where the projects were, how long it took to build, was it under budget?
Over at Contractor 2’s site, there are high-quality graphics with their last 3 projects on the home page. Each are linked to a blog post describing each project in detail. At the bottom are tags and categories with links to other similar blog posts by type of project. The person seeking will look for articles about projects like what she’s planning to build. She thinks, “This company has experience doing projects like the one I’m planning. I’m calling them.”
Also on their site are testimonial videos showcasing recent projects from start to finish with the happy camper client opening the door of their redone place. Yes, like the “reveal” on those home improvement shows. Ah, but before the entrepreneur makes the call, she’s going to check their Facebook page to see if there are any reviews and updates. (The first company didn’t even have a Facebook page. Oh, my!) There she finds 5, 5-star reviews. She’s sold.
Blogging regularly builds trust and credibility. People buy from whom they know and trust.
As I’m writing this, I’m watching Donald Trump be sworn in as our 45th President. As expected, in Social Media News, the Inauguration is dominating the social networks. Even on Twitter, @POTUS (President of the U.S.) and @FLOTUS (First Lady of the U.S.) has a transfer of power today. Former President Obama will be @BarackObama and Mrs. Obama will be @MichelleObama. Though Donald Trump will keep his @RealDonaldTrump account. He administration will be using @POTUS and the new First Lady will be using @FLOTUS. All of the prior tweets sent by these accounts will be transferred to @POUTS44 and @FLOTUS44 respectfully. @VP will go to @VP44.
Social Media didn’t come to be until after Obama first took office. He embraced it with doing Google Hangouts, Twitter chats and using other social platforms. Now, President Trump was already using social media mostly because of his TV show, The Apprentice. Moreover, he said recently,
“If the press were honest, which it’s not, I would absolutely not use Twitter. I wouldn’t have to.” ~President Donald Trump
NBC News reporter Kelly O’Donnell reports that transition officials say that while the administration will take control of the @POTUS account, Trump himself will stick to tweeting from his personal account. ~Mashable
And, he has a new secure phone!
What Is the Difference Between White Hat and Black Hat SEO? – I find it hard to believe that so many years after Google’s first algorithm change (Panda), there are still “SEO services” using Black Hat SEO tactics. It’s important that you, as a small business owner, know the difference. Otherwise, your website can suffer when it comes to SEO ranking! There’s a right way and a wrong way to do SEO. Make sure you do it the right way.
3 Considerations for Increasing Engagement With Your Content – To effectively engage people with your content, you need to understand your target audience.
