Internet Marketing Company Files $3.5M Defamation Lawsuit Against Rival

by with No Comment Business News

Internet Marketing Company Files $3.5M Defamation Lawsuit Against Rival

Read this post and let me know what you think of it, ok?

A Texas-based internet marketing company recently filed a federal lawsuit seeking $3.5 million from a Connecticut competitor that it claimed engaged in fraudulent advertising.

In its lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Hartford, Adscend Media claims it has lost millions in ad revenue resulting from a targeted attack by Norwalk-based DoGood Media. Adscend claims the attacks left several of its websites blacklisted, a move that has significantly cut its revenue.

At the crux of the lawsuit is what Adscend called an inadvertent programming error made by an employee. As a result, people using mobile devices to view content on one of its three video platforms were shown advertisements multiple times instead of the licensed video that was supposed to follow.

Adscend discovered the error on LootUp.tv and immediately corrected it, according to the lawsuit.

Adscend operates in a marketing space where internet users watch licensed videos along with an advertisement, and earn a small reward for watching the content.

The lawsuit claims DoGood Media and Eric Farrell, its account manager, took advantage of the error by creating a video titled “A Look at Adscend Media’s Deceptive Ad Monetization System.” The lawsuit claims the video accused Adscend of hacking and cheating the system to “defraud advertisers.”

The video was sent to Adscend’s advertising partners earlier this month, according to the lawsuit. Soon afterward, advertising partner SpotX informed Adscend that all of its websites and applications were being blacklisted, cutting of a source of revenue.

Read the full story here.

How to Succeed with Inbound Marketing in 5 Easy Steps!

by with 12 Comments Content Marketing

Do you do inbound marketinging? If so, do you really understanding what inbound #marketing is all about?

Indeed, in the recent past incound marketingas a marketing word has become a buzz among internet marketers and, especially bloggers. Corned by the good folks at HubSpot.com the term has become for many, the internet marketing magic wand you need to succeed widely on the net!

Of course, I wouldn’t doubt that. However, it’s rather unfortunate that of those talking, only a few really know what inbound marketing is. On various occasions I have heard many of these self proclaimed ‘#content marketing experts’ refer to #content marketing as one and the same as inbound marketing!

Of course, the two terms can definitely be used interchangeably but, is inbound marketing all about content marketing?

Can simply creating and distributing content online with the mind of selling a product or service be referred to as an inbound marketing?

In this blog article, I aim to clear some of the misconceptions about inbound marketing. If you are considering marketing your #business online using inbound marketing or you are somehow already doing so, the following information will help you better understand and effectively implement this marketing strategy that is taking the internet by storm!

Understanding the concept of inbound marketing

Now, I must say that ever before HubSpot came about the word “inbound marketing” and many online marketers jumped at the it, I have been working with the concept of inbound marketing. This is because right from my early days on the net I read a book, “The Affiliate Marketing Masters” that laid out this concept despite the fact that it never called it that.

But the foundational knowledge I got from that ebook has always formed the basis of my marketing strategy. The concept is based on the fact that people go online not to be sold to but to get information. As a marketer therefore, all you need to do is to position your brand, product or service as the go-to expert for the needed information. By so doing, you would be attracting the right prospects and #customers instead of chasing them!

This is why inbound marketing is also referred to as “pull marketing” as opposed to the traditional “push marketing”!

With that being said, et’s have a working definition of the term “inbound marketing”.

What Really Is Inbound Marketing?

Here’s what Wikipedia.com has to say about inbound marekting:

“Inbound marketing is the promotion of a company or other organization through blogs, podcasts, video, eBooks, newsletters, whitepapers, #SEO, physical products, #social media marketing, and other forms of content marketing which serve to attract customers through the different stages of the purchase funnel.”

And HubSpot.com, the people generally accepted as corning the term “inbound marketing”, has this to say:

“Inbound marketing is about using marketing to bring potential customers to you, rather than having your marketing efforts fight for their attention. Sharing is caring and inbound marketing is about creating and sharing content with the world. By creating content specifically designed to appeal to your dream customers, inbound attracts qualified prospects to your business and keeps them coming back for more.”

Simply put, inbound marketing is a general term for different marketing techniques that are combined into an overall marketing plan to produce outstanding results.

Now, the key to understanding this definition is the word COMBINED.  You must understand that these techniques are “combined” not “strung” together.

