Thursday, Mar 11, 2010

Posts Tagged ‘corporate internet marketing’

Squidoo Can Play a Central Role In Any Social Media Marketing

Posted by David Redfern in Blog, Latest News, SEO Friday, 19 February 2010 13:00 No Comments

As a knowledge sharing platform, Squidoo can play a central role in any social media marketing, brand reputation or search engine optimisation campaign. From a business perspective, creating and maintaining a lens offers an opportunity to reach out to your target market on an informal level, sharing tips, knowledge and advice about company products and services.

Squidoo is very well rated to by the most popular search engines and is rapidly becoming too good an SEO opportunity to pass up. Within the lens you can add links back to your own web site so an authority lens can make a big contribution to better site rankings overall.

Getting Started

Get the basics out of the way – create a user account, log in and familiarize yourself with the easy to use dashboard. Click the ‘create a lens’ button and then decide on a name. At this point, you must keep basic SEO principles in mind. Your Squidoo lens is a chance to take up another spot on the search engine results pages so you’ll want to include your product name, company name and priority keywords if possible. Keep the title short and catchy.

Squidoo allows you to rate the lens in much the same way as films are rated – most will be suitable for all audience, but take time to read the other options just in case some material is unsuitable for certain audiences. At this second stage you’re also invited to choose your own Squidoo URL. Again, keep in mind SEO optimisation principles and branding considerations to give visibility a helping hand.

With the lens now named, you can start to add keywords. Although you’re limited to three initially, you can add more later so choose the most relevant three for the moment.

First Updates

When you complete the set up process, you’re presented with the basics of a good lens. Among the choices when you first begin to add content to your new Squidoo page are welcome text, Flickr photos, YouTube videos, a guestbook, Google Blog search and Amazon voting.

You probably won’t be able to complete each of the modules straight off (you may need to enlist the help of other departments or hunt down relevant pictures for example) but make an appointment to start populating the modules you don’t complete at this first pass. A good Squidoo lens will take a lot of time and work to create and maintain but it’s worth putting in the extra effort to give your page a chance of appearing in the SERPS. There are millions of mediocre lenses just as there are millions of blogs and community pages that were left to fade into obscurity after the first flush of enthusiasm. A mediocre page won’t contribute to your ranking positions or drive traffic to your web site though so do try and keep to a realistic update schedule.

Using Modules

Regular updates are essential but that doesn’t mean that you have to write reams and reams of text. Of course, if you have white papers or insights into any aspect of your industry or product use, it pays to add them to your lens but if you’re short on time, you can get creative with the pre-loaded modules that Squidoo offers. A great way to ensure cohesion of message is to link your Squidoo lens to your other social media outlets – you can do this by going to Add Modules at the top of the dashboard and then selecting the new content type you would like to load in.

The best lenses blend a variety of modules to create a useful, informative page that visitors will return to time and time again. Link to your eBay shop to generate additional revenue, add Twitter Follow or Lists to increase your Twitter followers, add Wikipedia knowledge, slideshare, even videos from Saturday Night Live.

Optimisation

Whatever kind of content you add, make sure to always include relevant tags for the post and link back to your own web site where appropriate. You can use HTML code within text modules, so choose anchor text wisely and try other optimization tips such as the use of H2 and H3 tags for longer chunks of text. Remember, you want to apply as many SEO techniques as possible to make your lens stand out in the SERPS. This will ultimately drive more traffic and brand awareness your way.

About Footprints-SEO.com

Footprints-SEO.com is an internet marketing company whose priority is to make your organization rise above the competition, we are a group of talented and dedicated individuals with a passion for search engine optimization. We will custom-tailor marketing strategies that are right for you and your business, while ensuring top search engine optimization and web-site design.

Footprints-SEO.com has the answer to all your internet marketing needs.


Developing a Social Media Strategy for Success

Posted by David Redfern in Blog, Latest News, SEO, Selling Tips Friday, 19 February 2010 12:42 No Comments

To develop any business strategy, be it marketing, sales or operational, you must ask yourself what you are doing, what kind of environment you are operating in and what your goals are. Only by drilling down to the very essence of your organization can you develop a plan for moving forwards. Developing a social media strategy for search engine optimisation (SEO) success  follows the same pattern- it’s essential you know what you are doing, how you are doing it and most importantly, why.

Millions of businesses jumped on the social media express train over the last 12 months but, many of them do not know why they have a Facebook account or why it was so important that they have a presence on Twitter. Even those companies that have dedicated personnel in-house to work on their social media presence often struggle to justify the investment – they just know that they ought to be participating in social media, often as part of their SEO efforts. This mindset means that money and effort is being extended with no means of tracking progress, measuring return or monitoring conversions.

Social media in 2010 can be much more than ‘ought to be participating’ or ‘no idea why we are on Facebook’. 2010 can be the year that your organization develops a definitive social media strategy, with a clear what, where and why. As part of this, specific goals and objectives must be defined and definitive means of tracking progress towards them implemented. This knowledge, if dissimilated through the various layers of your organization could transform something you’re already doing to something that really starts to reap rewards and makes a positive contribution to your business practices.

