Content Writing Tips to Improve Your SEO

Writing captivating and compelling content full of personality and value takes time and energy from your business, and what if none of that mattered because no one ever read it?

Using crafty search engine optimization (SEO) strategies is just as important as writing content that people actually want to read.

Crafting SEO friendly releases, blogs and articles can be a bit tedious for newbies, but once you wrap your brain around some basic SEO tactics, it can be much easier to execute.

Follow these 4 steps when content marketing for search engines a.k.a search engine marketing.

1. Write Effective Headlines

The headline is possibly the most important part of the entire article. If a reader’s attention is not caught within a matter of seconds, most likely they will not read the rest of the content. Similarly, search engines highly value this component of your content. You should not only seek to write a provoking, relevant headline for potential readers, but also include appropriate keywords in the headline for effective search engine marketing. Doing so is an essential element and effective first step in optimizing your blog or article.

2. Ensure The Article Is A Proper Length

Do not write only a paragraph or two for a blog post or an article. Search engine optimization guidelines dictate that the length of the content should ideally be no less than 300 words. If your content is not long enough, search engines will not assign significant value to the post or page.

3. Utilize Keywords In The Body

Your content should not only have a clear topic, but also a close selection of highly relevant keywords. Once you have inspiration, be sure to identify proper keywords that, more often than not, will naturally flow as part of the main body of content. Every blog post or article should have a few keywords that tie into the essence of the piece. Effective search engine marketing content looks natural and seamless, not forced. Much like critical readers, search engines can identify optimization techniques when they are overused. In which case, neither will value your content.

4. Make Use Of Metadata

Make sure that all of your blogs and articles maximize meta title tags and descriptions. When your blog or article title is written in accordance with search engine optimization guidelines, including the 70 character limit and incorporating essential keywords, your title tag is essentially done. The descriptions do not play much of a role in how the page will rank, but it plays a significant role in how the page appears to readers and whether or not it generates clicks. Rather than counting on search engines to select snippets of your content, you can write brief, 1-2 sentence summaries that incorporate your keywords. This helps ensure the message you want to convey, and the keywords essential to your search engine marketing, take center stage.

Like a Celebrity clients enjoy an all-in-one online marketing software allowing you to post blogs, articles, releases, announcements, news, deals, and events on a local PR newswire, making the process of getting ranked for targeted keywords much less stressful, more affordable and far more gratifying than any other seo company. Our approach is simple, unique and proprietary.

Improve SEO By Avoiding These Link Building Tactics

Linking other websites to your website is called link building, and it can dramatically increase your website traffic and improve your search engine ranking - if done right!

Without even knowing, you can bury your website and tank all your search engine improvement efforts.  These pitfalls can end up costing you lots of time, money and sanity - so proceed with caution and when in doubt, ask an expert about the best ways to steer clear of the most common legit tactics to increase web traffic. 

DO NOT BUY BACKLINKS

The web is teeming with low-quality online marketing services promoting cheap backlinks. Tempting as it may be to spend a few bucks on a few hundred links to your site, these aren't what the search engines consider quality links—and they will penalize you. Once Google identifies a large portion of your backlinks to be from irrelevant, low-quality sites, they’ll penalize you with either manual penalties or ongoing algorithm updates that will ultimately lower your rankings. While legitimate online marketingservices providers can help your site with quality backlinks that enhance your search engine optimization efforts, beware of the discount merchants.

AVOID BULK LINKING

Even if you're building quality backlinks, doing too much, too fast sends up red flags with the search engines. Instead of building your backlinks in large groups, space them out and build with consistency. Unfortunately, there are no hard and fast rules for how many backlinks you can build within a certain time period without becoming conspicuous (and it there are, Google is smart not to share them). If you're concerned about drawing the wrong kind of attention with your link building, consult with an online marketing services provider for advice on enhancing your search engine optimization with proper backlinking efforts to ultimately increase your web traffic.

RESIST REPEATING YOURSELF

Just as duplicate text is bad for website optimization, repeating yourself with your link building devalues your work—at least, as far as the search engine crawlers are concerned. Vary the anchor text among your backlinks and make sure that every link actually leads where the anchor text or surrounding content suggests. 

