Is a Website still an Important Internet Marketing tool for Small Business?

A few decades ago, static websites dominate the internet and emails were hugely utilized to reach  target customers.

Fast forward to 2016, we already have numerous channels to promote and market our business on the web. Aside from websites, we already have social networks, video communities, forums, blogs, podcasts, and the like.

In this fast paced and highly competitive digital marketing world wherein business owners have numerous options where to promote their products, is having a self-hosted website still an important investment?

Entrepreneur.com tells us why having your own website is still very important especially for online entrepreneurs:

Why You Need a Website

“So should your business have a website, even if your business is small and sells products or services you don’t think can be sold online? My answer in 1998 is the same as my answer today: Yes, if you have a business, you should have a website. Period. No question. Without a doubt.

Also, don’t be so quick to dismiss your product as one that can’t be sold online. Nowadays, there’s very little that can’t be sold over the internet. More than 20 million shoppers are now online, purchasing everything from books to computers to cars to real estate to jet airplanes to natural gas to you name it. If you can imagine it, someone will figure out how to sell it online.”

http://entm.ag/1MwRLqt

It’s fancy and irresistible to create your web presence without spending a dime. Facebook gives you an opportunity to create your storefront online through their Facebook Fan Page. Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn and others allow you to build your presence and market yourself and your products through their profile pages, but they allow only a certain number of features to help you build a compelling business story.

Forty-eight percent of people cited a website’s design as the number one factor in deciding the credibility of a business |ironpaper.com

Courtesy: profitworks.ca

The fact is that, your website is your storefront and it’s totally in your control without having you to piggyback on any other business entity (i.e. Facebook or Twitter). To have an effective “storefront”, you need to learn and practice online marketing tactics such as search engine marketing (SEM), SEO, PPC, SMM and the like to help your target audience find it. Those websites on top of the SERPs (search engine result pages) for example, did not get there easily. A certain length of time were spent for trial and error coupled with  patience and persistence are exerted before they rank well in search.

Charles Jackson of Demand Media gives us more reasons why having a website is still important for business owners:

Low-Cost Advertising

The Web has a far wider reach than any other form of advertising. While it takes time to build up enough traffic to your website to make a worthwhile impact on your company’s marketing campaign, it costs next to nothing to do so. Your website will be the center of your company’s online presence; through it, you advertise your business around the Web on social networking sites, forums and through pay-per-click advertising programs.

Visibility

Increasing visibility is one major factor that makes having a website important. Even if people have heard about your company, they may want to carry out research online first, before leaving the house. Provide a map and directions to your company’s shops or offices on your website so that visitors are less likely to have trouble finding the place.

http://bit.ly/1RGl2Lo

When we talk about design and its impact in having a dynamic and effective website, we should not only discuss the cost. Other important factors should also be addressed.

– Website opening speed

     40% of people will leave a website if it takes more than 3 seconds to load. — Econsultancy

– Website Content

     Content marketing generates 3 times as many leads as traditional outbound marketing, but costs 62% less.  — Hubspot, January 2015

– Mobile Friendliness

     40% of people will choose a different search result if the first is not mobile friendly. –Skillcrush

     4 out of 5 consumers shop on smartphones — Comscore

Courtesy: techshep.net

In short, your website can help you reach out to a wide range of audience 24/7. Other digital marketing medium can simply help in amplifying your web marketing efforts.

This BusinessVibes article on Business2Community  tells us more:

How to Market Your Small Business Effectively in 2016

“First Things First: You Need A Website (and a good one, too)

Many of you might find it hard to believe, but many small businesses still don’t have a website (or any web presence at all, for that matter).

If you’re running one of these businesses, I’m afraid I’m going to have to break this to you: you need a website.

It doesn’t matter if you’re selling direct to consumers and B2B, your website should act as a “hub” for which all other marketing tactics derive from.

