Google Plans to Index Tweets in Real Time: How This Could Impact Your SEO

 

Years ago, it was commonplace to find real-time tweets in Google Search results. Twitter and Google had inked a deal that gave the search giant access to the social network's data stream. In turn, Google would display tweets in search results in real time. But that agreement expired, and in the middle of 2011, Google lost access to Twitter's data stream. 

 

Now, nearly four years later, the gang's back together.
Recently, Google and Twitter announced that they are working together again to index tweets as soon as they are posted.

 

How should a marketer to react to this news? In this post, I will focus on how you can benefit from the new deal between Google and Twitter. You will need to be active on Twitter to obtain these benefits, but I will include some tips for those of you who are just getting started -- you can still benefit from this development if you're doing the right things. The good news is that it will take some time for Google to implement changes based on the new data they will be getting from Twitter, so you have some time to get ready. But the sooner you get started, the better.

 

So let's dive into what the deal actually is and learn how you can take advantage of it.

 

What's the Deal With This New Deal?

 

Basically, this deal gives Google real-time access to tweets via a data feed, commonly called the Twitter Firehose. While the agreement seems to be in effect already, the two companies are saying only that it will take effect in Google Search sometime in the first half of 2015. The reason it will take some time to implement is that Twitter needs to figure out how to prep the data for Google, and Google needs to look at this data stream and decide what they want to do with it. However, one thing we know they will do is increase the number of tweets that they are indexing. What that means is that your tweets could start showing up in the search results.

 

Google actually does show some tweets in its search results today, but it's only a very small portion of what's on Twitter. My company, Stone Temple Consulting, recently did a study of 133,000 tweets to see how Google indexes tweets, and what we found is that Google indexes less than 8% of all the tweets we tested.

 

 

That's not a high level of indexation at all. To make matters worse, it also appears that Google is quite slow to index tweets, as you can see in the chart below:

 

 

Currently, that means tweets have little chance of getting indexed. In fact, the people whose tweets were most likely to be indexed, according to our study, had much higher than average followings. For people who are just starting out on Twitter, chances are that the indexation rate is near zero.

 

The new deal between Google and Twitter may well change all that. It's hard to predict just how many more tweets Google will index, but you can count on it being a significant change -- otherwise doing this deal makes no sense for Google.

 

As a result, you may have an opportunity to use Twitter to increase your presence in Google's SERPs. However, remember that Google will need a few months to implement changes to leverage the Twitter data feed, so don't expect instant results.

 

How Will Google Choose Which Tweets to Index?

 

Google has made no statements about what their plans are, so we don't know for sure. But, based on their history, we figure that Google is going to work hard to find the tweets that offer the most value to their audience. They will also most likely implement strong anti-spam measures.

 

While the new Twitter data feed will be valuable to them, frankly, it's an add-on. They will be conservative in what they allow into the results, and they will only include things that they have a very high degree of confidence are not spam.

 

As a consequence of that, trying to game this new arrangement will likely be very difficult to do. Google is going to look for signals that certain tweets have greater value. Here are the types of signals that could be available to them:

1. Links from third party web sites to the tweets. (This signal is already available to them today.)
2. Links from third party web sites to a user's profile. (This signal is already available to them today.)
3. How many times a tweet is retweeted, and by whom. They may get this info directly from Twitter, or they may use their own means to determine it. (This will be new data for them.)
4. How many times a tweet is favorited, and by whom. They may get this info directly from Twitter, or they may use their own means to determine it. (This will be new data for them.)

I don't see how this deal makes sense for Google unless they get the info on points 3 and 4 above, or at least number 3. This would mean that Google can use retweet data, and the knowledge of who is performing the RTs to determine which tweets have the most value. This is the source of where I see significant potential value for companies and publishers.

 

Maximize your engagement on Twitter, and you are sending out signals that your tweeted content is valuable. So how do you get more engagement?

 

How Should You Maximize Engagement on Twitter?

 

This was the subject of another study my company did recently on Twitter engagement. This particular study focused on what factors within your Twitter content cause increases in retweets and favorites. By far the most significant factor was the use of images in your tweets:

 

 

Here you can see that your chances of getting at least one retweet are more than doubled for most low and moderate social authority accounts. That's quite a significant difference. Our data also showed that you can also get five to nine times as many total retweets by including images. That's a big deal!

 

Other factors that matter, though not quite as much as images, were the use of hashtags and implementing longer tweets. Factors that mattered less were time of day, including links to content off of Twitter, or mentions of others.

 

While the above info can definitely help you optimize your own presence, you can't forget the importance of developing relationships on Twitter. Focusing on key friendships and relationships with influencers is a big key to success, especially if your presence on the platform is not currently that strong. 

 

Imagine someone with a highly influential account retweeting your most important content. This could be gold for you, as it can make Google aware of the content very quickly. The influencer's tweet with the link to your content may appear in search results and help expose it to much wider audiences. Of course, this may also result in more links to your content as well.

 

Even if Google does not get information in the Twitter data feed that allows it to understand who is retweeting whom, Google could still use link data to better understand whose profiles are most important. Then, they can place more value on their tweets, and place them within their index, driving traffic and exposure to that tweet. If it contains a link to your content, your traffic and exposure could go up.

 

Summary

 

Will this fundamentally alter the digital landscape? No, but it does mean that a strong presence on Twitter will have more value than it did before. To capitalize on this shift, do the following:

1. Increase your time invested in Twitter.
2. Create engaging content that people will want to retweet and favorite.
3. Build relationships with others who will help amplify your content.
4. Make sure to build relationships with influencers whose tweets are more likely to get indexed by Google.
5. Watch the indexation of your tweets grow while you build your own influence on the platform.

As the full partnership takes effect, we may discover other ways to optimize our Twitter strategies for search, but until then, preparing for the shift using the steps above is a wise move.

 

http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/google-twitter-indexing-tweets-data

 

3 Reasons to Create a Sales Video

A sales video can transform your sales pitch from boring to interactive. It sells your business to clients and can heighten their interest in setting up a meeting with you. A sales video sells your product or services, and captures why someone should be interested in what you have to offer.

