SEO Expert Reveals 3 Secret Optimization Tips
As an SEO expert, especially in the realm of marketing writing, I have my 'secret optimization' tips that I use to really grab Google's attention in the SERPs.
These are my three most powerful SEO tips.
SEO Expert Tips
These secrets aren't some arcane knowledge available only to a powerful few. They aren't really secrets, either -- just search engine optimization techniques that the average site owner or blogger doesn't bother with using.
- Optimize your images
- Use plenty of internal links
- Write in a natural, conversational style
1. Optimize Your Images
Images are the unsung heroes of search engine optimization. Many people use Google Images to find out more about a topic of interest. Just the other day, I used Google's Image search to identify a bug, check on a rash on my cat, and find a map of a city I used to live in. Okay, weird searches to be sure, but a Cooperative Extension website, veterinary hospital site, and a town website each received search engine traffic from those images.
When optimizing images, be sure to incorporate several best practices:
- License images properly and be sure to follow use and attribution requirements or take your own pictures
- Resize images from your camera to minimize the file size! This is super important. Big images slow down your website and Google hates slow sites. Resize as JPGs to the proper size for your site.
- Use a compression tool such as the Smush WordPress plugin to further shrink image file size and make them load faster.
- Rename the file with your keyword phrase.
- Add an alt tag that accurately describes the image and utilizes a keyword phrase or synonym if appropriate
SEO experts agree that optimizing images may help boost your posts!
2. Use plenty of internal links
I love internal links for SEO for a variety of reasons. Not only do they link to other content on your site as a helpful resource to readers but they give Google's crawls more pathways to follow to find and index additional pages.
Use plenty of internal links but be sure to link from a keyword phrase or at least a useful phrase. Avoid "click here" and "learn more." Yes, I know, this SEP expert has indeed done that on this website, but I do so only when it is a simple call to action. Blog posts like this one are linked from within to juicy keyword phrases.
3. Write in a natural, conversational style
Have you heard of BERT? BERT is Google's new natural language processing code and it is driving an enormous change throughout many industries. It's an open-source code, which means that Google has shared it with other companies, too.
BERT processes language in context. It can read the words both before and after a phrase to understand a search query better. Unlike other artificial intelligence language processors that look at words in sequence, BERT can understand everything in context...so it knows when you mean the past or present tense of the verb "read" for example.
More people search using voice-activated tools than ever before and that trend is likely to continue in the future. The more natural your online content sounds, the better.
Avoid stilted, outdated SEO writing that uses rigid rules to infuse keyword phrases into the content. The days of writing X keywords Y number of times into the content and calling it a day are over and have been since 2012.
Natural writing, conversational writing, and writing that matches a user's query exactly carry more weight with Google than ever before.
Revise, Refresh, Keep Writing
Revise and refresh old blog posts. Keep writing new ones.
One of the beautiful things about the internet and search engine optimization is that it's never-ending. I used to think of it as "once and done" but it's really an ongoing, evolutionary process.
As you learn more about SEO, use what you have learned to improve old posts..
If you need help, we're running a Winter Blogging Special to help you produce SEO blog writing that gets your blog noticed.
Should You Start a Blog?
Did you know that February 7 is international Start a Blog day? Plan now to begin the blog that's been on your to-do list forever!
It may seem crazy to encourage people to start a blog. After all, there's a ton of blogs out there covering almost every topic you can imagine. Mom blogs, cooking blogs, business blogs, gardening blogs, you name it, there is a blog for it.
Even though the internet seems saturated with blog content, there's still room for more blogs. If you have an original idea and are willing to invest the time and energy into creating unique content, blogging may be a good way to generate site traffic and content for your digital advertising programs.
5 Reasons to Start a Blog
- Search visibility - blogs enable site owners to post multiple pages with keywords associated with their site. Think of each blog post like a page and you'll see what I mean. Each post acts as a potential entry point into your website, adding plenty of places for Google to find, index, and serve your site to searchers.
- Branding - a blog provides your company with a unique opportunity to share your perspective on business issues. A well-constructed blog filled with content that supports your brand style offers another excellent branding opportunity.
- Social shares - blogging provides fresh content links to share across multiple social media platforms. Such links may reach new audiences, people who may not otherwise have found your site.
