People must be lured to your fan page!

And there are some good and bad ways to go about doing this. I’m going to share with you the top 10 ways that have worked for me and my clients.

1. Invite your friends from your person profile to “like” your new business page. Don’t be offended if they don’t all accept your request. It could be that they have not seen the request because they are using their phone app or missed it in the plethora or requests they get. Facebook also only allows a person to have 500 likes so they may not be able to. In the end, it still will give you a few extra likes.

2. Embed a widget on your website. Go to Facebook plug-ins and select a widget that works best for your website and/or blog. The Like Box is the most popular because it shows people how many likes you currently have as well as a live feed of your Facebook page.

3. Invite your newsletter subscribers to like your page. Send an invite to all your subscribers to like your page – but make it fun by having some sort of contest. An example would be that the 500th like wins a prize, or liking the page enters them into a contest to win a prize. Just give them some kind of incentive to like your page.

4. Add your Facebook info as a signature to your email. Some people forget that you can add a signature at the bottom of your email. This is good practice when having a business email so that customers get instant access to all your contact information. You should also add a Facebook link or icon so that customers know that you are also on Facebook.

5. Make a compelling welcome video. Create an attractive landing tab with a video that explains exactly what your page is all about, who it’s for and why they should like your page. This makes you look more like an actual person and not just a business. They see your personality as well as your passion for your business.

6. Buy Facebook “like” ads. I have done this with all my clients. You can run “like” ads where Facebook will advertise who from your friend’s list has liked a page as well as ad suggested likes on your wall. Nine times out of ten, if a friend likes something, so will you. I don’t do it for more than $10/day for a few months. But you can do it until you get the desired likes you want. You can also customize your target to only reach certain demographics, which is nice.

7. Get fans to tag photos. If you host a live event, be sure to take plenty of photos, take video of you making a gift basket, but also encourage your customers to upload and tag pictures of their delivered gift. This will show your work as well is give you instead testimonials

8. Run a contest. This can be somewhat tricky since Facebook recently changed their promotional guidelines.  But as long as you follow the rules, it can be a great way to get people to your Facebook Fan Page.

9. Link your Facebook to Twitter. You can link your Facebook and Twitter accounts so that you only need to post in one place to update your status on both systems. You should also promote your Facebook Fan page on your Twitter background.

10. Add your Facebook link on your personal Facebook page. You can add it as a website link in your about section. You should also announce your new page on your personal page for all your friends to see and possibly “like” it.

Just remember that these tips can help you get fans, but in order to keep them – you need to be engaging, fun and informational – not just business and sales pitches!

The post Tips on How to Increase Your Facebook Likes appeared first on Atlanta SEO Management | Atlanta Website Design | Atlanta Application Development.

Today’s I’m going to show you how to ensure your on-page optimization doesn’t turn engines away. Let me first tell you a story. A friend of mine keeps his toothbrush in his kitchen. Thinking it peculiar, I inquired about it. He responded, “Do you keep your plates in your bathroom?” I thought this more quizzical than the placement of his brush. There is a lot less bacteria in my kitchen cabinet than out in the open in my bathroom.

It turns out he’s right; ironically, placing a toothbrush, an instrument of cleaning, out in the open in the bathroom increases its likelihood of being tarnished with bacteria. What other ironies are occurring in our offline lives!

Here and now, what about online? Fabulous web designers, strong copywriters, and clever marketers devote energy into your brand’s website and presence, making impressions on current and potential customers.

However, are search engines turned away from your site? Are your site’s pages properly optimized for best indexation and reception?

Terrible irony alert – your brand’s ability to communicate with customers is fantastic, yet its presence and optimization of online platforms is poor.

Site Architecture

URLs
Maintain consistency with your URL structure. Keep URLs short, exacting a logic regarding main and subfolders. Best methods include:

• Targeting key terms
• Using hyphens between words
• Being consistent

Take the time to map to-be URLs, making them succinct and logical.

Crawl Access
Don’t sacrifice design and function for accessibility; optimize your brand’s online property (You would not lock the front door to your brick and mortal store, right?) Particular Flash and Java design elements, though eye pleasing, could block engine spiders and possibility of indexation.

For better crawling:

• Limit using Flash and Java
• Use webmaster tools to check indexation

Canonicals
Webmasters and marketers devote energy toward link building and driving traffic to particular pages, these pages eventually building authority. But what if brand pages were competing against other brand pages?

Sometimes, due to page navigation, session IDs, and other architecture issues, pages have more than one URL associated to them. Alert search engines of your preferred URL, using the canonical attribution.

Titles and Description
How would you file your business papers? For best organization and results of recovery, you’re likely to put everything in its unique place.

Meta titles and descriptions help search engines do the same with your brand’s pages. For best results, make each title and description unique, creating a great experience for users while facilitating indexation.

Robots.txt
How do sailors navigate the vast seas? They have maps and the stars to guide them. Help search engines navigate your site; lend extra direction with robot.txt files.

The added ability to direct search engine spiders and communicate crawl preferences, modifications, and eliminations is a huge benefit for many webmasters who compose and submit succinct and clean robot.txt files.

