“How much blog traffic does your company’s blog receive?”

A blog is an easy way to provide information to current customers and potential customers. It can also:

• Increase your company’s page rank.
• Help your company gain media attention.
• Position your company as the ‘expert’ or ‘go-to’ business within your industry.
• Increase sales and profits.
• Assist you with keeping on top of customers concerns, needs, and wants.

Most customers expect businesses to have a blog on their website or a link to a blog. If your company doesn’t have one, it’s time to ask, “Why not?” Taking advantage of blogging is a cost effective marketing tool. Used properly, it can increase company sales and profits.

Boost Your Blog Traffic Today With Three Simple Steps

Client's Blog Busted by Millions of Visitors Photo by John Evans-Stock Exchange Visit www.thetippingpoint.co.uk

Provide killer content for your target audience.

Customers and potential customers want quick, valuable information that will help them solve whatever problem(s) they have. Give them what they want!

After you’ve polled or surveyed your customers, think about blog topics.

Example … If your company is a graphic and web design firm targeting small businesses, you could have blog posts on the following:

• How to get your small business noticed with a logo that stands out.
• How color psychology can boost web traffic.
• How a redesign of your blog can boost blog traffic.

The next step is to write headlines that stop readers’ in their tracks.

Using the above ‘graphic and web design company’ example above, possible headlines for the blog post topics are:

Company X’s Logo on Billboard Stops Rush Hour Traffic

Company X’s Website Makeover Attracts Celebrity Shoppers

Company X Big Fat Blog Traffic Results in 20 Million Hits

Use short and simple sentences.

Use bold headings and bullet points.

Don’t use industry jargon if your audience won’t understand it.

Tip: Think of writing blog posts like writing screenplays. There’s a beginning (Act I, introduction; plot point or big event), middle (Act II, conflict; arc of the story; midpoint), and end (Act III, the resolution).

Remember, blogging isn’t about your company. It’s about helping your customers solve whatever problems they need solving. Blogging is also a good sales and marketing tool.

Optimize content with SEO.

Search engine optimization or SEO can be both time consuming and a pain in the neck. You want to optimize your blog posts. But on the other hand, you want to provide valuable content to readers. The good news is you can do both. However, I suggest putting more emphasis on content.

You can research keywords using Google AdWords Keyword Tool or another program to find the ‘best’ keywords/phrases for your blog. Select keywords/phrases and test them in blog posts. An “A/B” testing is a good way to analyze traffic to see which blog posts received the most blog traffic.

In addition to using Google Analytics, check out HitsLink. The company provides you with in-depth analysis of your blog/website. Reports are easy to download. In my opinion, HitsLink doesn’t seem as cumbersome to use as Google Analytics.

Find the right ‘tone and voice’ for your blog.

Keep your target audience in mind when you think about tone and voice. Tone is the ‘author’s attitude (or mood) towards a subject. Voice is the personality, point of view, or style of writing. Examples of voice are:

• Funny
• Upbeat
• Serious
• Trendy
• Dark
• Snarky
• Matter-of-fact

It’s usually recommended that blog posts have a conversational, friendly voice. However, there’s a difference if your blog’s audience is for those in finance organizations vs. parents of toddlers.

Conduct research on what your target audience is reading. See what others are writing in your industry. Test blog posts to see which ones receive the most comments and traffic.

Extra Blog Traffic Tips 

1. Who is your target audience? Are they chefs or stay-at-home moms? If you don’t know ‘who’ your target audience is you can’t provide them with awesome content. This is where newer businesses stumble. They don’t know ‘who’ their target market is.

2. What problems are you solving? What problems do your customers need solving? How do you find out? Take a poll or survey using Survey Monkey, a provider of free online survey solutions. SurveyMonkey offers customers more features with one of their paid subscription plans.

3. Once you know ‘who’ your target audience is build a relationship with them. Or, continue to develop the relationship with a successful blog that provides killer content. Hook visitors with brilliant content, and they’ll come back for more.

Warning! If you use these three simple steps to increase blog traffic, your website could be busted overnight. You have a webmaster in-house, right?

Has your website experienced blog traffic overload? Share.

Related articles

• 7 Dust-Busting Ways to Clean and Refresh Your Blog (savvy-writer.com)
• 4 Ways to Tell if You’re Getting the Right Visitors to Your Business Blog (contentmarketinginstitute.com)
• 7 Lessons I learned from Increasing My Search Engine Traffic by 200% in 6 Months (dailyblogtips.com)

Related posts:

1. 7 Dust-Busting Ways to Clean and Refresh Your Blog Having a blog on your company’s website or linked to...
2. 5 Blog Post Tips to Increase Web Traffic Your company may have incorporated a blog on its website...
3. Is Your Company Afraid of Blog and Social Media Commitment? When I’m approached by business owners who want to start...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Having a blog on your company’s website or linked to your website is a cost effective online marketing tool. It’s important to provide content that will attract visitors, keep them interested, and convert them into customers. Place social media icons on your blog to make sharing easier. Have a conversation on Facebook and Twitter to show followers and fans that your company is interested in what they have to say. Show your care and concern.