- Expertise - sharing your expertise on a topic helps boost your digital persona. A digital persona is an online impression people receive from all of your online interactions. Blogging around a topic of interest provides a focus to find experts on such a topic, and others may seek you out based on your posts.
- Profit - yes, blogging can be profitable. A good blog can earn money through advertising, affiliate programs, product sales, and more. Some bloggers do earn their living solely from their blogging work and related products, such as books and courses, they sell from their blogs. How profitable a blog can be depends upon the skill of the blogger, the audience, and the topic, of course, but I do know two people who make their living solely through blogging. It can be done.
Two Popular Free Blogging Platforms to Try
Today on this "start a blog day" check out the two most popular blogging platforms.
WordPress: WordPress remains the most popular blogging platform despite a steeper learning curve than its competitor, Blogger. A free WordPress blog offers an excellent starting point for any content and can be upgraded to a paid site. (We recommend Web Design of Palm Beach if you want to upgrade. They host our sites and do a great job.)
Blogger: I started most of my blogs on Blogger. It used to be independent but is now owned by Google. It's difficult to create pretty blogs using their outdated templates but it is an easy, intuitive way to start a blog. Plus because it is owned by Google it is easy to incorporate Google AdSense and track your posts.
Now is the time to start a blog. If you'd like help starting a blog or creating unique content for your blog, please contact Seven Oaks Consulting. We provide consultation and writing services with an emphasis on SEO writing, including blogging.
Facebook Business Pages: The Dangers
Many small business owners rely on Facebook business pages for their online presence. “I don’t need a website,” they tell me. “See, I get this free Facebook business page and I can promote my company as well as share information with my customers.”
Our local health food store has a business page…the dog trainer I follow for tips to train Zeke has a website and a Facebook page, but he rarely updates his website. Local companies often spend time and effort on their Facebook presence without a website.
It’s a huge mistake. Marketing misinformation is rampant, especially around setting up a presence online. Be smart and avoid these mistakes.
She Lost Everything When Her Facebook Business Page Was Hacked
I felt like a broken record telling small business clients, “Don’t do this” but it wasn’t until an email reached my desk today from fellow marketing consultant Sandra Martini that I saw firsthand the chilling effects of what happens when a Facebook page is hacked.
Sandra’s email detailed a nightmarish story unfolding on her Facebook account. Sandra’s business account generated $50,000 of sales (her business books and consulting packages) yet she lost it all in one day.
Here’s what happened.
Someone hacked her Facebook account. That person began charging advertising to her account to the tune of $1,600. Then, they reversed the charges and took the money. Facebook immediately canceled her accounts — all of them — for suspicious activity.
Sandra lost:
- Her business Facebook page, which she had spent a decade building
- Her personal Facebook account, which she used to keep in touch with family and friends
- Access to several clients’ Facebook pages which she was responsible for managing
Her words of advice: Never have only one administrator on the account. Always have a backup. And never rely solely on Facebook pages for revenue, customer contact, or your business presence.
Why Have a Backup Administrator on a Facebook Business Page?
When Sandra’s account was hacked, the company notified her of suspicious activity. Since she was the only person on the account, however, when they locked the account, she had no way of recovering the information.
A second administrator unlinked to her personal page may have been able to salvage the account and with it the decade of hard work that she’d put into building her social media presence.
Granting someone else in your company admin rights to your Facebook business page is a smart idea.
Websites Are Essential for ALL Businesses
It sounds strange to have to say this but yes, a website is essential for all small businesses today. It should be built for mobile-first as the majority of people now use mobile devices to access the web. It should also be properly optimized for search engines. Even if your business relies on local traffic only, people still search online for your address, phone number, menu, hours, or other information.
When you build your own website, you own it. Unlike a Facebook business page, which can disappear at the whim of Facebook, your website is your own property and a valuable asset for your company. Purchasing the domain name and setting up a simple hosted WordPress site may take a few days, but it is well worth the effort and gives you a prime piece of ‘online real estate’ to call your own.
If you’re not sure how to set up a website, please contact Seven Oaks Consulting. We’d be delighted to help you build a permanent online “home” for your business – aka, a website.
More Free Marketing Articles for You
Why Are Stock Photos for Business Websites So Boring?
