Last week we talked about why you should implement social media marketing into your SEO plan, this week we’ll talk about how.

Social media marketing can be a huge undertaking.  There are hundreds of social media sites and if you don’t have a clear plan you can waste away countless hours without seeing your desired results.  Follow these steps to get your social media marketing plan off the ground.

Define your audience. Think about who you want to reach, the best way to reach them, and what messages you want to convey about your company.  It’s important to understand your target demographic and then to utilize the types of social media that are most likely to reach them.

Get a crash course in the most popular social media channels. Once you know who you want to reach, you need to know which channels will provide the best way to reach them.  For instance, many people see Facebook as being something for kids to keep in touch.  While 18-24 year olds still make up the lion’s share of Facebook users, the fastest growing age demographic on the site is the 35-54.  Most likely you’ll end up using a variety of channels to reach your target demographic, but this will still keep you from aimlessly creating social networking accounts with no clear objectives.

Think about content development. Social media allows you to use blogs, videos and social networking sites to create content about your company and its products.  However, if you have a product that’s quirky, shocking, or solves a commonplace problem then it’s possible to have consumers themselves generate a good amount of online content for you.  The makers of Vibram Five Finger shoes understand this concept.  If you Google them you’ll see results for their website, blog posts reviewing the shoes by independent consumers, a link to their Wikipedia page, and links to retailers selling the product – all on the first page of search results.  You’ll get similar results with the keywords “five finger shoes,” “individual toe shoes,” and “finger shoes”.

Keep track of your progress. Companies like Context Optional provide solutions that allow you to keep track of your social media campaigns and measure their effectiveness.

Get going. The best way to sink your social media marketing plan is to not get started at all.  Follow these steps to create a comprehensive plan and then get in the conversation.

Social Media Marketing for SEO: Where to Start is a post from: SEO For Small Business

Social media marketing is one of those things that sounds complicated and high tech.  The truth is that, while there are several things to consider when developing a social media campaign, getting started is actually fairly simple.  As a matter of fact, the best way to fail at social media marketing is to not try it all.

In this week’s post we’ll talk about what social media is and why you should be doing it.  Next week we’ll address the steps you should take to implement social media into your SEO campaign.

One of the best definitions for social media can be found on Wikipedia where they define it like this: “Social media is media designed to be disseminated through social interaction.”  Things like blogs, Facebook, Twitter, podcasts, bookmarking sites and even wikis are all forms of social media.  Each of these provides an opportunity for anyone to publish and/or promote their ideas online.  In a sense, social media platforms provide a way for everyone to participate in water cooler chatter from the comfort of their own laptop.

Why include social media in your SEO plan?  When businesses participate in social media, they’re joining a conversation that is loose, relaxed, and far less direct than traditional advertisements.  Is your blog going to be the next dooce?  Probably not.  But your social media accounts may be the perfect space for you to connect to those prospects who like to remain on the fringe.  The ones that don’t want to get your newsletter, won’t sign up for an RSS feed, but every now and then they may check out your blog or even follow you on Facebook because they have the power to turn that off.

Not only is social media marketing something you can get started yourself, it’s free.  It costs your business nothing to set up accounts on social media sites.

If you’re still not convinced, consider that these social media sites are considered to be highly reliable by Google.  So, if you use your keywords in your social media site and in your profile, then when people search using those keywords they may find your Facebook or LinkedIn page listed on the results page long before they’d see your actual company website.

Tune in next week for a detailed description of how to get your social media marketing campaign off the ground.

Why Social Media Marketing Should Be a Part of Your SEO Plan? is a post from: SEO For Small Business

According to BusinessWeek, “videos are 53% more likely to appear on the first page of search results than text pages.”  Clearly, online video is a fantastic way to increase your traffic, propel your brand, and optimize your website.  Here’s a quick rundown of what to consider when creating and posting video for your company.

Video isn’t just about the big ideas. Don’t think that in order to record a video about your business that you need to have something amazing or groundbreaking to say.  In reality, video is just one more way to communicate with your target audience.  What are the questions your clients ask the most about your industry?  If you own a restaurant then make a video of your top chef creating your special dessert or appetizer.  If you own a body shop you can make a video explaining how quickly and easily your shop gets out the most common dents.  Here’s a good example by NYC dermatologist, Dr. Neal Schultz, who releases two to three new videos a week on various skin conditions.

Stay on point. Your video shouldn’t be longer than 10 minutes.  Videos that drag on and on just don’t work.  If you have a lot of information you’d like to cover then do a video series.  Remember that your video is not supposed to replace actual contact with the client.  You don’t need to reveal all of your secrets or tell your prospects how to build their own version of whatever it is that you sell.  Your video should provide a bulleted overview of one your products, services, or update people on what’s happening in your industry.  The key is to add value – inform, educate or solve a problem.

Come up with a title that ranks and gets people to watch. When creating a title for your video make sure that it’s catchy enough that people will watch it and remember to utilize your keywords so that it can rank appropriately on Google.

