Blogs « Webmarketing123

Social Media Metrics You Should Measure

November 24th, 2010 by Seth Gutierrez

In case you missed last week’s webinar on Metrics That Matter in Social Media, here’s a recap—we’ll discuss the top 4 metrics:

Loyalty:

Consider this when you’re evaluating your target audience’s loyalty to your brand:

Are social community members interacting with your brand a) regularly, and b) repeatedly–sharing content and links, mentioning your brand, and, most importantly evangelizing?

The key is to get as many people as you can, telling their peers about “how great” your product is—this is essentially FREE advertising, and a variety of promotion that is invaluable because people tend to trust their peers over marketers!

These are people telling one another about your brand--what are they saying?

Brand Mentions:

The term we use to describe the number of brand mentions online, is Share of Voice. Your Share of Voice is equal to the percentage of mentions you have versus those of your competitors—whoever you determine those to be. The Share of Voice figure will give you a good idea of how often your brand is being talked about on the internet–figure out where you’re being discussed, and how users are describing your brand—this will indicate users’ Sentiment.

Where are people talking about your brand?

Activity Ratio:

How active is your brand’s social network? In Facebook for example, compare (using Facebook Insights) the ratio of active members to the total number members–chart this number over time to determine the ebb and flow of your social followership. There will always be some members of your social network that are inactive, but if you initiate a campaign to increase interaction, by say, incorporating more multimedia (people love to interact with and share multimedia!), measure the resulting data and see if that doesn’t jump start users interaction!

There are a variety of social analytic tools that measure activity—one that we use at Webmarketing123 is called Lithium (previously known as Scout Labs)—check it out!

Conversions:

Everyone wants to measure the volume of leads generated by their social media efforts, but that number is only important relative to your conversion rate on those leads. While the volume of leads may not be there yet, the opportunity to convert on the leads you do have may be staring you in the face. Figure out where your leads are coming from (the flow of traffic through links) by creating campaigns in Salesforce or Marketo, then figure out how many of those clicks are turning into deals.

Tags: Blogs, brand loyalty, brand mentions, Conversions, Highlights, lead generation, metrics, Seth Gutierrez, share of voice, Social Media, Webinar, Webmarketing123
Posted in Social Media | No Comments »

The Top 5 SEO Mistakes in B2B Marketing

November 15th, 2010 by Webmarketing123

Many businesses believe that: Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is one of today’s most effective marketing tactics. If done correctly, businesses can increase their ranking on search engine result pages as well as experience a boost in traffic to their site—resulting in increased lead generation and conversions. If your business is implementing SEO but you are still not seeing your site on the first page of Google, Yahoo or Bing, your execution may be off. In our November 10^thwebinar, Mike Turner, Search Marketing Executive discussed the Top 5 SEO Mistakes in B2B Marketing. Here is a recap in case you missed it:

1) Keywords are the most important aspect of SEO and if they’re not researched properly, they can be one of your biggest problems.

A keyword is typed in by a potential client so be sure you’re using consumer vocabulary and not company jargon. Another point is that the best keywords to invest in are usually phrases, as illustrated by this graph:

Shown above, the one-word phrases are likely to have high competition from other sites and a high search frequency. The more descriptive phrases that are upwards of five words long are going to have low competition and a lower search frequency.

At Webmarketing123, we have found that the Keywords with the best ROI will be three to four words in length. These more descriptive terms will have a higher conversion rate than the single keyword searches. People who search using three to four word key phrases will generally be further along in their sales process, more informed and therefore more likely to make a purchase.

2) Missing Keywords in content and text links.

Once you have the correct keywords, you want to make sure that they’re visible to Google spiders. Including Keywords in more places than just the written content of your site will improve your raking for those keywords. Here are a few places to include your keywords:

Title tags
Headings
Paragraph titles
Keywords in body copy
Anchor text in links
Image alt text

Pages can have as little as one to two keywords but should not have more than seven to ten. Too many keywords on one page will overload the user. Pages should flow nicely and make sense. You need to decide what the preferred landing page for a given search term will be. These could be called the blueprints of your site.

3) Using content that search engines can’t read.

This is a common mistake because Google bots cannot read certain content and thus cannot give your site credit. Flash and images are not variables that go into a search engine’s algorithm.

4) Not creating fresh content.

