Biyernes, Nobyembre 27, 2015

Quality Link Building – Good or Bad Links How Can You Tell?

What are Links and How would You know you have a Good Link or a Bad One

Link building expert from Dallas Qamar Zaman explains – Good/Bad and Ugly Link Building

SEO stands on the spinal cord of the links. All of my friends, the small business owners who indulge in the search engine marketing put in much time and efforts in building links. Good or bad, they don’t care as they don’t understand the concept of link building in the first place, and those who do, have little or no knowledge of measuring the quality of links that they earn.

Before we step into serious discussion of  analyzing the health of links, I want you to understand “Links”. The fine thread, the spinal cord” on which your SEO stands and which helps your web pages to gain authority on the search engines.

“Backlinks enable you to keep track of other pages on the web that link to your posts. For instance, suppose Alice writes a blog entry that Bob finds interesting. Bob then goes to his own blog and writes a post of his own about it, linking back to Alice’s original post. Now Alice’s post will automatically show that Bob has linked to it, and it will provide a short snippet of his text and a link to his post. What it all works out to is a way of expanding the comment feature such that related discussions on other sites can be included along with the regular comments on a post”. Google Support Center

Moz explains links as “For search engines that crawl the vast metropolis of the web, links are the streets between pages. Using sophisticated link analysis, the engines can discover how pages are related to each other and in what ways.”

Pretty simple, but be careful, if you are linked to a site that is not relevant to yours or if it is relevant, its carries no authority or if the site that has earned bad links, your ranking and your website visibility could be in trouble. Hence, now things don’t remain so simple.

There are two main reasons why you would want good linkbacks:

  1. To increase the traffic to your website
  2. To rank higher on the search engine (SEO purpose)

This is why online marketing companies, business owners and bloggers try and get as many  to their web pages and blogs as possible. But we must think that too many backlinks can be harmful too, if they are coming from the wrong places. Google is ready to penalize all such websites that have spammy links or irrelevant links or you can say bad links. Hence, good link profile is what you need if you want to survive on the search engine landscape.

Let’s see what Neil Patel has to say about good link profile

What Is a “Good Link Profile” and How Do You Get One?

“You know that good link-backs are an important part of SEO. You know how important it is to work at building strong backlinks. You understand the impact of over-optimized anchor text. You realize the toxic effect of links from spam sites and directory listings. But how important is it, really? And, more to the point, how can you get a link profile that Google loves?

I want to explain the components of a “good link profile” and provide suggestions for how you can improve your link profile.”

http://bit.ly/1SolGiZ

Don’t get overwhelmed.

Be careful now. Don’t rush. Link building can sure improve your web traffic and get you a good place on the SERPs, but what if you get bad, spammy linkback. The search engine knows this and you along with your website could be in trouble.

Backlinks can turn out to dangerous for your website and have a negative impact on your search engine marketing.

This could happen if:

  • Your website get links from irrelevant sources
  • If the links are coming from low quality Sites
  • If you have over Optimized the Anchor Link Text
  • If you are buying links which could carry links for various low quality or unrelated sites
  • You have put Outbound Spam Links

If you have not heard of “Penguin” and if you are not watching your back, you could be in trouble.

Alex Johnson says in his article published on the Search Engine Journal

How To Spot Bad Links & Deciding Whether To Take Action

“Since Google’s Penguin 1.0 update launched in April 2012 (and a recent update on Oct. 4), a painful reality had dawned on us: inbound links could negatively impact on our Google rankings.

Prior to this, the worst an inbound link could do to your site was nothing at all.  Google suddenly changed the rules, and we had to look out for potentially “toxic” links pointing to our sites. Which can be scary, as these links are often out of our control.”

http://bit.ly/1PhnLj0

We are all Google focused. The web visitors Google to search and the businesses Google to promote their businesses. So we have to follow the rules made by the search engine in the effort to provide its users with the best possible search results and giving them value for the time spent by them Googling. This is not to say that Google has anything against the business owners, but the search engine is against the bad or black hat practices done by some webmasters.

Well, penalties can be removed and a reconsideration request could be filed to the search engine to remove the penalties.

But before anything hits your web marketing efforts, why not be cautious and analyze your links.

Neil Patel once again comes to our rescue with his latest blog about determining whether our link are good or bad. Let’s see what he has to say about it.

How to Determine if a Link is Good or Bad

“You want to avoid Google penalties as much as possible, especially now that Google is so concerned about user intent, as opposed to the keyword phrases they search for.

In the past, you could get away with any kind of links. Google frowned at bad links from the beginning, but they didn’t have a system for fishing out culprits. But it’s a different ball game now.

The Panda update redefined content quality. The Penguin update made it clear that Google prefers earned links, not built links.”

http://bit.ly/1SolGj0

Closing

It is about your online reputation and the authority that you can build for your website and web presence. Links have always been important, but with the current Google penalty scenario, we must be careful in earning links or be ready to face the wrath from the leading search engine.

About Me

I have been doing SEO for over 15 years. If you need help in building quality link building outreach check my Link Building Outreach Tips by Dallas Link Building Expert.

Qamar Zaman

OneSEOCompany.com – SEO For Lawyers

Submit Press Release 123 – Affordable Storytelling Using PR

 

Qamar Zaman
Chief Visionary at One SEO Company. An Internet Entrepreneur SEO & lawyer Internet marketing professional & Starbucks Lover.


from Dallas Internet Marketing Blog

Biyernes, Nobyembre 20, 2015

SEO Forecast 2016 By Dallas SEO Expert Qamar Zaman

10 Game Changing SEO Trends Every Small Business Owner Should Know in 2016

A year ago, experts revealed that 57% of marketers believe that SEO has the biggest impact on lead generation. By 2015, Perform Insider reported that on average, conversion rates are 10 times higher from search compared to traffic from social media.

Another report from B2B Marketing last year revealed that every month there are more than 10.3 billion Google searches. From this, they found out that 78% are U.S. internet users who are researching for products and services online. These figures are enough motivation for many small businesses to keep their SEO campaigns thrive especially in an industry wherein big brands always dominate.

SEO in 2016: Why You Should Keep On Innovating?

Unlike other marketing tactics, SEO’s dynamic doesn’t depend on one formula alone. In fact, it’s constantly evolving nature makes it difficult to standardize. The need to keep yourself up to date with the latest changes in search technology is a major aspect that can help you create an effective search engine optimization plan that can withstand the test of competition and of course, the test of time.

To survive and thrive in SEO in 2016 and beyond, one should keep in mind the importance to constantly innovate. Thus, to help you prepare what lies ahead in SEO for the year 2016, we bring you the list of game changing trends which top industry experts predicted to shake the landscape of search marketing next year.

The Top 10 Game Changing SEO Trends Small Business Owners Should Know in 2016

When it comes to SEO, even the thought leaders and experts in the industry can’t agree on the same thing. Everyone has their own opinion, findings, researches, and data that somehow back up their conclusions. Let’s take a look at what the prominent SEO personalities and online marketing experts foresee on how SEO trends can change the landscape of the online marketing industry next year.

1. Ranking on top of the SERPs is not the only way to get organic clicks. (Link Assistant)

This might be a big revelation to some, but for those who keep a closer watch on the day to day changes that have been happening in the search landscape, this is something like a given. The time has come that ranking on top of the SERPs is not the only way to gain organic traffic. How does this come to this? Is this the end of search engine optimization?

The introduction of Google’s different layouts for their search result pages paves way to this game changing dilemma. This forces everyone to rethink their optimization strategies. The need to have a different tactic for each of the SERPs layout such as local pack and paid ads pack is now getting more important. Does this mean that SEO is going to end? Of course not. The thing is, there’s more demand now to optimize content for search as opportunities to gain visibility increases.

2. If you won’t adapt to mobile trends, then you should not just do SEO. (JeffBullas.com)

Mobile is expected to surpass desktop usage by 2016. This prediction is backed up by studies and researches that show how mobile phones become the widely used gadget in browsing the web. According to a survey, search is the most common starting point for mobile research wherein 48% begins on search engines. With these data, there’s no excuse anymore not to optimize your website for mobile platforms. If your website is not mobile friendly, you’ll lose a significant chunk of traffic that could have surely help you increase conversions and sales.