Below you’ll find 7 dust-busting techniques that will clean your blog and make it shine again.

How to Clean and Refresh Your Company’s Blog 

Redesign it.

The design implemented three years ago could be out-of-date today. It’s important to stay on top of the latest design trends. Pay attention to the color scheme. A bold color scheme could work for an entertainment business, but not for your medical practice.

Rewrite blog content.

Rewrite or hire a freelance writer/blogger to rewrite old content. This is a great content strategy to breathe new life into your blog. Perhaps, the content is outdated or didn’t make a good first impression when it was originally posted. Perhaps, blog posts weren’t optimized with keywords/phrases.

Rewrites could dramatically increase web traffic.

Tip: A headline on a blog post is just as important as a headline on a print article. You still have to ‘hook’ readers.

Ask questions.

Asking questions at the end of blog posts is a web traffic building strategy that most freelance writers and bloggers use. A question shows visitors that you want to know what they think — your company’s interested in having and maintaining a conversation with them.

Revise the writing style and tone.

What’s the tone of the current blog content? Style and tone can affect blog traffic. This is why it’s important to know ‘who’ the target audience is. For example, if your target audience is marketing directors, the content should be targeted to this audience by incorporating industry jargon and lingo. However, if your target audience is the ‘everyday’ consumer, avoid using industry terms. Your message will become muddled and lost. Customers will gravitate to your competitors’ content because it’s easy to understand.

Change the structure of blog posts.

There are many ways to structure blog posts. The most common way is:

• Headline
• Bullet headline
• Information

However, you don’t have to follow this pattern. Be bold and try something new such as:

• Headline
• Quote
• Information
• Headline
• Quote
• Information

Tips

• Keep sentences short and to the point.
• Use bold headlines and bullet points.
• When it comes to links, use a different color to stand out from the crowd.

Test different structures to see which ones receive the most ‘tweets’ and ‘likes.’ One thing that never changes is that web content must be compelling and interesting.

Post consistently.

How fresh is your company’s blog content? Is it posted consistently? You don’t have to publish a blog post every day; however, choose a schedule that works for your company. Perhaps, you’ll post twice a week or twice a month. Whatever you do, be consistent.

Try new angles.

Types of posts such as “How To” and “Lists” work because they’re fast and easy to read. But, you may want to ‘shake’ things up by publishing a controversial post here and there. If you disagree with your competitors, say so. If you disagree with industry trends, write about it (or have your freelance writer/blogger, write about it). There’s no harm in voicing your opinions. It’s a great way to jump start a conversation.

Use these blog ‘dust busting’ techniques to wipe the slate clean on your company’s blog. Experiment with different types of posts from “How To” to “Tips.” What works? What doesn’t work? Analyze the results to find out which posts had the most visitors and comments. Remember to keep your target market in mind when posting web content. Once your company discovers a strategy that works, stick with it. But don’t ignore new trends either. Stay on top of the ever changing world of blogging.

What are you doing to prevent your blog from collecting dust? Share.

Related articles

• Corporate Blogging on the Decline? Don’t Read Too Much Into It (mediaemerging.com)
• 5 Blog Post Tips to Increase Web Traffic (savvy-writer.com)
• Whiteboard Friday – Corporate Blogging Tips (seomoz.org)
• Building Better Business Blogs (5/7): To Be Continued?? (zemanta.com)

Related posts:

1. 5 Blog Post Tips to Increase Web Traffic Your company may have incorporated a blog on its website...
2. Is Your Company Afraid of Blog and Social Media Commitment? When I’m approached by business owners who want to start...
3. Ridiculously Easy SEO Habits to Start Consider this Amandah’s Freelance Writer’s SEO guide to optimizing your...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Your company may have incorporated a blog on its website or have a blog linked to your company’s website. Your company probably uses social media, hoping it will increase your web traffic, sales, and revenues. Unfortunately, if a blog post (or other web content) isn’t compelling or you don’t have enough posts, your blog will remain stagnant.

Follow the five blog post tips below to increase web traffic.

5 Blog Post Tips to Increase Web Traffic 

Content-Content Interaction (Formal) (Photo credit: jrhode)

Select the right primary and secondary keywords/phrases.

