It’s something that you hear all the time – all of the SEO content in the world doesn’t do you any good, unless your readers are really engaged in it. After all, people don’t purchase products, sign up for email lists, or share links if they think that something is “just OK”. If you’re not publishing SEO content that really gets readers involved, you’re missing out on countless link opportunities, traffic, and sales.

So, how exactly do you create SEO content that’s going to engage readers?

1. Don’t Overlook the Importance of “You”

Your SEO articles, blog posts, and optimized sales pages are not formal research papers. The best way to get results out of them is to make each reader feel like you’re speaking directly to them. Luckily, you can do that by focusing on one little word – “you”. Writing in the third person (using “he”, “she”, or “they”) is impersonal; writing in the second person (using “you”) brings your SEO content to a personal level.

Take a look at this sentence:

“People have a hard time driving traffic to their websites because they haven’t defined a target audience.”

It’s not a bad sentence. It contains an important fact that is easy to understand, and it’s certainly better than some of the gibberish you see floating around out there. Your readers will look at this sentence and probably agree with it. Unfortunately, though, there’s no personal investment on their behalf. Instead, they’ll probably think, “Sure, ‘people’ probably do have that problem. So, what does that have to do with me?”

Now, change the same sentence ever so slightly, to:

“You have a hard time driving traffic to your website because you haven’t defined a target audience.”

You’re making the same point and using the same fact. The only difference is that you’re not talking about other people. Instead, you’re speaking directly to the reader and telling him exactly what his problem is. By phrasing the sentence this way, your reader is much more likely to think, “You know what? She’s right. That is my problem! Let me keep reading to see if she has any tips to help me fix it.”

Just like that, you’ve encouraged someone to read your SEO content all the way to the end. Assuming the rest of your SEO content is full of important information, readers will get to the end and think of you with more respect. You can’t ask for a reader to be more engaged than that!

2. Get Rid of the “$10 Words”

I don’t know about you, but I hate “$10 words” – you know, the words you learned for the vocabulary section of the SAT’s and haven’t used since. Most of the time, I see big words and the writer instantly strikes me as someone who wants everybody to think he’s smart. Unfortunately, it’s a terrible impression to give to readers – that you’re some kind of stuffy know-it-all. After all, would you do business with a stuffy know-it-all? I sure wouldn’t!

Making matters worse, you may have a reader who doesn’t know what your “$10 word” means – and now he feels stupid.

Guess what?

People don’t buy from businesses that make them feel stupid!

Bottom line – keep the “$10 words” out of your SEO content. You can provide answers, list solutions, and summarize benefits with the same language that you’d use talking to a fríend over lunch.

Remember, the goal is to make the reader feel like the two of you are having a conversation. You simply can’t do that with big, fancy words that no one actually uses in everyday conversation!

3. Use Lists Whenever You Can

Internet searchers are a bunch that love to scan and skim. They scan Google results, article titles, and even the body of the SEO content itself – until they see something that catches their eye. Once they think something’s worth their while, they’ll sit down and read the whole thing. So, the easier you make it for readers to scan your SEO content, the greater your chances of them slowing down to engage with what you have to say.

That’s why you see so many numbered lists and bullet points around the web. Successful writers know that they’re crucial to catching people’s attention. After all, scanning a list to see if it’s got some merit is a whole lot easier than trying to trudge through long paragraphs.

That doesn’t mean you should try to force lists into every piece of SEO content that you publish. In some cases, they just don’t work. In situations where a list isn’t appropriate, make sure that your SEO content has short paragraphs. That way, readers won’t feel “intimidated” by giant paragraphs that look far too time-consuming to read.

How short are we talking?

If your paragraphs have more than 5 or 6 sentences in them, they’re too long. Chances are you’re trying to make too many points in your paragraph. Stick to one point per paragraph, so that you don’t end up with SEO content that looks more like War and Peace.

Remember – internet searchers want answers and solutions, and they want them now. If your SEO content makes it easy for them to find what they’re looking for, you greatly improve the odds of them being fully engaged in what you have to say!

There are a zillion ways to use video for business, varying from stylish, high-priced ad crusade commercials to complex landing page pieces designed to pull someone into a purchase. What are the greatest types of video for Small Business owners that can be created cost-effectively and published quickly and produce leads? Here are the Elite Eight.

Introductory Clip

Well-known and regularly underused, the video Intro to the Business is a brief, 5 minute or less (2-3 works well) homepage introduction that tells who you are, what you do and why customers should care. This can be done using a narrative in a commercial replete with lots of motion shots of the shop floor, the office, and merchandise; a talking head of the CEO to a blank camera; or use the 3rd party perspective of an authentic Video interview (see below) Business FAQ.

Development costs can range from free (CEO riffing into a webcam) through a few hundred dollars to thousands for a videographer shot commercial. Google doesn’t care; either will index well given the suitable keyword tags. The question you have to answer is, what is going to be quickly informative, entertaining, and referable (as in Re-tweeted).

