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Consider this Amandah’s Freelance Writer’s SEO guide to optimizing your company’s blog/website. Take the struggle out of optimizing your blog/website with these ridiculously easy SEO habits.

SEO doesn’t have to keep your management team up at night. Although there’s a science behind SEO, it doesn’t have to be tricky or complicated. Basically, you use keywords/phrases and tags within web content to drive traffic to your website. The caveat is to have well-written content and not a bunch of copy stuffed with keywords and phrases. Google’s not fond of that.

Ridiculously Easy SEO Habits to Start

1. Review the company’s current keyword/phrase and tags. Perhaps, it’s time to analyze the effectiveness of your current keyword/phrase and tags. If your company’s website isn’t receiving the web traffic you thought it would, it could be your keywords/phrases and tags.

2. Review web content. How well are the keywords/phrases and tags incorporated into blog posts, articles, and pages? Your optimization is too low. Or, the content may not be that compelling. Don’t forget about writing SEO headlines. It’s important to put the keyword in the beginning of the headline. If you’re using a secondary keyword, place it in the middle or end. It’s not a good idea to have the primary and secondary keywords next to each other.

3. Check out the competition. What’s your competition up to? How’s their content? Read their web content and compare it to yours. If their web content is better, it may be time to hire a freelance writer to revise your company’s.

4. Review the number of internal and external links. Perhaps, your company’s link building isn’t what it can be. If you don’t link to high-quality pages within your company’s website, you’re missing out on the opportunity to optimize the website. Also, it’s important to provide customers with helpful, high-quality external links that complement your company. 

5. Look for ‘stop words‘ within permalinks. Search engines disregard common words as the ones listed below. It makes no sense to have them in your permalinks. 

Sample List of Stop words

about
above
after
again
all
and
for
get
to

6. The company’s website doesn’t have a search engine friendly design. It’s important that your company’s website is clean and easy to use. More importantly, it needs to be search engine friendly. If images are used it’s imperative to utilize the ‘alt text’ feature that’s available in blogging platforms such as WordPress and Blogger. This provides a text description of images.

7. Your company doesn’t provide transcripts of audio and video. Let’s face it; some visitors may prefer reading a transcript of an audio recording or video. More importantly, developing these SEO habit will help your company help search engine index these materials. This can lead to more web traffic which can increase customer conversion rates.

8. Your company doesn’t take advantage of SEO services. If your company doesn’t have an RSS feed (Rich Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication), they’re missing out on web traffic. These are easy to maintain and code. They’ll update when new content is added to the website.

9. Your company doesn’t take advantage of SEO tools. Most companies use Google Analytics to analyze their website’s traffic. It’s easy to set up and use. You receive information on keywords and searches. It’s a great way to set up an ‘A/B’ test to see which keywords/phrases work for your company.

10. Pay attention to Google Panda. This is a job for your web master. Rather than having as many URLs indexed as possible, your company should have its best, highest quality URLs indexed. Have your web master remove all unnecessary, extraneous, low ranking, and duplicate URLs from the index. As mentioned in Point #4, link to high-quality external links. Google Panda is pushing everyone to put their best foot forward and publish high quality content. 

11. Stay up-to-date with SEO trends. Technology trends come and go. It’s important to keep up-to-date with the ever changing world of SEO. I myself am self-taught when it comes to SEO. However, I’ve been looking into SEO certification courses and programs. I just began my search.  

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Question: Is article marketing dead?

Answer: According to Jeff Herring, “No, it’s not.” However, the way you approach article marketing needs to shift if you want to attract the ‘right’ people to your website. These people will purchase your products and services.

Article marketing includes the following:

• Content creation includes audio, text and video. Content is king; however, building trustworthy relationships trumps content.

• Online visibility means people need to be able to find you online. It doesn’t matter how good your web design or layout is. If people can’t find you, no one will purchase your products and or services.

FYI: Write compelling articles and you’ll have something of value to add to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, Digg, your Blog, etc.

• Traffic generation matters. Even if you’re receiving 1 million hits per day, don’t stop utilizing article marketing because you want to continue to earn an income.

• List building: Who do you want on your list? It’s important to connect with the right clients and customers. Stop wasting time marketing to those who won’t purchase your products/services or can’t afford it right now.

