By Brody Dorland — October 1st, 2008
 During a web design and internet marketing workshop that I delivered last month in Las Vegas, I realized that I had been taking something for granted. As I delved into the search engine optimization (SEO) portion of my presentation, it occurred to me that my audience, communications staff from hospitals across the U.S., probably wouldn’t have the technical ability to effectively optimize their hospitals’ web sites for better search engine rankings. Come to think of it, I doubt that even many corporate marketers could dive into their site’s code and make the necessary page-level adjustments and database optimizations required for good SEO.
About a week after the workshop, I received my speaker evaluations. My realization was confirmed. Several attendees commented, “that SEO stuff seems pretty technical…I wish we could do more ourselves to help our rankings.”
Enter Stage Left: Off-Page Search Engine Optimization
Here’s the good news. “Off-page search engine optimization” is a specific set of optimization and internet marketing techniques that are executed outside (off) of your site, and require almost no technical expertise. All you need is your ability to use the internet, create content, and build relationships with others in your marketplace.
Off-page search engine optimization techniques revolve around the concept of link building, or getting other external websites to link to your site (a.k.a. backlinks). Why is this important? Because search engines determine your rankings based on relevance. And when other people link to your site’s content (backlinks), that tells the search engines that your content is relevant, high-quality and credible—which in turn helps you get ranked higher in the search engines.
So How Do We Get Backlinks?
Here’s a list of techniques that requires little or no technical expertise. It may be just what the doctor ordered for your ailing rankings:
- Develop good, keyword-rich content. Good content is the ultimate driver of all things online. And keyword-rich content ensures that search engines will index it properly. If off-page SEO is the process of fishing for backlinks, content is your bait. The better your bait, the more bites (i.e. backlinks) you’re going to get.
- Syndicate your content. Article-marketing websites, news release websites, and social bookmarking websites allow you to easily post articles and news within their directories that link back to your web site. If your content is high quality, there’s a good chance other websites and blogs will republish your content on their sites. Don’t forget to include a keyword-rich link back to your site within your content.
- Ask partners, distributors, and reps to publish or link to your content. Leverage your business relationships to build backlinks.
- Get links from well-established resource web sites. You may find that the top sites for your keywords in Google are resource sites—such as industry directories, online media, trade associations, or local organizations. You may even find an ad from CraigsList.com getting top position. These sites have gained authority through domain age and backlinks of their own, and a link from them would act as a valuable endorsement of your site in the search engine’s eyes.
- Get listed in Google Local and Yahoo Local. These local business listings tie in with the Google and Yahoo mapping programs, and offer great placement at the top of the search engine results pages (SERPs).
- Participate in blogs and forums. Pick any industry and I’ll bet money that there are hundreds of blogs and forums (and thousands of people) conversing online about that industry. Do some research. Create some Google Alerts. Find your fishing hole. Start participating by commenting on blog posts related to your expertise. Provide some good, objective advice on industry forums. When asked to register for your blog and forum accounts, create a keyword-rich signature with a link back to your site.
- Create a blog. A popular blog can reap HUGE dividends—not only for backlinks and search rankings, but also for your company’s overall sales. Do a search for “blog success stories” for plenty of examples. Keep in mind, however, that getting there takes a consistent effort. And if you can’t commit to it long-term, then don’t go there.
- Participate in social networking sites. Due to the popularity of social networking sites like LinkedIn.com, and their good standing with search engines, creating a simple link to your company’s website within your profiles can easily produce several high-quality backlinks.
Getting the Most Out of Your Backlinks
While SEO is not an exact science, there are a few linking techniques that will ensure you’re spending your time wisely, and getting the full value out of each link. Here are a few pointers:
- Keep a keyword list close by. Make sure to reference an up-to-date keyword list when writing any new content, including blog comments, forum posts, social networking site profiles…everything! Don’t have a keyword list? Google offers a great, free tool.
- Use anchor text (a.k.a. “link text”). Anchor text is words that actually make up a text hyperlink. Integrating keywords within your links plays a significant role in how search engines determine page relevance. It blows my mind when I see this on websites: “For more information on Bob’s high-quality taxidermy services, click here.” This link is almost worthless.
- Quality vs. Quantity. Focus your time on getting links from high-quality, well-established websites. Five links from older, established websites can be much more powerful than 50 links from newer sites or blogs.
How Many Backlinks Do You Need?
