Skip to content

Georgijevic Developer Team

Georgijevic Developer Team

Galleries

How to Write a Feature Article

by

I’m going to break it down for you this week. There’s some intense debate happening in webmaster forums about whether social signals outweigh links, and what webmasters should focus on more when building a website. The Panda and Penguin updates have everyone in a tizzy and I’ll lay it out for you – right now is a really confusing time for search marketers.

Everyone’s in an uproar now about Matt Cutts’ comments during an SMX Advanced interview with Danny Sullivan. These are the kinds of articles I’ve been finding plastered on the front pages of sites like Search Engine Roundtable:

Cutts at SMX

After this wave passes, we’ll inevitably be faced with a new update and even more mixed signals. Of course, there’s already mass confusion. Forums are lighting up (again) with frustrated webmasters arguing about the importance of links versus social, like in this excerpt from an exchange in the Webmaster World forum:

Webmaster World Discussion

This versus that, tit for tat. Links versus on-site optimization versus your Twitter following. The process of figuring out what works is simply exhausting, but I never get tired of this stuff. Love it. However, for those of you who are sick of the noise – those of you who just want to know how to make some great content for your websites that will bring in visitors, I’m going to exercise the KISS technique. This week, I’m staying in the same vein as last week’s post (if you haven’t had a chance to give it a read, you can find it here).

In it, I discussed the importance of community-building as a means for growing and maintaining an audience for your site or blog. I focused on the external things that you must do in order to develop a following – so now let’s talk about how to create content they’ll want to follow.

The Guts of a Feature Post

I wrote about that guy on Entrepreneurs-Journey.com last week. For those of you who weren’t tuned in, he talks about the importance of regularly writing “pillar posts” and sprinkling them into the other content on your site. His take is that pillar posts are articles that are evergreen – meaning the material is never time-sensitive. Someone could read the same article months after you first post it and derive the same value as the very first readers. Pillar articles boost traffic and still enjoy frequent visits long after they’re buried deep within your site’s archives.

I agree with all of this, and I’ve been writing pillar posts for my own sites for quite some time before I stumbled upon the pillar post concept. The only difference is that I’ve been calling them “feature articles” and I structure mine a bit differently.

If you commit to spending a little more time on an article or two each week and consistently include a few key elements, you’ll have a website full of feature articles in no time.

The guts of a feature article, stripped down naked for your viewing pleasure:

1. A great headline and meta description.

The headline and meta description are arguably the most important elements of your article when it comes to search traffic. You could have the most mind-blowing article in the world, and no one would know if your title and description are a real snooze. Your article could hang out on the first page of the SERPs, but if you mess this up, you might as well be on page 14.

To craft a killer title, sum up in one sentence what your article is about and write it down. Then, think objectively about the most exciting way to present the information. Leave something out that the audience would have to read the article to discover or start with a teaser.

If you’re still stuck, try this. For one solid week, as you browse the Web, keep a Notepad file of every article you view online. Jot down the title of each one you read, and once you have your list compiled, review the titles carefully. There’s a reason you clicked through to read each article – and that reason was the headline. Figure out which elements ultimately influenced your click and use the tactics in your own titles.

2. A killer intro.

This, again, is critical. You need to open with a witty hook, something that grabs the reader’s attentions and is perhaps even a bit tongue-in-cheek. The idea is to draw your audience in and hold them there with a vice grip. In the intro, don’t be afraid of using the first person and showing a little humanity. Identify with the reader. And, please, whatever you do – talk directly to your readers. Write as if you’re having a one-on-one conversation with a good friend.

3. A meaty body.

It’s not all about the word count, despite what you may hear in marketing forums. This is one of the most common misconceptions out there, and it drives me bananas. If your article is 1500 words, then you can’t lose, right?

Wrong!

Would you sit through 1500 words of dribble when there’s an entire Internet out there waiting for you? Of course not! Always keep the $10,000 question in mind as you’re writing:

 “Is this something that I would actually read… start to finish?”

I’d much rather read 400 words of action-packed content than 1500 words of plain vanilla sludge. However, longer is better – just make sure to pack substance into every nook and cranny of your writing.

You know the basics. Use small chunks of text. Divide your article into sections with H1 headings. But beyond all that, really research what’s out there on your topic before you get started. Present the research in your article, and add rich media from your journey (think screenshots, videos, and images) to present to your reader as a one-stop “highlight reel” of your findings. When it comes to being thorough, your article needs to hit it out of the park.

4. A thoughtful wrap-up.

Add one last section. This is the part where you contribute to the conversation instead of regurgitating the same article that readers can find in a million other places on the Web. And, yes, they do notice when you do that. Add your own unique take on the problem or subject after you’ve presented a complete and balanced article, and show a little personality while you’re at it.

There you have it folks. My method for writing the feature post. Try it out on your site or blog, but remember – these babies take forever to write. And if you get your audience used to them, you’d better keep delivering or you risk losing your edge. That’s why it’s best to start by only sprinkling a few in from time on your site or blog until you’re more conformable with the process.

