If you’re like me, I love some parts of my job while other parts I would rather not deal with.  Take the whole subject of search engine optimization or SEO for example.  As a marketer, I know that the internet has changed forever the way we find business.  Yes, we will still use more traditional methods such as print, TV, and radio, however, the traditional married the new media and now they can’t get divorced!  They are linked forever.

SEO has always been the toughest part of my job as a marketer.  Yet, I know that it is a part that I must master at least to the point of understanding the definition of such terms as search engine results page, meta tags, H1 headers, and link building, just to name a few. 

Why is this important to a marketer?

It’s important because when people are in search of a product or service the internet is the first place they’ll turn to find it.  Will they find my clients?

Being found online is simple but not as easy as it might seem.  The most important thing to remember is this:

 Online sites must be a friendly as possible to the bots and spiders that go hither and yonder all over the world wide web looking for information to give to those who keep asking for information.   This may be giving away my age but, do you remember a movie that was very popluar many years ago called Short Circuit?  The scenario is that the military creates these robot warriors and one gets fried by lightening causing it to dump all it’s input.  For the first part of the movie, the robot just goes over the city looking for input (information).  As it gets more input, it starts to sort it into relevant themes and blurts it out whenever it recognizes a relevant prompt.  That’s what a search engine does!

Now, search engine friendly sites have three major threads in common.

They use relevant keywords.

A keyword is a word or phrase that the person who is search for something online will use in the search engine browser in the hope that a list of relevant sites will be displayed for them to explore.  It’s important to remember that the use of keywords is an on the page and off the page effort.  On the page, keywords can be used in titles, headers, and links, and the body text.  Off the page, keywords can be found in meta tags, title tags, the URL, and other digital assests such as Micorsoft Word documents or YouTube video.  The biggest mistake when using keywords is just being random and stuffing the words on a page. 

A good quantity and quality of inbound links.

Inbound links are any other site that uses your URL on their site.  Having great inbound liknks is a way for one site to align itself with another one.  For example, an insurance company might want to have a link back from a major, well-respected car dealer.  Some one looking for a car online might need to have new insurance too and find it very convenient to use the links it finds associated with the dealer’s site.  Plus, if the car dealer is well-respected then the insurance is well-respected by defualt.

Fresh content on a regular basis.

Search engines thrive on change.  New content, links, videos, photos, or whatever is new will attract bots and spiders to crawl a particular site over and over and deliver that site in the search engine results list.

Now before I lose you as you drift off to sleep, go ahead and hit play on the video below.  This is one o f the most user friendly talks on the subject of SEO that I have heard.  It is part of a class that Lee Odden of Top Rank Marketing delivered through Hubspot’s Inbound Marketing University.

SEO Crash Course to Get Found (GF102)

In today’s market, every business knows that blogging is a very effective tool to use for finding and converting more leads through inbound (online) strategies. No matter whether a company is B2B or B2C, blogging can help reach more people who will turn into leads to be converted. 

So, why does blogging continue to be so important for businesses these days?

First, blogging generates more leads.

 A lead is someone who comes to your site and leaves their information.  Blogs provide a great reason why someone would want to visit a company’s site again. The more the visitor returns, the more opportunity the company has to convert them for whatever goal.

 Source: State of Inbound Marketing Lead Generation Report – http://bit.ly/cVMpkn

Second, blogs do well with the search engines.

That is active blogging does well.  Search engines are looking for new, fresh content that matches what the searcher wants.  Blogs are easy to update so there can always be delicious content for hungry little web crawlers.  A website is standard, but it should include a blog so that it does not become stagnate.  There is no dyed in the wool standard number of times to update a blog that stands out as the magic number for being findable with the search engines.  So active could be once an hour or once a month.  The key is to be consistent.  

Third, and perhaps the biggest benefit of blogs, is that they provide visibility.

We are talking mainly about blogging for business but it is fair to say that individuals could benefit from blogging as well.  After all, we all have a story to tell and if we do not tell it, someone else will.  In the past, it was a little harder for others to spread stories about us or our company.  The storytellers had to have enough influence themselves before the story spreaders like journalists and news reporters would even pay attention. Today, anyone who wants can put up a blog, video, newsletter, etc, and actually gain attention very quickly because of the internet and search engines. 