If Google bots don’t see any new content they’re not going to visit your site regularly. An easy way to avoid this, especially for B2B companies, is to have a blog and regularly post keyword-rich content with links back to the primary website.

…and make it easy for others to link towards your site by utilizing some of these tools:

RSS
Twitter
Facebook & LinkedIn status/groups
Networks & Media
Digg
Delicious
StumbleUpon
Flickr
YouTube

5) Being Activity-focused, not outcome-focused.
Set goals for keywords with high conversions. Google analytics and Webtrends are just two of the programs that you can use to determine conversion rates on your different keywords.

Be outcome-focused, not activity-focused. Focus on what matters—outcome!

Finally, here is a graph to help you keep your site SEO Friendly.

This Wednesday from 11:00 a.m. (Pacific) to 12:00 p.m. we’ll be hosting our next webinar, How to Succeed with SEO During the Holidays–click here to register!

Tags: B2B Long Tail SEO, B2B marketing, Bing, Blogs, content silo, Conversion Rates, E-Commerce, facebook, Flash, Google, Google analytics, Google spiders, Highlights, inbound links, Keyword Phrases, keyword selection, keywords, long-tail keywords, Meta Content, qualified leads, ROI, Search Engine Optimization, SEM, SEO, Webinar, Webmarketing123, Yahoo
Posted in Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Optimization | No Comments »

The Low-Down on Having On-Site vs. Off-Site Blogs

November 10th, 2010 by Ben Cheng

We frequently have clients ask us, “What’s better, having an on-site or off-site blog?” They want to know what each option means for their site. Here’s some of our insight—both the pros and cons of having an on-site vs. off-site blog, and how each affects your SEO and user traffic.

On-site Blog:

Having an on-site blog makes it easy to maintain a simple URL, such as: www.mysite.com/blog

Here are some pros to having an on-site blog:

Great for internal linking
Builds deep links = increased crawlability
Helps add content to the site—websites with strong, crawlable content receive more traffic
Helps build a greater theme to your site–search bots feed on this
Great content silos—they allow you to store rich written content as well as multimedia
Add pages to your site, creating stronger domain & authority
Allow URLs to be increasingly keyword-rich and statically generated by title
Beneficial for your website’s Google Universal Search results–blog search

Off-site Blog:

Having an off-site blog will require you to have a separate URL, for example: www.onsiteandoffsiteblogs.com—sometimes that’s not a bad thing, especially if it makes more sense to label your blog differently than your primary website. You can also use a sub-domain for your blog to maintain your site’s name–example: www.blog.mysite.com

Here are some pros to having an off-site blog:

Having a blog that is contained outside of your primary website is a great way to give your site some free inbound linkage!
If your site is built with a specific backend, your blog may not be compatible with that same server

On the flip-side, here are some of the cons to having an off-site blog:

The Rule of Diminishing Returns – Think about the links between your blog and your site like a basket of oranges on a hot summer day. You’re feeling parched so you take an orange—it tastes pretty good and is quite refreshing so you take another, and another, and another. Pretty soon you don’t want any more of those oranges. My point? You want inbound links coming from all over the place, not just from one direction–having an off-site blog that points to your site, or vice versa can result in this limiting effect.

If the purpose of your blog is to get people to visit your website, having a different domain makes it that much harder for people to find what you want them to find—having this external domain may ultimately deter users from finding your website.

In conclusion, an on-site blog is ideal for most sites unless there are specific restrictions or goals that are being targeted.

-Ben

Tags: Blogs, content silo, Google, Google spiders, Google Universal, inbound links, internal linking, keywords, off-site blogs, On-site blogs, Rule of Diminishing Returns, SEO, Social Media, Webmarketing123
Posted in Search Engine Optimization, Social Media | No Comments »

Webinar Recap: Dominate Google with Social Media Campaigns

November 8th, 2010 by Sarah Shakour

Last week, Barbara Dizon (@BarbaraDizon, Social Media Account Manager) and Travis Low (@TravisLowSEO, Director of Search) discussed the importance of Social Media to B2B marketing, in our webinar titled Dominate Google with Social Media Campaigns. So if you missed it, here’s a recap–and if you want to download the slides, FOLLOW this link!

