Search Engine Optimization tips

By Jenny Hopkins

Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is taking steps to making sure your website ranks highly in search engine results.

When you perform a search on Google, Google uses its own algorithm to match websites with the words in the search and ranks them starting with the best match.

As technologies update and evolve so do the search engine algorithms. For example, now that more people are using their mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets to surf the web and search for information, Google has changed its search algorithm to recognize that the user is on a mobile device and will only provide results for web pages that are mobile optimized. Google knows not to waste your time by showing you a website that will not display well on your phone because you typed in the search from your phone.

That is just one of many factors Google takes into account when compiling search results. Here are some other major factors that help your page get picked up:

• A complete landing page. This may seem like a no-brainer, but sometimes we get so caught up in design, updating social media, etc. that we forget that the devil is in the details. Make sure the home page of your website includes all the basics: Phone number, address, services provided, map and or directions and social sharing buttons. The more “complete” and informative your home page is, the more it will get Google’s attention.

• Add or claim your business listing on Google. Go to https://www.google.com/maps and type in your business name. Does the map zoom in to your business location? If it does, there will be a “claim your business” option in the column that appears to the left of the map. Follow those steps to create your Google business listing. This helps your business in several ways. First, you can control what the Google map search result says about your listing. Your phone number, website, hours and more show up right there on the map. You can add photos to your listing and customer reviews will appear as well. And of course, this helps the Google search engine find your page. If your search of the map does not reveal your business, you can create a Google business page first and then plug in the address. Click here to get started building your Google My Business page. Just an FYI, you’ll need to verify your business page. After all, you don’t want just anyone to register as your business. You need to prove that you are really you. It’s easy to verify your business, once you create your page Google will send you an automated phone call and give you a special code. Then you just need to type that code into the designated place on your listing. Easy peasy.

• Update frequently. Just because you built it does not mean they will come. Update your website on a regular basis. If your page has not been updated since the invention of the smartphone your page ranking will drop. Include keywords in your blog posts and pages. Most websites have built-in search engine optimization tools. On the back end of your website there should be an area where you can type in keywords. This does not show up on your site, but putting in words that describe your services will help it get picked up. Think about what words you would use to search for your business.If you have a blog for your business make sure to add “tags” or “labels” with key words. All blogging platforms have a built-in area for this purpose.

• Measure your results. Check your website’s analytics. Is there a page or article that is performing very well in terms of attracting web traffic? One that’s not? Compare and take notes on what your page viewers are responding positively and negatively so that you can plan accordingly for future content.

• TIP: Make sure that your basic information is the same across the Internet. If the business phone number, address, etc. on your website differs from your Google business listing you’ll lose credibility and your search ranking will drop.

There are literally thousands of things that contribute to a website’s search engine ranking, but these are the biggies.

Do you have a search engine optimization success story? Let me know at jhopkins@journalnet.com

How to get your email opened and read

I get them, you get them, everyone gets them: junk mail. What used to fill the mailboxes of suburbia now fills the inboxes of every email address on the planet.

But your business has a message to share, and because nearly everyone uses email, it is a great way to reach a large audience quickly without paying for snail mail postage.

So how to you get people to open and read your email?

Here are some tips:

• Make it personal. Use a personal subject line whenever possible. GetResponse reports that emails with personalized subject lines have a 26% higher open rate than those with generic subject lines. Use direct language in the message wording, words like “you” and details such as last purchases. For example, “Your last purchase of Hello Kitty sheets would look great with our new Hello Kitty curtains! Check them out here (link to product site).

• Time is of the essence. Try using a trigger word in your subject line such as “announcing, limited or final.”

• Keep it simple. As tempting as it is to cram a ton of information into an email subject line and body it's not a good idea. With email less really is more. Keep your subject line 6 to 10 words and don't be dishonest or click-bait. Side note, click bait is just awful stuff in general! “Click here to see what these 90s era celebs look like now!” No thanks.

The email should have one purpose, so decide that before you create your marketing plan. Do you want to push online sales? Is your business hosting a food drive? Focus on one thing in five or less sentences. And remember to write like you talk, don't try to make it fancy with big words that no one uses in natural every day speech. Don't say “ebullient” when you could just say “eager.”

• Include a call to action. Face it, when you open an email the first thing you think is “how can this benefit me, what does this have to offer me?” Your message must have value. Include a call to action that offers something. Instead of “click here to learn more,” say “click here to start your free trial.”

• Timing. Believe it or not there are good and bad days and times to send email if you want it to get opened. The worst days are, not surprisingly, Saturday and Sunday. Who wants to read email on the weekends unless your sister emailed you photos of your new niece or nephew.

