We are not flooded and we are safe. My staff is safe. In 2003 I had a decision to make on where to put our servers and I opted for Atlanta. We had just had TS Allison and never lost service. Since then we have had Hurricane Ike and although my Houston web hosting support office worked for 3 weeks on a generator, we never lost service. And in 2017, as we are still going through Hurricane Harvey, we’ve never lost service. Atlanta still houses my servers and have taken the lead on things. And I have staff who took their laptops home and are working from their dry homes but surrounded by water. We are truly very fortunate. God continues to look out for us.
But as I sit at ground zero watching news reports something has really jumped out at me. How many times I’ve heard the word FaceBook in the last 3 days. We have had people come from all over Texas to help us. Strangers are coming here using social media and running rescue operations off Facebook. People are calling 911 and sitting on hold because the phone lines can’t hold them. Yet they are posting and sharing locations and getting help from friends, family and even a few out of town strangers.In the background, I hear the news anchors say people are contacting them for help through Facebook. I hear they are broadcasting live on their Facebook pages for people who don’t have a TV signal because their cable or power is out. Smart phones have become a basic necessity in our society.
Even as we ramped up our Emergency operations here ACTWD, the first thing I did was go to social media and post a notice taht we were open but ask people to send emails because the phones are spotty in a natural disaster and I offered ACTWD’s FaceBook Page as a way to contact us as well as added a LiveChat Function, which I intend to keep after the flood waters receede.
But it has exceeded Facebook. This morning I woke up to a ringing phone and the caller was letting me know that friend’s elderly parents were trapped and they were trying to see if I could find some help for them. So I got up and the first thing I did was…you guessed it went to Facebook. Posted the need for help. And then moved on to nextdoor.com.
On nextdoor.com I posted the need to help this elderly couple. Next thing I know a local realtor, who is a hero, in my opinion, replied back to the post with a cell phone and with 45 minutes this couple was loaded into a boat. We had tried the more traditional routes and called the HPD numbers with no success. Without nextdoor, I would not have known Thomas and would have had no way to reach Thomas.
Simultaneously I had a second boat lined up through a friend that used to spend summers with us when she was a kid. We had lost touch only to become reacquainted through Facebook. And again, without Facebook, she would have been a memory of a sweet kind hearted child. Instead, I have got to see the extraordinary adult she had become. And in a strangers moment of need ready, with a boat and able to help.
The devastation of Houston and how this community has come together, may be puzzling to those outside this city. I know growing up in the shadow of New York, I would have never guessed Houston to be the multicultural city that it is. Although underwater, the city has the second largest theater district in the country, a full symphony, and ballet. Plus not to leave the Astros Rockets and Texans out, all three have made contributions to relief efforts.
But there was JJ Watt who, who upset by the images he saw took to Twitter to raise money to help his fellow Houstonians. He is matured to understand his roll in this community and that he is as much of an asset to the city as NASA. Through social media, he has leveraged that standing to raise money to help Houstonians. He’s now up to $2 Million and it keeps climbing. He as determined to help Houston as is to sack a QB on a Sunday.
I suppose I could continue on with how the use of Social Media helped Houston and its residents navigate these horrible few days we will long remember. But what the take away should be for all is that the participation in the medium is not fundamentally tied to e-commerce, Facebook ads and following the Texans on a Sunday. It has opened up a whole new world of how we interact with each other and how we solve a crisis and save lives.
Before I close I just had one small side note to point out. Joel Osteen, motivational speaker acquiesced and opened the doors of the old Summit, now Mega Church, to house displaced Houstonians. This would not have been possible in out the constant barrage of social media pressure. Osteen has been ravaged all over social media. While community leaders like Jim Mattress Mac McInvale and JJ Watt solutions, Osteen remained silent. But in a testimony to the power of social media Twitter for helped Jole Osteen learn the ways of the Jesus.
I keep running into businesses that do not have or need a social media/digital asset policy for their company and their office. I have been tasked by a new client to review the policies sent forth from the c-level and write a “social media policies for business” and then come in and present it to the employees. And I thought what a great idea for a blog post and later video.
Now the people who asked me to do this are a church, but as I stopped to think about this, there are so many different groups that need social media policies. And, management of these organizations needs to understand these policies, written by lawyers.
But what should social media policies for business and non-profits cover?
#1 Social Media Property Ownership | Domain Ownership
We often run into situations where the business or the principle of the business does not own their own digital assets. From Domains and web hosting accounts to Facebook accounts this is an ongoing problem.
Without exception, the company domain name, the company Facebook, Twitter accounts, the administrative access into the website all need to be held correctly. There seem to be more issues in the non-profit world, ie little league, scout troops and apartment complexes but we see this a lot with web designers and former employees
- Domain Registrant should be owned by the company or organization and should never we owned by an individual. Use a centralized email box that can be easily accessed and everyone has the password to. office@yourbuisiness.com domains@yourbusiness.com
- Social properties should be tied to a principle of the company. Or if an organization, create a faux personal account that uses the domains centralized mailbox and then tie the Facebook or LinkedIn profile to it.
- Employees and volunteers alike should not be allowed to have exclusive control over assets.
- Watch allowing vendors administrative access. Make sure you know what they have changed and that you can revoke privileges at any time.
- Make sure that all employees and staff members are aware that once something is written for the company it becomes the property of the company exclusively and they do not retain the rights to use or reuse the material.