Before now, marketers using what is now referred to as outbound marketing, adopted fragmented techniques like print advertising, internet advertising, PR, cold calling, etc. in an attempt to boost sales.

The intent then was to reach as many prospects as possible. It doesn’t matter to the outbound marketer if the prospect needed that product or service at that very moment. It was simply about pushing out different marketing messages with the mind of seeing which one would stick!

Now, that strategy was nothing but the old “foot-in-the-door sales technique” when you go knocking on doors and ‘forcing’ yourself into the homes of prospective clients, trying to convince them of how wonderful your product is!

Recommended: Top 3 Reasons Why Content Marketing Will Fail You!

Indeed, outbound marketing was nothing but a hit and miss affair!

Inbound marketing, on the other hand, puts the focus on the prospect/customer instead of your product, service or company. Instead of using some clever hard sell tactics to get the sale from the reluctant and indifferent prospects or customers, you position yourself and make the business come to you.

How to Succeed with Inbound Marketing

Steps to inbound marketing success

To succeed with inbound marketing, there are certain fundametnal steps you need to take. If you understand this and follow through with these steps you can be sure of succeeding as an inbound marketer.

Here are the 5 simple steps to creating a successful inbound marekting strategy:

1. Listening

Every successful inbound marketing campaign begins with research. You need to know what the demand is and where it is coming from. Creating your inbound marketing content without any research is nothing but operating with the outbound marketing mindset.

You need to research what you competition is doing, what your prospects and customers need and what they are saying about you, your product or service.

The good thing is that you don’t have to look far as the internet has a lot to offer you about this research. You can use the search engines and keyword tools to know what your target audience are asking or looking for.

Social media sites come handy here also.

Now, whenever I hear anyone, SEO is dead while proclaiming to be an inbound marketer, I immediately know that that person have a wrong understanding of what inbound marketing is.

SEO is simply one of the old techniques that is necessary in inbound marketing. SEO helps you to produce the ‘right’ content that will help you attract the right prospect based on your research.

I do not just recommend understanding the basics of SEO as an inbound marketer because I am an SEO web content writer but because it is really the bedrock of creating the right content for your inbound marketing campaign.

2. Producing

As mentioned above, once you have listened and understood what your existing and prospective customers’ needs are from the conversations they are having online, your next move is to produce content that address those needs.

You should aim to be the go-to-resource by positioning yourself as a voice and authority in your industry. This way, prospective clients or customers will be attracted to you instead of you running after them.

It is important to note that creating quality and useful content that engages the attention of your prospects and customers is actually the most vital part of your inbound marketing strategy. It is what truly drives the inbound marketing wheel. This is why many see content marketing as one and the same as inbound marketing!

It is important therefore that as a business if you are hard up on time or you simply lack the in-house resources to create valuable web content, you mustn’t hesitate in hiring professional content writers since this will pay handsome dividend in the long run.

3. Engage

Inbound marketing is not a one-way traffic. It is not just about listening and producing quality content. That is nothing but ‘old school’ outbound marketing.

Working with what you know about your target audience in your research and using your content as a launching pad, you should move beyond that and aim to know them more ‘intimately’. Engage with them in order to gain their trust.

One effective way to do this is through social media. With social media you can spark a two-way conversation with your prospects/customers. Facebook is big right now. Take advantage of it.

There are tools that will help you set up keyword alerts to notify you of discussions about you and your product or service. One such service is Google alerts.

Email marketing is another old technique that you can use. Initiate the conversation on social media and then find a way of also getting them on your email list where you work on developing the relationship.

Recommended: The 3 Scientific Steps to Using Social Media for Online Selling!

You may also want to download my Facebook marketing guide. Click here to download!

4. Transform

The ultimate aim of marketing is actually the resultant sale. Prospects and website visitors need to be converted into leads while leads must be converted to customers.

Through your engagement and lead nurturing, you expertly move every prospect through the buying cycle and ensure that when they are ready to buy, you will definitely be the ultimate choice!

This demands creating more and different types of content focused on the different stages of the buying cycle. Work with your insights and interactions and create the right type of content required.

At this stage you definitely need an email management system to drive your engagement and lead nurturing. There’s no better way to do this than through and autoresponder like GetResponse.com.

