Did Google Penalize Your Website?
Have you noticed a sudden drop in your website traffic? Check your Google Webmaster account for any flags or warnings. You may have had your virtual wrists slapped by the search engine giant, otherwise known as a Google penalty.
Google is the internet search giant, commanding something like 60-80% of all search engine traffic daily, depending on which survey or study you read. That's a lot of internet searches. Search engine optimization experts (SEO) look for ways to help their web pages rise in the search engine ranks because other studies show that people searching for information online are more likely to click website results when they're among the first page of results. Few people exhibit the patience necessary to dig deeper into the search engine results, even though some great content may be hidden there. (Source: Search Engine Watch).
Google Penalties and How They Affect Your Website Visibility
What are penalties, and why should you worry about them?
Websites may be hit with one or two types of penalties:
- Manual penalties, which occur when a website doesn't meet Google's standards for quality. An example of a manual penalty is an assessment of inbound links to a website. If Google spots a number of reciprocal ("I'll link to your web page if you link to mine") or paid inbound links, it may penalize a website. Spam content may also earn a manual penalty, as will numerous broken links, missing pages, or general technical flaws on a website.
- Algorithmic penalties, which occur when Google's automated method of calculating position (algorithm) changes due to an update. Panda and Penguin updates, which impacted many websites, is an example of an algorithmic penalty.
It can be difficult to tell exactly why your site is penalize. One day, it's chugging along, finding its way among the top 10 results, and the next day - poof! It's dropped to page 10 for the same search term. Did Google tweaks it algorithm? Or did you miss something on your website?
You can't please the Google gods all the time, and chasing Google's frequent updates is futile. You can, however, flag problems on your own website that you can correct and fix them to prevent manual penalties.
Do's and Don'ts to Avoid Manual Search Engine Penalties
Much of this is common sense, but you'd be surprised at how many search engine firms still recommend some of these techniques to their unsuspecting clients. Check your website against the list of don'ts...
DON'T...
- Include extraneous or irrelevant content on your website. If your website is about bird watching, including random articles about your favorite sports car may get the site flagged as spam content. Website content should focus around a central topic.
- Scraping content is a huge no-no. If you're doing it, stop it right now.
- Ditto for cloaking or other tricks.
- Buy links
DO...
- Include your website on Google's webmaster tools, and check it for flags or helpful tips
- Include rich, interesting, engaging and original content on your website.
- Update your website with content as frequently as you can.
- Fix broken links and 404 errors.
- Check for malware or malicious links in your website.
Common sense, right?
If you were inviting guests to your home, you'd take care to clean your house. You'd scrub the bathrooms and vacuum the carpet. You'd buy festive decorations and serve your best food and drink. You'd welcome guests your home.
Your website is your virtual 'home' and should be just as welcoming to online guests. Freshen up the links, update the content, and check it for problems. Hopefully, you'll fix any potential Google penalties, and welcome more 'guests' to your website to acquire, retain and create loyal customers.
Jeanne Grunert is the president of Seven Oaks Consulting, a marketing and writing services firm in Prospect, Virginia. She offers creative, engaging content marketing, expert writing services, and marketing consulting to businesses. She is the author of Pricing Your Services: 21 Tips for More Profit. Follow her on Twitter @jeannegrunert.
© 2014 by Grunert Family Holdings, Inc. DBA Seven Oaks Consulting. All rights reserved.
How to Create Memorable Content for Your Blog or Website
Learning how to create memorable content for your blog or website is a matter of figuring out what will stand out from the crowd. And what stands out whenever you write something is passion - passion for your subject matter, passion for your audience, passion to solve a problem your customers have.
Passion means more than slapping several exclamation points on the end of a sentence or telling folks how wonderful something is. Passion, like art, is contagious. Passion seeps through the written word and oozes from every letter, every comma, every sentence.
We disbelieve people who tell us, "I'm passionate about great customer service."
We believe them when they actually SHOW us what that looks like.
If you want to write great content for your website, articles, blog posts or social media shares, find the person in your company who is most passionate about what you do. Find the person with a passion for writing. If you can't find that person in-house, then find someone like me, someone who writes daily, who plays with words for the sheer joy of it, and who has an inquisitive sense that enables her to learn new industries and delve deeply into the nuances of your product.
Whatever you do, do it with passion. Your passion for business is what helps your online content stand out from the crowd.