Tip: Review the traffic rankings on Alexa. For example, Google is #1, Facebook is #2, Twitter is #9 and LinkedIn is #13. Post your articles to these websites or give a synopsis of your articles.

• Product creation:  What problems are you solving? You could solve your clients and customers problems by offering them a book, eBook, online or home study course, teleseminars and webinars, etc.

Don’t be fooled into thinking that article marketing is dead. What has changed is how articles are written. They have more of a ‘sales’ undertone to them without selling to your target market. Remember, most people are tired of being sold to. They want to know, “What’s in it for me? What problem are you solving for me? How does this benefit me? Why should I care?” Pay attention to the above criteria and you’ll be successful with article marketing.

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Are your email marketing campaigns opened all or most of the time? If you’re experiencing lackluster results, follow the guidelines below to increase the number of times your campaigns are opened. Remember to avoid SPAM words such as Free and Urgent. Proofread emails carefully — you never know who’s reading them!

How to Create Marketing Emails That Get Opened

1. Create an identifiable look and feel of email campaigns.

2. Use consistent a color pattern.

3. Use a short and simple subject line. Remember, mobile devices don’t read that many characters. Incorporate a specific benefit for readers. Why should they care? Why should they open your emails? What’s in it for them? Also, don’t forget to include your brand in your email campaign. Capitalize and punctuate carefully.

Layout of Email Marketing

Business to Consumer

1. Use a newsletter layout.

Incorporate equal images to text, i.e., lifestyle shots, product shots, etc. Remember, 60% of email readers view with images ON.

Business to Business

1. Use a card layout with ALL or mostly text.

2. Give facts about the product/service.

3. Have a clear call to action.

Note: Most business to business email readers view emails with images OFF. If images are off, type out your business name. Make sure your brand is present by including a description for an image; make it a clickable link. Also, add to Safe Sender List.

FYI: The text version is viewed by 15% of your list.

4. Place important links at the top. Include an engaging message before the links. Shorten the link it it’s too long.

FYI: Smartphones now show HTML emails.

LESS IS MORE! 15-20 SECONDS IS SPENT ON A CLICKED MESSAGE

LIMIT YOUR NEWSLETTER OR CARD 3 TO 5 TOPICS

5. Use power words such as New, Introducing, Save, Discover, Results, Top-Notch, etc.

6. Avoid weak words such as Maybe, Hope, Try, Wish, Perhaps, etc.

FYI: Assist email readers with scanning your emails. Be mindful of bullet points, whitespace, bold headlines, keywords and columns.

Calls of Actions … What’s the Objective?

• What’s the next step?
• What’s in it for them?
• What do you want the reader to do?

BE DIRECT AND SPECIFIC BY USING WORDS SUCH AS:

BUY NOW … LOYAL CUSTOMERS … LEARN MORE (Include multiple links for newer relationships)

Effective Calls of Actions

• Direct readers to the correct landing page by including the proper link.
• Typically, the home page isn’t appropriate.
• Use Readable URLs … must be a legitimate URL.

Insert a video in your Email because this increases click through rate by 300%.

Note: The video doesn’t have to be yours. It could be a video that compliments your business/industry.

Other

1. Include share buttons such as social media, forward to friends, etc.

2. Include a JOIN MY MAILING LIST button which makes it easier for people to join your list.

3. Preview emails BEFORE you send them out.

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I recently signed up for a newsletter and downloaded the ‘free’ eBook that was promised to me. I started reading and proofreading the eBook (habit) and found a couple of errors within it.  Mistakes happen from time-to-time; however, if they happen more than once, it may be time to pay closer attention to who’s proofreading your newsletters, brochures, web content, policies and procedures manuals, blog posts, articles and eBooks. Content matters — but error-free content matters more.

Five Surface Errors that Make You Look Unprofessional

1. Misspelled words. Let’s face it; spell check doesn’t catch all errors. Remember, some words sound the same (homonyms) but aren’t spelled the same. Examples are: there, their and they’re; pair and pear; know and no; its and it’s; you’re and your; hear and here; to, too and two; and many others. Proofreading your eBook or newsletter is the best way to catch errors. Spell check can only do so much.

2. Improper use of quotation marks. A period and or comma belong inside not outside of quotation marks. A semicolon does not.