You’ve probably heard this a million times already, but it begs repeating. Selecting and optimizing the ‘right’ primary and secondary keywords/phrases for your blog posts can increase web traffic.

To find out which keywords/phrases work for your company, test them by using the “A/B Testing” method.

Select a couple of keywords/phrases and use them within pages and Google AdWords (if you advertise on the web) in addition to blog posts.

Look at the number of clicks and impressions for the keywords/phrases. Which keywords/phrases receive the most clicks and impressions? What are the conversion rates? Knowing this information is useful when your choose keywords/phrases.

Once you have your primary and secondary keywords/phrases, hire a freelance writer, content manager, or social media manager to write your company’s web content, ‘tweets’ and Facebook status updates.

Optimizing ‘tweets’ and Facebook status updates with your keywords/phrases can increase web traffic. Try it today!

Write a blog post in a conversational tone.

Writing for the web is different than writing for print. A blog post should be written using simple and short sentences. If you don’t already use the Flesch-Kincaid method to analyze your blog posts, you may want to consider it.

Flesch-Kincaid Score 

90-100 : Very Easy

80-89 : Easy

70-79 : Fairly Easy

60-69 : Standard

50-59 : Fairly Difficult

30-49 : Difficult

0-29 : Very Confusing

It’s important to write web content that has a score of at least 60 or higher. The higher the number means the web content is easy to read.

Most journalists write newspaper and magazine articles that score a 70 and above. They use simple language to get their point across.

Pay attention to the word count of a blog post.

Most freelance bloggers and freelance writers will tell you a blog post should be 300 words to 700 words. However, I’ve read many blog posts that are over 700 words. Heck! I write blog posts that exceed 700 words.

Tip: About Pages, Bios, and other pages are usually 500 words.

Base the word count on your audience.

Ask a question at the end of a blog post.

If you want to start a conversation, ask a question at the end of a blog post. This is a good way to entice visitors to post comments which begins a dialogue between you and your target market.

You could automate an email response such as, “Thank you for reading our blog. We appreciate it!” However, you may want to answer a few emails personally or have your social media or content manager respond.

Tip: Ask a question or take a poll on your social media networks.

Speaking of responding … Make sure your content manger or social media manager responds to comments. Readers who make thoughtful comments want to know if someone from the company is paying attention to them.

If you receive too many comments (100 or more) you could always close comments.

Bold headlines get attention.

Writing headlines takes patience and practice.  A bold headline will stop readers’ in their tracks — they’ll have to read your web content.

Most copywriters will spend at least 30 minutes or one hour writing the perfect headline. This may seem outrageous, but it really isn’t.

Think about it. How much do you think the writers at top selling magazines earn for writing headlines? I won’t keep you in suspense — they earn a boatload of money! It is worth it to pay writers a high salary if a magazine receives a high ROI.

It’s all about ROI (return on investment). If your company wants to increase their ROI, it’s worth it to pay a copywriter top dollar for writing headlines.

These are some blog post tips that can increase your company’s blog web traffic.

Make sure your freelance writer or staff writer keeps the company’s target audience in mind when writing a blog post.

Writing a blog post is different from writing an editorial article. Most of the time a blog post will be shorter than a 1,000 word print article. However, there are exceptions to the rule. This is why it’s important to know your target audience. Write for them!

What is your biggest challenge with blog posts? Share.

 Related articles

• A Freelance Writer Gets Results, Increases Profitability (savvy-writer.com)
• Marketing 101 for Freelance Writers #13: How Social Media Really Works (makealivingwriting.com)

Related posts:

1. Is Your Company Afraid of Blog and Social Media Commitment? When I’m approached by business owners who want to start...
2. Tips to Make Your Blog an Internet Sensation Sometimes you need help finding topics to blog about. Thanks...
3. Ridiculously Easy SEO Habits to Start Consider this Amandah’s Freelance Writer’s SEO guide to optimizing your...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Most businesses owners hire SEO companies to optimize their websites. There’s nothing wrong with this if the SEO companies do their job. Think about the following questions for a moment:

• What happens if the SEO company goes out of business? Who will take care of your web optimization?
• What if Black Hat SEO techniques are being used? Do you even know what ‘Black Hat SEO’ means? If you don’t, your company’s website could be in danger of being taken out of search engines.
• If you have an ‘in-house’ SEO manager, what happens if they quit? Are your employees crossed-trained? Could someone pick up the work?

It would behoove business owners, especially small business owners, to know something about search engine optimization. Otherwise, your page ranking and web stats could decrease faster than you could have ever imagined.

Benefits of Knowing and Understanding Best SEO Practices

What really is Search Engine Optimization? (Photo credit: Go Local Search)

Understanding SEO is a good way to make sure your SEO company is doing their job.