Consider third party hosting. You can either host your video on your website or through a third party like YouTube or Metacafe.  Hosting on YouTube or any other 3^rd party site offers you the easiest way to upload, share, and promote your content. You can also take the “embed” code from these services and paste the video on your site.

The bottom line is that online videos are another great way to market your company online.  So, get your camera ready and get in the game.

Online Video and SEO: Where to Start is a post from: SEO For Small Business

“Paid Search” is one of those phrases that gets thrown around a lot in the search marketing world.  If you’re not quite sure what paid search is or how it works, then this article is for you.  Let’s start with the basics.  What is paid search?

Paid search is an advertising strategy that involves the purchase of web traffic from search engines.  Paid search listings or advertisements appear in the “PPC Advertising” section shown above.  Clicking on the advertisement will redirect web users to a landing page on the company’s website.  Google’s version of paid search is called Adwords.  Paid search also refers to banner ads when they’re purchased directly from a website owner.

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, a form of paid search, is a method used for purchasing online advertising.  With PPC advertising a company pays for a listing on the search engine results page, but they’re only charged when a web user clicks on the listing.  Since hundreds or even thousands of companies are interested in paying for placement for the same keywords, Google created a service called Google Adwords which functions like a keyword auction.  Companies can create Adwords accounts, select the keywords they’d like to bid on, and then select their per-click price.

However, Google doesn’t simply give the highest placement to the highest bidder.  Google gives a quality score to each paid search advertising campaign that a company is running. Keep in mind that a website’s quality score is an ever changing variable.  It’s something that website owners need to manage and continually work to improve.

Quality scores are determined by three major areas.  The first is click-through rates.  Click-through rates are the percentage of people clicking on your advertisement divided by the total number of times it was shown.  So, if your ad appears a million times in search engine results pages, but only one person clicks on it, then you have a low a click-through rate for that specific set of keywords or keyword campaign.

The second area that Google assesses when determining your quality score is relevancy.  If you’re trying to purchase placement for keywords that don’t directly relate to your business offerings or your services, this will lower your overall quality score.

The third major area that Google assesses when determining quality score is your landing page.  This is the first page visitors see on your website after clicking your advertisement on the search engine results page.  Essentially, the landing page needs to deliver on the promise put forth in the advertisement.  For example, if your ad refers to an online special that your company is having, then when web surfers click that ad the first page they’re taken to on your website should be one that deals with the online special.

So, the company with the highest combination of keyword pricing and quality score will win the bid or get the highest placement on the search engine results page.  The company in second place will get the second listing and so on and so on.

What does all of this mean for today’s small business owner?  Serve your customer.  If you’re creating landing pages that meet the needs of your users, Google will reward you with a higher quality score and therefore lower pricing per click.  It’s as simple as that.  With paid search, even small business owners can compete with the big guys.

What Is Paid Search? is a post from: SEO For Small Business

We’ve all seen them, the SEO ads that guarantee overnight success.  They promise that your website will be listed in the first position on the major search engines within 24-72 hours of hiring their firm.  Many business owners who are just beginning to explore their SEO options will logically think that it makes more sense to hire a company guaranteeing first page or first position placement almost immediately as opposed to the company that is offering this same level of success in three to six months.

Here’s the problem.  No company that utilizes ethical SEO techniques can guarantee immediate first page results.

One of the most important things to know when you begin thinking about how to optimize your website is that there are several SEO techniques that will get your site banned from the major search engines.  Google, Yahoo, and Bing may refuse to list your site at all for an extended period of time.  Unfortunately, SEO companies that guarantee incredible results are most likely utilizing techniques that will get your website banned.  You’ll still need to pay for their services because they delivered on their promise, even if your website was eventually pulled from the major search engines.

Optimizing your website for the long haul is not like turning on a switch.  It requires employing a series of tactics and strategies on your website and elsewhere on the web.  It requires extensive research and keyword testing.  To put it plainly, it requires patience.

Almost all of our clients have and continue to achieve first page rankings for their top keywords however, these results occurred over the course of months not hours.  To read about the kind of success our client’s have achieved, check out our free SEO guide “6 Tips on How Search Engine Optimization Can Help You Grow Your Business.”

No matter which firm you hire for your optimization needs, make sure to choose one that’s not going to get your site banned or damage your brand.

Run, Don’t Walk, from SEO Ads that Overpromise is a post from: SEO For Small Business

Welcome to the SurchSquad company blog!

I founded this company to help small business owners like you grow your business by utilizing proven internet (or search) marketing techniques. In the coming weeks and months, our team and I will be sharing with you tips, techniques, and strategies that you can implement in your business to achieve higher website rankings, increased traffic to your website, and eventually to attract more and more high quality prospects for your company’s products and services.

We strongly believe that online marketing success boils down to: Qualified Traffic + Conversion Incentive. In other words, getting the right people to your website and then providing them with a clear and simple reason why they should buy from you now. There are a lot of aspects that go into that simple formula and we’ll share many of those ideas with you here. Be sure to join our feed and share your comments below.

Launching SurchSquad.com is a post from: SEO For Small Business