Some Key Takeaways:

70% of Social Media websites affect purchasing decision in the buying cycle.
50% of social network users, factor information shared on their networks into their purchasing decision.
Social Media users are 3 times more likely to trust their peers’ opinions over advertisements.

The Importance of Social Media Today:

Social Media marketing is not about talking to different generations–it’s about creating a community based on common interest that thrives on user support.

Social Media for B2B Companies is about:

Building loyalty and trust for your brand.
Increasing community following and brand awareness as well as increasing traffic to your site.

Social Media is becoming increasingly integrated with customer service and influence on purchasing decisions. However, direct sales are difficult to track with Social Media. Social Media can offer direct sale opportunities, but without a defined metric for success, it will be difficult to determine its rate of return.

Integrating Blogs, Web Pages & Social Media for Optimal Search Results:

As with any form of communication, it’s important to have a plan for integrating your blogs and websites with your social media initiatives:

A little planning goes a long way when starting a Social Media campaign.
Map out what your marketing goals are – What does your company want to accomplish?
Identify and understand your audience – Who are they, what Social Media platforms do you they use?
Do not limit yourself to one Social Media platform. Determine which ones your target market use the most then establish your brand accordingly.
Utilize/optimize Social Media profiles fully to reach your marketing goals.

Here are the Top 3 Starting Points for Optimizing Social Media & Search–where your company should start and how:

Blogs – Generate fresh, unique Content
Inbound Links – Establish your site as an industry authority

Social Media – Build your brand image with Social Media:

Facebook Fan Pages
Google Buzz
Twitter
Yelp
LinkedIn
Website Resources & Content

How to Measure Your Overall SEO & Social Media Efforts:

When starting Social Media campaigns, there are many ways you can measure your overall success. Here are some tips:

Blogs = Content:

Search engines love content–this is the single most important aspect of Social Media for SEO.
Write casually, as though you were speaking to someone.

Inbound Links:

Show that your site has good content and is the “real deal”.
Also shows that your content is relevant, which is key to being well-optimized for search.

Interconnectedness:

Social Media is about connecting and communicating.
Social Media will help your brand/company remain transparent—increasing its credibility.
Your website should be constantly updated, giving search engines new content to crawl. The more current search spiders determine your site to be, the higher they will rank it in search results.

Key Takeaways Continued:

1. 64% of marketers already integrate social media into their Search Engine Marketing plans today.

2. Social Media and SEO go hand in hand.

3. B2B is in fact equally, if not more active on Social Media sites than B2C.

4. Social Media is more about increasing engagement and building relationships than broadcasting your message.

5. The role of SEO for Social Media is to directly influence discovery of social communities and content through search, boosting sales and increasing conversions (conversations translate to Share of Voice).

6. Content is king. Start with great content on your blog to increase inbound links.

-@SarahShakour

Tags: b2b, b2c, Blogs, Conversion Rates, facebook, Google, Google spiders, Highlights, importance of social media, integrating, ROI, Search Engine Optimization, SEM, SEO, Social Media, Webinar, Webmarketing123
Posted in Search Engine Optimization, Social Media, Webinar Highlights | No Comments »

4 Ways to Increase Your Blog’s Effectiveness

September 2nd, 2010 by Webmarketing123

Blogging is definitely becoming a company-wide effort, so make sure you take note of how to participate effectively in this activity–whether it be for personal or professional reasons!

Update Blogs Frequently

It might seem obvious to update a blog regularly, but many blogs suffer from a lack of fresh content. There are many reasons to produce new content regularly for your blog, and, given the nature of blogs, they are much easier to update than a website. One of the biggest reasons to update is to keep your readers coming back. If a blog is never updated with new posts, readers will start to lose their incentive to check back for new content. Additionally, if the blog is hosted on your website, search engines will look favorably on all of the new content being added to your site on a consistent basis.

Provide Useful, Informative Content

It might be tempting to write a blog post hyping your newest product or promoting your company, but blog readers are looking for informative, sincere content. Most readers can tell the difference between a blog with useful information versus a blog that sounds like a marketing campaign or advertisement. Take this opportunity to connect with customers and provide them with honest information about new products, industry trends, or even job openings. However, stay away from blog posts that seem like they have a hidden motive; provide a real and honest voice on your blog that customers can relate to. A great way to get sincere and also fresh content is to encourage employees to write blog posts. This is often the best way to come up with new content and give more employees a personal voice in the company.