Load Times
This an insight inextricably associated with user experience as well, consumers don’t like to wait (especially with plenty of choices at hand). Mind your site’s and individual pages’ load times.

Webmasters apply a number of structure modifications (such as minimizing html, using content delivery networks, and particularly positioning style sheets) in order to increase page speeds and load times. Additionally, webmasters read hosting reviews, ensuring chosen hosts’ architectures are optimized for quick load speeds.

Content

Language
Your brand message and approach may differ depending on location and language, for instance when selling to a consumer in America as compared to one in Sweden. Search engines embrace unique content; therefore, make your content unique and targeted toward chosen languages.

Purchase domains targeted toward a particular countries; optimize pages for countries and not languages; and, target specific search engines when considering content placement.

Quantity
Prior Google updates targeted content ‘farms’ or lazy methods of advertising, penalizing those who create multiple pages with little to no difference in message or principle.

Consolidate brand messages as well as the site-unique pages hosting them. Rather than ten pages related to respective topics, search engines prefer one, robust page efficiently fulfilling consumer queries.

External/Interlinking
Webmasters interlink site pages, facilitating user experience; additionally, external links improve the research experience of consumers.

While certain actions (such as evading a ‘link farm’ or heavy external link page) are not endorsed, no exact rules regarding the number of internal and outgoing links exist. Therefore, webmasters balance their link building on respective pages for optimal indexation and engagement.

Keywords
In the early days of the web, when engines used on-page elements (like the number of times a word is used in text) to serve queries, webmasters ‘stuffed’ words in text, hoping to trump other web pages of similar topic.

Those days are gone, and while best methods of communication point to the obvious use of particular words associated with products and services, executing natural methods of communication work best with consumers and search engines. Keyword density tools exist, helping webmasters determine consistency of message and volume of waged words.

Video
Brands seeking to make solid impacts with customers (after the terror of Panda and Penguin) embrace forms of content marketing, distributing content via textual blogs, visual infographics, and multimedia videos. In-house strategists and content services use consumer knowledge to engineer messages, driving optimal reception, traffic, and conversions.

The introduction to snippets and schema markup in the SERPs has influenced user behavior. One marketer finds the conversion rate of a particular key term increasing over 300% due to video content and proper markup.

Schema Markup and Snippets
You’re driving down the road, looking out the window, seeing nothing but blue skies. A huge billboard comes into view; you can’t help but notice the ad, whether you’re immediately in need of the brand’s services or products. Snippets offer brands further ability to make engine-generated results standout from the crowd.

Engines read webmaster-inserted schema markups, delivering the added information to onlookers in reference to movie ratings, food recipes, publication authors, and more. As adding a video increased a marketer’s conversion rate in the above video example, snippets improve visibility, and in comparison to a competitor’s served result, could dramatically improve conversion rates.

Did you know smiling can get you promoted? Maybe my hygienic friend was hoping to get a raise. Raise the appraisal of your site’s pages by minding the above sections and messages. Remember, you want your brand to make a magical impression; however, ensure on-page elements are not hiding your brand’s ability to show search engines and consumers your smile. Turn them on and not away with on-page optimization.

Reference: www.searchenginejournal.com – Why Your On Page Turns Search Engines Away

The post Why Your On-Page Turns Search Engines Away appeared first on Atlanta SEO Management | Atlanta Website Design | Atlanta Application Development.

• Selling the concept of discovering and optimizing for highly converting keywords.
• Discovering non-branded keywords driving traffic and conversions.
• Delivering additional SEO services to capitalize on highly converting keywords.
• Reporting on the evolution of highly converting keywords and content.

Step 1: Selling the Concept The first place to introduce the concept of discovering and optimizing for highly converting keywords is in your marketing and sales conversations. Many SEO prospects and clients still want to buy the promise of a number 1 search position for their keywords. This goal is difficult to obtain and maintain and sets unachievable expectations for you and your client. Instead, avoid the urge to agree upon a list of keywords with your client that your team is going to “optimize for” – that list of 10, 20, or 30 keywords that your team will go away and “do SEO for.” You can call this list of keywords the keyword gap. Every client will have a list of keywords they think they want to rank for when in reality there’s a more highly converting keyword list that will perform better. That’s what the second step, discovery, is all about. You can do some initial keyword discovery in the sales process to demonstrate the keyword gap. Show the prospect some data for two keywords, for example:

Which one is the better performing keyword:

• Keyword 1 (condominiums for sale in Richmond) in Position 4 for a particular page with 20 visits and 10 conversions?
• Keyword 2 (condos in Richmond) in Position 3 for a different page with 3 visits and 1 conversion?

Based on the topic of this article, the quick answer is, Keyword 1 in Position 4 (condominiums for sale in Richmond) is a better performing keyword. An alternative answer is: more keyword discovery is required to understand if there are opportunities to optimize the web page that Keyword 2 is positioned for. Or maybe Keyword 1 is one of those highly converting keywords that should be included in all content marketing efforts.

Takeaway: Build time into your sales proposal and SEO program for ongoing discovery to uncover those highly converting keywords prospects are using at different stages of the buying cycle. Base decisions on great SEO data from a variety of sources, including SERPs, organic traffic, and conversion data. Always be on the lookout for new opportunities to optimize.

