Does your PR Agency Know How to Connect?
May 15, 2013 - Posted by Stephanie Graves
“We need more people talking about us!” As a CMO, or PR director, how many times has someone at the top come to you and said those exact words? Did you immediately start to feel the heat? When an organization decides it needs PR representation or that their current PR strategy needs an overhaul, it usually starts with a desire to create more buzz. And many times, this desire is motivated by a positive article in the local news about a competitor, or a look at another company’s thousands of seemingly engaged Twitter followers eagerly and happily interacting with their brand online. THE GOAL Simply creating buzz should not be the end goal for ramping up PR efforts. In the past, the end goal of public relations for brands may have been limited to raising brand awareness, but as the digital age has caused a major shift in how we… read more
Creating “Share-alicious” Content to Build Your Online Community
April 30, 2013 - Posted by Stephanie Graves
Ever wonder why some organizations seem to have no problem at all building and engaging their online communities when your company spends a great deal of time working to get more fans, to no avail? Does it seem like no matter what you post, tumbleweeds blow across your page. Very few, if any “likes” or comments are happening, with the exception of the one super fan you can always count on (read: your mom) who “likes” everything you post (because she loves you). You’re not alone. Many companies struggle to find the sweet spot in content creation. But if you listen closely, your audience is telling you what they want to hear. Deliver it, and you’ll see your online community start to take shape. First understand what moves your audience If you don’t have a deep understanding of who your audience is then you’ll have a difficult time figuring out… read more
SEO Poetry with Powered by Search
April 26, 2013 - Posted by Stephanie Graves
Guest post by Troy Boileau, a SEO & Inbound Marketing Consultant at Powered by Search, a Toronto SEO agency. A couple of weeks ago, Kelsey Lehnertz and Marketing Zen helped me and Powered by Search out with an awesome, practical post on which 3 tools SEO experts would use if they couldn’t use any other tool. Out of that one project this one flourished: SEO Poetry! I pitched a couple of extremely excited friends and partners from other companies in the niche: Could you pretty please write me a Haiku or a Limerick about SEO? Though I was excited about the idea (compliments of one of my colleagues, Marc Nashaat, thanks Marc!) I still hadn’t expected the great result. It was fun seeing the poems come in or who the poem-writing was delegated to and imagining how that process went; Hey, Powered by Search wants a Haiku! Who’s our company poet? Laura… read more
Press Releases and SEO: 5 Strategies that Work
December 11, 2012 - Posted by Amanda Norris
If you’re wondering what press releases and search engine optimization (SEO) have in common, then your company may be missing out on one of the most important tools in the battle for page rank and search visibility. That’s because the two largest search engines, Google and Bing, pay close attention to press releases when they determine page rank. While the exact components of the algorithms that search engines use to determine how search results are delivered are closely held secrets, media coverage, back links, and new content are certainly among the most important factors. The lowly press release is the least expensive, fastest, and simplest tool for most businesses to use when it comes to improving or maintaining page rank. No one knows how many press releases are issued every day. Three of the top ten press release distribution services (PR Newswire, PR Web, and MyPRGenie) together publish more than… read more
2013 Brings Complicated Changes To Paid Search Marketing
November 1, 2012 - Posted by Rilee Chastain
Predicting what is in store for paid search marketing in 2013. Now that we are halfway through the month of October, it is time to start finalizing end of the year marketing campaigns and looking ahead to what is in store for digital marketing in 2013. For those of us who work closely with Pay-Per-Click (PPC) campaigns and paid search marketing, it is no secret what a hectic, fast-paced industry this is. You are constantly having to tweak and experiment with what ads work best for your target clientele, while also staying in the right budget and campaign for your company. However, given the growth of mobile and tablet-use for web searches within the last year, 2013 is going to be especially hectic for marketers learning to adapt to the many changes. It is predicted that mobile search clicks could account for as many as 20-25% of all search clicks… read more