Stock photos for business websites are boring. I don’t care which website you’re looking at; most feature one or more of the following
- People in gray or black business attire around a conference table
- Hands at a keyboard/calculator
- Desks
- Office buildings
- Binary code to make you think of “high tech”
- Two people shaking hands
Yes, stock images for business sites are boring.
Stock Images for Business Sites Are Boring!
Looking at this list, I notice one thing: a lack. A lack of zest, of creativity, of energy, of daring!
Unless your business is super conservative – and there are few of those left in this world – these photos are boring, clichéd, and (shudder) safe. So safe they blend into the woodwork like beige-painted walls.
Let’s not play it safe, shall we? Let’s be daring. Let’s talk like pirates. Let’s be bold, free, and most importantly – ourselves when it comes to images for our business websites!
Branding Through Images
Branding is more than the logo and colors chosen for your business. Branding actually consists of the spaces in between the tangible, the feelings and emotions evoked by a business. Diving deeply into your business through the feedback from your customers is the surest way I know to find your true brand image. Often what you believe is your brand isn’t your brand, but someone else’s ideas about your brand.
We carry with us the images of all of the things we have encountered throughout our lives, and this colors our perception of “what a business should look like.” Most of us are numb to the images we see daily around us. The billboards, the websites, the signs. We are used to what others think a bakery should look like, or a pet grooming service, or a marketing agency.
My own business suffered from this for years. I had vowed a long time ago not to resort to the old-typewriter look on my website. Too many copywriters, marketing writers and freelance writers use the typewriter as a metaphor for writing. But truly, how many companies hiring us these days even remember what a typewriter was, never mind realize it’s a symbol of a writer? The only industry still clinging to its ancient symbolic roots like this is the caduceus in medicine or the draft horses on the teamsters union sign.
Computer keyboards are, alas, a typical stand-in to demonstrate our finesse as writers, but does this truly exemplify what we do? I am no more a typist than I am a red-pen artist; I write and I edit, I create and I craft, I define and I refine.
But how do you visually express create, craft, define, refine?
My customers tell me they love working with me for the solid, dependable experience I bring to the encounter, the warmth of our working relationships, the feeling that I “get” their business and am able to express what’s in their hearts and minds about their own work. How do you express that visually?
Storytelling Includes Metaphors. So Should Can Your Brand Images.
Storytellers often use metaphors to express feelings. When metaphors become clichéd, they are boring and detract from the writing.
Visual storytellers or web designers must reach for metaphors, too. It’s easy to fall back on boring and clichéd visual metaphors such as hands hovering over a keyboard or concerned people seated around a conference table. Visual and verbal metaphors remain part of the common consciousness because they work, at least on the superficial level.
To truly stand out, however, you must dig deeply for your next metaphor. Your visual images should convey your brand attributes in ways that feel right for your business. My own brand visual includes references to nature; I am at home in nature, whether walking the woodland trails near my home or tending to my garden. It is in nature that I am myself, and in nature that I am most creative, so in nature do I place my business.
The metaphors I’ve chosen echo what clients say and what our company name reflects: oak, a solid wood, one of the strongest, symbol of the great Norse gods and of strength, durability, and power.
As you choose images for your website, consider your brand attributes.
Creativity? Reach for the creative. Think big! Black and white with splashes of color, interesting angles, close-ups or panoramas. Give your audience the unexpected, the jarring, the unique.
Attention to detail is your brand attribute? Think tiny, intricate photos of the weave of cloth, of frost on a windowpane, or cells in a leaf. All of these are available as stock photos you can license.
Professional? Ditch the men in business suits, please. Consider abstract prints, artistic swirls, or something fun. Consider unusual images that reflect your bright shining personality, not the personality of Big Corporate Culture.
Choosing and defining your brand takes time. Once you’ve figured it out, however, you’re well on your way to avoiding the stock photos for business websites that make you sleep syndrome. Be the wake-up call for your industry. Be the leader.
Content Marketing Mistakes
I really liked this post from Amy Gynn on Content Marketing mistakes. I see so many of these mistakes, and most of them are easily prevented or corrected. Besides, a good infographic on content marketing deserves to be shared.
