On Page SEO - Links Optimization

I was recently asked about internal and external links with regards to on site search optimization.
It is no secret, anyone who has ever read a bit about SEO knows that links are an important factor in optimizing your website for search.

There are two types of links: internal and external.

Internal links link between pages in your website
External links link to and from your website to other sites.

But what to do? 
First things first – you need to understand that the best way to create a link network is to systematically create links over time. So yes, you need to be committed to this process. The good news is that you can control quite a large portion of your link network and create is naturally. If you create this network using simple logic, the links will work well for you. Google encourages the natural way to thinking. This means, if you do things the way it makes sense to do them, it will probably work well with Google too.

So how best to arrange all these links?

Here it is in a nutshell, a procedure that anyone can conduct on their website if they are willing to invest the time.

Internal links:

One of the on-page optimization tactics you can create yourself is a hierarchical set of internal links - meaning links between pages in your website.
The idea is to link between the pages on your website but using logic and hierarchy.
Consider that Google crawlers use links to move between the pages. If your network of internal links is done logically, it will help Google better understand your site and optimize it for search.

So what to do?

1. Create links using your keywords for each page.
2 - Hierarchy in internal links mean that sub-pages link to the parent page in the navigation and main navigation pages link to home page. And vice versa.
Linking between pages that share a theme is also a good logical pattern.

For example:
My site has a home page, an about page, contact us page, a products page and an applications page.
I have three products and two applications.
1 product serves one application and the other two serve another application.

What would my link network look like?
Home page would link to about, products, applications and contact
Links can be nice CTA buttons (contact) or a word of text (about, products, applications)
About, products, applications and contact would each link to the home page (link at the bottom with the word "home" would do, just next to the "back to top" link on each page)

The three separate product pages would link to the products page.
The two separate application pages would like to the applications page.
All product pages would link to one another.
Each product page would link to the relevant application page.
Each application page would link to relevant product page.
Each application page would link to the other application.
All these links are done with keywords in the middle of the text.
Product links can look like a CTA image inviting the reader to learn about more products.

3. If you have a blog, make sure you link to previous blog posts and to relevant product/ application pages (per above example).

4. Create CTA for each page per relevancy to link to landing pages.
Product pages CTA can be inviting the reader to learn more about other products, Application page CTA can be an invitation to download an eBook about a certain connected subject.
Blog CTAs can be an invitation to read more blogs or to download a tool or eBook to further deepen knowledge about a certain theme relevant to the blog post.

Always think what your reader should do next. How to keep them interested so they click another CTA and stay on your website, getting closer to purchase with each step.

External links - outward:

It’s good for SEO for your website to link to other sites in your field.
You can create a news / PR page and link to interesting news items in your field.
You can have a recommendations page on the similar principle
In your blog posts you link when you quote someone. This gives then their due credit and prevents you from poaching on their information. It also gives your information the authenticity it requires.
It’s always good to link to sites that have authority in your field.

External links - inward:

You need to get other websites to link to your site.
Guest posting in a way to go (if you can get the placement)
Paid advertising and banners also serve this purpose, but they cost money and are considered less authoritive. If you start out, it could be a fast way to promote your site.
Commenting on social media groups and linking the comment to your site is a free way to go about this.
Indexing your website in free indexes and forums in your field is also good.
Publishing articles in free article websites is good.
Syndicating your blog posts by placing them on LinkedIn Pulse and other free blogging platforms will only cost you your time.

All this will generate a links network over time that will lift your site in the search ranks and help Google understand what your site is about.
Hope this helps, please comment if it does.

Ofra
Teaching the Mean and Lean method for DYI marketing for small businesses.

Email marketing - recommended frequency and other tips

If you are about to use the email marketing method that send all kinds of emails to people you do not know, you might as well do it right! We all suffer under the flood of information (mostly not requested) that flows into our email and social network walls. If you are a marketer and want to use these tools to expose your product, the least you can do is try not to annoy your potential customers.

A marketing colleague of mine says he does not mind annoying his customers with emails. The way he sees it, if someone does not think that the emails they are receiving is giving them value and if they are annoyed by it, they can unsubscribe. My colleague is big on mass emails on a daily basis, claiming that the high quantity is actually a mechanism to filter out readers who are not interested in his offer. He claims that people who are annoyed with his emails unsubscribe and those that stick to it are the people who will also eventually purchase from him. So by flooding the in-boxes of his potential customers (and annoying them in the process) he claims that he filters the true;y interested parties.

All marketers know that its all about exposure. the more people see your message, the more who will eventually buy into you products. So if a marketer keeps the rate of emailing low, the potential customers will not be seeing the product he or she is selling at all.

