The way you link, both internally and externally from your site, is crucial for achieving results in today’s competitive market. Proper linking can give you the advantage you need when it comes to search engine ranking and those all-important hits on your site.
As SEO experts are bound to point out, it’s a process that needs to be carried on over time and considered whenever you make any changes to your site. As a new site you’ll need strategies to assist you in climbing the ladder to good Internet ranking placement as quickly as possible.
Here are 10 very useful tips on links and linking architecture for anyone with an interest in SEO, and if you’re involved in marketing of any kind over the Internet, then that’s you.
1. Think About Who Links to You
You’ll already know the value of reputation when it comes to marketing your product or service. If sites that are associated with good quality products are clearly seen by users and search engines to link to your own then this will reflect well on you.
Pay close attention to the number of .com and .co.uk sites that link to you, for example, and think carefully about ways in which you can encourage others to do likewise.
2. Think About Who You Link to
The same rules as before. Linking to good quality sites reflects well on your own. Keep up to date with innovations and developments and stay relevant with fresh links on your pages. Try to develop a balanced portfolio of links on your site.
3. Avoid Broken Links
As part of ongoing site maintenance for SEO you should be aware of any links that are no longer in use and remove them from your site.
4. Think About Relevance
This is very important. Link to sites with a clear relevance to your own only. Search engines pay special attention to this, as do users, and every irrelevant link on your page is detrimental.
5. Internal Links
Think about internal links and whether your site is user friendly. Make the most of internal links and get some advice from SEO experts about ways to link internally that will benefit your site’s ranking.
6. Maps
Think about linking back to homepage and site maps. Make your site as easily navigable as possible. This will encourage users and benefit your site as search engines see these links when they probe it. A map is a useful way to introduce internal links and make the site easier to get around.
7. Link Building
Think about the use of exact match terms for link building. Build links using exactly matching anchor text. Remember though, don’t get carried away – an excess use of keywords can be as bad as a lack. Using terms you want to rank for and that summarize the topic referred to, in moderation, can strengthen the ratings of your site by search engines.
Find a balance and use your senses. If you feel that you’ve gone overboard with repeated words or phrases in your internal links then you probably have.
8. Avoid Cloaking
Search engines are increasingly sophisticated at detecting ‘black hat’ or unscrupulous SEO techniques. While it may be tempting to improve your popularity on the net by attracting unwitting visitors to your site, be aware that techniques that accomplish this can get you into trouble.
Users and search engines are alike in their approach to cloaking – they don’t accept or tolerate it. Stay within the boundaries to avoid problems.
9. Look at Where Your Competitors Link
This is legal and it can give you an advantage or at least level the playing field somewhat when it comes to links.
10. Strategize
Have a solid strategy for linking to, from and within your site. Think before you link and use every intelligent strategy at your disposal. Getting advice from website optimization specialists can really help.
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We hope that you and your business will never need this information, but “just in case”, it’s good to be prepared.
Every business, blogger, and the rest of us on social media have experienced it: someone just called you out on Twitter or in a blog. It’s all too easy to get frustrated and respond with something that will just make the situation worse (“I’ll give you a refund right away… oh wait, you didn’t actually pay for this!”) or to take it personally and get upset.
While there is no magic formula for dealing with complaints in social media, I do have a few tips that have helped me.
1. A Quick Response Goes a Long Way
I can’t tell you how many complaints I’ve seen turned around with a quick reply. If someone has an issue with your product or misunderstood your point of view, reach out and explain it to them. Most of the time when they realize that you’re actually paying attention and care, that makes all the difference (for the rest of the time, see number five).
Of course, this assumes you are actually paying attention. So if you’re not, you might want to look into ways to monitor your brand on social media.
2. You May Have To Respond As You, Not Your Company
When someone has a legitimate complaint, I’ve found one of the most effective things to do is reach out from your personal account. In my experience, when they realize they’re dealing with a real person who’s trying to help, people are more open and willing to listen. This shouldn’t be done for every complaint, as some people will never be turned around, but I’ve found when there’s a real, resolvable issue this method often works much better.
