Category Archives: General Information

Internet Marketing Strategies That Will Always Be Relevant

When it comes to running small businesses, internet marketing can be an integral component of the overall marketing strategy. Every small company needs effective internet marketing strategies whether it is doing online business or not. However, it is imperative to note that strategies that were effective in the past may not work in the future. Every business owner has to be aware of how dynamic the online marketing environment is. Relying on out-of-date online marketing strategies is going to be costly and futile. Below is a rundown of proven digital marketing strategies that are not only highly effective but also timeless.

Relevant Internet Marketing Strategies

Email Marketing

Email marketing has been proven to be one of the strongest internet marketing strategies in today’s world. Powerful email messages could stir the hearts of customers into supporting business and make purchases for the benefit of your company. The primary purpose of email marketing is to develop brand awareness through transmission of advertisements or to solicit sales and get donations for business recommendations. This can be achieved by sending emails to selling lists or the existing customer base.

Email marketing can take two distinctive forms: direct email and transactional email. Direct email marketing has to do with sending emails intended for communication through promotional messages. An example of this approach is when a company sends a catalog of products or email information concerning a special offer. The email addresses may be known to the company or may even be rented from service companies. On the other hand, transactional email marketing strategy makes use of the messages produced through customer’s reaction to a company. In other words, this type of communication is to customers who have agreed to receive emails from your company. The message can be in the form of forgotten password resets, reorder emails, basket messages, and order confirmation emails among other forms.

Content Marketing

Content marketing has to do with providing valuable information to potential customers. The information can be about your product or general issues of interest. Your articles, website, videos, blog posts, photos, and other forms of communicating must deliver high-quality content material that is useful to your target audience. When you deliver excellent content, people will get to know, like, and even trust you. They will use it, share it, and eventually buy from you.

Social Media Marketing

Whether you like them or not, social media platforms cannot be ignored. Some of your customers are obviously using social media sites such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram among others. It is imperative that you integrate your business to social media sites and ensure that you post regularly. It is also important to engage your audience and ensure that the content you post is not only relevant but also great in quality. However, you have to analyze your audience to know the social media sites they are on to avoid wasting time on the sites they hardly visit.

Search Engine Marketing

People use search engines when they want to find something on the web. Hundreds of millions of searches are conducted every day on search engines such as yahoo.com, google.com, and msn.com among others. Some people will be looking for your website or for a product that you deal with. So, how can you capture the people that are searching what your business has to offer? This is achieved through a technique known as search engine marketing.

The idea is to make your company more visible when people search for products that you offer. The aim is to rank highest or make your website appear on the first pages of the main search engines when people search for products your company sells. To achieve this, you might need to seek assistance from experienced internet marketers offering search engine optimization (SEO) services.

Local Search Marketing

Although the internet allows us to interact with anyone anywhere in the world, we do not always need the worldwide part of the web. In fact, the number of local business searches done on the Google is on the rise as more and more people realize how adept the major search engine can be when it come to providing more localized search results when required. To take advantage of this, it is imperative for you as the business owner to understand the value of local search marketing.

The greatest advantage of local search marketing has to do with the quality of the traffic you are likely to attract. Most of the people searching for goods and services are looking for local. Thus, defining your location will give you exposure to the people that matter most.

In conclusion, it is apparent that there are several effective internet marketing strategies you could integrate into your overall marketing strategy whether your business is online or offline. Discussed above are the online marketing strategies that will always be relevant. Whichever strategies you choose, always emphasize quality before quantity.

internet marketing strategies

Online Reputation Management and It’s Importance in 2017

Online business is woven into the fabric of our everyday lives. Most people do not visit bricks and mortar stores anymore. Therefore, for any business or personal brand, most people will get a sense of your reputation through the internet. Thankfully, a firm or a person can do online reputation management so that whatever people find on the internet does not damage, or better yet, enhances their reputation. Managing your reputation online in this day and age is not a choice one has to make, but a necessity and here is why:

Search Engine Results

Over 90%of those who search for anything on Google will not go beyond the first page. Therefore, your reputation is key to potential customers even finding you in the first place. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is one of the strongest online marketing strategies you can utilize. You want your reputation to work in your favor and to accomplish that you have to be proactive. You have to be willing to take steps that will help you rank higher in search engine results. It will lead to more traffic on your site or page which will lead to more business or a stronger online presence.

