We’re really excited about the new features we’re adding to our Competitive Edge report, and we’d like to show them off by giving some away. Want to win one? Comment on one of our social posts (linked below) and let us know which 3 social media channels you use most to promote your business and connect with your customers: Facebook
Read more →Today’s business world is as competitive as ever. While modern technology has allowed many firms to become more efficient, it has also changed the way consumers decide which businesses to frequent. More and more customers are using mobile devices to shop and consume online content – in fact, Google recently stated that there will be one mobile device for every
Read more →![Content Marketing: Who, What, When, Where, Why & How [Infographic]](http://www.aboutus.com/wp-content/themes/u-design/scripts/timthumb.php?src=http://www.aboutus.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Screen-Shot-2013-04-29-at-10.13.28-AM.png&w=570&h=172&zc=1&q=90)
Thanks to Google’s updates and peoples’ increasing use of social media, content marketing is quickly becoming one of the most effective ways for companies of all sizes to market their products and services. But what is content marketing, really? Why should companies care about – and try – it? How can you find ideas for your content marketing? For the
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We’ve had a lot of heartbreaking news stories in the past few years, and for many Twitter users that social network was the first place they heard about some of them. It can get emotional and a little overwhelming on Twitter as these tragedies unfold, and it’s a good time for your personal and company brand to make a positive
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The time to claim your web identity is now. Online reputation management cannot start soon enough. Purchase a YourFirstNameLastName.com or YourBusinessName.com domain, register relevant Facebook and Twitter accounts, and start filling those services with accurate information that you want to spread. Without a proper domain with your name in it and the relevant social accounts, reputation management may turn into
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If you’re paying any attention at all to online marketing, you know that content marketing is hot. Everyone’s telling you to create compelling content that will bring customers to your website and help you rank higher in search engine results. And then there’s social media. You know you should be getting likes and shares on social media platforms such as
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When many businesses start out using social media, they often focus on their number of Twitter followers, Facebook likes, etc. and desperately want to increase those numbers. That’s why “services” that offer hundreds of thousands of new “real” followers for $5 or $150 can look like a good idea. (Spoiler alert: They’re not.) Increasing your number of followers – or
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It can be very difficult to produce a Facebook business page that not only drives traffic but encourages conversation with fans. We found one example of a company that has managed to solve the Facebook riddle. They’re AFAR travel magazine (a.k.a. AFAR Media). With over 10,000 likes and over 15,000 Facebook fans, this multimedia-loving magazine is a perfect example of
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When Facebook introduced its new Timeline layout for business pages they dangled a marketers dream in front of our faces: the Cover Photo. It is the ultimate first impression. It’s the largest object on a company’s Facebook page—the viewer’s eyes travel straight to the photo. There’s one caveat—the Cover Photo can’t be used directly for marketing. In their terms of
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Yeah yeah yeah, we’ve all heard about Pinterest. It’s that silly site where you can post pictures of cute animals and home-baked cookies, right? Wrong! Pinterest is a growing social media power, just behind Twitter in referral traffic. The number of unique visitors has consistently grown since Pinterest’s inception and there’s no sign of a halt. And now that Pinterest is allowing businesses to have their own accounts, the
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Google’s Penguin update and unnatural links warnings Back in March 2012, some website owners started receiving unnatural links warnings via Google Webmaster Tools. Often, their website’s rank in Google search results would plummet shortly after. Naturally, these people – and many other website owners who weren’t affected – freaked out. (Exhibit A: The 100+ comments on my post about it back
Read more →Google started sending unnatural links warnings in March, and rolled out its Penguin update in April, freaking out many website owners and SEO professionals. That’s because sites hit by Penguin or unnatural links warnings typically plummeted in search results, ruining traffic and business results. Just to refresh your memory, Google’s Penguin update was launched to crack down on links that
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Blogs aren’t exactly the new kid on the digital marketing block, but boy, they sure do get the job done. Here’s why I think you should seriously consider adding a blog to your company’s website. 1. A blog shows visitors you know your stuff Whatever your industry, potential customers probably want to know you understand it before they hand
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You’re diligent about writing for your company blog. You plan out blog posts, schedule them, respond to current events, and every post is thoughtful and appropriately seeded with your important keywords. But you’re still missing one vital component if you don’t have a Google+ profile that’s properly hooked up to your blog posts. This status is called Google Authorship, and
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Wikipedia, the popular wiki encyclopedia that anyone can edit, has rules to keep its content useful – and neutral. For example, if your business is notable enough to get a Wikipedia page, you’re not supposed to edit it yourself, because the editors want the page to be neutral, not promotional. Now a scandal has broken out because two high-up Wikipedians
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According to SmartInsights.com, 1.08 billion of 4 billion mobile phone users worldwide own a smart phone. And more and more, users are turning to these devices to find a place to eat, check their email or browse the web for shopping. From conversions to branding, mobile is where your business should be. However, many businesses are stuck wondering how to
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Our Competitive Edge reports help marketers and business owners see who’s earning the most social media engagement – them or their competitors. The report also helps marketers get new ideas from comparing successful, engaging posts with unsuccessful ones. We thought it would be fun to try running the Competitive Edge for politicians competing in the 2012 election. We’ve compared the
Read more →YouTube videos are one of the best ways to market your brand, business, product, or service. The most popular video sharing site on the Internet, YouTube offers a venue where millions of people gather to catch the latest in visual media. This creates a hub where your videos can potentially go viral. Even if your videos don’t go viral, good SEO
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I received a great question from one of our Competitive Edge customers: What is the best Twitter URL shortener? As I dove into writing an answer, I took a step back and pondered whether it’s actually a good idea to use a URL shortener when posting in social media. After all, Twitter now has a built-in URL shortener, so you
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Yesterday I was amused by a post about how Facebook was testing paid post promotion in New Zealand. I thought it was a bit crazy, but dismissed it as not all that important. After all, the company was just testing paid post promotion, and I bet Facebook tests all sorts of things that never see the light of day outside
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It’s a terrible feeling. You spend months, even years building up your blog. You lovingly polish each post, find the perfect image for each one and publish it for the world to see. Then – for no apparent reason – some anti-social cyber-weasel hacks into your site. They might place links to not-so-family friendly sites in your footer or (if
Read more →Putting your contact information out there and inviting sales questions and customer service can feel unimportant — or downright scary. But making contact information visible on your website can get you more leads and improve your sales, conversions and search engine rankings. You don’t have to just take my word for it, though. Display your contact info – or make
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We’ve said it over and over again: One of the best ways to get your website ranking high in search results is to create great blog content that prompts people to link to it, share it in social media, and comment on the blog post itself. I’m about to blow our own trumpet here, and I hope you’ll forgive me.
