1. Content

Create high quality content and post it on either your site or a third party site. This is one of the most important steps to boosting organic traffic. Content creation has a significant effect on getting good ranking with search engines. However, it is also important not to stuff keywords in the content. The information posted on a webpage should be relevant, helpful and informative. As a general rule of thumb, keyword density should be 2-4%. Just try to remember to write for the user and not the search engine, and you will be on the right path.

2. Search Engine Optimization

Make the webpages search engine-friendly. The optimization techniques should target the most used search engines on the internet. If the webpage has keywords that are frequently searched for, it will experience an increase in organic traffic. Keywords should appear in the title, headers, and body of content.

The site should be user-friendly and with a logical link structure to rank highly on search engines. One method of doing this is by including a breadcrumb trail to ease navigation. Most search engines place certain importance on incoming links that a site has. RSS feeds and press release distribution are some of the methods used to increase incoming links to a site.

3. Images

Some people miss organic traffic generated by image searches because the image files they use on their sites have not been properly optimized. To optimize images, name them using a word or phrase that is closely related to the site’s content. The common mistake that many site owners make is that they use numbers to name their images such as “image 7.jpg”. Such names do not help search engines know what an image displays. Use appropriate alt tags when naming the images. For example, if the site deals with phone apps use the alt tag “how to make phone apps.”

4. Social Networking

Social networks have millions of active users. This creates a platform for organic traffic generation that is free. Social networking sites have pages for businesses and people who deal with various products and services. By posting information on a page, many people can share the information with their friends and clients.

Whenever users interact with a company’s page, an update will display on their profile pages as well. If the users communicate interesting information about the company, other friends can share it and this can go viral. This can significantly boost organic traffic to the company’s website.

5. Keyword Research

Use various web research tools to find out the keywords that most people use when making a search. This helps website owners find search keywords that they can use to optimize their sites. Go for long-tail keywords instead of high volume keywords.

Long-tail keywords have less traffic but less competition. High volume keywords are more competitive, this means people who use high volume keywords are competing against many other sites using the same keywords.

Business owners do not just want to increase traffic to their sites but also attract the interest of people with the right demographics. Organic traffic allows website owners to get the attention of the right clients by using traffic-boosting techniques to optimize their sites.

This is a guest post by Aubrey Phelps, a writer for Nethosting. She studies SEO and spends her spare time with family.

In the Adwords blog, Google says, “People are constantly connected and moving from one device to another to communicate, shop and stay entertained.”

The introduction of many new forms of technology had made it cumbersome to advertise on Adwords; often advertisers would have to design multiple campaigns with similar ad groups, keywords and targeting, just linking to a mobile friendly landing page.  Doing this not only wasted time, but it caused problems in reporting since campaigns were targeted similarly, yet tracked separately. There was also no way to track which users may have started browsing on a mobile phone, but completed their transaction on a computer.

One of the most significant changes in the new Adwords interface is the ability to target by device and utilize signals like location and time of day.

“With enhanced campaigns, instead of having to cobble together and compare several separate campaigns, reports and ad extensions [you can] manage all of this in one single place. Enhanced campaigns help you reach people with the right ads, based on their context like location, time of day and device type, across all devices without having to set up and manage several separate campaigns.”

When we first heard of this upgrade, our first thought was — but what about our existing campaigns? Google has answered this concern with an easy-to-use interface that allows you to upgrade your old campaigns. Simply follow the steps when you log in, and everything should transfer nicely. Learn more with video tutorials from Google.

After we completed our upgrades, we spent a good amount of time reading blogs, watching webinars and videos so we could get examples of what this system could really do.

At first glance, we love the following:

• Easy to update bids based on time of day, location, and device. Move bids up or down by percentage.
• More control over day and time bids
• Integration of Google Adwords Editor
• Upgraded enhancements and sitelinks

Overall, it seems like the new enhanced campaigns is going to be a useful system that marketers will grow to love. It’ll take a little time getting used to having data concentrated in one place, but it’s not anything to be too concerned about.