More Social Media Traffic

Social media is the most powerful tool for online advertising ever created. You can reach millions of people using a single Facebook page. More social media traffic almost invariably leads to a higher conversion rates i.e. conversion of potential customers to paying and loyal customers. Online reputation management involves managing your influence across all social media platforms. As of 2016, it is likely that 80% of the business you conduct will have come to you through social media, in one way or another. Social media also offers the chance to interact with people so that you can improve your reputation further or repair a damaged one.

Developing a Brand

There is no greater use of online reputation management (ORM) than pushing a distinct brand. What people associate with your name or business name is your brand. If you are trying to create a certain type of brand, ensuring that what find about you online is exactly what you want will go a long way in securing your brand. However, this is no easy task. You can only do so much such as offer impeccable customer service or be yourself. Other things are beyond your control such as the reviews you get on Yelp. Avoiding negative influences is a big step in setting up a brand.

Damage Control

No matter how much you try to keep your reputation squeaky clean, a reputation that is too perfect raises a red flag. Moreover, something bad that is beyond your control is bound to happen at one point or another. Online reputation management will help a lot with damage control. You will be able to curb the negative spread of news about your brand before it all goes too far. You can do much to keep it from getting worse, and if you do a god job, you could even turn it around. It will take time, but that is the power of ORM and its vital use.

Improvement

Online reputation management gives a brand owner whether a company or a person the chance to see what others think about the brand. Monitoring such feedback presents the brand owner with an incredible opportunity to take corrective action or to improve the goods or services offered. As part of online reputation management, monitoring suggestions is vital. You can take such reviews into consideration and take steps to provide customers with what they want. Such swift reactivity is crucial in online business.

Sales and Profitability

The ultimate measure of the effectiveness of your online reputation management will be the number of sales and the profitability of your online business. In the case of a personal brand, the reach you have should be the measure. All the steps taken to improve your reputation lead to this goal. Therefore, online reputation management that is done well will lead to more revenue and eventually larger profits. Given that in a capitalist society profit is the ultimate end, online reputation management should be taken very seriously. It could prove the difference between the sustainability and the demise of your business.

Online Reputation Management

Making Progress

Yea, I took a week off. Sue me. The holiday made it incredibly tough to get any time down to actually collect my thoughts and put them within a Google document. I also sacrificed some time to continue advancing forward in FreeCodeCamp.io.

I basically wanted to get past the HTML and CSS stuff and get right into jQuery. I’ve also made it a personal goal to knock out 10-15 learning challenges a day, and so far so smooth. The actual jQuery stuff has interested me so far. I’m really looking forward to getting into more advanced lessons with it and seeing what I can actually walk away from it with.

I really can’t recommend FreeCodeCamp enough. It’s been a great jump-start into learning and helping remember what I learned a long time ago. It really does feel like I needed to shake the cobwebs off. Either way, it’s exciting, and I’m going to continue pushing forward.

Another interesting thing that I came across this week, was the announcement that ClickZ was closing their events business.Kind of huge surprise because of how many events they put on a year. They always seemed like one of the first/bigger companies to put on a continual event cycle, so it will be interesting to see what else may come of it, if anything.

Oh well, another quick-ish update – but it’s progress right? I’m really trying to hold true to at least consistently writing once a week and publishing it. I have already seen a slow improvement on visits as well as Google Search Console data. A few more weeks, and it may be something I get to write about!

Keeping To The Commitment

Week 2, we’re holding in there! I’m in Boston for work and seeing that I have time at the hotel, I want to write a bit about what I’m going to start working on. Partially because I have to, but I think more because I’m excited for it. I’ve started using freecodecamp.io to start refreshing and learning more about web development.

After reading up on it, I think it’s a great way to start learning – and if it goes well enough I spend a ton of time learning things that I can use in the future.