As I wrapped up the off-page SEO portion of my Las Vegas workshop, one attendee asked about the number of backlinks needed to increase their rankings. This is a great question, but one that is hard to answer. As mentioned above, quality links will win over quantity. The best I can say is to find out where you stand compared to your competitors in the SERPs. Here’s a tool that can do that.
Lastly, analyzing your competitors’ websites can provide a wealth of insight into their backlinking efforts. A simple way to get this intelligence is to type “link:yourcompetitorurl.com” into the Google Search and Yahoo Search boxes. This will show you other sites that link to your competitors, which also may be good targets for your link building efforts.
The Catch: DIY SEO = Time Commitment
Warning…there’s a bit of a catch with off-page SEO. While little technical ability is required, a comprehensive link-building effort can turn into a full-time job. If you have the time or the manpower to manage this task internally, great. If not, the Something Creative SEO team would be happy to support you in this effort.
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Tags: anchor text, article marketing, backlinks, blogging, blogs, directories, do it yourself, domain age, forums, google alerts, industry, internet marketing, link building, news releases, off-page, optimization, search engine, SEO, social bookmarking, social networking
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By Brody Dorland — May 1st, 2008
 While this free Google tool is by no means new (launched in 2004), I’m constantly surprised by how many people not only don’t use it, but have never even heard of it. Let’s take a closer look at this wonderful tool and examine how it can save you time, spark ideas and help you stay ahead of the curve (and your competition)!
By definition, Google Alerts are simply e-mail notifications that list the latest and most relevant website pages, blog posts and videos that have been found by Google’s search engine spiders related to a particular search term or topic. Note that I included “most relevant”. This is important because if Google sent you EVERYTHING they find on a particular topic, this list could get out of hand real quick. They actually only send you the most relevant website pages, blog posts or videos that make it into the coveted top 20 search results. You can also specify the frequency in which you want to receive these e-mails (one a day, once a week or once a month).
So Why Should I Use Google Alerts?
Let’s get an example started so you can wrap your brains around the benefits. Say you’re a consultant specializing in training clients in the art of underwater basket weaving. As a specialist in this niche field, you obviously want to stay on top of the latest underwater basket weaving techniques, industry happenings and competitors that may be offering new services. And don’t forget that you will want to find out if your own internet marketing efforts are paying off in the form of other websites and blogs linking to you or using your name or company as an expert reference. All this is valuable information, but just imagine how many hours you’d have to spend surfing the web to find it all?
Let’s Get an Alert Started…Step By Step:
- Go to http://www.google.com/alerts.
- In the “Create a Google Alert” box on the right, insert your keyword in quotes, i.e. “underwater basket weaving training”. Using quotes will help ensure relevant results.
- Select the Type of alert (news, web, blog, video, groups or comprehensive (all)).
- Select your desired e-mail frequency.
- Enter your e-mail address and you’re done!
- And repeat…Enter your next keyword phrase, i.e. your company name, your name, a competitive company name, etc.
If you select daily notifications under the category of “web”, tomorrow you will start receiving the latest website pages that are being indexed by Google for your specific keywords/phrases. If you input very specific, niche terms, you may not get much on a normal basis. But if your keyword/phrase is more generic, you may find that you are getting too much and you need to refine your alert keywords.
Valuable Intel
After setting up a few alerts, here are some ways my small business clients have used the information to monitor their industry and improve their overall marketing efforts.
- Keep Tabs On Your Own Internet Presence – Besides the obvious egocentric notion of this, Google Alerts are very helpful for monitoring your online reputation, backlinks (other websites that link to you) and search engine optimization efforts. For example, as you develop new content for your website, sign up for a new social networking website, or another website references an underwater basket weaving article on your website, all this content will eventually be indexed by Google. Alerts will notify you the day that it happens.
- Keep Tabs On Your Industry – Whether you want the latest news and announcements related to your industry products/services, or you’re looking for opportunities that might spark new business, Google Alerts does the work for you.
- Keep Tabs On Your Competitors – Spying on your competitors has never been easier. Creating alerts with their company name, products or services is a great way to find out what they’ve been up to. You can also find out in which forums, blogs or industry websites they are participating.
- Get New Content Ideas – Do you provide industry news on your website or blog? Google Alerts brings you timely news and industry information that might just be the creative spark that you needed to write your next article.
- Save Time Surfing – As I’ve already mentioned, Google Alerts’ e-mail notification functionality brings the most relevant content right to your inbox. No more long hours surfing the web looking for the latest happenings.