Step 2: The Discovery Process The discovery process for new non-branded keywords should be practiced as frequently as possible. Uncover the new, non-branded keywords that are driving organic search traffic and conversions and determine whether there is an opportunity to further optimize the web presence for these keywords. The success of this process depends on setting up goals and conversions in your analytics system. One of my favorite sayings about SEO is, “don’t bother even starting the SEO process unless you have website analytics goals and conversions configured.” Goals and conversions in your analytics system don’t have to be complicated. Start with simple conversions and as you learn about your web presence increase the sophistication. Think about what you want your website visitors to do. What would you consider a successful visit? Here are a few examples of metrics to measure successful visits (conversions) from organic search:

• Time spent on site: If a visitor has stayed on the site for a certain number of minutes (3+) and the bounce rate is low, then perhaps it can be concluded that the visitor read the content. The content was appealing to them.
• Number of pages visited: If the visitor reviews two or more pages, then perhaps it can be concluded that they were intrigued with the content enough to read further.
• Main product or services page to contact sales page: If the main purpose of the site is to promote the organization’s main product, did the visitor review the product page, then the pricing page then the contact sales page?

Takeaway: Below is the process for uncovering highly-converting keywords.

• Set up goals and conversions in analytics.
• As frequently as possible, look for the top non-branded keywords that are driving organic search traffic and conversions.
• Understand the rank position for the keyword and which page or pages are ranking.
• Understand the search volume for the keyword (both broad match and exact match).
• Analyze the ranking pages and look for opportunities to optimize for the keyword in question.
• Implement changes and watch for changes in position, traffic from organic search, and most importantly conversions. If there are positive changes, create some additional content that includes the keyword and again watch for changes.
• Report newly identified, non-branded keywords and progress to the client.

Step 3: Delivering Additional SEO Services to Capitalize on Highly Converting Keywords Once a new non-branded keyword is discovered and reported to the client, discuss the keyword opportunity and the plan for capitalizing on it.

• What was the entry page for that keyword?
• Where in the buying cycle is that keyword likely to be used?
• What kind of content can be created and distributed to further support that keyword and the prospect as they demonstrate their intent to find content?
• Is it worth further investment in SEO?

At this point, there is an opportunity to upsell the client on additional service hours to optimize and create content for the newly discovered and agreed upon keywords. It is also the point where the keyword should be included in the full content marketing strategy and further planning done on the type of content prospects require at this particular stage in the buying cycle. Perhaps it’s a focused case study, with supporting blog content, video, whitepaper or a combination. Think about the distribution points for the content and the possible backlinks and social signals that can be created for the keyword.

Takeaway: Set aside time each month to discuss newly discovered keywords with the client.

Step 4: Reporting on the Evolution of Highly Converting Keywords & Content The approach of identifying and focusing on highly converting keywords then incorporating those keywords into the full content marketing strategy requires a different level of reporting compared to the basic monthly SEO reporting of number of backlinks, number of keywords on Page 1, etc. Including keyword visits and conversions data alongside position data is a great first step to getting the client thinking about the difference between ranking first for any keyword versus ranking for the keywords prospects actually value and associate with your organization. Once the keyword is incorporated into the full content marketing strategy the reporting requirements should shift to be focused on the performance of the particular piece of content or the content marketing campaign. This is where the disciplines of SEO, social media and content marketing begin to completely collide.

Takeaway: With the right tracking and metrics technologies the impact of content on a web presence for the purpose of organic search optimization can be reported, including:

• How the position has been affected for a particular cluster of keywords.
• How many backlinks and social signals have been created.
• How many keyword visits and conversions are associated with the content campaign.
• And most importantly, how many sales are attributed to the content.

Conclusion Google’s algorithm updates have changed the practice of SEO. Search marketing firms have an opportunity to evolve their sales, delivery and reporting practices to differentiate themselves. Focusing on the discovery of highly converting keywords beginning with the sales and marketing conversations through delivery and reporting will produce stronger SEO results over the long term and happier SEO clients.

Reference: searchenginewatch.com – SEO & Keywords: Think Conversions, Not Rankings

The post Keywords & Conversion appeared first on Atlanta SEO Management | Atlanta Website Design | Atlanta Application Development.

As good as this tool is, we’ve known for years that it’s not entirely accurate. We know that  out of the time, search volumes associated with keywords are a little inflated and we’re not likely to consistently hit the tragic numbers that Google thinks we could get with a top placement.

A post by Rand Fishkin over at SEOMoz illustrates how some results from the keyword tool can be either a little off or missing when referenced against Google Analytics. In his post, Fishkin explains that the most glaring thing he saw was the absence of keywords his site was ranking for in the suggested keyword ideas by Google. This is despite the strong relevance between the keyword that he ran a little research on.

See the post here to get an eyeful what I’m talking about. What you’ll see may surprise you.

It seems that Google knows a lot of long-tailed keywords but doesn’t always display them in keyword research results. Is this by design? It’s hard to say.