3. Give Yourself More Than 140 Characters To Respond
At times, it’s just impossible to help someone in 140 characters. Or it’s possible, but you would have to be really terse — which is definitely not going to make you seem understanding. Instead, ask them how to connect off Twitter (shocking, I know). Shoot the complainant an e-mail or even give them a call and you’ll be surprised how far a little outreach goes.
4. Let Someone Else Respond For You
If there’s no way you can respond in a helpful way — e.g., if it would make you seem self-serving or maybe you’ve already tried and failed — it can be helpful to have someone else speak up for you.
If you have haters, you probably also have fans, and they’re probably very willing to spring to your defense. Maybe they’ve even already done, in which case, their response might be much more effective than yours and you can just leave well enough along.
If they haven’t already responded, consider bringing the issue to the attention of a few of your fans. Do so carefully and cautiously. Only do it with people you have actual relationships with and only in a lightweight, non-pushy way. I find the best way is actually just to privately ask for feedback on a complaint — maybe it has merit and you don’t realize it or maybe they can help you understand what’s going on.
5. Know When To Let It Go
The truth is, you simply won’t be able to turn everyone around. The trick (I’m still working on it) is to not let it get to you. No business or person is going to make it without having a few haters — so if you have some, you might just be doing something right. Just don’t take that line of thinking too far!
Bottom line, the complainers won’t go away, but you can choose how you deal with them. Some of them will be legitimate complaints from reasonable people that will be touched when you reach out quickly and earnestly to help them. Others… well you know what they say: “Haters gonna hate.”
———————
Originally posted on Mashable.com Megan Berry is Marketing Manager for Klout, the standard for online influence. She also blogs at The Huffington Post and Brazen Careerist. You can follow her on Twitter at @meganberry.
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This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business. This post also appeared on Mashable’s website, where we found it and wanted to share the information.
In addition to writing for their human readers, web writers and bloggers have to consider the digital web crawlers employed by search engines like Google (
). Your business can’t skip the task.
Since most would-be readers use search engines to find blog posts, you need to make sure that Google ranks your site highly when those readers search for terms related to your business and the content you’re writing.
You could spend thousands of dollars to have a search marketing firm optimize your business’s blog for search engines, but chances are that you can learn a lot of the fundamentals yourself, saving yourself a lot of money as long as you have the interest and the time. Here’s a basic primer on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for your company’s blog.
1. Always Include Search Terms in Your Post’s Title
When Google reads a website to index it, it reads the code directly, not the snazzy presentation that humans see. The way most blogging platforms are built, the headline or title of your blog post is among the first things Google sees, and Google generally assumes the words that appear earliest are the most important. That’s why the title is the most important part of your blog post when it comes to SEO.
Think about who you want to reach with this blog post, and what that person might be searching for when looking for your business’s goods or services, then include critical words from that hypothetical search in the title. The most important terms should appear as quickly as you can reasonably fit them in. Just be careful not to make the title unreadable or awkward to human readers — that SEO effort will have been for naught if the reader is immediately turned off by the content once he or she finds it.
Here’s a pro tip: You’re not likely to win strong ranking for more than one or two search terms at once, so minimalism is a virtue here. Don’t get over-ambitious. Focus on one potential search term, then if you want to rank for a second term, write a separate and unique post specifically with it in mind.
2. Link Important Words to Earlier Blog Posts
Search engines generally assume that a blog post that has been linked to has more authority than one that has not. They also consider exactly what word or phrase linked to the post; a blog post about the iPhone (
) is going to be more likely to show up in Google searches on the subject if another page links the word “iPhone” to the post.
You’ll get the most value from external links from sites that Google or other search engines already consider to be an authority of the subject (if the top blog about iPhones links the word to your post, you’ll get a huge boost), but all incoming links will still pass rank to your page, even those from elsewhere on your site.
So be sure and link important keywords to other pages or previous posts on your blog to gain some credibility and search rank. It will make a big difference. Just don’t overdo it; not only do human readers hate reading blogs so filled with links that they might accidentally click on something, Google may penalize you if you go overboard, too.