#2 Photos
This is another area we see a lot of issues within organizations. There are multitudes of licensing agreements, even when buying an image from places like Shutterstock or Istock photo. I feel like I have a very overly simplified solution. Buy an iPhone 7. The picture quality of that phone is so great it will allow you to take stock photo quality pictures that are license worry free. This picture of the Williams Tower in Houston was taken by me with my iPhone. But in case you can’t find the perfect shot for your social media post or website, let’s look @ licensing agreements and copyright issues.
- You cannot cut and paste from Google images. These images are not for free or fair use which is a popular misconception. Also, altering them does not make them yours. Another misconception. So you cannot download a minion, put a meme on it and then post it to your commercial Facebook page or commercial website.
- Royalty Free Licensing does not mean the image is free to use. What it means is the image has a negotiated fee and then you have the freedom to use the photo. But you are not allowing to distribute that photo. This does not mean you can use the photo and not have to pay for it.
- Creative Commons licenses have been around since 2001. It was designed as a way legally share material that someone wants to do for free. CC licenses have do not have a lot of court cases on file so it is a little unproven in the United States. The issue I see is the possibility of still having issues for business or commercial use. There is a series of steps that must be carried out for the license to be valid. If you are a large corporation, chances are you will get it right. If you’re a mom and pop shop, you may or may not get it right. There is an ever-growing list CC court cases.
- Understand the Commercial use clauses when you buy photography from places such as Istock Photo. Getty Images, the now owner of Istock, have quite vigorously perused images that they say were not legally obtained or used within the confines of their licenses agreement.
So, what is the answer, I don’t think using your own photos is that far out of the mainstream. But I would recommend approaching images for web and social with great care. I often recommend canva.com as a great work around to all of this image issues, other than if you start importing your own and then all bets are off. I want to remind everyone that I am not a lawyer, I am a web hosting company, web designer, and social media blogger. I use my dog, who is cute, I run around Houston taking my own pictures and I try to avoid any type of images that I can’t call my own. It’s up to you to figure out how much of a risk you are willing to take.
But let me share a true story. As a web host, we get Copyright complaints. So, one come through saying that one of our clients were using an image of the City of Houston. When you go to the page, it’s ranked very high in the Google image search for Houston. When you go to the site, it looks like a little amateur photography. Well, it’s a trap. The guy hunts the people down and demands several hundred dollars or threatens the people to take them to court. It’s very entrepreneurial, but for the little league who used the picture, it was not so happy a time.
#3 Employee Conduct
So, did you know that your Facebook profile holds a treasure trove of who you are? Employers may use your social media profiles to find out about who you are and may use that information in hiring decisions. 44% of employers find alcohol posts worry some according to Money Magazine. I personally was featured Fox to talk about what you can learn from someone likes. It is advisable for all employers to have a policy on Social Media conduct. If your employees have friends that are business associates, then you need to be sure they understand that they are on the clock with every post they make. Posts about politics, religious belief have the potential to turn potential clients off. And for business owners, your responsibility is even higher, because what you post on social media will be how clients judge your business.
Everything from the TV shows you watch, to the music you like send personal pieces of information that may allow clients to judge you, your employees or your business. Your employees also reflect your values, so if they conduct themselves inappropriately, that reflects on you. The best policy is that employees not befriend clients. And employee accounts should not be used to manage your social media profiles. The last thing you want is a drunk friend showing up on your business Facebook page.
There are multiple lists of negative social media behavior that may disqualify someone from being hired, but these are good rules to be written into an employee handbook in some way.
- Inappropriate or provocative photos, videos or information.
- Pictures of drug and alcohol use either by the employee or condoning the activities
- Discriminatory comments on race religion gender, sexuality
- Foul language posts
- Bad mouthing their present or previous employer or coworkers
- Sharing inappropriate or polarizing opinion pieces or memes
- Over posting of duck faced selfies
Other Odds and Ends
There are a few other odds and ends that should be included in a social media
- If you post photos or video be sure to protect people’s privacy. Don’t randomly tag people who may not want to be identified.
- Don’t tag minors even if you have a media release
- Put policies in place that prohibit the posting of workplace videos without permission of management
- If a non-profit working with children avoid using the chat or messaging feature with minors
- Make sure you have multiple admins
- Have an Enforcement policy that will allow you to take appropriate action that is written and signed into an employee handbook.
There are many ins and outs and I will be creating some additional materials to support this blog post in the next week. Be on the lookout for how this can help your business or nonprofit.
It seems that maybe LinkedIn has finally arrived. I know. I know that’s not the case, but I have had four people ask me how to optimize their profile just this week alone. Even at a business resource committee meeting we devoted a good 10 minutes discussing Bikini-clad LinkedIn profile pictures. So, I guess it’s time to put together a primer on how to fix your profile so you look like a superstar instead of a washed-up supermodel.
I guess the first advice I would give anyone is that social media tells people who you are. As any performer or good sales person knows, crafting a proper persona is vital to the success of your persona brand, and by proxy, the success of your role at your company.
#1 Use Your LinkedIN Real Estate Right
There are options on how to construct your title. Now most people will do this exactly as I did and put my title as President and Owner of ACTWD/SEO411, but if I were a sales person I might opt for a value proposition as opposed to a title. It’s the same mistake website owners make, which is not telling people what they do.