It’s highly likely that should your potential customers/clients receive a business card/flyer/leaflet/cold call from you, they’re going to seek more information about your company online before they decide whether or not to give you their custom.”

http://bit.ly/1LVdrN6

You can show the credibility and authenticity of your business by having your very own self-hosted website wherein you can feature the minutest details of your products and services.  More importantly, having your own website gives you limitless freedom to show your creativity in promoting your brand.  This also allows you to monetize your content anyway you can, which you can never do on free social media channels.

If you are not confident enough to start your very own website, you can always look for digital marketing experts to help you take the first steps.  Qamar Zaman, a Website Developer and an online marketing guru has over a decade of experience in helping entrepreneurs build their very own websites without compromising their limited budget.

You can contact him through this number 972.437.8942 or you can visit his website OneSEOCompany.com

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

from Dallas Internet Marketing Blog

How Content Marketing Can Help Law Firms

A recent report by The Wall Street Journal says the confidence of small business owners took a downturn in January. According to a survey by the National Federation of Independent Business, the numbers slipped to 93.9, which is 1.3 points lower than the previous month.

Source: The Wall Street Journal Report “Small-Business Owners Grew Less Confident in January”

“Small-business owners turned less optimistic about their economic prospects in January as a tumultuous stock market and intensifying concerns over global growth took a toll on confidence. The National Federation of Independent Business’s small-business optimism index, based on a survey of about 1,400 owners, slipped 1.3 points to 93.9.”

To read more visit http://on.wsj.com/1RXyMGk.

Other reports say that the dwindling level of confidence caused by economic concerns has led to small business optimism hitting a two-year low.

Source: The Los Angeles Times Report “Small-business optimism falls to nearly 2-year low amid fears of slowing growth”

“Optimism about the economy by U.S. small-business owners slipped last month to a nearly two-year low as concerns about slowing growth led to projections for fewer sales, according to survey results released Tuesday. The monthly optimism index from the National Federation of Independent Business declined by 1.3 points to 93.9. The figure is well below the index’s 42-year average of 98 and indicates small business owners are wary of future economic conditions, the group said. The last time the index was lower was in February 2014.

To read more visit http://lat.ms/1PT8Yc3.

The news source also states that the number provided by the index indicates an excessive number of small businesses have a poor outlook on future economic conditions, and continued declines could increase the risk of recession. Chief economist of the federation, William C. Dunkelberg, said of the matter “Most of the decline was accounted for by expected business conditions in the next six months and the expected real sales… These expectations are important determinants of decisions to hire, to expand business operations and to order new inventory, all drivers of the economy.”

What Content Marketing Can Do for Fearful Small Business Owners in Times of Economic Uncertainty

According to Qamar Zaman, CEO of a Dallas based legal marketing firm oneseocompany.com who has provided digital marketing solutions for thousands of businesses throughout his career, a key issue that affects many small law firms is their propensity to view themselves as a jack of all trades. Zaman says “small law firms have a tendency to become their own one man department of marketing and everyday core operations, which isn’t always efficient.” The lawyer marketing expert says that not having some type of professional support, especially when it comes to staying competitive in today’s marketing arena, can hinder one’s survival as a business long-term.

Zaman says “a significant percentage of businesses that fail after two years put all of their eggs in their operating basket, and didn’t know how to leverage their marketing opportunities effectively.

Content marketing can help a lot  in a range of industries gain a boost in their confidence from increased traffic, and quantifiable sales leads. Zaman suggests, “small law firms must learn to integrate content marketing into their strategies more effectively if they want to stay alive today. There are so many resources that can help them ensure that they are generating the buzz needed to maintain steady sales numbers while staying within a reasonable marketing budget.”

To learn more about Qamar Zaman & his services for law firms visit OneSEOCompany.com

Follow his blog

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

from Dallas Internet Marketing Blog

Are You Sacrificing Too Much Personal Time and Money to Grow Your Small Business?