One thing that we believe could be great news for clients is the ability to create dynamic search ads. It’s an area we’re still exploring, but for those that haven’t heard about it, dynamic search ads are, Google says, “Dynamic Search Ads don’t use keywords. Instead, Dynamic Search Ads automatically show your ad based on the content of your website. This means you don’t have to choose keywords, tell us when you add a page to your website or take it down, or create an ad for each product page of your site.”

Social Reasons

Social media gives people a voice. People feel important when they post on their Facebook and Twitter and actually get a response. It gives us a sense of belonging and allows us to connect with people from far away. People get a sense of satisfaction from every “like” and “retweet” they get which drives them to post more, like more, and interact more. Human beings are social creatures and we love to interact. Social media gives us the platform to do just that.

Curiosity Reasons

The “sharing” option on most social media sites creates this curiosity within users. Human beings are naturally curious and when we see certain posts or videos on our news feed, we feel the need to explore. We get entertainment from what our followers or friends post, even if we don’t necessarily have a personal connection with them. The term “Facebook stalking” may sound familiar in regards to this reason.

Business Reasons

Businesses use social media to reach out to their possible consumers just as consumers use social media to find out what’s new out there in the market. Since the rise of social media, many businesses have gained much more exposure through word of mouth on social media sites. For example, the “tag where you are” option on Facebook allows users to tag themselves at specific restaurants, upload pictures of their food, and unknowingly “market” for that business.  Social media has also given businesses the opportunity to reach out to their consumers through various promotions and advertisements and get instant feedback.

Here are a few upcoming or newer social media sites and a lowdown of what they offer.

Pinterest: Most of you have probably heard of Pinterest by now. It is an image and idea sharing site where users can “pin” or repin photos of their interests or hobbies onto collection boards that can be shared with followers. Pinterest has been growing unbelievably fast since its launch in March 2010 and currently ranks in fifth place based on market share of visits.

Now as for their pros and cons: If your target market is mostly female, you’ve come to the right place. Buzz Referrals displays the breakdown of Pinterest user demographics and 80% of them are women. Pinterest has shown to be effective for companies with visual appeal like those focused on fashion, food, and lifestyle, but it definitely is not for everyone. It takes a lot of time and effort to create each board and to create an identity that people will be interested in browsing and following. Another thing to point out is that Pinterest should not be used for those who expect to get credit for their work. By the time your photo becomes popular after all that repinning, it can become so viral that people all over the world might use it without permission.

Branch: Produced by the co-founders of Twitter, Branch is a new social discussion site that strives to serve as a platform for actual dialogue. Noticing the challenges and limitations of Twitter as well as Facebook and Google+, they wanted to create a space that fosters deeper conversations without the word count limits and useless interruptions. Their marketing statement is to “bring the intimacy of a dining table conversation to the openness of the internet.” At this point in this crowded social networking world, it might be a while before anyone can make any profit on this site and before newcomers can actually make themselves heard. However, being fairly new, we should still observe to see what Branch has to offer and how well it does.

Foursquare: With the prominence of smart phones, location-based social media sites have become more popular and are here to stay. Users “check-in” on Foursquare, connect with friends and their “pings,” and earn points and badges for each check-in. This is a great site to reach out to the younger crowds. More and more teens say they favor checking in on Foursqaure rather than Facebook. When a friend “checks-in” at a new restaurant for example, word-of-mouth marketing takes place and is more successful because a trustable source shared about it. As a business, by announcing specials or promotions, you can bring in new customers, but you have to be careful to generate that brand loyalty. Some customers only come in to abuse the perks so it can be tough to benefit from this service.

Myspace: Although it is not a new social networking site, Myspace is coming back around and completely revamping itself. This time it seeks to appeal to various creators like musicians, designers, and celebrities but also a place for fans to stay in touch with their idol. The new Myspace is not finalized yet, but the strong celebrity support from Justin Timberlake is anticipated to bring in other big stars when it does.  Check out their teaser clip that promotes a very modern and clean look.

1)      Lack of quality content – Some businesses just aren’t writing about what their fans care about. This could be due to lack of research and misunderstanding of the target audience. For example, if your company promotes healthy living and eating, you don’t want to share a post on Facebook about great fast food restaurant deals. Quality content is what gives a Facebook or Twitter page credibility. It’s important to pay attention to what your fans care about in order to understand how to write quality content.