3. Hit the Tagging Sweet Spot
Most blogging platforms let you apply tags to your posts. Tags help organize your blog so both humans and search engines can find what they’re looking for. They’re terms like “consulting,” “local” or “technology” that reflect the topics and content of the post.
Google tries to recognize tags and use them to prioritize your site in its search ranking for those terms. The tags are usually links to other pages on your blog (usually a backlog of other posts with the same tag), and like we said earlier, linking search terms to other pages on your site helps too.
So by all means, add pertinent tags to your blog post, but be warned that Google and other search engines are wary of sites that try to game this system. They will penalize you in the search rankings if you use so many tags that the web indexing bots suspect you might be attempting to associate your content with unrelated topics just to score extra traffic.
The method for determining this is arcane, but a good rule of thumb from a pro blogger is that five to 10 appropriate tags are usually right in the sweet spot.
4. Use Google Insights to Find the Best Search Terms
You don’t have to play a guessing game about the best tags or search terms to link or put in your post’s title. Since Google is the most popular search engine, it makes sense to focus your efforts there. Whenever you’re not sure which terms to go with, hit up Google Insights, a web-based tool that compares the popularity of any search terms you want to know about.
For example, if your business is a coffee shop but you’re not sure whether would-be customers are more likely to search for “café” or “coffee shop,” Insights can tell you which one is more popular.
These four tips should get you on your way to having a more SEO-friendly corporate blog. Add your tips for search engine optimization in the comments below.
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This is in part of a series: Drive Traffic to Your Website
E-mail blasts and/or newsletters
Keep clients/customer up to date with all your company information, sales, press releases, news, special offers, events, etc … by using an e-mail blast or an e-mail newsletter. You have to be careful here though, not to cross the line and turn it into spam. You should send 2 e-mail blasts or newsletters a month at a maximum and you should never send e-mails unsolicited.
You can start by having somewhere on your website for visitors to sign-up for an e-mail subscription or you may purchase lists from companies that will sell you “targeted lists” which means, people who have recently expressed interest in the product or service that you sell.
Once you have gathered the list of subscribers through your website or a purchased list, you will want to compose your e-mail. The e-mail needs to be kept short, sweet and “to-the-point”. Especially If you have purchased a list. You want to grab their attention quickly before they delete it with the other “junk mail”.
Include relevant information in the e-mail and have links to “read more” or “special offers” that will link to your website. It is often helpful to publish the same e-mail html to your website so that you may have a place to re-direct people that do not or can not receive HTML formatted messages to view the e-mail in full.
There are many services out there such as Constant Contact that will handle all the “leg-work” for you regarding e-mail blasts/newsletters for a fee. I personally have never used such services, but it may be something you might be interested in.
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“Jason is a creative web designer, and very easy to work with. He will give you exactly what you want, while also giving you suggestions to improve upon your ideas. He does above average work for a very reasonable price. If you are in need of a web designer, I highly recommend Jason and Jaros Designs. You won’t be disappointed.”
- BLICK! Boards, Jon
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Jul 10
18
I am very happy with Jason’s work
“My experience with Jaros Designs was very comfortable. From start to the end, the service is great, turn around time is excellent, and price is unbeatable. I will recommend Jaros Designs to every one, since I am very happy with Jason’s work.”
Thanks,
Nahum Hoyos
Totalcelebrations.com
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This is in part of a series: Drive Traffic to Your Website
Exchange links with quality businesses and websites
“Google PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual 
page’s value. In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for Page B. But, Google looks at more than the sheer volume of votes, or links a page receives; it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves important weigh more heavily and help to make other pages important.” – From Google
Read the above statement from Google carefully. Read it again if you have to. While reciprocating links can be useful and helpful to you and your website’s traffic, it can be detrimental if used the wrong way. Please make sure that links you exchange are with reputable businesses and quality websites. You will want to keep the links that you exchange professional and reputable. You can switch with vendors, clients, customers, etc … You don’t want to exchange links with say, your brother’s controversial “conspiracy theory” website or your friend’s porn website. The last two examples were hopefully obvious, but just an example to set you on the right path. The better quality the links, the better chance at SEO enhancement you will find.