5 Tips to Create a Customer Focused Website
Why This Website Wows, and 5 Tips to Make Yours Wow, Too
Five years ago, I tried to make jam for the first time. I'd received a bag full of persimmons from a neighbor and had no idea what to do with the fruit. So I opened my cookbook up and followed the recipe to make jam. Unfortunately, if you know persimmons, you know that one under ripe persimmon can spoil the entire batch of jam. I must have had several unripe persimmons, because the jam not only curdled, it tasted like fiery gasoline mixed with lemon juice. Yum, yum. I threw out the entire batch, jars and all, and swore I'd never make jam again.
Until July 4th, that is, when the wild blackberry bushes flanking my driveway yielded not one, but two quarts of luscious blackberries. I felt brave. But my cookbook didn't have a good recipe for blackberry jam! What to do? Search online for one, of course.
And what website did I stumble upon? The Ball Canning and Recipe website.
And this, my friends, is a website that WOWS - and I'll tell you exactly why, and not just because I made an awesome batch of tasty jam.
Why the Ball Canning Website Work
Here's the website: Ball Canning.
These are my top 5 reasons why this website works to acquire, retain and create loyal customers for the Ball Canning Company.
- It's super EASY to navigate. Many times I enter a website and find myself poking around odd corners of the site looking for what I need. I end up on virtual dead ends and digital alleys. With this site, everything I needed as a home cook was just one or two clicks away....easy!
- It made canning SIMPLE. I'm new at canning. This was the first time I've ever tried to make jam with blackberries. Pectin? What the heck is pectin and why do I need it? Why are there several kinds on the shelf at the grocery store and which one do I need? The Ball website seemed to anticipate my neophyte questions and answer them easily and quickly.
- The tone in the text was just right...neither too advanced to confuse me nor so simple that I felt talked down to. Instead, the copywriter made me feel like he or she was taking me under the wing and guiding me through the steps of the recipe...like I had a trusted friend in the kitchen!
- The site had handy calculators that meant I didn't have to think - the site did all the thinking for me. Plus it was fun to play around with the buttons and dream about making strawberry jam next.
- Speaking of fun, Ball makes canning your own food seem like a blast. The pictures on the website made me want to run out and buy new Ball jars - colorful ones. The entire site encouraged me to try new things and delight in my thrifty, creative canning projects.
What is the secret that makes this entire website work so well? The Ball corporation knows and understands its target audience - people like me who are new to canning.
My neighbors are country women; they grew up learning how to can food. They know intuitively how to make all sorts of tasty, delightful things. They don't need this website. They like the recipes, but the pectin converter? The explanations? That's for the likes of me, a former Manhattan executive who never learned to cook who now loves to explore home cooking and crafts.
The secret to a great website is to always keep the end user in mind. The target customer, your marketing manager might say. The entire website, from start to finish, should be about the visitor - not about you, not about your products.
Ball's site could focus on its nifty caning jars, it's useful jar lifters, or its canning products. All well and good. But that gets boring, fast.
Instead, they focus on ME and my PROBLEMS - my problems were:
- I'm new to canning and making jam.
- I'm confused about this thing called pectin.
- I only have 2 quarts of berries and the typical recipe calls for more; how do I adapt it?
- How do I convert the amounts to my smaller quantity?
- I need an easy recipe to feel successful!
YOUR KEY TAKE-AWAYS
As a business owner, you may be doing a lot of your own website work or blogging yourself. To make your website work FOR you, not against you, use these tips and tricks:
- Write up a simple visitor profile to help you imagine your typical customers. WHY does he or she come to your website?
- Now, what content can you add to HELP him or her SOLVE PROBLEMS?
- What benefits do your services offer?
- Can you provide examples, such as testimonials, of helping people who have had similar problems?
- How can you convey this through pictures (images) as well as through text?
Ball Canning does it right. Their website was a pleasure to use. I hope yours is, too.
Oh, and the jam? Delicious. Simply delicious. (Recipe is on my blog, here - Wild Blackberry Jam)
PR Tips: Never Whine in Public
When I read a headline like this, I gag.
"Chelsea Clinton: I tried to care about money." (NY Daily News)
Oh dear me, you poor baby! With millions and millions of dollars, an investment banker husband, wealthy parents and a cushy job from said parents...you TRIED to care about money?
Now, I doubt I'll ever be in the position to be asked the same question as the former president's daughter. And I'm not knocking being wealthy - far from it. I don't mind if you're rich. More power to you and enjoy what you have.