Source: http://site-reference.com/articles/how-to-write-a-feature-article/

Apps to Make Your Social Media Efforts Easier

by

I do a great deal of article writing, blogging and social media posting of content for myself and for clients. To distribute an article or post through the maze of social media networks and article publishing services can take a great deal of time. Therefore, it’s important to utilize the right social media tools that will get the job done in the best manner.

In addition to the publication of posts and blogs, to track what the results are from your efforts is important, especially if you’re reporting back to a client.

After trying out quite a few, I’ve compiled my favorite social media tools and applications, listed below, that help make my social media life simpler and more effective.

When deciding what tools would work best for your needs, the things to consider are:

* Simplicity of use
* Ability to Schedule
* Format of end distribution (what will the link/post look like when published?)
* Good API (application programming interface, which allows communication between different Web applications)
* Cost (free is great, but depending on what your or your company’s needs are, it may well be worth it to pay to upgrade services)

Hootsuite

It’s one of the best social media managing tools around to monitor your social sites, including RSS feeds, from one page. Hootsuite offers plenty of tutorials and help to get started. If you have a small business, and only a few social pages, then the free version will work well. You get up to five social profiles, two feeds and you can schedule your posts. Hootsuite integrates with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and more. Connect YouTube and upload videos directly from Hootsuite, as well as respond to comments. You can post photos, links and messages directly to your streams. If you upgrade to Pro at $9.99 per month, you can have unlimited social profiles, do bulk scheduling of posts, and assign more than one user to manage your accounts. With the Pro version you also get several free analytic reports, which can get expensive if you’re paying per report with the free version.

Raven

Raven tools offers all that Hootsuite does. You can stream Facebook, Twitter and YouTube from one page, but the streams are mixed together, making it difficult to sort, read and respond. You can post directly to one or all streams, and schedule them. One downside about the posting from Raven is you cannot post original or large-sized photos, only thumbnails from links.

The best part about Raven is its research and analytical tools. Link your blog, and use its manager to write custom posts focusing on specific keywords that you choose. The manager will analyze your content keywords for density, frequency and relevance, as well as the readability for average age and grade level. In addition, with it SEO tools, utilizing data from SEMRush, SEOmoz and Majestic SEO, you can do deep research on detailed keywords, competitors, links and social intelligence from any domain.

Another plus to Raven is that it provides an awesome custom reporting platform, with which you can create custom, white labeled reports pulling statistics from Facebook Insights, Twitter, Google Analytics, saved keyword searches, SERPs, and a great deal more.

With the Pro plan at $99, you can have up to four users, unlimited Facebook and Twitter accounts, 20 social monitor searches, 1,000 keyword rankings, and a whole lot of link management. If creating reports and SEO research is important, Raven is the best bet. You can try it out free for 90 days. There is no free version.

ifttt

If This Then That (hence its acronym, ifttt) is one of the handiest free social managing tools that enables you to link multiple social media sources and blast your content across the Web all from one post. The concept is based on “recipes” that users create to link their accounts. If you post to your blog, then a post goes out to your Facebook Fan page. You can then set up concurrent recipes–Facebook to Twitter, Facebook to Blogger etc. Mix and match your recipes from nearly 50 social channels to your needs. And it’s completely free! ifttt

Ezine Articles WordPress Plug-In

If you’re utilizing Ezine already, this plugin will make your blog publishing life much easier. After you install, simply write your blog, and, following Ezine’s publishing rules, press submit and the article automatically goes to your Ezine account for review and approval.

Source: http://www.sitepronews.com/2012/07/08/apps-to-make-your-social-media-efforts-easier/

Who Will Win the Social Search Engine War? Facebook, Google, Or Someone Else?

by

The search industry has witnessed multiple changes over the past couple of years. Among the most notable changes are social, mobile, and local being integrated into search results. While each of these play a big role in the search evolution that has occurred, I think it’s fair to say that social tops the list.

How has social media influenced your search experience? Do you prefer its integration, or would you rather have the “old search” model back? Let us know.

The influx of Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and now players such as Pinterest has all dramatically impacted how users search. With Google as the dominant search engine, it has obviously pushed its social endeavors aggressively to become the leader in both sectors. After Larry Page became Google’s CEO, reports circulated that he was tying all employees’ bonuses to the success of Google’s social strategy.

What’s more, in a recent interview with Charlie Rose, when asked if he was concerned about Facebook’s competition in search, Page answered with: “It’s something that we take seriously just like we do social media.”

According to Grant Simmons, the Director of SEO and Social Product at The Search Agency, Google has been worried for some time about competition, especially in social. Although the latest statistics show that Google+ has over 100 million users, it’s clear that it is not gaining the same traction that Facebook did.

In addition, Google has made some drastic moves including Search Plus Your World and the recent launch of its Knowledge Graph, both of which are designed to improve users’ search experience by making it simpler, personal, and more social. Interestingly though, as Simmons pointed out to us, these recent announcements from Google are similar to products from other companies, AKA competitors.