3. Off-the-wall paragraph spacing. It’s important to have enough white space but too many spaces between paragraphs makes an eBook or other written material out-of-balance.

4. Too many spaces after a period. Most people were taught to use two spaces after a period; however, it’s best to use one space. You may be shocked to learn that some elementary and high school students across the U.S. are still being taught to use two spaces after a period. Only one space is needed.

5. Too many em dashes and exclamation points. Use em dashes and exclamation points sparingly; I even have to remind myself of this one. Too many exclamation points can be seen as obnoxious. Too many em dashes can overwhelm readers.

Surface errors happen; even Number One Best-Selling Authors aren’t immune to the occasional misspelled word. However, it’s important to present a polished end product. If your newsletter is filled with errors, your clients and customers may email you about it. Whether or not you pay attention to their complaints is up to you. Surface errors could deter clients/customers from utilizing your services or purchasing your products. Like it or not, presentation matters. Present a clean, error-free eBook, brochure, newsletter, direct mail card, white paper, etc. and you’ll make a good lasting impression.

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How can your administrative or personal assistant cost you money? By writing and sending poorly written emails to existing and potential new clients. If you don’t review emails, you won’t know if your assistant is properly conveying the tone, voice and style you want. Like it or not, your administrative or personal assistant is a reflection of you. Let me give you an example. I emailed someone, who’s in the public eye (radio, TV appearances, etc.), about the use of their services. However, I didn’t receive a ‘fuzzy feeling’ when I read the email from their personal assistant. Here’s a ‘paraphrase of the email: “So and So can assist you. It’s $X.XX dollar amount via email and $X.XX dollar amount via phone. So and So has This and That Book. If you want to figure this out on your own, I suggest you purchase the books to learn all about it. If you want to make an appointment, please respond to this email.” I declined the services and found someone else. The personal assistant cost her boss a sale, future sales and revenue from me. I also opted out of the monthly newsletter.

Here’s how I would have responded:

Thank you for contacting So and So who’ll be happy to assist you. Services cost $X.XX to $X.XX for (fill in the blank). Please note: So and So wrote This and That Book which can also be used to assist you with your inquiry. Please visit www.BuyTheBooks.com to learn more and purchase the books. To schedule an appointment with So and So, please respond to this email with your contact information and best times to contact you; we’ll schedule your appointment straightaway. Again, thank you for contacting So and So and inquiring about her services. We look forward to working with you. Have a great day!

Which sounds better? “I suggest you …. or Please note: So and So wrote This and That Book which can also be used to assist you with your inquiry. Please visit www.BuyTheBooks.com to learn more and purchase the books. Furthermore, I contacted this person so they could assist me and figure it out for me. Why would I pay their fee if I can figure it out for myself? Translation … I’ll solve my own problem! I don’t need their services.

Let’s face it; people buy on emotion. I’m not saying this is right or wrong, but nine times out of 10, clients and customers buy with their ‘feelings’ versus their ‘brain.’ If your administrative or personal assistant answers emails for you, make sure they know how to professionally write them. Better, yet hire me, and I’ll write them for you!

As a writer, I’m fully aware of tone, voice and style. Sometimes, administrative and personal assistants don’t understand how tone, voice and style can and will affect a sale. They don’t put themselves into the shoes of the recipients and think, “How will clients/customers react to this? How professional does this sound? What’s the tone and voice of the email saying? How will this email close the sale?” Quite frankly, some do not possess business acumen. While your administrative/personal assistant can’t be responsible how clients and or potential clients will react to their words, it’s better to err on the side of caution and read and re-read emails before they’re sent out.

If you’ve noticed a drop in sales or complaints from existing and new clients, read the emails sent by your administrative or personal assistant. If you want to grow your business, consider reevaluating your administrative/personal assistant’s business and soft skills (communication). This may be difficult if they’ve been with you for a long time. However, if you want to increase sales and revenue, it must be done. I couldn’t imagine Donald Trump keeping someone around just because they’re a nice guy or gal. He’d probably try to find them another position within the company; however, he wouldn’t allow an employee to cost him money. It’s something to think about.

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What is marketing? Marketing is about sharing value with new and existing customers. It’s not about being pushy or manipulating potential customers into purchasing your products and or services. Its’ not about treating people as if they’re cats; waving sparkly, razzle dazzle marketing campaigns in front of them won’t work. They’ll see through the ‘smoke and mirrors’ and walk on. Follow the strategies below to generate fruitful leads and sales.