Product Demonstration

Specific to demonstrable products, especially ones that move, like machines, toys, electronic devices, and, considering the medium, software. These again shouldn’t run on too long but may be longer than an introductory commercial. A software-based demo may take up to 8 minutes, but you should be able to say it in less time than that. When it comes to demos, sometimes less is more. Most often either a narrative led demo showing strictly merchandise or a spokesperson paced demo (think QVC or Home Shopping Channel) works the best. Just make sure to show the BEST features of your product and explain repeatedly (3x) how this addresses a problem for your prospects.

Professional Abilities

This is very similar to a product demo and works best for suppliers, specifically those in developed countries, trying to demonstrate their superior technology will in reality cost less money or provide better quality merchandise for a customer engaging them with a contract for ongoing services. Machine shops and laser houses love this stuff, showing programmed machinery cutting steel while a guy with a hardhat and safety specs controls the process. This can run 5-10 minutes tops. The key here is, make sure that your ability really is something unique (as in a True Competitive Advantage that others don’t have) and that your video captures its uniqueness.

Company Headlines

This is more of a tug on the heartstrings video that spotlights either what your company has achieved that is noteworthy or what your employees have done for your company. If it’s about the business, it MUST be legitimized by 3rd party reference, as in an accolade won from a prominent registrar (Best in Class, Malcolm Baldridge quality), a status obtained (ISO 9001 certification, etc.) or a cat saved from a tree on the news. When discussing employees, the old Employee of the Month style headline adds a nice human element and speaks to what your company values in its people, and that can make a big difference to prospects with the same value system. For these types of videos, keep them brief (2-4 minutes) and keep them current, particularly for the employee notoriety videos. An Employee of the Month surmises that next month, we’ll see a new one.

Video Landing Page Combination

I could write pages on this one and to be truthful, I’m not a professional at it, but I am sure you’ve experienced pages that have these videos. These are designed to be easy for the vendor of a product or service, meaning, don’t call me, take the action explained on the video. That means enter your email address to get something for FRÉE for agreement to market to you, or sign up for the thing (whatever it is) immediately! Just like text-only sales landing pages, these are long-form videos, with Squeeze Pages (get the email address) videos stretching from 3-7 minutes, and Sales Pages running all the way up to 30 minutes (that is too long in my view, with 10-12 being enough). The most important stuff here: limit options to only this with no other on-page interruptions and make multiple calls to action to the viewer.

Vlog Posts

All about providing info this one is. It comes in the form of a training video, which is conveniently done for things like software applications using screen capture software, or talking head telling something she knows, and often is the Expert Interview (I’ve done a bunch of these in my blog, see sample). The goal is expert positioning for your company while providing real value for the view. These videos can run from 5-30 minutes or longer (think of a book author interview), but I prefer to keep them between 7 and 15 minutes (YouTube has a 15 minute max until you are a recurring video poster). Tickets to success are to limit the subject matter to prevent rambling, don’t provide fluff with a sales pitch to get more, and add some written text fore and aft of the video to set it up and summarize.

Testimonials and Case Studies

Very self-explanatory here, this is 3rd party Reliability Building 101. Take the same things that marketers value about written examples and testimonials and put them on steroids. This definitely MUST be a person unrelated to the business telling about what the company did for him or her, and it can NOT be anonymous (just like those absurd fake reviews you see, “JL from Tampa says …”). Use foresight if the person doing the talking is not good on camera. It shouldn’t make a difference but it does. He doesn’t need to be Ben Affleck, but he can’t be a stiff either. These run no more than 3 minutes in length and follow my rules for great reviews. Quality can’t be weak, but a webcam with reasonable quality can be used effectively, as the subject matter of the person’s referral is the principal piece.

Video Interview

I saved this for last and, as you probably know by now, Smart Company Growth does these in packages for the right type of clients. Video interviews work well for any company that wants to put a human face on its brand, so consider if that is you. They work extremely well when your organization has these three aspects:

1. No physical product – Right for consultants, lawyers, accountants, financial advisors, IT people and anyone else offering professional services. You sell intellectual property and that is difficult to show by showing a video shot of your report (although you can show results charts, but the people who can use this method the most, financial advisors, usually have rules stopping it).

2. Trust is the key to business - Same group, right? If you’re an attorney, how can you start to break the trust hurdle down without ever meeting someone? Show some face time with the 3rd party legitimacy that comes from being interviewed.

3. Sameness in Brand - If you look at your rivals’ websites and they look like yours does – competent yet non-distinguishable – you’re a good prospect for a video interview to set yourself apart. Once more, this is why professional service companies fall so nicely into video interview candidates.

Like millions of other people, I’m a huge NFL football fan (go Giants), and the one thing I’ve learned over the years is that on any given Sunday, the worst team in the league can beat the best team in the league. It happens all the time. Why? Because in sports, just like in business, there’s a very thin line between success and failure – winníng and losing.