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Zappos’ Pinterest account is spectacular! Every brand needs to take notes on how they are using Pinterest. They are the perfect candidate for Pinterest : their product is visually interesting and their market demographic is mostly females between 25 and 54. And they are rockin’ it! Here’s what Zappos is doing right on Pinterest: 1. They mix up their
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It’s pretty easy to unfollow someone on Twitter. That’s both a good and scary thing. Getting Twitter followers is half the battle. But hanging on to them is just as important – especially because it’s the most engaged tweeters (or tweeple) who are the most valuable for helping you get your message out. They’re the ones who are paying attention,
Read more →Anchor text is text on a web page that is linked to another web page. For example, in this link the anchor text is “this link.” Backlinks (links from another site to your site) have always been important for SEO and how high a website ranks in search results. The keywords in the anchor text of links to your site
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Google is constantly adjusting its search engine algorithm in an attempt to serve up the best websites and most relevant results to searchers. They’re at it again, and this time it’s a doozy. What’s being called the Unnatural Links update is rocking the SEO world. In March 2012 people started receiving warnings from Google about “unnatural links” and then many
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You knew it was coming. For the past half hour, you’ve been refreshing Twitter over and over, waiting for it. Not yet… Nooot yet… Nooot…Bang! You’ve got it: your 4,000th follower. Whether you’re closing in on it, long past it, or dreaming of it, you know how useful it is for your business – online, brick-and-mortar, or both – to
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More and more people these days are accessing the Internet from smartphones like iPhones and Android phones and tablets like iPads. More than 5% of worldwide web traffic and 8% of U.S. traffic is from a mobile device, and mobile is the fastest growing source of traffic on the Internet. As more of your visitors access your site from a
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Dealing With Content Thieves You’ve spent months or years building your website and its content, and you’re proud of it. One day you find that some thrown-together website has copied your content and tried to pass it off as its own work. This is incredibly frustrating. Worse, this duplicate content forces search engines to decide which website is the original
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Error pages are inevitable, even on the best websites. As a visitor or business owner, it can be frustrating, and is certainly not ideal, but 404 error pages happen. Recently, I had the opposite experience with an error page. When trying to access Seth Godin’s blog, the best error page ever came up, instead. Usually, I click away immediately, but not with
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YouTube isn’t the only video hosting website on offer, but it’s undoubtedly the biggest. YouTube also happens to be the second most popular search engine after Google, making it a very important site if you’re trying to attract more visitors to your website. If you want to use YouTube to boost your site’s search engine optimization (SEO) and your online
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Social media has forever changed the way companies market themselves. With Facebook’s population now more than double that of the United States, an arguably more active (though smaller) user base on Twitter, and sites like LinkedIn, Pinterest and Google+ attracting thousands of new people daily, there’s no denying the impact these sites are having on the business world . But
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Twitter is a powerful social network for business. And the more followers you have – meaningful ones – the more exposure you will gain from tweeting. (If you’re new to Twitter, I suggest reading Twitter 101 first.) Here are 10 tips for getting more people to click “Follow” on your Twitter account: 1. Write interesting tweets. Add something to the
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Would You Rather Buy from a Person, or a Brand? We thought so. Most people would rather feel like they’re engaging with real people than with a faceless, nameless “brand.” That’s especially true in social media, where people readily express their opinions and personalities. So, how do you stay human on Twitter? Don’t be afraid to BE a human being
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Share Your Expertise for SEO & More Customers When you write a blog post or article about something that matters to your customers and prospects, make sure you get the utmost value out of it. After all, it’s not so easy to produce a piece of writing, especially for busy business owners and one-person marketing departments ;-) You’ll reach a wider
Read more →Links on the Internet are DoFollow, or followed, by default. A DoFollow link lacks the NoFollow attribute, and so passes PageRank or link juice to the target web page – that is, the page it links to. The NoFollow attribute was introduced so that website owners could selectively tell search engine spiders to ignore specific links when it comes to
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Why your social network activity fails to drive more business So, you heard this social media thing is all the rage, and decided to give it a go. You set up some profiles, sent out a few updates, followed a handful of people, and expected the interest and traffic to come charging in. You got…nothing. You’re asking yourself, “What have
Read more →A website’s title tags are very important for several reasons: The title tag shows up in search results as the blue link, and a good one helps the site get more clicks and visitors from search results. Title tags are a crucial SEO element that can help the website show up higher when people search for the words in it.
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You Deserve More Blog Comments & Shares
“We publish on our blog every week – but no one ever comments or shares.” I wish I had a dollar – okay, $10 – for every time I’ve heard that. And when I look at the blogs people are complaining get no engagement, it’s rarely the content that’s the problem. People who put their hearts & souls into writing
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