5 Proven Strategies to Grow Your Email List Fast
Email marketing remains one of the most effective ways to connect with your audience, nurture leads, and drive sales. But none of that matters if you do not have a strong subscriber base. If you are looking to grow your email list fast, here are five proven strategies that can help you accelerate results.
1. Offer Irresistible Lead Magnets
People are far more likely to subscribe when they receive something valuable in return. Lead magnets such as ebooks, checklists, templates, or mini courses can be powerful incentives. For example, a fitness coach might offer a free seven day meal plan in exchange for an email address. The key is to provide content that solves a problem or delivers immediate value.
2. Optimize Your Signup Forms
A complicated signup form can discourage potential subscribers. Keep it simple with just one or two fields, usually name and email. Place forms strategically across your website, including the homepage, blog posts, sidebar, and checkout pages. Use clear calls to action like “Get Free Tips” or “Unlock Your Guide” to encourage signups.
3. Run Giveaways and Contests
Giveaways are an excellent way to generate excitement and grow your email list fast. Entry requirements should include subscribing to your list. Tools such as Rafflecopter or Gleam make managing contests easy. For instance, you could run a promotion like “Win a $100 gift card by subscribing today.” This creates urgency and motivates people to join.
4. Leverage Social Media
Your social media platforms can be powerful drivers of email signups. Share links to your lead magnets or newsletter signup page on Instagram, LinkedIn, or X (Twitter). Add a call to action button on your Facebook page or a link in your Instagram bio. Encourage followers to share your content, which expands your reach and brings in new subscribers.
5. Use Exit Intent Popups
Exit intent popups capture visitors just before they leave your site. Offering a discount, free resource, or newsletter subscription at this moment can convert abandoning visitors into subscribers. Many businesses have reported dramatic increases in signups after implementing exit intent technology.
Final Thoughts
If you want to grow your email list fast, focus on delivering value, reducing friction, and meeting your audience where they already spend time. Lead magnets, optimized forms, contests, social media promotion, and exit intent popups are all proven tactics that can accelerate your growth. Once you have built momentum, you can layer in automation strategies such as welcome sequences and referral programs to keep your list expanding steadily.
5 Tips for Strong Writing
Flabby prose. Flat, uninteresting sentences. Trite, cliché-ridden advertising and marketing copy. We've all seen it. Heck, maybe we've even written it. I'm here to help you turn that fat-ridden body of words into a lean, mean, athletic machine. I'm here to help you turn flabby, 90-pound weakling words into buff Charles Atlas-fit writing fit for kings. These 5 tips will help you write well whether you are writing for print or web, school or work, fiction or nonfiction, but they are aimed at people writing business documents.
Five Tips for Strong Writing
- Write from the verbs: Verbs provide action. The stronger the verb, the more interesting the writing. A strong action verb immediately sets your prose apart because 90% of people writing blog posts, web copy and marketing copy do not know this trick. The passive voice prevails among academic papers, technology companies, and websites where a 'scholarly' tone is desired. Yet you can write in an active voice even when creating serious, scholarly works.
- Use for strong verbs: A corollary to writing from active verbs dictates writing from strong verbs. Strong verbs describe, inspire, and connect readers to an immediate mental picture. If you use strong verbs, you are less likely to reach for adverbs or adjectives to enhance the reader's mental picture because they already have a clear image in mind of what is happening.
- Shorten your sentences: I'm guilty of this, and it is something I have to work on, especially in my business writing. I love writing lengthy, complex sentences. Blame my earlier training in linguistics and literature, especially Victorian literature. I can string together independent and dependent clauses to rival the most purple-prose riddled Victorian text, but it's ineffective in business writing. Shorten, tighten, and shorten again when writing business copy.
- Start with your conclusion: Business writing begins with the end in mind. State the conclusion first, then back into it with supporting details. In school, triangles were used to help us imagine the structure of a paragraph; an upside-down triangle adequately represents strong business writing. Lead with the conclusion or desired action, then add your strongest supporting details and so on.
- Incorporate a personal tone: Too many business documents sound impersonal and robotic because somewhere, someone learned that to be 'personal' in a business document smacks of ineptitude. Nothing could be further from the truth. A warm, professional and personal tone lends voice and credence to your documents. By personal, I don't mean relating your weekend plans or your breakfast choices. I do mean using contractions, simple phrases, and personal touches to enliven your documents.