Are you one of the 89 percent of those who sacrifice an overwhelming amount of personal time to grow your small business? New evidence shows that small business owners sacrifice the majority of not only their personal time, but also their finances to drive growth.

Source: Business Wire Report “Small Business Owners Investing Significant Personal Time and Savings to Grow Their Business, According to American Express OPEN Research”

“Seventy-nine percent of small business owners continue to make growing their business a top priority, but many are making personal sacrifices in the process. According to data from the most recent American Express OPEN Small Business Growth Pulse, 89% of small businesses indicate they invest a significant amount of their personal time in an effort to grow their business.”

To read more visit http://yhoo.it/1Kwwj4d;.

A reported 68 percent surveyed said they invest much of their personal savings in order to achieve more growth, and 60 percent spend more time working on activities to promote their business than managing the details of required day-to-day operations. A majority also make growth the number one priority, but admit that generating related ideas keeps them awake at night due to cash flow and implementation concerns.

According to CEO of OneSEOCcompany Qamar Zaman, who has long-term experience developing marketing solutions for small businesses, today’s marketing arena allows small business owners and operators to facilitate growth without all of the sacrifices traditionally required of being a one man operation. Says the digital marketing expert, “there are support tools that help take the grunt work out of promoting a small business that were not once available for them such as press release distribution. There is so much that small business owners must give their time and money to; therefore, it is important for them to know what opportunities exist for growing their business without having to exhaust the resources needed for managing their core operations.”

How Press Release Marketing Services Help Save Business Owners Time and Money

As stated by Zaman, press release distribution is one of numerous unique resources available for small businesses today that can help them achieve monumental growth. Press releases are effective tools for promoting a brand, product, service, or event to media outlets and members of a specific target audience at the same time.

Small business owners can save both time and money by sending out releases about newsworthy developments within their enterprise through a reputable press release distributor. Services that have developed affiliations with media channels, and disseminate releases through social media and to major search engines like Google enable small business to leverage the media for promotion without having to go over budget. With use of this type of promotion, they also have time to spare to focus on other key operation needs, which may in effect, help reduce cutting into their personal time and spending.

Companies like OneSEOCompany provide unique custom solutions for small businesses that need help with increasing brand recognition and promoting overall business growth. By contacting OneSEOCompany directly, small business owners can discuss their needs with a press release marketing expert who can help them decide which available package options would be most beneficial for helping them achieve their goals.

For press release marketing tips that can help you grow your small business, please visit

OneSEOCompany.com

 

Media Contact

Qamar Zaman

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

Googler John Mueller Keeps Mum about Recent Algorithm Updates but Discusses AMP Pages, and Single Page App Technology

I had a chance to watch the recent Google Webmaster Hangout on Air by Google’s Webmaster Trend Analyst John Mueller and I noticed that he’s been trying to avoid answering questions related to any possible algorithm updates that the search giant might have already rolled out in the past few weeks.

This is actually understandable given the fact on how a lot of search practitioners tend to use their knowledge about Google’s search algorithm in deceiving the system.  These days though, it only takes a matter of time before big search engines catch up with these manipulations, and culprit websites are heavily penalized.

Google Penguin and Panda Roll Outs

Among the highly repeated question throughout the Q&A hangout facilitated by John has to do with the possibility that Google might have already rolled out its famous algorithm updates that are expected to hit early this year.

Google Panda for example is now officially a part of Google’s core algorithm and not just a mere filter run by the search giant every time they did some upgrades.  John mentioned though that Panda primarily looks at the quality of the content and they look at specific signals to determine this.

The anticipated Penguin 4.0 roll out last January though is still a mystery to many. Even John never uttered a single word about it and just keep on saying that he can’t release a statement yet about it.

Other ranking factors are also mentioned, but John opted not to discuss them any further.

The Launching of AMP Pages this Month

Another topic that was repeatedly mentioned all throughout the hangout session is about Google’s Accelerated Mobile Pages Project or commonly known as AMP Pages. Last year, the search giant announced that AMP Pages will be integrated into its search engine by this month – February 2016.