Local SEO Loophole: How to Get Ranked in Google within 30 Days
October 26, 2012 - Posted by Amanda Norris
This guest post is by Pete Kennedy, co-founder of Main Street ROI. Want more SEO tips? Register for Main Street ROI’s free Halloween SEO teleseminar: The Death of “Old-School” SEO. You’ll learn about the 3 “old-school” SEO tactics to avoid, plus the 5 new SEO rules to follow. Sign up here. One of the biggest myths about search engine optimization (SEO) is that you should expect to wait several months before you start ranking on the first page of Google for your target keywords. While it’s true it can often take several months to crack the first page for super competitive keywords, there are also opportunities for fast rankings with SEO. And one of those opportunities is local SEO. Local SEO is the process of getting your website ranking on the first page of Google+ Local, Google’s local search engine results (formerly known as Google Places). The Case for Local SEO Here… read more
Search Engine Optimization for Small Businesses
October 1, 2012 - Posted by Amanda Norris
Guest Post by Aaron Houghton, co-founder and CEO of BoostSuite.com You want more visitors and more customers from your website. You’re heard that Search Engine Optimization (or SEO) is the most cost effective way to promote your business online. But you’re a small business owner, not a web marketer, how should you get started? I have good news. These days the term SEO refers to a large list of marketing techniques. Some are quite complex and for these you’ll benefit greatly from the assistance of a web marketing expert. Other techniques are simple and allow you to make a lot of progress on your own – even if you know absolutely nothing about web marketing. In this article we’ll show you how you can get started doing SEO on your website using only what you already know about your business. Here’s the trick. Stay in your comfort zone. You know your… read more
Why Cheap SEO and Content Writing May Cost Your Business More than You Realize
September 25, 2012 - Posted by Amanda Norris
In order to succeed, a business must make smart financial decisions. Often, this means saving money by cutting out unnecessary costs and finding solutions that have the least impact on their budgets. There are some instances, however, in which the cheapest solution may wind up costing the most in the long-run. To the uninitiated, both search engine optimization and content creation can seem deceptively simple. After all, how hard can it be to write some website content describing your company, add some links, and throw some keywords in for good measure? Yes, doing those things is simple: doing them right, however, is an entirely different story. Quite simply, good results require experience, expertise in the latest industry changes, and dedication to producing the best possible results. Quality SEO and online content don’t have to cost an arm and a leg, but if it sounds too good – or too cheap… read more
What’s The True Cost of SEO?
August 29, 2012 - Posted by Shama Kabani
Transcription of “What’s The True Cost of SEO?” Shama: Why is good SEO not cheaper? I mean really, why isn’t it that you can’t pay a few hundred bucks and have the web site top of the search engines and get traffic. What goes into that? Idan: It takes time and takes a lot of resources. When we are talking about content, when we are talking about a building a web site, when we are talking about bringing out links, when we are talking about branding your product, all these things take a very long time and you cannot achieve that with just $200 where you just pay this person. Shama: It is not one person. You have a team of six that you’ve got all these people who are doing all these things for you and so it’s not just one person. I mean you do this strategy obviously… read more
SEO: Myth or Fact?
August 15, 2012 - Posted by Shama Kabani
Transcription of “SEO: Myths or Fact?” Shama: All right, Idan. SEO myth busting time. I’m going to tell you something I hear a lot from people and you tell me if it’s myth or fact and then correct me. Ok. You can guarantee me a top ranking. Myth or fact? Idan: Me personally? Nobody. Shama: Anybody. Idan: Nobody can guarantee you an actual ranking within Google organic results. Shama: Why? I was told this by these guys that emailed me from India. I was told that. Idan: The thing is that Google actually has their guidelines and it says that nobody can actually guarantee you, so you got to rely on that, plus it’s a free space to compete in. It’s really important to follow the rules in order to get top rankings. Shama: Google tells us pretty much that no, no one can guarantee you a ranking because guess… read more