What I love about Rand’s post is this nice nugget of a takeaway:

If you have the budget, my top recommendation is to buy a few, very broad keywords in AdWords, send them to a relevant landing page on your site, but realize you probably will lose money on the campaign. The goal isn’t conversions, but rather to learn by watching the keyword terms/phrases for which you get impressions. This is also great conversion-testing if you have the budget to invest, but even a week or two of data can be highly valuable for future keyword targeting.

Neat move, huh? Sure, it may cost you a few bucks, but the potential discovery of keywords that other people can’t even begin to research is certainly worth the gamble. Imagine finding several keywords with significant search volumes and very low competition levels and cost per click rates. What will that mean for your AdWords and organic campaigns? It could be that edge that you’ve always wanted to have for you to separate yourself from your competitors.

What do you think? Got any other cool keyword research tricks that you can share? Let me know in the comments section.

Reference: http://www.andyjenkinsblog.com – What’s Google AdWords Keyword Tool Hiding from You?

The post Is Google Keyword Tools Hiding Something? appeared first on Atlanta SEO Management | Atlanta Website Design | Atlanta Application Development.

2012 was rough for Search Engine Optimization experts due to radical changes in Google’s algorithms, including many updates to Panda, as well as the the introduction of Penguin. While content quality and inbound links continue to play major roles in organic rankings, let’s take a look at the other factors that will govern SEO in 2013.

2012: The Year of Pandas and Penguins, Creating Value, and the Emergence of Guest Posting

Before we dive into predictions for SEO next year, let’s recap the major patterns of 2012.

• Though originally released in 2011, Google’s Panda algorithm went through multiple updates that kicked many low-quality websites out of the SERPs; tens of thousands of websites were affected.

• Google released its Penguin algorithm in April 2012, which changed the face of the industry, forcing many SEOs to adapt their tactics and strategies. Many companies that had engaged in Penguin-unfriendly SEO tactics were dropped from the search results due to Penguin, and companies that continued to engage in these tactics saw their rankings disappear, often without any warning.

• Google got much smarter, to the extent that it appears to be able to distinguish between content that adds real value and content that has been posted solely for SEO purposes. “Value” became an important subconscious factor — one that will dictate how Google perceives websites.

• Guest blogging emerged to become a very popular method of building credible links.Tactics and methods for acquiring guest blog links surfaced across the industry.

• Negative SEO became a hot topic of debate, to the extent that Google responded by launching the Disavow Link tool, which empowers webmasters to specify backlinks that should be discarded or discounted by Google when it evaluates links to their website.

• Of the exploited SEO methods that were ousted and devalued, anchor text over-use was the most prominent. Remnants of websites that used “paid links” were kicked out too.

2013: The 7 Factors That Will Determine Your Survival in SEO

If it were up to me, I’d simply focus on creating value for the reader — because ultimately, that should be the goal of any website. However, increasing competition may require you to employ strategic practices in a pragmatic approach to assist your rise to the top of the SERPs. Here are the tactics and strategies that will dominate the SEO landscape in 2013.

1. Quality of Content

Ultimately, it all comes down to the quality and value of the content on your website. Google has been very explicit this year about good-quality content, and we expect this trend to carry over into next year in full force. By content quality, the metrics are:

• uniqueness of the content/topic
• resourcefulness and information richness (i.e., no thin content)
• 800+ words on homepage, 500+ words on category pages and 250+ words on product pages

2. Content Marketing

Content marketing is being touted as the next big thing. Experts have called it the new SEO. To an extent, this is true. As a general rule, content marketing attracts backlinks, and adds value for the user/reader. It is more challenging, because you have to generate more content of high quality, circulate it, and make sure your content gets published widely with ample social signals to generate substantial SEO value.

Since Google takes valuable content seriously, a solid content marketing strategy will be the key to climbing to the next level in SEO.

3. AuthorRank

AuthorRank has emerged as a vital metric in deciding SERPs, although studies about its value are still ongoing. One thing that we can be sure of in 2013 is that AuthorRank will add credibility and value to your website, and it will be vitally important for every webmaster.

4. Social Signals

After much debate and discussion, social signals have largely been accepted as valid ranking factors. In the next year (and probably in the years to follow), social signals will play a growing role. Shares, retweets, mentions, and perhaps most importantly, +1s are trophies every webmaster should be amassing.

5. Mobile/Responsive Design

Although this does not directly influence the ranking of a page, it will play a role in your fortunes. Google was one of the first companies to become aware of this trend in web browsing due to the growing presence of tablets and smartphones. Responsive design may not be an explicit SEO factor, but in terms of usability, it is likely to be a highly influential element to consider in 2013.

6. Localization

Google’s growing preference for local websites and information has become evident in many searches. It’s safe to assume 2013 we’ll witness an increase in this preference. Websites that apply local SEO will enjoy higher rankings and visibility. This includes map data, listings, citations, and reviews on local information sites.

7. Media

Images and videos have become staples on the Internet. We’ve consistently seen that relevant results that include videos get ranked higher than text-only content. The further emergence of media content is an important development you can expect next year. It’s becoming essential to add relevant non-textual media to text content, because this adds value and makes the content more resourceful.