A sales video can transform your sales pitch from boring to interactive. It sells your business to clients and can heighten their interest in setting up a meeting with you. A sales video sells your product or services, and captures why someone should be interested in what you have to offer.

 

Why Have a Sales Video?
 

1) Pamphlets Are a Thing of the Past

 

Today, the average North American watches four hours of television everyday. Compare that to the fact that the average North American reads only one book every year. This information shows us that nowadays people get more of their information from video than anything else.

 

Business’s should consider video as the way to get the word out. Nobody wants to spend time anymore reading long pamphlets or going through a plain PowerPoint. Business videos are quick and get the message across better than any other platform. 

 

2) Sales Videos Create Impact

 

No matter how much you know a movie is not real life, it will always still impact you. Whether it gives you the feeling of happiness, sadness or sheer excitement, a video can cause emotions that a webpage or brochure cannot. It doesn’t have to be a Hollywood video. Simply adding music to a presentation can build impact.

 

3) You’ll Never Be as Good 

 

It doesn’t matter how good of a sales person you are, but you can never deliver information the way a video can. A video can be organized and edited in a way that includes photos, graphics, music and sound, that can truly capture the message you want to send.

 

Email your business video to the individual you hope to set a meeting up with before speaking with them in order to increase excitement that is harder to provide over the phone. 

 

http://www.n5r.com/blog/3-reasons-to-create-a-sales-video

 

LinkedIn Marketing: 8 Huge Benefits and 8 Awesome Tips to Master It

Ae you using LinkedIn as a platform to market your business? Do you need convincing about its benefits and want some tips to get started?

 

If you’re a B2B company LinkedIn is an absolute must, but that’s not to say a B2C company can’t achieve success too. LinkedIn offers a unique platform to build brand awareness amongst a targeted professional audience.

 

QuickSprout have put together this infographic showing the benefits of LinkedIn and some tips on how to implement your strategy.

 

 

http://blog.red-website-design.co.uk/2015/02/17/linkedin-marketing-8-huge-benefits-and-8-awesome-tips-to-master-it/

 

4 SEO Tactics to Embrace in 2015

Remember when the meta keyword tag was popular? Or when a good SEO strategy was to put keywords in everything (URL, title, description, headings, images ALT text, side nav, main nav, footer nav, in the keywords and 231 times in the body content)?

 

Welcome to 2015, where the world of search is a completely different game. In fact, in 2015 you need to check site pages to be certain keywords aren’t overused in key elements.
 So why are so many SEOs still recommending that webpages include the "targeted keyword" in the URL, title, headings, and corpus? Can you say penalty risk?

 

We can touch on a hundred different SEO strategies do improve your website, but below are 4 ways a beginner can start improving their site.

 

Hummingbird Made SEO Much Easier

 

Search engines no longer value pages filled with targeted keywords. Google’s Hummingbird algorithm drove a final nail into the keyword coffin. With Hummingbird, Google proved that they now understand what your page is about; they know the topic of the page, how unique the content is, and how well it’s written.

 

Searchmetrics released their annual white paper detailing ranking factors and rank correlations. What they found was that there is little to no benefit to strategically incorporating keywords in different page elements, and often sites can be negatively impacted. You can also read a summary of Searchmetric’s report on Moz’s website.

 

Practices that Will Strengthen the Value of a Website

 

1) Skip Meta Keywords

Remember in preschool when you’d draw on the walls and your teacher would say, "If you can’t learn how to use the crayons then I’m going to take them away from you"? You would laugh and continue drawing on the walls, only to have the teacher take your crayons.

 

Now imagine the crayons are Meta keywords and Google is that mean, old preschool teacher. Google took Meta keywords away because we didn’t use them correctly. Search engines have taken it a step further and declared that meta keywords could be a spam signal.

 

In 2009 Google’s Matt Cutts posted on the official Google Blog, "Google doesn’t use the 'keywords' meta tag in our web search ranking." Still don’t believe? Read Bing’s guidelines for webmasters to get the full picture.

 

Solution: Stop using Meta keywords
 

2) Don’t Stuff Your Content with Keywords

Nothing is worse than arriving to a site and finding content with keywords strategically (and awkwardly) positioned throughout. Let’s just put this one to bed here and now. Keyword density is no longer important and you should stop any and all strategies aiming at stuffing keywords into your content.

 

Instead, learn about an important concept known as TF-IDF, or term frequency-inverse document frequency. TD-IDF means that content should include different phrases and that some of those phrases should appear more frequently than others.

 

For example, a page about Nintendo should include the word Nintendo more frequently than the words Mario and Luigi, but Mario and Luigi should (probably) appear on the page because they are related to the topic of the page.

 

Solution: Let’s not over complicate the solution here. Cyrus Shepard wrote a comprehensive post about keyword targeting explaining what I’ll summarize in a few bullet points.

 

Optimizing Content for Users and Ranking

1. Decide upon a topic for a page or blog post
2. Extensively research said topic
3. Write content that is uniquely valuable to your targeted visitor
4. Verify that you have written a minimum of 400 words
5. Split the content into short paragraphs, consisting of 2-4 sentences, or bulleted lists
6. Add a headline to the opening of each paragraph to describe the upcoming info
7. Within the body content create anchor text links to a similar page on the site
8. Add a page title that speaks to your targeted visitor and the topic of the page
9. Make the page easily shareable on social networks

The result will be an authoritative, user friendly, search engine friendly piece of content for your site.
 

3) Don't Ignore Your Meta Description

This last one isn’t so much about what companies do, but instead it’s what they fail to do. Too often I see sites with a Meta description that has been completely ignored, or maybe worse yet, use a tool or plug-in to dynamically generate a Meta description.

 

You have about 215 total characters (or 512px by 100px) to persuade searchers to click on your listing in SERP. 215 characters include the page title and Meta description. 215 characters because SERP is dependent upon pixels and not characters (the letter 'W' is obviously wider than "I").

