Google+ Is Moving Ahead
Since its birth last summer, Google+ has made small (and large) steps to make it a platform worthy of consideration for serious marketers. Its latest innovation – not really an innovation, but it’s a big step forward for webmasters – is more options for the Google+ badge.
So what’s a “badge?”
A badge is a graphic icon you can display on your website to encourage your site visitors to take some action. Facebook has the Like button, or badge. Twitter has the Tweet/Retweet badge. Google has the +1 badge.
It was announced yesterday afternoon that the Google+ badge now has more options. You can configure your Google+ badge to fit the width of your website, which is a very nice feature, or change its color to white so that it is more visible on dark backgrounds. Who wouldn’t want that?
Another great feature is you can show the number of circles you’ve been included in on your badge. That’s real social proof that can work in your favor if you choose to use it.
Google+ has become the first true social search engine. With search results now coming primarily from users’ social graph, or friend base, you’ll see different results for your search queries based on whether you are logged into your Google account or not. This provides an incentive for business owners to make their customers their online social friends. And vice-versa.
By organizing its search results in this manner, Google hoped to make social connections are a part of its search algorithm. It looks like this is the future of search.
If you’re serious about search engine marketing, add a Google+ badge to your website.
Keeping An Eye On Pinterest
Are you keeping an eye on Pinterest? We are.
In the last month, it seems, this new social media site – which is heavily graphic, by the way – has increased its visitor count from 10 million to 17 million. That’s pretty impressive for a website that is still in private beta.
The only way you can get an account at Pinterest right now is to get an invite. You can request one on the site or have a friend invite you. Once approved, then you can have a Pinterest account.
So what is Pinterest?
It’s a social media website that let’s you “pin” content to your pinboard. And most of the content being pinned is very graphic. Not in a bad sense. I simply mean that if you visit the Pinterest home page, you’ll see a lot of photos. That’s a good thing.
Of course, what good is “pinning” information if you can’t organize it? Therein lies the beauty of Pinterest. You can pin anything you like and organize it according to your interests.
According to Pinterest guidelines, you can pin your own content, but you can’t use Pinterest simply for self-promotion. If you do it properly, that’s easy to do. Add content from sites other than your own. And you can have a branded account at Pinterest as well. Mashable has one.
Notice how Mashable’s page is branded with the Mashable name. The URL is pinterest.com/mashable/. Wouldn’t you like to have such an URL with your own brand name attached? How search engine optimised do you think that would be?
If you use Pinterest well, you can use it to organize information and resourceful web pages around your niche without ever linking to your own content. And you’ll still have a brandable web page that links back to your website in your profile. Add a pinboard to your web portfolio today.
Why Content And SEO Go Together
Which came first, content or SEO? Chicken or the egg?
It’s an age old question, isn’t it? So what’s the answer? Was it the chicken? Or was it the egg? Content or SEO?
The answer is both. They arrived at about the same time. And the reason is because the two are inseparable. Content and SEO go together like spaghetti and meatballs, or hand and glove.
If your content isn’t search engine optimised, then it likely won’t be found by the people you want to find it. On the other hand, if you focus too heavily on SEO, then the search engines won’t index it and it won’t get found anyway. You’re stuck in a trap. And there’s only one way out.
The way to make your content shine is to optimize it according to the search engine guidelines. That is, make your content great by writing to your target audience and writing content that they would love to read whether it was search engine optimised or not. While you’re doing that, optimize it for search engine traffic by sprinkling it with the right keywords and building inbound links that help it. Oh, and promote it through the social media websites as well.
Great content IS great SEO, and vice-versa. It’s become impossible in this age to discuss the one without the other. Don’t even try it.
The next time someone asks you if you need your content optimised, ask them what’s the No. 1 rule of SEO content. If they can’t answer it, you’d be better off doing it yourself.
Does Local SEO Include Linking To Google Places?
Local businesses are strongly encouraged to claim their Google Places listing. But should you link to it? That’s one question asked of a search engine optimiser who specialises in local SEO.
I like the answer he gives, too. There is no reason you should expect your links to your Google Places page to increase your page’s search rankings. In fact, those links could hurt your local website.
Local SEO is a tricky business. On the one hand, Google Places can help your local search engine optimisation efforts. But only if you do it right. And sometimes linking to your Google Places page can benefit you. But most times not.
For instance, you could pull your Google Map into your website to show your prospects where you are located and how to find you. You could even go so far as to place a pin on the Google Places map to show your exact location. And if you have a good number of Google Places reviews, especially favorable reviews, then you could show your pride in those reviews by linking to your Google Places page.
Wait a minute, didn’t I just say don’t do that?
Actually, what I said is it won’t help your page rank any higher. It might be good marketing to showcase your positive reviews. But if you do that, use a no-follow link. You don’t want any link juice needed for your website’s internal pages escaping into the Webosphere.
Local SEO often includes Google Places, but it doesn’t generally include linking out to Google Places from your website.
Is Google In Violation Of Antitrust?
It’s possible that we might see at least one country within the next couple of weeks start an antitrust investigation into Google over its ranking practices. The primary concern will be Google+.
A group of engineers at Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace have gone public with a bookmarklet that allows users to see what Google’s web results would be without the influence of Google+. The claim is that Google boosts its own social network content above the content of its competition and that this is unfair. The bookmarklet is based on pretty solid data.
It’s hard to argue with it, either. When you see that certain celebrities have hundreds of thousands of Twitter and Facebook users and share content on those services daily but have few, if any, Google+ users where they haven’t shared any updates in months and their Google+ profile appears at the top of the search results while their Twitter and Facebook profiles are buried, well, what do you make of that?
Furthermore, if you were a searcher and you were looking for those celebrities, which social profile would you want to find?