Blogging increases the chances of being an expert in your subject or industry.  Even if you work as a clerk in the payroll department, there are many aspects of what you do that brings others to you when they have questions.  The same goes for the CEO or entrepreneur.  When you are already telling others who you are and what you know, the storytellers job becomes more difficult as they have to revamp what people already believe.

Here are three best practices that you could adopt to make your blogging strategy more effective.

Make good use of the sidebar.  Do you have a fan page?  Then put a badge in the side bar and tie the two together.  The same goes for Twitter.  This is a good place to put video such as a welcome message for your readers.  The goal is to create interest or perhaps invite your readers to other relevant sites.  So, don’t overload the sidebar just try to have a plan for what you put there.

Increase your activity.  There’s nothing worse than going to a blog, enjoying it, then coming back time after time for nothing.  Make a commitment to blog on a regular basis.  Readers and search engines will love it.

Ask others to be guest bloggers on your blog.  This is a great way to increase the activity on your blog without it becoming an increased burden for the blogger.  One word of caution though, be very selective about who you accept because this person will now be linked to you. 

Blogging may not be for every business or individual, however, because of  it’s highly positive impact, it should be seriously considered and not summarily dismissed as a great tool for finding and converting leads that meet your desired goals.

Well, just when we all think that social media is getting to a manageble level it happens again.  Another social networking platform, Facebook, adds a few new features that make you go, hmmm…  Now, I do like what LinkedIn changed, but I’m not sure exactly what FB is going for.

First, they have changed the way people join fan pages.  Now, we can only like each other because apparently, according to FB, fan was too strong of a word.  Also, on the fan page you now see your personal FB friends along with the people who “like” you.  The thing that I loved about facebook’s personal profile and fan page was the separation.  I liked having people who only want to see pictures of my granddaughter separated from the other people who want to talk about social media.  It’s down right frustrating, I tell you.  I’m almost afraid to teach my next social media class because while I’m explaining a feature of some social networking site it might change that very hour. 

Second, Facebook is now introducing another level of networking (I guess that’s what it is) called community pages.  So what’s the difference between community page, fan page, personal profile and group?  I don’t believe anyone know yets.  If someone does then like the Bush’s Beans dog, they ain’t talking.  For now what is known is that individuals can create a community page.  I think that the page will be owned by the one who creates it at first but once it reaches a certain number of people who like it then the community takes over and it becomes more like a wiki.  If you understand that, please explain it to me!  LOL!

So the question again becomes should people/organizations go ahead and create a community page to have first in advantage or just wait to see what happens.  How will people use the community pages?  What will having these well liked community pages do for fan pages.  Will it make fan pages obsolete?  The world is waiting for an answer. 

Here’s my biggest question:  Are the big drug manufacturers working on a pill to combat social networking chageitsis?  I might need a perscription.  In the meantime, I guess margaritas will have to be enough.

So, I’m reading the blogs that I subscribe to when I run across this very good one from Amber Naslund.  She’s the Director of Community for Radian6.  In the post titled, The Quest for Firm Answers, she says, “I’m finally going to answer some of the questions that have been burning in your mind. The ones that your boss is demanding. The ones you say you aren’t getting from books or blogs or conference sessions. Ready?”

Are you ready?  Go to her blog post by clicking on the title above to see what her answers are.  I think you’ll be surprised!

Wow, I’m really loving You Tube.  Until now, if I wanted to see someone show me the steps of the latest dance craze then You Tube was my Google.  But since I’ve become very serious about using it to research more serious subjects, I can see that there really is a lot of valuable information to be had.  Many people are very generous.

I’m sharing this video with you because Kyle Flaherty at Breaking Point Systems gave a great talk to the company’s global sales force.  In the presentation he shares some key points about using LinkedIn for B2B sales.  With over 60 million members, of which all Fortune 500 executives are a part, LinkedIn is not to be ignored if you’re serious about growing your business.

In general he reminds us to:

Be a resource: what’s in it for your connections

Don’t interrupt: be helpful

Connect after meeting: keep up with the people you meet in person

Be current: use LinkedIn applications to make your profile interesting

Update your profiles everywhere: when you find yourself listed on LinkedIn like sites update the profile

How helpful has LinkedIn been for you to grow your online presence and prospect for sales?