I don’t know how far I’ll get with it, but I do intend to make it a consistent thing like I’m trying to do with my writing. Even though I feel like I work a ton already, I haven’t been progressing with learning as fast as I’d like in the past few months. I really want to make sure that I’m not trying to sprint right away. Burning out isn’t ideal and it’s something I’m striving to be hyper-ware of.

Back to Boston. I’ve been here for the week working with a great group of people on an SEO PPI charter to expand SEO within the company that I work for. While I thought it was intense (3 straight days in a conference room working on issues), I learned a ton about the company. There were also a lot of solid things I can take back back to the office and try to apply for the sites that I work on.

I love that I’ve been able to go to places that I never imagined in my life that I’d go. Yes it’s a ton of work and stress, but it’s a fantastic feeling knowing I’ve been able to travel as much as I have. It’s a really cool feeling, and I want to continue to work as hard as possible to continue to do what I love.

Getting In Gear

Today marks the day where I feel like I’ve hit rock-bottom when it comes to posting to this site. Neil Patel wrote an excellent article called; “What Happens to SEO When You Stop Blogging?” and he couldn’t be more right.

Everything he spoke to, everything he sourced from Robert Ryan’s post about not blogging for 251 days was absolutely true. I’ve seen the consistent drop in rankings, visits, and every major metrics I care about. It honestly makes me feel terrible.

As they always say though, come with solutions; not problems. I’ve got to find a way to keep consistent with this, and avoiding burnout when it comes to actually writing. Writing is a craft I’d love to get better at, and the only way to do that; is to keep writing.

The one thing I’ve thought about trying, is just doing a weekly “what am I working on?” segment. I think this may be one of the easier things to do, purely because I can write in generic details about stuff I’m doing, and focus on the real recommendations.

Another thing that frustrates me, is that I’ve shoehorned myself in trying to write longer. My goal now is to just focus on the content and work on my writing ability. Where the word count falls, will be just fine with me.

Stay tuned!

IFTTT – Utilizing Alerts for Marketing

A few years ago, I wrote about using Google Alerts Tips and Tricks for SEO. If This Then That (IFTTT), is another great resource I use on a daily basis. From sending e-mails, to interacting with social media sites. IFTTT is a great tool to use for SEO and makes things more efficient overall.

What is IFTTT?

If This Then That “puts the internet to work for you.” The tool is all about using created recipes to trigger actions when something happens over the internet or across a social media app that you’re using.

Recipes
There are two types of recipes. DO recipes and IF recipes. Quite simply, DO recipes run with a tap and enable to create your own button, camera, and notepad. The exception here is that DO recipes are app controlled, and available for both Android and iOS IFTTT Aps.

IF Recipes
IF recipes are recipes that run in the background, and create connections with one simple statement; if this then that.

An IFTTT recipe from my channel.

Most if not all the recipes below, fall into this IF recipe category. These are the IFTTT Recipes that I use to help keep me in the loop, or alert me when something happens. Using this tool in conjunction with Google Alerts is highly recommended.

IFTTT Recipes for Marketing

Discover when someone links to your competitor
This will send you an alert when a website links to your competitor. This alert saves you time from doing it manually, and allows you to help craft your content strategy for linkable ideas that your competitor has worked on.

How to create this recipe:

Search for your competitors’ website(s) on Moz’s Moz.com Open Site Explorer.
When the results come up, click on the “Just Discovered” tab
Copy the URL of the “Just Discovered” tab
Go to Page2RSS and paste your URL. This will create an RSS feed of just discovered sites.
Go to IFTTT.com
THIS Channel: Feed (use the feed you just created)
THAT Channel: Email

Identify competitor’s XML sitemap updates
This alert will help you track page additions or removals from your competitors’ website. Another great way to use their content strategy, and keeps your eyes open to decide if anything needs to be updated on your website.

How to create this recipe:

Use Page2RSS to create a feed of your competitor’s XML sitemap
Go to IFTTT.com
THIS Channel: Insert the copied Page2RSS generated link into Feed and ‘New feed item’
THAT Channel: Email or Gmail

Identifying when a website links to yours through Moz’s “just discovered” tool
Use this alert to watch new URLs that have linked to your content. This kind of alert can be used to reach out to continued prospective leads to create partnerships or other linking opportunities. It’s also valuable if you’re actively managing links and tracking performance for a particular linking program.

