Working the web is no game for wimps. It takes guts, determination and staying power to play the game to win. More importantly it takes organization. As I pointed out in my blog two weeks back, Google has become the 800-lb gorilla in the room, having amassed more than 80% of search. With that kind of clout Google not only rules the roost, it pretty much calls the shots. In order to have any kind of chance of generating page one results on Google, you need to feed the monkey. Google's ranking system takes everything from on-page SEO, to backlinks, blogs, social posts and videos into the equation. Their spiders have become sophisticated enough to read/ rank blogs and social posts not only for completion, but for depth as well. The spiders can tell how often you post, how well-crafted the post is and how relevant it is to the keywords you desire. If you post a blog once a week or once in a blue moon, the spiders know and react accordingly. If you don't link your social sites to your website, they know that too. If you link your social nets to your site but rarely feed them, the spiders will penalize your ranking appropriately.
Who's on First?
For most business owners this means either hiring a full-time employee or outsourcing the task. They simply
don't have the time to write a blog a week and feed the social nets daily. The bad news is that even this is only the tip of the SEO iceberg. Google says it analyzes 182 different ranking criteria in order to determine ranking. While they won't actually come out and tell you what they are, the good news is that with a bit of deductive reasoning you can infer many of the most important.
Generating ranking today comes down to an online popularity contest. While backlinks are still one indicator of popularity that are ranked by most every search engine, there are a number of recent developments of which you may not be aware. For instance, online reputation is currently all the rage. In fact there are hundreds of online portals that are designed to monitor and publicize both good and bad corporate behavior. Even more important is the fact that Google Local encourages business owners and their customers to post reviews and ratings. If you aren't cognizant of your online reputation, you run the risk of being relegated to the backwaters of the web.
This is not a game most businesses can afford to lose. Consider if you will the facts as of 2012:
Who's Listening
Even if you do take the time to post blogs, social posts, videos, reviews and ratings this means little if you are preaching to the choir. To give you an idea of where I am coming from, go to your blog and look at your stats. On average, how many people are reading your posts? More importantly, how many people are commenting and/or reposting your posts? Even the best prose will not get Google's attention if nobody is listening. Unless your posts generate interest the search engine spiders regard them as billboards in the desert. That doesn't mean that there aren't ways to correct this problem. It simply takes a team.
Nearly a year and a half ago my partner and I realized that the search engines were putting a premium on such thing as +1's, comments and reposts. After scouring the web for companies that offered this kind of service (without any success), we realized that there was a simple way to achieve the desired effect. Thus was born the concept of Team Tech along with a service designed to organize and manage this service called ClubWCubed.com. The way that team tech works is that everyone in the team is required to write a blog a week. (For those who can not do this, we offer to outsource this service.) Once the blog has been written, it is passed along to five members of the club who read it, comment on it and repost it to Twitter, Facebook and Google+. In exchange, the blog writer does the same for the other members. (It's kind of an I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine system.)
What this does for members is several things:
1. It generates distribution, since your blog will be passed along to thousands of people via social networking.
2. It helps members satisfy their daily social networking duty, since by reposting a blog a day you will have six days worth of content to broadcast.
3. The search engine spiders will notice that your blogs and social sites are generating more activity. This will increase your SEO score.
It Takes a Team
Like it or not, search engine marketing is a full contact sport. The companies who can either afford to outsource these tasks or who put a high priority on accomplishing them will continue to dominate the
search engines. If you want to get off the bench and get into the game you are going to have to create a team that can help you score on the field. Especially in the beginning when it is tough to sustain the fight, you are going to have to coach and motivate your team to continue to fight for every yard. Think of it this way, if you were going to play a game of football, would you want to hike the ball only to find out you are the only member of your team standing on the field, or would you like to have some blockers keeping the other team at bay? If you're really looking to score points online without working up a sweat, it takes a team.
Carl Weiss is president of W Squared Media Group, a Jacksonville, Florida company that is all about working the web to win. You can hear Carl every Tuesday at 4 pm when he co-hosts Working the Web to Win on Blog Talk Radio.
Who's on First?
For most business owners this means either hiring a full-time employee or outsourcing the task. They simply
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| Image via CrunchBase |
Generating ranking today comes down to an online popularity contest. While backlinks are still one indicator of popularity that are ranked by most every search engine, there are a number of recent developments of which you may not be aware. For instance, online reputation is currently all the rage. In fact there are hundreds of online portals that are designed to monitor and publicize both good and bad corporate behavior. Even more important is the fact that Google Local encourages business owners and their customers to post reviews and ratings. If you aren't cognizant of your online reputation, you run the risk of being relegated to the backwaters of the web.
This is not a game most businesses can afford to lose. Consider if you will the facts as of 2012:
· More than ¾ of the world population was online.
· The US audience alone topped 239 million users.
· Mobile users in the US topped 139 million.
· There were 106.7 million smartphone users in the US.
· Some 72.8 million shoppers made purchases using mobile phones and tablets.
· 83.9% of those made at least 1 online purchase.
· Holiday ecommerce sales were 42.3 billion
Who's Listening
Even if you do take the time to post blogs, social posts, videos, reviews and ratings this means little if you are preaching to the choir. To give you an idea of where I am coming from, go to your blog and look at your stats. On average, how many people are reading your posts? More importantly, how many people are commenting and/or reposting your posts? Even the best prose will not get Google's attention if nobody is listening. Unless your posts generate interest the search engine spiders regard them as billboards in the desert. That doesn't mean that there aren't ways to correct this problem. It simply takes a team.
Nearly a year and a half ago my partner and I realized that the search engines were putting a premium on such thing as +1's, comments and reposts. After scouring the web for companies that offered this kind of service (without any success), we realized that there was a simple way to achieve the desired effect. Thus was born the concept of Team Tech along with a service designed to organize and manage this service called ClubWCubed.com. The way that team tech works is that everyone in the team is required to write a blog a week. (For those who can not do this, we offer to outsource this service.) Once the blog has been written, it is passed along to five members of the club who read it, comment on it and repost it to Twitter, Facebook and Google+. In exchange, the blog writer does the same for the other members. (It's kind of an I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine system.)
What this does for members is several things:
1. It generates distribution, since your blog will be passed along to thousands of people via social networking.
2. It helps members satisfy their daily social networking duty, since by reposting a blog a day you will have six days worth of content to broadcast.
3. The search engine spiders will notice that your blogs and social sites are generating more activity. This will increase your SEO score.
It Takes a Team
Like it or not, search engine marketing is a full contact sport. The companies who can either afford to outsource these tasks or who put a high priority on accomplishing them will continue to dominate the
Carl Weiss is president of W Squared Media Group, a Jacksonville, Florida company that is all about working the web to win. You can hear Carl every Tuesday at 4 pm when he co-hosts Working the Web to Win on Blog Talk Radio.
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ReplyDeleteGive me the ball Coach!
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