According to Jeff Bullas, businesses should start to have a mobile mindset for all their website and product based decisions. The need to consider how their content would look like on mobile platforms should be taken into account when finalizing their website, product pages, service pages and layouts.

So, why is this a game changer? Those who haven’t switched to mobile yet must now adapt, or else, their competitors can steal the traffic and audience that are supposedly theirs.

3. Conversation Rate Optimization should be reinforced along with SEO. (Business2Community.com)

The need to increase the conversation rate of your webpage is necessary if you don’t want to waste potential prospects who you failed to convert. According to Keith Hodges, this can be done by using a sophisticated web tracking tool such as Google Analytics. This can help you understand how to get prospects convert faster especially those with shorter attention span.

Why is this a game changer? If you are too focused on SEO, there’s a big chance that you will not try CTO because you are already contented with the results of the former. But, for those who fully know how to maximize their resources to increase successful conversions, CTO can help them narrow the lead of their competitors. The traffic that your SEO hasn’t captured, your CTO will.

4. Video would probably rise more in relevance compared to text content. (Forbes.com)

When it comes to return of investments for B2C industries and brands, Jayson DeMers, in his article in Forbes, believes that video content will overtake written content in 2016. If realized, this is definitely a game changer especially for brands who have never ventured to video content before.

Jayson explained that although written content is still considered the standard format by vast majority of content producers, video is expected to overtake it by next year mainly due to the fact that a handful of new technologies such as Vine, Periscope, Snapchat, and other apps are partially responsible in setting user expectations toward more visual content. He further discussed that with this trend the real herald may come from Google, the company that is currently experimenting with video ads in search results.

Why is this trend a game changer? Marketers or businesses especially those who have been optimizing written content for search engines need to slowly adjust starting from now and carefully make way for videos in their content marketing strategy. Those who won’t make a move might lose their potential prospects to their competition.

5. Page loading speed is part of the major factors that can affect successful conversation. (Link Assistant)

Definitely not new, right? But, if your page speed is still as slow as a snail, then you better find ways to fix it. Internet users are impatient and demanding prospects. They will abandon your page with no second thoughts if they find your page laggy. In fact, many unsuccessful conversions are caused by poor page speed performance.

Link Assistant also emphasized that page speed is a search ranking factor. Those websites that load quicker can surely outrank those ones that don’t. Also, it is worthy to note that slow loading pages are difficult to crawl and index. Thus, before you proceed with your SEO campaign, make sure first that your content is plastered on a page with excellent speed.

Why is this a game changer? Web savvy small businesses now have the opportunity to compete against big brands that are still relying on traditional means to promote their products or services. This means that if the latter won’t adapt to this trend, they will surely lose their edge and their competitors will have the chance to outrank them.

6. Social Media Mentions would become as relevant and authoritative as links. (93 Digital)

Although Google never owned up that they use social signals in ranking web pages, many studies performed by known experts showed otherwise. According to 93 Digital, links will remain important, but mentions via social media will become more relevant and next year, their relevance will be as equal to those of links.

Why is this a game changer? If you have already built a name in social media, getting mentions from popular platforms won’t be that difficult anymore. But, if you just recently tried your luck in there, even if you are a big brand, you definitely need to work harder to gain trust, and loyalty from your audience.

7. User Behavior as part of search ranking factors. (Link Assistant)

Gone are the days wherein simplistic SEO approaches such as keywords and links are the only major factors in ranking webpages in search engine result pages. According to Link Assistant, user behavior factors affect rankings. They said that Google may have denied this finding, but this just not just mere speculation because this is backed up and proven by many experiments done by industry experts.

Why is this a game changer? Despite the fact that Google hasn’t owned up yet that they are using this as part of their ranking algorithm, it is always an advantage on your part to put this factor in consideration. Getting a step ahead from your competition can always give you an edge which can help you stay on top of search rankings game.

There are 5 new elements from users’ behavior that you need to focus on to get better understanding on how you can put your content on top of the SERPs: Click-through rates, Engagement, Information that fills gaps in searcher’s knowledge, Loyalty per visit, and fulfilling the searcher’s task. Read the more detailed explanation for each element here.

8. The increasing prominence of voice search. (JeffBullas.com)

Probably the latest challenge search engine optimization experts now currently face. The rise of voice search would force businesses to modify their SEO strategy to fit the demand of this technology that is now embraced by many.

According to Jeff Bullas, keywords used in text-based search is quite different from the keywords used in voice search. For example, when someone looks for the address of Home Depot, he would only type “Home Depot” to find its location, but in voice search, the searcher has to say “Where is the nearest Home Depot?” Jeff emphasized that with this new trend, businesses should focus on how the search began and how questions (from voice searches) define the changing patterns in mobile devices.

Why is this a game changer? Those who don’t adapt to this technological change will lose in the mobile arena. If your target audience are mostly active in mobile, then you should rethink your SEO strategy now before your competition will own it.

9. Full swing updates of the Panda Algorithm in real time. (Business2Community.com)

In 2016, experts predict that the industry will see the real time Google Panda algorithm updates in full swing. Business2Community.com said that it will be updated and rolled out by the end of December, thus next year is the time wherein businesses can fully utilize their resources to adjust their search optimization strategies according to the newest algorithm rules.

Why is this a game changer? No one fully knows what are the specific changes and add-ons that Google will employ in the next Panda update. That fact alone can affect how everyone in the industry would implement their SEO campaigns once the update will be fully rolled out.

10. Social media content will be more heavily indexed. (Forbes.com)

This is somehow related to number 6, but this one is more visible and has already been confirmed by the search giant themselves. If you have noticed recently, every time you do searches in Google, more especially if it has do with news related topics, tweets from Twitter and posts from Facebook are already showing in results pages. This only means that next year, businesses should expect that more and more social media content will be crawled and indexed by search engines.

So, why is this a game changer? Those who have invested more in social media for this year would surely be rewarded more next year. But, if you are still having second thoughts in jumping into the social media bandwagon, then it’s up to you. You just have to know that if you want to compete and get a lead advantage, you should always be proactive and should know how to jive in with the trends.

Final Thoughts

There are a lot of things that we can expect about SEO next year. But, there are top 10 trends that every small business should keep a tab on if they want to be on top of the SEO game. They are the following:

  • Getting organic clicks doesn’t mean you only need to get on top of the SERPs.
  • Mobile optimization is a must.
  • Conversion Rate Optimization should complement your SEO efforts.
  • Search optimization for video content should not be put aside.
  • Page speed is a very important search ranking factor.
  • Social media mentions will become equally important as links.
  • Prepare your SEO strategies for Voice Search.
  • Full Roll-Out of a new Google Panda Update.
  • Invest more in social media now so that you won’t be left out next year.

Of course, these trends are not expected to fit to all types of business. You pick some or a few of these ones that you think can help you out in staying ahead of your competitors.

My forecast will not be complete if I did not include natural link building. Instead of me having to write a complete article I want you to read Why Manual Link Building Will Never Be Obsolete, by my mentor and Good friend Eric Ward.

Shameless plug – About Qamar Zaman

Qamar Zaman is a Dallas based SEO professional & Founder or Submit Press Release 123 and OneSECompany.com who has spent over 2 decades learning the art of SEO from some experts that include. Eric Ward, Bruce Clay, Neil Patel & many others.

Media Contact

Qamar Zaman
Chief Visionary at One SEO Company. An Internet Entrepreneur SEO & lawyer Internet marketing professional & Starbucks Lover.


from Dallas Internet Marketing Blog

Biyernes, Nobyembre 13, 2015

User Behavior: How Can You Improve It to Increase Successful Conversions?

When some experts declared user behavior as part of the most important trends that everyone in the industry should watch rise in prominence next year, a lot of eyebrows raised. The mere mention that it is actually part of Google’s search ranking algorithm can spark a heated debate. But, what is really the truth? Is it just pure speculation? Are their evidences that can prove that user behavior is indeed used by Google to rank pages in the SERPs?