Is your website broken, under the weather or not doing what you think it should? Call us.
#2 Pick the Proper Profile Picture
I know that just sounds so easy, right? Yeah, not so much. Well first we have the group that put no profile picture. People who put profile pictures have about a 50% higher rate of engagement. It makes sense really. How many times do you recognize a face you met at a networking event without remembering their name? Or if your name is a little more common you may suffer from mistaken identity. When you contact someone at least let them know who you are, even if you don’t recognize their name.
Next, quit it with the vanity pictures. Unless you’re a bikini model, pro golfer or an honest to goodness Sith Lord, your picture needs to be professional and instill confidence in you, your ability and your company. For millennials, duck-faced selfies in a bathroom do not make people want to do business with you or hire you. In fact, it might just disqualify you altogether.
#3 Fill in Contact Info
Make sure you fill in ALL the recommended methods you can be reached. It should go without saying to include your phone number, preferably one that is answered. For me, I never give out my cell because I don’t answer people I don’t know, so putting my cell is counterproductive because sometimes people don’t leave a voice mail or maybe like me, don’t listen to it much either. It’s just one more pile that has to be sifted through for nuggets.
I would encourage Twitter too, especially if you are actively participating in the platform. Now again, it’s a public forum so don’t engage in anything you don’t want others to judge you on. For me, I love SEO and I love the Texans, past that there is very little to glean about me.
#4 Your Connections
Be picky on who you connect with. Although it’s always advisable to make connections with people you don’t know, be picky and choose quality relationships. This is not a game of quantity. Also, when you don’t know the person you’re trying to connect with, make sure you explain why you’re a fit and do not just send the generic message. For sales guys, this is your opportunity to shine.
#5 Your Summary and Background
Write a summary about you and what you bring to the table. Let potential clients know you are the real deal. Highlight what you do well. Don’t be shy or think you’re being too aggressive. This also should restate your value proposition from your headline if you changed that. It’s a neat way to tie it all together. You may also choose to put your contact info here too, along with a phone number.
Don’t put more than a few well written paragraphs here. It’s not an autobiography or a large expansive prose. Focus on your accomplishments and what you do well.
#6 Content
This may be hard for some, but as you read this know that this is a great example of what will appear in the content section on my profile. Now I get that am a better writer than some and that many folks struggle, but in as much as you can talk and explain something you should be able to write it out as well.
If you are an expert, it should not be hard to demonstrate that. I would highly recommend going down this road. If you can write an email and explain something to a customer, you can write a content piece for LinkedIn. In fact, there is no shame in sprucing that email up and using that. Oddly, this is exactly what this is, a reply to an email from a client.
#7 Experience, Awards, etal
This is the part where the profile can wow perspective clients. There is of course experience and qualifications. But there are now places to post awards and accomplishments. To disclaim, if the award is Coney Island Hot Dog Eating Champ, that might need to be reconsidered.
#8 Publications
So not everyone can have placement in newspapers, but blog contributions sure do count. Strive to find those places and garner those credentials. They are very impactful on future clients.
#9 Education
Don’t just think university. Microsoft Certifications, online classes and continuing education count also and should be included. This shows commitment to staying current.
#10 Groups and Recommendations
Getting involved is important and LinkedIn provides multiple group and interest types to join. Join them. This will allow different pathways to network, but also a venue to dazzle folks with brilliance.
For recommendations, don’t be afraid to ask long and established clients to write one. This gives credibility to the cause.
It’s been a busy start of a new year, with a lot of weirdness. I have met a few people that wanted to tell me SEO is dead. What they really mean is SEO is way too much work for them and requires way too many components to do it right. Of course, several of these people were selling impression-based advertising from long dead phone company directories trying to stay afloat, but I digress.
Admittedly for those without a brand, the digital marketing lift is much heavier. Unfortunately, that is usually the small business or the upstart that has a limited budget. SEO, or more holistically and more accurately described by the term digital marketing, need to now be pointed, strategic and have a multi-functional purpose, and it has to serve multiple masters. It’s no longer viable to throw random keywords out in hopes to attract a customer. The visual of throwing birdseed or chum always pops into my head, whenever I say that out loud. Integrated strategies are mandatory now because Google is reading all these signals, deciding what the site is about, and ultimately choosing the winners.
Before I proceed much further, I want to provide a helpful hint: If you are a business owner and your SEO vendors are not talking in the terms I’m going to layout below, you need to re-evaluate your engagement with them. If you have multiple vendors, they all need to interact with each other. If they are resistant, you need to re-evaluate your engagement with them. And if you have an in-house department, you need make sure there is a dedicated team in place, and the employees on that team are dedicated to just the digital marketing aspects of the business, nothing else.
Anecdotally, organic search is a customer’s first encounter with a company; or the top of a funnel. To hear Google, they say 98% of all searches are informational and only 2% are transactional. And although that is correct, the buying process starts at the top of the funnel.
The best place for business owners to start is with an understanding of who their customers are. Commonly business owners think in terms of what they sell as opposed to the problems they solve. The internet is predicated on this one simple fact, people go there to solve problems. It’s the best way to meet customers where they are and win them over. I find that one of the hardest things for business owners to do is identify the problems they solve, because most think in terms of what they sell.
For this exercise, I am going to use a website that sells Commercial Christmas Trees.
#1: Define the problems the business solves and create a content strategy that is in alignment with that.