Reference: http://www.searchenginejournal.com, SEO in 2013: 7 Surprisingly Simple Factors That Will Take The Lead

The post 2013 SEO Checklist: Penguine vs Panda Updates appeared first on Atlanta SEO Management | Atlanta Website Design | Atlanta Application Development.

Off-page optimization deals with aspects that take place elsewhere such as the quality and relevance (though not these days the sheer numeric volume) of your back-links. An effective SEO campaign will usually take both into account, but the importance of complete on-page optimization cannot be overstated.

Keywords 

‘The keyword is king’ used to be the mantra of most SEO campaigns. Choosing the correct keywords is still crucial. They are, after all, the phrases that people use when searching for a site, but nowadays less can be more.

The recent Penguin update to Google’s search algorithm dealt with keyword stuffing amongst other issues. Keyword repetition, if done within reasonable parameters, is not considered a black hat technique, but its efficacy is certainly debatable.

After years of debate concerning the optimum keyword density (if you were paying attention you might have noticed people throwing extremely precise figures such as 3.5 percent or 4.2 percent), Google’s Head of Webspam Matt Cutts claimed that it didn’t matter half as much as many people think.

“The first time you mention a word, you know, ‘Hey, that’s pretty interesting. It’s about that word.’ The next time you mention that word, ‘Oh, okay. It’s still about that word.’ And once you start to mention it a whole lot, it really doesn’t help that much more. There’s diminishing returns,” Cutts explained earlier this year.

More recently he revealed that:

“We have an entire team at Google called the Synonyms Team, and their job is to sort of realize that car and automobile are the same thing.”

The key with keywords in content, it seems, is to choose them wisely and use them as naturally as possible. There are, however, a few places where you should make sure your most important keywords appear. Keywords should generally be placed near the top of the page and at the beginning of paragraphs.

Titles

When search engines analyze your site, they pay particular attention to what lies between the HTML heading tags, especially <H1>, <H2>, and <H3>. In other words, titles and subtitles are important positions for keywords.

Don’t just use the heading tags on your first or main page. For every page on your website you should have a <h1> or <h2>or <h3> that has that page’s main keyword within it.

You can also double up on your subtitle SEO efforts by also including them in a contents list of clickable links. Don’t, however, make your titles too long or convoluted. Keep them simple and to the point.

URLs

The URL of the webpage can be one of the most important factors of on-page optimization. Changing URLs retrospectively can be problematic so it’s important to get this right from the start. Including important, relevant keywords in the URL can give you a small, but perhaps, crucial rankings boost, and both Google and Yahoo will display the portions of your URL that match the search term entered in bold in the SERPs. This can serve to catch a human eye even if you are not at the top of the SERPs for that particular search term.

Avoid overly dynamic URLs as these can be off-putting in the search results. All of your URLs should be set up in a logical way that gives an idea to what the user can expect from the content of the page.

If, for example, you saw www.domain.com/index.php?12345/ then it would be almost impossible for you to guess what that page was about. On the other hand, www.domain.com/dog-leads/ is almost certainly going to be about dog leads. 

Meta Tags 

Meta tags are used to instruct search engines on how a particular webpage should be indexed. Optimizing your title tag and the description meta tag can be useful in providing additional information to the search engines but using the keyword meta tag can do more harm than good. 

The exception to this is the news_keywords meta tag that Google announced in September. This is only for Google News-accredited clients however and pertains only to news stories. If this isn’t you, steer clear of the keyword meta tag.

The nature of SEO has changed over time, but its purpose is still the same. Increasing your chances of a high SERPS ranking and the additional traffic this can generate can only be a good thing. On-page optimization is one of the most important tools in achieving this and can be well worth the time and effort.

Reference: http://www.searchenginejournal.com, On-Page Optimization Methods Still Valid in 2013

The post Is Your Website Optimized? appeared first on Atlanta SEO Management | Atlanta Website Design | Atlanta Application Development.

Although most marketers are currently scrambling to find out what particular trends are being eyed as those which could be huge the coming year, the important thing to remember is that trends are completely dependent on the consumers that propagate them, and if there is something that seasoned marketers know, it’s the fact that consumers have a huge tendency to be absolutely fickle about their preferences, and in a blindingly speedy manner.

That unfathomable thought ten years ago is today’s reality. Consumers are increasingly more tech savvy, connected on the go, and spend hours a day browsing blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and video sites. Unknowingly, consumers have collectively started a groundswell of “home-made content” that expresses their views online about everything from products, services, relationships, and beyond. The quickness of the transition and volume of participation has caught brands and marketers off guard, as they now have to grapple with where to find, and then how to engage, their audiences.

2013’s emerging trends will focus on how to measure, analyze, and engage audiences effectively on social networks. Here are a few I see coming this year.

Locating your audience

Aggregating data is the key to winning today’s marketing game — spending big money to engage small audiences that “may be relevant” leads to poor returns. But while finding your audience is the most critical step, it is also the most difficult because users move from platform to platform and find new content quickly. The solution? Deploy strategies that allow you to monitor viral video, micro-blogging, blogs, e-commerce, image sharing, and social media sites. While this process may seem laborious, a good monitoring tool will help you keep regular snapshots of where your audience is and what they’re talking about. While some of these tools can be pricey, there are great inexpensive options that will scale with you and your team as you grow your engagement.