If you don’t understand SEO, how will you know if your website is being optimized? If you don’t receive reports on a regular basis, how do you know if any optimization work was completed for a specific amount of time? You don’t have to know everything about web optimization, but it’s a good idea to know how to view your websites source code so you can check to see if your keywords were entered.

If your in-house SEO person quits, who does the work?

Sadly, most employees aren’t crossed trained. If your SEO person quits, your website won’t be optimized for too long. Who will write the blog posts? Who will update the web pages? It’s a good idea to cross train employees, especially if you own a small business. If you don’t want to learn SEO then one of your other employees should know how to do it.

Competitors in Your Industry Know and Understand SEO.

Let’s face it; technology moves at a faster speed than it ever did. If you don’t keep your skills up-to-date, you can find yourself going out of business. Customers expect businesses to be on social media websites because it’s a fast and easy way for them to connect. They also expect that a business is optimizing their website with keywords/phrases that will help them find what they’re looking for in a quicker manner.

What happens if your SEO company is using Black Hat SEO techniques? How would you know?

If you aren’t familiar with SEO and how it works, you could be in a lot of trouble with Google and other search engines. This means your SEO company is using unethical techniques to help your company gain higher search rankings. Unfortunately, search engines look for these unsavory practices and will ban your company from displaying in their results. Black Hat SEO techniques include:

• Keyword stuffing blog posts and web pages.
• Buying the wrong types of links (you should avoid this anyway).
• Invisible text — putting white text on a white background.
• Doorway pages are basically ‘fake’ pages.

You can save time and money.

If you understand search engine optimization (SEO), you could do the work yourself and save thousands of dollars each year. The drawback is that keeping up with the optimization can become time consuming.

It doesn’t hurt to know something about best SEO practices, especially if you hire an outside firm to take care of all of your search engine optimization. Remember, it’s important to use White Hat SEO versus Black Hat SEO techniques. If you know and understand how optimization works, you’ll be able to tell straightaway if a firm is using unethical practices.

There’s nothing wrong with becoming familiar with how web optimization works. It will only help your company in the long run. Technologies change overnight. What worked yesterday, may not work today. Updating your skills is a good way to ensure your company doesn’t lag behind other companies within your industry.

What’s holding you back from learning SEO? Share.

Related articles

• How and Why SEOs Need to Change(stateofsearch.com)Rankings: Find the Best SEO Company(www.topseos.com)

Related posts:

1. Ridiculously Easy SEO Habits to Start Consider this Amandah’s Freelance Writer’s SEO guide to optimizing your...
2. Meet Black Hat SEO, White Hat SEO’s Evil Twin You may or may not be aware of Black Hat...
3. My 7 Best Keyword Research Tips Ever Finding the right keywords for your website can be a...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

As a freelance writer, I work with clients in various industries. A month ago, I started working with a client in the travel industry. I’m thrilled because not only do I get to write quality content such as editorial articles and blog posts, I get to teach everyone about SEO and social media. I enjoy teaching and have taught classes such as Blogging & SEO at a recreation center in Downtown Chandler in Arizona. Below are ways a freelance writer can help grow your business, and perhaps, teach you and your employees’ new skills such as social media and social networking.

A Freelance Writer Increases Business Results and Profitability

Amandah Blackwell, Freelance Writer and Ghost Writer

1. A freelance writer is objective. Since a freelance writer isn’t a part of your organization, they’ll have an objective viewpoint of your projects whereas employees could be too emotionally attached to certain company projects.

2. A freelance writer has a high accountability — writes quality content. A freelance writer does not get paid unless a project is completed Most freelancers charge 1/2 or 1/3 up front; however, they won’t receive the final payment until the work is completed.

On the other hand, employees get paid either way. In the end, organizations could pay a lot more, especially if an employee quits or is fired. Plus, there are costs such as PTO, health care, continuing education, etc.

3. Experience. A freelance writer has a wealth of experience writing quality content. They could also have experience with graphic and web design, social media, SEO, and other professional skills. Your freelance writer can help you increase business results and profitability in the short and long run.

Tip #1: A freelance writer is probably familiar with social media and SEO along with providing quality content such as blog posts, articles, eBooks, white papers, newsletter content, and more. You may be surprised how many skills they possess.

4. Adds value. A professional freelance writer understands the meaning of value. Not only will they write quality content and eye-catching headlines, they can provide suggestions for blog posts and articles. They could rewrite web content if necessary.

A freelance writer could assist with keyword/phrase research to make sure the ‘right’ keywords are being used.

Tip #2: Social media is great way to promote a company’s services and products. Ask a freelance writer to write ‘tweet’s and Facebook status updates to increase web traffic and sales. They could manage all of your social media accounts.