In days gone by, web marketers were always talking about keywords and allowed to steer the direction. It was more of a scattershot approach that didn’t always consider what a potential customer needed. The article may have directly referenced something sold on the website, or maybe was just a basic information piece, but often the goals of that article was nothing more than to rank on a particular word. Because there is so much clickbait running around the internet, the end user is now sensitive to this and far less likely to interact with a page just because they have tripped over it, and they are far less likely to buy from or contact a business that is perceived that way.
One of the best sources of what problems a business solves is found in the corporate email box or on the telephones.
So in this case: Discuss the construction of a commercial Christmas tree vs a typical artificial tree.
It’s easy to see, I have added keywords into my premise so those keywords are going to be present throughout my campaign, but this page of content can be a comprehensive overview of the construction of the two tree types. This is a common question. Provide a good, solid, comprehensive answer. If one person is looking for that, many people are looking for that, rest assured of that.
#2: Create Videos
It’s 2017, creating a video is not all that hard. Sticking with the our Commercial Tree discussion. A video that highlights the difference in the two tree types would be a great video. It allows you to address clients, and explain how it best benefits the business. Other than providing a customer experience, this also allows the visitor to stay engaged with the page. This teaches Google that the page has value and helps them decide to organically rank the page higher.
If you’re able to, consider starting a video series that can build an audience. With a topic like Christmas, the sky’s the limit. And you can be witty to boot. Twelve Days of Christmas Trees comes to mind. That tells the user you may have a daily video explaining types of Christmas trees. Douglas Fir, Scotch Pine. Oh so much potential!
#3 Create a Graphics that Illustrate The Page:
Okay stop groaning. It’s not that bad. There are many great programs out there that will anger many-a-parent that put their kid though graphic design school. Our personal favorite is Canva.com. It’s easy to use, and the benefits are far reaching. Not only does your page or post look better, but it increases your click through rate from social platforms. The more appealing the page, the deeper the benefits. In as much as a bad graphics will hurt perceptions, good graphics will make the message and the brand clearer.
#4 Speaking of Graphics….Infographics
Yeah, yeah, I know they were all the rage for a while for link building. And in some circles they can still be used that way. However, their use is not just a link building method. But again, keep in mind we are teaching Google. When we do the infographic for this page it will be on our bullet points on how to support a page, make a strategy, and send the right signals to Google and not about Christmas Trees. An infographic does not have to be created for each page, however, it’s advisable when creating integrated content to consider it. After all the work that has been done there is no reason to minimize its impact by not supporting it properly.
There are many that will have a different opinion and say not every infographic has to be tied to content. In as much as they are right, I am for squeezing every drop out of something that I make an effort to do. So if i can get a larger amount of signals and then get that content shared socially…
#5 Speaking of Social Media
Social Media is a driver, and if used properly can really yield good results. Notice the “if used properly.” That’s where most businesses fail, and fail in the biggest sense. I always point to Williams-Sonoma as the best example of a well run social campaign. Problem is, most small businesses don’t have that type of budget. But there are many things to learn. And an in-depth post on them would be appropriate.
Let me first say they never post “buy our crock pot” or “order our broth.” Instead, we get quality posts that lead to the blog that have seasonal based recipes. Useful recipes that may or may not be used, but you don’t mind them entering your life daily. They have first and foremost identified why people will follow them, and put out the perfect response. The internet is filled with inane nonsense, there is no reason to add to it so your three friends like your post.
Yes, William Sonoma does have it a little easier than say Houston Mover JTMelia. But tips on how to move are a great way to get followers and be engaging. But in as much as I want the social property engaging, I also want the post to the website to be so well written that it too is shared. I then have traffic moving in both directions. People that like the page will see the post and go to the site. The people on the site like the post and share in the opposite direction. It again sends those signals that Google needs to learn what your site is about, it drives clicks and engagement and helps visitors remain on your site because they are busy reading. A huge score.
I also have been recommending using some of the paid ads inside the search networks. Its cheap, reinforces your brand and best of all teaches Google. How’s that for $5 a day.
#6 Link Building
Yes, it’s still on the table and probably more important than ever. But I never lead with link building because I truly believe if you run a site right, the links will come. Imagine all the effort being put into creating blog networks if these folks just concentrated on putting up good, solid, sharable content. I have picked up multiple links to this site simply through this blog. Admittedly, you have to be an expert on your topic or know how to run a good interview with clients to create this.
Recently I had the chance to visit an old friend who is running a website that makes 8 figures. It was a very impressive operation. But one thing they did not do is ‘link building’ via creating faux links. Their link building consisted of top tier content that was being picked up by universities and journals naturally. It was like a scene out of the movie the Intern with 35 people working to run the website. It is not viable for ‘small business’ to do this, but it is necessary to come as close to this as possible. If you put the effort in, sales will come.
#7 Pay Per Click or SEM
Yes, you read that right. I believe that every company needs a budget for PPC. It does not need to be primary because remember it will only capture less than 7% of all clicks, but if you do all these other things right, this reinforces the brand and makes it easier for people to find you when it comes time that the informational search turns into a transactional one.
Beyond the Google ad is the retargeting, the fancy word for the ads that follow you around the internet. Again, it creates a sense of brand recognition. This is important because the more people are familiar with your brand, the more apt they are to make that purchase at transaction time.