 

Plain and simple, Meta descriptions are a conversion factor. Meta descriptions are not a factor in ranking algorithms, though. Knowing that they impact CTR why would you ignore them?

 

Solution: Take time to write compelling Meta descriptions for all important pages of the site, and for any pages that can be shared socially. While 155 characters is target length, keep in mind that words aligning with the search query will be bolded, causing your description to be longer. So it would be advisable to keep the character length between 115-145 characters. It’s also important to include some form of a CTA or value proposition. Words like ‘decide,’ 'learn,’ or 'find out' can be considered calls to action in this situation.
 

4) Don't Forget to Markup Pages with Schema, RDFa, JSON-LD

Next time you search in Google or Bing, look at the results. Spot the results that contain more information than just a title, description, and URL. Those results have additional info because the html of the site is marked up to relay explicit information to crawlers. The result is more equity of SERP.

 

BuildVisible wrote a comprehensive guide to help with Microdata. They found that search listings with rich snippets would be clicked on up 25% more frequently.

 

Solution: Plain and simple, make microdata part of every site you create. Markup logos, images, addresses, phone numbers, business name, type of business, reviews, prices, software, and anything else that’s relevant to the site. Clients will thank you and visitors will appreciate it.

 

Conclusion

 

Once you’re using these tactics you can build upon them. Taking just these steps will help your site rank, but optimizing a website is a practice that doesn’t really end. You can stop improving certain pages, but the site as a whole can always be improved.

 

You may not be an SEO expert, but you’ll strengthen your website with the simple strategies above.

 

http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/seo-tactics-2015

 

How To Grow A Business To $100 Million In Sales, From Someone Who's Done It Twice

Zeta Interactive CEO David A. Steinberg has lived through remarkable success and failure alike as a serial entrepreneur and executive. In his 20-year career, he's learned hard lessons that have made him wiser, more effective, and especially more prudent, he tells Business Insider.

 

Zeta Interactive CEO David Steinberg

 

Steinberg jumped into the growing cellular-phone industry a year out of college, founding the retail chain and business-to-business provider Sterling Cellular in 1992. He then founded the telemarketing company Sterling Communications, which he sold in 1999 along with his retail business, starting online cellular commerce and business-to-business company InPhonic that same year.

 

At its height, Steinberg says, InPhonic was bringing in approximately $400 million in revenue. In 2004, it was named the fastest-growing private company in the US by Inc. magazine and went public that same year. By 2007, however, it was in bankruptcy due to mismanagement and a host of other factors.

 

He quickly moved forward, founding the digital marketing firm that was rebranded this year as Zeta Interactive with his business partner John Sculley, former PepsiCo president and Apple CEO. Steinberg tells us that Zeta brought in revenue of $90 million last year and that it's already passed $100 million this year. He projects year-over-year growth of 90% and says its operating margin is in the mid-teens and rising, meaning that Zeta is on a healthy, fast-growth path.

 

Here are some powerful growth lessons Steinberg says he's learned from being at the top to being at the bottom and how they are helping him today:

 

Set Up People and Processes for Sustainable Growth.

 

One of the reasons InPhonic ultimately failed is because it grew too quickly, Steinberg says. It went from offering 100,000 phone rebates to customers to offering 1 million in the span of a year — and the company simply wasn't ready to handle it, both in terms of manpower and technology. Customer service began to suffer significantly due to the inability to adapt, and Steinberg tells us that rebate turnaround times increased from one month to six months.

 

Looking back, Steinberg says he should have eased the company into a more manageable direction, in addition to replacing certain employees that were not good fits for a new direction. "The people who got you to where you are won't always get you where you need to go," he says.

 

At his current company Zeta, Steinberg says he has chief information officer Jeffry Nimeroff focus on making sure that the company's technology is always able to handle Zeta's growth. By using a data-based growth strategy, Steinberg is able to avoid unnecessarily risky initiatives that the company may not be able to adapt to.

 

Hand Off Responsibilities.

 

"It took me 20 years to realize I'm not the best at everything," Steinberg says, laughing.

 

For example, he says that 15 years ago he wouldn't have been able to effectively manage his current chief operating officer, Steve Gerber, because he wouldn't have been able to hand off day-to-day management decisions to him.

 

Steinberg says that he's learned that to increase your chances of developing leaders within your own company, it's necessary to hire very intelligent people for your team. "You can teach smart people to do almost anything," he says.

 

Pivot Every Six to Nine months.

 

Steinberg thinks that a high-growth company needs to constantly reinvent itself to stay relevant, and that doesn't necessarily mean that it needs to go in a radical new direction.

 

Zeta started in the education sector before pivoting over to big data marketing solutions, and it's worked out well.

 

He says that as head of InPhonic he should have acquired an outside wireless company to keep InPhonic interesting and able to handle accelerated growth.

 

Never Put Yourself in a Situation You Can't Get Out Of.

 

On that note, Steinberg says he made the mistake of setting self-imposed limitations on what InPhonic could be. Part of this had to do with his former obsession with getting press for InPhonic when it was still young, which resulted in excessive coverage of certain initiatives he should have dropped when they stopped working.

 

This time around with Zeta, he focused on finding what worked before reaching out to the media. He says that today it's "the biggest tech company in New York that no one's heard of." It's better to figure out a growth strategy under the radar than limiting your ability to change course, he says.

 

Don't be Afraid to Let the Market Come to You.

 

"Most startups wait to start in a time that's hot for their industry," Steinberg says, but that's not necessarily the best option. If you sit on an idea and wait for the market to open its arms to it, then you risk reaching an opportunity for scaled growth at a time when that particular market cools.

 

If you happen to have a great idea, Steinberg recommends building a company regardless of what the market is doing. And if that great idea turns out to be a great company, then you can still find an audience.

 

Similarly, Steinberg says, he's never started a company with an exit strategy, as some serial entrepreneurs do. "The exit will find you," he says.

        
http://www.businessinsider.com/david-steinberg-how-to-build-million-dollar-company-2014-9?IR=T

How to Write an Irresistible Headline

Let’s start with a fundamental question: How are posts shared?