5. Can fill-in for staff writers. A freelance writer can fill-in when staff writers go on vacation or a leave of absence. This way the remaining staff writers won’t feel that much pressure to pick up extra work.

Have you hired a freelance writer? How are they adding value to your company? Share. 

Related articles

• SEO Made Easy: Freelance Writers I like Yoast and You Will Too (savvywritingcareers.com)
• 9 Questions You MUST Ask Before Hiring a Freelance Blogger (hubspot.com)

Related posts:

1. 7 Points to Look for on Social Media Sites When Hiring a Freelance Writer Let’s face it; social media and the internet can be...
2. Why Rebecca aka Savvy-Writer Became a Freelance Writer Question: Rebecca, why did you become a freelance writer? What’s...
3. Freelance Writers Have More Free Time Thanks to Social Bookmarking Software How much time do you spend on social bookmarking for...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Social media and SEO are strategies to increase business and profitability. What happens if your employees don’t embrace these latest technologies? Employees may believe social media and SEO is a waste of time compared to the ‘old’ ways of increasing business, profits, and customer satisfaction. How do you get them to support social media and SEO strategies? Find out below and get everyone in the company on board with these 21st century strategies.

Social Media and SEO: How to Get Employees to Support New Strategies

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Explain the benefits of social media and SEO. Employees may not understand the importance and benefits of being on social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Schedule a meeting and explain how implementing these latest strategies will benefit everyone in the long run.

• A dialogue can be created between a company and its customers on Facebook. It’s a good way to address any concerns they may have. Plus, starting a conversation builds interest in your company.
• LinkedIn is a fantastic way to connect with other professionals within your industry. Who knows, you may find opportunities to collaborate.
• Twitter is a great way to share your blog posts, eBooks, articles, and other helpful content. You can also share videos too!

Social media and SEO are here to stay. Like it or not, these technologies aren’t going away anytime soon. It would behoove employees to embrace them; otherwise, they could be left behind.

Social networking increases business and profitability. The key to social networking is to establish and build relationships first. Employees can use this tool to find out the problems that ‘potential’ customers have and then offer assistance to solve them.

Tip #1: Develop and build relationships through social networking. Ask for business (or referrals) when you’re confident business relationships have been built on a solid foundation.

SEO helps a company’s ranking in search engines. Companies use SEO strategies to gain organic web traffic. If your company uses a SEO company, schedule a meeting with them and your employees. Once employees understand ‘why’ SEO is important, they’ll be able to embrace it.

Social media is great for introverts. If some of your employees are introverted, let them manage one of your social media accounts. There’s no face-to-face interaction on social media websites — it’s all internet based.

Tip #2: Introverted employees can overcome their ‘fear’ by getting used to communicating with clients, customers, vendors, etc. Before you know it, they’ll be preparing and giving presentations, attending trade shows, and setting up client meetings.

Social networking can be fun. The internet allows us to communicate with people all over the world. Who knows, your company could gain new business nationally and internationally through the use of social media.

Social media (social networking) and SEO are strategies that help companies increase their web traffic, business, and profitability.

Employees may be hesitant to embrace these technologies for many reasons such as fear of the unknown, fear of losing their jobs, fear they may not be able to ‘grasp’ the knowledge, etc. The obvious theme is fear.

Ease your employees’ fears by informing them that companies use social media and SEO in addition to other strategies/tools such as offline and online marketing, branding, positioning, etc. to increase business activities. Everyone will benefit when the latest tools are implemented.

Are your employees struggling with SEO and social media? Share.

Subscribe in a reader

Related articles to Social Media and SEO

• Is Your Company Afraid of Blog and Social Media Commitment? (savvy-writer.com)
• Remember when social media marketing meant making a phone call? (marketing.yell.com)
• Can social media tools help to strengthen relationships? (marketing.yell.com)

Related posts:

1. Is Your Company Afraid of Blog and Social Media Commitment? When I’m approached by business owners who want to start...
2. 7 Points to Look for on Social Media Sites When Hiring a Freelance Writer Let’s face it; social media and the internet can be...
3. Freelance Writers Have More Free Time Thanks to Social Bookmarking Software How much time do you spend on social bookmarking for...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Writing content (seo) for the web is different than writing for print publications such as magazines and newspapers. Remember, readers use different types of devices such as laptops, iPads (and others), cell phones, etc. to read information online. Even the internet browser makes a difference. Information may appear differently when viewed in Google Chrome vs. Internet Explorer. The biggest obstacle is that readers could become impatient if they have they have to take a lot of time to read a blog post or article. They prefer information that’s quick to read.

