Social Media – Page 11 – The Web Authority

January 9, 2014January 4, 2014

2014 Trends for Business Websites and Online Marketing – Part Two

In continuation from Tuesday in this blog post on trends for business website marketing and visibility, I’ll talk about Google+ Local pages and YouTube.

Google+ Local Pages Also Known as Google Places

Big changes happened last year for Google+ Local pages. First, Google removed many of the fields you can use to add information, removing any degree of optimization you could previously do on keywords. Once the account is set up, what the customer sees about your business is limited. Google now returns listings not based on optimization or the number of reviews but based on the smartphone user’s location. For desktop searches, Google Places/Local Page listings are shown based on proximity to your location and possibly in some markets based on the number of reviews and possibly again on click through rates.

What a business owner used to be able to do to get placement on location specific keywords is gone. We do still recommend a regular update of videos and pictures on the account, but there is simply not a lot of updating to be done once the account is set up. In fact in the last three months, Google even removed the owner’s comment field where promotions and specials were listed.

YouTube Videos

For many businesses we work with, YouTube is still “undiscovered country”. Many business owners feel that they have to pay to have professionally created video for YouTube, but actually even videos made with your phone or camera are considered the same to Google. Videos that show your products, explain your services, explain briefly a concept are still excellent for business owners to use for exposure. As videos may be shown in with organic results and not even associated with a link to your website utilizing YouTube better should be a New Year’s resolution for business owners for 2014.

Product Listing Ads Now Called Google Shopping Campaigns in AdWords

If you have an ecommerce store and are an AdWords advertiser and are not using Product Listing Ads – soon to be called Google Shopping Campaigns, you are missing out on one of the best things that Google has brought to the AdWords arena. Google shows pictures of products within the organic results and you pay be the click for activity on your store products. Although the data feed is onerous to create and requires much more than just a download of your products (it requires the use of Google’s own taxonomy for each product,) implementation can really boost your individual product sales. Your competition is already embracing Google Shopping Campaigns!

2013 has brought us some sweeping changes at Google. It will be interesting to see how these important changes will impact business and visibility as we enter 2014.

November 11, 2013

Social Networking Meltdown – Which Are Important to Use

One clients just left me this comment on the phone about my recommendation of Pinterest, and I think it is indicative of how many small business owners feel. “All I could think of is yet another social networking site I have to add to my work load. I am about ready to throw my hands up, I don’t think I can add one more thing in the social media area as I can barely keep up with what I am doing now.” These sentiments have been voiced by many as the online world is bombarded with new programs and platforms.

What social networks deserve your real attention as a small to medium sized business owner at this point?

Get on Google+ and integrate your website and blog with the +1 button. This one is just too big to not have an early participation in. Why? Because it’s a Google property and Google is tightly integrating +1 votes and Google+ activity with its search engine.
Make sure you are using Twitter. The viral nature and the ability to interact with a wide market is important to selling outside your local sphere. I’m watching sponsored Tweets very closely for small business and feel that in the long run activity on Twitter will be a key marketing strategy even for local selling businesses. Link sharing and interaction with others in your industry as well as prospects in a casual environment make this one of my top social networking picks.
Make sure you have a Facebook Business page set up. Although right now I feel that businesses may want to have a minimal presence there due to poor fan growth, due to the changes Facebook made to how brands use Facebook in the fourth quarter of 2011, things could change, and change quickly. In fact, Facebook is announcing what changes they will be making for brands on Wednesday February 29th. This announcement may change my recommendations, but for now based on my research paper, I recommend a wait and see approach.
If you are selling business to business or business to government, LinkedIn is the place for you to connect. Establish a full profile and then update your wall on LinkedIn at least twice a day. Get active in groups and ask questions. Not all businesses will thrive using LinkedIn, but many who cater to businesses and want to reach business executives should consider LinkedIn a top priority. I have not had success with LinkedIn advertising so steer clear of that for now.
Pinterest is a hot new property, but unless you are selling retail fashion merchandise, I recommend you don’t take on this social network. Although you may check it out in the future, if you are strapped for time steer clear of this one for now unless you are selling retail jewelry or clothing.

I hope this helps you to decide which networks you should focus on, the bottom-line is get going on something and start building your network now. Social media will simply not get less important over time.

If you are overwhelmed by social media we can be your solution, with competent American college educated writers, we take on updating your profiles and pages; building your network for your future.

September 10, 2013September 7, 2013

Giving Google What It Wants

Placement on Google may make or break your business, especially if you are not wanting to spend thousands each month in AdWords to appear in the Paid Search Results. However, the way that a website gets placement now on Google has radically changed.

I recommend you read this interesting and insightful article written by Gianluca Fiorelli for MOZ called “SEO in the Personalization Age“. I feel that this is one of the most concise explanations of how Google has changed this last year to provide localized and personalized results and the impact on organic placement.

The biggest issue still for clients, is to capitalize on in these important and significant changes, is to stop writing or optimizing code for search engines and start focusing on putting the reader and site visitor first in all they do.

The author concludes the MOZ article with these very thoughtful points:

“Amit Singhal [of Google] is right when he says that “Answer,” “Converse,” and “Anticipate”—deep personalization of search, I called it—is going to change search as we know it.

“Is this maybe the reason why the Search Team at Google is now called the Knowledge Team? Is this maybe the main reason for “Not Provided” keywords, as Will Critchlow mentioned?

“What I know is that personalization is already so heavily present in search that avoiding it in the name of a fading neutral search is not doing good SEO.

“Moreover, personalized search is clearly telling us how SEO alone is not enough, but that content, social, and email marketing by themselves are also not enough to obtain a real and complete success in Internet marketing.”

The new model for organic placement on Google is one that takes a multi-platform and multi-pronged approach.

1. Localization and specifically localization for mobile search is a developing area. Make sure you list your location, address, city and state as well as phone number on your website. If you are a local selling store, restaurant, or business focusing on localization is key for you. Although you may never place for search queries at a national level if your business is location based this provides real opportunity.

2. Personalized search impacts nearly every single search done on Google. By making your website and social media engaging, interactive, and user-centric, you work to engage the model of crowdsourcing that spreads information about you and your business that is leveraged and incorporated into Google’s personalized search results. I personally find moderating a Google+ Community is a fine way to expand circles and thus appear in a wider variety of personalized searches from my +1 activity. Google shows the things I like, comment on, link to, and speak about in the Google results of others who are in my Google+ circles. It is important to understand that getting placement through using social media has moved well beyond just having a Twitter account and posting updates.

3. Create a continuing stream of website and blog content that provides shareability and value to readers. It is important to position your website and business entity as an authority in your industry. You do this by creating content that provides real value to readers. These readers in return comment and share your content online. Building up co-citations and links back to you in the process. This is done in a natural way, by real people who become your advocates, versus in a planned link building strategy which Google has devalued.

If you feel you need help with your own website strategy, I invite you to visit our website for more information and information about our services in these areas.