Just don't pretend that you aren't rich when you are.
Don't make it seem like money isn't important when the whole world knows you've got plenty of it, and the readers of the paper are struggling to pay the rent, put their kids through college and fill their gas tanks to drive to work each week.
The public hates hearing rich, privileged people whine about their wealth and opportunities. It's like when the BP oil spill happened in the Gulf and the CEO complained about how he just wanted to get his life back. The people along the gulf coast were outraged, and with good reason. The CEO wanted his life back? How about the people who fished or shrimped for a living, who ran hotels or resorts or charter boats or restaurants that relied on tourism, now suspended because of an oil slick that threatened not just their comfort in the next few weeks but their entire lives? That's another good example of what NOT to say in public.
Here's what we can learn from the former BP CEO and from Chelsea Clinton. While you and I might not be interviewed during a crisis like an oil spill or asked why we joined our parents' foundation, we may have to navigate PR waters some day, and it's a good thing to learn as much as you can before you're in a situation that gets out of hand.
- Pause and think before you answer a reporter's questions: If you're doing a live interview on television or radio, remain focused and don't worry about pausing before answering. You don't have to be glib or quick with your answers. It is better to be slow and thoughtful than to put a foot in your mouth. The same goes for telephone interviews with reporters. Take it easy and think before you speak.
- Always keep it positive. Chelsea Clinton, when asked why she joined her parents' foundation, should have focused on her positive motivations. "I don't care about money" sounds snobby, greedy and just plain silly to most Americans. Instead, she should have emphasized what she DID care about - namely, the same causes that her parents espouse and support through the foundation. It's amusing to consider that she wanted to distance herself from her parents' ideals but couldn't, and that was a good starting place to build rapport with her audience. But she went off message by emphasizing money over ideals.
- Stay on message! Public relations experts talk about remaining 'on message' during communications opportunities. Every person, company, cause or brand has a message behind it. Know what drives your business and your mindset, and what the overall, overarching message you want to convey to the public is, and always bring your points around to that message.
You can't control the media, but you CAN control your response to it. Emphasize the positive, stay on message and pause, think and breathe before responding. You'll be glad you did when the interviews turn out favorable!
3 Tips to Get More Traffic to Your Website
Wouldn’t it be great if you get customers to flock to your website like this? While there’s no magic formula, there are specific steps that you as a small business owner can take to boost your website traffic. Here are my top 3 tips for improving your site’s search engine position, visibility and traffic. If you need help implementing any of them, contact me at Seven Oaks Consulting for a consultation.
Tip #1: Update your website frequently with juicy, interesting content and share-able graphics.
Search engines love fresh website content, and the more frequently a site is updated, the better. That’s one of the many reasons why website owners love Wordpress-hosted sites; the built-in blogging capacity offers easy site updates.
It’s not enough to simply swap out a picture or change a headline and call it a day. What are you saying on your website, both through your text and images? Are you using information to enhance your expertise, your brand position, your approachability?
Content offers entry points for visitors into your website. If you don’t have a content marketing plan, create one or talk to us about creating one for you. Content continues to be an integral part of online marketing and a great way to attract new site visitors once it is shared.
Tip #2: Share Content on Social Media
Share appropriate, brand-supporting links; build networks by commenting and interacting with your followers. Make sure you have social media icons prominently displayed on your website so that site visitors can find you and follow you on their choice of media platforms. Building a robust social media presence helps you generate links into your site when you share those links widely across social media.
Tip #3: Interact Beyond Your Usual Online Platforms
Broaden your outreach efforts. Consciously make an effort to visit new blogs. Bloglovin’ is a great place to find blogs of interest. You can type in the name of a blog you like, and the site helps you find similar ones. I also find fascinating new blogs through Pinterest. Many pinners share images from their blogs, and the link appears below the image when you click through to the original pin. It’s worth trying, especially if your business website is one that lends itself to images or blogger outreach.
Building website traffic takes time and effort. If your traffic is stagnant, it’s time to look beyond your current internet marketing efforts. [pullquote align="left|center|right" textalign="left|center|right" width="30%"]Getting customers to flock to your site is a combination of creating a great website with frequently updated content, sharing that content, and introducing yourself to a wider circle of acquaintances.[/pullquote] Try these three tips today and spend time this summer boosting your visibility online.