Follow the 7 easy steps below to improve your web content writing. Your customers and readers will appreciate it.

Writing Web Content That Works in 7 Easy Steps

Content-Content Interaction (Formal) (Photo credit: jrhode)

Know your target market. Before you write content for the web, know your target market. If you don’t know ‘who’ the target market is, the content will be irrelevant.

Write catchy headlines and taglines. There’s a reason why tabloids, entertainment magazines, women’s magazines, men’s magazines, etc. sell. The catchy headlines and taglines ‘hook’ readers over and over again.

Writing headlines and taglines can take anywhere from 30 minutes to one hour. Yes, it can take that long to write an award-winning headline for an award-winning article.

Get to the point. When writing for the web, it’s important that content gets to the point. Don’t use industry jargon, unless of course, your target market is professionals who’ll understand what the content. Use simple language that can be read quickly.

Link to helpful internal and external links. Make sure to link to internal pages and posts within your website in addition to external links that will be helpful to readers. Look for web content that is clear, concise, and precise. Make sure it’s targeted to your market.

Use the ‘right’ keywords and phrases. Web content writing includes incorporating the ‘right’ keywords and phrases for your company. Don’t stuff content with keywords because Google and other search engines will penalize you.

When using keywords and phrases within web content, make sure it flows and doesn’t sound forced. Sometimes, it takes experience when it comes to web content writing. Your company can always hire a freelance writer to handle all of your web content writing.

Write short paragraphs and use bullet points. Web content (seo) needs to be easy to read; otherwise, you may lose readers along the way. Use bold headlines and bullet points to get your point across.

Recap

• Know your target market.
• Create catchy headlines and taglines that will hook readers.
• Use the right keywords/phrase (seo) for your web content.
• Web content writing (seo) may take more time if you’re not experienced writing for the web.
• Write short paragraphs. Use bullet points.
• Link to helpful internal and external links.
• Get to the point.

Subscribe to Amandah Tayler Blackwell Savvy-Writer by Email

Related articles

• Five Ways to Create Compelling Content Your Readers Will Share (community.constantcontact.com)
• The 10 Commandments of Writing Web Content (ereleases.com)
• SEO Made Easy: Freelance Writers I like Yoast and You Will Too (savvywritingcareers.com)
• Ridiculously Easy SEO Habits to Start (savvy-writer.com)

Related posts:

1. Ridiculously Easy SEO Habits to Start Consider this Amandah’s Freelance Writer’s SEO guide to optimizing your...
2. Meet Black Hat SEO, White Hat SEO’s Evil Twin You may or may not be aware of Black Hat...
3. Is Article Marketing Dead? Question: Is article marketing dead? Answer: According to Jeff Herring,...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Do you need to fire your SEO company? If you’re not getting the SEO results or customer service support you deserve, it may be time to fire your SEO company. Here’s how to know when it’s time to say goodbye:

• You never receive timely responses to your emails.
• It’s always another person’s job within the company to handle whatever it is you inquire about, i.e., keyword analysis, web design, SEO, etc.
• They always have an excuse as to ‘why’ something wasn’t done. For example, “The web design wasn’t completed because so and so is still out of the office.” Most SEO companies have more than one web designer.
• They outsource SEO services to contractors in other countries which creates a communication barrier.
• They thought you were doing the SEO work they were supposed to have done.
• Contracted employees aren’t familiar with your website.
• You’re not seeing the results promised to you when you signed the contract for SEO services.

If you’ve identified with more than two of the above criteria, it may be time to find another SEO company.

How to Fire Your SEO Company in 3 Easy Steps

Image via Wikipedia

Be professional. There’s no need for petty name calling or pointing the fingers. All you have to say is, “It’s time for us to find another SEO company that fits our needs better. Thank you for your service.” Don’t go into details if your SEO firm doesn’t ask for them. End the relationship and find another company.

Stick to the facts. As Sergeant Joe Friday from Dragnet would say, “All we want are the facts, ma’am?”

Contrary to Point #1, your SEO firm may ask, “Why are you unhappy with our SEO services? Stick to the facts. If keyword analysis was supposed to be completed each month but isn’t, mention it. If the web design wasn’t completed on time, mention it. If you’re tired of playing ‘email tag’ with their contracted employees, mention it.

Customer service

Do you have to babysit your SEO company? If you constantly need to ‘check up’ on your SEO company, it may be time to part ways. While you should know what your SEO firm’s doing for your company, you shouldn’t have to babysit them. You shouldn’t have to send them email after email asking the same question over and over again such as, “Is the keyword analysis completed? Is the web design completed? If they can’t give you an estimated completion time, it’s time to find a new SEO company.