And the team that executes their game plan the best and makes the fewest mistakes will invariably win the game. That’s not a theory – statistics bear that out. In sports, mistakes are the wild card – the great equalizer. You can have the greatest team and game plan in the world, but if you make mistakes and don’t execute your game plan, it will be all for naught. You will lose. Mistakes prevent you from performing up to your potential and winníng the game.

The same logic applies to business as well. Regardless of the competition, the businesses that execute their game plan the best and make the fewest mistakes will invariably come out on top. That’s why you constantly see small businesses outperform larger, more powerful companies with greater resources. It’s all about having a solid game plan and executing it.

Following are 10 surefire marketing tips that will improve your website conversions:

1. Have a Plan

There’s an age old proverb by Thomas Edison that famously states:

“He who fails to plan, plans to fail.”

Truer words haven’t ever been spoken. You need to have a plan before you start a business. Why is a business plan so important? Because a properly constructed business plan is like a roadmap to your goals – a GPS if you will.

Having a business plan will give you a much clearer vision of your goals and objectives, and will keep you on track and enable you to achieve your goals that much faster.

One caveat about business plans: They aren’t written in stone, and more than likely, you will have to change or adjust your plan multiple times along the way to keep yourself on track. That’s just part of the process.

If you need help writing a business plan, you can obtain a free business plan template from BPlans.com.

2. Focus on Organic SEO

While paid marketing methods are fine for the short-term, for the long-term, organic SEO (non-paid traffic that originates from search engines) is what separates the wheat from the chaff. If you can establish a significant presence in the search engines, it will give you a competitive advantage over your competitors. Stock your website with plenty of quality, relevant content and refresh it regularly. Also, concentrate on acquiring as many quality, relevant backlinks as you can. It will pay huge dividends in the long-term.

3. Develop a Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

Here’s what master copywriter, Michel Fortin had to say about a USP in his article How to Hook (More) Copywriting Prospects. “A USP is what distinguishes you from the pack. It increases perceived value, expertise, and credibility – without needing to state it outright. Just by being 10% different, unique, original, or special is enough to make you stand out like a sore thumb in an overcrowded, hyper-competitive marketplace.”

You simply can’t say it any more succinctly than that. Be smart. Get an edge on your competition, and develop a USP.

4. Be Obvious

Have you ever landed on a website and didn’t know what it was about? How did you feel? You didn’t like it did you? And I’ll bet you probably clicked out of there pretty quickly. Well, your visitors don’t like it either. Don’t let your visitors have to try and figure out what your website is all about. Make it crystal clear, right from the beginning. Be obvious. Having a big, descriptive headline or logo on your home page is a very effective way to announce what your website is about. Also, choose relevant keywords for your pages, as opposed to trying to trick people just to get eyeballs. Always make your keywords relevant to your web pages.

5. Install Internal Site Search

Studies have shown, you have less than 10 seconds to engage visitors on your site, or they’re gone. That’s why it’s imperative to make sure visitors to your site can find the information they’re looking for quickly and easily. But how?

If your website has more than one page, or has lots of content, install internal site search. If you haven’t done this already, take care of it now. Studies have shown a significant number of people use the search function on sites to help them find the information they’re looking for.

Studies have also shown internal site search definitely helps improve conversions. Here’s why:

If your visitors are able to quickly and easily find the information they’re seeking, they’ll remain on your site longer. And the longer visitors stay on your site, the greater your chances of converting them into customers.

So how can you add internal search to your site?

Just do a search for “internal site search.” You’ll discover you have a lot of options – both free and paid. Personally, I use Google Custom Search on my site. I’m pleased with it. It works quite well for me, but like I said, you have a lot of options.

6. Nurture Your Subscriber List

On average, it takes seven contacts with a visitor to your website to convert them into a customer. That means visitors have to see your marketing message at least seven times before they’re comfortable enough to purchase from you.

That’s why your subscriber list is so important. Even if your subscribers haven’t purchased anything yet, they are interested in what you have to say. Think about it. These people have taken the time and made the effort to opt-ín to receive your newsletter, blog updates, whatever. This gives you the ability to have contact with these people over and over and over again. Eventually, they will develop enough trust in you to purchase your products and services. And if you treat them right, they’ll keep on purchasing from you for years to come. More importantly, they’ll tell others about you.

OK, so you’ve decided that getting some web video on your website and social media profiles is a great idea to make you more appealing to prospects and put your SEO (search engine optimization) on HGH. You realize that video marketing is a key part of your overall search engine marketing and social media strategy. Bully for you! Now onto the tech stuff. Video formats can be mind-boggling and vary depending on the equipment the video was shot with, the type of computer you use, and the final destination where you want to host and serve up your on-demand video as part of your video marketing plan.
So which is best for you?

Lorraine Grula provides these tips from her years of experience as a top shelf video photographer and producer in ReelSEO.

Web Video Guidelines

Depending on whether you are doing research to get started with web video or if you are making use of existing equipment and software, you may be limited to formats below:

* Raw Video Format — As determined by your camera or, nowadays, your recording software. For instance, the software I record SmartVu Video Interviews with processes raw video the best when saved as Windows Movie (.wmv). I have a PC based application. Your camera or software may have a different standard, especially if you are utilizing a MAC.