Some webmasters during the hangout session were concerned about the additional details they need to know so that their webpages are AMP ready.  Mueller said that there’s no need to modify their CMS and their RSS feeds are sufficient so that their websites will appear in the SERPs.  He also emphasized that AMP Pages are more likely to affect news websites (for now) displayed in the SERPs using mobile devices.

Here’s the official statement from Google regarding the AMP Pages project.

“The AMP Project is working to make the mobile web experience better for everyone, and it is thrilling to be part of this industry-wide effort to reshape how content is consumed online.  In the coming weeks, look out for updates on new technology partners, new platforms, and new publishers, as well as the specific launch plans of supporting platforms.”

Webmasters are encouraged by Google to create their very first AMP page here.

Mueller added that having lots of AMP Pages is not a guarantee or the basis for high rankings yet.

The Importance of Valid AMP Pages

Mueller also emphasized during the hangout the need for an error-free AMP Pages.  He said that technically, if there are no invalid errors, then it’s a good AMP Page.  Google requires this page to be valid and looks at the valid implementation of its structure and data markup so that they can crawl and index it.

At the moment, Mueller said that Google Analytics treats AMP Pages similarly to ordinary web pages, but the team behind GA themselves announced that they will specifically support AMP Pages soon.

How Google Indexes Single Page App?

Another hot topic during the hangout session is about Single Page App optimization.  Mueller said that webmasters should create a unique URL every time they use it so that Google can recognize it.  He further discussed that an anchor is needed as a unique identifier for each piece of content.  Google Search technology has already evolved to the point that it can easily crawl JavaScript and Ajax based content.

Despite the fact that Google encourages webmasters to try out Single Page App, Mueller is straightforward in saying that there are also factors that make it hard to index this kind of technology.

Infinite Scroll, Google Analytics, and a Lot More

Aside from the search algorithm, AMP Pages, and Single Page App technology topics, John Mueller and the rest of the webmasters also discussed a lot more interesting SEO topics such as Infinite Scroll, the latest in Google Analytics, the prospect of Google offering site audit for webmasters, how webmasters can outrank their rivals, recovery tips after getting manual penalties and a lot more.

Check the rest of the Hangout on Air video here.

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

from Dallas Internet Marketing Blog

Three Content Marketing Challenges You Can Say Goodbye to in 2016

Digital marketing expert Qamar Zaman says press release marketing can help businesses overcome three of the biggest content marketing challenges of the past year.

As the new year begins, businesses everywhere have begun putting their plans into action for surpassing the successes seen in 2015 with their marketing efforts. Many who fell short of their goals have gone to great lengths to assess what went wrong during the past year in an effort to get it right this time around.

 

Major Content Marketing Benchmarks and Drawbacks of the Past Year

One of the most significant items placed on the list for assessment is content marketing and what ROI was seen after implementing related strategies.

Before 2015 began, writer Kim Garst wrote in an article published by the Huffington Post that among the top digital marketing trends expected to dominate the year were a decrease in the number of online marketing strategies employed by businesses and content marketing becoming more about quality rather than quantity.

As stated by Garst “A successful content strategy should be about producing first-rate content, not just rehashing or compiling everyone else’s insights. Businesses will finally realize that blah, run-of-the-mill content does very little in terms of increasing search rankings or attracting followers. In fact, they will begin to see that producing low-quality content can actually be damaging in terms of SEO and building trust.” Read more from the Huffington Post here.

According to Qamar Zaman, a digital marketing expert and CEO of online press release distribution service, KISS PR, there were three key challenges that a number of businesses faced in 2015 with regard to content marketing in particular in their effort to focus on quality driven results as opposed to quantity. These included:

• Problems with identifying clear goals
• Failing to promote content effectively
• Problems with utilizing social channels for broad reach

Zaman says these issues gained more prominence for businesses last year because of the frustrations that accompanied the hard hitting changes in the overall landscape for SEO. Zaman, a certified Google analyst says, “Google never wavered from its determination to make sure that search results were spot on matches for user inquiries. The stricter rules made a lot of content businesses were putting out less qualified for the most competitive rankings.”

