How Social Media Impacts SEO: Infographic

Search engine optimization has not been dependent on a minimal number of factors for a long time now, such as number of times a keyword appeared on a page, and it continues to become a more complex web of on and off-page factors every month. One of the more recent factors that has had an impact on search ranking is social media.

The following infographic breaks down ways that social media influences the visibility of your website in search results, including: Continue reading

5 Steps for Optimizing YouTube Videos

Not sure if your business should have a YouTube channel? Did you know that YouTube is the 2nd most popular and used search engine, with more searches than both Bing and Yahoo?

YouTube Logo

So yes, your business should most definitely have well branded presence on YouTube. YouTube can be one of your most powerful  tools for reaching and engaging with customers. To reach your customers, you not only have to create a YouTube channel and add videos, you need to make sure that your customers can find your videos and even drive them back to your website. Continue reading

2013 Marketing Trends: Changing Role of Digital Marketing

With any inbound marketing strategy, customer outreach must focus on multiple channels; and, as we move further into 2013, well-developed cross-channel targeting will become even more important. However, how do we know where to focus our marketing efforts in 2013? Luckily, the great minds at StrongMail, an email marketing and cross-channel solutions company, did a little digging for us!

In conjunction with SurveyMonkey, StrongMail, administered an online poll to learn how more than 1,000 business leaders saw their marketing strategies changing in 2013.

Expansion of Digital Marketing in 2013

Indicate the Marketing Programs You Plan to Increase Spending in 2013

Indicate the Marketing Programs You Plan to Increase Spending for in 2013

Based on the survey results, business leaders across various industries plan to have even more digitally heavy marketing strategies during 2013. Responders reported that they expected to increase spending on Email Marketing (55.5%), Social Media (51.8%), Mobile (42.8%), and SEO/PPC (39.8%) this year. In comparison, only 27.4% of responders thought they would decrease spending on Direct Mail efforts. Continue reading

Impact of Content on SEO

The Impact of Content on SEO: Infographic

Unique and frequently updated content written with the user in mind is a critical component of any search engine optimization strategy. The following infographic from Brafton, an online news and content agency based in Boston, explains how content impacts the visibility of a website in search results. It delves into several factors that impact how search engines determine the relevancy of content, including:

Continue reading

5 Steps to Converting Leads: an Inbound Marketing Infographic

The  Whole Brain Group recently published an intriguing infographic explaining the key components of one of my favorite marketing methodologies, inbound marketing. I was drawn to this infographic because it compares traditional and inbound marketing before delving into the 5 steps to increase traffic and convert leads into customers.

In the infographic, the Whole Brain Group breaks down the inbound marketing process into the following five steps: Continue reading

Components of High Quality Content Marketing

As search engines continue to alter their algorithms , so they can provide users with the best and most relevant content on the internet, the importance of content marketing is being pushed to the forefront. However, content marketing can be quite overwhelming when first diving in, so it is important to understand the influence that content has on customers and the core components.

Content+, a online marketing agency in the UK, created a captivating infographic to explain the importance and structure of content marketing.

Below are my favorite take-aways from the The Anatomy of Content Marketing – The Heart of Online Success infographic: Continue reading

10 Ways to Increase Search Engine Rankings

This article on search engine optimization is great for both beginners and intermediate marketers looking to better understand search engines. This article includes 10 easy to understand tips for increasing your site’s ranking in organic searches. If you want to increase your site’s search engine traffic, your site will need to show up on the first page of search results. Only one site can be #1 in a Google search, so I recommend setting a goal to get your site to appear above the fold. This article not only has great tips, it also has includes excellent resources for understanding and implementing an SEO strategy for your website. Check it out!