About Footprints-SEO.com

Footprints-SEO.com is an internet marketing company whose priority is to make your organization rise above the competition, we are a group of talented and dedicated individuals with a passion for search engine optimization. We will custom-tailor marketing strategies that are right for you and your business, while ensuring top search engine optimization and web-site design.

Footprints-SEO.com has the answer to all your internet marketing needs.


How to hire an Online Marketing Agency?

Posted by David Redfern in Blog, Latest News, SEO Friday, 19 February 2010 12:33 No Comments

If, despite your best efforts, your website is not making the inroads you would hope in the search engine rankings, it may be time to consider recruiting a online marketing agency like Footprints SEO.

The job of appointing a search engine optimisation company can be daunting if you have never worked with an SEO specialist, will likely make or break your online success. For many firms, their SEO is a sales tool so you’ll want to be sure you’re making the right decision. Hiring an online marketing agency can also be difficult if your own web site optimisation knowledge is basic as you do not want to be blinded by science or thrown off course by the use of technical jargon.

As we speak to hundreds of businesses throughout the UK, Europe and USA, we’ve compiled this guide of questions to ask.

1. What new SEO related skills and services have been recently developed?

Online Marketing consultancy is a crowded and competitive marketplace, so you shouldn’t have any problems finding companies to approach. Because SEO changes so quickly, you’ll want your new agency to be on top of their game. A great opening question is to ask the SEO agency you are considering what new techniques they have added to their optimisation repertoire in the last 3 months. Although search engines like Google keep their algorithms a closely guarded secret, a good SEO company will constantly be adapting and updating their methodology and services.

2. Can they offer an SEO site review?

If possible, ask agencies to produce a brief report focusing on problems and opportunities with your current website in search engine optimisation terms prior to signing an agreement. This doesn’t have to be a detailed report, a conversation about the site will suffice. Can the SEO consultant identify possible barriers to stronger rankings? Do they approach the site in a methodical and logical manner? Do they ask questions to get some background to the site and previous SEO efforts? You can request an SEO site audit from Footprints SEO here.

3. What kind of link building strategies will be used and what is their position on link buying and link bait?

The importance of an experienced link builder cannot be underestimated, so have a detailed discussion about the SEO firm’s preferred methodology and previous experience. Be sure to check that link building and off page optimisation is included in the package quoted as some Online Marketing agency representatives will quote separately for each SEO module so you may be looking at an extra cost. All Footprints SEO packages include link building.

Look for an emphasis on relevant links and tactics to increase inbound links from sources likely to drive good quality traffic to the site.

4. What kind of reporting and analytics packages will be used to track SEO results?

You’d expect any direct hire to be able to report back to you about job progress and tasks completed, so don’t expect any less from your new online marketing consultancy. Ask for a breakdown of reporting methodology and copies of dummy reports.

5. Will competitor analysis be used in on and off page optimisation?

Keeping an eye on the competition is a must in any well-executed SEO campaign, so you’ll need to know that your SEO consultancy can bring competitor analysis skills to the table. Ask for examples and a detailed breakdown of what will be included in the competitor research. It’s also worth checking that you can specify sites yourself to be included.

About Footprints SEO

Footprints-SEO.com is an internet marketing company whose priority is to make your organization rise above the competition, we are a group of talented and dedicated individuals with a passion for search engine optimization. We will custom-tailor marketing strategies that are right for you and your business, while ensuring top search engine optimization and web-site design.

Footprints-SEO.com has the answer to all your internet marketing needs.


Award Winning Online Journalists Will Research And Write Your Press Release

Posted by David Redfern in Latest News, SEO Monday, 15 February 2010 11:37 No Comments

Whether you have a lot to say or a little, Footprints SEO’s press release research and distribution service puts your message in front of the world’s press at exactly the right time.

Our award-winning in house team of online journalists and SEO specialists will research and write your press release. Available as both a one-off and recurring service, your press release has no word limits and is optimised for media publication.

Setting out your new product, boasting about a client win, introducing an innovative new service or announcing your presence at a major event, our press release service is tailored to your individual needs.

If things are quiet on the news front but you would like to maintain contact with the press, or even introduce your company to the media for the very first time, Footprints SEO understands news values and will present a series of ideas for your consideration.

Our team will brainstorm the best way to secure column inches for your brand and then suggest press release titles, themes and approaches. As with your own company news, these ideas can be used as stand alone news items or play a role as part of a more sustained campaign.

Walking the walk and talking the talk is easy with Footprints SEO. Just tell us about your product and service and let our team do the rest. We’ll research current trends, search out relevant facts, figures, studies and stats and wrap it all up in a media friendly package.

Presented in a custom designed press release template, Footprints SEO compiles a bespoke contact list specifically for your news item. For each item we issue to the media, an up to date list will be created to ensure your PR reaches only the most relevant of contacts.

