Organic SEO: Money for “nothing�? and your clicks for “free�? Consider this: 93% of all B2B buying decisions today start with an online search. And, your position in organic search engine results matters: 89.71% of all click-through traffic—those search engine results listings that are actively clicked—comes from the first 10 results with over 60% coming from just the top 3 listings. In other words, if you’re not paying attention to your site’s ranking in search engines—especially Google—you’re leaving money on the table. While Search Engine Optimization (SEO), the art and science of “optimizing a web site by improving internal and external aspects in order to increase the traffic the site receives from search engines�? (seomoz.org), is not really free—it takes time, knowledge, effort and budget, especially if you’re going to contract a third party firm to help you—there are lots of levers readily available to you to elevate your site’s rankings in search engines and drive greater success for your business. Where to start? The best approach strikes a good balance between organic and paid search. Because organic—or natural, algorithmic—SEO gets over 70% of the clicks and doesn’t involve paying for media exposures, we’ll focus there. When it comes to organic SEO, focal areas include: 1. Content – are you ensuring your site’s content is robust, relevant and useful and portions are regularly updated? 2. Site structure – have you leveraged best practices for HTML coding, meta data tagging and appropriate use of Flash to aid search engine crawlers in determining what your content is about? 3. Keywords: are you positioning your content to map to the keywords searchers are using to look for the type of content you’re offering? 4. Linking: are you capitalizing on internal and—especially—external linking opportunities to increase the quality and position of your ranking? While there’s much more to be said about the above topics, the bottom line is that SEO can help you maximize your business success from your online channel. With a modest investment of time, effort and budget, you should be able to drive good results; now’s the time to explore this ripe frontier for driving better ROI.
Befriend the Blogger: 5 Relationship-building Behaviors The blogger is a strange creature. Existing in masses, clamoring in drones and all vying for our attention, they vary on the scale of relevance and are capable of attitudes that range from complete narcissism to apparent altruism. For social media cynics, bloggers may be the banes of their existence – but for PR professionals, they should be our best friends. To those of us who look at an intense, controversial and even dangerous conversation and see nothing but opportunity, bloggers are a gift. Not only do the successful ones have large, specific and devout followings, the very nature of a blog invites collaboration and discussion: public relations in its purest form. That’s why blogger relations – engaging the author and offering ideas, commentary or conversation – is emerging as one of the most valuable social media-related marketing tools around. Don’t believe me? Consider Marketing Sherpa’s 2010 Social Media Marketing Benchmark Report. Specifically, have a look at the graph below. chart Analyzing social media tactics based on their effectiveness versus effort required, Marketing Sherpa found that blogger relations – while requiring the most effort – is easily the most effective. Of course, it’s that “most effort�? part that scares many away from blogger relations as a tactic. And while there’s no denying that effective blogger relations is the result of hard work, I’d like to offer five tips to help you engage with online authors: 1. Work with Bloggers, Not against Them This is media relations 101: Build the relationship. Engaging in blogger relations is about working with bloggers to deliver content that both satisfies their audience and gives coverage to your cause. Therein lies a great give-and-take, and the more you are willing to engage in that dance, the more credible you will become and the stronger your relationship will be. The result? More coverage. More success. 2. Do Your Homework You don’t have to follow every blog relevant to your cause for months before you decide to reach out, but researching target blogs should involve more than a 3-minute Google search. The more you know about a blog (and a blogger, for that matter), the more likely you are to be able to provide something that will resonate. Referencing past posts or recognizing themes or interests as part of your pitch demonstrates you’re actually interested in contributing. It seems simple, and it is. That doesn’t mean it’s not important. 3. Say No to Spam Just because you can email 30 different bloggers everyday for a month in hopes to grab some coverage, that doesn’t mean you should. Avoiding becoming an annoyance and striving to become a credible source will not only build your online reputation, it’ll create results. Simply put, pitch a blogger when it’s relevant to their blog, but don’t smother 4. Be Patient Most of the time, you can’t phone up a blogger and pitch an idea like you might with other media. You’re going to have to email it in. And as a vehicle for pitching, email is still finding its footing. The key is to be patient and stick with it. It’s not uncommon for pitches to go unanswered, but as responses start to come in and the relationship between you and the blogger grows, positive experience will breed a healthy reputation. Good things will come from that. 5. Join the Conversation The beautiful thing about blogger relations is that after you receive coverage, your job isn’t over – we have the opportunity to directly engage in a conversation with our audience. Once coverage is received, pay attention to what others are saying and jump into the conversation where appropriate. Obviously, all the rules of any good PR spokesperson apply here: avoiding negative language, refusing to become combative and being mindful of your word choice. It might not be easy, but your absence from a relevant conversation is a missed opportunity. Don’t be afraid to jump in. After all, isn’t that the point of social media? There’s much more to be said on blogger relations. What I’ve laid out here is by no means comprehensive. So, if I’ve missed anything specific you’d like me to consider, let me know by email or join the conversation here. After all, I’m always looking for a new best friend – and that includes other bloggers. Organic SEO: Money for “nothing�? and your clicks for “free�? Consider this: 93% of all B2B buying decisions today start with an online search. And, your position in organic search