Inbound.org – The Best Source for Inbound Marketing Content

I recently discovered what might be the best source for quality articles relevant to those in the digital community and probably my new favorite website! Inbound.org is a website designed for the passionate digital community. The purpose of the site is to provide the best and most current online content on all aspects of inbound marketing, including (but definitely not limited to):

  • Advertising
  • Blogging
  • SEO
  • Social Media
  • Analytics
  • Mobile
  • Email
  • Entrepreneurship
  • PR
  • Web Development
  • Design
  • Content

Inbound.org was launched mid February and has been quickly growing in popularity with those passionate about all things digital. The brilliance behind this site came from its founders Rand Fishkin of SEOMoz and  Dharmesh Shah of Hubspot. It is kind of like the Reddit or Digg of inbound marketing, but with a MUCH more attractive site design. The simplicity of the site design and structure is perfect for perusing articles. Similar to other social bookmarking websites, Inbound allows users to Upvote their favorite articles. The design of the site has made it very easy for new users to determine how to “Vote” for the articles that they like.

Up voting article submissions on Inbound.org

A very intriguing feature of Inbound.org is that registration requires users to have a Twitter account. I really like this feature because if you are truly passionate about social media, web development, SEO, analytics, etc., you should are already have a Twitter account and be active in the digital community.

The 3 Ways To Use Inbound

Hot Submissions Incoming Submissions and Share Articles on Inbound org

Hot Articles

The Hot Articles page lists the most popular articles on Inbound.org at that time. Below is a screen shot of what you might see while on the Hot Articles page. I understand that the articles listed are the most popular, however I don’t quite understand the ranking method. Articles are not listed by the number of Upvotes, though it appears that their may be an algorithm that determines the hottest articles based on time of article submission and number of Upvotes.

Hot Articles Listings on Inbound org

Incoming Articles

The Incoming Articles page is similar to the Hot Articles page, but it lists the newest submissions in chronological order. Think of it as a Twitter feed of newly submitted articles and you are actually interested in all of the posts!

Share Articles

Sharing Articles on Inbound org

All the articles listed on Inbound.org are submitted by users. The image to the right is the Share Article screen that users can use to submit articles to Inbound. For the Article Title option, you can either select your own title or a title will be created from the article URL. However, it is almost always best to write your own title because the number of characters displayed in the listings is limited. As a base, I recommend following the standard for SEO best practices and keep the title shorter than 70 characters (including spaces). Keep It Short And Sweet! Since the listings do not include a summary of the article submitted, it is extremely important that the title is intriguing and does not get cut off.

Good and Bad Article Title Examples Inbound Org

When submitting an interesting article, you are also required to select one of 23 categories that the article falls into. This feature is very helping when searching through the Hot Articles or Incoming Articles lists because the article category is included in the article listing. At this time you can search for a specific topic but it pulls articles from varying categories. The one feature that I hope to see as the site grows is the ability to sort submitted articles by category, and maybe even by hottest or newest articles in a single category.

Inbound.org does a great job bringing together bloggers, marketers, and those passionate about all things digital. It may even become your main news source for industry news. Why spend extra time searching for the newest blog posts and articles that interest you when you have a haven of the best and most interesting articles already available.

WARNING! You may become addicted to this site and spend all free time reading the great article submissions! (I already have!)

Have you been on Inbound.org? Do you think you would use it as a source for industry news?

10 Ways To Generate Trust With Your Landing Page Copy

Via Scoop.itBeing Your Brand

Demian Farnworth of The Copybot describes ten ways to generate trust with your landing page copy.

10 Steps To Creating Great Copy

  1. Match Ad Copy with Landing Page Headlines
  2. Write Seductive Headlines
  3. Create Compelling Landing Page Copy
  4. Display Impressive Numbers
  5. Supply Endorsements
  6. Highlight 3rd Party Certification – are you an accredited business? If so, flaunt it!
  7. Display Press Mentions
  8. Don’t Skimp on Design – if your design looks cheap, it doesn’t matter how great your content is because no one will stay on your site long enough to read it
  9. Tone Down Those Terms and Conditions
  10. Testimonials – Customers trust other customers more than they will trust what your company says

Check out the whole article to find out more about the 10 ways use content to build relationships with your customers.

Via blog.crazyegg.com