Indiscriminately building links that all direct toward your homepage, for example, devalues them to the search engines. Just remember that whether you're enhancing your on-site search engine optimization or building backlinks to your site, duplicating your content and your efforts hurts—not helps—your web traffic.

5 No Nonsense Ways To Become a Local Business Celebrity

To become a local business celebrity in your part of the world, you need to consider your search engine optimization a.k.a SEO. Think about how your business is perceived on the web? How can you make it EASIER for people to find you? How can you add more value to your products or services?

WHAT IS LOCAL SEO? AND, WHY DO YOU NEED IT ...

Local SEO is a must if you want to attract local customers – usually those up to 75 miles of where you operate your business. When people turn to Google to search for a product or service you offer, they get to meet YOUR business. It tells them you EXIST. You can then convert hot leads into SALES.

It makes your business look more credible (verification, maps, customer reviews and the like can also help to achieve this). 

Here are a few tips and tricks to ensure even better local SEO:

1. OPTIMIZE YOUR WEBSITE

Your website is STILL your business’ most important online asset, so make sure it’s properly optimized. Fix broken links, and ensure that meta tags, page titles, and images are properly labeled. It's also vital that your website is mobile friendly. Google no longer favors websites who aren't optimized for local searches. This could mean your company will be held back from search results, which means less visibility for you and your business.  Do you really want to risk that?  If your website isn't mobile friendly, get that resolved ASAP.

2. VERIFY YOUR BUSINESS LISTINGS ON LOCAL DIRECTORIES

To improve SEO, make sure your business name, location, phone number and email address are up-to-date and consistent across all directory websites. Include your business on as many directory listings websites as possible – think Yellowbook, YELP, YellowPages, Facebook and Google+. This practice is time consuming but essential. Make sure your business name, location, phone number and email address are consistent across all the directory listings. If you have more than one physical location, create separate listings. 

You're probably thinking, “I do not have the time to add my business listing to all those directories.”  And who wouldn't agree with that?

Although choosing someone to do some (or all) of your local SEO is the more costly option, the only other option is to do it yourself.

Whatever your decision, just make one. Either do it yourself or hire someone to help you. 

Local SEO services can range anywhere from $17/month to $10,000/month. You get what you pay for, that applies to everything in life, and what may appear to be the least expensive option may not necessarily be the cheapest option. Catch my drift? 

3. ENCOURAGE CUSTOMERS TO LEAVE A REVIEW

User reviews are a crucial aspect of improving the visibility of your business on local search listings.

As a human species, sometimes it can be hard to hear the truth – even from someone who has our best interests at heart. This may be why so many local businesses avoid responding to user reviews on third-party websites (Facebook, TripAdvisor, Yelp etc.). If you provide a good service (which you do), there’s nothing to fear.

Email customers after they have purchased a product from your site and encourage them to leave a user review. Even better, provide them with a list of links to review sites where they can leave one for you.
Take the time to respond to these reviews, especially the negative ones. Thank the customer for their feedback and ask them to contact you directly if they wish to discuss the matter further.
Oh, and… DON’T leave fake reviews, focus you energy on creating a great customer experience instead!

4. FOCUS ON YOUR MOBILE EXPERIENCE

Local SEO is where mobile technology is heading.  Think about how many times you opened your phone to search for something like "closest GREEK restaurant” and then received a list of results.

Make sure your website is mobile friendly, fully updated, with maps, contact details, and plenty of relevant information that will help to increase your mobile traffic.  Major search engines have been making dramatic shifts to restructure their local mobile results pages so it is vital that you keep up with these changes.

5. GIVE GIVE GIVE

VALUE that is.  Once they find you on Google give them a reason to stick around!  Create content that helps your audience get where they want to go, become who they want to become, and do what they want to do.  In other words, write, blog or create videos about topics they are most interested in.  Search engines LOVE content. Creating fresh content regularly is the best way to connect with your audience because it allows them to see that you care about them in a very genuine and sincere way, and will keep them coming back to your website, hence increasing your website traffic and email subscription list.

To wrap up, making it easier for potential buyers to find you can result in more website traffic, customers and boost your bottom line! The time you spend working on increasing your visibility will bring you that much closer to becoming a LOCAL CELEBRITY!