 

It’s not the blog post, tool, or resource that gets shared. That might be what motivates the person who is sharing it, but all that ends up getting shared is the headline. The headline is what you share with your subscribers, it’s what people see in search results, and it’s what gets passed around

.

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that a good headline is going to help your traffic prospects.

 

What’s less obvious is that sometimes the best way to come up with an idea is to start with the headline. Here’s why: If you start with the resource, you might end up putting a lot of time into it before you realize that there’s no way to summarize it with an irresistible headline. This is a lot like the death sentence most products face if they don’t have an “elevator pitch” on which to build.

 

 

What Makes a Good Headline?

 

According to a study published in The Guardian, these changes help your headline’s click-through rate:1

• Headlines with 8 words do 21% better than average.
• Using a hyphen or colon will add 9% to your CTR.
• Thumbnails and images boost clicks by 27%, so use them on every platform you can.
• List posts tend to do better. They do even better if the number of list elements is odd instead of even. In fact, odd-numbered posts do 20 percent better than even-numbered posts. I suspect, however, that “10” is an exception to this rule.
• Headlines that end with a question mark do better according to this study. On top of that, a university study has also found that question headlines do better. They also discovered that question headlines did even better if they referenced the reader with “you” or “your,” as opposed to rhetorical questions or other types of questions.
• Headlines that end with three exclamation points get twice as many clicks as headlines with any other punctuation!!! Obviously, you can do this too much!!! You’ll start to lose your credibility after a while!!! But if you’re going to use an exclamation point, you might as well use three instead of one!!!

 

What Do the Top Blogs Do?

 

Using a script, Startup Moon scraped several blogs and organized the posts from most to least shared on social networks. This doesn’t necessarily mean that they are the most shareable headlines, but it’s probably a good indication that these posts attracted more traffic than usual. Posts in the top 20% tended to use the following tactics:

• Startup Moon was looking at tech blogs, but some of the most successful posts used words like “kill,” “fear,” “dark,” “bleeding,” and “war.” It looks like violent language gets attention, even when the subject isn’t about violence at all.
• The negative spin on a post tends to do better. Words like “without,” “no,” and “stop” showed up in a lot of the top posts. A study by Outbrain reached a similar result. They found that the negative superlatives “never” and “worst” performed 30% better than average and 59% better than positive superlatives. I’d bet that this all comes down to the human bias called loss aversion. Even when the outcome is the same, we pay more attention when the outcome is framed as avoiding a loss instead of gaining something.
• Obviously, people like seeing numbers in headlines. But it’s not just list posts that do this. Numbers of any kind apparently add credibility to headlines by adding specificity. Bigger numbers also tend to do better because they make things sound more dramatic. Use digits to represent numbers, not words. Time units also help, probably because they indicate exactly how much time it will take to learn something new. Finally, it’s best if the headline starts with the number.
• Guides do very well. Using words like “introduction,” “beginner’s guide,” “in 5 minutes,” and “DIY” will help your CTR.
• Piggybacking on big brands and hot topics also helps, even when the articles are only using those brands or topics metaphorically to make a comparison with something very different.
• A few random words also seemed to help: smart, surprising, science, history, hacks/hacking/hackers, huge/big, critical.
• The study also found that these words seem to hurt: announcing, wins, celebrates, grows.

 

Finally, if you want better headlines, your content needs to be built on a broader base of subjects and topics. This is where you look for inspiration from the top brands and widen your content strategy to include as many themes and ideas related to your industry as you can.

 

In another study, Ripenn analyzed 2,616 headlines on sites known for their ability to elicit clicks: BuzzFeed, UpWorthy, ViralNova, and Wimp. Here’s what they recommend as a result of their findings:

• Reference current trends, celebrities, and popular movies but with a unique spin on them.
• Inject headlines with curiosity. Elicit an interest, but don’t give it all away in the title.
• Use emotional words.
• Use action words. This is backed up by Dan Zarrella’s research on Twitter click-through rates. More adverbs and verbs will help CTR, while more nouns and adjectives will hurt it. We like to hear stories about things that are being done or learn how to do things. We don’t like stories about things just sitting there.
• Make bold claims.
• Write relatable, human headlines, and don’t get too formal.

 

Working together with Ripenn on that study, BufferApp was able to discover that these were some of the most popular phrases in successful headlines:

 

Image via BufferApp

Image via BufferApp

 

What If You Just Want to Sell?

 

While these are great tactics for sparking interest in a subject, many of them will backfire if you’re trying to target users who are already looking for something specific. Several case studies from ContentVerve at Unbounce demonstrate that, when it comes to landing pages:

• Question titles almost always perform worst. (“Need a Free MP3 Player?”)
• Loss-aversion titles tend to come in second unless there is a very clear thing people are trying to avoid. (“Don’t Waste Money on Expensive Mp3 Converters”)
• Titles expressing a very clear benefit tend to do best. (“Get Your Free YouTube Converter”)

 

The business of writing headlines for landing pages is very different from the business of writing headlines for blog posts. With landing pages, you’re trying to capture the attention of people who are already looking for something specific. Clever headlines just force them to think harder about what you’re offering.

 

With blog posts, on the other hand, you’re usually trying to elicit interest in a subject.

 

Over to You

 

Think carefully about which goal you’re trying to accomplish before you write your headline. In fact, this will probably depend on the platform. You’ll usually want to write more creative headlines for platforms like Facebook and Twitter, while you will often want to use more straightforward headlines for paid search or email.

 

It all comes down to the question of serendipitous discovery versus goal-oriented search.

 

http://www.convinceandconvert.com/content-marketing/how-to-write-a-headline/

 

36 Tried-and-True Ways to Promote Your Blog Posts

There are lots of things you need to do to have a successful blog. Not only do your posts need to be well-written, helpful, and relevant to your target audience, but you've also got to make sure you're promoting them correctly so they get in front of people who could become your fans -- and maybe even your customers.