Grant Simmons, Director of SEO and Social Product at The Search AgencyHe told us that Google has rolled out lots of “me too” announcements and that it is “trying to differentiate itself by copying.”

“The Knowledge Graph is certainly to address some of that,” he went on to say, “but I think also, it’s more like to them looking forward to how they can get Google to be more sticky and also more competitive.”

The push, however, of Google’s social products into search has not exactly set well with users or the search industry as a whole. Although the tone could change and users might begin to find Google’s products useful, it could also turn users away.

“With the alternative search engines whether it’s social search or whether it’s media search or whether it’s just mobile search, I think that Google is a little bit concerned,” explained Simmons,” and tying in their 400-500 million users into search results makes sense, it’s just whether users will get a little bit overcome by Google products always being pushed; or, whether it’s gonna be something they adopt because it’s useful to them.”

When talking about social and the possibilities of a search engine though, one can’t rule out Facebook. At this point, Bing powers the search function on Facebook, but given the social giant’s wide range of data, it’s likely got something up its own sleeve in the search department.

“I think Facebook has to get into some type of search leveraging the data they have,” said Simmons. “They’re already working on it, I’m sure.”

But, as Jessica Lee of The Search Agency pointed out on GigaOM, Facebook can’t exactly compete with Google’s more than 8.6 billion indexed pages. Simmons believes Facebook will use its “Like” system, Open Graph, user profiles, and other data it has acquired toward its search curation product.

“What they do have is they have a core or a connection between lots of pages that have likes on them,” he said. “They have, within Facebook, an understanding of what you do like from a page standpoint, what your connections are, what you talk about within Faceboook, and I think by leveraging that data, they can get a pretty good understanding of what you’re looking for, what you like, [and] what you might connect with on a more relevant basis.”

He sees Facebook’s partnership with Bing continuing at least in the short-term, since both parties benefit. In addition, it addresses Google’s integration with Google+ into its search results.

Incidentally, Danny Sullivan in a piece on Search Engine Land in April expressed his doubt for Facebook starting a search engine:

I’ve been asked a lot recently about whether I believe Facebook will create its own search engine, because the rumors that never die have started again. I don’t, not a web-wide one.

Among other reasons, I think Facebook won’t because it understands that doing social right, when you’re at the scale Facebook handles, is ensuring that people discover what’s interesting to them rather than having to search for it.

Social = discovery, a kissing cousin of search, but not the same. And social is what Facebook is focused on. That’s plenty to chew on. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said as much repeatedly, such as to Charlie Rose last year, about wanting to do “one thing incredibly well.” That means continuing to perfect social.

Twitter has also been mentioned in the talks of social search engines, but according to Simmons, it already has “robust search,” but it is challenged by a struggling business model.

Going forward, it’s essentially inevitable that social search will play an even greater role in the game of search. The winner, however, is yet to be determined.

Simmons did tell us that SEOs needed to begin thinking about social search and where their audiences are. Most importantly, he believes that brands need to understand that there are different venues and that their audiences will likely need to be approached in different ways.

“We talk about The Search Agency Search Anywhere Optimization or Search Everywhere Optimization as the new SEO, and it really is about where people are searching and where they’re searching and niche-type stuff,” he said.

“The single search venue as the solution to social search probably won’t happen,” he continued. “It’s gonna be more about these connections, affiliations, [and] associations that make sense to me as an individual as opposed to just a personalized search engine like Google.”

Source: http://www.webpronews.com/who-will-win-the-social-search-engine-war-facebook-google-or-someone-else-2012-07

Matt Cutts: Nofollow Links Are Small, Single Digit Percentage Of Links On The Web

by

Google’s Matt Cutts recently downplayed the significance of social signals in search, compared to links. Search Marketing Expo uploaded a new video to YouTube, featuring a discussion between Cutts and moderator Danny Sullivan, in which he talks about the notion that social signals have replaced links. In short, while social signals may gain power in time, links are still pretty important.

“If you look at the library of congress, they say they have 151.4 million items,” says Cutts. “That’s roughly 34 million books, and if you convert that to just pure text like OCR, that’s something like ten terabytes. The web capture team at the library of congress says they have 235 terabytes. Now everybody in this room probably ought to be saying to themselves: 235 terabytes for the largest library in the world is not that much data. YouTube gets 72 hours of video uploaded every minute. So the web is the largest source of data we’ve ever seen before.”

“There’s more data being generated on the web, compared to any other source of data around the web, and I think, the fact is, a lot of people think, ‘Links are dying,’ or ‘Links are not a democracy,’ or ‘It’s impossible to get links that aren’t nofollow,’ or whatever,” says Cutts. “And the fact is, that’s a little bit of a bubble in my opinion, in the SEO industry, because if you look at the actual percentage of Nofollow links on the web, it’s a single digit percentage. In fact, it’s a pretty small single digit percentage. So there’s this perception that, ‘Yes, everything will go social,’ or ‘Links are completely obsolete,’ and I think it’s premature to reach that conclusion.”