* Editing Standards — Your editing software may also have a limitation on types of video it will accept and types that it works the best with. My videos are material related, not glitz and glamour, so I use programs like Corel Video Studio and Windows Live Movie Maker. Most video editors will accept nearly all the basic raw video formats, but you’ll want to confirm.

* Video Platform — What type of video format works best with your online video platform that will serve as your host? Will you host it on your site? Take into account Adobe Flash for speed reasons of loading without buffering. YouTube? They convert your incoming video to Flash (.flv) for display. If you’re using a 3rd party, inquire about their favored video format.

Obviously if you have a mismatch in your video camera output and your editor, for instance, you’re up a creek without a paddle and will need to convert your raw video to be accepted by the editor. Avoid this, as every conversion results in quality loss for the video. Try to avoid too many conversions.

Resolution versus File Size

Look, with internet video marketing, you are facing a tradeoff between two things when recording, editing and finishing videos: resolution and file size. Lorraine describes compatibility too in the ReelSEO piece, and we talked about that already. The better the quality, the larger the file size (usually), and that means the longer the buffer when loading the video on your player upon demand (especially if uploaded directly from your site server). If you want extra clear quality, the first thing you need is a work-horse computer loaded up with RAM and a uber-fast processor. I am a PC guy and I had to get an I-7 Dell to accommodate recording Hi-Def video. My old PC (5 years old) could not manage the large files without Japanese Monster Movie style mis-tracking between voice and image and I was obliged to record at lower resolutions until upgrading.

The Main Video Formats for Web Video

If you ‘re looking for the best of both worlds and your hardware can handle the recording and editing, see this brief (did I say brief?) analysis of web video formats you’ll be using:

Windows Media Video (.wmv)

This is the basic PC video file format that comes with Windows set up for Windows Media Player. It is well-known, yields reasonable quality and a pretty small file size. Want higher quality? Record or finish-edit at a higher resolution and the file size goes up accordingly. The advantage of .wmv is that it’s standard with all Windows PCs and, if shot in low enough resolution, can really be small enough to share via email. I use this format for ‘SmartVu Video Interviews’ (http://smartcompanygrowth.com/smartvu-executive- video-interviews/) and then stream them on YouTube, and they convert without much problem with nice finish quality.

Audio-Video Interlaced (.avi)

This is the original video format from Microsoft and has a tendency to yield very large files unacceptable for sharing, but of good quality for master files. For sharing, most videographers finish-edit the file in another format to reduce file size. According to Grula there is some inconsistency with the codecs (tech video term here) depending on the recording device, making .avi not a great choice for small business video and novice producers.

Motion Picture Experts Gróup MPEG-4 (.mp4)

Growing numbers of video producers online are digging .mp4 as the format of choice. It has the H-264 compression codec which is considered top drawer, and is quickly becoming the standard output of camcorders and video cameras. For online sharing the .mp4 format is moving toward the universal choice and in fact is recommended by YouTube, the big fish in the platform market.

Apple Quick Time (.mov)

This format has been around a while and is standard from Apple Quick Time, but is not restricted to Macs. File sizes are big and quality is high. If super-tight quality is your concern, this may be your format.

Flash Video (.flv)

This is the most prevalent file format on the web today, playable in the Adobe Flash Player which is standard on 99% of all computers. Video sharing sites like YouTube, Vimeo, etc. take your existing videos and convert to flash for streaming to watchers of the site. File sizes are small, it streams fast, and the flash player can start playing the videos while they are still loading which is fantastic for longer videos (5 min or longer). If you host video on your server, converting to .flv is almost a requirement for user experience. I have used the Riva converter to convert some .wmv files to flash and noticed quality degradation in exchange for the file size and speed issue; nevertheless, YouTube conversions seem to be very clear.

Tips

Here is my suggestion to small business owners and entrepreneurs looking to get into video marketing on their sites and social media profiles.

Record raw footage in the best possible format for your device. If that is .mp4, you’re one step ahead of the game.

When editing, complete the video in .mp4. Test to see if your quality is acceptable with no degradation. MPEG-4 is much easier to upload and move around. If you see a quality reduction, save finish edits to the same file format as your raw footage.

Upload your videos to a video sharing platform. I recommend YouTube. It is the biggest, gets the most traffic by far, and let’s face it Google now owns YouTube. If you’re streaming video on your website from YouTube or another site, which one do you think will get the best SEO results and page 1 positioning? YouTube will convert to either .mp4 or .flv and do a fine job with it, taking that off your plate.

Now you just need to learn how to use YouTube without providing 100 options for people to abandon your video and go somewhere else. I’ll tell you more on that in a later post.

Google Place Search (formerly known as Google Places) rules local search. Just try it. Go to Google and type in “Personal Injury Attorney Your City.” The first seven listings in the “natural search listings” are all Google Places pages. Since 20% of searches are local and the majority of their over $30 billion in revenue comes from small businesses, Google has decided to go hard after local small business advertising.