5. Grooming

Effectively engage with your prospects

If you have been online for some time By now, you already know that things change easily and quickly online. This calls for a constant improvement of your inbound marketing strategy. You should continuously analyze, track and ensure your content is updated to keep leads, not only engaged but also to remain loyal to your brand.
Continuously improve on your offerings to stay on top of what is working.

Simply put, rinse and repeat!

Conclusion

From the above you will understand that content is the bedrock of inbound marketing. This accounts for why many see content marketing as one and the same with inbound marketing. But as you have seen, inbound marketing is actually more than content marketing.

Nevertheless, for you to TRULY succeed with your inbound marketing strategy, you need not just content but high quality content. If, as a business, you lack in house expertise on content creation the better route to take is to get quality professional SEO content writers to help you with your web content.

Over to you: Let’s have your thoughts on how to succeed with inbound marketing in your comments below.

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Google SEO: How to Give Your Site a Fighting Chance

by with 12 Comments SEM & SEO

As we have mentioned on several occasions in the past, your business website is an essential component of your online business. This is because your business success will mostly depend on what you’re able to achieve with your website. It should be able to do a whole lot of things for this to happen.

For example, as a website owner or “webmaster” your site should constantly drive a healthy flow of visitors since the website would be useless if no-one visits it. It’s pertinent to note that the higher the traffic generated, the higher the number of visitors that can converted to customers! Also, if you run a business, it’s crucial that you grow your site’s popularity otherwise, you won’t be able to achieve online brand awareness.

One of the ways that you can help your website to do all these effectively is optimizing it for the search engines. This is one reason why SEO – Search Engine Optimization – is a hot topic these days.

So, What Is SEO?

SEO refers to the tasks you need to carry out to make your site hot or, at least, interesting enough for search engines to care about it. Fact is, if you think your site isn’t popular right now there are plenty of practical steps you can take to improve your site’s search engine ranking and it into a high performer.

In today’s blog post, I’m want to share with you some dynamite SEO tips that will help you do this. Hope you make good use of this information.

How to Google SEO your site

That being said, here’s how to do Google SEO for your site in 2016 for better results:

1. Make Sure Your Web Host Is Up To Scratch

It might shock you to learn that sometimes the problem doesn’t lie with the site itself. Rather, it can be with the physical hardware it gets hosted on! There are hundreds of thousands of Web hosts these days.

Each one offers varying features and performance. Did you know that search engines like Google penalize sites on slow servers? As you can imagine, that’s quite a worrying thought.

Before we optimize your website, the first thing you need to do is check the server’s performance. There are several free tools you can use to do this. I recommend using the Pingdom Website Speed Test. It also allows you to test your site from various locations around the world. All you need to do is pick one closest to your area.

When the test completes, check out the Page Analysis tab. How much time gets spent at the “connect” and “wait” stages? If the results are high for either, run a couple more tests. Quite often, high times mean your site is on a slow server.

If that’s the case, I recommend moving your website over to a VPS. VPSServer.com is a good place to start. A VPS or Virtual Private Server will offer higher performance and dedicated system resources. A shared server or host won’t guarantee anything like that to your site.

2. Strip Off The Bloat

Assuming the hosting side of things is OK, it’s now time to turn your attention to your website. Most sites these days run content management systems like WordPress. They are brilliant because they make it quick and easy to publish content. They also offer a plethora of customization and layout options.

The only downside to database-driven websites like that is the excess fat they carry! Examples include inefficient plugins, templates and other website “widgets”. Take the opportunity to uninstall what you don’t need.

All too often, ready-made themes come with plugins that you’ll never use. Delete the bloat and keep only what you need. You can then run the Pingdom Website Speed Test again to see the performance difference.

Make your website SEO as simple as possible

3. Keep it simple, stupid!

We’ve all heard of the “KISS” acronym before, and it applies to the world of SEO. The problem with many websites is they are often complicated and hard to follow. The layouts may also not adapt well to mobile devices like smartphones and tablets.

Review the general look and feel of your site. Does it have a simple navigation structure? Is the content easy to read?

One test you could do is to disable JavaScript and CSS in your Web browser. Next, reload your home page. What you see is, in essence, what a search engine like Google will look at. If your site doesn’t make sense at such a basic level, you have a problem!

Often, the simplest solution is to use a different layout or theme for your website. If you use WordPress, for example, it’s easy to select and install a different one for your site.