Before we’ll discuss how you can improve user behavior to help you increase the conversion of your legal or medical site, let us first find out if there are indeed solid evidences that can prove that it is indeed part of the factors used by the search giant in ranking websites.

Is User Behavior a Proven Factor in Search Ranking?

In a detailed article published by Link Assistant, they presented three evidences that serve as solid proofs that user behavior is indeed a search ranking factor.

1. They claimed that Google announced it themselves.

Link Assistant carefully laid out how Google’s former Search Quality Chef, Udi Manber, mentioned the use of user behavior during a Federal Trade Commission court case. We lifted the following from Link Assistant’s blog post.

“The ranking itself is affected by the click data. If we discover that, for a particular query, hypothetically, 80 percent of people click on Result No. 2 and only 10 percent click on Result No. 1, after a while we figure probably Result 2 is the one people want. So we’ll switch it.”
The bold and italicized sentence says it all. It is actually a straightforward statement. Click data, which is part of a user’s behavior affects how Google ranks webpages. Read more statements from Google that further affirmed that user behavior is indeed part of their search ranking algorithm.

2. They also presented that Google’s Patents imply that they are indeed utilizing user behavior patterns.

In their patent, Google clearly mentioned this statement.
“[…] User reactions to particular search results or search result lists may be gauged, so that results on which users often click will receive a higher ranking.”

This is only one of the many mentions that can be found in one of their patents. According to Link Assistant, there are still a lot of other ones that cite user behavior as a ranking factor. They further explain that in those patents, the search giant straightforwardly cites that along with good old SEO factors, several user data can be used as a rank modifier, the one that determines a page’s rank in the SERPs.

3. They presented the real life experiment conducted by Rand Fishkin.

Rand Fishkin is one of the most famous content marketers in the industry. His extensive knowledge in search engine optimization is highly respected even by his fellow thought leaders and experts. To prove that user behavior is indeed one of the factors in ranking pages, Fishkin conducted an unusual experiment. Here is what he did according to Link Assistant.

A couple of months ago, Rand Fishkin of Moz ran an unusual experiment. Rand reached out to his Twitter followers and asked them to run a Google search for best grilled steak, click on result No.1 and quickly bounce back, and then click on result No. 4 and stay on that page for a while.
From that actual experiment, they’ve proven again that user behavior can indeed influence search ranking.
Check the detailed results here.

How to Improve Your Legal Site’s Conversion by Looking at User Behavior Patterns

It cannot be denied anymore that user behavior plays a major part on how Google positions pages in the SERPs. If you have a legal website and you are trying your best to put your webpage on the top of the SERPs but still failed, then you might have overlooked something really crucial. And, that is how potential prospects have responded to your content. Ask these questions first before you’ll do another SEO campaign to boost your ranking.

  • How much is your page’s click through rate?
  • What is the average time your visitors spent checking your page?
  • What is the average bounce rate of your page?
  • Have you double check your page title, Meta description, and how your snippet looks like in the SERPs?
  • How about the content of your page? Is it informative, interesting, and compelling enough?
  • Once you determine which aspect needs improvement, you can create a strategy to help increase your conversion. Here are the steps you can take.

1. Improve conversion rate by increasing click through rate.

You cannot increase successful conversions if there are only very few who click your link and actually visit your site. If you are a law firm, you should take into consideration how your page appears in the SERPs. If it is ranking well but only a few clicked and visited your website, then there must be something wrong with your title and Meta description. Consider the following screenshot.

Improve conversion rate by increasing click through rate

The one inside the red rectangle has more chances of getting higher clicks because it has more compelling Meta description. As you can see, that one ranks higher than the one in the lower side. This is because click through rate (an aspect of user behavior) can influence how Google positions a page in the SERPs.

2. Improve your click through rate by creating a compelling title and Meta description.

Of course, this is still in direct relation to number 1. The most effective solution to increase CTR is to improve the wordings in your title and Meta description. Searchers would usually click those ones which straightforwardly answer their search queries.

Improve your click through rate by creating a compelling title and Meta description

In the screenshot above, the reason why that result in red rectangle is positioned at the bottom of the page is because its title and description are not compelling enough for those who search for information using the keywords “San Francisco Labor Attorneys”. Most of them preferred to click the one on the top. Here, we can see how powerful a title and a Meta description are in enticing clicks and visits.

3. Lengthen the stay of your visitors by improving the quality of your content.

Another important aspect that user behavior patterns can contribute to your search optimization campaign is by telling you the level of engagement of your visitors: if they left your page after a few seconds, or if stayed for a while, or were successfully converted.

If your bounce rate is low, this means that your content is engaging, but if it’s the opposite, then you better find ways to make it more compelling. Your copy should convince your prospects that you are the law firm or lawyer that they are looking for. Include statistics or figures to prove your credibility. It is also worthy to mention how many cases you’ve won for a specific type of lawsuit.

4. Attract traffic from social media by giving your visitors tools to easily share your content.

Another user behavior pattern that is quite useful in telling you how engaged your website visitors are is on how aggressive they are in sharing your content to their social media networks. Install social media widgets in your page and encourage your visitors to share it if they find it useful. Aside from the fact that this can help you gain traffic, this can improve your citations in social media websites, which a lot of experts have predicted will have a great influence in search rankings in the coming year.

All these tips can also be applied on your medical website. You only need to customize your strategy to fit your niche. Always remember that one of the most crucial parts in search engine optimization is on how you can elicit the right behaviors from your prospects. Don’t just aim for the top spot, aim for the most click throughs, the longer time spent, and of course, more successful conversions.

Related Google Analytics Tips: Analyzing Visitor Personas
Also read my SEO Forecast 2015. I am now working on 2016 Forecast so don’t forget to bookmark my blog.

Media Contact
Qamar Zaman SEO Expert for Lawyers
T: 972.437.8942

Qamar Zaman
Chief Visionary at One SEO Company. An Internet Entrepreneur SEO & lawyer Internet marketing professional & Starbucks Lover.


from Dallas Internet Marketing Blog

Martes, Nobyembre 3, 2015

Lawyer Marketing: Steps in Setting up Your Very First YouTube Ad

According to statistics, consumers are 27 times more likely to click through online video ads than standard banners. In the US alone, rich media and video ads are the most preferred ad formats for ad buyers. It is noted that images which are more preferred two years ago are now declining in demand by 45%. It is predicted that digital video advertising in the country will reach at least $5.4 billion by 2016.

YouTube as a Tool for Your Video Advertising Campaign

If you want to reach out to a big and untapped market, then you need to venture into something you haven’t tried before. Driving more visibility and leads to your legal website through video advertising is obviously not something you are familiar with, but with the help of YouTube, the most popular video community website in the world, you will surely achieve your marketing goals.

According to statistics, videos hosted in YouTube are 91% more viewable across all types of platforms and devices compared to those which are hosted elsewhere. Also, it is important to note that over 50% of the total views come from mobile users. This means that if your target audience are mostly in mobile, you should use YouTube to host your video ads to increase their visibility.

Simple Steps in Setting up Your Very First Video Ad in YouTube

If you want to be hands on in setting up your very first video ad in YouTube, you can follow these simplified steps. This only applies to those who already have set-up their Google AdWords account. If you haven’t set-up it yet, you can follow these steps.

1. Go to http://www.youtube.com/yt/advertise. You will be redirected to the Advertise page.

You will be redirected to the Advertise page

Click the Get Started button to start creating your video ad.

2. After clicking the Get Started button, you will be redirected to the Campaign tab.

After clicking the Get Started button, you will be redirected to the Campaign tab.

To start creating your ad, you must enter the URL of the YouTube video you want to advertise.

3. Look for the URL of the YouTube video you want to use in your ad, copy and paste it on the Video add text field.

Look for the URL of the YouTube video you want to use in your ad, copy and paste it on the Video add text field.