“I don’t doubt that in ten years, things will be more social, and those will be more powerful signals, but I wouldn’t write the epitaph for links quite yet,” he adds.

You would think that social signals are pretty damn important, looking at Google’s results on any given day, if you’re using Search Plus Your World (and there’s a good chance you are, as it’s the default experience for signed in users). How often have you seen results appear simply because someone you’re connected to through Google+ has +1′d something?

I don’t necessarily think social is the best indicator of relevance, as I’ve discussed in the past, but I do believe they can carry a lot of weight, and perhaps more importantly, will help you diversify your traffic sources, and not have to depend on the search giant for so much of your traffic.

Source: http://www.webpronews.com/matt-cutts-nofollow-links-are-small-single-digit-percentage-of-links-on-the-web-2012-07

Google Now: Do You Want Google Using Your Information In This Way?

by

Google is looking to change the future of search by making it less relevant. It’s a pretty bold move, considering that search is Google’s bread and butter. With Google Now, Google wants to give you the information you need before you even have to search for it. Some find the new feature, announced last week at Google I/O, fascinating, and potentially very helpful, while others are a little creeped out by it, and have concerns about the privacy implications. Others simply aren’t keen on the idea of Google making their decisions for them in this manner.

Do you want Google to use your data to personalize your Google experience even further that it already is? Tell us what you think about Google Now.

“Google Now gets you just the right information at just the right time,” Google says, explaining the new feature of Android, included as part of the operating system’s latest version, Jellybean. “It tells you today’s weather before you start your day, how much traffic to expect before you leave for work, when the next train will arrive as you’re standing on the platform, or your favorite team’s score while they’re playing. And the best part? All of this happens automatically. Cards appear throughout the day at the moment you need them.”

That pretty much sums it up, but it seems clear that this is really just the beginning of something very big. It may only be offered for this one version of Android right now (though, apparently there are some work-arounds for that). That leaves out a whole lot of Google users, but there’s no way Google will not expand this. We can only speculate at this time, but I can see Google expanding this to the Web, Google TV, and even iOS devices via an app, should Apple allow it. It seems like too big a deal for Google not to get it in front of as many users as possible. Perhaps we’ll see it make its way to older versions of Android, but eventually more and more users will catch up to Jellybean, and future versions of Android anyway. It just may take a little while for that to happen.

If you haven’t seen it yet, here’s Google promo for Google Now:

Promo videos from Google aren’t always necessarily indicative of the actual product, as we’ve seen from Project Glass (granted, Google was clear about that not being a finished product). The Google Now vid looks to be a pretty accurate reflection of how it works though. Steve Kovach at Business Insider says Google Now puts Apple’s Siri to shame, citing some real life examples of where Google Now is living up to its promises.

“I was in San Francisco last week to cover Google I/O and meet with some other companies in the area,” he writes, for one. “I had a meeting in Mountain View on Friday morning. Google Now sent me a notification about 45 minutes before my meeting that said I should leave if I wanted to make it on time. It even took traffic into account. Incredible.”

“I’m a Mets fan (unfortunately), so a lot of my sports-related Google searches are for the score of the latest game,” he says. “Google knows this, so Google Now automatically sends me notifications with the latest score. I don’t even have to ask anymore.”

“I took the red eye back to New York Friday night, and spent the hours before my flight drinking with some PR friends in San Francisco’s Mission neighborhood. Based on my search history, Google Now already knew my flight number and kept me updated with gate information and potential delays,” he adds.

Here’s a side by side look at Android’s new voice search capabilities vs. Apple’s Siri.

SlashGear shares a hands-on with Google Now:

The company has been talking about this concept of getting users the info they need before they even know it, for years. That’s truly speeding up the search process, another concept Google has been pushing for years (and one in which Google has accomplished quite a bit with its Chrome browser).

Google Now has 10 “cards” at launch, but Google says there will be more to come. My guess is that there will be many, many more.

Here are the cards it’s starting with (along with the data they access):

1. Traffic (Shown based on current location, location history and Web History)

2. Public Transit (Only shown if location services enabled)

3. Next Appointment (Shown based on synced calendars and current location)

4. Flights (Only shown if location services and Web History enabled)

5. Sports (Shown based on Web History)

6. Places (Only shown if location services enabled)

7. Weather (Only shown if location services enabled)

8. Translation (Only shown if location services enabled)

9. Currency (Only shown if location services enabled)

10. Time At Home (Only shown if location services enabled)

These cards (and any others that might come later) will mean users don’t have to search for quite as many things. If this works like it is supposed to, users will simply become less dependent on search (and perhaps more dependent on notifications). That appears to be fine with Google, as long as Google is still in the driver’s seat.