Do you need a huge budget? No. But you do need a budget.
As you can see there is much to do and all parts of the strategy need to be working together. The more effort that is done following this methodology will yield better results. I don’t believe any part of this can be skipped at this juncture.
Happy day after the 4th of July. I am a little late in my day with the post because everyone who was off decided to write in with questions and it’s been a get caught up from all the people that also celebrated kinda day.
I received a question on Saturday as I was on my way to the beach that jumped out of my mailbox flashing the words blog post on it. The question went something like this. If you’re the SEO lady, what do you care what I do with my social media?
I think over the last 20 years, we have strayed away from a tenant of marketing 101. The website drifted out into its own space and got treated as a redheaded step child. That is no longer acceptable. And in 2016, all marketing efforts need to be well- coordinated and integrated. Google has demanded this to have ANY success ranking in their search engine. Let me say that again. Google basically requires an integrated marketing plan.
Every one of these items i vitally important for a site to rank well.
So why does the SEO lady care if the website closes deals; if the message is right; if the blog is pushed out through social channels; if the content is compelling and natural; if people click on your page? Because if these things are not done right and sending the right signals you do not have a ranking website. I have used this graphic for years to explain everything is necessary for good Search Engine Rankings Additionally, PPC is also dependent on appearance and conversion as well. Plus, having a good SEO presence helps shoppers at the top of the sales funnel to buy and use the PPC link for the brand they know and trust. Even traditional marketing in the form of TV, Print and Display ads support the overall health of the website and affect how well your website ranks. If all these things are not right the website will not rank.
Now let me say upfront, I suppose in lieu of doing things right you can employ black hat techniques and be forever chasing an algorithm or being one crazy zoo update away from being out of business. And I know people who do this and SEO companies that act in this way as well. More times than not, I’m asked to go in and clean up their craziness.
Why SEO and Social Media are conjoined and inseparable?
The word Conjoined is not often used in marketing. It’s a great word to use here because it really paints the right picture. We’ve all seen conjoined twins and in many cases when separated one of the twins flourishes and the other twin lags behind or worse. And so it goes with SEO and Social Media since the beginning of 2016.
Officially Google says that it is not dependent on the social networks for high ranking websites. But they don’t really put out statements on why things do or don’t rank, so take that with a grain of salt. But let’s look at this first Google is dependent on great content. And what happens when you have good content, people link to the great content. And how would people find the great content? If only there was a way to push that content out into the world.
Now theoretically people will make links to great articles they find. And those links are a vote. So when you think about the social networks, why wouldn’t you want those folks to count. It’s an army of people validating a website. So every great piece of content that goes up has the potential to send links and/or signals back to the website. So the social networks basically are sending endorsements or votes to your websites. If you don’t hook up and do this properly, the site is missing these signals and is not really an option any longer.
Next is tackling the need to build a large audience and become a social media influencer. Influencers definitely carry more weight. Influencers bring more traffic. More traffic is a signal to Google. And how does one become an influencer? Well, by writing great content of course.
Now one thing it takes to be an influencer is followers and what most will tell people in the know, say you should post at least 10 times a day. Now that for the normal small business is just not possible nor is there that much to say for most of them. Additionally the mistake I think most people make is they post other people’s stuff. So this morning I was watching a video by Eric Enge. And theoretically I could of/should have shared that on twitter with my comment. But who gets that credit. Eric Enge, not me or ACTWD. So as I say 10 things a day, it really doesn’t help the small business owner to post 10 links to 10 other websites.
But here’s what else you don’t want to do. Post silly stuff, just to post. I saw one guy years ago that would put up a spammy article on gondola shelves and then just go spam his social networks with them. So he and 3 of his friends would like the post and he would do this every day 30 times a day. This doesn’t help anything either.
You need to post a well written useful graphic or article, video, slide presentation and share that with great hashtags and make people want to like you or make sure they hear what you say on a daily basis. And once you get enough posts, start repurposing and reposting. You then begin to influence how things happen, how people perceive an industry or in my case I’m always teaching how not to be taken advantage of or how to run a website, from the front end Marketing side to the under the hood web hosting side.
Why Don’t Other People Have To Do This?
I hear this a lot from customers, and then they point to someone that is much larger than they are. And 9 times out of 10, it’s not right or not effective. I had a friend recently show me something on Exxon’s site. And asked me about how they could do what ever it was. Exxon for starters has 3.7 million links point to them from over 16,000 unique websites. This makes them have a lot of lead way. I have a custom tour operator that wanted to know why he couldn’t make his site like The Knot. The knot has 13.7 million link point to it and 53,000 unique domains. So they have a completely different set of rules than a local tour operator in Houston Texas. I did promise his wife though when we got as big as The Knot I would be happy to do what they wanted. Bottom line is the smaller you are the more things you have to do right within Google’s mind to overcome these large sites.
And even for me, I’m not a huge fish compared to a GoDaddy or Network Solutions. I have to work to get every link I can. Sure some of my customer link to us to say we run their sites, and that’s helpful. But when they are little guys with no power I often think their well meaning may hurt us. But I have a long way to get 38 million sites linking to me with 800,000.
So what does this all get me?
So remember I said that Google says that social is not a ranking variable. Let me tell you an antidotal story. Three months ago I went to PubCon in Austin and I love Pubcon, because I often walk away saying yes I knew all this but it adds a perspective. Also often there are nuggets buried in the talks that a sharp minded pro will identify and run with it.
