Considering dumping dollars into traditional advertising? Think again. Try blogging instead. Of course, blogging isn’t a new concept, but you may be surprised to find out that it can be even more effective for your business than traditional advertising tactics. If you’re strategic in your approach, your blog may be your best source of advertising – and save you lots of money in the long term. Here’s why… 1. Blog posts help you reach other networks through social media channels. By adding social sharing buttons for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, etc to your blog posts, it’s easy for readers to share your blog content with their own networks. This is a free way you can extend your reach beyond your own network. Traditional online advertising
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3 Keys to Effectively Monitoring Social Media (without losing your mind)!
Let’s face it: social media is an essential part of doing business today. But if you don’t want to waste hours on Facebook and Twitter, scheduling social media messages in advance is a smart practice for staying active on social media channels. But if you’re trying to build real relationships with your audience of prospective clients, simply scheduling messages in advance isn’t enough. You’re not a robot after all and you’ll miss out on real time communication! Therefore, it’s also important to monitor your social channels for timely, relevant conversations. But monitoring social media doesn’t have to be a full-time job. Start by setting aside thirty minutes at the beginning and end of your work day to monitor and respond to social media conversations. You might
How to Use Keywords to Attract New Leads
Photo by Flickr User SuperBoreen In the online marketing world, everyone seems to be talking about keywords. But they’re missing something. Everyone is talking about search engines and the importance of SEO. And while it’s no secret that good SEO can go a long way in helping people find you, it’s not just about the search engines. It’s about the people who are searching. That’s where long tail keywords come in. Long tail keywords are very targeted search phrases that are usually easier to rank for and specifically focused on your niche audience. For example: “inbound marketing” = generic keyword “generate leads using inbound marketing” = long tail keyword If you can focus on long tail keywords that YOUR target audience is likely to be
6 Ways to Affect SEO: Part 2
Photo by Flickr User SuperBoreen Yesterday, we outlined the first steps in Affecting SEO. This is Part 2 of our series, 6 Ways to Affect SEO! Read on for more valuable tips and tricks: 4. Page content Google also looks at the content of your pages. On your homepage, it’s important to use your keywords. Obviously this needs to be very relevant and clear as it’s the first thing that viewers see when they come to your site. Your homepage is the most important page to your client because it sets the tone for the rest of your site. So, while you want to support good SEO, this is still going to be a new client’s first impression of you. Google loves fresh content, and
6 Ways to Affect SEO: Part 1
Photo by Flickr User SuperBoreen For many of us, getting viewers to our site from a search engine is one of the best ways of finding new clients. Here are six ways that you can affect the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) of your site in order to get a little bit closer to that coveted first page on a Google search. But before we start, let me make a note about keywords. There is much talk about keywording, but in simple terms, this is all you need to know: what searches do you want to be at the top of? In other words, what will people be looking for when your site shows up at the top? For example, Amber and I want to be
SEO For Photographers: Not All Links Are Created Equal
Unlike the US Declaration of Independence, when it comes to search engine optimization (SEO), not all links are created equal. In fact, some are virtually useless in building your PageRank (PR) – Google’s way of ranking websites. PR is a measurement for a website’s influence or priority. The higher the PR, the more powerful it is. The lower the PR, the less powerful it is … or the less “Google Juice” it has. The goal is to find relevant inbound links to build your PageRank. There are essentially two types to of relevant links to pay attention to — topically relevant links rel=”follow” links Topically Relevant Links Topically relevant links are links that pertain to the same content as your website. Remember that Google’s goal
SEO Basics Part 4: Places Pages and Local Search
Local search is kind of like venturing into quantum physics – the normal rules don’t apply! But you don’t have to be a scientist to understand it. In this webinar we’ll talk about how to clearly signal your location, and how to use citations and reviews to draw people to your photography business. Download the slides here. To RSVP for upcoming webinars visit Craig’s Photo Life page. Craig Cochrane is Pictage’s Executive Vice President of Marketing. Craig has a degree in Economics from Harvard University an MBA from USC, and has been focusing on online marketing since 2004. Prior to Pictage, Craig advised clients in various verticals about SEO while working at The Search Agency in Santa Monica, and has served as an in-house SEO for several
SEO Basics Part 3: Image SEO
Everyone knows that adding alt tags to images is important for SEO. But that’s not enough. Tune in to this recorded webinar and learn about the other important (and simple!) factors that let your images show up in searches. Download the slides here. To RSVP for upcoming webinars visit Craig’s Photo Life page. Craig Cochrane is Pictage’s Executive Vice President of Marketing. Craig has a degree in Economics from Harvard University an MBA from USC, and has been focusing on online marketing since 2004. Prior to Pictage, Craig advised clients in various verticals about SEO while working at The Search Agency in Santa Monica, and has served as an in-house SEO for several other Internet companies.
SEO Basics Part 2: Got Flash? Got Problems.
If you missed it, here’s the recording of SEO Guru Craig Cochrane’s latest webinar on Flash Sites. Join Craig’s next webinar on October 27th at 1 PM Pacific Time on the topic of Image SEO! Download Craig’s slides! Craig Cochrane is Pictage’s Executive Vice President of Marketing. Craig has a degree in Economics from Harvard University an MBA from USC, and has been focusing on online marketing since 2004. Prior to Pictage, Craig advised clients in various verticals about SEO while working at The Search Agency in Santa Monica, and has served as an in-house SEO for several other Internet companies.
SEO Basics: Relevance vs. Authority
If you missed it, here’s the recording of Craig Cochrane’s SEO Webinar “Relevance vs. Authority.” Craig’s next SEO Webinar “Image SEO” will be October 27th at 1 PM Pacific Time. Download Craig’s SEO presentation slides! Craig Cochrane is Pictage’s Executive Vice President of Marketing. Craig has a degree in Economics from Harvard University an MBA from USC, and has been focusing on online marketing since 2004. Prior to Pictage, Craig advised clients in various verticals about SEO while working at The Search Agency in Santa Monica, and has served as an in-house SEO for several other Internet companies.