You decide it’s best to hire a local SEO firm. Perhaps, your SEO company is located in another state. Sometimes, it’s better to hire a local SEO firm because they’ll be able to visit your offices should you need training or want to have a meeting to discuss your SEO. There’s nothing wrong with hiring a local company. It’s a good way to grow your area’s economy.

Fact: If you’re a part of a trade association/group or barter group, understand that your company may not be a ‘top’ priority.

Firing your SEO firm may not be easy, but it could be in your company’s best interest to do so. Before you hire another SEO company, ask questions such as:

• How long does web design (redesign) take?
• What programs do you use for keyword analysis?
• How will you help us determine the ‘right’ keywords for our company?
• Do you outsource SEO services to contractors located in other states and or country? If yes, where are your contractors located?
• How long does SEO take to implement?
• What are the benefits of your SEO services vs. your competitors?
• What am I responsible for?

Make sure you understand exactly what the company’s SEO services are before signing a contract. Your company’s SEO is important to the growth of your business and online presence. Find a SEO company that will work for you and with you to increase your organic web traffic. With the proper SEO strategy, your company’s web traffic and profitability will increase.

Subscribe to Amandah Tayler Blackwell Savvy-Writer by Email

Related articles

• Ridiculously Easy SEO Habits to Start (savvy-writer.com)

Related posts:

1. Is Your Company Afraid of Blog and Social Media Commitment? When I’m approached by business owners who want to start...
2. Skype Can Save Your Company Time and Money Don’t you hate it when you’ve scheduled a company meeting,...
3. Freelance Writers Have More Free Time Thanks to Social Bookmarking Software How much time do you spend on social bookmarking for...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

There’s a debate as to whether or not ‘free’ is a powerful email marketing tool or spam in disguise. According to a post on the 60 Second Marketer, the word ’free’ is a powerful and effective marketing tool because it taps into an emotional trigger which activates impulses.  But how true is this for email marketing? Does the word ‘free’ receive the same reaction from newsletter subscribers? What about people looking at ads on the internet? Are they more likely to click on an online marketing campaign if the word ‘free’ is in it? Here are six email marketing and online marketing campaign mistakes to avoid.

6 Email Marketing and Online Marketing Campaign Mistakes to Avoid

Image via Wikipedia

Subject lines. Boring subject lines won’t get your email marketing campaigns opened. Boring subject lines used in online marketing campaigns won’t entice potential customers to click your ad.

Attention grabbing headlines such as “A 7-Point Plan for Personal Financial Success” or “Only 10 Spots Left for Next Month’s Bootcamp” are great examples of calls-to-actions. You’re telling your customers and subscribers, “The clocks ticking. If you don’t take advantage now, you may not receive another chance to do so.” Know your target audience and stay on top of industry trends.

I attended a couple of webinars from Constant Contact and Pinpointe; both are email marketing solutions providers. During the presentations, it was emphasized that ‘free’ is considered a ‘spam’ marketing word. In fact, Constant Contact has a feature that reviews your newsletter’s spam rating.  Using the word ‘free’ over and over in your newsletter could trigger a spam alert.

Spam words. Using words such as urgent, free, bonus, cash, get paid, home, win, won, and other trigger words may deter subscribers from reading your emails. Do not use these in subject lines! However, these may work for an online marketing Google AdWords campaign.

Broken links. Another email marketing mistake and online marketing mistake to avoid is broken links. This is a particular pet peeve of mine. Whenever I receive a newsletter, I click on the links. If they’re broken, I’ll take the time to email the sender. Test all links before you send out a newsletter or email marketing campaign and you’ll avoid a high unsubscriber rate.

Schedule. Stick to an email marketing and online marketing campaign schedule. For email marketing, analyze data such as how many times your emails are opened, the best time to send out emails, etc. Tweak your emailing schedule because it could result in a higher open rate. For online marketing, review the data in Google AdWords (everyone uses it) and make adjustments where necessary. It’s a good idea to conduct an A/B Test to see which keywords/phrases and content receive a higher click-thru rate.

Be consistent. Post consistently on your website because it builds trust with customers and readers. What will subscribers think when they visit your website and see that the content hasn’t been updated for six months? If you’re running an online marketing campaign to drive traffic to your website, you want to have updated content.

Ineffective website. Spend money on a web designer or learn how to create a website. An ineffective website won’t help your email marketing or online marketing campaign. Make sure your website is clean and not overpowered with affiliate ads. Give visitors a reason to stay on your website.

Whether you’re running a marketing campaign online or through email, pay attention to five email marketing and online marketing mistakes. The work you do today will pay off in the long run.