 

Luckily, you have many creative options when it comes to promoting your blog content.

 

In the infographic below from ReferralCandy, we hear from over 40 marketing experts about their favorite blog promotion tactics -- everything from relationship building to email segmentation to social media. Check it out.

 

 

http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/blog-promotion-tactics

 

8-Step Mantra Marketing Action Plan For Growing Your Brand & Presence

If there is one thing I have learned about marketing it’s this: marketing feels awkward and uncomfortable.

 

Why?

 

You have great things to share, you want to share them and profit from your knowledge and expertise but somehow, the marketing part feels icky and itchy, and you just don’t have the time to commit to marketing and growing your brand. Right?

 

Is that really why?

 

I bet that is part of the reason, but here’s the REAL reason why:

 

There’s a little voice inside you that starts talking and she is stopping you. She is saying: Who do you think you are? You are not good enough! You don’t deserve to have fabulous clients! Everybody knows you are not going to really deliver all that you say you can!

 

Or: fill in the blank for what your personal inner meanie tells you.

 

One of the secrets to my own personal achievement has been shutting up that little voice and creating simple actions to move myself forward. I learned through lots of trial and error that the actions don’t work unless I attach a strategy for quieting the voice.

 

This is where mantras come in.

 

A mantra is a phrase (or sound or word) that you repeat when you meditate or pray.

 

When I grew my business from 100K to 1M it took me eight years. Yep, eight steady years of intentionally (and sometimes painfully) moving myself out of the way over and over again. During this time, I found powerful mantas to be incredibly helpful.

 

So, since my area of expertise is coaching people to their own online marketing greatness I have created this 8-step mantra marketing action kit for you!

 

Why would a marketer choose the number 8? We are supposed to stick with 5, 7 and 9s for maximum effectiveness, right? Even my book and signature system is called Music Success in 9 Weeks for goodness sakes!

 

A trip to numerology.com revealed my answer:

 

“The number 8, more than any other number, puts the emphasis in the areas of career, business, finances and authority. However, as with many other single-digit numbers, the shape of the number reflects its most important attribute, and in the case of the number 8, that is, first and foremost, balance… When the 8 comes knocking, you can be assured that you will reap what you’ve sown.”

Hmmm… Coincidence that it took me eight years to build my business? I think NOT!

Meanwhile, here we go with a mantra system just for you:
 

CYBER PR’S 8-STEP MANTRA MARKETING ACTION PLAN FOR GROWING YOUR BRAND & PRESENCE

 How do you break through and get noticed on social media? Don’t try to get noticed. It’s all about relationships, conversation, and interaction. But it’s also about believing that you can. Behold:

 

Action #1: Identify Your Ideal Customer and Only Speak to Her.
Mantra: Less is More.

 

You’ve seen all of the numbers. There are a billion people on Facebook, and 500 million on Twitter etc. etc. The landscape is vast. Don’t even try to think you can talk to everyone.

 

Instead, consider the characteristics of the ideal customer you would most like to engage. What’s her name? Does she have kids? What does she like to do, eat, and read? Most importantly, what makes her tick and what objections would she have if she were buying what you have to offer? All of these questions should lead your content. Write posts and create content only to her and she will show up to read it.

 

Action #2: Don’t Hype.
Mantra: I am Helpful.

 

Sales pitches have their place and they will emerge when the time is right, however too much and your followers will tune you out.

 

If you are going to take the time to get it right and ultimately establish yourself as a thought leader in your niche, be genuine and share what is meaningful to you. People will connect to your passion and therefore connect with you.

 

Action #3: Shine a Light on Other People.
Mantra: Social Media is not a Competition.

 

If you are willing to lift people up in public, it shows that you are a person of integrity who is not threatened by others. Highlight other people’s ideas, successes, and talents often. Share links to great blog posts, congratulate a promotion on LinkedIn, and Tweet a fantastic quote from someone you admire (or even better from your competitors).

 

Action #4: Make Your Content Easy to Share.
Mantra: I Share My Knowledge & Expertise.

 

If you have a blog, be sure you include ReTweet, Facebook like and Google+ buttons on each post. Add social sharing tools into your newsletters so people can spread your compelling content. Make short links for people so they’re more sharable by using bit.ly. Always think: How can I make what I do online as viral as possible?

 

Action #5: Answer Everyone.
Mantra: I Care About Others.

 

If you don’t care about your audience, they won’t care about you. If someone comments or likes or says something thoughtful about what you’ve written or shared, take time to answer.

 

Everyone is important, so treat everyone that way. They will notice and your social karma and currency will rise quickly.

 

Action #6: Be Bold, Stay Your Course.
Mantra: I am Bold & I am Authentic.

 

Fitting in and neutrality defeats thought leadership. You have important things to say, do not be afraid to say them. Be you, be real, and be bold. Stand out from all the other voices and be consistent and authentic with your message.

 

Action #7: Invite Participation.
Mantra: My Friends Are Here to Help Me.

 

Have friends and colleagues who you consider whip-smart, funny, helpful and an asset to your community become part of your content contribution team. Ask her to guest post and add her own thought leadership to your conversation.

 

It doesn’t have to be someone with a huge social following. In fact, it’s helpful if they don’t already have a large online presence because when others Google them they will be directed to your content! So, get collaborating!

 

Action #8: Put Yourself Out There.
Mantra: Others Benefit Because of Me.

 

While building a platform you have to simultaneously do so in World 1.0 as well as on Web 2.0! Get out there and speak in public, go on TV (or make your own TV on YouTube). Use your content to eventually publish a book. Writing a book is the most amazing calling card in the world.

 

Print the infographic below out and hang it where you can see it next to your desk or bed, or on the fridge. Repeat, repeat and repeat till they sink in.

 

http://cyberpr.com/2014/02/8-step-mantra-marketing-action-plan-growing-brand-presence/

 

9 Things Great Writers Do Every Day

You’re a writer, a content creator. People expect you to churn out really good, really engaging, and really awesome content.