When I came back home to Houston, I decided I was going to put full efforts into getting this blog running right and see what impact it had on the ranking of this website. Mind you this is a really old domain that I’ve taken care of it though the years. In fact I let it sit for about 10 years with just one-page links for our customers. So there was pretty well no traffic.
Since I’ve put this blog on the site and am writing it myself with my personality, quirky as it may be, we are now on the first page for some very coveted terms locally as well as some other terms nationally. The content on this blog and the social twitter interactions are driving this site. No doubt in my mind. I’ve gained only 4 links and none of them have been great ones. But I’ve gained followers, and people are interacting and voting on my posts and with all that going on my SERPs just keep rising.
So as with conjoined twins, website owners need to understand that separating SEO and Social will damage one side of the equation. And honestly, I think that if you were to separate Social and SEO, Social can be well developed and do well. SEO the job is far harder because you’re missing a huge component. Sites end up missing the link building that is needed and you begin missing the signals that allows google to know what your site is about. If you’re Exxon it doesn’t matter but if you’re a Business trying to go national, it’s simply something you should not be missing if you intend to do with driving traffic to your website.
I have been teaching Houston SEO for over a decade and I always said I would not do one particular thing. Well today I relented and I officially think this might be okay. So what did I do? I streamed my class live via Periscope.
I did it for a few reasons. But first let me tell you why I have been unwilling to stream previously. Students actually make the class. Each class is easily tailor my discussion to each of my participant. If I remove them from the class or try to interact with them via a scroll, I think the class will not flow as well. The content may not be as useable and the lessons not as valuable. We after all learn from each other. As sure as I’m sitting here people will start telling me hey can’t you just stream this so I attend at my own pace.
Besides all of that, people are funny. Those of you that have actually attended a class, know that almost every class a protagonist arises. Whether its Rich and his gym shorts and masking tape or Greg who argues just to argue, we have a diverse group of personalities that make things very lively and entertaining. I hate to do anything that may dampen that.
So why change now. Honestly today’s subject matter, I keep having to explain todays’ topic to clients. I figure this way i can park them in front of a video and them get the basics and then come back to me with questions. But I sat back and watched this, it opens up a host of possibilities for us.
So why did I choose Periscope instead of FaceBook Live. When I first told the Minions, Stuart Minion thought I was a little crazy. But after today, she said I did great and she loved the idea. I think she wants to be the moderator from here on out. Initially I was leaning towards Facebook but here is why I chose Periscope.
Periscope let me keep my video on my camera roll. For business that is super important. What that means is that I now can control that content after the fact and use those videos in 2-3 minute segments. From a purely business standpoint this makes sense and it is something that Facebook does not offer me. I want a copy of my own video that we can make work else where. I am a big believer in repurposing content in a way that best benefits us and this one sure does that. Also I didn’t want to have to pay Facebook for the honor of listing my stuff first. Very annoying.
So Periscope it is folks.
I always say my customers make the absolute best blog ideas and the best training experiences for the minions. Case in point, one of our very old customers called me today to tell me that their site isn’t ranking any longer and wanted to know why. Now they on and off had employed us to do SEO, at least two tours of duty on this site. I think the last time we touched the site was maybe in 2011. And we all know how much time had passed and how rapidly Google continues to evolve.
As I like to say, SEO is no longer a stand-alone event. And, I really don’t think you can do ‘just’ SEO any more. The proper term is Digital Marketing. I will keep saying it. But for someone calling on the phone to look at a site that hasn’t been properly maintained in about half a decade, how do you encapsulate that?
So I put together a list that may offer some solutions. Understand that this is written for a site that used to rank but doesn’t any longer, so it assumes there is proper title tags.
#1 Content
Well, of course, you had to know this was going to be my first item. But, it’s not sufficient to just say add content any more to a website. It has to actually be good content, written properly, and not just keyword focused. I know many of my old timers heard about keywords and adding keywords. And, why keywords are important, but I’ve had to adjust that over time. Just like the writing you see here. I dare to say none of it has been keyword oriented, but more thematic and helpful.
To my mind, this is how you pick up links properly. It also is a great way to build engagement and get people clicking on your site.
#2. Google Analytics
Yes, this may be a little of an odd thing to put on this list, but you would be surprised how long-time site owners still do not have Google Analytics on their website. The old log file readers like AWStat and Webalizer just don’t go far enough anymore to make a reasonable guess at what really is happening with your website.
If someone asked me now, I would not say I was overly concerned with the pure number of visits, and I’m more concerned with how those folks got there and what is the intent of the user. Am I meeting the needs of the user, and are they doing what I want them to do, like buying or contacting me? I can’t adjust pages people are landing on if I don’t understand. And if I don’t have my conversions set up, I’m not able to track the success or deficiencies of my website.
Overall I don’t see how it would be conceivably possible to run a website without Google Analytics at this point in time.
#3 House Keeping
I know, another very odd duck to see on a list, but if you don’t keep up with the security of your website, you may just find out that people are exploiting it. That can happen from various directions, but it’s incumbent on the customer, not the web host to patch WordPress installs. I can’t tell you how many times people call me to tell me their website isn’t working, and it’s because they have not patched a plugin or WordPress core.