Analyzing the site

The way you engage with a particular site is just as important as finding the right site in the first place.  Remember that not all sites were created equal and each has its own unique qualities, so it’s beneficial to understand how the site operates. If it is a social media site, then deploying banner ads would be a waste of resources since most users are completely focused on the content their friends share and oblivious to the edges of the page. This is also apparent on mobile platforms where users rarely click on ads.  Reaching users on social sites often means having meaningful content or offers that can be included within the course of existing conversations.

Thinking multi-platform

Becoming a part of the conversation cultivates community and helps you to reach more people in the right places. Those who spend their money on banner ads will find the messages stuck on computer screens while the companies who allocate some of their budget on figuring out how to become part of the conversation will find their brand being taken wherever their consumers go.  Think like your audience and become part of the conversation, you will have more opportunities to align your message with the right targets and influencers.

Finding the (right) influencers

Social media sites have given birth to an interesting group of people—online influencers.  On any social media site there are a handful of influencers that help shape a brand’s image or keep a specific topic alive and relevant. These influencers break through the clutter and chatter because their audience trusts and respects their opinions.  Remember that influencers are different across different channels, so the user who has thousands of Twitter followers may not be the person topping Pinterest pins. Once you’ve identified your influencers on the channels important to your brand, reach out to them and you’ll be more effective in fostering discussion.

Measuring the effect

Measurement is a vital part of every campaign as metrics determine the effectiveness of the campaign and outline steps and strategies moving forward. This task may seem more difficult in social media, but by measuring mentions, types of discussion, segmentation by channel, and the sentiment around the conversation you have interesting data to show ROI. For e-commerce sites, taking this data and merging it with web analytics data can tell you how effective the conversation was in driving web traffic and sales.

As we move into 2013, social media outreach and analysis will continue to be an increasingly important component for making marketing campaigns successful, and should garner just as much time and preparation as traditional campaigns. As more social sites emerge, further fragmenting the landscape, having access to and using the right technology to locate, monitor, analyze, and engage your audience will make or break marketing and marketers.

Photo credit: Marketing Moves On – courtesy © vege – Fotolia.com & © CYCLONEPROJECT, Reference: searchenginejournal.com - Top Trends for 2013: Marketing Moves On

The post Marketing Strategies for 2013 appeared first on Atlanta SEO Management | Atlanta Website Design | Atlanta Application Development.

Plugins all add different features so it’s hard to compare them objectively. For some projects one feature may be more important than another. Sometimes a specific feature may not even be wanted or needed on a project.

Therefore this list is simply the plugins that I like personally and found to be the most useful in my client projects over the last year. That leaves tons of room for debate. So if your favorite plugin isn’t in this list, leave a comment. Make your case why I should have included it.

Some of these plugins are pretty popular and you’ll be familiar with them. There may be one or two that are new to you. Most are freely available in the Plugin Directory. But I’m including a couple premium only plugins too.

WordPress SEO
Since we’re at Search Engine journal it makes sense to talk SEO first. When it comes to that, Yoast’s WordPress SEO is my go-to plugin. And I mean no disrespect to the more popular All In On SEO Pack. Michael Torbert and his team are great folks.

But WordPess SEO does more and makes it easier to manage all SEO related stuff with one plugin. This plugin has the usual settings for title tags, meta information and robots.txt commands, etc. Over and above that, the plugin has

• Keyword Research
• Google Snippet Preview
• On Page SEO Analysis
• Webmaster Tools Verification
• XML Sitemaps
• RSS Optimization
• Breadcrumbs
• Social Integration
• Checkbox Removal of Links
• Some .htaccess Settings

It’s an incredibly powerful plugin. Used properly it will maximize the potential search engine exposure of your content.

W3 Total Cache
Speaking of incredibly powerful, W3 Total Cache is a great plugin for increasing the performance of your WordPress site. When we talk about performance in this case we’re talking about making your website load more quickly for your site visitors. Please know that this is a case of “with great power comes great complexity.” With all of the things this plugin can do, and the wide array of possible server configurations, W3 Total Cache can be a bear to configure.

For example, here are some of the things this plugin can be configured to do.

• Seamless content delivery network (CDN) integration with WordPress for media and theme files
• Post and Page caching
• CSS and Javascript caching
• RSS Feed caching
• Caching of search results pages
• Database caching
• Minification of HTML, Javascript, & CSS for posts, pages and RSS Feeds
• Browser cache control
• Import media files to your CDN

A faster loading website has SEO considerations because page speed is a factor in Google’s algorithm. Higher website performance has also been linked to increased revenue for eCommerce sites as well.

The plus side can be well worth the effort to configure the plugin for your site.

Defensio Anti-Spam
Spam is the scourge of the internet. Everybody knows about Akismet for dealing with spam. But if you’re just starting out with your business the low $5 a month Akismet charges is noticeable. Fortunately there’s a fantastic alternative in Defensio.

I was a beta tester for the plugin back in 2007 when their service was first coming online and it’s a solid choice for protecting your site from spam. They have a profanity filter. You can choose to block URL’s based on their category. And there it can protect your Facebook profile or page as well.