 

What they don’t realize is that it takes some serious effort to create great stuff. That article that is so easy for them read is actually really difficult for you to write.

Thankfully, through the sheer power of habits, you can get to the point where creating awesome content comes naturally. Habits have the uncanny ability to stick with you. They’re a pain to implement, but they flow effortlessly after that. In the interest of making your tough job a little bit easier, here are a few daily habits that will make your content much better.

 

 

Remember, these are daily habits. Skip the weekend if you want, but be sure to put these into practice during the days that you’re expected to produce content.

 

1) Read Something Really Well Written

 

The next few tips have to do with reading. One of the best ways to become a better writer is to read what others have written. You’re not going to become a solid professional writer if you spend all day reading low-quality content. But if you spend more of your day reading professional-grade content, then you will improve.

 

The tough thing is, you have to be discerning to find the really good stuff online. To start, here’s a list of places where the content quality stays high:

• Harvard Business Review
• New York Times
• Slate

Don’t be afraid to pay for top-tier content. There’s a reason it costs money, and it’s often well worth it.

 

2) Read Something Funny

 

Reading humor can help shake up your brain in ways that loosen up the creative portions and help you produce better content. If you need to get your fix of Buzzfeed or The Oatmeal, go ahead. Don’t feel guilty about it.

 

Sometimes, the best few minutes of your day are spent laughing. You’ll enjoy a lot of benefits besides just the kick you got out of the hilarious content. You’ll enjoy the benefit of writing better content yourself. Your content may not be funny, but it will be good.

 

3) Read Something Outside of Your Niche

 

If you want to get better, read broader.

 

Reading other stuff -- really different stuff -- has a way of cross-pollinating your own writing specialty. For example, maybe you write about conversion rate optimization all day. If that’s the case, then take a few minutes to read a blog about yoga.

 

Yoga?! Why? Because the style, approach, and nature of content that is outside your niche can help you within your niche.

 

Good writing, regardless of what it’s about, will help you become a better writer.

 

4) Read Something You Wrote in the Past

 

Great orators spend hours watching their speeches. Professional athletes analyze videos of their moves. Politicians watch themselves on TV.

 

You’re a writer, so you should read content that you wrote in the past. The goal of reading past content is not to edit it. It’s too late for that. Instead, you want to learn from it.

• What was good about it?
• What things do you write best about?
• What wasn’t so good?
• What sounds awkward?

Ask yourself those questions and spend a few minutes getting a better understanding of how you’re doing as a writer.

 

5) Write for at Least 30 Minutes

 

The most powerful tip in this whole list is right here: Write for at least 30 minutes every workday. (Skip the weekends; you deserve the break.)

 

To become a better writer, you have to write. A lot. Every day. There’s no way to improve without actually doing it.

 

When you get into the habit of writing on a daily basis, your brain begins to anticipate it and prepare for it. This is especially true if you write at the same time each day. Way before you put hands to the keyboard, the brain’s juices are flowing, allowing you to be more creative, more precise, and more skillful during your writing time.

 

Every 30 minutes that you spend writing is 30 minutes that you’re getting better. Progress may not be huge, but at least it’s progress.

 

6) Force Yourself to Talk to Someone

 

Talking is different from writing. But talking can help you become a better writer, too.

If you want to write better, then talk better. You can’t improve your talking skills by staying silent all day.

 

If you work by yourself, call up a friend. If you work in an office, shoot the breeze over lunch or coffee. Just pick someone, and be conversational. Using your writing skills to some verbal interchange will actually help your writing become better.

 

7) Go for a Walk

 

Science has proven that taking a walk helps us think better. Some even say that it makes us smarter.

Let’s face it. Writing is a mental challenge. You must be in keen mental shape to be able to produce the kind of stuff that you’re producing.

 

So, if you want to sharpen your mind, then get out of your chair, head for the door, and don’t come back for at least 10 minutes. This isn't a brainstorming walk. You don’t have to think about anything, let alone your subject matter. Instead, you just move your body, and your mind will take care of the rest.

 

8) Write Fast

 

It may sound strange, but some of my best content is stuff that I wrote really fast.

 

Obviously, it had tons of typos and grammar errors, but overall, the content itself was pretty darn good.

 

I’ve recently discovered the reason for this. The mind can generate thoughts way faster than the hands can type them. If, however, you’re able to type faster, you're able to transcribe more of those thoughts, along with extra nuance and clarity.

 

Your fingers will never be able to match the speed at which you think, but when you do produce content rapidly, it has a much better chance of aligning with what you’re thinking.

 

I’ve met people who say “Oh I can’t write. It just comes so slow!” Actually, I bet they could write, if only they type it out faster.

 

You don’t have to turn on your supersonic speed all the time, but it’s helpful to get in the habit of writing fast.

 

Write fast. Edit slow.

 

9) Google Any Grammar Questions

 

An important part of writing is the mechanical stuff -- making sure you’re not breaking any grammar laws or violating any rules.

 

(A few well-intentioned rule breaking is okay, but if you’re being sloppy, that’s just bad form.)

 

If you come up against a grammar issue while you’re writing, do a quick Google search on it. It will only take a few minutes, but you’ll definitely learn something and possibly avoid an embarrassing mistake. Get into the habit of double-checking your grammar, even if you’re only slightly suspicious of your potential mistake.

 

Conclusion

 

Stay positive. Nobody becomes a better writer automatically. It takes months, even years, to form habits. But once those habits are in place, things can flow without any thought and hardly any effort. Before you know it, your writing is improving exponentially.

 

http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/habits-great-writers

 

Who Actually Clicks on Banner Ads?

Website visitors are banner blind. 

 

And if they do pay attention to the display ads cluttering their online experience, they can put a stop to irrelevant messaging by installing an ad blocker.
Hey, it's tough for any brand to compete with plug-ins that can replace banner ads with pictures of puppies and kittens.

 

But this isn't to say banner ads are all bad. In fact, there have been some pretty creative uses of the display format. But overall, people are tired of being bombarded with ads that don't apply to them or are ill-timed. They lost trust, so they stopped clicking. 

