See on Scoop.it – Digital Business
One great way to do this is to share your content on social media more than once.
If you only share your content just once, you are missing out on a lot of traffic. Have you ever noticed how experienced social media / content marketers set up a schedule to post and re-post their same blog content? This article explains how with a great infographic.
See on blog.kissmetrics.com
Many websites are built on the assumption they think they know what their customers are looking for. SEO (search engine optimisation) is the process of modifying your websites pages in order to rank near the top of search engine results. However, many SEO service companies’ (& DIY) efforts can be ineffective and costly if they are targeting the wrong words and phrases.
.. meaning that your websites & campaigns are all SEO’d to target the same (and possibly inefficient) phrases and words as your competitors. With an estimated 1.86 billion web pages indexed on the Internet [source http://www.worldwidewebsize.com April 2014], appearing in the top of the results is incredibly difficult if you and the competition target the same search phrases.
If you are guessing or using Google keyword tool to suggest keywords for your AdWords PPC campaign, targeting the wrong words can be costing you a lot of money.
.. which means more targeted clients will be visiting your website.
Steve’s experience of having written search engines as a software engineer has meant he has an implicit understanding of how search engine technologies work. This knowledge, coupled with solid business experience of creating and managing sales & marketing strategies (including several years at board level) has provided the unique experience to provide highly effective digital marketing campaigns.
If you are looking for a professional SEO services company, then please get in touch. We’d love to hear from you.
Steve Baker, Founder, Certified Google Partner & Chartered Institute of Marketing Accredited Digital Marketing Specialist.
Chances are you know what hashtags are, but you probably don’t use them. I know I’m guilty of neglecting hashtags. So, why should you use hashtags?
See on Scoop.it – Digital Business
WordPress is “the” platform if you’re serious about blogging. Here are the Top 25 WordPress plugins that will make your WordPress site sing and dance
Comprehensive list, but worryingly omission is any backup plug-ins. If in doubt, I recommend Simple Backup for WP.
See on www.jeffbullas.com
See on Scoop.it – Digital Business
We asked business advisers on our Marketplace website to send in their tips and advice to help small businesses grow. Frank Vitetta of Orchid Box sent in this advice about using local SEO to increase sales and leads.
Today, more than ever before, search engine result pages (SERPS) are integrating localised search results into relevant searches – often even without the use of a place name within the searched term – and with the meteoric rise in mobile computing, users’ local search intent has risen too.
Essentially, users want and now expect to be able to find goods and services that are nearest to them wherever they are, and Google is providing them with exactly that. In 2011, 20% of desktop queries had local intent and more than 53% of mobile queries on Bing had local intent. These percentages are continually increasing.
Given these developments, if your business operates within a small geographical area then local SEO is invaluable for helping you reach your potential customers.
The rise of smartphone technology has certainly played its part: Google’s algorithm now takes into account your device’s geo-location to display the nearest businesses that are most relevant to your query.Take a look at the example search query conducted on a smartphone above. As you would expect, the first results are paid search ads, closely followed by a global market leader (Expedia) in the top non-paid spaces. After that, however, we then have a series of local businesses that relate to our query, all within walking distance. For the most part, these sites have not had millions spent on their SEO or offline marketing; these are sites that appear thanks to their relevance and proximity.
As the screenshot shows, Google assigns the top local results their own small piece of real estate within the search engine result page (SERP). It collects information through a combination of websites, directories and local Google+ data that includes phone numbers and directions, making it easy for the searcher to contact a local business and potentially become a customer.
OK, so if you’re a local business and this all sounds fantastic, how exactly do you get your own piece of Google real estate?
Citations, citations, citations: a must for local SEO
What is a citation?
A citation is a listing of information on an external website containing key details about your business – including your NAP (name, address, phone number).
With such a listing you can also include additional information such as opening hours, discounts and other supplemental details should you wish. The information you include and the format your citation takes is up to you, as there is no strict syntax to follow.However, it is important to remember that consistency is key when distributing your citations – ensuring that you use exactly the same formatting across all websites and social media, and paying extra attention to spacing, grammar and punctuation. This is an important factor to gaining strong authority within local search results as Google uses consistency to verify the accuracy of your information.
As a side note, you should be aware that citations – unlike backlinks – do not require a link to your website to provide SEO equity.
Why are citations important?
Citations are now one of the key factors in Google’s ranking algorithm for local businesses. What this means is that the more consistent that your citations are across the web, the more opportunity your business is likely to have for a higher ranking. This is because multiple citations from well-established sites let Google know that the NAP information about your business is accurate, as well as which industry it falls into.
If there isn’t any clear information about your business on the web – in other words, if you have no citations – search engines will have to rely on whatever they can find, possibly returning false details and ultimately leading to a loss of potential customers. With this in mind, citations are even more important for businesses that lack a significant online presence.
The bottom line is that for any local business, optimising your website and social media profiles’ NAP information is key to targeting your demographic effectively, and by gaining citations you increase the awareness and visibility for users within the search engines.
Where can you get citations?
Well-established directories such as Yell, 192 or Scoot are all good places to gain citations easily but don’t forget blogs and social media too!
Other sources include:
Press releases
Articles/ guest post bylines
Image and video descriptions
Profile pages
Forum signaturesAnd finally, some high quality UK directories you might wish to use:
www.192.com – generic
www.yelp.co.uk – generic
www.scoot.co.uk – generic
www.hotfrog.co.uk – generic
www.secretsalons.com – beauty
www.qype.co.uk – restaurants / beauty
www.cylex-uk.co.uk – generic
business.localmole.co.uk/ – generic
www.local-buzz.co.uk- generic
www.localstore.co.uk – genericFrank Vitetta is the managing director of Orchid Box, a London based SEO firm specialised in local and international SEO. Frank and his team help businesses make better decisions, maximise revenue growth and improve business performance through search and various online channels.
Some sound advice for boosting your local SEO by using consistent citations from established directories and forums.
See on www.enterprisenation.com
Verena
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Thanks for the explaination. I did everything accordingly, and now waiting for the 24h to pass for it to show up in my Analytics. However, the small one-sentence confirmation is not appearing anymore, when someone fills in the contact form on our website. Could you please give some input on how to fix this?
stevenba
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Unfortunately not I’m afraid. It does vary with the type of activity and LinkedIn frequently change their policies, but at present, LinkedIn’s maximum is 30 days.
Regards
Steve
N_jarolmasjed
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Hi there.thank you for your website
Is there any possibility to see all my updates in linkedin from the bigining?I had been linkedin member for about 3 years or so and .I had shared simething that I need it now and unfortunately I lose to have them any where else they were gone. I’d have been grateful if you can guide me
Many thanks