By Carl Weiss
Having been a long distance bicycle racer in my youth, one
of the first hard won lessons learned was that without proper nutrition and
hydration you weren’t going to complete, let alone win many races. Pedaling for all your worth for 100 miles at
a go takes a lot out of the body, no matter how young that body might be. After running in the back of the pack for my
first few races I started taking note as to what the top racers were ingesting
both before and during a race. What I
quickly learned was that while you can burn upwards of 5,000 calories during a
century race, the last thing you wanted your body doing during the race was
digesting solid food. That in itself
takes a lot of energy. So the secret
weapon that propelled me from the back to the front of the pack were hi-calorie
energy shakes before the race followed by several bottles of Gatorade during
the race.
So why the impromptu lesson on sports nutrition, you ask? Just as in the world of bicycle racing, when
it comes to being a power player online, to the swift goes the race. By that I mean that if you want to get the
800 lb gorilla in the room named Google to feed you, then you have to feed the
gorilla what he wants to eat. For those
new to the game, the gorilla is a picky eater.
Of course with 68% of the search market, he can afford to be. So what I am going to show you below is the
one formula that is proven to please even the pickiest of simian
appetites. For want of a better term, we
will refer to this beverage as Google-Ade.
First of all, we’ll start off with a mixture that is 80%
content-driven. The gorilla likes a lot
of roughage. Just because you have Blogger,
Google+ and YouTube accounts, that doesn’t mean that the gorilla is going to
like you if you only post once in a blue moon.
Face it, an 800 lb gorilla has a healthy appetite. If you want him to feed you (ie give you page
1 position), then you have to feed him regularly. The formula that seems to work best at
present is to blog weekly, post a video at least bi-weekly and Google+ every
day.
I know what you’re thinking.
“That’s a whole lot of bananas. How
am I going to come up with enough food to keep a gorilla sated?” The answer is easier than you think if you
plan in advance.
Vlogging to the
Rescue
When it comes to creating more the occasional video, Video
Blogging (otherwise known as vlogging) can be your best friend. All it takes is a little bit of preparation to
write a few talking points down. Then
you can have a discussion with your audience about any topic that hits your
fancy. (Below is a vlog done by our own Hector the Connector that tells you the
10 things you need to avoid when making a sixty second presentation.)
You can shoot the video using the camera
built into your laptop. You can shoot it
using your smartphone. If you want to
give it better than average production value, place a green sheet behind you
and alter the background to one more interesting than your bookshelves. Green screen technology is built into even the most rudimentary of post production software.
However you produce it, the trick to must-see-web-TVis to make these
videos short (1-2minute) and to post them every week or so. Better yet, shoot four of them at a
go and then stream one to your audience every week. Make sure you optimize the videos when
uploading them to YouTube by including high-value keywords in your titles and
description.
Google is Gaga for
Blogs
In fact the gorilla is so crazy about blogs that he owns one
called Blogger. What most people don’t
realize is that one of the fastest ways to jump onto page 1 of Google is via
blog. It isn’t at all unusual for a
properly optimized blogpost to jump from Blogger onto page one in less than a
week. Again, you have to make sure that
your post isn’t just a wad of words.
Crafting a blog is one of the tricks of the trade you will need to learn
in order to use this tactic effectively.
Rule Number One: A blog is not an ad. The last thing your audience wants to read is
a pitch for your latest product or service.
What they want to read are things that will solve problems, timely tips,
or copy that makes them laugh. Just like
the gorilla, you need to please the crowd if you are going to make blogging pay
off.
Mine the News Feeds
for Gorilla Snacks
One of the easiest ways to have the gorilla eating out of
your hand is to use Google+ on a daily basis.
That doesn’t mean that you need to craft a new post each and every
day. Far from it. One of the tactics that I use to great
success is to mine the news feeds for information that would be of interest to
my audience. How do I do that? On iGoogle there is a tab that reads, “News.” The news is then broken into categories
listed on the left hand column. Once you
click on a category, a list of sub categories will be displayed. All you have to do is find a topic of
interest, click over to the story and then share it on Facebook, Twitter,
LinkedIn and Google+ at the push of a button.
I mean, what could be better than
using Google+ to help you feed Google?
Cross-Platform Means
Doubling Your Pleasure
Another power tactic is to cross one platform with
another. Don’t forget to embed your vlog
in your blog. Don’t neglect to post your
blogs and your videos on your social nets.
They don’t call it Mixed Media for nothing. Just as with great scotch, Google-Ade tastes
best when blended.
A Pinch of This and a
Dash of That
While optimizing your website is still one way to generating
results on the world’s most popular search engine, it isn’t the only way to
generate the desired result. (Not to
mention that making Google-Ade is a great way to enhance your SEO.) Personally, my goal is not to be on page one
of Google. My aim is to have multiple
links on page one. I don’t want to
simply see my website on a high value keyword.
I want my website, my video, my blogpost and a social post or two to be found
there too. The trick to doing that is to
give the gorilla a five course feast that he can’t ignore. Because when it comes down to it, what do you
feed an 800 lb gorilla? Anything he
wants.
When he isn’t cooking up online marketing tactics, Carl Weiss also
cooks up good eats on his Man Cave Munchies web TV series on YouTube. His online marketing sites include W Squared
Media Group, Jacksonville Video Production and Club W Cubed. He can also be heard every Tuesday at 4pm
Eastern on BlogTalkRadio.