Related articles

• Email Insider Summit: Email deliverability panel recap (blogs.constantcontact.com)
• Email newsletter tips from the experts (blogs.constantcontact.com)

Related posts:

1. Tips to Getting Email Campaigns and Newsletters Opened How many subscribers open your email campaigns and newsletters? If...
2. Is Article Marketing Dead? Question: Is article marketing dead? Answer: According to Jeff Herring,...
3. How to Create Marketing Emails That Get Opened Are your email marketing campaigns opened all or most of...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

When I’m approached by business owners who want to start a blog or rewrite their blog content along with increasing their social media presence, I usually think to myself, “Hmmm. How committed are they to developing and maintaining a blog? Are they ready for the commitment that social media requires?” When it comes to blogs, most business owners, especially small business owners, subscribe to the “If you build it, they will come” thinking. Unfortunately, it takes more ‘thinking’ your way to millions of blog readers, likes, and followers. It takes time, dedication, perseverance, and trust.

Before I begin writing a blog, rewriting blog posts, or handling social media management, I ask a lot of questions. This is a good way for me to assess if the ‘potential’ client understands the amount of work that goes into building and maintaining a blog and social media pages. Here are my questions:

• Do you have a blog? If yes, how many blog posts do you have? If no, how many blog posts would you like?
• What blogging platform do you use or prefer?
• What is your goal for the blog?
• Do you have keywords/phrases? If yes, what are they? If no, is this something you’d like me to research?
• Do you have an SEO system in place? If so, who’s the company and what have they done for you? What analysis has been done thus far? If no, are you looking to hire an SEO company? What do you want them to handle?
• Do you have social media accounts? If yes, what are they? If no, which ones would you like to use?
• What is the goal of social media? More likes? More followers? More leads? More conversions? Both? All of the above?
• How patient are you when it comes to growing the blog and social media sites?

Sometimes clients, especially small business owners, become overwhelmed because they don’t realize the commitment involved with having a blog and social media websites.

Fact: Did you know that most social media managers spend 30 or more hours per week on social media? It’s important to stay connected with current fans and followers in addition to gaining new ones.

How to Use a Blog and Social Media to Drive Traffic and Build a Web Presence

Blog

Image via Wikipedia

Take advantage of WordPress plugins like Yoast. I’ve been testing out the plugin for a few weeks, and I’m enjoying it. The plugin forces you to write better headlines, preferably SEO, along with body content. The plugin analyzes the content to ensure the following:

• The focus keyword/phrase was used.
• A picture with an alt tag was used.
• The keyword density is on target.
• The page content is at least 300 words.
• The URL contains the keyword.
• The meta description includes the primary keyword/phrase.
• The primary keyword/phrase is in the beginning of the page title.

These and other metrics have helped me hone my SEO writing skills. When it comes to SEO, there’s always more to learn.

Use email lists. If you’re not sending out a monthly newsletter, you may want to consider it. If you have a newsletter, include an ‘excerpt’ from a blog post and link back to your company’s website. This is a good start to driving and building web traffic.

Link building. Many companies pay for link building; however, if you’re not linking to your current customers’ blogs, you’re missing out on traffic and strengthening your relationship with them.

Tip: Link to relevant blogs within your industry and become active on them. Leave comments on blog posts and forums. Show that you’re an authority in the industry that shouldn’t be ignored.

Advertise your blog. Marketing materials such as business cards, postcards, and brochures should contain your blog’s URL in addition to contact information. You could also include it on your email signature, purchase orders, invoices, receipts, at the end of a Power Point presentation, etc. to gain more visibility.

Social Media

Twitter. Not only could you tweet your blog post, you could ‘retweet’ your followers. This is a great way to build a following. Tweet during ‘peak hours’ for your business which could be in the late morning or afternoon. This is something you’d want to test.

Facebook. There are 845 million Facebook users. If you’re not using Facebook or using it properly, you’re missing out an opportunity to market your business. Consider having a Facebook like/lead page that will knock the socks off of visitors and entice them to visit your website and read your blog.

LinkedIn. If you’re not taking advantage of LinkedIn, do so now. It’s a social media site for professionals and you can connect with others within your industry. Be helpful by answering questions in the ‘Answers’ section. Show off your expertise.

Related articles

• Social Media Convergence – Blogging and Social Utilities (itmashable.com)
• 10 Social Media Tips for Bloggers (mashable.com)

Related posts:

1. Is Article Marketing Dead? Question: Is article marketing dead? Answer: According to Jeff Herring,...
2. 7 Points to Look for on Social Media Sites When Hiring a Freelance Writer Let’s face it; social media and the internet can be...
3. Ridiculously Easy SEO Habits to Start Consider this Amandah’s Freelance Writer’s SEO guide to optimizing your...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.