Delivered directly to the inbox of each major national, regional and local newspaper and magazine, our news hounds will go the extra mile to sniff out specialist publications, relevant foreign press, online web sites and social media sites.

A series of press distribution sites are used as standard to ensure publication in RSS feeds – giving a wider net of coverage – and Google news alerts. If relevant, your press release will be given its moment in the spotlight at high traffic sites such as Google Base, MySpace, Facebook and Squidoo. All relevant forums and online business communities will also be presented with a copy and media requests carried out and followed up on your behalf.

Nosy by nature, our team will also track who reads the press release and where it’s published, giving you a fully accountable tracking service. Scouring the web, you’ll receive both real time notifications and periodic resumes of published links and media exposure. These are presented in a report format and can be discussed with your account manager at your convenience.


11 Must Have Wordpress Plugins

Posted by David Redfern in Latest News, SEO Saturday, 13 February 2010 22:17 No Comments

Wordpress has become a massive platform for internet marketers and internet users alike. The large array of themes, plugins and possible customizations make it in my opinion one of the best website/blog platforms available right now. I am going to share with you some of the best plugins I have ever come across and how they can be used for your website or blog.

1) All in One SEO pack – Many of you will have already heard of this one but it is undeniably important and effective. It allows you to specify the title, description and keywords for each post and page. You will want to enter in keyword rich titles and descriptions.  This will be the information that will be displayed in the search engines. Here is a screenshot of the All in One SEO Pack plugin:

2) Pretty Link – This plugin is excellent for tracking the click-through of specific links. You are able to create unique links with you domain name. For example, I could create http://www.footprints-seo.com/prettylink. This URL currently does not go anywhere as I have not created it but if I used Pretty Link to create that URL I could redirect that URL to anywhere I wanted and track the amount of people that click on that unique URL I created. This is great for affiliate marketers or email marketers to track the click-through of each campaign or email. This is also great just to keep all your URLs appearing as your own.

3) Disqus Commenting System – The Disqus commenting system is in my opinion by far the best commenting system available. If you click the comments at the top of this post you will see what I am talking about. This commenting system is clean and neat and allows integration of Twitter and Facebook. You are able to either comment with you actual Disqus account, your Twitter account (which will also Tweet your comment), your Facebook account or as a guest. This integration is great for both you (the website owners) and your viewers. It helps to spread the word about your site as the comments are tweeted and facebooked everywhere. It integrates social networking tools that other people use so they can maintain their persona while commenting. There are also a lot of different skins for Disqus that you can use to customize the look to help it fit in with your website/blog.

4)  Contact Form 7 – This is a great simple plugin that can be used to create contact forms. You can customize them as much as you like to gather whatever information you are looking for. An example of the Contact Form 7 plugin in use is in my “Contact” page. You will see a contact form there created by this plugin. Creation of the forms is very straight forward and the implementation is as easy as copying one line and pasting it into your post or page.

5) Page Link Manager – This plugin is great as it allows you to choose which pages are displayed in your Wordpress navigation. The plugin is very basic, it simply lists all your pages in the options and you can click radio buttons to select which pages are shown in your navigation. This is great for, thank you pages after a viewer has subscribed, free gifts pages or sales pages that don’t want to be visible in the navigation. It is a great little plugin that can be very useful.

6) Google XML Sitemaps Generator – This plugin is very important to help search engines like Google, MSN and Yahoo to easily find your site. The plugin creates a Sitemap with all your pages and posts. It creates a separate page where you can link to in your footer.

7) WP-Email – This is another plugin that you can use to promote your blog and website. It creates a link after your post for people to send an email to their friends about your post. This is a great way to increase traffic as it is the online version of word-of-mouth.

8 ) Ultimate Google Analytics - This plugin integrates Google Analytics with your Wordpress site. It displays statistics about your viewers and where they are coming from. This is very powerful and all website/blog owners must use Google Analytics. There are a lot features and options in Analytics so you should spend some time learning about it and how it can help you to track the effectiveness of your site.

9) WP E-Commerce - This plugin allows you to convert your wordpress site into a fully blown ecommerce website with a fully functional shopping cart. There are a few other plugins that are similar but this one is by far the best. This plugin also integrates web 2.0 with your shopping cart and allows you to for example import your products into Facebook. This plugin has a lot of different features so it is great for creating a shopping cart that works for you.

10) MobilePress – This is a great plugin that is becoming increasingly popular with the rise of 3G mobile phones. It allows you to optimize your site to be viewed on mobile phones such as the ever so popular iPhone. Allow your viewers to be able to access your site from anywhere on their mobile phone.

11) Wordpress Automatic Upgrade – All Wordpress website owners should get this plugin. It is a set and forget plugin. It will automatically update your Wordpress installation for you to always ensure you are using the latest release of Wordpress.

This is a list of 11 must-have Wordpress Plugins. I hope you found this useful. I would love to hear your comments and thoughts on your favorite Wordpress plugins.