10 Lead and Sale Generation Strategies

1. Partnerships. Form partnerships with ‘like-minded’ business owners that have the same target market as you do. There’s strength in numbers! You could combine resources and opportunities. Hold events and maximize your expertise. You can grow your business by strategically working with others.

2. Speaking engagements. Most people would rather have root canal than speak in front of an audience. But it will pay for you to get over your fear of public speaking. Speaking allows an audience to experience your passion first-hand; they’ll be able to see and get a ‘feel’ for you. They’ll be able to assess your sincerity and knowledge. People like and feel comfortable working with people they know. More importantly, the best form of advertising is word-of-mouth. All it takes is one person to tell someone else about you and before you know it, the word will spread that you’re an expert in your field.

3.  Content writing. This includes article and blog writing; eBooks, newsletters, press releases and other writings. Provide unique and timely content to your target market. Build relationships with your target audience by providing relevant and useful tips, tricks, tutorials, newsletters, eBooks, etc. Customers and potential customers should be able to implement your information straightaway.

4. Networking. Attend various networking events and get to know people in your field or those who compliment your business. Build relationships and ask, “What can I do for you? How may I help?” You’ll be surprised by the reaction you receive.

5. Link exchanges. This is a great way to increase your visibility. Make sure you exchange links with those who complement or match your target audience.

6. Referrals. Ask current clients/customers for referrals. Most business owners don’t like to ask for referrals; however, it’s in your best interest to ask for them. Let’s face it; if your customers are happy with you and your products/services, why wouldn’t they want to refer you?

7. Social media. Focus on two to three social networks and stick with them. The top three are Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. However, you may find that Tumblr, StumbleUpon, Bebo, Flickr, Digg or another network works better for you and your business. Keep your ‘target audience’ in mind when you utilize social network sites. For example, did you know that 72% of Facebook users are ages 25-54? If your target audience is teenagers, they may prefer Tumblr to Facebook because their parents want to ‘friend’ them on Facebook and they don’t like that.

8. Teleseminars and webinars. If you decide to conduct a teleseminar or webinar, please provide attendees with substantial information, not 60-90 minutes of a fluff and sales. I’m speaking from experience. I’ve attended many, many teleseminars and webinars and thought, “I wasted 60-90 minutes of my time for this; I didn’t learn anything. Why did I sign up? What was I thinking? I was hooked, line and sinker. I’m not the target market. This was nothing but a ‘sales’ fest.”  Potential customers will be turned off if your teleseminars and or webinars are nothing but a sales promotion.

9. Direct mail. If you’re new to an area, introduce yourself to local businesses. They won’t know about you unless you tell them you’re available to solve their problem. You may consider holding a promotion that’s specifically for the businesses in your area.

10. Podcast and or video series. Have you ever wanted a career in radio or television? Creating a podcast (you could use Blog Talk Radio) or video series could do wonders for you and your business. You can use programs such as Audacity to quickly and smoothly create valuable podcasts. You’re probably familiar with YouTube. Keep podcasts under 15 minutes; videos between 5-10 minutes. Some people want to get the most out of a podcast/video in the shortest amount of time. If you’re podcast or video is too long, you may lose customers.

Rebecca

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If you use WordPress.org, you’re probably familiar with plugins. Make sure you don’t go overboard with plugins because your hosting company may not have the ‘space’ for your website if it contains a lot of plugins. Of course, you could purchase a ‘higher’ hosting package that gives you more space on a server. It’s something to think about. Anyway, here are cool and useful WordPress plugins for you to check out and use on your website.

If you’re worried about spam, WordPress.org has an Askimet plugin that catches spammers. For example,I have the following message on my WP Dashboard, “Akismet has protected your site from 21,271 spam comments already. There’s nothing in your spam queue at the moment.” I’ve been using WordPress.org since 2009 and never had a problem with Askimet.

To make your blog posts easy to retweet, use TweetMeme. It’s simple to download and upload to your plugins folder via your FTP system. Hint: Most hosting companies have their own FTP. But you can always use an external FTP.