After you pasted the URL, hit Enter so that you can see the preview of your video.

After you pasted the URL, hit Enter so that you can see the preview of your video.

At the upper right side, you can see the estimated daily budget and approximate total daily views of your video ad. Take note that you will only pay for it if it is fully viewed for 30 seconds or more. The viewers have the option to skip it after 5 seconds but you won’t pay if they will do that.

4. Now, start filling in the details to create your video ad.

Now, start filling in the details to create your video ad

Make sure your headline is catchy and not long. It should capture the interest of your prospects at one glance. Your descriptions should also put a more detailed emphasis of your brand’s relevance and what your target audience can get after viewing your ads. Select the best thumbnail and click the Continue button.

5. After clicking the Continue button, a pop up window would appear. It will ask you where you want to send your prospects after they click your ad.

After clicking the Continue button, a pop up window would appear

It depends on you where you want to send your viewers. Since you are paying for it, it is more recommended to send them to your website so that there’s a higher chance that they will be converted into paying clients.

6. After selecting the “To my website” radio button, you need to input the URL of your website.

After entering your website URL, click the Continue button.

6. You will then be asked about your budget. This includes the currency you will use, and the ad spending you want to pay for daily. You can also customized your daily budget and will be billed accordingly.

You will then be asked about your budget

As for your maximum cost per view, this is something that you need to test first. You can try to set an initial amount and then try to observe if it works. You can change it anytime you want. If you are not sure what to do, you can always consult an online advertising expert to help you out.

After inputting your Maximum CPV, click the Continue button.

7. You will then be prompted to specify who your target audience are by filtering them by location, their web activities, their ages, genders, and interests.

You will then be prompted to specify who your target audience are by filtering them by location, their web activities, their ages, genders, and interests

So, if your target audience are mostly from New York, you need to input it so that those who can see your ads are all from there.

So, if your target audience are mostly from New York, you need to input it so that those who can see your ads are all from there.

If you want to target only one, then you can do that, but if you want to select all people based on their web activities then you may do so.

After filtering your audience based from their web activities, you can now select the age range, gender, and interests.

Lastly, after filtering everything, you just need to click the save and continue button to finish creating your video ad.

Now, you’ve just created your very first YouTube ad.

Now, you've just created your very first YouTube ad.

After that you will be redirected to the Account tab to input your account details, “Billing” tab to input your payment details, and Review tab to review your ad for the very last time.

Conclusion

Setting up your very first YouTube video ad can be a bit time consuming at first, but once you will get the hang of it, everything would become easier later. Having an active video ad campaign can help a lot in reaching out to prospects who you cannot reach through other major means of online marketing. Good luck!

Need help with Google Advertising, PPC and and Video Marketing contact lawyer marketing expert Qamar Zaman on LinkedIn or visit QamarZaman.us

Qamar Zaman
Chief Visionary at One SEO Company. An Internet Entrepreneur SEO & lawyer Internet marketing professional & Starbucks Lover.


from Dallas Internet Marketing Blog

Linggo, Oktubre 4, 2015

Dallas Social Media Marketing Services by Dallas Social Media Expert

Dallas Social Media Marketing Services Expert

GIVE ME $250 & WILL GIVE YOU PAGE 1 RANKING – CALL 972.437.8942

Boost your social media visibility, increase client retention, and grow your business to its fullest potential! Dallas One SEO Company offers Social Media Marketing services that are fully customizable and can adjust to the unique needs of your business.

Why You Need to Establish a Presence in Social Media?

Because most of your target audience are using social media and it would be a waste of opportunity not to leverage on a very popular trend that has convinced even those in the fortune 100 businesses to invest their marketing resources into.  Of course, Social Media breaks the rule when it comes to trends because it is more than that.  If you don’t have any presence in Social Media yet, now’s the high time that you should build one.

What Social Media Marketing Channels are best for Your Business?

In our almost a decade of providing social media services to our clients in Dallas and its surrounding areas, we now have a fully functional and effective approach in helping our clients achieve their marketing goals.  From Fort Worth, Carrollton, Plano, Garland, Rockwall, Irving, and Arlington, most of the businesses we’ve helped have their own preferences on what type of social media they want to use.  

Depending on the specific marketing needs of your brand or business, below are the top social media platforms that we offer as part of our Social Media Marketing package.

Blogging – Attract more target audience by posting compelling content that would help you increase traffic and boost leads and conversions.

Online Community Building – Build and create online forums that would allow you to pool more prospects whose interests are directly related to the products or services you offer.

Social Networking – Billions of people all over the world hang out in popular social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and Google+.  Creating your presence in these social networks can help a lot in increasing referral traffic to your website and at the same, this would allow you to engage and know more your target audience.

Social Media Apps – Depending on what niche you are doing business into, social media apps are quite helpful in getting more mobile subscribers and in reaching out to your target audience who are using smart phones.  

SEO and Social Media Integration

OneSEOCompany.com fully utilizes the power of SEO to boost up its Social Media Marketing strategies.  We know that integrating these two types of inbound marketing tools can yield more satisfactory results.  Find ways to beat your competitors.  Don’t be left out.  

 

Subscribe to OneSEOCompany Social Media Marketing services by calling us at 972.437.8942.

Qamar Zaman
Chief Visionary at One SEO Company. An Internet Entrepreneur SEO & lawyer Internet marketing professional & Starbucks Lover.


from Dallas Internet Marketing Blog

Miyerkules, Setyembre 2, 2015

Tweets vs. Links: Will Social Signals Slowly Dominate the SERPs?

One of the most talked topics these days is the recent and more visible integration of tweets in Google SERPs. If you’ve done a search lately, you should have noticed that Google is now putting relevant Twitter data related to your search key terms on the first page of the results. Take the screenshot below for example.

Will-Social-Signals-Slowly-Dominate-the-SERPs

When you searched for Barack Obama, part of the main results on top are links to his Twitter page and his tweets. Now, that Twitter data have occupied a more visible portion of the SERPs, is this the sign that social signals are slowly dominating and links are already less valuable?

Are Links Becoming Less Valuable Today?

Well, it depends on what type of links. Low quality ones are surely not valuable. But, those ones with high quality and authority are definitely very important. Since over three years ago, there were already a lot of speculations if there would come a time that social signals would become more valuable than links. But, even experts during those years were not seeing it that way.

We came across a very informative article from over three years ago wherein 24 SEO Experts discussed the same topic that many are talking these days. One comment from an expert Eric Enge caught our attention as it reflects our opinion about the issue. Here’s what he said.

“While some have complained in the past that the links as votes system is inherently elitist, because you need to own a website to vote, that is actually the benefit they offer. Votes by website owners are made by people who are more invested in what they vote for by nature of the fact that they have invested in a website. The average social media person has not done that.”

Eric further discussed why links will always be more valuable than tweets.

“Look at it this way, would you place more weight on a post with a link on pointblankseo.com or a tweet with a link by a random user? Or even 100 tweets by 100 different random users? See what I mean? Links will count for a lot for the foreseeable future, but as signal quality improves on new sources of data their weight will decline somewhat.”

Links will always be part of the main signals that tell a search engine if a certain website is worthy to be ranked on top or not. Although tweets are also important, they are more used as a signal if the content is fresh or if a certain topic is the latest craze.

Are Tweets Becoming More Important?

Of course. Even before Twitter data are integrated in Google SERPs, tweets are already part of the important signals when it comes to determining trends and latest news. If you always hang out in Twitter, you’ll notice that every breaking news or hottest topics all over the world is determined through their Trends List. See screenshot below.

Are-Tweets-Becoming-More-Important

But, the real question is, do tweets can also contribute on how search engines would rank your website or content in the SERPs? The answer is, may be in some ways. But, it cannot surely compete yet on how links are valued when it comes to search rankings.