engine results matters: 89.71% of all click-through traffic—those search engine results listings that are actively clicked—comes from the first 10 results with over 60% coming from just the top 3 listings. In other words, if you’re not paying attention to your site’s ranking in search engines—especially Google—you’re leaving money on the table. While Search Engine Optimization (SEO), the art and science of “optimizing a web site by improving internal and external aspects in order to increase the traffic the site receives from search engines�? (seomoz.org), is not really free—it takes time, knowledge, effort and budget, especially if you’re going to contract a third party firm to help you—there are lots of levers readily available to you to elevate your site’s rankings in search engines and drive greater success for your business. Where to start? The best approach strikes a good balance between organic and paid search. Because organic—or natural, algorithmic—SEO gets over 70% of the clicks and doesn’t involve paying for media exposures, we’ll focus there. When it comes to organic SEO, focal areas include: 1. Content – are you ensuring your site’s content is robust, relevant and useful and portions are regularly updated? 2. Site structure – have you leveraged best practices for HTML coding, meta data tagging and appropriate use of Flash to aid search engine crawlers in determining what your content is about? 3. Keywords: are you positioning your content to map to the keywords searchers are using to look for the type of content you’re offering? 4. Linking: are you capitalizing on internal and—especially—external linking opportunities to increase the quality and position of your ranking? While there’s much more to be said about the above topics, the bottom line is that SEO can help you maximize your business success from your online channel. With a modest investment of time, effort and budget, you should be able to drive good results; now’s the time to explore this ripe frontier for driving better ROI. by Tony Mohr. Posted in: All posts, Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Tips. Tags: content · keywords · linking · organic SEO · search engines · SEO
Befriend the Blogger: 5 Relationship-building Behaviors The blogger is a strange creature. Existing in masses, clamoring in drones and all vying for our attention, they vary on the scale of relevance and are capable of attitudes that range from complete narcissism to apparent altruism. For social media cynics, bloggers may be the banes of their existence – but for PR professionals, they should be our best friends. To those of us who look at an intense, controversial and even dangerous conversation and see nothing but opportunity, bloggers are a gift. Not only do the successful ones have large, specific and devout followings, the very nature of a blog invites collaboration and discussion: public relations in its purest form. That’s why blogger relations – engaging the author and offering ideas, commentary or conversation – is emerging as one of the most valuable social media-related marketing tools around. Don’t believe me? Consider Marketing Sherpa’s 2010 Social Media Marketing Benchmark Report. Specifically, have a look at the graph below. chart Analyzing social media tactics based on their effectiveness versus effort required, Marketing Sherpa found that blogger relations – while requiring the most effort – is easily the most effective. Of course, it’s that “most effort�? part that scares many away from blogger relations as a tactic. And while there’s no denying that effective blogger relations is the result of hard work, I’d like to offer five tips to help you engage with online authors: 1. Work with Bloggers, Not against Them This is media relations 101: Build the relationship. Engaging in blogger relations is about working with bloggers to deliver content that both satisfies their audience and gives coverage to your cause. Therein lies a great give-and-take, and the more you are willing to engage in that dance, the more credible you will become and the stronger your relationship will be. The result? More coverage. More success. 2. Do Your Homework You don’t have to follow every blog relevant to your cause for months before you decide to reach out, but researching target blogs should involve more than a 3-minute Google search. The more you know about a blog (and a blogger, for that matter), the more likely you are to be able to provide something that will resonate. Referencing past posts or recognizing themes or interests as part of your pitch demonstrates you’re actually interested in contributing. It seems simple, and it is. That doesn’t mean it’s not important. 3. Say No to Spam Just because you can email 30 different bloggers everyday for a month in hopes to grab some coverage, that doesn’t mean you should. Avoiding becoming an annoyance and striving to become a credible source will not only build your online reputation, it’ll create results. Simply put, pitch a blogger when it’s relevant to their blog, but don’t smother 4. Be Patient Most of the time, you can’t phone up a blogger and pitch an idea like you might with other media. You’re going to have to email it in. And as a vehicle for pitching, email is still finding its footing. The key is to be patient and stick with it. It’s not uncommon for pitches to go unanswered, but as responses start to come in and the relationship between you and the blogger grows, positive experience will breed a healthy reputation. Good things will come from that. 5. Join the Conversation The beautiful thing about blogger relations is that after you receive coverage, your job isn’t over – we have the opportunity to directly engage in a conversation with our audience. Once coverage is received, pay attention to what others are saying and jump into the conversation where appropriate. Obviously, all the rules of any good PR spokesperson apply here: avoiding negative language, refusing to become combative and being mindful of your word choice. It might not be easy, but your absence from a relevant conversation is a missed opportunity. Don’t be afraid to jump in. After all, isn’t that the point of social media? There’s much more to be said on blogger relations. What I’ve laid out here is by no means comprehensive. So, if I’ve missed anything specific you’d like me to consider, let me know by email or join the conversation here. After all, I’m always looking for a new best friend – and that includes other bloggers. by Nick Hinsperger. Posted in: All posts, Best Practices, Social Media. Tags: blogger · marketing tools · public relations · Social Media
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