If you are ready to shine online, schedule a free consultation to discuss how we may be able to help your business!

How To Build a Video SEO Strategy

Incorporating videos in one’s SEO strategy is a formidable best practice in online marketing as it gives businesses a competitive edge in an increasingly cut-throat online market. In general videos tend to boost search engine results, increase site traffic and improve conversion rates. Smart videos grant businesses the opportunity to reach more consumers and easily and explicitly inform them what they offer. It gives them a platform to engage, inform and entertain their clients. This is good for business!

Define the Goal
As with any other marketing task, the first step should involve defining the goal of the video. Other salient factors that should be considered at this stage include target audience, type of hosting and the strategy to achieve the goal. It is important that the video should match the goals outlined and audience demographic tastes and preferences.

Strength in Numbers
Contrary to popular opinion, posting many videos does not affect ones video/site rankings; rather it increases the chances of your site being discovered. Instead of posting videos of your fast moving products alone, studies show availing videos of other products leads to more site traffic and directly results in increase in sales of other products.

Update to Remain Relevant
To optimize on your video SEO efforts, the videos should be periodically updated and refreshed. New content attracts new site visitors and increases number of referrals – which is a great idea especially in a social media driven world. A solution to keep your content always fresh is to adopt automatic online video solutions that assist in editing video content.

On-site Video
Though posting videos on YouTube channels can be an effective way of reaching a larger audience, posting videos on-site can result in higher rewards. In case it is necessary to post the videos via YouTube, ensure that the video features a link that redirects audiences to your site.

SEO Friendly Video URLs
As with any other web content, SEO guidelines should be followed to reap rewards for your SEO efforts. For videos, they should have ‘clean’ or SEO friendly URLs. In addition, it is recommended to include the file extension format, such as.AVI, .FLV, .WMV e.tc.

Video Metadata
Search engine bots and crawlers not only rely on video contextual information to rank videos but also metadata. The metadata should offer information on video length, video thumbnail, video dimension, and video transcript.

Synchronize Web Content
To recoup meaningful returns from video SEO efforts it is imperative that the content on the video matches the content on the landing page it’s embedded. Therefore the video description should tally with the micro-description of the web content to show consistency. Additionally, the keywords of the content of the webpage and the video should be the same.

Conclusion
Implementing an effective video SEO strategy offers numerous benefits ranging from improved site traffic, brand awareness, to increased conversion rates. All in all creating video content that attracts, engages, and entertains the audience forms the bedrock of an effective video SEO strategy.

4 Ways To Add Flair to Your Website & Company Brand

Many business owners feel that having a well-designed website will give them everything that they need to attract customers. However, the worldwide web can be a very impersonal and sterile environment, so it is important to remember that your business whether in a storefront or online, is still about people buying from people, each of your customers is a human being.

This means that most of them are looking for something that will make your business stand apart from the competition. With that said, you need to think outside of the box, along with having an attractive + easy-to-navigate website.

1. AN INFORMATIVE BLOG WITH LOTS OF PERSONALITY

It is a good idea for every company to have a blog on their website, and to post on a regular basis. This will make it easier to attract the attention of new customers, and it is also a good SEO tool. You can also use your blog to let people learn about the personality of your company; consider writing posts introducing your staff and even having them write their own additions to the blog. For example, if you go to an industry conference, you could let each member of your staff write a blog post about the experience from their own point of view.

2. WEBSITE CHAT

Installing a website chat box gives your customers a more personal shopping experience on your website. Some sites make the chat feature available on a daily basis for individual shoppers. Potential customers appreciate the ease of engagement and the ability to get their questions answered on the spot. 

3. TWITTER CHATS

Hosting regular Q+A twitter chats allow your customers and prospects to ask questions about your company, products, or services and is a good way to increase your level of consumer engagement, increase your brand's footprint, and increase your followership.

4. SOCIAL MEDIA

Social media marketing gives your business a megaphone and attracts attention to your brand. Your consumers will really embrace these interactions. Therefore, you should always respond to questions, and maybe consider encouraging participation by having contests, and question and answer sessions via Facebook, Twitter and/or Google Plus. Taking the time to offer a more personal approach will make your customers feel more comfortable, and it will also give you the opportunity to learn from the experience.