Here are good points raised by a few of the interviewed experts in the article I mentioned above.
“Social sharing definitely has its marketing benefits, but when it comes to pure organic search, links remain one of the simplest ways for search engine spiders to judge the reliability of a webpage.”
– Michael King

“Depends on the link and the type of social sharing. Even now, a high profile tweet can move your rankings more strongly than a site-wide footer link on a low value directory. When I see a Google+ post reshared 100’s of times, the post itself not only ranks, but the site it links to receives an enormous boost (but what benefits more… the G+ post or the original content? No one knows yet).”
– Cyrus Shepard

“Based from my tests about social signals last year, rankings caused by social links don’t last that long. If search engines can keep social shares on their indices longer and be able to assimilate the texts and sentiment surrounding the link to gauge keyword relevance (which I think they’ve already done), then I think it’ll certainly have more impact on search rankings compared to its capacity to sustain rankings last year.”
– Jason Acidre

Tweets are definitely important because they are now being widely indexed by the largest search engine in town. But, same as with links, you can’t just consider any tweets as important. The authority of the Twitter profile, the number of followers, and the niche of the content being tweeted need to be properly evaluated.

Final Thoughts

There is always a possibility that Google would index more social data other than tweets in the future. But, this doesn’t mean that link will lose its value in ranking content in the SERPs. Links are still one of the major factors that help Google in ranking gazillions of content all over the web. Thus, as of the moment, it is quite short-sighted to assume that tweets are now more powerful than links.

Qamar Zaman
Chief Visionary at One SEO Company. An Internet Entrepreneur SEO & lawyer Internet marketing professional & Starbucks Lover.


from Dallas Internet Marketing Blog

Lunes, Agosto 31, 2015

Twitter SEO benefits for Local online marketing – Tweets integrated in Google search

With the renewed Twitter Google relationship local businesses that indulge in internet marketing can get SEO benefit as their tweets could show up in the Google search results.

Just when web marketing was becoming more tedious and when SEO was becoming more difficult Google renewed its partnership with Twitter pumping in more life to the Google search results. Now twitter marketing using Tweets will find prominent space in the search results. Could be good news for small business owners who try to push the sales up through local internet marketing. Read my previous blog on Twitter engagement for better seo

Beginning with the tweets showing up in the mobile search results and now for the desktops Google searches, too, Google passes the message to the users to Tweet, but Tweet carefully. While relevance would be a measuring tool, being natural, more realistic and more thoughtful about using the long tail ends and phrases naturally, as the semantics would remain in play, hence the Google search results could become more helpful. Laura Donovan says:

Tweets May Outrank SEO Efforts by Laura Donovan

While this introduces a new level of search capabilities it has not been “game-changing.”

http://bit.ly/1N3Vvi8

Deriving SEO juice out of tweets would be tactical, online marketing companies and small business owners would have to play their online marketing game right.

How would Google be doing this, is still a mystery. The twitter activity of a particular business, retweets, number of blogs, websites, social networks pointing towards your Twitter account. As this gives strength to a particular company’s or a particular person’s Twitter account, chances are that such Twitter account and its Tweets might get indexed fast by Google and hence, the gift, ranking on the Google search results. Leading SEO expert Eric Enge weighs in by saying:

How Does Google Index Tweets Today? How the New Twitter Deal Will Impact SEO

Eric Enge says in his post ” which Tweet Google places the most value on, and hence help you understand how you can position yourself to derive SEO benefit from this change in the marketing landscape.”

http://bit.ly/1KWJAgc by Eric Enge

For internet marketers who would opt to take the opportunity of Google Twitter marriage in terms of SEO impact and ranking in relevant searches the correct steps for online visibility are yet clearly outlined.

In the Twitter’s world where searches took influence of the hashtag, would Google go beyond the hashtag search? Would retweeting influencers and celebrity tweets help in creating the SEO impact on the business entities profile in terms of ranking and visibility on the relevant Google search results page.

Twitter Search Integration on Google: Should Tweets be SEO friendly?

Lisa Braziel in her article addresses typical issues regarding the Twitter and Google new relationship, she says “The natural question you may be asking is how does Google choose which Tweets to serve?”

http://bit.ly/1N3Vvi9

Hence opportunity exists for small business online marketing with the Twitter becoming more friendly with Google. While the Google and Twitter unison is in the best interest of the companies themselves, at the same time, businesses whether large or small, global or local can make the best out of the prudent SEO practices that they had learned and hence earn their presence on the search engine.

For more on internet marketing and SEO bookmark Qamar Zaman Blog

Dallas based SEO and online marketing expert Qamar Zaman has helped Law Firms and business owners to create prominent internet presence.

Give Qamar Zaman a call for FREE Consultation at: 972.437.8942

Qamar Zaman
Chief Visionary at One SEO Company. An Internet Entrepreneur SEO & lawyer Internet marketing professional & Starbucks Lover.


from Dallas Internet Marketing Blog

Lunes, Hulyo 13, 2015

Dallas SEO Company Wants to Help Businesses in Dallas Free!

Dallas-SEO-Company-Wants-to-Help-Businesses-in-Dallas-Free!Limited Spots Available for Dallas Businesses of any type who want to grow business online using this opportunity.

Dallas based online seo company OneSEOCompany announces new brand promotion opportunity for local Dallas business professionals and esteemed thought leaders at no cost to the business owner.

Dallas, Texas – Dallas based SEO Company lead by Qamar Zaman of One SEO Company is announcing the availability of open spots for a free brand promotion opportunity for DFW area thought leaders in business and law.

The program is called “Coffee with Q” and aims to help dallas business owners leverage their website gain more exposure.

The limited time opportunity gives business and legal professionals a means to promote their brand via interviews with prominent news wires that have global reach, discussing topics related to their respective field of expertise.

The interviews will be conducted in view of potentially thousands of individuals within a specified target audience base and presented through leading news mediums. Online press release distribution company Submit Press Release 123 will work in conjunction with the newswires to promote the interviews in local, national, and international media outlets at no cost to the business owner.

Calling All Dallas Business Leaders and Legal Advocates

Home to at least 18 Fortune 500 companies, Dallas is a recognized frontrunner in the global business world. Local business leaders have longed helped contribute to sustaining the city’s economic growth and development, influencing local, national, and international markets, and many have sought out their expertise on how. The newly announced opportunity has been deemed no exception.

Pioneers in the areas of business and law who have overcome multiple challenges throughout their careers to advance their entrepreneurial power to new levels are the ideal candidates for the available opportunity. Professionals who meet certain criteria including having demonstrated excellence in their respective field will be chosen for a one on one interview, which will be conducted via Google Hangouts.

Interested prospective thought leaders can connect by calling 972-646-2788 or via email salma@oxygengroup123.com

About OneSEOCompany.com

OneSEOCompany.com is a full service online marketing company that promotes small businesses and other entities. The service offers multiple packages for those seeking to customize their digital marketing campaigns, for effective reach.

Dallas thought leaders in the business and legal fields can get connected with the the company today and increase awareness of their brand. The process has proven effective for a number of professionals seeking to extend their reach through increased audience engagement driven by innovative technological tools.

972-646-2788 or via email salma@oxygengroup123.com

The post Dallas SEO Company Wants to Help Businesses in Dallas Free! appeared first on One SEO Company | Lawyer Marketing.



from One SEO Company | Lawyer Marketing

Sabado, Hunyo 27, 2015

Lawyer Marketing Using Google Adwords

Law Firm Marketing Expert Qamar Zaman Explains How to Get the Most Out of Your Pay per Click Ads / Google Adwords

As competition among law firms get tighter, the need to stand out and create more visibility especially in the SERPs is of utmost importance if you want higher possibility of getting more leads.  Pay per Click (PPC) is quite useful if you don’t want your spot in the SERPs getting occupied by your competitors through paid search.  Here is a clear scenario.

For example, you are already doing great in organic search but your competitor got the top spot in paid search, this could lead to decrease in clicks which could end up in decrease in traffic and leads because your prospects are already clicking your competitor’s paid search ad.  See example below.

Lawyer Marketing Using Google Adwords


In the screenshot above, you can see that if you are optimizing for the keywords “new york lawyer” and even though you are doing well in organic search (see second marked SERP result), your competitor still has the chance to steal your prospects through paid search ads (see first marked SERP result).  This is the very reason why you should not forgo PPC as an important part of your online marketing strategy.