 

But who are the ones actually clicking on banner ads out there? Prestige Marketing figured this out and created the below infographic. The information should make any brand commit to native advertising if they haven't already. Check it out.

 

 

 

http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/banner-ad-clicks

 

3 SEO Vulnerabilities to Avoid When Changing the Design of Your Site

Updating the design and structure of your site from time to time is a requirement of the age of online marketing. Designs get stale, technology evolves, and your customers are always looking for the next big thing, so eventually, whether it’s two years or six years down the line, you’ll have to rebuild your website from the ground up.

 

It’s an exciting opportunity for the entrepreneur enthusiastic about the future of the brand. It’s a new challenge and another project for the design and development team. But for the search marketer trying to maintain and build on their site’s current level of success, the whole process can be a nightmare. Pulling one version of your website down and putting another one up is like swiftly pulling a tablecloth out from under a set table without breaking or moving anything; it’s next to impossible unless you know what you’re doing.

 

Fortunately, many of us have gone through the process before and have escaped at least relatively unscathed. Chances are, you’re going to see a bit of volatility no matter what, but you can mitigate the effects by watching out for these three common vulnerabilities:

 

1. A Changing URL Structure.

The biggest problem you’re likely going to face as you update your website is a disconnection between your old URL structure and your new URL structure. In a perfect world, you would maintain an identical URL structure, thereby preventing the possibility of a discrepancy, but then you probably wouldn’t need to be updating your site in the first place.

 

There’s one critical danger here, which can have a rippling effect that permanently damages your domain authority and crashes your ranks. Your URLs have history with Google, and Google likes links with history. Its search engine algorithm has come to expect your site to be in a very specific structure and a very specific order, and when it goes to crawl your new site, if it doesn’t see what it expects to see, it triggers a red flag. Historical links, with lots of credibility, that suddenly disappear in favor of entirely new links can wreak havoc on your domain authority, putting you in the same position as a site for a brand that just launched.

 

The problem is compounded by external links. Naturally, you’ve built a number of links on external sites pointing to various internal pages of your domain in an effort to improve your authority. If any of those links become no longer relevant, the page rank those links pass will become useless, and you’ll have a profile full of dead links pointing to nowhere, further damaging your domain authority and possibly interfering with your inbound traffic.

 

Fortunately, there is a simple—but admittedly painstaking—strategy you can use to ensure this outcome doesn’t occur. First, you’ll need to set up a Webmaster Tools account and crawl your site or use an alternative tool to generate a list of all the URLs found on your current website structure—and don’t forget about all your subdomains! Then, if you can, do everything you can to keep that link structure as similar as possible.

 

For any old links that do not have an immediate counterpart in the new site, or for links whose names have changed, you’ll want to set up 301 redirects. Fortunately, setting up 301 redirects is easy, and once they’re in place, any traffic that would encounter your old URL will be automatically pointed to the new one. This should prevent any damaging crawl errors from Google, and will definitely keep all your inbound external links accurate and functional.

 

2. Design and CMS Pains.

Unless you’re working for a very small business, your new website is going to be in the hands of many individuals from many teams and many different departments. Everybody is going to have their own perspectives on what would be best with the site. Multiple opinions, collaborating together can ultimately culminate in the greatest final product, but you can’t forget about Google’s perspective.

 

Graphic designers want to make the most visually appealing site possible, but there are some design principles that need to be balanced in order to fit with Google’s priorities and prevent a nosedive in your ranks. For example, most designers would prefer a site designed with minimalism, with only a handful of links in the navigation and as little onsite content as possible. However, Google likes to see lots of high-quality pages, and without ample onsite content, the search engine may find it difficult to understand your purpose. There is always room for a compromise, so work with your designers to find a good balance that works for both of your goals.

 

Similarly, other members of your team may have strong preferences when it comes to selecting a CMS, either due to price or personal opinions. There are hundreds of CMS options out there, with varying compatibilities and functionality with SEO. Be sure to do your research and vet your options when considering a transition.

 

3. The Same Old Mistakes.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, transitioning to a new site is an opportunity to fix all the mistakes that were holding you back with the old site. Passing over this opportunity, or failing to give it its due attention, is a critical mistake and a vulnerability you cannot afford to neglect.

 

Throughout the planning and design process, run an audit of your current efforts on your current site. Where are you ranking? How much traffic are you getting? Where is that traffic going and how is it behaving? What problems are inherent in your navigation, and what gaps are there in your meta data?

 

Your first priority when designing a new site, from an SEO perspective, is your navigation. It needs to be simple and intuitive, but fleshed out enough so that any new visitor will know exactly where to go. It also needs to have strong anchor pages with keywords related to your business, and clear sitemaps for Google to read and understand your site.

 

Second, you’ll need to examine which of your pages tend to attract or retain the most traffic, and look for ways to replicate its success in your other pages (in terms of design, content, and purpose). While not directly linked to the process of getting a new site up and running, this is also a good idea to review your ongoing tactics and find ways to improve them.

 

Even though the process is ripe with SEO vulnerabilities that could shake up your rankings or traffic flow, your website rebuild is an opportunity, first and foremost. Treat it as such, and you’ll be able to reap the benefits.

 

No matter how much you plan or how closely you monitor the progress of your site transfer, it’s likely that there will be some hiccups in your web traffic and search standings. Try not to obsess over them; as long as you dedicate yourself to following the same (or improved) ongoing best practices as you did with your old site, you’ll see similar patterns of growth with the new one. Remember that SEO is a long-term strategy, and any short-term volatility you experience during the site transfer (as long as you’ve accounted for the critical vulnerabilities) is temporary.

 

http://www.audiencebloom.com/2015/02/3-seo-vulnerabilities-avoid-changing-design-site/

 

How to Get More Likes on Your Facebook Page

Every brand on Facebook is on Facebook for one reason -- to (eventually) get more business. But getting more business from Facebook means different things to different types of businesses. Different brands will have different objectives, such as driving in-store sales, increasing online sales, launching a new product, building awareness, or promoting a mobile app.