How many times do you ‘thank’ people for leaving comments on your blog? If you don’t, consider using Thank Me Later which automatically sends a ‘thank you’ to visitors that leave comments on your blog posts. BTW: I wish I knew about this one because I was ‘manually’ sending emails to visitors. Better late than never!

Does it irk you when readers don’t leave thoughtful comments? Install Minimum Comment Length to improve the quality of comments left on your blog posts. Let’s face it; leaving a “Great post! Good post! Thank for the information!” doesn’t cut it. You want people to leave engaging, thought provoking comments.

Unfortunately, some visitors to your website may not have good intentions. Use WTC Comment Cleaner to strip out malicious and unwanted code such as css, javascript tags, etc. It’s good to have a ‘high level’ of security on your blog/website.

Some visitors may or may not appreciate the Comment E-Mail Verification plugin because they’ll have to login to their email and ‘verify’ their comment by clicking on the link that’s sent to them. Once they click on the link, their comment will be approved and automatically posted. This is a good way to engage visitors. No email is send if Askimet or some other plugin recognizes the comment as spam.

Do you have a newsletter? How would you like to build your list? Use the WordPress Newsletter plugin to ‘collect’ subscriber information such as name and email address. Please read the user guide to get the most out of this plugin.

Do you feel like a ‘head case’ when it comes to SEO? You could use the All in One SEO plugin or try HeadSpace 2 SEO. If you spend too much time worrying about SEO, HeadSpace2 SEO will make your troubles disappear. HeadSpace provides a video that explains ‘How To’ use the plugin.

How many times do you backup your WordPress website? Download and use WP-DB Manager to backup your files. You can backup, repair, restore, delete a backup, etc. with this plugin.

*Some of the plugins are compatible up to 3.2.1. If WordPress upgrades to WordPress 3.3, some plugins may not work unless they’re updated too.

Rebecca

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This is a reprint from Barb Wade, M.A. who specializes in teaching Coaches to create thriving, 6-figure practices in under 20 hours a week!  For a FREE “How To Get Clients” BUSINESS BREAKTHROUGH KIT just for Coaches, visit BarbWade.com today and tomorrow gain new clients and customers.

Please note: Even though this post is targeted to coaches, every business owner needs to market their business. Remember, “You’re in business to solve a problem and market your business.” If your web content, blog posts, articles, newsletters, marketing materials, etc. aren’t working, perhaps it’s time to evaluate your target market and analyze if you’re targeting the right market. You may need to ‘tweak’ your market, even if it means losing Twitter followers, Facebook fans, etc. Think about the long-run versus the short run.

Some coaches just don’t like marketing. They don’t like to promote themselves and they may even find it distasteful! In fact, until I learned that marketing was nothing more than letting others know how I could help them with their biggest problems, I thought marketing was a “necessary evil” at best.

On the other hand, there are some coaches and entrepreneurs who have no problem with marketing – or so it seems. BUT they use it as an excuse for not moving forward or to “hide out.”

Do you know what I mean? It’s the endlessly tinkering with your website.

Or taking forever to craft your “elevator pitch,” and then never actually using it!

Or spending tons of time, energy, and money getting just the right logo… or business card… or… well, you get the idea.

Of course, doing this comes from good honest intentions. Those things do help support spreading the word about your services. But it’s all too easy to get stuck in an endless loop of tweaking and fiddling with the minutia.

The truth is, doing so can actually keep you from getting clients!

Here’s the big news: your clients aren’t attracted to your coaching practice because of your business card, logo, website, or any other collateral. Even if they are really beautiful and elegant and “cutting edge.”

Yes, those things can help get your potential client’s attention, but that’s not what holds them or compels them to come back.

Ultimately, your clients will respond to the connection you create with them. Those people that you are meant to help will resonate with your authentic and unique brilliance. It is you being willing to share your experience and expertise – in the way that only you can – that makes an impression on people.

Your clients want to be seen, acknowledged, heard, understood and helped by you. And the more they get to know the real you, the more they will want to continue to work with you.

This is the concept behind the “Know, Like, Trust” factor you may have heard of. It works like this. First, your potential clients hear about you somehow – on the Internet, at a live event, on a tele-seminar, etc. And the more they get to know you, they more they begin to “like” you (note: this is not a popularity contest. Instead think of “like” as “appreciate” or “value”) And the more they like you, they more they begin to trust you as a teacher, advisor and friend.