2)      Not being “personal” or engaging enough – Businesses make the mistake of not being personable and sounding too “robot-like.” Consequently, fans and followers will start to look at your Facebook and Twitter posts as spam and will most likely “un-follow.” Users will more likely respond positively to posts that sound real over posts that sound generated. In order to encourage more positive fan activity, a business must create a persona, use effective language, and be responsive to fan comments and tweets.

3)      Not enough dedication, with too high of expectations – It’s a common misconception that social media marketing is free. Sure, signing up for a Google+ may be free, but the truth is, managing social media sites require a LOT of time, dedication, and patience. Some businesses are not being consistent enough with social media updates and are often discouraged when they don’t see quick results. One post every few weeks just isn’t going to cut it. In order to acquire a large fan base through social media, there must be consistent, day-to-day updates.

4)      And the opposite, posting TOO much – Too much of anything is never good.  Although you might think posting every five minutes will give you more social media presence, the truth is your fans will just be annoyed. Instead of overwhelming your audience with twenty meaningless posts per day, try to pick 2-3 QUALITY posts that people will actually read. Again, this goes back to quality content and being “personal.” Over-posting will seem robot-like as well.

Whether you’re just getting started or have an established blog, there are things you should know to make sure you are getting the most of your content production efforts.

Writing can be very time consuming if you, as a business owner or employee, are doing it yourself. There’s research, citation, collaboration, fact verification, and the dreaded SEO component that many novice to intermediate bloggers tend to miss. Unless you are an SEO, or are familiar with your website’s keyword structure you may be missing a huge part of the content marketing picture.

To ensure you’re making the most of your content, you need to be sure your content will serve the purpose that you want. That’s step #1 — define your goals. What do you want from your reader? Do you want to build credibility, convert a lead, educate, sell? Define your objectives up front and keep your content within those boundaries.

After you’ve defined your goals, it’s time for step #2 — you need to do some research. As a search engine optimizer and content producer, it’s important to always know the keyterms of your topic area. Obviously you won’t want to include so many keyterms that the article becomes un-readable, but you do want to make sure that your reader (and Google) can find your content.

In addition to keyword research, you should subscribe to as many RSS feeds as reasonable in your given topic area. What are your competitors talking about? What are the thought leaders in your community concerned with? Being aware of the concerns within the market will be extremely helpful in step #3 — build a list of topics. 

Once you know what people are interested in (and searching for online), you can customize your content production to meet those needs. There are many tools available online to help you do this. In addition to RSS feeds and reading other blogs, Google Trends and Google Insights for Search are two big players that can help you identify areas that are being searched.

When you have a list of topics to cover, you should pre-determine the article title (including keywords). This can be extremely beneficial if you are hiring freelancers to provide content. Writers love to fixate on article titles and come up with long, pithy, artsy titles. While a title that captures attention is important, always be mindful of search. (Let’s consider that step #4…)

After you have a title, the rest is pretty easy, right? It gets easier, I promise. Write that article, keep it to a reasonable length, format it so it’s easy to read online, include photos, etc. Once it’s published, it’s time for step #5 — promote, promote, promote.

Your article should go everywhere — and I mean everywhere. Post it on your company’s Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn pages, share it on Google +, make sure you share or like these pages on your personal accounts too. Do you have an email list? You should consider sending the topic in a newsletter to your subscribers if appropriate. Make sure your customers like it and can share it easily. Make sure you’ve got all the right “like” and “share” buttons from the social networks too.

Technically this next piece of advice can fit into “promote, promote, promote,” but I think it warrants its own bonus step, Step #6 — ENGAGE. Engage in your community. Post on community blogs, respond when people comment on Facebook or in the comments section online. Try your best to engage. Don’t just post the article and forget about it. Research is showing that the level of engagement a piece of content has is beginning to influence Google rankings. So track those shares, engage, and keep your customer and lead base coming back.

Recently Facebook has made a few additions to its network that can change the way that companies, brands, or even bloggers interact with their fan base and utilize the site. Here is a breakdown of all of the changes.