New Year, New Business Marketing Resolutions

This year, experts are predicting that the evolution of how content can be utilized digitally will make it a major component of marketing strategies for companies of all sizes. Writer Shafqat Islam wrote of the topic in an article recently published by Mashable, “Over the last five years, content marketing has matured and content itself is now the fuel that powers the entire modern marketing engine. Brands will recognize the deeper value of content and put it at the center of the holistic customer experience they provide — every channel, every time, every customer.” To read more visit http://on.mash.to/1JHYtZN.

However, as expressed by Zaman, businesses will have a hard time using content to elevate their success to the levels they are seeking unless they have effectively dealt with the three aforementioned issues specified. Says the CEO, “identifying clear goals, using the right channels for promotion, and making content engaging on social media are going to be paramount to businesses seeking true success with their content marketing efforts throughout the year ahead.”

Zaman says that press release marketing is a driving force that can help businesses accelerate their growth while dealing with a number of content marketing challenges stating, “with a service like KISS PR, businesses have a turnkey solution at their disposal that can provide them with a means of meeting specific target marketing goals, and promoting their content through an extensive network, including on social media.” He proposes that with press releases the three key challenges that impacted so many businesses in 2015 can be easily overcome in 2016.

Zaman’s service is multifaceted in its approach to helping businesses achieve greater visibility through digital promotion. Businesses can contact KISS PR today to inquire about how press release distribution can help with their unique content marketing needs this year.

For more expert business marketing tips from Qamar Zaman, or for more information about the services provided by KISS PR, please visit http://bit.ly/1WPsNDq.

Media Contact:
KISS PR
Salma Zaman
972-646-2788
Connect with KISS PR on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube

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

from Dallas Internet Marketing Blog

Did Google roll out a Brand Bidding Algorithm Update Last Week, Or Was it Part of Penguin 4.0?

A week ago, there’s a bit of a commotion in the SEO community that prompted some to conclude that Google had at last rolled out its most anticipated algorithm update which is Penguin 4.0.  But, after careful checking, reliable sources and even Googlers themselves confirmed that it’s not Penguin yet.  Googler Gary Illyes also confirmed it on his tweet.

So, what really happened?

For those who haven’t caught up yet with this latest algorithm roll out, here’s a quick flashback on what had transpired last week.

 

On the 11th of this month, Joost de Valk, founder of Yoast, reported that they’ve witnessed the biggest and most dramatic changes in Google rankings in the last few years. At first he taught that it’s the most awaited Penguin update, but later on he corrected himself and concluded that it’s a Google core algorithm update.  Here’s what he wrote on his blog.

 

“So… What changed? We don’t know. The changes are… Weird. We’ve been using a couple of datasets to look at this update, but most of all we’re looking at SearchMetrics. They publish a list of winners and losers every week and this week the changes seem to have happened mostly for news sites, specifically for brand terms.”

 

Joost is actually referring to the sudden fluctuation of the SERPs (search engine result pages) that mostly affected news websites wherein brand keywords are the target.

 

Likewise, on the day before that, Dan Petrovic of DejanSEO.com, has a bit similar observation.

 

“It looks like Penguin, but it’s broader in its scope so at this stage it appears to be a multi-purpose update encompassing a range of search quality parameters. From webmaster reports we know this update carries global impact.”

 

Link Research Tools and Search Engine RoundTable also have the similar observations.

But, are there proofs that what Google rolled out or tested was the Brand Bidding Algorithm?

Some experts in the industry concluded that the search giant rolled out an update for its Brand Bidding algorithm, but there are also those who are not convinced.

Joost de Valk is not convinced with the brand bidding algorithm and he quickly explained it in the following blog post.