But, before you jump into the PPC bandwagon, you should make sure that you get the most out of your campaign by creating a strategy that can help you gain a better turnaround.  Let’s discuss a few important tips that can help you get the most out of your PPC campaign without employing an expensive marketing consultant.

Tips on How to Get the Most Out of Your PPC Campaign

Let’s remember that Google is one of the biggest (more than 95% of their income is from their PPC Service – Google AdWords which provided them a total revenue of $33.2 billion from the 3rd quarter of 2010 to the 2nd quarter of 2011) companies that offer PPC services for any types of businesses who wanted to gain visibility in the SERPs (as sponsor ads).

According to WordStream (http://tinyurl.com/3o7exdc), lawyer keywords are among the top 4 most expensive keywords in Google AdWords Advertising.  This means that attorneys and law firms have to set aside a considerable amount of budget in order for their PPC campaign to run.  If your budget turns out higher than your expected turn-around, then there’s no use doing any PPC campaigns.  Here’s a detailed and easier to understand example analogy by Kristi Kellogg (http://tinyurl.com/prpl6st).

“If, for example, you are operating on a daily budget of $1,000 dollars and your average cost per click is $50, you are only going to receive 20 clicks.”

Are those 20 clicks worth the $1,000 daily spend? That depends – even with a limited budget, in some cases, the cost is well-justified. If, for example, your site has a (very healthy) five percent conversion rate and you authorize a daily spend of $1,000 on keywords with an average cost-per-click of $50 … you can expect 1 conversion a day. If that single conversion (in this case, signing on a new client) is worth less than $1,000, the PPC campaign doesn’t make sense. However, if that single conversion is worth far more than $1,000, the PPC spend can make a lot of sense. If the desired conversion for a law firm is signing a new client and the worth of that conversion over the life the client is, say, $50,000, that initial $1,000 PPC spend had an ROI of 4900% (!).

Kristi’s analogy is definitely a spot on.  Make sure you know your business goals.  If you think the visibility you get from organic search is enough and you gain more clients through it, then you don’t need to spend on paid search anymore.  But, if you find out that your competitor has been attracting the prospects that are supposedly yours, then you should do something about it.

Important Things to Remember When Setting Up PPC Ads

Getting the most out of your PPC ads includes the process of carefully selecting the keywords that you will use.  Make sure that they are highly converting keywords (search terms that are used by prospects who are really looking for lawyer services).

Next, you need to create a landing page that can easily convince your prospects that the legal services they are looking for can be found on your webpage.  Take note that you can create as many landing pages as you like as long as they are highly relevant to your campaign.
It is also important that your ads be served in different formats.  This is to find out which ones are more effective in attracting clicks.  From text ads, image ads, to banner ads, you have to find out which format garner more interests from your prospects.

Whether you use Google AdWords, Facebook Adverts, or any other PPC programs, these services have automatic reporting tools that can help you figure out if your campaign is running and working well.  These tools can help you determine which ads have high or low click-through-rates or which ones are driving more traffic to your landing page/website.

Lastly, from the reports you get, you can refine your PPC strategy to improve the performance of your campaign.  For example, if your reports show that a few keywords are not performing well, you can remove them from your ads and replace them with better ones.  This can help you get rid of unnecessary spending that doesn’t have much turnarounds.

Final Thoughts

Doing a PPC campaign is not a run-of-the-mill marketing strategy.  You should carefully consider your budget first and then make sure that you make the most out of it.  Picking the right keywords, creating an effective landing page, selecting the best ad format, analyzing your ads performance and applying what you discovered to refine your strategy are important if you want to make the most out of your PPC marketing.

How about you? How do you make the most out of your PPC campaign? What PPC program are you using? Which PPC programs are more effective in driving traffic to your website?  Leave your answers in the comment section below.

Hire Qamar Zaman for your next Lawyer Marketing using Google Adwords

http://tinyurl.com/8xbmsto T:972.437.8942

Qamar Zaman
Chief Visionary at One SEO Company. An Internet Entrepreneur SEO & lawyer Internet marketing professional & Starbucks Lover.


from Dallas Internet Marketing Blog

Martes, Hunyo 23, 2015

Thumbtack Debacle – 5 Important Lessons To Learn

Earlier this month, the online marketing industry has once again been stirred by the latest casualty of Google’s manual action penalty for spammy links.  Every expert and enthusiast’s attention has been temporarily focused to Thumbtack.com, an online marketplace for local services.

A report (http://ift.tt/1RZ5Trg) from The SEM Post, discussed in details why Thumbtack.com just suddenly vanished from the SERPs and can’t also be found using their brand name.  Jennifer Slegg reported that the website received manual action penalty from Google for link spam.

If you do a search for “Thumbtack”, you will not find them anywhere in the Google search results… nor will you see them for any of the estimated 25,000 keywords they were previously ranking for. They have been hit with a manual action penalty courtesy of Google. Thumbtack does not rank for their own brand name, which is usually the first sign to SEOs that something in their SEO has gone awry.”

It is important to note that before this report has been published, there were already complaints against Thumbtack regarding their snaky link building tactic that had somehow violated Google’s Webmaster Guidelines.

Slegg further reported that Thumbtack have asked their customers to link back to them using a pre-formatted badge code in exchange for a profile points.  This type of linking scheme, although doesn’t involve direct money, still violated Google’s link spam policy.  It was also discovered that most of the links from those badges are dofollow, thus everyone who noticed it before the report came to Google, has been wondering why the search giant haven’t detected such huge link scheme earlier.

Good news for Thumbtack.com though, as of this writing, the manual penalty has already been lifted off already by Google and everything goes back to normal except for the fact that the former has been aggressively asking their customers to remove the badges or make their links no-follow.
From a sudden debacle to lightning speed of a comeback, let’s discuss what we can learn from this incident that left a lot of experts and enthusiasts frowning and sighing in frustration.

Top 5 Lessons We Can Learn from Thumbtack.com’s Debacle

Before we’ll proceed with the “morals” we can pick up from this incident, let’s refresh ourselves a bit and remember that Google is one of Thumbtack’s main investors.  Last year Bloomberg reported that the search giant has invested $100 million to the latter.  Really shocking, right?
Now, let’s proceed to the important messages or lessons we can learn from this fiasco both from the incident itself and also Google’s intentional message to all those who are trying to game or manipulate their system.

1. No matter how discreet your link building scheme in gaming Google, you still can’t keep it a secret forever.

Of course, getting all hyped up to build more and more backlinks without considering its future implications is definitely a bad strategy.  As for Thumbtack’s case, despite the earlier warnings they received from concerned personalities in the industry, they still kept on denying that they did something wrong.  This only makes them look worse and has decrease whatever online credibility they have in the industry.

When it comes to gaming Google’s algorithm, nothing can be hidden that long.  Either automated filters detect what you are doing or you will get reported by your competitors.  You really have no other choice but to stick in producing highly valuable and relevant content.

2. Any kinds of incentive in exchange for getting a dofollow backlink means a violation of Google’s policy against link spamming.

Thumbtack kept on denying at first that they have violated Google’s linking policy.  Their main defense was there’s no money involve when they asked their customers to link back to their website by embedding their badge on their webpages and telling them they get profile points in return.  In reality though, it is quite obvious that they committed a violation.  When their practice has reached Google’s ear shot, their website automatically vanished from the SERPs.  Here’s the exact words lifted off from the search giant’s Webmaster Guidelines for Link Schemes.

Any links intended to manipulate PageRank or a site’s ranking in Google search results may be considered part of a link scheme and a violation of Google’s Webmaster Guidelines.

  •         This includes any behavior that manipulates links to your site or outgoing links from your site. The following are examples of link schemes which can negatively impact a site’s ranking in search results: Buying or selling links that pass PageRank. This includes exchanging money for links, or posts that contain links; exchanging goods or services for links; or sending someone a “free” product in exchange for them writing about it and including a link
  •         Excessive link exchanges (“Link to me and I’ll link to you”) or partner pages exclusively for the sake of cross-linking
  •         Large-scale article marketing or guest posting campaigns with keyword-rich anchor text links
  •         Using automated programs or services to create links to your site
Read the rest of the guidelines here (http://tinyurl.com/mhye639).