Their pricing has a free entry level for small businesses under 5 employees or up to 25,000 posts per month. So if you’re still getting your business bearings then Defensio is a good option to consider.

Cookies for Comments
Speaking of spam protection, Cookies for Comments is an amazing little plugin that can stop machine generated spam comments even before they hit your server.

When I installed this plugin and added the two recommended lines to the .htaccess file on one of my higher traffic sites my spam comments went from a couple thousand a day down to about 5 a month. Seriously. It made that much of a difference.

Normally I shy away from plugins that don’t list compatibility with the current version of WordPress. But I’ll make an exception for this one. Hopefully the plugin developer will update the compatibility as WordPress 3.5 comes online.

Bonus: If you’re getting hit with tons of trackback spam check out Simple Trackback Validation with Topsy Blocker. It deals with the other side of the autogenerated spam issue.

The Events Calendar
I work with a lot of businesses, nonprofits and churches that need to have a way to let visitors know when they are holding events. I’ve found The Events Calendar to be one of the best solutions.

The plugin creates a custom post type for your events and gives you a ton of ways to manage and display your events. The plugin integrates with Google Maps so people can find your location. You can display your events in either a month or list view and there’s even a widget you can use to display your events.

If you do a lot of recurring events or your events need custom attributes it might be worth getting the Pro version from the good folks at Modern Tribe.

Digg Digg
There are so many social sharing plugins out there that it can be overwhelming for some one new to choose a good option. Digg Digg was the top of the heap for a at one point, and then went through a season where it was all but abandoned.

The folks at Buffer took over development of the plugin a year or so ago. After watching them for a while I decided they looked to be around for a while so I started using the plugin again.

Digg Digg has a couple dozen of the most popular social media buttons to choose from. You can configure the buttons to display either above your content or below it. Or it can do a floating bar beside your content.

Unfortunately it looks like Digg Digg may be in danger of being abandoned once again. Hopefully not, but if it is I don’t see it making next year’s top 10 list.

Gravity Forms
There are some solid plugins for creating web forms out there. There’s even a basic contact form bundled into Jetpack. So it may seem strange to choose this type of plugin for the first premium plugin in this list. But I find Gravity Forms that good.

I admit I held off buying Gravity Forms for a long time. When I finally did it was a breath of fresh air. All the compromises that I had to make with other plugins disappeared when I started using Gravity Forms.

You can build very complex multi-page forms, forms that show fields based on specific responses. You can create order forms and take payments directly from your website with one of the many addons available. And there are many addons to integrate the plugin with various email autoresponders.

Tip: If you use Gravity Forms be sure to search the WordPress Plugin Directory for free addons as well. There are a bunch in there.

NextGen Gallery
When it comes to managing lots of images on your WordPress site, NextGen Gallery is the gold standard. I’ve worked with big sites that have tens of thousands of images and this plugin doesn’t miss a beat.

You can upload your gallery images via the WordPress dashboard, or via FTP. If you choose FTP NextGen will import them in so that you can easily manage them from the dashboard. If you are a photographer, NextGen will allow you to watermark your images to protect them from copyright infringement.

NextGen is another one of those plugins that has many add on extension plugins available. If you are looking for a complex image gallery solution then NextGen is what you’ll want to use.

nRelate Related Content
A great way to keep people on your website is to show them other content they might be interested in when they get to the bottom of a post. Images are often best to entice visitors to click through to another post. There are several plugins that can do this for you. The one I like best is nRelate. Here are some of the reasons why.

• It is Multisite compatible
• It can be used without creating a user account – if folks want to advertise they can create their own accounts
• Their servers do the heavy lifting for determining related posts
• You can designate featured images – but if you don’t the plugin will pull the first image from the post
• You can opt for text only links
• You have several different style options for the thumbnail display

Soliloquy
Another plugin type where we have lots of choices is image rotators or sliders. And yes, I’m going with a premium only plugin here too. Soliloquy is a cut above all the other slider plugins I’ve used over the years. Here are some of the reasons this plugin is worth the investment.

• Mobile Responsive – Mobile is where the web is going. You want your image rotators to scale down with the rest of your website.
• SEO Friendly – Each image can have it’s own alt and title tags.
• It’s Light Weight – It only loads the required javascript files on pages with sliders. Many plugins load the scripts on all pages of your site.
• Multiple Sliders – Soliloquy supports multiple sliders on the same page.
• Videos – You can mix and match videos with still images in your sliders.

It’s been a bit over 6 months since Thomas Griffin first released Soliloquy. He’s working hard to advance it quickly. As a result I think it’s the best slider plugin available right now.

reference: www.searchenginejournal.com

The post Top 10 WordPress Plugins appeared first on Atlanta SEO Management | Atlanta Website Design | Atlanta Application Development.

A few years ago, many of us were skeptical about how Facebook was going to get marketers to spend a significant amount of time and money on their platform, which is clearly not the case these days. One thing I’m sure of now is that Facebook advertising is here to stay.

According to the State of Inbound report HubSpot put out this year, “42% of marketers say Facebook is critical or important to their business.” That percentage has gone up 75% from where it was just a few years ago. Talk about up and to the right!