Lastly, here are a few rules of thumb for business writing:
- Spell check programs cannot catch everything. It offers suggestions, not hard and fast instructions, so proceed with caution.
- Search online for the correct spelling of proper nouns, especially newfangled brand names which love to mash together two words with random capitalization to make it jazzy.
- Avoid the Random Capitalization syndrome, or capitalizing words to make them appear important. It's distracting and annoying.
- Use a consistent style for writing out numbers and dates. It often doesn't matter which style you use, as long as you keep it consistent. I prefer to spell out numbers zero through nine, and then write numerals beyond 10, but that's a personal preference. AP Style and Chicago Manual of Style are two commonly used style guides that can help you through the nitty-gritty of stylistic choices.
If you'd prefer to hire a professional writer, editor, and word wrangler, let's talk. Until then, may these tips act like vitamins to boost your weak muscles into strong, bone-crunching prose.
(C) 2018 by Jeanne Grunert, The Marketing Writer | Seven Oaks Consulting. I offer writing, editing, and marketing consulting services.
Learning from Business Mistakes
"If you're not making mistakes, then you're not doing anything. I'm positive that a doer makes mistakes." - John Wooden
Now I don't know who John Wooden is, but I do know that I make mistakes - a lot of mistakes.
Last week, I had the dubious distinction of being the only person I know of to trip going UP the stairs. I was carrying a cup of coffee in my left hand and a piece of toast in my right and ascending the stairs to start work for the day. My dog, Shadow, raced up to my right just as my left moccasin slipped off my foot. I caught my foot on the stairwell, and pitched forward.
In a split second, I had to decide, "Do I save the coffee, the toast, or me?" Well, the coffee sloshed over, the toast landed butter-side down, and I did a nice forearm-face-butt plant that left impressive bruises on my now coffee-splattered personage.
My dog, of course, looked concerned, then snatched up the piece of toast with glee. So much for man, or woman's best friend.
I was thinking about that fall today. Everyone makes mistakes. Everyone falls now and then. In business, we make lots of mistakes. We hire the wrong person. We invest time and energy into projects that fizzle out. We launch a new website only to realize that it's not responsive. We make a typo in the annual report, or print a sign that says CHRIS IS RISEN instead of, you know, the son of God, Christ. (I saw that one on Facebook and truly appreciated it as only a writer can appreciate such a magnificent typo.)
After a fall, what do you do? Do you pick yourself up and keep going? Do you nurse your wounds and bemoan your fate? Do you blame others?
When I told my husband later about my fall, he had a good laugh, then asked, "Did Shadow trip you?" I could easily have blamed the dog. Heck, I could even have blamed my moccasins. They are too loose, anyway. But neither caused my fall. I was trying to hurry to work. I was carrying too many things. I'd filled my coffee cup to the brim. It was that kind of a day. It all added up to a spectacular trip and fall that ruined a good piece of toast and necessitated an impromptu scrubbing of my wooden steps.
When mistakes happen, you can blame the dog, your shoe, or your slippery steps. Or you can simply laugh and say, "Yes, I tripped and made a mistake." Then you grab the paper towels and start mopping up the mess.
Good business people know that grabbing the paper towels, mopping up the mess, feeding the rest of the toast to the dog and giving yourself a refill on the coffee is what to do next. It's really no use blaming spilled coffee, loose shoes or slippery steps. Instead, take immediate action to claim and own your mistake...then fix it.
I think you can tell a lot about a person by the bruises they wear and the blame they affix on others. We can only progress in our careers and lives if we accept responsibility for things that are our fault. More importantly, when problems and mistakes happen, we have to be the strong shoulders to bear the load and fix the problem.
When mistakes happen, pick yourself up, accept responsibility, fix what you can, and move on. Most mistakes in business as in life are like a spilled cup of coffee or dog-eaten, butter-side-down fallen piece of toast.
Smart business people know that it's only a piece of toast, after all. There's a whole loaf of bread waiting in the kitchen.
Long Form Content Ranks Better
A new report from QuickSprout underscores what many content marketers have known all along: longer copy ranks better with Google's search engines.