4. Follow Some Basic SEO Tips

Last, but not least, you need to spend some time making sure you’ve got the SEO basics taken care of on your website! Here are a few SEO tips to help you get started:

  • Page Titles – Keep these short but relevant to the page content;
  • Meta Description tag – Again, ensure it is relevant and includes your main keyword or phrase;
  • Use SEO-friendly URLs – website.com/my-product is easier to understand than website.com/index.php?id=657435&cat=2341234&session=467erdhw352qrwf!

If you desire more info on how to SEO optimize your website, I recommend you download the Google Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide. It’s free and contains crucial information to help you improve your site’s SEO.

Indeed, you make 2016 your year as far as your website is concerned when it comes Google SEO. Use these simple tips and you’ll see a whole lot of improvements in your site’s performance.

How to Improve Your Business Online Visibility through an Enhanced Profile

by with 8 Comments Growth Strategies

Having an online presence is crucial to business success these days. With the internet nearly every aspect of your business can be improved for effectiveness and efficiency. One area that the internet can help your business is in the area of improved visibility. Before now, this was totally dependent on your advertising cost and your customers’ word of mouth promotions.

But not anymore!

These days with the right tools and approach you can greatly increase your business visibility by simply creating a brilliant online profile. An enhanced online business profile carefully crafted to gain attention and exposure will help your business reach more people and also gain a larger share of the market. In this article I want to share with you a few ways you can do this.

How to increase your business online visibility

Top 5 Ways to Boost Your Business Online Profile and Visibility

1. Website

The foundation of any business’ online profile is their website. Think of it as a central hub, where almost all of your online content is going to link back to. This is going to be on the top of any letterheads, on business cards – the link is everywhere. This means that your website as to both look and function excellently. A poorly designed or unresponsive website gives an immediate bad impression. Consider employing a Web Designer to revamp your site for you if it’s not quite up to scratch. The layout needs to be simple, coherent and clean. Also, it must make it very clear what your business is all about and be full of links to all of your other content to help that grow too.

2. SEO

Now you have the basis of a brilliant online presence; you need to grow it. Search Engine Optimization or SEO is the perfect way to do this. If you’re not clued up about SEO, don’t worry. It’s relatively straight-forward, and you can outsource it from your business if it seems to be too challenging. You might have the greatest product or service in the business, and be exactly what a potential client is looking for. However, if they can’t find you online, you’re stumped. What SEO does, is place your site or content at the top of search engine results to make sure that your business is found by the people who need it. Companies like LosAngelesSEO.org can provide an affordable SEO service tailored to your business’ needs. It’s important to outsource to the right people, however. You don’t want to hire a bad SEO company as that will only backfire on you, and you could end up overspending.

3. Social Media

Social media is a must in the modern age. Your client base can sky-rocket with well run, content heavy social media platforms at your disposal.  Gaining retweets or shares is great. With them, your business can target not only those who are looking for you. But also those who are unknowingly just scrolling through their timelines. Facebook and Twitter are perfect mediums for racking up a new client base. Make sure your posts and content match the tone of the platform. Twitter should be chirpy, short and fun. Whereas on Facebook you can post longer material, with a more serious approach. To grow professionally online, consider LinkedIn. The social network for business is global and growing already. This could be a great way to make excellent B2B relations or even headhunt a new member of staff for your organization.

4. Press Releases

If your company has something to shout about, then tell the whole world about it. Don’t just limit yourself to your organization’s address book either. You can pay to have your press release reach a much wider client basis. Press releases are a great way to market a new product or service that your business is trying to sell. People are more impressed when a product is unveiled to them as revolutionary or game-changing. So really try to push your product or service in this way. Include links to social media platforms and ones back to content on your site. Having these within articles will engage the reader and hopefully invite them to consume more of your content. This ultimately will help massively grow your businesses profile online.

5. Google My Business

If you business has a physical presence offline as well as a digital online, then let people know about it easily. When using search or Google Maps, potential clients will often search for specific phrases. These might be things like ‘nearest shoemakers to home’ or ‘italian restaurant in ____’. Make sure that your business appears when people return these kinds of inquiries online. Google My Business easily enables you as a business to place your physical space on a map. Whether it be a retail store, factory, restaurant, etc. it can be found rather simply by any Google search user. My Business lets you add your website, social media, phone number, opening hours and other crucial information to Google. The effect of this is phenomenal. Next to no sites have a higher Domain Authority than Google. So by being visible on one of their services, your client base and online presence is only going to increase.