This doesn’t look good for Google. It certainly doesn’t look good for searchers. Even if you are a Google+ user, when you search for information, don’t you want to find the best and most relevant information for your search query rather than the information that the search engine itself prefers that you find?
I predict that even if an antitrust lawsuit isn’t on the way Google will still make changes to its algorithm to bury some of those Google+ profiles that don’t deserve top rankings. If they don’t, they should.
What do you think? Is this good search policy or harmful?
Should You Use Quora Boards?
Quora is an online question and answer website. You show up, ask questions and other people answer them. Or you answer questions that other people ask. Simple, right?
Well, it just got better. Now, Quora has a service it calls Boards. You can set up a Board around any topic you like and post links and leave comments about that topic on your Board. You can also invite other Quora users to post to the Board. As administrator, you can make them authors or co-owners.
So what’s this got to do with your business? A lot. Since you run a business that caters to a particular clientele or provides a particular service, you can set up a Board that is all about that topic or covering topics that are important to your clientele.
You can’t monetize a Quora board. But you can use it to build links to your web properties. Every time you write a blog post, post it to Quora. When you find something interesting about your topic that your audience would find relevant, post it to Quora. You can essentially use it just like any other social bookmarking website except that you can also post to your Quora Board the same way you’d post to Twitter or Facebook.
What it looks like is a cross between Facebook and Pinterest. Photos are great for Quora Boards. You catch people’s attention. Once you have their attention, you can send people anywhere you want on the web.
Cool, huh?
The Truth About SEO
If you’ve been around long enough to follow the search engines from the very early primitive forms to where we stand now in the competition of Google vs. Bing, then you’ve likely learned something along the way. Hopefully, what you’ve learned is that long-term value is better than short-term SEO tweaks.
Sure, you can use “beating the algorithm” as a strategy – for awhile. But eventually, and Panda is a great example, you’ll lose and have to start all over again.
Why go through all of that? Create value from the start and you’ll never have to worry about starting over.
Great content is the real SEO. If you do it well over time, then your pages will rank eventually. What you really want to focus on is ranking for keywords that are important to your business. And to do that, you have to work hard.
Working hard where SEO is concerned means staying on top of what is important to the search engines. It doesn’t mean “trying to beat them.” It means working with them to help searchers find the best content for their search queries. And that’s hard work.
The best way to accomplish that goal is to ask yourself what questions people would ask in order to find your website. Answer that question and promote the web pages that do so and you’ll have a much better chance of getting the rankings you want. Promote your business as a business that cares about its customers. That’s the real SEO. Everything else is nonsense.
Why It’s Good To Know Google
Google has a added a section to its website called Good To Know. It discusses web security, search, and other pertinent information for using Google’s products and services and for staying safe on the web. Every web user should get familiar with the Good To Know information provided by Google for free.
And that’s includes Scotland business owners.
Even if all you do is put up a website for your business and you don’t actually use the web, you should become familiar with Google’s Good To Know information. You know why? Because it can help you in your business.
For instance, the section titled “Your data on the web” discusses cookies and IP addresses. These are questions that your site visitors likely will have about the web in general and your business in particular. You’ll want to know how to answer their questions.
While the information isn’t in-depth knowledge, it does provide a good introduction to web security and information that could be useful to your business.
Among this information is Google-specific information regarding personalized search, Google+, and even how to use Google Docs for privacy. Other information is more general regarding web security and protecting your personal information. If you decide to use cookies for your Scotland-based website, then you’ll want to know this information for your own use as a business owner involved in online marketing.
Don’t wait any longer. Go to Google’s Good To Know website and start digging around. Learn what you can so you can teach your customers.
Amazon Top Company In Customer Service
An interesting poll shows that Amazon is leading companies across the spectrum in customer service. Not just online companies. ALL companies.
This really isn’t surprising. Amazon has already put some of its brick and mortar competition out of business. But for an online company to win the best customer service award says something about online reputation and customer service more specifically.
A discussion of customer service online is not complete without talking about technology. It is very important to choose the best technology for meeting customer needs. That’s why Amazon is No. 1.
Amazon’s business revolves around fulfillment. If the company cannot meet customer expectations with regard to product delivery, then it’s out of business. Because Amazon has excelled at this from the beginning of its life, it has beat all other companies – online and off – on customer service. And you can too.
You might not win this specific competition, but your local Scotland business can be tops in online customer service with the right content management system, e-commerce solution, or customer relationship management software. Pick the right technology and you’ll be heads and shoulders above the competition.
Customer service really is a matter of owning and using the right technology. Meet your customers’ expectations and you can win a few awards too.
The Most Important Metric
Do you know what the most important metric is for your website? Is it links? Is it keyword relevance? How about unique visitors? Traffic?
Certainly, all of those are important. Especially traffic.
How are you going to sell anything if no one is visiting your website? It’s not likely to happen, is it?
But let’s take a step back. What are you selling? Is it a necessity or a luxury? How many have you sold in the last week, month, or day?
Wait. Stop right there. How many have you sold?
Know the most important metric now? If not, allow me to spell it out for you. It’s conversions. How many widgets have you sold?
To be sure, you can’t sell anything without great SEO, links, traffic, social media presence, etc. Those are all necessary promotional tools in your online marketing toolbox. But even if all of those other metrics are sky high, if your conversions are low, then you aren’t making any money. Why are you in business?
Making the right connection with the right audience is crucial to converting traffic to sales. When you convert traffic, you make money. The question is, what converts traffic?
Content. Great content. The right content. The best content that is optimized, linked to, and well trafficked. With a great call to action. That’s what converts.
Is your traffic converting? If not, why not? It’s the most important question to answer because the answer leads to making the most of the most important metric: Conversions. Think about that.