3. Link variety is the key.

When Thumbtack’s backlinks were evaluated by a few experts, they found out that most of them are do-follows.  Lack of link variety is a major indicator that a website is engaging in some sorts of shady practices, thus the importance of building different types of links should not be forgotten if you are aiming for your strategy to last and not get penalized.

This is not actually the first time that I talked about diversity in organic link-building but it is worth to mention this again so that everyone can keep in mind its importance in creating authoritative and credible link profile.

4. Google favors no one?

When Google hammered their penalty against Thumbtack, it is easy to conclude that they don’t favor anyone even those websites of businesses wherein they invested millions of dollars into.  But, a lot of personalities in the industry are quite skeptic because while it would take a few months for an ordinary website to recover, Thumbtack was out of their misery in just a week.  This has been raising the eyebrows even those people who are closely following Google.  We can’t blame Google, right? I mean they already penalized their very own, it’s enough already.  Do you agree?

5. If Google can’t detect your scheme, your competitors can!

Of course, Google’s algorithm is not perfect, thus it is expected that every now and then some people can bypass their system and can get away from getting penalized.  But, you should not rely on that fact alone.  You should remember that you cannot hide anything online.  Your competitors are bound to investigate your website more especially if you are on top of your game.  Thus, it is definitely not a good strategy to use spammy or black hat tactics to rank well on the SERPs.

Final Thoughts

Getting a manual penalty from Google is not a very uncommon occurrence in the online marketing industry but what happened to Thumbtack is rather an interesting case.  They’ve been implementing their questionable link building strategy for quite a while and it only takes a few “concerned” individuals (who reported their practice to Google) to dissolve their stand that what they are have been doing violated Google’s linking policy.
It is also worthy to note that despite penalizing Thumbtack (for one week), we can never really conclude that Google is always fair.  Put yourself in Google’s shoes and penalize the website wherein you invested millions of dollars for a few months.  They are always bound to expedite the process because it involves their very own money.
How about you? Do you think Google is completely unbiased in implementing the manual penalty for Thumbtack? Kindly share your opinions in the comment section below.
By: Qamar Zaman. Qamar is a Dallas based SEO Expert and can be found on http://tinyurl.com/nq4jlaq


Qamar Zaman
Chief Visionary at One SEO Company. An Internet Entrepreneur SEO & lawyer Internet marketing professional & Starbucks Lover.


from Dallas Internet Marketing Blog

Miyerkules, Hunyo 3, 2015

Google Analytics Tips: Analyzing Visitor Personas

Analyzing website visitors including the task of determining who they are, why they come to your website and how you can improve their experience as users are among the most challenging parts in creating visibility for your brand or business on the web. Good thing is, there’s one very useful tool that has become the ultimate solution when it comes to analyzing online customer and prospect’s personas. It’s no other than Google Analytics.


Google Analytics and Small Businesses

Google Analytics is particularly popular among small businesses. Aside from the fact that it is free, it also has powerful and compelling features that enable marketers and entrepreneurs alike in gaining insights not only about the number of visitors their websites receive but also in identifying their intent and background. According to BuiltWith.com (http://tinyurl.com/d2j6ott), as of May 2015, there are 496,424 sites that are using Google Analytics.
Demographics and Affinity Signals are two of Google Analytics features that can help you create personas to group website visitors with the same background, intent, and want. To learn more on how to do this, continue reading below.

What is a Persona?

In a marketing perspective, a persona is a kind of a pseudo or fictional character. It is created to give a representation for a particular type of users. This is quite helpful if you want to categorize the users who are visiting your webpage to further refine your targeting strategies. Here’s how Wikipedia (http://tinyurl.com/nc8fn97) exactly defines it.
“Personas are fictional characters created to represent the different user types that might use a site, brand, or product in a similar way. Marketers may use personas together with market segmentation, where the qualitative personas are constructed to be representative of specific segments. The term persona is used widely in online and technology applications as well as in advertising, where other terms such as pen portraits may also be used.”
Learning to create personas out of your website visitors through the use of Google Analytics is the first step in gaining more and deeper insights on how you can improve user experience and answer the needs of your target audience.

Tips on Creating and Analyzing Website Visitor Personas

Tips on Creating and Analyzing Website Visitor Personas

Checking the Demographics and Affinity Categories

Two of Google Analytics features you need to check first if you want to create and analyze the personas of your website visitors are the Demographics and Affinity Signals. To see the Demographic reports, you only need to enable it so that it can be easily accessed every time you log in into your Google Analytics account.
The first report you will see is about the ages of your visitors.
The first report you will see is about the ages of your visitors.
In the screenshot above, it is apparent that most of the visitors of the website are of ages 25 to 34.

The next report under the Demographics section shows the Gender of most of your website visitors.
The first report you will see is about the ages of your visitors.
In the screenshot above, we can tell that most visitors of the website are females.
So far, there are two main things we know about most of the website’s visitors – they are mostly females ages 24 to 35. These data are very important in creating their persona but these are not enough. We need more information, thus we need to check another set of reports in Google Analytics called the Affinity Categories. This report can be found under the Interests section.
The first report you will see is about the ages of your visitors.

Taking a Closer Look at the Affinity Categories

The Affinity Categories reveal a lot more about a website’s visitors. In the screenshot above, the data show that most of the visitors are Movie (6.29%) and TV lovers (5.79%).
The data we have so far revealed that most of the traffic received from that website are from women who are in their middle twenties to early thirties. They are mostly movie buffs and couch potatoes. These data should be enough but Google Analytics provides another in depth data that can help you see what these visitors are looking for.
The first report you will see is about the ages of your visitors.
The In-Market segment under the Interests section (see screenshot above) shows that most of the website visitors have been actively looking for information about employment, travel, and gadget phones.
With these additional information, you can now create a persona of a target audience that are mostly composed of movie buffs and TV-loving millennials who arrive at your website while they are actively looking for information about employment, travel, and gadgets.
Looking at these data, we can create another slightly different persona. They are young women professionals who are either working in the office or actively seeking for a job. If they are working, they are probably looking for information such as reviews of the latest gadget phones or information about travel destinations that they are planning to visit. This group of young women professionals are also the type who frequent in online Movie or TV sites such as Netflix and Hulu.
With these highly detailed information, website owners and marketers can have a better understanding of what are the needs of their target audience and how they can serve them to improve their user experience.

Questions You Need to Ask to Build Your Personas

According to Bryan Eisenberg (http://tinyurl.com/y9mp4nm), an online marketing pioneer, there are some important questions you need to answer to build your personas. They are as follows.
  • What are the daily activities of this persona?
  • What is this persona’s life motivation?
  • What this persona’s unspoken questions about your product or service?
  • What are his/her expectations from your product or service?
  • What kind of information this persona needs to be convinced to take action?
  • What is she/he motivated to this this action?
  • What actions you want this persona to do, and how you will convince her/him to do them?
Read more tips on how to create personas using Google Analytics here (http://tinyurl.com/y9mp4nm).

Final Thoughts

Creating personas to learn more about the needs of your target audience is definitely a very important step every online entrepreneur should not miss doing if they want to improve their online marketing strategy. Learning how to create personas through the use of Google Analytics is an essential skill that can help you not only understand the behavior of your website visitors but also what your current marketing platform needs to change or modify to improve their experience while consuming your content.
If you are still confused or haven’t absorbed well how creating personas is done, then it is high time you contact a seasoned digital marketing consultant to guide and teach you how the whole process is being done. Good luck!
Also watch my Video Tweets in Google Search Results
Qamar Zaman
Chief Visionary at One SEO Company. An Internet Entrepreneur SEO & lawyer Internet marketing professional & Starbucks Lover.


from Dallas Internet Marketing Blog

Lunes, Mayo 18, 2015

Google Algorithms: Top 10 Search Features You Need to Know to Learn How They Work

Without sufficient knowledge on how Google Search algorithms work, it would be quite difficult to create an organic strategy to boost your content or website’s visibility on the SERPs (search engine result pages). Learning the basic explanations how they use these algorithms to refine search results is the first step in fully understanding how the search giant rates and ranks websites. But, before we’ll delve with that, let’s have a quick discussion first about the technical definition of an algorithm.