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This is in part of a series: Drive Traffic to Your Website
Use your website link on ALL printed media and advertising:
- Business Cards
- Brochures
- Flyers
- Billboards
- Signs
- Vehicle Graphics
When you place your website link on your printed advertising, it will be a great way to “get out the word”. For instance, your business card will show the name of your business, your name, contact information and your website. Obviously you can’t put all your company’s information on to a 3.5″ x 2″ card, so people will go to your website to find out more information about your website.
Billboards, Vehicle Graphics, Signs and other similar advertising are seen only briefly by potential customers or clients and giving them a way to contact you that they can quickly commit to memory is ideal in getting them to visit your website. Website URLs are much more easier to remember than phone numbers or e-mail addresses. On advertising like this (where viewers generally only have a few a seconds to read, process and remember) your website will not only help drive traffic to your website, but it will also increase your chances of connecting with potential customers or clients.
Flyers and Brochures will have more content about your business, services and products than the aforementioned advertising. You will want to keep the content brief, so that potential customer or clients get their interest peaked, but will still have to follow through to your website for more information.
As you now see, your printed materials and advertising is a great way to send traffic to your website! Use it wisely!
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This is in part of a series: Drive Traffic to Your Website
Place your link in your e-mail signature
By placing your link in your e-mail signature, you will be reaching new people and audiences. Any e-mail you send will have the possibility of sending traffic to your website. E-mails sent to clients, friends, family and anyone else you may send e-mails to professionally or personally should have your website link it. Optionally you can link your social media and/or blog in your e-mail signature as well. Even FWDs: and jokes that get sent out can be forwarded on to new possible contacts and potential traffic. Any exposure is good exposure, especially when it’s FREE and simple!
For example this is my signature that goes out with EVERY e-mail I send:
Thank you,
Jason Schroeck
Jaros Designs
“Quality Web & Graphic Design”
(908) 644-6801
www.jarosdesigns.com
Jaros Designs on Facebook | @Jaros_Designs on Twitter
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Jun 10
8
Drive Traffic to your Website
As a web designer I frequently get asked: “How do I get traffic to my website?” and “How can I get my website to come up on page 1 of Google, Yahoo or other major search engines?” Well, there are many methods of driving traffic to your website. When these methods are combined and implemented successfully, you will reap the benefits of search engines and traffic. Most people do not understand this process. It is a hard and time-consuming process, it will not happen overnight. The following methods will be suggestions to help you in your quest for website traffic.
First and foremost, you need to have your title, keywords and meta tags in your website correctly done. Each page of your website contains different content so they should be labeled as such in the title, keywords and meta tags. Website pages should contain between 10-14 keywords at the most. Please refrain from repeating keywords or trying to “trick” the search engines. The major search engines and their “spiders” have become extremely smart and too many keywords or tricks will actually work against you rather than in your favor.
I am going to pretty much list the methods here and in future posts, I will go into much more detail for each in future posts.
Social Media and Bookmarking:
- Blog(s)
- MySpace
- Delicious
- Digg
- YouTube
- Stumble Upon
- Foursquare
Place your link in your e-mail signature
Every e-mail you send out (or is forwarded on) will have the potential of someone visiting your website.
Use your link on all printed media and advertising:
- Business Cards
- Brochures
- Flyers
- Billboards
- Signs
- Vehicle Graphics
Reciprocating Links (Affiliates)
Exchange links with quality businesses and websites.
Business Directories
- Google Maps / Google Local
- Yellow Pages
- Super Pages
- Yellow Book
E-mail blasts and/or newsletters
Send e-mail blasts to clients/customers and opt-in subscribers with relevant information. (Company News, Sales, etc .. )
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Get a 10% discount when you contact Jaros Designs for more information through this blog!
About Jay Schroeck
Jay Schroeck is the Owner of Jaros Designs. Jay is a graphic & web designer who enjoys offering affordable design solutions to businesses. He also enjoys photography and helping out in the community. Jay is married with two sons and also coaches his sons' soccer and football teams.
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