And what I have found is that when you cultivate that kind of connection with your market, it actually accelerates your ability to attract clients and it makes your work so much more joyful!

So, if you find yourself spending too much time “crossing all the T’s and dotting all the I’s,” try adopting this mantra that was taught to me by one of my mentors: “Completion Not Perfection.”

Get into action and get it done – perfection is highly over-rated!

Barb Wade, M.A. who specializes in teaching Coaches to create thriving, 6-figure practices in under 20 hours a week!  For a FREE “How To Get Clients” BUSINESS BREAKTHROUGH KIT just for Coaches, visit BarbWade.com today and tomorrow gain new clients and customers.

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You may or may not be aware of Black Hat SEO. And, yes. There is something called White Hat SEO. Who knew SEO was colorful? Black Hat SEO is an unethical way to receive higher search engine rankings and has the following characteristics:

• Ignores and breaks search engine rules and regulations followed by most internet users.
• Presents information in an unethical manner to search engine users and spiders.
• Internet users have a poor experience thanks to Black Hat SEO optimization.

It’s important to create an ethical and overall good user experience  for visitors to your website. If you dabble in Black Hat SEO tactics, search engines will penalize you. Instead of using a short-term process like Black Hat SEO, use techniques that will help you in the long-run. It doesn’t make sense to gain a high ranking now, only to be knocked down later because of unethical web practices.

Black Hat SEO Techniques to Avoid

1. Keyword stuffing blog posts and articles. It’s important to use keywords and phrases that will help your website gain rankings; however, over-stuffing your website, blog posts and articles with keywords is frowned up.

2. Invisible text only search engine spiders can see. This is frowned upon as well. In actuality, it takes time to put keywords and phrases in white text on a white background. Eventually, search engines will ‘see’ what you’re doing and you’ll be penalized for it.

3. Using a doorway page. Another way some websites gain rankings is to have a ‘fake page’ that’s only visible to search engines.

FYI: White Hat SEO uses ethical techniques such as a reasonable amount of keywords and phrases, keyword analysis and other analytics, linking, backlinking, etc.

Using Black Hat SEO can backfire on you if you’re trying to establish yourself as an ‘expert’ in your business. If you’re trying to scheme and strategize search engines, who’s to say you won’t do this to your customers? Many people are becoming very conscious (aware) of how and where they spend their money. If you want to gain trust, avoid Black Hat SEO. You’ll only ‘drive’ clients and customers to your competitors. They’ll laugh all the way to the bank while you work on repairing your internet reputation. It’s something to think about.

Rebecca

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Let’s face it; some people don’t enjoy the art of writing as much as others do. Some find writing to be a tedious and time consuming process; they’d rather be golfing. Hiring a ghost writer could work for you because you hire a person who loves to write. Most writers (me) find writing to be second nature — it’s like breathing. If you have an idea for a book or eBook, consider hiring a ghost writer today. Tomorrow, you could be selling and earning income on Amazon.com

Benefits of hiring a ghost writer

1. The pressure if off of you to write and produce a book.

2. You’re able to spend time on other things such as setting up a website/blog, social media sites, email campaigns, etc. However, a ghost write that’s skilled in marketing and social media can assist you with these business endeavors.

3. You receive a well written book or eBook.

4. You take all the credit. However, some ghost writers are given credit because they’ve worked with a client numerous times. It’s important to work with a ghost write that’s checked their ‘ego’ at the door.

5. A ghost writer loves to write and will probably finish your book ahead of the scheduled deadline.

6. A ghost writer understands the importance of marketability and can give you objective feedback on your book’s subject matter.

7. Hiring a ghost writer means you don’t have to through the process alone. Perhaps you considered writing the book yourself but didn’t want to work alone; the writer’s life isn’t for you. However, working with a ghost writer may inspire you to co-author your next book. It could happen.

When you hire a ghost writer, it can feel as if a burden or weight has been lifted off of you. Your time can be spent on the business side, i.e., developing your web presence, scheduling interviews and speaking engagements, building a social media platform, connecting with the ‘right’ people, etc. You don’t have to worry about your book because it’s in good hands with your ghost writer. You can now breathe a ‘sigh’ of relief.

Rebecca

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