So what's the right thing to do? marketers annoy their  potential customers if they email them to much, but it they refrain from doing so, they may be missed entirely. I believe the answer is somewhere in the middle. One should create a graduated funnel to market a product, offering free information along the way and distributing that info with automatic emailing software, but one should not overdo it. As long as you are offering your potential client value, they will stick it out, even if they are a bit annoyed on the way by your emails. so its not only about frequency or about value - its about a good  and balanced combination of both. The golden rule of balancing value and frequency will ensure that you annoy less people, but you also get the clients you want to work with, and who think that they receive the most value from you.

So how can that be done? 10 tips to consider:

1. Know who your preferred clients are: What is your value proposition and how much you want them to pay for it. Transcend these issues in focused messages in your emails, and those who are not good clients for you will be sorted out once they understand that your value proposition is not what they are looking for.
2. Strategy and planning: Email marketing is a great and effective marketing tool. But if you want to use it successfully, you need a marketing strategy from day one and a plan that will drive the right customers to your contact lists. Over aggressive marketing can even damage your brand reputation, so make sure you are sending targeted valuable messages to people who are interested in them and who feel that getting your info is making a difference to them. Do not be spontaneous, plan it all out and then work the marketing plan step by step.
3. Do not email for the sake of emailing: Your messages have to contain value to your readers, or else they will opt out of your list and feel annoyed. Flooding in-boxes for the sake of creating as many emails as possible is not the way to go. You can get great exposure using an emailing tool, but use its ability to give you focused and values exposure rather than a flood of irrelevancy.
4. Develop a consistent marketing funnel: Offer you client additional value in each additional message. Each message is also targeted to filter out people who are not interested in or unwilling to pay what we will charge for our services. The further along a client is in the funnel, the more suitable that client is for us, but the more suitable we are form them as well. 
5. Keep your messages focused and interesting: Make it easy for people to understand what value you are offering and how they can get it. Make your emailing an easy read. The message should not be too long before you get to the point. Write with humor, make your massages fun. Keep the spirit of the messages positive.
6. Timing is everything: Do not send too many emails. Daily messages is not the way to go. Think about the value you are offering and what would be a reasonable and valuable time span to receive it in.
7. Keep is clear and simple: If your grandma can understand what you are writing about and what she needs to do, your message is probably clear and simple. clients will find it easy to get their value from it.
8. Give before you take: Provide your client with additional value an free information before you ask them to pay money for additional services. If they receive from you, they will find it easier to give back. The value you give them along the marketing funnel should create their loyalty and trust. Generosity is reciprocated. Clients will then feel more comfortable purchasing from you at your desired price.
9. Call to action: Create a clear style to your message with an obvious heading and a conspicuous call to action , so that people can find it easily and act on it. Its not about being pushy or aggressive, its about providing clear instructions as to the next step. Keep it simple. If people know what to so, they will do it!
10. Good followup and learning: Use the statistic tool of the emailing programs to see who opened your messages and what they clicked on. what they liked and where are they seeing the value. You can then refine your future messages according to what you learned and improve your marketing even more, to the growing benefit of you and your clients.

Email marketing - recognise the trap that floods your inbox

we all know what its like, we get annoying emails that flood our in-boxes and we do not recall subscribing for them at all... what's worse, even if we request to unsubscribe, our request is not always granted. One might think, this kind of cyber behavior is illegal...well, it;s not! Unfortunately...

The anti spam ruling determines that in order to email any content that is commercial - i.e will induce readers to spend money - then one must get permission to do so. Getting permission is usually achieved in two ways.
1 - an non permitted opt in email that contains a short explanation about the offerings and a request for people to register. this is not very effective, and its seen less and less.
2 - an advert or email with a free gift! One must register in order to receive this gift. once you have registered, you have technically given you permission also for commercial emails and the automatic email marketing tools of today have pulled your email into a mailing list that is usually connected to an automatic chain of commercial emails - hence the flooding of your inbox begins.

you are supposed to be able to unsubscribe from this emailing, and all modern emailing tools have an unsubscribe option. This thing is, that all these tools maintain a list of the emails that unsubscribed. So this means the owner of the list can reuse the addresses in another context, and you continue to get emailing to your inbox, even if you unsubscribed! Furthermore the anti spam regulations allow people to send any kind of advertising emails even without permission, as long as you are not being solicited to spend money directly in these emails - they are covered.

It is unfortunate, but the little people are trapped and there is little one can do to stop the flooding.  Here is what you can do

• You can mark certain emails as SPAM and hope that the Gmail and other emailing programs will learn and stop sending messages from such addresses to your inbox.
• You can also unsubscribe consistently - it does eventually lower the amount of emailing you receive. it is advised that you unsubscribe in two ways:

1. Use the link in the email itself, but make sure to read carefully the instructions so that you will indeed unsubscribe and not resubscribe...these mass email services have tricky mechanisms.
2. Write a reply email and request to have them stop sending you emails.