The fact is that this decreased dependence on search is happening anyway – with or without Google’s help. People are finding more ways to consume information that are sometimes more convenient, or simply more fun, particularly through mobile apps. Google is finding ways to combat this too. One example would be another new Android feature, which lets users find out what songs are playing, using a sound search app, rather than having to enter a text query into Google search (or, of course, use the popular app Shazam).

Here’s that in action:

About Those Privacy Concerns

As you can see from the list above, Google Now card features deliver info based on your current location, location history, web history, and calendar. You may recall earlier this year, when Google consolidated its privacy policies, and essentially made it so the company could easily pass user data from one Google product to the next, as if each product is merely a feature of the one large Google product. That is, by the way, the way Google seems to be approaching things in general (Google+, for example, isn’t just a standalone product, but the “social spine” of the larger Google, according to the company).

That privacy policy redux enables Google to tap into any Google products you might be using, and use what you’ve done there to change how you interact with other Google products. It also, as we can see from Google Now, enables the company to create all new products to make your overall Google experience much more personalized (and possibly better).

But, as you might imagine, this all gives some people an icky feeling.

“Google’s all-knowing Siri-esque personal assistant has confirmed some suspicions, veering from cool feature into creepy stalker territory,” writes Rebecca Greenfield for The Atlantic, for example.

Greenfield pulls another quote from The New York Times’ Jenna Wortham, who says, “It gets weird when Google starts to extend its reach into that territory, because Google already knows so much about us — things like who we e-mail and talk to the most, along with what we search for. When those smaller bits of data begin to get linked together in a more meaningful way, that knowledge can take on a larger, different context.”

Well, I’m going to have to pull a page from the whole early 2012 discussion about the privacy policy. You’re already letting Google have this data. Why not let Google use it in more meaningful ways that can make your life easier?

Source: http://www.webpronews.com/google-now-do-you-want-google-using-your-information-in-this-way-2012-07

18 Easy Ideas for a More Interactive Blog

by

Blogging is a form of social media and for social media to be successful you need interaction. A non-interactive neglected blog will simply die out and become oblivious to the cyber world.

Blogging became popular in the late 1990s and is one of the most effective ways of social networking. Although blogging started out more as an online personal diary, the importance of blogs today for all businesses is significant.

Below are some ideas for you to help make your blog more interactive so it can reach its full potential.

1. Ask for Comments – At the end of your posts, ask readers to share their ideas, suggestions and opinions on the post. You will be surprised at how big a difference this little detail can make.

2. Make Leaving Comments Easy – Don’t ask visitors for their life history just to leave a comment. Just have them leave their name, email and website URL. You also might want to consider not having a captcha or word verification. These can cause problems and end with the person leaving and not coming back.

3. Allow Signatures – If your visitors are allowed to leave a small signature with their URL, it might be the deciding factor in whether or not they will take the time to leave a comment. It is a way of repaying them for their time and participation.

4. Social Media – Be sure to link to all your social media sites and also allow your visitors to share your blog with their followers and fans. You can do this with free social media plug-ins.

5. Subscribe to Comments – Be sure to find a plugin that will allow your visitors to subscribe to comments on particular posts. This way when anyone comments or replies to their comment they will be notified and will probably come back to add to the conversation.

6. Respond to Comments – Don’t forget to participate in the conversations yourself. Respond to people’s comments. Let them know you appreciate their participation and thank them for their feedback.

7. Participate in Other Blogs – Be sure to always participate in other quality blogs. By doing this, you can easily attract people to your blog for more interaction.

8. Watch Competitor Blogs – Always keep on your competition. Study their blogs and see what makes them tick.

9. Moderate Comments – Do not let spammers post on your blog. You do not want your blog looking like a junk pile of comments. Approve only serious and helpful comments.

10. Links and Resources – Provide helpful, quality links, resources and information. Make your blog the go to blog for answers.

11. Update Content – Blogs need regular and consistent updating. People will lose interest if they see the same posts every time they visit. Try to update on a schedule.

12. Freebies – Everyone loves a good freebie so offer them periodically to people who leave comments.

13. RSS Feed – Be sure to add a form for people to sign up for notifications of your postings. Put a simple form on all your pages and posts.

14. Polls – Post polls and ask people for their opinions. Offer a free gift to everyone who participates. People are genuinely interested in public opinions and polls.

15. Contests and Competitions – Try trivia games, scavenger hunts, and other contests to give your blog a little more excitement. People love competing and winning prizes.

16. Event Calendar – Add an event calendar to your site so people can see all the activity your blog has to offer. This will add to their reasons for coming back to your blog.

17. Blog Comment Policy – Add a blog comment policy so people know exactly what to expect when commenting or reading other posts. Things like no profanity, no negative comments, no flaming, etc., can add to your blog’s credibility. Let people know you welcome a wide array of opinions and value all comments.

18. Build Trust and Credibility – Open up to your visitors and let them get to know you. Don’t try to keep hidden because people will not trust you if they feel you don’t want them to know you.