 

“Bartosz has written a good post (with tons of interesting screenshots if you don’t have access to SearchMetrics), that touches on some of the things I had seen too. He calls it a “brand bidding update”, which I don’t think is right. I do agree with him that the change was in the type of results that Google shows for brand queries. The switch seems to have been from news articles to more “timeless” URLs.”

Our take about this latest unnamed roll out.

This core algorithm update is really something that should be analyzed more deeply.  As of this writing, we noticed that there are only a very few who tried to dig more data to find out what really it is.  Google hasn’t released any statement yet about it and what we mostly read online are just mere speculations and unconfirmed conclusions.

 

Despite the confusions, we think the roll out last week was part of Google’s core algorithm update that they regularly release every now and then, but that one is really big.  And, basing on how it affects branded key terms, it is definitely not related to the much anticipated Penguin 4.0 update.  But, we can’t really say that we are right.  Let us end this article with this interesting comment from one of the members of a Black Hat forum.

 

“There have been massive SERP changes/fluctuations since September/October of 2015. For all we know, Google has been silently rolling out the new Penguin algorithm all this time. It is in their best interest not to announce its rollout when it is actually happening and instead wait for it to roll out, the SERPs to stabilize and then “announce” that they have implemented it. This way they get to avoid the massive PR sh*tstorm which always takes place when they announce large algo updates the moment they take place. Why do you think Matt Cutts is no longer the spokesperson for these updates? They learned that it is better to just be as vague as possible and/or keep everyone in the dark when it comes to large updates.”

 

Lastly, on the 16th of this month, another massive core algorithm update has been rolled out by Google and it is called “Burj Khalifa”. Google has been very sneaky these past few months.  Fortunately for them (and unfortunately for us) they always have the upper hand if they wanted to announce the release of their big algorithm roll outs or not.  Now, it’s your turn to create a conclusion.

Read my latest blog post on SEO 2016 Link Building Fundamentals
Qamar Zaman is a head of SEO and CEO of OneSEOCompany.com

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

from Dallas Internet Marketing Blog

SEO 2016 Link Building Fundamentals

Qamar Zaman a Dallas based SEO outlines fundamentals to link building In 2016 – 7 Mortal Sins in Off-page Optimization You Should Not Commit Again.

It’s already 2016, but when I checked my inbox this morning, I still got emails from online companies wanting to publish a sponsored post on my blog with a back link to their commerce website. What these people are thinking? Real-Time Google Penguin is expected to hit within this month or early next month and these individuals are still looking for ways to get their websites penalized.

For those who don’t know, Real-Time Google Penguin or simply Penguin 4.0 is one of the most anticipated algorithm update from Google that might have been launched before this write-up has been published. As of this writing, a lot are expecting that it will be released within January or early February, but others said Google will release it on March. But, nevertheless, building backlinks these days should not be trusted to people who are still using black-hat or grey-hat tactics to game the system.

According to experts and insiders, Penguin 4.0 once unleashed will automatically penalize websites with suspicious or shady backlinks. With this information alone, it’s sad to know that there are still SEO practitioners who are still committing these mortal sins in off-page optimization.

7 Mortal Sins in Off-Page Optimization People Are Still Doing These Days

1. Paying bloggers to publish your article and asking them to make the backlink do-follow.

There are still a lot of SEO practitioners who believe that this is something Google won’t notice. I mean, how would Google know if you are paying a blogger or not to get a backlink from their high authority blog site? Nice rationalization, right? But, believe it or not, Google will know. May be not now but later, they will find out that you’re buying links. And, once that happened, it will be too late for you to save whatever it is that needed to be saved.

My point really is, if you are doing sneaky things, better not leave any trace because if you do, well, you are trading the future of your business in exchange to temporary boost in search rankings.