• You can avoid registering your email as much as possible to any free offers and such, and thus not enter the chain at all.

Users of Gmail have a bot of good news, the division of the inbox into 3 categories (primary, social and promotions) mean that usually the promotional mass emails are pushed to the promotions category and you can erase them all in one go! the downside to this new system is that if you  did want to get some promotional information, the email will be indeed found in the promotions section and you need to look for it there in between all the other undesired emailing.

If you are a marketer, remember what its like to have you inbox flooded with junk! using automatic emailing methods is a great way to get exposure to your message and product, I just wish marketers would use this tool with more moderation, so that my inbox would not be flooded with junk, just because I take an interest in what people have to say on the web... lets hope the current flood of junk in everyone's inbox will teach marketers not to flood our inboxes in future.

The Rules of Engagement in the Era of Social Media

The presence of the Internet in the lives of every individual has forced marketing specialists and commercial companies to change their tactics. The world of Marketing has completely changed in the last 10 years, with online marketing and web promotion becoming increasingly more meaningful and more varied. This process is ever continuing with social networks (such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter etc.) and applications (Whatsup) taking center stage. Everyone is online all the time. They can search for a product or service 24/7 and time in which they cannot find you on the web is simply a lost marketing opportunity.

B2B2C

While it would seem obvious that any company selling consumer goods (from apparel, via cigarettes to food stores), with a business model targeting you and me as customers (known as the B2C model – businesses that sell to consumers) would need a web presence and preferably also a social network presence, many managers in companies that sell to a corporate client do not find that a successful online marketing campaign and a good web presence is mandatory. Many managers in the B2B market (businesses that sell directly to businesses) still ask their marketing staff, why they feel that a Facebook profile is required. I would argue that in this day and age, every company needs to be present in the social media. It’s all about engagement.

Engagement

What does engagement mean? It means that a company selling a product or service should aim to connect with as many people as it can in its buying chain. The B2B2C model is being recognized as a true selling chain for many companies. This means that although a company has a corporate client and sells its products and services to businesses, the end user of the equipment can influence the purchasing decision of the business client.

A good example is equipment such as Laser hair removal machines. The laser hair removal device will be directly purchased by cosmetic networks or clinics that will provide hair removal services to the end user. A good marketing plan would engage both the end user and the cosmetic clinics. A good brand must filter to the knowledge of the general public. Clinics will purchase equipment if they know that this can score them extra points with their potential client, that’s the end user.

The automobile industry is also an interesting example. Cars are driven by everyone, but they are not sold directly to people from the production line. The big car companies have agencies that sell their product to the public. Big car companies also have large clients that purchase many cars at once, such as leasing companies or large corporate firms.  The buying chain is complicated but the brand has to filter to everyone and competition is ferocious. This is why adverts for cards can be seen in any local newspaper. Automotive manufacturers work on their brand from as many directions as possible. From Formula 1 to a personalized paint offer for your car. Automotive exhibitions and events dealing with future technologies are also popular with the public. BMW scored high in a Facebook campaign inviting people to graffiti its cars

The internet is an endless space in which your company can expose its products and services.

ROI

The cost (especially when compared to off line options) is relatively low. So the first rule of engagement is to use this opportunity and enlarge a web presence as much as possible, targeting different groups in the buying chain. Even classic B2B companies should target the end user or their product or service. A company page on Facebook with information for the public that relates to their field of activity is a great way to develop such brand awareness with relatively low means. Blogs and forums can also be opened to discuss related topics in which the company and its product could shine. All industrial magazines now have a web version. There are professional portals and index websites for almost any industry in which one can publish expert articles.

Content is King

The options are endless and content is the key! If you are doing something, just write about it. Talk about it everywhere and try to create a buzz by calling people to join in the action. If you are going to be present in an event, then tell everyone who is someone in your industry that you will be there. Put it on your website, on social media (targeted campaign to groups on Facebook and LinkedIn) in an email (newsletter) in a PR pickup website and in your blog. Call people in to enjoy benefits of visiting you. Lure them with a special app, get them to download content via their smart phones with a QR code, invite them to join a lottery for a prize that will be drawn at the event. Invite them to play with a digital gimmick that is connected to your product.

Write about your preparations before the event, your experiences during it and your conclusions after it. Invite those who visited you to comment. Provide special materials for those who visited. Keep them busy with your product. The more people you can connect to and engage in some sort of conversation on the web, the more you will eventually sell. The “lead to a deal” process may be a long one, but the equation remains the same. More exposure means more sales in the end. The Internet and social media make possible to increase exposure, so do not miss out on this opportunity to expose and engage.