Source: http://www.seo-news.com/18-easy-ideas-for-a-more-interactive-blog/

SEO is Important, But Community-Building is Key

by

This is part two of last week’s post, Google Shopping is Coming –Are You Ready for the Change? In it, I wrapped up by pointing out that all the search engine algorithm changes are not going to stop – if anything, they’ll only get more aggressive as technology evolves.

That said, I concluded that the single best way to create a self-sustaining, in-it-for-the-long-haul site is to use SEO techniques in conjunction with community-building exercises.

That’s the secret.

It’s not fancy, and it’s not some “turbo search-engine blaster ninja assassinator” software – but it’s foolproof. And it works. Community-building is every bit as vital to your online success as any keyword research you do. And you should do your SEO stuff too – that’s pivotal. However, for the purposes of this post, I’m going to focus solely on the community component.

The following is an outline of my five steps (which you can call my “top-secret jet-propelled blastmaster plan for traffic domination” if it makes you feel more at home) for leveraging the power of community to build an authority site from scratch. It may not be sexy, but it works.
Step #1 – Make Sure You Know Your Niche

This should go without saying, but you’d be surprised. Confession time: When I first started my own blog a few months ago, I was well aware of the importance of choosing a specific niche. I thought my blog was solidly in the personal finance niche at first, and so I began networking with other personal finance bloggers.

After the flurry of interest and comments on my blog spurred by my initial contact with the community, I noticed that my traffic numbers were still struggling even after a couple more months of consistent posting. Then, upon further analysis, I realized that my blog was shaping up as a weird mashup of a few different niches – personal finance, work-at-home mom interests, freelance writing, and Internet marketing.

What was I thinking?! All of those topics are their own complete niches with their own separate audiences, and finding my place in such separate spheres with one blog is quite tough at best and downright impossible at worst. I’m currently working to restructure my blog to focus on just one niche, but the moral of the story for you is this: Please pick a well-defined niche before you write anything or even begin to think about theme shopping. Then, you must stick to the topic you’ve selected. It may seem fun to start a blog on many different topics to “see where it leads,” but the chances are mighty slim that it will be a monetary success. When you define your niche from the get-go and laser focus in on your target audience, it will make the rest of the steps that much easier and your community that much quicker to build.
Step #2 – Post Every Day

Bottom line: If you want to build a site or blog, you must post. A lot. Like every day. You don’t have to post feature-length wonders every 24 hours by any stretch, but you must be consistent. Don’t post drivel or rely on guest posts to do your work for you. Your readers want to hear your voice and your views – it’s your job to give them exactly what they’re visiting for or they simply won’t return. So make it a priority to post quality content every day.

You should also strive to make your posts or articles as informative and witty as possible. Try to find a unique angle if you’re tackling a heavily-discussed topic. You want to present a new spin on information as opposed to simply regurgitating the same articles that your readers can easily hunt down elsewhere. For more tips on how to do this, check out What Most Webmasters Don’t Know About Their Failing Website Content.

You should also strive to pepper your site with pillar articles. To understand what this entails, I always go back to this excerpt from an Entrepreneurs-Journey.com post:

In order to make sure I have enough pillar articles on my own blog, I try to write at least one a week, and then I write my regular posts daily.
#3 – Make Connections

If you’ve successfully identified your niche and started posting quality content at regular intervals, then you’re ready to get the word out about your site. You should first figure out who the core members of your group are – and, trust me, every niche has its diehards. It’s just up to you to unearth them.

There are many ways to dig up the people in your niche. All it takes is identifying one of the key players, and the comments section of that person’s site or blog will typically be full of comments from the others – complete with a handy list of links back to their sites.

To find a key player in your niche, start with a simple Internet search. Simply type the primary keyword for your niche followed by the word “blog” or “forum” into the search bar. When you do this, you’ll be presented with a list of the heavy-hitters in your niche, so get your investigation on and start a breadcrumb trail for yourself.

This part of the plan should be a process. You may want to check out Twitter conversations and other social factors to get a feel for the way the people in your niche interact with one another. Spend a good deal of time observing, and then when you feel comfortable, start jumping in and commenting on as many blogs as possible only after you’ve determined which sites or blogs are the most relevant for your comments.
#4 – Give Shout-Outs

Once you’ve established your presence in your niche, it’s time to kick that exposure up a notch. Try weekly roundup posts or articles in which you highlight ten or more of the best posts from other sites in your niche with links back to their corresponding sites. Continue this every single week, and you will slowly begin to see people returning the favor. And those people may have a much bigger audience and far more reach than you, so this step is vital.

You should also work at least one guest post a week into your schedule. Once you’ve garnered a rep with your peers, begin approaching them one by one and offering to write guest posts for their sites. The farther you spread your site’s name, the more targeted traffic will begin to flow in.
#5 – Stay Organized and Consistent

Organization is the name of the game when it comes to community-building. Why? Because the Internet can be a huge time suck, and if you don’t go in with a plan of attack, you may never come out alive. I stick to a list of daily tasks that I must complete so I have a clear focus when I’m online.