Conclusion

I hope this guide has been able to inspire you to reinvent the way your company thinks about digital. You must understand that having a strong online profile is actually the foundation to your online business success. It is a great way to increase your business visibility and of course your results. So, simply follow these tips and make it happen right now!

4 Tips to Take Your Blogging Career to the Next Level

by with 2 Comments Blogging

So, you’ve seen plenty of bloggers who are making a huge sum of money from following their dreams, and you want to be next, right?

It’s a potentially very rewarding route to take. But you must be prepared to work hard for those dreams to become a reality. As far as your content is concerned, only you can discover your true writing voice. However, there are a number of great tips that will help you create a better blogging platform and enjoy a more successful blogging career.

Let me share with a few tips that will greatly help you…

How to create a successful blogging career

1. Invest In A Decent Camera

To you, blogging is primarily about expressing your opinions through words. To the reader, though, your photos play an equally important role. And as your customers, the readers are always right.

Images are a great way to illustrate points or provide a better insight into your experiences. Treating yourself to a digital SLR camera could be one of the greatest upgrades you ever make to the blogging business. Moreover, you could use it as a makeshift video camera to add vlog posts for variety.

A picture paints a thousand words. Embrace this in your blogging career, and you should enjoy far greater results.

2. Stay Organized

Blogging is a very versatile career, but there is one piece of advice that every blogger should pay attention to. If you want your blog to become a business, you must treat it like one.

Essentially, if you conduct yourself in a leisurely manner, it will be reflected in your profits. Equipping yourself with a winning mentality is one of the most important breakthroughs that any blogger can gain. Meanwhile, you must stay organized and keep structure to your working week too. Text appointment reminder services are a great way to help you stay on track.

Besides, you should always take basic blogging equipment wherever you go. After all, you never know what opportunities may arise.

3. Don’t Be Scared To Collaborate

Whether you’re a new or experienced blogger, it’s easy to fall into the trap of viewing other blogs as direct competition. On the contrary, they can be your secret weapon for success. Utilizing this could be the key to reaching new audiences.

Guest blogging on other sites can see you encourage their readers to visit your blog. Meanwhile, accepting submissions on your site will provide extra content and could drag their readers to your site. After all, your guest writers are very likely to promote those posts.

Moreover, joining forces could help you create even better content. Two heads are always better than one. Besides, you’ll be able to club your resources together too. This can only have great results for all parties involved.

4. Place Focus on Social Media

Gaining increased traffic should always be your number one priority. If you can achieve this, everything else will fall into place. This includes generating more money from the venture.

For most online businesses, ranking highly on Google is the key. For a blog, though, the main focus should be cast towards success on the most popular social media platforms. Mastering this field will see your website grow exponentially.

Once people start sharing your content, their friends and family will start reading your posts too. This is the most effective way of building an audience for your blog. Keep this in mind when creating your posts and you won’t go far wrong.

Last word

Building a career from blogging is both fun and rewarding. However, simply setting up a blog and adding content to it is will not bring in the success you desire. You need to put in the effort and mostly especially treat your blog as a business.

Use the above tips as a primer and you will soon see the returns!

Running A Successful Business: 4 Essential Tasks You Mustn’t Do By Yourself!

by with 2 Comments Running A Business

As an entrepreneur, it is expected that you’re the creative type; always ready to take up and task and get it done!  Most times, you’re so confident of your abilities that letting others in is really not for you. This is most tempting if you’re a small home business owner or an online solopreneur.

It is understandable that somehow you have your work all cut out.  But one thing that is clear is, running a business takes a lot of hard work and determination. The truth is that not everyone is cut out for it. To run your company in the best possible way you need to realize you can’t do everything yourself.

There are some tasks that are so time-consuming that it would be counterproductive to do them yourself. Your focus therefore should be on getting your startup off the ground and then hiring other people to do the time-consuming tasks while you focus on more pressing issues.

In this article I want to touch on a few essential entrepreneurial tasks you should outsource if you want to run your business successfully.

