WordPress and Google – Social Network Marketing Meets SEO

By now you all know that I am a strong proponent of WordPress, and using it along with quality content, is a recipe for success. The only problem that I have with WordPress is its self titled moniker, “just another WordPress weblog”. They are selling themselves short by sticking to the label: blogging platform. In reality WordPress is a very powerful content management system with powerful social network marketing tools and a solid SEO foundation, all things that Google loves. The key to success in Google is three-fold: quality content, inbound links and discussion. WordPress does all of those things, and does them well.

If you already have a website, the best game plan is to add a WordPress system as a directory using a quality keyword and having the directory as close to the root as possible. An example would be companyname.com/keyword/. If your domain already has your main keyword in it, don’t make the mistake of using it again as the name of your WordPress directory. In the unlikely event that you don’t already have a website for your business, then WordPress is a great stand-alone system to get going online. If you have a website, but it is under performing, flipping your site to a WordPress system will give you an incredible boost in the SERPS without taking forever for you to see results. Be clear about this one point though, if you choose WordPress as your content management system, you will have to create quality content on a regular basis.

Social Network Marketing as an SEO Tool

The concept of social network marketing as a powerful SEO tool died before it could become a reality when social networks bowed to Google and nofollowed their users outbound links. The fact is social networks that are related to business can still benefit a website through backlinks, but mainstream sites like Facebook, MySpace, Digg, Delicious, etc. do not pass on link juice. This is an attempt by Google and other search engines to weed out spammers who use social networks to raise their inbound links through spam. On one hand I applaud this, but on the other I find it annoying since I have useful content, but can’t promote it on social networks. The bottom line is that the only way to succeed is to create content that your users will link to. You also need to open discussion on your site through comments. We offer plans that kick start commenting. Even though commenting is pretty anonymous, people still feel weird about being the first person to leave a comment or ask what they feel to be a stupid question. Get Found Now researches your content and asks the right questions that you answer promptly. Once the comments start flowing they snowball into a lot of organic activity that will naturally increase your rankings. It’s like your first high school dance,no one wants to be the first one to be on the dance floor. That is why we have come up with a service that gets the discussion going on your WordPress system. Owning The Discussion and Branding Through SEO is an article I wrote a while back that was inspired by Google’s CEO calling the Internet a cesspool. The thing is, he is right, there is so much spam and weak user generated content out there that it is hard for legitimate websites to compete. Again, it is all about content!

If you have any questions about how to go about writing engaging content, getting discussion rolling on your website, WordPress blog design, or social network marketing give me a call at 866-418-3843 or post a comment below.

WordPress comes equipped with a powerful toolset for social network marketing and SEO. By using specific plugins as well as features already inherent to WordPress, you can set your system up to dominate the SERPS. The first place to start is deciding on which content you want to display to the search engines. There are two place to start with that:

1. Robots.txt File for WordPress SEO – the robots.txt file is where you notify the search engines where your sitemaps are as well as which pages, posts or directories that you don’t want the search engines to go. this holds true for all websites, not just WordPress sites. Leave a comment below if you have questions about robots.txt files.
2. On Page Meta Robots Tags- there are meta tags available that will control spiders and how they INDEX and FOLLOW both the content on the page as well as the links that are on the page. The truth is this subject warrants an entire post, but for now I will give you a quick overview. I use a plugin called All In One SEO Pack that will control on page Meta Robots Tags for category page, tag pages, archives and all posts and pages. All of those things lead down a dangerous path of duplicate content. You have to choose which content you are going to show the spiders. I am running 2 tests right now. One that is excluding everything but the original post and tag pages, and another one that is showing just categories and the post. The key here is to limit the amount of content shown on tag pages or category pages to just the tile and the first 300 or so characters. Even though that is not how my site is set up, you can see it in action at dtidata.com/resourcecenter where the category test is taking place. I am launching a new site called seobyyou.com where I will be testing the tag theory. I will keep everyone up to date on how the test goes. The initial results are leaning to the tag pages being opened up because there is more potential for keyword benefits because there are so many more tags.The basic game plan for pages that you don’t want spidered is to use the NOINDEX FOLLOW argument in on page meta tags. All In One SEO Pack does that, but you also have to coordinate that activity with your sitemap tool. In other words you don’t want to put archive and category pages in your sitemap and then tell spiders not to index them. This also holds true for all types of websites, you just have to do it manually. Leave a comment below if you have any questions.

Once you have identified what content you want to show the search engines and you have set up your road maps (sitemaps) and stop signs (robots.txt), you have given Google what it wants, an easy way to spider your site!

The next step is to incorporate into your sidebars links out to your recent comments, most popular posts and latest posts. You will have to tweak your files to insure that WordPress is not nofollowing your links from the sidebars into the recent comments, latest posts and most popular posts. The goal here is to show Google that there is discussion going on within your site. By answering comments quickly and giving good information, you will get inbound links, that is a fact.

If you have any questions or would like to set up a FREE no obligation report on your WordPress SEO, call 866-418-3843 or leave a comment below.

SEO Guidelines We All Need To Follow

A few years back I was filling out my resume. It was very difficult to explain what exactly it was that I did. SEO was a term that hadn’t quite hit the limelight. In fact searches on Monster and other career sites yielded no results for SEO or search engine optimization jobs at all. Internet Marketing had a few listings, but they were limited to pyramid schemes or other nonsense.