They started by creating 50 million Google Places pages using aggregated data from online directories and the Yellow Pages. These pages are mobile optimized and attached to Google Maps.

Only about 8% of local businesses have actually claimed their Google Place Search page. Even less have fully optimized their pages. However, this is changing fast. Local businesses are getting hip to the importance of Google Places pages. If you have a local business, the first place potential customers will start to find you is on your Google Places page from their smart phone. You want to make sure you are at the top of the list for your category. Here is how you get a jump on your competition in local search:

1. Stake Your Claim!

Google made the Google Place Search Page now you need to claim yours. You need to claim it because it is possible that the information listed is not correct and the more completely you fill out your page the higher it is ranked in searches. In order to be able to add information to your page you need to claim it first. Google verifies your claim to the page by sending you a postcard by snail mail with a confirmation code or by sending you a message on your phone.

Now that you have claimed your page you want the information to be accurate and complete. Is the address the same? Have you changed phone numbers? You want to add pictures, videos, links to your website, reviews, coupons and as much pertinent information about your business as possible. You want to do this for 2 reasons. First you want your customers to have the most accurate and relevant information about your business. Next you want to completely optimize your Google Place Search Page because optimized pages get ranked first. The better optimized your page the higher it ranks in local search and you want to be first right? Remember, most likely your customers will find your Google Place Search page before they will find your website so you want this to be as attractive and complete as possible.

3. Citations Citations Citations

Citations are listings and references made to you in other local directories. Google aggregates links and reviews from other local directories and places them in your Google Places listing. This also is a factor in determining your rank in local search.

So you want to be lísted in as many other local dírectories as possible to boost your rank in Google Place Search. Also, these directories, such as Yelp, are highly trafficked directories in their own right and people will find your business directly there as well.

Here is a list of 15 local directories where you can get your business listed quickly. Here is a more complete list of 100 local directories.

Súbmitting to each of these directories making sure the information is accurate on each is a very tedious task. Here are a couple of services which will do the submissions for you: Localeze.com and Universal Business Listing.

Another trick is to use YouTube as a citation source. On your YouTube video description make sure you include the same name address and phone number that is on your Google Place Search Page and include local tags in the tag section and Google will pick this up as a local citation.

To get even more citations you can use a free service called Whitespark which will give you an even more in depth list of local directories. If your niche is highly competitive, these extra citations can mean the difference between getting a top listing, or not, in Google local search.

4. Get as Many Reviews as Possible

The number one rule with reviews is that they have to be real. Do not just put a bunch of phony reviews on Google or anywhere else. People are smart, Google is smart. You will get busted. This could end up with you not only losing credibility but having your page penalized. Plus, in some cases it can be illegal.

Some business owners have their customers write hand written reviews right there in the local business. They then upload the scanned version of the review with a link using a service called Posterous. With the customer’s permission you can also just input the review online right then and there. Many customers have smart phones and they can place the review directly online themselves while they are in the establishment.

You can even incentivize your customers to give you a review. Maybe you could give 10% off or a coupon if they place a review online. Be careful, some directories allow this others do not. Check the TOS of the directory you are placing the review on first.

The more reviews you have the higher you are ranked on Google Place Search. Also people look at reviews before making a purchase. This is something that really needs your attention. If you do happen to get a negative review many directories will let you respond. Keep up with this, your business depends on it.

Finding effective and sustainable methods of building links to your website can prove challenging. However, with some effort or investment on your part, it is possible to enjoy an boost in direct traffic as well as a boost to your link profile and search engine rankings through an ongoing link building strategy. There are tried and tested techniques that have been used for years that help build links in volume, as well as techniques that aim to build a smaller number of links but of much higher value – the perfect combination for a natural looking and effective search engine link profile.

1 – Directory Submissions

Directory submissions should be considered a staple part of your link building campaign. While directory links provide less value than they did several years ago, they do still provide benefit. What’s more, while there is a finite number of directories online the number is massive and you can submít to one or two hundred directoríes a month for at least the first year or so of your link building strategy.

There are location and topic specific directories as well as general category ones. There are also those that will only accept home page links and those that will take deep links to other pages of your site. Combining these and using them accordingly will help generate the best results.

2 – Article Marketing

Article marketing is another age old link building technique and while directory submissions provide finite, albeit extensive, opportunities, article marketing offers infinite possibilities. There are hundreds of article directories, including a good number that can be considered search engine friendly.

Write appealing and relevant articles, include an author bio with one or two keyword optimized links to your pages and submit them. Some marketers prefer to stick to a handful of the best directories while others opt for mass submissions to hundreds of article repositories at a time.

3 – Press Release Submissions

Press releases can provide good links and a great sense of authority for your website. Readers will be more inclined to trust a press release than they will a blog post or article, but the number of press release directories that accept HTML links, with keywords in the anchor text, is limited so you will have to look around.