Entrepreneur essential task you should outsource

4 Entrepreneurial Essentials You Should Be Outsourcing

1. Tax

As a small business owner, you’re going to have to sort your own taxes out. This is a very stressful and complex process. So, why not get someone else to do it for you? Instead of wrestling with forms and legal jargon just hire an accountant. They will sort your taxes out for you, so that’s one less thing for you to worry about.

2. Branding and Advertising

The most important part of running a successful business comes down to branding and advertising. These are essential parts of the company because they are how you attract customers. Because this is so important, you need to make sure you have the right people on the case. You wouldn’t want to rush into something yourself and risk messing up a pivotal marketing campaign.

Instead, get a media agency and digital marketing team involved. They’ll be able to take care of this for you.

3. Hiring & Firing

Choosing the right staff for your company is vital, but that doesn’t mean you have to take care of it yourself. You can always get someone trusted to take charge of that area for you. Make sure it’s someone who knows the business well, and can determine if someone is well suited to the company.

Also, you should delegate the job of firing people to someone else too. Basically, anything to do with HR should be outsourced elsewhere. There are a lot of complicated legal procedures involved. So it’s best to leave this sort of thing up to the experts.

4. Content

As a business owner, you’re going to have to deal with a lot of content. Your marketing campaign will most likely require content. You will need some for your website, and any blogs you might do. There will also be projects that may require a lot of written words. It would be best to hire a selection of writers to pen this content for you. That way you ensure it gets done to the best possible quality. And it frees you up to focus on other areas of the business.

Final words

You have to understand that running a business is very time-consuming. Of course, it’s your business, and while you want to do as much as you can yourself, it’s not always possible. There is so much to think about, and it’s a lot for one person to take on. So the best idea is not to worry about this yourself. Instead, get someone else to do them, and you can focus on other elements of the company.

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Keyword Research Tools: Are They Really Important For SEO?

by with No Comment SEM & SEO

The world of search engine optimization is a vast and, most times, complicated one. There are many rules and techniques that one must follow to get the desired results. And there are also many tools that SEO newbies and experts alike use each day. Of these tools, keyword research tools are perhaps the most used of all.

However, some naysayers suggest keyword research tools aren’t that important for search engine optimization. But come to think of it, is that not like saying engine oil isn’t necessary for your car?

Of course, I have heard many (and also read many articles) that tend to portray the view that even using keywords in our content is nothing but a waste of time. Their argument? Google has evolved to the stage where search engine spiders now know more about your content and what people are searching for!

As much as I don’t dispute the fact that Google has “evolved” significantly in the past few years I still believe a “splash” of keywords here and there will greatly help the search engines understand better what your content is all about. Don’t forget that the search engines are like some secretary who has control over a huge volume of documents neatly filed away in carbinets (indexed content). To retrieve any of these content this imaginary secretary definitely need some form of tag (in this case keywords).

This is actually the way I look at keywords or keyword phrases when using them in content. The search engine spiders have improved over the years but still need you to give them something to help them identify your content so they can know where to “file” (index) away your content. And of course, whenever, someone searches using something similar in their queries, the search engines will know which content to retrieve and present to them!

Sure that makes the whole thing much understandable, right?

Now, if that is the case why should anyone say keyword research tools are not important for SEO? Look at the market today and you will see that there are many free and premium keyword research tools around. Is that not enough to convince you that these tools are very useful?

If you are still in doubt, then let me give you some reasons why you and your business need keyword research tools.

Keyword research tools and SEO

3 Top Reasons Why You Keyword Research Tools Are Important For SEO

1. They Help To Make Your Content Relevant

Today’s search engines use “algorithms” to serve only relevant content to people’s queries. So, if you’re searching for a colcannon recipe, such results will get returned to you. You are seldom likely to see results for things like “how to grow potatoes” or “a tourist guide to Ireland”!

All too often, website owners fail to target the right audience. The reason is usually down to the fact they aren’t using the relevant keywords on their pages. Keyword research tools help website owners to fine-tune their content.

The higher the relevancy, the higher you will rank in search engines like Google.

2. They Help You To Discover Popular Keywords And Phrases

Let’s assume that you know how to tailor your content for particular keywords. What happens if you do so for queries that people don’t usually type into search engines? Well, not a lot will happen, as you can expect!

The brilliant thing about keyword research tools is they tell you what’s hot in your niche. Colcannon recipes might not be as popular as jacket potato ones, for instance.