I like to use a large wall calendar, but you could use an app in your phone or any other organizational aid to help you out with this one. Schedule your daily posts (including one pillar post per week), your weekly guest post, and ten comments on other blogs each day. This should get you started. Over time, you will begin to see your readership grow and your traffic skyrocket. The secret? Organization and Consistency.

Source: http://site-reference.com/articles/seo-is-important-but-community-building-is-key/

10 SEO and Link Building Mistakes

by

Mistake 1 – Neglecting On-page Optimization:

I think more people are beginning to understand the importance of on-page optimization when it comes to ranking their web pages. With so much focus on keywords and link building though, often I see webmasters focusing too heavily on the “off page” stuff, without realizing what they do “on” their website is just as important. Proper internal linking, keyword density, LSI, image text, no follow tags, just to name a few, are also very important to search engines. There are free plugins available to help you with a lot of this stuff, so do your due diligence and implement whatever strategies need be.

Mistake 2 – Freaking Out When Rankings Plummet:

Go onto any internet marketing forum and you will see this every single time. People are literally freaking out when they see their rankings drop. Most often this is due to a thing we call the Google dance. All new websites go through what is called a “honeymoon” period where their websites rank very well at the beginning, but after a couple of weeks they settle in the search results… usually at a much lower ranking, again, this is natural.

If your websites have age and have dropped in rankings, you may need to work harder to get your position back. You may need to update your content more often, you may need to build more backlinks or you may need to re-evaluate your SEO strategy. Google’s algorithm is changing frequently these days so it’s important to find out what they want, and go give it to them. The days of gaming the system through black-hat techniques is coming to an end.

Mistake 3 – Writing for the Search Engines:

This is one of the biggest mistakes I see being made day in and day out. Webmasters are writing terrible content that is keyword stuffed for the bots. While it is important to have a certain keyword structure within your content so that the search engines know what your content is about, it is very important that you write for the human visitor FIRST. Some say for every 100 words, you should have your keyword inserted once. So, if you have a 1000 word post, you will put your target keyword into the article 10 times. I think this is a good rule of thumb to follow.

Make sure that when you read your article out loud, that it sounds natural and not robotic like. Always remember, if inserting your keyword too often into your post takes away from the natural flow of the article itself… then do not do it. Google is clamping down really hard on over optimized websites. Always write with your target human visitor in mind.

Mistake 4 – Building Thousands of Low Quality Links:

I cannot believe this is still going on with all of the changes Google has made. There are still idiots out there blasting thousands of links to their money sites in the hope of climbing the serps. I was offered 10,000 free links the other day to my website and I told the person to take a run and jump. Those kinds of links are going to have an adverse affect on your ranking. It has to be bloody obvious that Google hates these kinds of links and, if your business is solely dependent on this kind of strategy, then you are playing the fools game. One solid PR5 backlink from a relevant site will be far more powerful than a million links from low quality, non-relevant crappy sites.

Mistake 5 – Not Being Aware of Nofollow and Dofollow:

When I first started out in this industry I had no idea about these two terms. I built a lot of links to one of my first websites and it was taking forever to gain traction in the serps. After a bit of investigating I found that almost all of my backlinks were placed on web pages that were nofollow. Needless to say, those links were just not as effective for rankings as the dofollow links I needed. I’m not saying that nofollow links don’t have their place. In fact, it’s important to have diversity in your linking structure, but most of your links must be dofollow to gain maximum benefit.

Mistake 6 – Expecting Quick Results:

I know when I first started online, I expected to make a lot of money fairly quickly. Boy was I brought back down to earth over the next 6 – 12 months. I almost threw in the towel on more than one occasion because it became very frustrating, trying to make this thing work for me. I built website after website, built a hell of a lot of backlinks, wrote hundreds of articles and participated in all the social media sites, but, it just wasn’t happening as quick as I was led to believe it would.

I realized later on that NOBODY makes money online quickly. They all have to put in the hard work. Your progress can be accelerated if you are willing to spend some cash and outsource a lot of the grunt work, but in my experience, expecting to make money very quickly online usually works against you in the long run. The failure rate is so high because people find this out the hard way.

Mistake 7 – Not Being Consistent:

If you are serious about making money online then you must be consistent every single day with your efforts. This can be the biggest stumbling block for many. It almost was for me. You can work very hard to get top search engine rankings for a particular keyword, but even after the fact, you still have to be consistent with your efforts, else your competitors will overtake you fairly quickly. Everything you do in regards to your online business has got to be consistent. You must put the work in everyday if you are to see the results you’re after. Go read Jeff Olsen’s “The Slight Edge” and practice what you learn.

Mistake 8 – Not Diversifying Your Link Building:

To make your link building look natural, it’s important to gain backlinks from many different sources. Backlinks from just article directories and no other places for example, do not look natural and can hurt your rankings. You need to get links from social media sites, article directories, blogs, blog comments, forums etc. Diversifying your link building looks natural and can put you ahead of your competitors in the search results. A naturally good website will get links from many places, not just one or two.