Ensure that the press release is properly formatted, not written in the first person, and is not simply a thinly veiled advertisement for your website or business. Sticking to the rules and best practices of press release submission will help ensure that your release has a greater chance of being accepted by a good number of websites.

4 – Guest Posts

Blogs continue to be one of the most popular forms of website. Individuals, companies, and organizations, as well as marketers, maintain their own blogs with regular, good quality content. They also link to one another and this helps blogs to attain high rankings in relevant search engines, but it also means that blog owners have a major requirement for regular content.

Some blogs fulfill this requirement for content by opening up their blog to guest posters. Find blogs in your industry and on a topic relevant to that of your site and then determine those that actively seek guest posts. If you’re building links to aid in your SEO then do ensure that the blogs you post to are search engine friendly – primarily, this means ensuring that links do not use the nofollow attribute.

5 – Link To Authority Blogs

Another great thing about blogs is the sense of community that they attract. Blogs within the same industry will regularly link to other blogs on a similar or related topic. This offers the blogger a great opportuníty to essentially acquire advertising from competitor websites; something that simply doesn’t happen with standard business related websites.

Link out to other blogs in your industry that carry a lot of authority and have a lot of readers. Encourage your readers to click the link and visit that site. When the blogger checks their site statistics and notices a lot of traffic all emanating from your blog then they may well provide a link back on a topic that you have covered yourself. Repeat regularly to get links from a number of the most authoritative blogs in your topic.

6 – Full Social Media Marketing

Social bookmarking, social networking, video and content sharing; these are all a part of a social media marketing (SMM) campaign. They can be very time consuming but effective SMM can generate a lot of viral interest in your blog, website, forum, or other online publication. Get involved in the networks you join in order to create a real community around your website.

Post your content to your social network profiles and encourage your readers to follow you, fan you, and bookmark you. This will help you gain even more followers and it will boost the traffic to your web pages.

Link building is an essential part of SEO and it should be considered an ongoing process if you want to enjoy the best results. Find other methods to build links and try to get links from a good variety of website types in order to enjoy the best results. The above are just a few methods of building links that you can benefit from.

The two most important elements that qualify companies to promote themselves as SEO experts are competence and professionalism. And the way you find out if a company is competent and professional, as well as legitimate, is to do your due diligence and check their credentials thoroughly, by exercising good old common sense and following these steps:

1. Verify Their Contact Information

If the company provides a street address, Google it to see if it’s a real address. If they provide a telephone number, call the number to see if it’s answered by the company or an answering service. If they don’t provide a telephone number, walk away. SEO is serious business. You need to have the ability to talk to whomever is going to be handling your account. You need to be able to ask questions, and you have a right to expect your questions to be answered in a professional manner. 2. Talk to Previous Customers
If the SEO company publishes testimonials on their website, contact a few of their customers and get their feedback. If the company can’t provide testimonials, walk away, or if the testimonials don’t have contact information, they’re probably bogus. Walk away.

3. Visit Reputable SEO Forums

Visit reputable SEO forums like Jill Whalen’s High Rankings Forum to find out what forum members have to say about the company. If an SEO company has a bad reputation, it will race across the Internet at warp speed. Conversely, if a company has a good reputation, you will find that out also.

4. Check Their Better Business Bureau Record

Most companies who are members of the BBB post it on their website with a link to their record. Check their record to see if they have any complaints, but don’t panic if the company has complaints. All companies receive complaints from time to time. What you want to find out is whether or not the company has an inordinate amount of complaints, and how those complaints have been handled.

5. Check Them Out with Their State’s Attorney General’s Office

If the company is located in the United States, check them out with their state’s Attorney General’s Office, Division of Consumer Affairs. All companies aren’t members of the BBB so often unhappy or dissatisfied customers will file a report with the AG’s office to get satisfaction.

6. Check Them Out with Local Police Agencies

Before you give a company your hard-earned money, do your due diligence. In addition to checking them out with the BBB and AG, put a call into the police department in their city to see if they’re involved in fraudulent activities. You’d be surprised how cooperative many police agencies are when it comes to fighting fraud in their city.

7. Check Them Out with Online Scam Watch Sites

Like I mentioned a moment ago, if an SEO company has a bad reputation, it will race across the Internet at warp speed. If a company is ripping people off, someone will know about it. Before parting with your hard-earned money, always check companies out with various online scam watch sites like Scam.com.

8. Avoid Companies That Send You Unsolicited E-Mail (spam)

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times, legitimate companies don’t send unsolicited e-mail. They don’t send sp@m. Do you know what kind of companies send sp@m? Scam artists intent on ripping you off, that’s who. The best thing to do when you receive sp@m is delete it. Don’t open it, don’t read it, don’t consider it…delete it!

9. Avoid Companies That Aren’t Ranked Competitively

If an SEO company doesn’t have the ability to secure a competitive ranking for their own site, then how on earth can they secure a competitive ranking for yours? Answer: They can’t. While far from perfect, sites like Alexa can give you a fair idea about a site’s ranking.