How to create this recipe:

Search for your website or page on Moz’s Open Site Explorer.
When the results come up, click on the “Just Discovered” tab
Copy the URL of the “Just Discovered” tab
Go to Page2RSS.com and paste your URL. This will create an RSS feed of just discovered sites.
Go to IFTT.com
THIS Channel: Feed (use the feed you just created)
THAT Channel: Email

Identify SERPs changes for Rich Snippets
This IFTTT alert monitors to identify when your website pages gain rich snippets in SERP listings. This is effective and necessary when you’re trying to show how much of an impact your rich snippets have when they’re triggered through searches.

How to create this recipe:

Setup a Visualping.io notification or the SERP page where your listing exists.
Go to IFTTT.com
THIS Channel: Email or Gmail then ‘New Email From’ hello@visualping.io
THAT Channel: Google Doc then ‘Add Row to Spreadsheet’.

Monitor Google’s Guidelines for Content
This alert is used to watch and find any changes made to Google’s content guidelines. Perfect for making sure that you’re never missing out on any relevant pieces of information that you should be applying to your website.

How to create this recipe:

For each page in Google’s Content Guidelines, use Page2RSS to turn them into RSS feeds
Go to IFTTT.com
THIS Channel: Feed
Copy the feed into IFTTT
THAT Channel: Email
Create a new recipe for each page in the guidelines

So these are a few of my favorite IFTTT recipes. They all offer a specific purpose with my weekly SEO routine for making my life easier and more efficient when it comes to collecting data. Do you use IFTTT.com? What are your favorite recipes?

Google: Algorithm Update To Tackle Hacked Spam

Google announced on Monday, October 5th that they began rolling out a series of algorithm changes to reduce the amount of hacked spam in the Google SERPs (Search Result Pages).

Google says that the algorithmic updates will eventually impact around 5% of queries depending on the language. What this actually means for your site and current visibility? Not much, if you’re not hacked; or if other sites aren’t hacked above you in the rankings.

Hacked sites aren’t always easy to identify, and it may cause immediate issues or questions if a site is hacked, due to limited knowledge on how to actually fix and identify the site.

Google thankfully has also planned to add a notification (like the mobile friendly update) to the SERP listing if they believe a site has been hacked/spammed as well as a notification in the GWT message center for your website.
Hacked Domain SERP Listing

Google’s Web Spam Release:

Recently we have started rolling out a series of algorithmic changes that aim to tackle hacked spam in our search results. A huge amount of legitimate sites are hacked by spammers and used to engage in abusive behavior, such as malware download, promotion of traffic to low quality sites, porn, and marketing of counterfeit goods or illegal pharmaceutical drugs, etc.

Website owners that don’t implement standard best practices for security can leave their websites vulnerable to being easily hacked. This can include government sites, universities, small business, company websites, restaurants, hobby organizations, conferences, etc. Spammers and cyber-criminals purposely seek out those sites and inject pages with malicious content in an attempt to gain rank and traffic in search engines.

We are aggressively targeting hacked spam in order to protect users and webmasters.

Clayton Nichols – SEO and Strategic Management

Local Pittsburgh SEO Guy

Category Archives: General Information

Internet Marketing Strategies That Will Always Be Relevant

Relevant Internet Marketing Strategies

Email Marketing

Content Marketing

Social Media Marketing

Search Engine Marketing

Local Search Marketing

Online Reputation Management and It’s Importance in 2017

Making Progress

Keeping To The Commitment

Getting In Gear

IFTTT – Utilizing Alerts for Marketing

What is IFTTT?

IFTTT Recipes for Marketing

Google: Algorithm Update To Tackle Hacked Spam

Relevant Internet Marketing Strategies

Email Marketing

Content Marketing

Social Media Marketing

Search Engine Marketing

Local Search Marketing

Related posts:

Related posts:

Related posts:

Related posts:

Related posts:

What is IFTTT?

IFTTT Recipes for Marketing

Related posts:

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