Lead Generation in the Post Panda World

On November 15, 2012, in Search Engine Optimization, by Jim
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Ross Goldberg, the LeadGen GuyRoss Goldberg began his Internet business out of necessity, to support his family.  His initial success came from selling memory foam products online.  He lost this business due to fraudulent actions, and then took his SEO skills to other ventures, including as VP for Marketing with StomperNet.

Ross uses a variety of methods to drive traffic including:

  • Affiliate Leads
  • Direct Mail – this is extremely effective now
  • Banners
  • Books – One of the best
  • Adwords
  • Facebook
  • Software – Free traffic, e.g., from download.com
  • Press Releases – Many marketers try to “sell” vs. just using a service like PRWeb.com to announce.  This is the only method that creates “natural” SEO links, which is what Google currently wants to see.
  • Events
  • SEO
  • Referral Leads
  • Blogging
  • Articles

One of the best is using a book to leverage Amazon‘s traffic and high SEO rankings for your own brand or term.  Ross now ranks for the term “get more traffic” in Google using this method, which he calls “parasitic ranking.”  Then all of this traffic can be funneled into a sales system.

Working with small businesses can be a challenge, since local business owners are now being contacted frequently about improving their Internet presence.  So, local consultants much differentiate themselves by:

  • Focusing on a single vertical – Start with stores that you currently frequent.  Here, your Amazon book becomes the perfect “business card.”
  • Building on your own integrity – Business owners have come to believe that SEO work is now a scam.
  • Focus on a single segment within your vertical.
  • Build a functional email follow-up sequence.  The initial email should be a “thank-you,” followed by 3-4 “reminders” of specific advantages that can be derived from your product or free offer, in order to get them to actually read/consume it.  Then 2-3 buying-oriented emails, followed by hammering them to buy something.

Ross has been very hesitant to advise his clients on SEO, due to all the evolution taking place with Google.  Link building has now become tricky, in that only 25% of anchor text should be the actual keyword you are trying to rank for.  The Lead Gen Summit is Ross Goldberg’s latest creation, featuring many of the leading Internet marketers in a webinar-based conference.

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Evergreen Content Syndication – Building Backlinks that Google Likes

On August 30, 2012, in Search Engine Optimization, by Jim
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Peter GaretyPeter Garety started his online business in 2008, and didn’t make any money for 14 months.  But by 2010, he became proficient getting good Google rankings and started to make money.  He now shares with customers how to rank for keywords and build a social “buzz” about a website.

Today, the Google Panda & Penguin rules have changed the SEO rules.  Rather than the widely accepted rules, e.g., creating many backlinks and using exact domain match for ranking, Google now has changed emphasis for:

  • Relevancy – Although this isn’t new, the emphasis is now on high quality websites, including rich media cand authoritative content.  Google also is measuring “bounce rate” for visitors to websites.
  • Social Influence – Who you are, what others say about you and how often.  Google wants to know your social “weight.”
  • Brand Name – Are you an authority in a niche, with recognition in the social media sites?

Peter teaches his clients to setup an Announcement and Traffic Generation Channel.  On the Announcement Channel, accounts are setup on Web 2.0 properties that focus on your main website “brand,” e.g., using WordPress.com, tumblr.com and Facebook, Twitter, etc.

The Traffic Generation Channel is then used, and is composed of a network of social accounts based on your main site categories.  Each category should then be defined by primary and secondary keywords, which are used to setup additional Web 2.0 accounts.

Content is then syndicated to the announcement channel, e.g., announcing new content  using a snippet (500 characters) of the latest blog post.  Each site should use different anchor text, to avoid the “appearance” of stuffing keywords across the Internet.  A timetable is established for each network, e.g. , 2 times per week or every other day (which Google is now on the lookout for).

Finally, a list of niche authority sites should be researched and maintained.  These are used to syndicate high quality content.  Here is how to do this with curated content (the latest rage):

  1. Use 2-3 pieces of written authority content and one YouTube video.
  2. Create a unique title, introduction and closing for your post.
  3. Add a snippet of each authority content in the middle plus one YouTube video.
  4. Keep all links to authority websites and add one link back to your website.
  5. Add one Google+ profile link at the end of the curated content (use one of the 3 authors, which articles you used for curation).

The benefits of this approach will be higher ranking and instant authority, since Google “loves” curated content and will recognize that you’re sharing others’ content.  This will result in instant traffic via exposure to real authorities in your niche.  But how can you syndicate content to 40-60 web 2.0 websites without spending the entire day doing so?