The best days? Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

• On the go. Perhaps the most important thing you can do to increase the open rates of your marketing emails is to make sure they work on mobile devices. About half of all emails are opened on a mobile device, so if your message looks terrible or won't display correctly you're immediately losing half your audience. Try testing your message before you send it. Check it on tablets and mobile devices. Be sure to check it on Apple and Android devices.

Get more digital marketing advice at www.isjmedia.net

What’s new in social media?

If you feel like you can’t keep up with all the snaps, stages, tweets, boosts, videos, stickers and streams in social media, you’re not alone.  The modifications, features and types of social media literally changes on a daily basis.

So what changed this week? Here is just a snippet:

• Twitter no longer counting certain features against 140-character limit. This is not expected to take effect until September 19, but it has been talked about since May.  Twitter reports that photos, gifs, videos, polls and @names will no longer count toward the character limit. This benefits marketers and businesses by providing enough space to post photos of a product but also say enough about it to make sense. Read more about this change here.

• Instagram gets more business friendly. Instagram already allows promoted content, but now businesses with an Instagram profile can add a “contact” button. The new insights feature will enable businesses to see who is interacting with their content. If a certain post is performing much better than others Instagram will now allow you to turn that post into an ad that you can schedule. Read more about Instagram’s changes here.

• Facebook let’s you create your own canvas. I’m still reading up on this one, but I recently discovered Facebook’s new “Canvas” feature while I was scheduling promotions for the Idaho State Journal’s upcoming Business and Achievement Awards event.  The description I found of this new feature was pretty vague, so I decided to go in and make one.

                    Facebook says that the canvas feature is “a better way to tell your brand story and promote your products on mobile.”

                    Basically, you start with a theme color, which can be white, black or custom, then you pick components to add such as video, photo, photo carousel, button, text block or header. Each component is highly customizable. The font, color, size and background can all be changed in the text component, and the photos can be set to “fit to width,” “tap to expand” or “fit to height,” for example.

                    Each component adds a sort of “slide” to create a slideshow-type design. When a users views a Facebook canvas on his or her mobile device, they open it just as they would a Facebook photo and then swipe up and down to view the canvas.  Here is a photo of one I built just with some random photos I had on my desktop.

                    But the canvases are only viewable on mobile! So you can build it on your desktop but in order to preview and view your canvas you must send it to your mobile device. Go here to learn more about Facebook Canvas.

• Winner, winner, Pinterest bidder! Pinterest now boasts that advertisers will get more bang for their buck now that it offers CPM-based advertising. CPM stands for “Cost Per Thousand.” The “M” is the Roman numeral for 1,000. Why it is not CPT I’ll never know.

            With CPM you only pay for each set of eyeballs that actually see your ad. You set your budget and you’re guaranteed not to go over it. Every time a webpage is opened, ads compete, or bid for the ad space on that page. If your ad has the highest bid it gets the real estate. If your ad is outbid you don’t get charged. Pretty cool, huh?  For more on this new feature click here.

Do you have any social media success stories or features you can’t live without? Let me know at jhopkins@journalnet.com

And find out how ISJ Media can help your business at http://isjmedia.net/

Think With Google - free download

Have you visited thinkwithgoogle.com yet?

If you are a marketer, business owner or anyone who wants to keep up with consumer buying trends in the digital world you'll be amazed at the wealth of information there.

Google is by far the leader when it comes to online — well, just about anything. Think With Google has tons of insights on consumer behavior across different audiences and platforms such as how sports fans use YouTube, for example. There is a section on mobile advertising trends including how to design a better mobile experience for shoppers and creating effective video ads.

The tools section features planning tools such as shopping insights; just type in the brand or product you'd like to research into the search bar and a map will appear that shows the areas where the product is popular as well as each quarter's sales results.

Probably most useful to business owners is The Customer Journey to Online Purchase. Select your industry, business size, country, and what channel you'd like to search (organic traffic, paid traffic, referral, etc.) and you'll see percentage results for consumers who are in the beginning, middle and end of the purchase cycle.

Consumers more often use organic search at the beginning of the purchase cycle and direct click is near the end of the cycle when the consumer buys. Knowing what stage your target audience is in will help you to better direct your advertising and promotion focus.

Today I have been reading through the section on Mirco Morments. Did you post back to school photos of your kids on Facebook? Do a quick search for movie times? Those are Micro Moments. People want what they need quickly and easily. If you can anticipate the micro moments for your target audience you can make better decisions when deciding when and where to promote your brand.

There is so much more that I could write about, but why don't you go check it out for yourself? I guarantee you will find something useful there, regardless of your business size, service or product.

Let me know what you think!

Download the free guide "Micro Moments: Your Guide to Winning the Shift to Mobile" to learn more.