Mistake 9 – Not Getting High Page Rank Links:

Every day you are backlinking, you should be looking to place your links onto high PR websites. Google values links placed on higher PR websites exponentially higher than low PR websites. These links are obviously harder to get, but that is exactly the point. The harder it is to get a link, the more valuable that link is likely to be. This is why all these push button software programs that can get you thousands of links are crap. You will not come across a software program that gets you high quality backlinks with the push of a button. Anyone who tells you differently is either lying or a moron.

Mistake 10 – Not Updating Your Content Often Enough:

Obviously the more high quality backlinks pointing to your content, the higher your search engine rankings will be. You will then get lots of free traffic. While this is the basic approach that everybody uses to climb the serps, there is another way. Google loves websites that update often. I have built a website that has very few backlinks pointing to it that gets me 10,000 visitors a month from the search engines. The reason for this is because I regularly update my content.

I see webmasters spending so much time building backlinks to their websites every day. This is important of course, but if they actually spent an hour each day writing a new post for their website, they would get far more traffic further down the line. I know this works because I have used this approach many times in the past. With all the Panda’s and Penguins about these days, I have found my websites gain higher search rankings, simply because I always have fresh content on my sites. If you do not want to write every day, then write at least 3 times a week – it helps.

Source: http://www.sitepronews.com/2012/07/01/10-seo-and-link-building-mistakes/

Google Isn’t Getting Freshness Right, Despite Increased Emphasis

by

A study has come out from Conductor, indicating that one in five Google Knowledge Graph entries for trending keywords are outdated.

Do you think Google is doing a good job at delivering fresh results when relevant? Share your feedback in the comments.

Google announced Knowledge Graph last month, with a great deal of hype. Google seems to consider it one of the most important things it has done for search in a long time. While it may be significant, it appears that there is still plenty of work to be done.

Another thing Google prides itself on is indexing speed, which it has gotten much better at over the years. According to Conductor’s study, however, this type of speed is not being applied to Knowledge Graph.

“Our analysis of both low and high activity queries tells us that Google and Wikipedia are mismatched for a substantial ‘one out of five’ high activity queries,” says Conductor’s Nathan Safran. “And, when they are mismatched, half the time, Google is behind by 2 or more days. The implication is that searchers may not be seeing the most relevant information for their query. For some context, in our LeBron James example, this means his Knowledge Graph entry could have been without reference to his recent championship for up to four days.”

It’s interesting that Google seems to be falling behind on freshness in some areas, even while it has become such a point of emphasis with recent algorithm updates, sometimes to a fault.

The really evident lack of freshness comes where it is probably most relevant – real time. Google, as you may know, no longer has realtime search, since its deal with Twitter dissolved last year, and now Google simply can’t “organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible” as well as it could with that deal in place. It’s just not happening. Twitter is the primary place for realtime info, hands down. That could change, but for now, that’s just how it is.

Now, Google is pushing this Knowledge Graph in a big way, and even it is apparently behind.

Google made some big search-related announcements at Google I/O, related to the new version of Android, Jellybean. There are Siri-like voice features, and Google Now, which we talked about in more detail here. It may take some time, but these may be very important elements to Google’s future as a search engine. Another one of the new search elements is improved visualization of Knowledge Graph results. Based on Google’s demo of the operating system. Knowledge Graph will be more front and center, at least on mobile search. It stands to reason that this will flow into other version of Google mobile search, beyond Jellybean.

While Google may use a lot of different sources for Knowledge Graph results, it’s clear that Wikipedia is the go-to source, as most of the results you are likely to see, will show Wikipedia info above all else. Wikipedia isn’t perfect, but two day-old Wikipedia is even less perfect, and will make Google less perfect.

Google has acknowledged that Knowledge Graph is not perfect. When Google announced the feature, we asked how susceptible it would be to Wikipedia vandalism. A spokesperson told us at the time, “I can’t share a ton of detail here, but we’ve got quality controls in place to try to mitigate this kind of issue. We’ve also included a link so users can tell us when we may have an inaccuracy in our information.”

On the one hand, a real time Wikipedia-based Knowledge Graph may actually make it more susceptible to vandalism. If it’s real time, it’s going to display exactly what’s on Wikipedia, even before editors have a chance to correct issues. Perhaps some lag is needed for quality control.

Safran says, “While a real time Wikipedia update may ultimately not be practical, if Google is indeed positioning Knowledge Graph as the future of search, we have to believe that they can do better than the 2-4 day lag many of their mismatched keywords currently reflect.”

Two to four days can make a huge difference when it comes to information, obviously. Wikipedia pages are often at their most relevant when they are about someone or something in the news. Conductor mentions Lebron James as an example. An outdated Knowledge Graph result could ignore a championship that was just achieved. A celebrity result could ignore a their recent death.

Source: http://www.webpronews.com/google-isnt-getting-freshness-right-despite-increased-emphasis-2012-06