Lots of bad things happen when you don’t keep your site up to date. And that just doesn’t go for WordPress. Magento has a bad record, and Joomla, we tell people yes we will host it, but you are on your own because of how insecure it is.
The problem with not monitoring or maintaining your website properly is that as things happen to it that you are unaware of, the site becomes damaged. Just like house neglect is never a good thing.
#4. Webmaster Tools aka Search Console
Why they changed the name has yet to be made apparent, but if you do not have a webmaster tools account set up, set it up. It tells you all sorts of neat stuff about your website, so when you’re wondering why it is not ranking, it will help you understand if the site is hacked, or if the site has bad quality because 404s are not handled right. Often it can help you find improper use of 301s and 302s. Frankly 302s are devastating and should NEVER be used, and someday I will address that too. It also will help you make a list of links and then allow you the opportunity disavow bad links (which is the next topic). Also, make sure you set up proper sitemaps in WMT.
#5 Links
Not keeping up with your once-ranking website also may be caused by bad links. We now live in a world where links can hurt you just as much as they can help you. Here we audit our sites constantly to unearth bad sites linking to us. It’s not easy, however, it needs to be at least checked. If you see a bunch of Chinese sites linking to you and you have no business in China, it’s a safe bet there is an issue with either bad link building, bad webmaster or neglect.
#6 Bad Webmasters
Yes, bad or incompetent webmasters can really screw up a site. As I was talking to the minions on this topic, Christina minion said to me this is why you tell us ‘know who you’re getting into bed with.’ Yes, that is the exact reason that you don’t just trust your website to anyone. Understanding how to run a website and understanding how to care for a ranking website is often an art form. Unless your webmaster has extensive tech skills and understands how to structure and work on a ranking site, they can do a lot of damage.
I admit this is one of those things that rub me the wrong way. If you don’t think our company is the right company for you, we are fine with that, but more times than not I have the new, less qualified and often cheaper webmaster standing on my doorstep asking me how to perform the job they were hired to do. If you find yourself in that position, it probably means you have the wrong person for the job.
Bad web designers are very hard to spot. But they are lethal to a website.
#7 Social Media
So this person that called me yesterday asking why her site wasn’t ranking anymore, and telling me how she hired a PR Firm to do her content also hasn’t posted one single item since 2014. For the seasoned Digital Marketing pro, you may have rolled your eyes. For the rest of you, social media is imperative, and far too often social is not done properly or overlooked.
I admit that I’m not a social person. I could sit in a house by myself for hours and read or play video games and not interact with another human and be perfectly happy. But when it comes to the health of my website, what I know is that I can no longer ignore social media, and I’ve been really pushing Twitter in my Houston SEO classes. Yes, I typed that right. In fact, I have a 2-hour seminar next week that explains how to do social properly. Gratuitously, you can see our class schedule here.
#8 Blogging
Yeah, so this has now changed. Blogging for SEO used to be way different, but now, to have a sustainable site, it is not possible to avoid this or not do it right any longer. One blog every 6 months really isn’t going to cut it, but neither are BS blogs that just reiterate a keyword, which is how we used to teach blogging.
Now blogging must be real. Blogging must be authentic, and it must be relevant. I used to prescribe to a short and punchy blog, but now, if you have something to say, say it. For example, this post is at 1336 words right this second. It is not set in stone, and there are some time considerations with this post, so it’s not an article. It’s also got my opinion throughout it.
When I teach I often say the blog is like the op-ed page of the newspaper or your website. It lets your readers see how you think and how knowledgeable you are. You know those bad web designers, they could never have a blog like this, one reason is because they don’t know enough.
#9 Old Brown Sweater
One last reason to have issues is not to have a modern web design. Old date websites telegraph bad things to your end users. This will lower your engagement and really stop people from doing business with you. Millenials are particularly suseptible to this.
So, 1518 word story short, if you are not actively working on your website daily, or at minimum weekly; if you are not doing the things outlined here in their totality and every facet then you are at a severe deficit, and if your site ranks it’s probably a fluke or a niche in the modern age.
I still see so many businesses that don’t understand what they are suppose to do with social media and why it doesn’t work for them. I think some of it is that some of the social media managers don’t understand that there is a value to the website or how this should integrate. As I type this integrated seems to be the word that keeps getting over looked.
#1 Inconsistent and Disjoined Messaging
I saw one go by today that inspired me. The first thing was the image was counter intuitive to the Facebook page. Being disjoined in messaging only confuses your end user. So here was this Facebook post with a few random hash tags, one of which was the business name and a few ‘likes’ for the image but nothing that actually tied this back to the business. You could not tell what the picture was or how it related to the site or the hashtags posted with it.
Additionally, the graphic had a quote on it that was not right. The person quoted although a famous person, had absolutely zero to do with the business. If quoting someone, I would pick someone that was related to what i was doing. So for me I might quote Steve Jobs, not Elon Musk, although I might gratuitously add him to this post to newsjack the post. This type mistake is far too common.
#2 Non Existant Branding
The next thing with this graphic is was the logo was profoundly small and hard to identify. Therefore there was no tie back to the brand. And by not using the brand properly, the end user at a glance gave no one an idea of what the website is about. And speaking of the website there was no mention of the website. And again, this too is a common mistake. Especially from social media managers that have limited experience or younger. The artwork is great, but having no brand and no website reference. Its just ‘cool.’ If this did by some chance go viral, it would not benefit the business. Infact, instead of warm inviting pictures that personalized the brand, conversely there were no smiling faces enjoying the product.