3 Strategies To Make Your Social Media Content Sing

Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram are necessary social media marketing channels for today’s small & medium business owners because word-of-mouth advertising is very powerful. 

Having a consistent presence on social media is no longer just a “nice-to-have” for a business; customers expect it. You need to earn the trust of your audience so they will recommend your products or services to their friends.

Chances are that you're already using these platforms to create engagement and thought leadership in your space. For most business owners, though, being present and informed about all the different social channels can be tough, so Like a Celebrity, LLC is here to help with some basic tips.

1. DON'T SELL. SERVE.

Depending on what you sell, your brand’s social channels should be marketing content that is relevant to your audience. If you sell jewelry, staying on top of and sharing current trends, especially those with which your products compliment, is very smart. Sharing related products and services will keep your audience engaged when you're not pushing your own products and services. Your content marketing strategy should come from a place of how you can serve, rather than what you can sell.

2. KEEP IT 80/20

You shouldn't share only your products, services, blog posts and promotions. Along with staying true to your audience, sharing curated content (meaning, content you or your company didn’t create) should be the majority of what you share on your social channels.

Why you ask? Social media is about being social, not about getting attention.  No one wants to hang out with someone who talks about themselves incessantly.

The most sought after social media management companies believe that 80% of what you share should be shining the light on someone else (example: retweets, replies, comments, other company’s articles, relevant studies, images ...). Only 20% of the content you share should be directly related to something you're brand has actually created.

Be careful about sending potential business to your competitors. When sharing content, think complimenting industry content not competitor content.

3. BE A CHARMING & LIKEABLE BRAND

A brand is a set of perceptions and images that represent a company, product or service. While many people refer to a brand as a logo or a tag line, a brand is actually the essence or promise of what will be delivered or experienced.

Having a company brand is marvelous and should be desired, but don't forget that many people are on social to connect with other human beings. Just because you're behind a company name doesn't mean you should be cold, corporate and sterile.

Don’t be afraid to share cool things happening around the office, or use a more conversational tone of voice when posting or commenting. The “peek behind the scenes” posts, especially with pictures and/or videos can win you cool points and engagement with your customers and keep them coming back.

Quick Study Guide To SEO For Small Businesses

Getting Google to notice you may seem harder than hiking the Grand Canyon, but being a top search result can position your brand above the rest (literally).

SEO has a bad reputation of being spammy, but today, search engines are smarter than ever. If you want to appear in search results, you must create genuine, helpful content that gets attention. This encourages organic traffic that is FREE!

Wondering what you can do to attract organic search?

CREATE COMPELLING + INFORMATIVE CONTENT.

It’s not enough to put random words up on your site. Your content needs to be compelling, informative, and strategic.  

Think about it this way: 

If you're selling wedding consulting services and you create a blog post comparing two "out of the box" wedding ideas for brides on a budget, you'll catch the attention of those doing research, who in turn might hire you. Your audience might search “weddings on a budget” and be led to your site. 

But creating compelling content isn't as easy as slapping words down on a screen. It can sometimes be a challenge to keep things interesting.

If you're a wedding consulting, that doesn't mean you limit yourself to ONLYwedding related content. Instead, you might be able to create content that your audience and potential customers would find helpful.

For example, we offer local search engine optimization, content marketing and social media support to small businesses, but we also create free resources for small business owners who are simply looking for day to day business support.

TIPS FOR CREATING COMPELLING CONTENT:

• Write for people. Imagine you're writing to your best friend. Would they find it convincing?
• Don't hire an intern to write your entire website. If you honestly can't do it yourself, hire a professional writer.
• Tell stories– make your audience laugh, cry, get angry, nod their heads, take action – something!
• Use eye catching visuals and formatting to make it scan-able and easy to read.
• READ. Read everything you can get your eyes on. Read your heart out. Find what you like and analyze why.

APPROACH OTHERS ABOUT LINKING TO YOUR SITE

If others link to your site, you'll get traffic, but you'll also acquire SEO value. The higher the value of the site that links to you, the more power it has - which impacts your page's value.  Create resources that people want to link to.  Pitch the media and authoritative blogs for guest posting opportunities.