Fortunately, Peter offers a content syndication system to automate much of the work.  This system takes advantage of the power of social networks as well as using principles compatible with the Google Panda and Penguin updates.  But unfortunately, the access to the system is currently closed, although it has been recently available via special webinar invitation and may be in the future, periodically.

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How to Increase Traffic 300% Despite Google’s Changes

On August 24, 2012, in Search Engine Optimization, by Jim
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Bryan and Matt Green are a father-son SEO team who have recently developed a software system that produces great SEO results.  Just this week, Matt Cutts has said that the new Penguin release coming soon will be the biggest yet, which has many SEOs and webmasters “shaking in their boots.”  Matt CuttsDespite all the Google changes, Bryan and Matt have continued to get amazing results on their 150 websites and those of their clients.  What is their methodology, strategy and system?

“Create a site that will stand the test of time; a site that people will tell their friends about and bookmark.  That’s the site Google wants people to build”  Matt Cutts

Google’s webmaster central “blog” actually spells out exactly what is needed and this is what they’ve done.  Rather than building spam backlinks, irrelevant content, non-diversified backlinks, and links from bad neighborhoods; their system builds high-quality, relevant links.  Black hat, gray hat, irrelevant blogs and forums don’t work any more.  There is only one way left to rank your website:

  • Places For Building Backlinks Include Blogs Articles Squidoo GOV and EDU sitesRelevant backlinks
  • Relevant forums
  • Relevant blogs
  • Relevant Squidoo lenses
  • Relevant Wikipedia pages
  • Relevant competitors links
  • Relevant EDU and GOV links

But it is impossible to create backlinks manually, which would take too long even for a single website.  But if done properly, it is possible to rank product sites, local business websites, and sites designed for AdSense revenue.

Matt and Bryan’s Power SEO Ranker Software was developed in order to quickly build quality backlinks.  Their software simplifies and significantly shortens the time needed to create quality backlinks.  In addition, their software enables an “indirect” use of Majestic SEO services to find competitor backlinks.  A complete overview of their software is available on a recent webinar that Matt and Bryan were on to provide an overview.

 

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How to Optimize Images on Your Website for SEO

On April 27, 2012, in Search Engine Optimization, by Jim
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White hat seo symbolizes good ethic techniques...

White hat seo symbolizes good ethic techniques in search engine marketing (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Creating SEO friendly images is simple to do, yet many website owners neglect this valuable source of search engine traffic. To make it even more simple, WordPress has some great tools built in to help you optimize your images.   There are also several essential plugins we recommend in order to maximize your optimization and professional (or paid upgrade) versions that can be extremely valuable.

The most important thing to know is that while people can see your images, search engines must rely on underlying html attributes, although technology at Google is now able to identify and classify images.  But they still rely heavily on the words in the tags and titles you give your images.  Just a little attention to detail can go a long way in improving your results and search engine rankings.

When creating or uploading content consider the following:

  • All images should have ALT and TITLE attributes defined. This is the image equivalent of the doc title or metadescription for the page.Images Properties Detail Tab
  • Image filenames should have a relevant name, ideally with a keyword in it. For example, an image file of “logo.jpg” might make sense to you, the website owner, but it won’t mean anything at all to a search engine. “wordpresslogo.jpg” is a much more descriptive, and relevant, filename.  But don’t be overly “spammy” in your naming, by excessive keyword stuffing or you’ll be penalized.
  • Before uploading images from your computer, modify the image properties to include title and tags on the “Details” tab (shown at right).

When adding a new a WordPress page or post, remember to give the image file a relevant name and fill in the spaces provided for ALT and TITLE tags.  It may be a good idea to review or spot-check your site, updating/completing the ALT and TITLE tags on images.

In our guide to essential WordPress plugins, we chose the All in One SEO Pack plugin for SEO.  In addition,  All in One SEO Pack – Pro Version provides additional SEO customization and features, access to personal support, advanced updates, and removes all advertisements.

 

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Why Isn’t My Website Converting Enough Visitors?

On April 12, 2012, in Blogging, by Jim
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Is your website engaging, creating an emotional reaction and a specific feeling from your users?  Engagement is one of the things that is difficult to measure, although as of last October, Google has finally figured out the metrics.  The amount of time spent (at least 3 minutes) and number of pages visited (4 to 5) are now being used in Google’s page rank algorithms.  And getting these metrics right are the main factors that will  just about guaranteed to convert the percentages that you need.  The Analytics360 plugin can be used to watch these and other key analytics on a daily basis, without even having to visit Google Analytics. Gina Gaudio-Graves, the JV Queen

As of last October, Google is including specific engagement factors in ranking pages.