#3 Forget the Cool – Help People Understand
It just continues to be apparent that many businesses have no clue how to harness social to help support their business, build a brand and rank. They don’t understand the level of integration that is needed and how there has to be reciprocity and that the viewer or participant has to understand what the graphic has to do with the business in seconds especially when you aren’t offering any written perspective.
So the picture may be cool but if viewers can’t identify how that picture is related to your business in a split second, they are moving right past it. Picking the wrong picture or doing things in a cool factor that gives no nod to helping customers understand kills engagement and therefore will kill rankings.
#4 Correct Your Click
Often links are not passed back in a way the end user thought they would be. When posting to social with a buy now link, it would be a good habit to get into to actually send it to to the website where they could buy now. Additionally, if you make the transition from the social platform to your site too difficult you end up losing users there too. These are all things that damage your credibility and stop people from interacting with you in the future. Be clear, concise and trustworthy in all the places you take your end user, or risk losing them for good.
Just remember keeping your social integrated into your brand strategy is imperative for success. Keeping is isolated or treating it as a second class citizen is a real restrictor to digital success.
Yeah yeah I’m from Jersey and you all know it! And no one says Joisey, so we need to debunk that while I’m thinking of it.
But seriously, do you know who your talking to on social media. I don’t mean like do you know the person, but more do you know the audience your trying to go after and what the right social media platform is for your post?
I think this is part of the confusion of what to do with Social Media. You all know I hate the gratuitous Dilbert hates his job, Facebook meme. If you hate your job get a new one is my theory. But it lead to the pix at the right, what exactly are the right places to be posting and why.
So in class I asked this question ad as you can see in my basic drawing it sort of classifies things, to give a perspective.
The first thing you need to understand is who your client is and answer that question. What I mean is are you B2B, B2C maybe your both, like we are. And then how do I reach out to those folks.
I often wonder if people know who their customers are. Or who they want their customers to be. I think about that every day. I have a genuine part of my personality that wants to help people. But I want clients who understand how much extra you true get by using our web hosting services. Yes sometimes its intangible. I love our customer that sends in and ask me why their Facebook scroll isn’t working right. It tells me that they value our opinion. I love saying the sentence, we are a little odd, all of our hosting accounts are protected via our firewall. You don’t actually have to ask us for this. I truly know who my clients are and how best to help them. Everyone should put this level of thought into their client base.
So what that means is that I’ve had to sit down and really think about what I wanted to do with social media. Where were we going to be most effective. I think Twitter first and foremost because of the seer number of SEO professionals and web designers. It was a great place for us to interact with peers. I also think we have a great home on Google+ for similar reasons. So this is where I put a bulk of my effort. I also think we are effective on LinkedIn, so when I think about it, I’ll go post there as well.
I hesitate to even address Facebook in this post, but I hope I’ve painted a clear picture of how to decipher your audience. It’s an integral cog in having a successful Social Media strategy.
Happy June everyone! We are less than 100 days until football season! It also means we are approaching the half-way pole to the year and I’m always looking to see how I did on those resolutions and if they have helped. So as I was sitting thinking about this i saw a tweet go by that had the gist of don’t build your content on social media, but use your blog.
This one simple tweet said something that really summed up what I’ve been stressing in my SEO Classes here in Houston since the first part of the year. I told the class that I had made a resolution to start posting on my blog more and actually having me be the blogger. My feeling is no one can blog about your business as good as you can. And to date, I’m full of ideas and have about 30 some topics sitting on a trello board incase I get writers block some day, doubtful as that might be.
Also, I saw a post from the #socialchat people that said most CEO’s think they are cool to have a twitter account but don’t know what to do with it. And although I do agree that I am pretty cool, I definitely see the value to my Twitter account and it has nothing to do with rants about world politics or the state of my beloved Texans/Yankees. I think the problem is bigger that most don’t know how to use it to reach their customs and many haven’t even defined who their customers are.
Both of these tweets sum up how and why you should be blogging and tweeting. and how to do it. But being it may be a little obscure to the untrained eye let me try to add some perspective to this. First and foremost, I know who our clients are. They are people just like us, small to mid-sized business that needed someone to give them honest answers. In the early days, they would call me on the phone and I would help them with everything from how to build the site to how to incorporate their companies.. They still send in questions to my support desk that often more seeking my opinion. In fact this weekend I got an email asking me about Trademark Law, so after I disclaimed the fact that I am not a lawyer and one should consulted, I offered my opinion as an answer. This is our ideal customer and its this group that my Blog is aimed at.
Now where else I see is this, “Hey Beth, I read a post and tweeted it” Or, I write my stuff on linkedin directly. The problem is a pretty basic one. If you share, tweet or post on a social media platform, how does this help your business. I love when I say this to a room of people and I see the lights come on.
So when I want to write my opinion on something, I sit down and use my blog for what it was intended for. It’s place to showcase how our company thinks and how much we really do know. We’re like having a friend in the business and I never want to lose that feel about our company. But the most important thing is when I put it on my own website it stays mine. The other byproduct of this is that as the social landscape continues to shift, my content is safely on my site for me to push out though social any way I see fit. Follow this one simple rule and you will have a solid foundation to move in what ever way the digital wind blows next
