Metrics!

Tina Fronk

July 28, 2012

How do you measure progress? SEO and marketing campaign managers need to track their efforts so they can see what they need to improve on and what is working. There are numerous free and paid analytics dashboards that can provide this information. Here are some of the basics you should be tracking:

1. Bounce Rate

Bounce rate focuses on the number of people who visit your site and, for whatever reason, leave your page. This is important to monitor because it can show you what keywords and advertisements affect bounce rates. Also, they can show which pages have higher or lower bounce rates (think landing pages, homepages and internal pages).

2. Average Page Views

The number of page views per visit provides valuable insight into your customers' interactions. How long did they interact and how far into your website did they go? Measuring their level of engagement can help predict future conversion rates and intent. 

3. Average Time Spent on Your Site

How long are your customers spending on your website? Quality and quantity of time are important factors that show you how involved your customers are with you and your brand. The longer they spend on your site, they better. This builds trust and these interactions are important in creating and maintaining relationships between your customers and your brand. 

When combined, these three metrics can help you evaluate your digital media campaign and what is working and what is not. Always monitor your progress, because the SEO world is always changing and so are the strategies. Check out the full story below:

http://mashable.com/2012/07/27/marketing-metrics/

Connect with me on Facebook!

How To: Competing With The Big Boys

Tina Fronk

July 25, 2012

Search engine rankings play a large role in SEO campaigns. Showing up at the top of the search engine results page (SERP) increases visibility and the chance of gaining more visitors and customers. However, getting to the top of the SERP is tough work.

The first hurdle you must overcome is competing with older websites that have been around for a while. Newer websites have more competition nowadays, thus making it harder to reach the top. Older websites could achieve higher rankings several years ago because there was less competition and lower barriers to entry. So, how do newer websites compete?

First, reevaluate your keyword strategy. A newer website will have a difficult time getting higher rankings for a competitive keyword. However, if you optimize your website with popular and long-tail keywords, you will see improvements. Long-tail keywords aren't as common, but they can yield better results since their search volume is slightly less than popular keywords. 

Optimize relevant keywords so that you can build rankings for a topic. The more relevant keywords you have, the better. If you can cluster like keywords together, you can create a ranking for a topic. If you have a high ranking for multiple long-tail keywords, you have a better chance of rising in the rankings. 

Another great way to improve rankings is through link building. Websites that have more legitimate backlinks enjoy better rankings. Older websites generally have more content and backlinks than newer websites. Start optimizing your content so that you become valuable to your customers and audience. This can lead to an increase in backlinks, which improve rankings.

If you follow these tips, over time, you can improve your rankings and compete with the big boys. Check out the full article: http://www.free-seo-news.com/newsletter535.htm#facts

Connect with me on Facebook!

CTAs: The Do's and Don't's

A thriving business is built upon many factors, including strategic planning, advertising, good content and call to actions (CTAs), to name a few. CTAs draw your customers to purchase something or interact with your website. A decent amount of time should be spent on analyzing your CTAs and what will work best for your business.

It's easy to over do it. Think of a website you've been on that is loaded up with CTAs: 'Like us on Facebook,' 'Follow me on Twitter,' 'Subscribe to our Blog' and 'Connect with us on G+.' However, sometimes less is more. People will follow you because of your content, not your CTAs. If you have tons of social media networks, choose one or two to showcase on your website. Don't overwhelm your customers!

Good placement is important as well. For example, a great place to put a social media CTA is at the bottom of the page, after the content. Why? If someone made it all the way to the bottom, it means they read your content and had some interest. Also, anywhere else seems kind of out of place and annoying. If they want more of your content, what better way than to have them check out one or two of your social media networks? 

Next, focus on the actual CTA button. The usual 'Share' and 'Tweet Me' buttons are the same across websites. Stand out! Instead of embedding their CTAs, create your own. Almost every website has a social share button, so the reader may start to block them out because they all look the same after a awhile. Use a different color scheme or do something that will make your CTA stand out from all the other CTAs out there. Also, don't make promises you can't keep. If your CTA says it'll do something, then make sure you follow through. 

CTAs deserve a decent time investment. They help users engage with your brand and expand your brand across different networks. For more tips on how to improve your CTAs, check out the link below: 

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/improving-social-subscription-calls-to-action-whiteboard-friday

Connect with me on Facebook!

Strategic Planning: A Solid Foundation

So, you've got a great new business and are ready to create a killer online marketing campaign! Where do you start? You could start thinking about how to advertise and promote on social network platforms and what PPC campaign would work best for you, but it would all be pointless. Why?