Stay Ahead of the Curve
As Ferris Bueller always said, “the world moves pretty fast…” Keeping up with your daily marketing and sales activities is hard enough, let alone trying to stay abreast of everything that is happening around you. Google Alerts is a wonderful tool that does a lot of the legwork for you and may just provide a piece of intel that lands you a big sale.
Tags: backlinks, content development, content ideas, google alerts, marketing intelligence, online reputation, reputation monitoring, SEO
Posted in Internet Marketing / Online Marketing | No Comments »
By Brody Dorland — April 1st, 2008
 In the past few weeks, I’ve come across several new social networking sites that, upon an initial audit, seem to be high-quality, active sites that might generate some business for myself and others. So, I proceed to set up my professional profile for each site, entering my carefully crafted bio and company contact information.
Then I get to the common, but inimitable process of “inviting” others within my social network to join in the fun. Who should I invite? Oh look…this particular site allows me to invite all of my LinkedIn contacts in one click! Done deal.
You know how the rest of this story goes…the invites go out, a few of your friends and colleagues get signed up, yada, yada. But what do you do when your network starts showing signs of exhaustion (like below)?
Hey Brody,
I can’t keep up with all these networking websites. My thought, whether right or wrong, is to be more targeted in belonging to groups and managing networking sites. Therefore, I don’t plan to get involved with this one. Give me your thoughts if they differ.
Thanks, Dave
I understand Dave. There are certainly a lot of social networking websites out there and if you are among the many that haven’t yet experienced much tangible benefits from participation in these sites, getting yet another invitation to join another site can leave you feeling exhausted.
Some Participation Is Better Than None
Here’s the good news. You don’t have to be an active participant in these websites to get some benefit. Just taking 10 minutes to completely fill out your profile will help you achieve several important benefits, including:
- Increasing Your Presence on the Internet – Marketing your company or yourself online makes you part of the World Wide (spider) Web. But how big is your portion of that web? That’s an important question because the bigger your portion, the more flies you’ll catch. Each new networking site that you join expands your presence, increasing the chance that a qualified prospect finds you and your company.
- Branding Yourself Online – Let’s say you’re looking for a new financial advisor online and you come across an advisor (we’ll call him Marc) on LinkedIn.com that happens to be “linked” to one of your good friends. Marc’s professional profile is very well written. He has several professional certifications, hundreds of contacts, multiple client recommendations and links to financial articles and podcasts he’s developed. Are you going to contact your friend to ask about Marc? I would. Marc’s comprehensive profile has positioned him as an expert in his field and his prospects can learn about his products/services in a softer selling environment.
- Growing Your Network – Most social networking websites are designed specifically to help people connect based on shared interests. Active members use all sorts of search topics to locate people for all sorts of reasons, like rekindling a friendship from a past life or searching for a service provider. By including a lot of detail in your profile (the schools you attended, your areas of expertise, etc.), you’ll see your network grow steadily as people find you and invite you to connect.
- A More Personal Connection with Prospects – Many social networking websites also allow us to integrate personal interests, photos and blog posts within our profiles. You may find that a prospect has decided to do business with you not because of what company you work for or what you sell, but because of a common interest, like music or underwater basket weaving.
- High Quality, High Quantity Website Traffic – Over the years of building websites for clients and analyzing their website traffic and visitor conversions, I’ve found that promoting your corporate website or blog on popular social networking websites brings very high quality traffic, and lots of it. Taking a quick glance at the Google Analytics stats for this website (somethingcreativeinc.com), LinkedIn.com has consistently ranked as one of the top five referring websites and one of the top three in number of visitor conversions for the past six months. If there’s another LinkedIn.com out there, I want to know about it.�
- Search Engine Optimization / Building Backlinks – Search engines have always used the quantity and quality of backlinks, or how many high-quality websites link to your website, as part of their equation that determines your site’s rank. Thus, including a link to your website from these high-quality social networking websites is a simple, powerful search engine optimization tactic that will help each of the sites to which you link.
I hope this explanation helps you to understand that when someone invites you to join a new networking website, you don’t have to be an active participant in that new site to gain some benefit. Look at this new website as another high-quality internet marketing opportunity that, with an initial investment of 10 to 15 minutes to set up your professional profile, may be the new piece of your spider web that snags some big flies.
Tags: backlinks, branding, conversions, fatigue, internet, LinkedIn, online, personal connection, Search Engine Optimization, search engines, SEO, social media, social networking, traffic, visitors, websites
Posted in Social Media / Social Networking | No Comments »
By Brody Dorland — March 1st, 2008
 In today’s business environment, every company needs a website. And if you’re a small business with a limited budget, a low-cost solution may be tempting. But what if your website was a real-life salesperson? Would your lack of investment in them set them up for failure?