2. Forcefully inserting a SEO keyword as an anchor text in a blog post or landing page.

Believe it or not this practice still happens nowadays. Exact-matched SEO keywords forcefully inserted in a blog article and landing page for the sake of getting high rankings is really a suicide, but why is it that there are still many who are doing this kind of trick these days? Google may not penalize your website now, but their upcoming Penguin 4.0 release will definitely leave “harrowing fatalities” for those who keep doing this abuse.

Real-Time Google Penguin algorithm update is expected to instantly penalize all web pages that show signs of spammy links. Would you wait to be penalized first before you straighten up your act?

3. Commenting on unmoderated .edu or similar websites (with high domain authority) to get “high quality” backlinks.

This trick is outright spammy but you will be shocked at how many people are still doing it these days. Leaving comments on unmoderated .edu pages with exact-matched keywords as usernames is definitely one of the easiest ways to boost rankings in search…before. But, if you are still doing this kind of lousy trick these days, please stop it now.

If you hired a SEO agency before and you have no idea that you have backlinks from these spammy pages, you better start a SEO audit to determine where you can start disavowing all those links before Penguin 4.0 will hit your website. You can search for free SEO audit software online or you can buy premium ones as well.

4. Getting backlinks from a webpage with more than 1000 outgoing links.

This is somehow related to number 3. Imagine having backlinks from unmoderated comment section from a .edu website filled with similar spammy backlinks? What value would it give your website when it has a backlink from another web page filled with spam? If you want to ruin your link reputation, then by all means keep on doing it, but for sure if you are the business owner and you know that you hired someone who is still doing this, then by all means pull out your project immediately.

Getting a backlink from a webpage with excessive number of backlinks can automatically trigger Google’s anti-spam filter and can lead to your page getting de-indexed and penalized.

5. Getting backlinks from web pages with the same IP address.

This is actually a thing in the past. Those days wherein webmasters and SEO experts create blog networks to increase backlinks for their money sites and ultimately increase their search rankings. But, surprisingly, there are still people who are doing it these days. They are the ones who proclaimed that they don’t rely solely on Google, thus they are not afraid to go beyond what is ethical.

The problem here is, despite the fact that they are not bothered if Google will penalize them, what’s the guarantee that other search engines won’t do the same? Any tactic to game the system (any search engine for that matter) is bound to get caught and the culprits will be having their not-much anticipated consequence.

6. Creating too many backlinks with exact-match anchor texts.

Too many exact-match anchor texts and do-follow backlinks are signs that you trying to manipulate the system. Even a simple link audit tool can easily detect that you are building links solely to increase your search rankings. You may not be caught easily now but trust me, in the long run, Google will catch up and all your optimization efforts will fade into thin air.

The best way to avoid getting hit by the next Google algorithm update is to diversify your backlinks and never get obsessed with the do-follow trend. Of course, getting a dofollow backlink is great, but if you have way too many, search engine bots will get suspicious and the next thing you know, your website is already deranked and de-indexed in the SERPs (search engine result pages).

7. Using automated program to create backlinks.

Creating automated backlinks is definitely very unethical and is strongly discouraged by big search engines most especially by Google. But, it’s still surprising to observe that many practitioners in the industry still use automation in the guise that it makes redundant tasks easier to manage. But, despite this, the abuse in using automated software in building backlinks is still rampant among those who are fond of utilizing black-hat SEO to game the system.

Are you still committing these mortal sins in Off-page Optimization these days? If you are, I highly recommend you look for ethical alternatives now, or else suffer irreversible consequences later that can ultimately cost you your job or your business.

Building backlinks should not only focus on increasing its number. It should also focus on creating long lasting relationships with leaders and authority in your niche. Reaching out to bloggers, contacting fellow webmasters for a guest post request, attending SEO conferences, sponsoring social media activities, and getting a free backlinks from all these are the type of link building you should do this 2016. Isn’t it more fulfilling if your link building campaign also reflect on how you do well in building relationships in real life?

Qamar Zaman can be reached at OneSEOCompany.com or via phone call 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