The report, available from the QuickSprout website, provides details on the company's study of page length, ranking and conversion. Among their findings:
- The average page length for content that ranks among the top 10 search results Google is at least 2,000 words.
- The better a site ranks, the more content it has.
- Overall, Google's search engine algorithm prefers content rich sites.
Why should longer content help with search engine rank? Longer content keeps people on your website for greater lengths of time than shorter content. If I can see at a glance what you're trying to say, I might click away quickly, resulting in low time on page and high bounce rates. But if your content requires me to focus on what you are saying, draws me into the page, provides insights or useful information, and keeps me reading, I'll stay on your site longer.
Longer website content also tends to get more inbound links. These inbound links are strong signals to Google's search engine algorithm that a web page has merit.
Lastly, social media users tend to favor longer content, even if they're not aware they're doing it. By studying sharing patterns on Facebook and Twitter, QuickSprout determined that a post with 1,500 words or more received 68 percent more tweets and 22 percent more Facebook likes than a post under 1,500 words.
Are You Ready for Long Form Content?
Long form content for content marketing programs takes skills and finesse. You can't just keep blabbing away and stuffing keywords and expect to get the same results as a thoughtful, in-depth and insightful long form article.
As a long form specialist, my freelance writing services include extensive research. I have a gift for finding excellent original research from well-regarded and reputable sources to support the theme of your article. My writing is also creative, engaging, and insightful, which will make your content highly shareable, too.
If you're interested in receiving an estimate on your long form content projects, please contact me.
Irony: This post is under 500 words.
But you now what? Sometimes you only need a few words to say what you want. Sometimes, short copy is appropriate. Know when to use long form or shorter copy in your content marketing programs is what I do best.
What Is Long Form Content and Why Does It Work?
I saw some fascinating research today on long form content. For those not in the marketing world, long form content refers to longer online articles and blog posts. Many people think that longer stuff doesn't work - that people skip over and don't read it. Research shows, however, that the opposite is true. Well-written long-form content gets two thumbs up from readers, especially business readers.
What Is Long Form Content?
Ask any two marketers what long form content is and you'll get two different answers. There's no industry standard definition. I'd put long form content at 1,000 words or more.
Long form content depends on several factors to make it work online:
- A broad enough topic so that you can get plenty of "meat" into the content;
- Great primary research. You can't fake good long form content.
- A solid outline. Like building a skyscraper, you need steel girders under it!
- Written to be formatted for the web. Because long form conveys a lot of information, the information needs to be written with formatting in mind. Plenty of white space, breaks, lists, subheadlines - you get the idea.
- Formatted for easy reading. You can't just plunk down thousands of words of text on a white web page and call it a day. Long form content has to be displayed for easy reading on mobile devices and screens. That means links, jump links, pictures and so on.
Why Does Long Form Content Work?
It works because it conveys information, plenty of information, and it gives readers tremendous value.
Wordstream offerred insights into why long form content works via several graphs. The interesting thing about long form content is that it increases reader engagement and time of visit, two important signals that Google and other search engines use to assess the value of website content. The longer people stay on your blog or site, the better. Long form accomplishes this admirably.
Why Don't More Companies Use Long Form Content?
Company owners have also bought into the myth that "people don't read anymore." My question to you is this: what people are you talking about? Do YOUR customers read?
Let's look at two of my niche areas: gardening and business. In both niches, people can and do read. They crave information. Gardening tends to rely a lot on pictures, but the business world? People love facts, figures, case studies, illustrations and more.
Long form is harder to write. If you're used to just dashing off any old thing for your blog or website, the idea of creating a 1,000+ article can be daunting. Most casual writers can't craft a solid outline, and they sure as heck can't create readable online copy. That's where long form content separates the men from the boys or in my case, the women from the girls; it's where the better writers excel, and the weaker ones flounder.
I love writing long form content and offer it as my area of specialty to interested business owners. If you're intrigued by the thought of adding some longer guides, articles and blog posts to your website but still uncertain whether or not they work in today's fast-paced world, check out the following articles:
- Forbes: Why Long Form Content Marketing Works and Why It Doesn't
- QuickSprout: How Content Length Affects Ranking and Conversion
- KISS Metrics: Why You Should Create Long Form Content (and How to Do It)
- Search Engine Watch: What Type of Content Should You Create