What is an Algorithm?

According to Google (http://tinyurl.com/pphtvx2), the term algorithm in the context on how they use it to improve their search services, is defined as a computer process and formula that take in the queries of search users and turn them into answers. If you are familiar with programming, algorithm is simply a set of programs (lines of instructions understood by computers) used to command a computer to function according to what the programmer wants.
The search engine giant divulged that the algorithms they use these days are relying on more than 200 unique signals. Here’s the exact statement they posted on their website.
“Today Google’s algorithms rely on more than 200 unique signals or “clues” that make it possible to guess what you might really be looking for. These signals include things like the terms on websites, the freshness of content, your region and PageRank.”

Top 10 Search Features You Need to Know to Learn How Google Algorithms Work

Google algorithms is composed of “projects”, the components of their search process that they regularly update to meet the needs of their users and to deliver better results. To better understand how their algorithms improve user experience, you need to fully understand these components.

1.) Answers

When you look for immediate answers such as the current value of dollar against pounds, sports scores, or even the weather forecast in the next few days, Google instantly provides answer without the need for their users to be redirected to a new page. See sample below how a query of the weather forecast in Dallas looks like.
Answers

2.) Autocomplete

The aspect of Google Search that predicts what you are searching for while you are typing the key terms of the information you want to see. This helps users expedites their query in an instant. See sample below.
Autocomplete

3.) Google Instant

As you type the keywords of the information you want to search, Google automatically gives you possible and relevant results.
Google Instant

4.) Knowledge Graph

When you search for something in Google, it gives you results based on a database of real world people, places, things, and the connections between them. For example, if you search about a famous personality such as Barack Obama, Google would give you results not only about him but also about the people who are related to him, the latest news about him, and even results that link to his social media accounts. See screenshot below.
Knowledge Graph
Read more on Google makes search more human.

5.) News

When you are looking for the latest and hot off the press information about the subject of your search, the News tab is the most reliable feature of Google Search. It gives you the freshest data from the most trusted news websites all around the web. See screenshot below.
News

6.) Safe Search

With this feature, search results that displays explicit content are being censored. It mainly reduces the amount of adult web pages, images, and videos in your results. In the example below, the results for “adult sexy photos” are totally censored.
Safe Search

7.) Spelling

One of the best features of Google Search is the automatic spelling correction wherein even a slight misspelling is automatically corrected. See screenshot below.
Spelling

8.) Site & Page Quality

Something that can’t be shown in the SERPs is on how they measure the trustworthiness, reputability, or authoritativeness of a website. But, one of the most popular ways of knowing how they value a certain page is through the use of Page Rank. If your website has a higher page rank, then you have a better chance of getting a top spot on the search result pages.
Site & Page Quality
Also Read http://tinyurl.com/pnhhchz

9.) Snippets

One of the most informative feature of Google Search is the snippets. It shows a brief yet informative description about each of the search result it displays. This includes the webpage’s title and a short descriptive text about it. See how it looks like in the screenshot below.
Snippets

10.) Videos

If you are looking for videos, the videos tab instantly displays thumbnail results of videos that match your key terms. These thumbnails enable users to quickly decide which video to watch. See screenshot below on how it looks like in the SERPs.
Videos
The rest of the features of Google Search that make it the world’s number one search engine are as follows:
  • Books,
  • Freshness,
  • Images,
  • Indexing,
  • Mobile,
  • Query Understanding,
  • Refinements,
  • Search Methods,
  • Synonyms,
  • Translation and Internationalization,
  • Universal Search and
  • User Context.
Check out how these “projects” work by clicking this link (http://ift.tt/1S0lYhl).

Final Thoughts

Taking a closer look on how Google Search algorithms work is quite beneficial if you are figuring out how you can enhance your search marketing efforts by learning how the system serves its users. Since Google focuses mainly in providing better user experience, your efforts should also gear towards a more customer-oriented approach.
By: Qamar Zaman
You can follow Qamar Zaman on Linkedin
Qamar Zaman
Chief Visionary at One SEO Company. An Internet Entrepreneur SEO & lawyer Internet marketing professional & Starbucks Lover.


from Dallas Internet Marketing Blog

Huwebes, Mayo 14, 2015

Lead Generation Expert Helps Grow Business Using Linkedin

Tips in Keeping Up with Your Network Connections in LinkedIn using the Relationship Tab

If you have been using LinkedIn for quite a while but haven’t explored yet how you can leverage from its features that can help you track your network connections, then you are missing something really important.
When 1 out of 3 professionals (http://tinyurl.com/opsjhnm) in the planet has a LinkedIn profile, the need to build a network that can help you make sense of every people you’ve meet can be quite beneficial to your business in the long run.
Building and keeping track of your network connections are made easier by LinkedIn’s Relationship tab feature. If you are overwhelmed with the volume of people you need to communicate and connect with inside the professional network, this feature can help you organize and manage your relationships smoothly.

5 Helpful Features of LinkedIn’s Relationship Tab

To maximize the benefits of the Relationship tab, you need to be more familiar how each of its functionality can help you in organizing your network connections. Screenshots are lifted out from LinkedIn’s blog (http://tinyurl.com/pkyhpuo).

1. Notes

Notes
The very first function you will see after you click the Relationship tab (under your connection’s profile) is the Notes section. This function allows you to record or create an entry about your connection. Anything important that you need to take note about a particular contact should be inputted in there.
For example, if you are looking for employee prospects, you can record the specific skills of that contact that make him/her stand out among other candidates. Or, if it is a potential business partner, you can take note your first impression when you checked the profile of this person. Anything that can help you draw a better picture on how you can create a beneficial relationship with you contact should be in there.

2. Reminders

Reminders
Managing a business and at the same time trying to build a network of connections through LinkedIn can be very time consuming especially if you are a hands-on entrepreneur. The Reminder sub-tab is a very powerful functionality that can help you keep up to date with important events that you need to accomplish for each of your contact.
For example, you can schedule a reminder that you need to follow-up a prospect every week. Recurring reminders for monthly meeting schedules, seminars, or even birthdays and anniversaries can be set-up in a breeze.

3. How You Met

How You Met
This feature is very important especially if you have a large network of connections. If you meet through a networking event or if someone introduced the person to you, it’s practical to note it so that you won’t get confused or forget the next time you’ll meet. This can also help you build more sincere relationships with industry personalities who may play important roles in your business in the future.

4. Tags

Tags
LinkedIn calls this one as the most important functionality inside the Relationship tab. It mainly organizes your contacts into categories so that you can check them out easily. Every time you connect with new contacts, use the Tags feature to put them in a category that describes who they are or what they do. Of course, you can put each contact in two or more categories.

5. Messages

Messages
All conversations you had with your connections can be found in the Relationship tab. This helps you to have easy access on what you and your connections have been talking about. You just need to click the subjects of the conversations to view the details of the messages.

Final Thoughts

LinkedIn is definitely the number one social networking site for professionals. Utilizing the full potentials of its social media tools can definitely boost your productivity when it comes to building your reputation and relationships within your network. The Relationship tab is one powerful feature every serious entrepreneur should utilize to effectively connect with their contacts inside the network.
How about you? Have you tried using the Relationship tab to better connect with your LinkedIn contacts? How was it? Share your experiences by commenting below.
Call Qamar Zaman or visit OneSEOCompany.com to for hype free marketing ideas for your business. 972.437.8942
Qamar Zaman
Chief Visionary at One SEO Company. An Internet Entrepreneur SEO & lawyer Internet marketing professional & Starbucks Lover.


from Dallas Internet Marketing Blog