Today the job market knows what SEO is and there are plenty of listings for people that are experienced in both search engine optimization and search engine marketing. The problem now is that what people like me do is hardly covered by these categories and again I have no easy answer for the question “what do you do?” My kids also have a hard time in school answering “what does your daddy do?”

With the addition of social network marketing, Web 2.0 applications, server technologies, podcasting, blogging and other next generation skills added to my resume, it is harder to say in a few words what it is I do. I guess the best description would be – Internet Presence Management. That pretty much encompasses what I do, I mange online businesses Internet presence. Every aspect of what they do online and how they do it from the server to the website, from traffic analysis to usability studies my peers and I are Internet Presence Managers!

Now that I have a title all figured out I can finish that resume. Not that I really am looking for a job, but I like to see what is out there. I have gotten many clients by answering ads in Monster and careers.com. One of the major changes in my industry is that companies are looking to keep their SEO in-house as opposed to outsourcing it. Companies that live and die by their presence within organic SERP’s really need someone full time to help them make decisions that pertain to their Internet Presence.

A company that relies on search engines for their business must take SEO into consideration in every single business decision that they make.

Search Engine Optimization Guidelines For the 21st Century

SEO today is a lot different than 1999. Pay Per Click is not an option for a lot of small companies in large markets due to click fraud and ad-only sites spending lots of money filtering traffic through their spam doorway sites (read my article PPC Is Ruining the Web for more info). Legitimate companies are having a harder time than ever penetrating the SERP’s. To combat scamming spam, we all need to follow several guidelines to rise above the muck in the SERP’s.

1. Take SEO Into Consideration – Search Engine Optimization needs to be thought about in every business decision that your company makes. Most marketing departments have at least one SEO expert, but SEO must be taken into consideration by executives, programmers, graphic designers and web developers as well. Every decision from personnel to what type of web server your sites are hosted on, needs to keep SEO in mind.
2. Keywords Matter – by now you all know that SEO starts with keyword discovery. While a lot of experts rely on tools to make keyword lists, I prefer to use the interview process to create and organize keywords. Knowing what your potential customers are going to type into the search engines is the first step in site development and marketing plans.
3. Social Network Marketing – now more than ever Web 2.0 or social network marketing is taking the drivers seat in SEO strategies. Mainstream sites that are not embracing Web 2.0 will be left behind by their competitors that are using it. Read my post Search Engine Optimization and Social Network Marketing for more insight into these strategies. There are a whole set of guidelines just for Web 2.0 marketing. For this post I will touch on a few of the more important concepts.
   • Participate In Markets That Apply To Your Business – It is important to market your site in relevant communities. Rather than going for exposure everywhere, stay targeted. In online marketing more is usually better, but sometimes a sniper rifle will do more damage than a machine gun.
   • Keep It Real – this is especially true if you are utilizing blogs as your primary social marketing outlet. Promote yourself, not your products in your blog. If you do it right, people will follow your links and find your products or services easily. They don’t require blatant promotion, in fact that can turn a visitor off more often than not.
   • Learn About Your Community – you don’t want to rush right into a social network and self-promote without showing the community that you have something to offer first. You need to get experienced in your marketplace before posting in forums or marketing in social media sites.
   • Stay On Topic – don’t dilute your content with multiple topics about everything under the sun. Stay focused on what you do best, write about what you know. This is particularly important when trying to obtain inbound links. Good content is the best way to create a buzz and get solid inbound links.
4. Get Those Links – inbound links are the best way to promote your site. They are also the only way to rank high in the SERP’s and stay there. With Social Network Marketing it is easier than ever to obtain links. That being said the reality if the situation is a little different than it used to be. One way inbound links are not easily obtained anymore. Unless you are paying for links or are creating buzz through excellent content, it is harder to get those one way links. Reciprocal links have less of an impact that they used to as well. So why am I contradicting myself? One minute I am saying it is easier than ever to get links, then the next statement I am saying it is harder than ever to get one way links. The answer is the manner in which you can get links. There are more avenues than ever through social network marketing.
   • Online Press Releases - here is one avenue Google has not cried about when it comes to paying for links. By using an online distribution network, your release has the potential to gain hundreds of links from a well conceived press release. Optimized Press Releases are a great way to build buzz and links.
   • Syndicate Your Content Through RSS – with the advent of RSS Syndication Services there are more ways than ever to get your content on other sites. An RSS link is by far the most powerful link your site can obtain. Another high profile site that puts your feed on it, will boost your rankings faster than any other method. A managed content syndication service will greatly increase your exposure and bring both traffic and links.
   • Viral Video Marketing – with sites like You Tube your videos have a great chance to get syndicated leading to inbound links. By creating how-to videos for your products and instructional videos for your services you can say a thousand words with one video and gain exposure and links. Many sites need to educate their customers about their products and services. Video is the best way to get your point across. Remember to stay on topic!
   • Pingbacks, Trackbacks and Other Blog Goodies – by having a blog on your primary website you are able to keep the spiders coming back. If you don’t have a blog yet read my post about SEO and WordPress to get started. Blogs are a powerful way to communicate with your customers, but also allow you stay updated with the search engines.

Combining these strategies into your marketing plan will insure success, but don’t think for a second that it will be easy. SEO is a full time commitment that needs to take priority over everything else!