I’m forced to use this analogy more than I would like these days. While I can’t do anything about the people/companies that offer so-called high-quality website development services for dirt cheap, I can try to help small businesses understand why you need to make an appropriate investment in your 24/7 sales workhorse.
You Get What You Pay For
Developing a high-quality website from scratch takes most, if not all, of the items listed below. Completing these items is time consuming and takes a lot of creative and technical talent. So how do the cheap service providers charge so little? Simple. They don’t offer many of these services…
Website Strategy – Included in the Low-Cost Solution? No.
Like any successful marketing initiative, proper research and planning need to be the first step. Getting website marketing experts involved early on will give you an outside perspective and help you profile your audiences, define their needs and adapt your corporate growth strategies to the web.
Content Strategy – Included in the Low-Cost Solution? No.
Once you have a good handle on what your customers need, your content needs to feed those needs and keep them coming back for more. A content strategy helps to keep your content fresh and establish internal or external processes for ongoing content development and website promotions.
Information Architecture – Included in the Low-Cost Solution? No.
Website users can quickly feel lost if placed within a space that is not well organized. Information architecture focuses on usability and designing an effective site organization, navigation and nomenclature, all of which are best handled by professionals.
Custom Design – Included in the Low-Cost Solution? Kind of.
Do you consider customizing a pre-designed template as “custom design”? I almost can’t wait to be contacted by a company that was told their site was “custom”, only to come across another site that looks suspiciously similar.
Website Production Standards & Compliance – Included in Low Budget Solution? Probably.
I’d bet that a large majority of the cheap service providers out there are actually programmers (not marketers), so your website will probably meet compliance and compatibility standards.
Professional Content Development – Included in the Low-Cost Solution? No.
You can dress up an attractive salesperson in a custom tailored suit, but if his sales pitch stinks, he’s not going to convert prospects into buyers. Heck, he probably won’t even make it past the receptionist. Writing engaging copy for websites is an art and a science and getting a professional website copywriter involved is a very wise investment.
Content Management Tools – Included in the Low-Cost Solution? No.
Many low-cost providers don’t provide content management options because they are banking on the recurring revenue your website will provide.
Search Engine Optimization – Included in the Low-Cost Solution? Kind of.
Ask any professional search engine marketer about submitting your site to search engines and optimizing your site’s Title and Meta tags and they’ll tell you that those techniques are important. But if you ask them, “Will this get me to #1 on Google?” They’ll probably laugh at you. These few techniques are all you’re going to get out of cheap website service providers.
Website Analytics Integration – Included in the Low-Cost Solution? No.
Since many low-cost providers are also programmers who are probably running their own servers, they will probably include some basic traffic statistics for your site. But this is only the tip of the iceberg when you integrate free tools like Google Analytics into your site that will provide so much more user behavioral analysis and conversion tracking.
Internet Marketing – Included in the Low-Cost Solution? No.
With so many internet marketing tools at our fingertips, developing and launching your website is only the beginning. Now it’s time to go fishing.
Conclusion
A small business need to think of their website as a salesperson. A salesperson with vast potential. When you provide that salesperson with proper training (website and content strategy), a sharp business suit (great design), an engaging sales pitch (great content) and great connections to a huge network of potential customers (SEO and internet marketing), you may be surprised at how quickly your investment is returned, and then some.
Tags: analytics, CMS, compliance, content, content development, content management systems, custom, development, high quality, information architecture, internet, limited budget, low cost, marketing, salesperson, Search Engine Optimization, SEO, small business, strategy, website
Posted in Website Design / Development, Website Strategy | No Comments »
By Brody Dorland — February 1st, 2008
 More and more marketers today are becoming savvy to the power that search engines hold in dictating website traffic and overall sales for many companies. Small businesses have started to approach us regularly with requests for search engine optimization and an expectation that their site will magically start generating more leads. Yes, it’s no secret that Google can turn a small company’s website into its top sales vehicle in a very short period of time. But, achieving this success takes more than just a one-time search engine optimization effort.
First off, let me start with a few Wikipedia references so we’re all on the same page:
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via “natural” (“organic” or “algorithmic”) search results for targeted keywords.
Search Engine Algorithms – The set of rules, instructions and equations used by search engines to analyze online content and determine relevancy.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) - a form of Internet marketing that seeks to promote websites by increasing their visibility in the search engine result pages (SERPs) through search engine optimization, paid placement, and paid inclusion.