Every great business eventually has to face the above mentioned problems. However, you need a solid business plan first to address these issues. A great starting point is a strategic plan that discusses your goals and the tools you plan to use to achieve success. 

A good strategic plan will identify where your business is currently and where you want your business to be in the future. Factors that affect your standing include your social and environmental contexts. 

Money is also an important factor. How do you plan to increase your return on investment? How do you plan to spend your money? Don't overlook your resources and budgets! Great ideas aren't great if you can't afford to implement them!

Next, you need to identify and analyze the strengths and weaknesses of your business. How can you improve your weaknesses? Once you complete this list, you can start to work towards your short- and long-term goals.

Every good business has a strong foundation. That foundation starts with an in depth strategic plan. For more information, check out our website: www.ePrecision.com.

Connect with me on Facebook!

Reinventing Content

Tina Fronk

July 11,2012

New, exciting and engaging content is important for any website. However, rehashing the same thing doesn't do any good for your site. Matt Cutts' of Google talked about how to create truly unique content that will help your rankings. 

First, don't use article spinners. These rehash old articles and change some words to try to pass it off as unique. Google software will be able to track these changes. Also, try to add in your opinion and a new angle. If you aren't providing any new information or value, Google won't reward you with a higher ranking. 

How do you add value to something that is already been talked about numerous times by a myriad of people?  Use your personal experience. How did these tips help you or how were you affected by so and so? Adding value is difficult, but with some research and experience, you will be able to raise your rankings.

Infographics can be a good way to stand out. However, Cutts warns that you must fact check your information and provide relevant and valuable information. Infographics can be hard to pull off, however, because they need to be very closely tied to your business and product. 

Creating content is an ongoing process that can pay off in the long run if done correctly. Make sure you have your own opinions about your topics and add in your personal experience. Don't use article spinners and avoid rehashing hot topics in your field. If you follow Cutts' tips, you can start to improve your content and rankings.

For all of Cutts' tips, check out the link below: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2190942/Googles-Matt-Cutts-Talks-Infographics-Differentiation-More-SEO-Topics

Connect with me on Facebook!

Link Building Basics

Tina Fronk
July 6, 2012

By now, everyone knows the importance of links. Building legitimate back links is crucial to a successful marketing campaign and greatly aids your SEO efforts. Lately, the Google updates have been cracking down on faulty links and punishing sites with bad links.

This post will cover link building basics and how to build legitimate, authentic links. Julie Joyce's article names 131 good practices. I will outline some of these.

First, email a webmaster. Ask them for a link to your site and make sure their site is relevant to yours. Also make sure they can see the value in linking to your site.

Utilize your social media! There are tools to help you. Type in your desired keyword and check out the results. Some great link building may come out of it and you can find sources for links.

Also, check out websites that are in the same field. If they have an active engagement via social media (think Tweets, Facebook likes and blog comments), then they have decent traffic to their site; you would definitely want to link with a site that gets traffic. Again, make sure it’s relevant.

Produce content that is fresh and engaging. No content means less links. You have to produce content that users are searching for to begin building links.

There are numerous legitimate ways to build links and create a back link profile. The above tips can help you start a good link building campaign. For more tips, check out the full article below.

Link Building Basics

Connect with me on Facebook!

SEO: Sink or Swim Analytics

Tina Fronk

July 2, 2012

Now that you've started your SEO marketing campaign, what comes next? Constant tracking, monitoring and improving. 

Without some type of analytics, you won't be able to see the progress your campaign is making or what is working and what isn't. Many people are worried about how complicated these analytics can be, but Google has simplified their process so that anyone can track and monitor. 

Andrew Edwards' article about Google Analytics (GA) provides some insight about how to use it and the pro's and con's. 

First off, GA stops monitoring data after a certain number of hits. This can be good and bad. Of course, when you reach the maximum hits, it's good to know you're getting traffic. However, you don't know how much traffic after the maximum number allotted by GA.

Edwards' addresses Key Performance Indicators (KPI) as well. For large corporations, KPI is essential. Any enterprise must track their KPIs, however, some corporations have more than others. The free GA limits the number of KPIs per profile. GA has theirs set at 20 KPIs. To monitor and track your efforts, 20 KPIs might not be enough for some enterprises.

Although GA may have limitations, it's a great starting point for analytics. It provides free basics and helps you track important factors of your SEO campaign. There are services that provide analytics for a price, but GA is free. 

More Edwards' full article, check out the link below: 

http://mashable.com/2012/07/02/5-little-known-facts-about-google-analytics/

Connect with me on Facebook!