How to Be a Great Guest Blogger
Guest blogging is a great way to increase your audience reach online. Guest blogging is, as the name implies, sharing your content on someone else's blog as a guest. Some blogs welcome guests, while others don't permit them. This blog does not offer guest blogging opportunities, but I do welcome opportunities to write for other business and marketing blogs. So please contact me using the contact form if you'd like to have me write a guest post for your blog.
Like being a guest in someone's home, there are certain rules of etiquette when guest blogging. Just as you wouldn't peek into your host's medicine cabinet (you wouldn't, right?) or take a tour through their underwear drawer as you detour into the bedroom on your way to the bathroom (tell me you won't do this...please), so too as a guest blogger you won't cross the line into advertising copy.
When you're guest blogging, the emphasis should be on:
- Sharing knowledge freely from your particular niche or area of expertise;
- Offering more than recycled content - offering readers something new, unique and engaging;
- Keeping the focus on the blog's readers, not on your business;
- Supporting the blog owner's work or business by sharing links to your post freely with YOUR social networks.
It also helps to be prepared for common requests from blog hosts once they have agreed to have you as a guest on their blog. The most common requests are:
- A good headshot or photograph of yourself
- A bio of you (keep it short, 3 sentences, max)
- Links to your website and social media profiles
I have a speaker package on my computer that includes all of this information and more. It also includes sample questions, in case the blog host prefers a Q and A format rather than a straight post.
How do you obtain guest blog posts on other people's blogs? There are directories available, or you can search in your area of specialty or niche for blogs on similar topics and write a short, personal email to the blog host asking first if they accept guest posts. Include a brief mention of why you'd like to be a guest on the blog, including the intended topic. This isn't the time to go into a length spiel; keep it short and to the point. Your initial contact with the blogger should be to the point and focused. You're just trying to ascertain whether or not they accept guest posts, and if so, if they are open to your idea.
The benefits of guest blogging are enormous. Not only will you share your insights with a completely new audience, but you'll also gain valuable inbound links to your website, potential social media followers and additional publishing credits to your name. Your host will get a day off and an interesting, engaging post to enliven his blog and educate and entertain his readers. It's a win-win for you both!
This post was written by Jeanne Grunert, a marketing writer and president of Seven Oaks Consulting. Visit our website, sign up for our newsletter, and get a free copy of The Little Book of Big Marketing Secrets.
Three Ways to Generate Content When You're Stuck
Everyone gets stuck on occasion. I'm not talking stuck, like Winnie the Pooh in his tree or like a kid getting his head stuck in a stair banister. I'm talking creatively stuck, as in, "Oh no...I've got write four blog posts this month and I don't know what the heck to write about..."
Feeling stuck like that is no fun, especially when you're a business person with a pile of tasks waiting for you. It's easy to push aside content marketing and get back to things you feel like you can actually do right now, like pay the bills and check your Facebook account for the 100th time today (guilty as charged).
But if you keep avoiding the blank page, or in this case the blank screen, you'll be left without content and without the opportunity to share your expertise with the world. And what fun is that? None in my book!
I've pulled together three of my top tips for generating content when you feel absolutely stuck, like you're staring at a blank wall or that the creative well has completely dried up. Feel free to grab any of these tips and try them today if you're facing that situation.
- Compile your own "top 10", "top 5" or whatever list. Go back and look over what you've already created. Chances are good you've got several posts you can group together into a 'best of' sequence of posts. Write a one paragraph summary and introduction (surely you can do THAT), and then use bullet points to link to the original posts you wrote. Voila. Instant blog post!
- Create a meme, quotable quote, or Pinterest-worthy share. Use only your own original photos to ensure you're in the copyright clear. Find a quotable quote. Use a free service like Pixlr.com or PicMonkey.com, add the quote, and share. Instant content!
- Review a product, service or website in your industry or niche. I like this one because you can talk about something or someone else without feeling pressured to sell, sell, sell. Plus, you're sharing the love, by helping someone else sell without any pay off on your own. It's a feel-good way to get yourself writing again. I'd stick with only positive reviews, but that's just me. Negative may get you more press, but positive gets you more karma points.
The next time you're feeling stuck, think of this:
So take action!
Written by Jeanne Grunert, Seven Oaks Consulting. Jeanne is an award-winning writer, blogger and marketing consultant helping companies acquire, retain and create loyal customers. She is available for freelance work.