10. Don’t Make a Hasty Decision

Choosing the right SEO company is critical to the success of your company, so you want to make sure you get it right. Take your time and leave no stone unturned as you do your due diligence. Don’t rush the process, and walk away from companies that try to pressure you into making a quick decision.

11. How Long Has the Company Been Around?

When choosing an SEO company, the length of time they’ve been in business matters. A company’s longevity is a good indication of stability and how good they are at what they do. When it comes to SEO companies, the longer they’ve been in business the better.

12. Have They Written Articles About SEO?

Ask if anyone from their staff have written any articles that have been published on reputable websites. Has anyone on their staff written any books? Do they speak at major SEO conferences? Are they moderators at SEO/SEM forums? All of these things are indicators of professionalism, reputation and expertise.

13. Read the Contract

Don’t sign any contract until you’ve read and completely understood its terms. Better yet, let your attorney look over the contract. Contracts can be tricky, so it’s best to let a professional check things out. It’s too late to read the contract after the fact.

In this day and age, technology is constantly evolving. Everyday we are inundated with new features, new interfaces and improved designs that can sometimes make our head spin. Facebook is not exempt from this either and has undergone a lot of major transformations over the past several years. Just recently, Facebook has made some major modifications to its features, and whether you’re a fan or not, they are here to stay.

Combined News Feed Layout

One feature that Facebook has changed is its news feed layout. Before, you had two feeds: your “Top News” and “Most Recent News,” depending on its relevance to your interests. Also, if you only checked Facebook occasionally, you wouldn’t see anything about activities that happened a week ago. Now, the most interesting stories will always be displayed at the top and you won’t have to worry about missing anything important.

Additionally, prior to this change, you had to scroll down quite a bit just to see what people posted the day before. If your business heavily relies on social media, then this may have been a little labor intensive. But now with the combined news feed, your news stories are more customizable and will save you time in the long run.

Ability to Subscribe to News

With Facebook’s new subscription feature, you get to control the information you see from fríends or businesses. You can now subscribe to see all updates, most updates, or only important updates. Facebook’s blog explains that if you select to see all updates from someone, then you will see everything that person posts, if you select most updates, then you will see the same amount of posts that you are used to, and if you select important updates only, then Facebook will only show you important highlights once in a while. This can be beneficial for businesses since you can now elect to see all posts from certain people. This can save you a lot of time since you won’t have to remember to check out various pages throughout the day – all the information you want to see will be automatically siphoned through your personal news feed.

Live News Ticker

This feature gives you real time updates from people as it happens live on the web. If your fríend comments on someone else’s status, you get to see it right away. It gives you greater visibility as to what is happening throughout your Facebook community, as opposed to just seeing major news stories that are featured in your news feed. If one of your friends likes another friend’s status that you aren’t friends with, you still get to see this activity without having to visit either of their pages. This can be helpful for businesses because now all your Facebook friends get to see your recent activity regardless if they visit your page or not. They always have the option to unsubscribe, but chances are, if they are friends with you, then they will want to see what you are posting or “liking.”

Improved “Smart” Lists for Friends

This enhancement can be compared to the “circles” feature that Google+ offers. On Google+, you can add people to various “circles” based on your relationship with them. If you are a business, you can separate people into various groups such as current clients, potential clients, or colleagues. That way, you can choose to share information with certain groups of people. Facebook now offers a similar feature that allows you to add people to various lists. While this feature existed before, Facebook now has several predetermined “smart lists” that were created by analyzing your profile and basing them on your work or educational history. Friends are automatically added to co-worker or family lists so that you don’t have to spend time manually adding them.

Will Facebook Ever Stay the Same?

With the “real time ticker” and transformed news feed, these new features have made Facebook a lot more complicated. Evolutionary features such as the ability to share pictures, update your status, and chat live with friends make it hard to remember what Facebook used to be like. While many people are unhappy about the recent changes, in the end, most of the enhancements will save us a lot of time. If time equals money, then this can only be a good thing. In just a short period of time we will all get used to the new features, and most of us will probably grow to love them. Though, it will probably happen just in time for it all to change, once again.

If you write for a blog or update content on a regular basis, then you understand the importance of optimizing for SEO. With Wordtracker you can discover keywords which are popular, and it will also track the amount you’re using as you write your article, or update other forms of content.

Web videos have many purposes: they display, present, inform, educate, enlighten, and entertain; they also persuade, motivate, and sell.

Marketing videos can serve any one of these purposes, or they can serve all of them. What is important is the audience remembers the message and the company that delivers it. Without penetrating the audience’s consciousness and making an indelible impression, the resources invested are wasted. Of course the lasting impression you impart must serve your branding and sales objectives.

Creating effective marketing videos entails a lot of creative skills in order to take a self-serving business message and make it not just palatable but memorable. To begin, you need a concept, script, performers, and technical expertise in video, editing, and sound design; as well as the psychological insight to understand, and the creative ability to manipulate, emotional reactions while emphasizing key points.