Utilize Keywords in Blog Posts

Many of our clients understand the value of keywords, as they are the basis of search engine optimization, but the importance of using keywords cannot be overstated. Keywords are search terms that customers use to find your site, your blog, or your product. Not using keywords within your blog content underutilizes a valuable resource. It is possible to use keywords as many times as it makes sense to in a given article, but make sure to not throw keywords in excessively. This is called keyword-stuffing; search engines consider this “spammy” and downgrade your rankings accordingly. A good baseline is to use all primary keywords two to three times each in a 250-300 word article, and any secondary keywords once in an article.

Choose Effective Titles and Calls to Action

In addition to keywords, there are many other opportunities in a blog post to be very specific in word choice. A catchy, attention-getting title might be the determining factor in whether someone clicks a link to your blog post. A great technique is to ask or answer a question in the title of your blog, prompting your readers to want to find out more about your subject. Examples might include “10 Tips to Increase Search Engine Rankings” or “Why isn’t my website ranking where it should be?” Now that you’ve gotten people to your blog post with a catchy title, where would you like for them to go next? Would you like them to click over to your website and do some research on your products? How about signing up for a newsletter or becoming a member of your blog? Whatever the goal of your blog, make that clear. A great place for a call to action is the footer of your blog. Here, you can provide a value proposition or call to action with a link to the next step.

I hope this information helps you and/or your company in writing upcoming posts, as well as providing structure to your blog as a whole!

-Alex

Tags: blog posts, Blogs, call to action, increase rankings, keywords, SEM, SEO, Social Media, useful content, Webmarketing123
Posted in Search Engine Optimization, Social Media | No Comments »

Anchors Don’t Weigh You Down

May 13th, 2010 by Janet Salsman

Anchor

We talk a lot about links around here, both internal links and inbound links. In today’s Introduction to SEO webinar, SEO Linking Essentials: How to Generate Inbound Links, Travis got into the nitty-gritty of the process.

Anchor text is a little like the outlet that links plug into. If your outlet is poor, you’re not going to get good performance from your link because it won’t have reliable power. Using your carefully-chosen keywords as anchor text for relevant inbound links gets the amps flowing. As tempting as it is to write copy for your site that tells people to click here and here, it is much better to give them an idea of where they are going, say, Grand Canyon or Great Barrier Reef. That way you don’t lose your visitors and you don’t confuse the crawlers.

Just for fun: anchors.

Tags: Blogs, Google spiders, Highlights, keywords, SEO, Webinar, Webmarketing123
Posted in Search Engine Optimization, Webinar Highlights, Webmarketing123.com | No Comments »

Danger: Unsupervised Thinking!

April 29th, 2010 by Janet Salsman

Warning!

When I was a kid, my parents from time to time left me in charge of my younger brother. Since we both still had all our limbs when they returned, they figured it worked just fine and they could keep on doing it. Neither my brother nor I particularly enjoyed it, but we coped. (Kicking and screaming are valid methods of coping, right?)

I bring this up because the biggest problem with me taking care of my brother, from my perspective, was unsupervised thinking. When he was quiet and calm, it was NOT a blessing; it was a warning that he was about to break out in a new direction. It was much better if I could preemptively direct his thoughts toward a safe goal, like a nice game of 52-pickup, before he came up with something like indoor dodgeball.

Unsupervised thinking is dangerous when it comes to website visitors as well, as I learned today in our webinar, Proven Copywriting for SEO and PPC. When people click on a PPC ad, they arrive at a landing page. That page should give them clear direction about what to do next: fill out a form, download a white paper, request a demo, etc. A little guidance will help a lot with your conversion rate.

If the page has too much information on it, the clickers get confused or frustrated. They may forget why they came to your site in the first place. They may click away to some other site instead of staying to buy your product or request more information. Help them out; give them a clear and simple path for their thoughts, a goal to click toward.

Tags: Blogs, Conversion Rates, Highlights, PPC, SEO
Posted in Pay Per Click, Search Engine Optimization, Webinar Highlights, Webmarketing123.com | No Comments »

The Top 5 SEO Mistakes in B2B Marketing

Anchors Don’t Weigh You Down

Danger: Unsupervised Thinking!

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