Gina Gaudio-Graves (GGG) is a blogging expert, who advises on blogging for profit.  Using her recommendations, Tim Bennett’s argonette.com has been getting 30% conversions from his visitors. GGG’s own blog, Howtoliveonpurpose.com has been recently exceeding these minimum engagement numbers.  What are they doing that can be done to get a higher level of engagement for your blog?

Gina advises to think of your website as your own retail outlet.  The iPhone’s success has led to the success of Apple’s retail stores, where someone greets you on arrival.  This is the model that should be used for your blog.  Your website is the place where you want to greet people and let them get to know you.

The basic mechanics of a blog include both themes and plugins.  GGG believes that free themes can’t be used to create the look and feel needed for true engagement.  She recommends My Instant Theme for Business, available at her website, which makes a site look like an online magazine.

Apple Store, North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL

Apple Store, North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

GGG’s recommended plugins are available at her recommended plugins page.  For an indepth, detailed analysis, please see our recommended plugins and analysis in our Plugin Essentials product.

In addition to “normal” sidebar opt-in form, each article should also have a call to action.  A light-box popup should also be used.  MyInstantPopup is an example.  In this way, visitors have 3 ways to sign up for your list.  It usually takes several clicks for people to actually take action, or opt-in to your list.  People won’t usually subscribe on the first visit.

Below the opt-in box, you should have an option to subscribe to your RSS feed.  This means your articles will show up in their RSS reader.  Mailings are rarely opened (only 10%) even if they reach the inbox.  70% of RSS subscribers actually open your articles.  Commoncraft.com has a series of videos which includes “RSS in Plain English,” to help educate users.

Recent posts should be in the sidebar along with categories and pages (near the bottom).  One key, low-end product should be in your sidebar.  Text links should be used for all your products near the bottom of your sidebar.

Start out your articles with a story, so people will “remember” the pain they’re currently experiencing.

Articles get a better search engine rank if ending in a question.  The articles you write should focus on solving specific problems people have.  These cause conversions.  Start the body of articles with a “story.”  This causes people to “remember” the problem they’re actually having.  This is necessary since people are so inundated with information.  The story causes people to actually listen to you, read the article, and will result in more conversions.  Many additional tips are covered in GGG’s training offerings, which can be found at www.askggg.com/bsw2.

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Ranking Post Panda – Is Article Marketing Still Working?

On October 4, 2011, in Search Engine Optimization, by Jim
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Image representing Google as depicted in Crunc...

Image via CrunchBase

Google’s Panda update is now about 6 months old.  According to Andy Fletcher, founder of DigiResults, Panda is nothing to fear, if you do SEO the right way.  What are his credentials?  One of his recent clients landed a contract for a major cell phone provider, using Andy’s techniques, by demonstrating the ability to successfully market $80,000 in handsets in a one month period.

Is SEO dead, post-Panda?  Quite the contrary.  Google’s tactics are to pick a few big name, high profile sites every year to devalue and scare everyone.  Many people will stop building links as a result, in their estimation.  Although it’s not true that nothing has changed, it is true that Google has a lot of marketers running scared.

One important concept, which Andy explains is the concept of “Query Deserve Freshness (QDF).”  Depending on what a user is looking for, it could be the latest CNN article on topic or a more static Wikipedia article.  Link velocity is used to determine specific results.

If Google finds 100′s of links to a page for several days and then afterwards, hardly any.  This defines a trending topic, or something like a passing fancy.  A more lasting commentary page will have stable, and consistently growing links to it.  Therefore the topic remains interesting and the page rank remains high.

The end result of Google’s algorithm changes is ranking death only if users stop building links in response to their scare tactics.  The key is to not suddenly stop building links.  But it’s also important to build backlinks from pages that have lots of backlinks.  Andy also teaches a concept of using “Link Fire Walls.” These are feeder sites to your blog or main site across several hosting accounts, which include the boost of an exact match domain, e.g., an important keyword within the domain itself.  By using several (about 6) of these firewalls, you can overcome the law of averages which dictates that 2/10 sites you build will never rank.

The link firewall concept can be used with free blogs from WordPress.com, Blogger.com, etc.  But if actual exact match domains are used, then the firewalls can be monetized using Adsense, Amazon, Ebay, or lead capture.  In either case, you must build lots of backlinks to your firewalls.  Fortunately, DigiResults offers a WordPress plugin, Digi Article Blaster, that easily generates over 150  article submissions to directory sites.  Although there are many other similar tools, Andy’s may be the only one based on WordPress.

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