1) Pages now have the ability to promote posts. Called “Promoted Posts” this allows marketers to gain an higher expose for an individual post. Previously Facebook limited, based upon an algorithm, how many users are exposed to an individual post, however, with promoted posts, it will get shown to users who are fans of the page AND friends of users who interact with the post. Administrators of fan pages can also select specific targets, like cities or country, where the Promoted Post will be advertised. This is a great way to increase exposure for your content, but of course, there is a catch. Fan pages, in order to use promoted posts, must have at least 400 fans and it costs about 5-10 dollars per post.

2) Facebook also now allows for scheduled posts on Fan pages. Rather than having to wait around until 5:30 PM to post your content, or waking super early in the morning to make sure your post is read at 10AM in New York, this allows you to schedule the post the night before and enjoy your breakfast. Though not entirely revolutionary, especially for users of Hootsuite or similar programs, at least now users can do it in Facebook rather than rely on a 3rd party program.

3) The last new change from Facebook involves admin roles and permissions. Previously, giving an employee admin access to a Facebook fan page gave them access to everything, including analytics, the ability to create posts, comments…etc, now administrator can limit access to specific options for each employee. For instance if you only want an employee to have access to analytics, but no access to posts or comments. Facebook provides a great chart explaining the different roles and permissions for Administrative users.

That’s the gist of the new updates on Facebook. What do you think? Are these a significant improvement? Will they help your online marketing plan or will you not use them at all? Let us know!

First, you’ve got to start with an awesome video. Don’t have one yet? You’re in the right place. Browse to our video production section and let us know if we can help. But if you’ve got a solid video already, you’re ready to go.  The real question now is how do you get people to find and watch your video?

Why have video on your website?

There are many reasons to load up your website with eye catching, informative videos. It doesn’t really matter if you’re an entertainment site or publishing videos on an industry-specific topics, all of these elements will work the same way.

SEO benefits

Google uses many factors when ranking your site (that’s surely not an enlightening statement). No one really knows the weight given to each element, but it’s been widely accepted that Google is looking for:

• Relevance (i.e. keywords)
• Page quality and user experience – linked to time on site
• Links – People are also increasingly more likely to share content with video and/or images, especially in the increasingly visual world of social media.

How to optimize video?

Google has no idea what your video is about unless you tell them. If your page only provides information via your title tag you’re doing yourself a disservice. The best way (at the moment) to tell Google what your video is about is to surround it with descriptive text. You can do this with a few paragraph synopsis or a full transcript. It’s up to you.

Titles and Meta Data

• Title: Should be catchy include keywords
• Description: Research keywords being search for in your topic area. Include a description and video tags that include these terms (without overdoing it). Write a paragraph that will convince someone that this video is both relevant and something worth watching.
• File name: Use keyword rich file names with hyphens instead of spaces.

Video Sitemap

It is important that Google be able to crawl and index your videos. This can be assured through the creation of a video sitemap. Google’s Video Sitemap Guide is great, or plugins are available on WordPress.

• Benefits of a sitemap: A video sitemap can not only be submitted to Google, it also tells Google what video thumbnail should be used on the SERP page

Where to host your video? 

YouTube is one of the best places to host your video if you’re willing to let YouTube take some of the “juice” from you. The power of YouTube as a search engine cannot be forgotten, so often times a video on YouTube will be able to pull in more traffic to your website than you could on your own site. If that’s the case, use YouTube. If you are getting a ton of traffic to your site and will be able to rank well for your video pages, then host it on your own.

But as usual, there is a favorable middle ground. Consider posting a video “teaser” that shows highlights or the first few minutes. At the end, the video prompts the viewer to visit www.yourwebsite.com for the full video. From there, you’ve got way more control over the content the viewer sees, the conversion opportunities, and more.

In addition to YouTube or your own website, the final push to get your website is to go social! There are hundreds of sharing sites online like Reddit, Digg, StumbleUpon, etc. You can use these sites to your advantage. In addition you should always include an embed code to allow sharing more easily. Allow comments to engage your audience. Share video with social network, email contacts, and anyone else you know. Consider posting it on blogs with related content, on forums, or other content-specific sites related to your industry or message. All of these things can help your video reach the biggest audience, and eventually drive leads by positioning you as an expert in your field.