Knowing how to implement those kinds of subliminal mnemonic memory triggers is essential; after all, if your audience doesn’t remember your message you’ve wasted their time and yours.

Defining The Message

Defining your marketing message seems like a simple task but in reality it’s one of the hardest questions for entrepreneurs to answer in a clear concise manner: the core ingredient needed to build an effective video marketing campaign.

We all take pride in our businesses, that’s only natural; and we all love to tell people we are the best or the cheapest, or that we offer the most features, but as nice as all of that sounds, these are not credible concepts to build a campaign around.

In order to define your core message you must go deeper into the psychological impact your product or service provides. The Maslowian advantage you present is what creates the motivation to purchase; all the other benefits are merely justification for an emotionally based decision.

Developing the Campaign Concept

Once you understand what you’re really selling, it’s time to develop a presentation concept. The best ideas are the ones that can sustain a campaign so that each new variation builds on the preceding ones.

TD Canada Trust for example, uses two old crotchety seniors reminiscent of the two Muppet balcony curmudgeons to deliver the bank’s message. The features presented are mostly irrelevant, as any that turnout to be successful will quickly be copied by the competition. The key to the success and longevity of the campaign is the two pensioners who humanize an otherwise sterile corporate monolith that people have trouble relating to.

Using Multimedia To Communicate

When you meet someone for the first time, you want to make a good impression. You wouldn’t show-up for a meeting with a new client wearing the same clothes you used to wash your car. Of course you’d put on decent clothes and make yourself presentable; it’s natural to want to be viewed favorably. But here comes the problem, just because you want to be viewed favorably and you do what you think is appropriate, doesn’t mean you’ll succeed. It’s the subliminal details and subtleties of a presentation that make a difference between success and failure.

The Web’s natural remoteness makes it even harder to connect with an audience, which in turn, makes it harder to persuade that audience to respond to your message. It doesn’t take much to turn people off. The wrong tie, a bad haircut, a dress that doesn’t fit, or even a distracting ‘tchotchke’ in the background can send your audience to the competition.

On the Web, people are sitting a foot away from the screen staring intently at the images you’re presenting, and they better be communicating the right message both directly and indirectly.

Mnemonic Memory Triggers

When it comes to Web video, every presentation element is magnified, and if you don’t know how to control each and every mnemonic memory trigger, the result will be instantly forgettable at best and disastrous at worst.

1. Colorful Focused Scripts

You need a script! There aren’t too many people who can just ‘wing-it.’ Even the best so-called ad-libs are usually well scripted in advance. Your script is the heart of your message and most business videos fail before they even start because the script lacks character, focus, and style. Even the best actor can’t do much with a lame script and the results can be even worse when you combine a bad script with the company president’s poor delivery.

Even a great script will fail if the performance is subpar. To paraphrase Alfred Hitchcock, ‘A good script is how people speak, with the boring parts taken out.’ In other words, it’s how people would like to speak, but don’t.

The script should focus on the one main point you want your audience to remember because that is all they’re going to remember anyway. Too many ideas all at once only confuse the viewer. If you have to make more points, make more videos. Once your audience is hooked they’ll want to hear more.

Colorful language, the clever use of metaphor, and convincing performance combine to paint a memorable mental picture for your audience.

2. Fast Pace Editing

Directors tend to get all the acknowledgement when it comes to movies, television shows, and commercials, but the person who is intently responsible for delivering what you see and the story it tells is the editor.

Let’s take a seemingly simple talking head format on a white background with an actor delivering a company message. A simple enough scenario, but how many times should the scene be shot? Even if your actor nails the script on the first take, which is unlikely, you should shoot several more backup clips because once you get into the editing suite, all kinds of issues can crop-up.

But that alone isn’t good enough if you want to hold your audience’s attention. We shoot the same scene from three or four different positions or focal lengths so we can cut them together creating a visually interesting presentation. That means the editor has to go through a lot of raw footage to find the best takes.

Quite often you find the best visual take isn’t the same as the best audio take which means the audio from one clip has to be matched to the video of another putting a premium on the ability of the performer to deliver consistent pacing, and the skill of the editor and sound engineer to put it all together. So if you thought Web video was just a case of pointing a camera, you’d be wrong.

3. Multiple Characters

Clients are always worried about an audience’s attention span but the issue isn’t attention span as much as it is creating intrigue and interest. A video has to connect to an audience and peak their curiosity in order to hold their attention. If your video is boring, confusing, and bereft of any meaningful message or hook, you’ll lose them.

Sometimes you’ll notice commercials with an actor walking quickly through a scene talking all the while like he or she is in a hurry to find the closest washroom; it’s an attempt to inject some excitement or action into the scene but in fact it’s a poor substitute for a bad concept and a dull script. And worse still, it’s an expensive technique that generally requires a long dolly shot that can eat-up a lot of budget time and money.

We’ve already talked about using different clips from different angles to maintain pace and interest but another way is to use multiple actors, with each one setting up the pitch for the next, or each one finishing the last one’s sentence. This technique in the hands of a good editor can even make a static or mundane presentation work.