The New PR: Blogger Outreach
Traditional PR (public relations) still has a place in most businesses' marketing plans. It's a smart move to add blogger outreach to your mix in addition to traditional press releases and media outlets.
Contacting bloggers and courting them as blogger-reporters requires a different mindset and approach from the traditional PR approach. Bloggers, for example, have smaller followings than newspapers or websites, but those followers tend to be fiercely loyal, eager readers who engage more frequently with bloggers. Blogs tend to focus more tightly on a specific niche topic, too.
There are other differences which will change how you approach blogger-outreach as compared to media outreach. Blogdash offers a new free paper on the topic. You can download it after following their instructions. Visit Blogdash.
How to Determine the ROI on Your Social Media Accounts
When I'm wearing my marketing consultant's hat, I'm focused on the return on investment (ROI) for my clients. After all, most are small to mid-sized business owners, entrepreneurs and artists - folks who absolutely need to understand how, when and where their marketing investment is paying off.
Social media often seems like the big question mark in the marketing mix, but it doesn't have to be. You can track your company's return on investment in social media marketing just as you would any other digital campaign. The trick is to have the data available from your website, as well as from the social networking website you're using, and to put into place some smart best practices to help you move ahead.
I've written a new article for the website, Routing, detailing just how to do that. I've included three simple steps you can take to enact social media ROI tracking and analysis, but of course there are other ways. I'll share more in the future on this blog and other article.
Read: Three Simple Steps to Measure Social Media ROI
Content Marketing for Small Businesses
If your business doesn't have a robust content marketing strategy in place, you might be losing out on the biggest innovation to hit marketing since the internet. I read a statistic this morning that made me really sit up and take notice. According to the article on Inbound Writer, 78% of chief marketing officers think custom content (articles, white papers, blogs, etc.) is the future of marketing.
Content Marketing Defined
What is content marketing? According to the Content Marketing Institute,
"Content marketing is a marketing technique of creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract and acquire a clearly defined audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action."
Why Content Marketing Matters
Traditional advertising's effectiveness is fading. The more people are bombarded with ads, the less effective the ads become. Consumers have grown wise to the tricks of the advertising trade, and eschew ads for information. And that's where content marketing comes in.
Content Marketing In Action: An Example
Most custom content produced as part of a content marketing strategy seeks to inform consumers, providing them with facts to help them make a purchasing decision. The other day, I was searching for background information to write a client's blog post, and found a treasure trove of woodworking project how-to sheets online. The major retailer producing this excellent content had uploaded a complete project library that anyone could access and download without having to jump through hoops. Each sheet had a simple format and clear drawings that showed the novice how to complete everything from a deck to a new pantry shelf system, with a shopping list of hardware, lumber, paint and supplies needed to complete the project. The idea, of course, was that once you found the project sheet, you'd download it and take it into the store as your shopping list.
Think about this content for a moment. Not only can it be printed and handed out in-store, but it acted as a search engine marketing tool, appearing on the first page of the search engine results when I typed in my search term. It was a potent marketing tool helping the company's website attract new site visitors, and by using clear, simple instructions, perhaps transforming the casual visitor into a buyer in the store.
Starting Your Content Marketing Strategy: The First Question to Ask
Any size business, from a sole proprietorship to a major corporation, can use content marketing to build their brand and acquire, retain and create loyal customers. The first step is to identify your content marketing strategy.
Why do you want to enact a content marketing strategy? Is it to boost your visibility on the search engines and attract website traffic? Is it to build your brand? Is it to increase sales for a specific product category or engage better with a specific group of customers?
Any and all of these are great reasons to begin your content marketing program. A good content marketing strategy begins by knowing the answers to these questions in detail. Take your time to develop your responses. Knowing WHY you want to begin a content marketing strategy is even more important than understanding the HOW of carrying it off.
If you'd like to begin work on your company's content marketing strategy, I'd be delighted to help you. I've created great content strategies for many industries and products, and for companies ranging from small start ups to major established firms. Contact me through Seven Oaks Consulting, and let's talk about how we can harness the power of content marketing to boost your website visibility and sales.
About the Author
By Jeanne Grunert, President and Founder of Seven Oaks Consulting. Jeanne is an award-winning writer, blogger and marketing manager with over 20 years of experience. She personally works with every client at Seven Oaks Consulting and creates expert content marketing strategies and written materials to build brands, attract site traffic, and acquire new customers. Contact Jeanne.