 

Regardless of the objective, there are a few steps that happen before Facebook fans can turn into real business. You have to first build an audience on Facebook, then drive inbound traffic to your website, then turn that traffic into qualified leads, and then nurture those leads into customers.

This post is all about the very first step in this whole process: building an audience of fans who actually have an interest in what your company sells. If you recently set up your Facebook Page or could simply use a few pointers on how to get more Facebook Likes, this post is for you.

 

 

How to Get More Facebook Likes

 

1) Fill out your Facebook Page with searchable information. 

 

To grow your number of Facebook fans, every section of your page should include content that's relevant and helpful, but also searchable. Remember: All of the content on your page will be indexed by search engines, helping you attract more Fans to your page.

 

By no means should you should go on a keyword-stuffing spree -- but you should spend time optimizing each section of your page with keywords appropriate for your business.

 

For example, once you’ve created your Facebook Page, make sure the About section of your page includes:

• An overview of what your business has to offer
• A link to your website
• Any other information that will help prospects understand your business better

2) Include Facebook Like Boxes on your website and blog.

 

Making your Facebook Page as discoverable as possible includes promoting your Facebook presence using the marketing channels you already have, and removing any barriers for existing contacts to like your page. 

 

If you have a website or blog, use Facebook’s various social plugins to get people to 'Like' your page without having to go over to Facebook.com.

 

While Facebook's Like Button allows users to like individual pieces of content on the web and share them on Facebook, the Like Box is designed only for Facebook Pages. The Like Box is a great way to leverage social proof to amplify your page. It displays your page's number of Likes along with the faces of some of your Facebook fans.
 

3) Invite existing contacts to Like your page.

 

Chances are, you already have friends, family, and existing customers who would be more than willing to connect with your business on Facebook. All you need to do is ask. Whether in person, via email, or via Facebook, try asking for Likes and positive reviews. Just be cautious about over-promoting to uninterested connections.
 

You can also encourage existing connections to become fans by making it more likely that they'll see a suggestion on Facebook to like your page. How? You'll have to upload a list of emails to Facebook, and those from that list who are on Facebook will be made more likely to see a suggestion to like your page in places like "Recommended Pages." Your contacts who aren't on Facebook won't see this suggestion.
 

To upload a list of email contacts through Facebook, open the "Build Audience" menu (located at the top right of your Facebook Page) and select "Invite Email Contacts."
 

From there, you can upload a maximum of 7,000 contacts per day per page -- and a maximum of 5,000 contacts at a time.
 

4) Invite employees to Like your page.

 

People are more likely to Like pages that already have some sort of following, and your employees can help your business build its initial numbers. After all, they are your strongest and most effective brand advocates.
 

Ask them to like the official Facebook Page. Then, encourage them to share, Like, and comment on the content your team posts on Facebook, too. Employees who really want to share the love might include a link to your Facebook Page in their email signatures or on their personal social media profiles.
 

5) Incorporate Facebook into your offline communication channels.

 

Have a physical storefront? Think about ways to encourage patrons to become Facebook fans. Here are some ideas to get you started:

• Place stickers in your front windows promoting your page's name.
• Include your Facebook URL on your receipts.
• Run a promotion where customers who become Facebook fans on the spot get small discounts.

Market your business offline? Include links to your Facebook Page and other social media profiles on printed ads, flyers, coupons, catalogs, business cards, and direct mail assets.
 

6) Cross promote on Twitter and LinkedIn.

 

Add a link to your Facebook Page on your business's Twitter and LinkedIn profiles (and your personal profile, for that matter). Tweet about your Facebook Page occasionally to encourage your Twitter followers and LinkedIn connections to stay in contact with you on another network.
 

Add your Twitter link to your Facebook Page, and occasionally tweet about your Facebook Page. Don’t stop with Twitter and Facebook; you could also cross-promote on LinkedIn, Flickr, YouTube, etc. Just be sure that your cross promotions are sparing and strategic -- you don't want to spam the other audiences that you've worked so hard to develop.
 

7) Post valuable content.

 

The best way to increase your following on Facebook is by treating your fans like people -- and that means consistently delivering content that is valuable to them. Delivering value really comes into play with the content you create and share with your fans, and how you interact with them.
 

It's all about building long-term relationships with your Facebook fans. They might not remember one individual post to Facebook, but if they notice you consistently publish high quality, helpful, and relevant posts to Facebook, they'll think of you as a valuable resource.
 

So, how do you know what to publish? If you’re in tune with your buyer personas, you probably have a good idea what types of content your ideal customers like. If not, or if you just need some inspiration, consider spending a week taking note of the types of content in your own News Feed that compels you click, comment, or share. What inspired you? Use your observations to inspire future posts.
 

8) Be active.

 

Getting more Facebook Likes isn't just about profile optimization and an initial push. To continue growing steadily, you need to maintain an active, ongoing presence.
 

Not only does this mean posting educational, insightful content on a regular basis, but it also means monitoring your presence and interacting with your fans. Ask questions, answer questions, and participate in discussions with those posting on your page. Find, follow, and build relationships with others in your industry. Create a presence worth following.
 

9) Use Facebook Ads to expand your reach.

 

Growing your Facebook Likes organically is the best way to drive engagement and, ultimately, convert fans into customers. But if you have the budget for it, incorporating some paid advertising into your Facebook strategy can help augment the hard work you're already putting in.
 

Facebook offers a type of ad called a "Page Like Ad," which contains a CTA suggesting that users Like your Facebook Page. These ads can appear in users' News Feeds or in the ad column on the right-hand side of their web browser when they're on Facebook. Here's what a Page Like Ad looks like on a mobile News Feed:
 

Image Credit: Facebook

 

If you’ve exhausted your existing contacts and want to reach people who don’t know about your page yet, but would be interested in hearing from you, you can use Facebook’s granular targeting capabilities to reach your ideal buyer persona(s) and grow your audience.

 

http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/get-more-facebook-likes