3. You Can Find Out What Keywords Are Popular With Your Competitors

What is it that people search for when they visit your competitor’s sites? One way to find the answer is by using a keyword research tool, of course!

Such tools are also useful for learning more about the competition. New websites get set up each day, and some grow faster more than others. A keyword research tool will help you stay at the top of your game.

So, Which Keyword Research Tools Are The Best To Use?

As you can appreciate, there are plenty of tools out there that you can use. Google’s own keyword research tool is one example. It gets offered to people that use its AdWords pay-per-click marketing service.

Another is SEcockpit. I recommend reading the review of SEcockpit by Andrew Hansen to learn more about it. The best thing to do is research the different tools available and find one that best meets your needs. That’s because there isn’t one universal tool that works for everyone.

Conclusion

As you’ll have deduced by now, keyword research tools are an important part of any SEO strategy. If you want people to visit your site, you need to make sure they can find it first and using the right keyword research tool will help you do this!

This of course, is my take on this issue. Feel free to let us know your opinion in your comments below.

5 Easy Forms of Content Every Business & Blog Should Be Creating

by with One Comment Blogging

Every good marketing blog has one golden rule: Content is King!

You definitely must have heard that said before, right? it’s now about to become your new mantra, if you run a business website or a blog. This is because content is one of the most powerful tools you must have in your marketing arsenal.

Why?

For these reasons:

  1. It strengthens your reputation as an expert
  2. It feeds your existing community
  3. It boosts your social media engagement rates
  4. It helps you reach new eyes and spread the word about your business.
  5. You can monetize it and create a new revenue stream

Content is the foundation of your online marketing strategy, as it touches all corners of the web.

Now, the best thing about good content is that it’s relatively easy to make. You can do it yourself, right now at home. In the following few lines I reveal to you the best types of content on the web that you can start creating now.

Long-form articles

Blogs and articles are the most abundant form of content. It doesn’t take much effort to write down your thoughts and opinions and publish them to the world. If you can be insightful, entertaining or informative, then even better! For a long time, people churned out lots and lots of short blogs. Now, everyone is slowly realizing that the power lies in long-form articles. Google prefers them, and rank 1000 word articles higher in its search engine. Readers are more likely to share it too. Go deep with your content!

Video

Easy marketing content types

Thanks to YouTube, everyone’s a film-maker! It’s easier than ever to sign up for a YouTube account and start posting video content. You can even record straight from your webcam. Of course, we suggest taking the time to make creative, innovative video ideas. Perhaps you could make a tutorial or showcase your products if you’re an online store. Get creative here and use your imagination.

Webinars

People love to learn. So if you’ve got specific knowledge in a niche area, create a webinar and host it online. If this sounds like an alien concept, it’s easier than you think! We use a simple webinar software to get it up and running, and our visitors love it. If you can teach someone something new, they’ll remember it. They’ll come back to you when then need a bigger problem solving.

Infographics

For a while on the web, infographics were the most powerful piece of content out there. They were getting more views, shares, and interaction than any other form. The buzz is dying down a little, but we still love a good infographic! If you’ve got a dense and lengthy blogpost, try turning it into a simple graphic instead. Readers love seeing information displayed simply and easily.

Photos

It’s so simple, but still works so well. There’s a reason why Instagram and Pinterest are thriving. High-definition, beautiful imagery always generates interaction. Use photos to show people behind the scenes. Get creative and find a new way to capture attention.

Conclusion

With content, you can build a huge online following and represent yourself as a market leader. Best of all, you can monetize it. So, start with these forms, and see where you get to!

Finally, Discover Why Nobody Is Reading Your Blog and What to Do About It!

by with 3 Comments Blogging

Understanding why nobody is reading your blog

Do you have a blog? Are you confused that not too many people are reading it?

I know you want to drive lots of traffic to your site and get more people to read it, right?

Well, it won’t happen by magic. If you want to make sure that people read your blog, you need to make it truly engaging. Remember, there are loads of blogs out there, and so yours has to stand out. If there is nothing unique about your site, no one will bother to look at it. It doesn’t matter if you’re blogging all the time, if nobody’s visiting your blog it is a waste of time. BIG TIME!

To help you overcome this challenge I have handpicked the top 5 reasons why many people may not be reading your blog. I hope this will help you turn things around for good!