Internet Marketing (a.k.a. Online Marketing) – the process of growing and promoting an organization, and its products and services, using online media.
Grab Your Partner Doe-Se-Doe
In our ongoing quest to keep up with the latest search engine and internet marketing strategies, we often hear about the dramatic and sometimes devastating effects that a slight change in Google’s algorithms can have on companies’ bottom lines. These stories serve as good examples of why you don’t want to put all your eggs in the SEO basket.
While an initial SEO effort during the development and launch of a new website is definitely needed in today’s online marketplace, ongoing internet marketing strategies can be executed that will not only complement your SEO efforts and improve your overall traffic, but also help shield you from the ever-changing search engine algorithms.
 That Was Some Good Squid
Talking about internet marketing strategies with clients often takes me back to the summers of my youth when my family used to all pile in the van and drive to Tampa, Florida to visit my retired grandparents. Their home backed up to the intercoastal waterway, which always meant great fishing. Immediately upon our arrival, my grandpa always broke out a plethora of fishing poles, grabbed some squid from the freezer and the whole family headed out on the dock to cast our lines. I tell you this story because within minutes, we’d have eight fishing lines in the water and my grandpa would say, “The more hooks we have out there, the more fish we’re gonna’ catch.”
Internet Marketing is no different. The more lines you cast with sharp hooks and enticing bait, the more fish you’ll bring in. Said another way…The more targeted online mediums you participate in and offer high-quality, original content, the more traffic you will generate for your site.
And as an added benefit, the fish you release back into the water are going to go tell their fish friends about the succulent squid they just tasted.
Internet Marketing Strategies That Work
Just like any successful marketing campaign, doing some research to get your bearings is a good place to start. We typically start with an audit of your industry’s online offerings to determine who is participating, what they are talking about, which websites are successfully providing these arenas, what your competition is doing and how you can get in the mix.
Using this information, it’s time to sit down and map out a plan for which internet marketing tasks are appropriate, feasible and within your marketing budget. Here are a few that typically make the cut:
Website Directory/Buyer’s Guides Submission – Getting listed in online industry directories and product/service buyer’s guides can help you hook influential industry practitioners and is a great source for backlinks, which increases your site’s overall page rank in many search engines.
Participation in Industry Blogs and Forums – Niche blogs and forums are powerful communication tools used by industry enthusiasts to converse about companies, products and services. Your genuine, consistent participation in these sites can reap significant rewards.
Corporate Blog/Forum Development – Is your industry behind the times? Can’t find blogs or forums that are covering your industry, products or services? If you build it, they will come…Being the first to offer an arena for candid discussion about your industry positions you and your company as the thought leader.
E-mail Marketing – When compared to traditional advertising, printed newsletters or direct mail, e-newsletters and e-blasts (electronic direct mail) are almost no-brainers since they can be executed quicker, are more cost effective and provide almost immediate customer feedback and marketing analysis.
Other Search Engine Marketing Strategies that Work
Comparing internet marketing tactics to search engine marketing tactics is a lot like comparing public relations to advertising. Public relations takes some work, but is often high-quality, free publicity, whereas successful advertising campaigns can be a significant expense.
That being said, search engine advertising (paid placement, Pay-Per-Click (PPC)) is among the most effective form of advertising on the planet today. Combine a well-funded Pay-Per-Click campaign with a high-quality website and you may find yourself swamped with new business in a matter of days.
A Consistent Effort Wins the Day
Regardless of your industry or marketplace, your potential customers are increasing their use of online mediums to research products and services everyday. And with all those fish swimming about, why not cast as many lines as possible, everyday? Many of the strategies and tactics outlined in this article can be executed affordably and come pre-packaged with powerful analysis tools that will show you real-time ROI. Please let us know if you would like help in implementing any of these programs for your company.
Tags: algorithms, blogs, buyers guides, directories, email, forums, Google, internet marketing, marketers, paid inclusion, paid placement, PPC, Search Engine Optimization, search engines, search marketing, SEM, SEO, SERPs, small business, website traffic, wikipedia
Posted in Internet Marketing / Online Marketing, Search Engine Optimization | Comments Off
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I’ve been presenting on social media marketing quite a bit around Kansas City and it’s neat to see so many folks getting excited about the opportunities that these tools and technologies provide. But I’ve noticed something that’s consistently happening during my presentations. As soon as I throw out the word “blogging”, I see eyes roll and shoulders drop throughout the audience. Geez….You’d think I was a Yellow Pages advertising rep at a search engine optimization conference.