With all that pickup, one would expect Facebook to have some resources out there to help us market our companies more effectively on Facebook. Never fear, for these resources exist! Unfortunately, they are somewhat hidden. Here are five pages and resources worth exploring if you are looking to drive traffic and sales through Facebook.

Facebook Marketing Page

Say what? Yup. Believe it or not, Facebook runs a page (with over 2 million likes, by the way) that they manage actively to help marketers use Facebook more effectively. They often post about webinars they are holding for marketers, answer specific questions posted to their wall, and spotlight valuable statistics that could help you make the case in-house to dedicate more resources to Facebook.

Facebook Advertising Page

For those of you looking to try your hand at Facebook ads, you might find there aren’t a ton of resources out there to help you get set up and running smoothly. Luckily for us, Facebook has been investing in their help documentation. In this section, they outline how things work, show off some success stories, and answer top questions. You can also find some contact information for those nagging questions you can’t quite figure out.

Facebook Business Page

This might be one of the least known resources that Facebook has put together. Instead of just focusing on how you can set up an ad and spend money with Facebook, they have worked to put together information on how you can get the most out of Facebook as a business. The page covers the basics like building a page and conversation etiquette, but it also gives tips on how to engage your audience and influence friends.

Facebook Studio

This is by far my favorite of all the resources Facebook has put together for marketers. Here you will find a gallery of creative Facebook campaigns, explore award-winning campaigns, a directory agencies experience in Facebook marketing campaigns, and more.

Facebook Studio Edge

This is a brand new resource for those looking to take Facebook campaign creation in house. Recently released, Facebook Studio Edge is an online course that walks a user through critical knowledge pieces like measurement, research, resources, and tools to help with Facebook marketing. You can request beta entry and get started today. I’m super excited to see them operationalize this learning curve a bit with the Facebook studio edge series.
References: 10.09.12, www.seomoz.org, 5 Facebook Marketing Resources You Didn’t Know About

The post 5 Facebook Marketing Tips You May Not Know About appeared first on Atlanta SEO Management | Atlanta Website Design | Atlanta Application Development.

What do you want to sell online? Do you and your market call your products by the same name?

The questions hardly seems necessary but in reality, these questions can make or break an upstart online business when not answered correctly.

Of course, I asked those questions to get a feel of how ready the business people were in terms of the keywords they want to compete for. Knowing what you want to market is the first step to actually selling something online. For that, you need to research your keywords carefully and I’ve prepared a simple guide that even non-Internet marketers can easily follow. Here goes:

• Identify what you’re marketing – The first step in keyword research is always to determine which ones make the most business sense to you. You’ll want to target your brand names, the generic names of your merchandise and the number of keywords you want to target. The first two are rather easy to do, and if you have a lot of experience in your niche, you probably have a good idea of what search terms to target. The last one is the part where you need lots of planning. The number of keywords you target should be commensurate to the size of your website, your labor and technical resources and the amount of time and attention you can invest in competing for them.
• Use a keyword tool – Trying to nail keywords that will yield great traffic and sales without a reliable source of information is like being a pilot who’s flying without radar. You can be a veteran of your niche, but at the end of the day, that doesn’t mean you know the exact searching behavior of your audience and how it trends from time to time. A keyword research tool helps you get around this and it can even suggest keywords that you might not have thought of. The Google Adwords keyword tool is free and provides you with lots of useful information. If you want something that provides cool extras like the ability to spy on competitors, stratified report generation and value-based keyword research, you can look at paid services like Market Samurai and SEMRush.
• Write down your core keywords – Create a list of all the main keywords that you want to target. If you can rank them according to importance to your business, that would be even better. Include search terms in your list that may be strongly associated with your brands and products.
• Get suggestions from your tool – Take the core keyword list and run them through your keyword tool. You’ll find out which ones have the best search volumes, the stiffest competition levels and highest potential for profit. A good keyword tool should also present you with a long list of keywords that are strongly relevant to the list that you fed it. From there, pick and choose which ones make the most sense to your business.
• Narrow down the list – Like a soldier who’s about to go to war, you can’t take along every gun in the armory. For owners of small and medium-sized businesses, that’s very true. You need to take your long list of keywords and only go for the most important ones which you have the capability to truly compete for. Keep in mind that competing for a single keyword can cost thousands of dollars over time whether you’re campaigning in PPC or SEO, so choose your battles carefully.
• Refine the keyword list with analytics – Once you’ve started competing in the search engines, you have to keep tabs on how well you’re performing for your keywords and how much return on investment you’re getting. I’m sure that you’ll notice in time which keywords yield the most traffic and which ones lead to conversions. From there, you can address weak and strong points in your campaign to generate more revenue at lower costs.

There you have it: six simple steps towards arriving at a great keyword list. Keep in mind that your keyword profile determines the identity of your online business, giving it direct and profound impact on your bottom line. Invest time and energy in this facet of Internet marketing and you’ll be on the right direction towards success.

Reference: andyjenkinsblog.com - The keyword research process simplified

The post Keyword Research Made Simple appeared first on Atlanta SEO Management | Atlanta Website Design | Atlanta Application Development.