Why People May Not Read Your Blog

1. Your Content Is Useless

When people go online, they want to get useful information. That means that you have to offer people something. If there is no point in your posts, no one will bother with them. That means that you will have no traffic (and no profits). You should write engaging, interesting content that people want to read. If people can learn from your blog, they will come back again and again.

2. You Don’t Understand SEO

SEO is difficult to understand. There is no doubt about that. If you want your page to be popular, though, you need to start to learn some basic techniques. If you read content on a top SEO blog from time to time, you will start to pick up the techniques you need. Before you know it, you will know how to optimize your site as you upload new content. When you start applying new techniques to your site, you will see that it gets more hits than ever.

3. Your Titles Are Boring

When you write a title, what inspires you? Your headlines should be catchy and interesting. You need people to click on your posts so that they can read your articles. That means that each title has to excite or engage your audience. There are guides online that will help you write eye-catching titles. You should spend some time learning the art of writing headlines. Once you start improving this aspect of your posts, you will get more clicks and views than you do now.

4. Your Site Is Unattractive

The design of your site is as important as the content on it. If there is nothing attractive about your site, you will find that people avoid it. When people first view a page, they make a snap judgement about it. If they think that the site is ugly, they will not bother to stay on it. Instead, they will click on another blog that they prefer. You should ensure that the design of your blog suits your demographic.

5. You Don’t Post Often Enough

If you post a new blog every week or so, you’re not going to gain a following online. When it comes to the internet, everything needs to be instant. That means that you need to make sure that you upload new content each day. It might seem a little time-consuming, but it is the only way to succeed.

If you are guilty of any of these things, you need to change your ways. The only way to make your blog a hit is to improve it. Start today and see what you can do.

How to Make Your SEO Strategy More Cost Effective for Your Business!

by with No Comment SEM & SEO

If you’re marketing online, there are different marketing methods and strategies you can employ. One of such is SEO (search engine optimization).

While SEO is a great tool for winning the battle of staying high up on search engine results and driving traffic to your business website, it’s a real fight to remain relevant. This is because of the continually changing search engine algorithms.

If you’re doing SEO, you can bet the other companies are doing it just as hard. So, the question is, how can you get an edge on them?

Of course, you will need to make your SEO strategy more effective and possibly, less costly to you!

In this article I want to give you a few tips that will help you do this.

making your seo strategy effective

Making Your SEO Strategy More Cost Effective

1. Quality Not Quantity

Search engine algorithms are growing increasingly complex. That means that they’re doing a better job of picking out SEO content. At least, bad SEO content anyway. If you are ordering in bulk but the quality isn’t up to scratch you are wasting your time and your money. Why is that? It’s because a large amount of that content is going to be sifted through by the algorithm and not deemed genuine content. Aim for an SEO company that can provide quality. Examine their work. Make sure it all looks like real content.

2. Hire Based On Results

If you want to see the SEO return on investment, you need to make sure you hire the right people. You need to see that they can produce quantifiable results. Ask to see figures and details in regards to their SEO work. How often does the content get deemed relevant? Are there marked increased in search engine placement? How does the SEO fare in competitive areas? You can ask many questions. It’s also good to speak to former or current clients. That’ll give you a feel for the business. Sometimes you might get a more honest answer in regards to dealing with the SEO company.

3. Native Speakers

You want to hire native speakers of whatever language you want your SEO in. A lot of SEO companies will outsource the work to countries like India or China for the sake of paying lower wages. This can lead to some very bad SEO due to language difficulties. Not every post will be awful, but some may be so bad they don’t get picked up as genuine content. As a result, you’re going to want native speakers.

4. Good Writers

Just because a writer is a native speaker does not make them good at SEO. It’s important they have a decent grasp on the idea of writing. They should be able to write the posts with ease, or at least minimal difficulty. They should also know how to not get very specific unless required. A lot of SEO is based in vague knowledge. A ‘top seven’ post about famous cats could be written by someone who has no idea of the specifics of cat fame, but just enough to finish the post competently.

5. Multiple Providers

Don’t just stick with one SEO provider. Get many of them. Not only are you spreading the content further and wider, but you are also ensuring variety. Patterns get picked up easily by the search engine algorithms. That means if the SEO content is all very similar, it gets flagged as being not genuine content.

Conclusion

As you can see above making your SEO strategy more cost effective can actually be achieved by simply being creative in what you do. Put the above tips into use today and you will see you SEO getting more results.