Sell it! There are tons of things you can do.

HAVE A FAST, WELL-THOUGHT OUT, PROFESSIONAL WEBSITE

SEO is another good reason to have a fast and professional website. The quicker your site, the more Google will like it. A spammy-looking, shoddy site is unlikely to be the favorite of any search engine.

Here’s what looks good to Google:

• Easy navigation (make sure your links aren't broken)
• A responsive site that looks good on a range of devices (not just a computer with a huge screen!)
• Site speed. If it takes a long time for pages to load, visitors will drop off and so will search engines. 
• Building and leveraging social media. By staking your claim on social networks, you prove to search engines that your business is legit.

GET YOUR SEO ON!

If you want to get noticed by Google (and trust us, you do!), it’s time to learn about SEO. It’ll take a bit of work, but the benefits are worth it. Even a small amount of knowledge can make a big difference. 

If you're just getting started with SEO, we highly recommend taking time to understand how search engines work, why search engine marketing (SEM) is necessary, and how to do keyword research.

You can also schedule a complimentary consultation to discuss leveraging local seo and content marketing for your business.

5 East Fixes to Improve Your Website Traffic

Since it's usually the first introduction the world has to your company, a good website is critical to your business. Here's how to make it not only good lookin', but functional - for you and your audience. 

A strong online presence begins with design and clarity.  A beautiful and clear website is one of the most efficient and cost-effective ways to generate leads for your business, especially if it’s built and marketed properly. On the other hand, a poorly designed site will create lost business opportunities.

Here are the top five fixes that will set you up for online success!

1. GRAMMAR + SPELLING

Seems obvious, but we have all been to websites that could use some work in the grammar and spelling departments. Where the unspoken acceptance of weak editing + proofreading in digital publishing came from is up for debate, but it definitely reflects your company's credibility and professionalism. And it sends your customers searching elsewhere. Remember to spell check + proofread before publishing!

2. RESPONSIVE DESIGN A.K.A. MOBILE FRIENDLY

Responsive design is a website design feature that allows the site to grow and shrink depending on the size of the screen it’s displayed on. You should want your website to be accessible and consistent with equal ease via smartphone, tablet or computer. If you care about getting your message across to your customers, you can't afford to have anything less than a responsive website.

Today, responsive website design is the standard for all websites, so if your business isn't offering mobile-friendly experiences for your customers, you’ve lost more than half of the opportunities for new business right off the bat. That’s the bottom line.

3. USER BEHAVIOR METRICS

I hate to break it to you, but as a business owner, it's your responsibility to know how browsers behave on your website - this is vital data you need to grow your online business.  As essential as having an attractive, responsive, professional site is, it’s only half of the equation. 

There is a simple, easy-to-use tool called Google Analytics to help you monitor behavior on your site, which helps you fine-tune and tweak your site performance.

Set a reminder on your calendar to review your analytics at least once a month.

4. CONCISE MESSAGING

There’s a different mindset and level of attention when reading a website as compared to print. Nothing can turn a customer off more than "loooo-ng" blocks of text with small print. Use attention grabbing images to make text blocks scan-able.

Don't make users try to figure out important information about your company. That will only make them shop elsewhere.  They need to know: 

• Why should they make a purchase from your site? 
• Is there free shipping? 
• A special offer?

We have a download to help with this part.  Grab "101+ Key Questions Website Visitors Will Never Ask But Expect You To Answer" to help you focus on the MOST important details about your brand.

5. FRESH CONTENT

Just like a fabulous boutique changes its window display and adds new inventory every month, you should add fresh content and opt-ins to foster website traffic and lead generation.

The days of keyword stuffing, fluff and filler are so 2012.  If you want your customer's attention, and their money, then you better provide information they find useful.

It’s also important to give your visitors the ability to comment about and share your content. This allows them to become your marketing ambassadors. And their sharing helps your SEO.

5 Fool-Proof Ways To Attract New Customers

Attracting new customers to your business is the most important thing you'll do, but how on earth does a small business actually make that happen?
These tips are foolproof ways to get the word out, attract new local customers, and grow your small business.

1. LEVERAGE EXISTING CUSTOMERS

If you don't already have existing customers who love you, it will be a challenge to cultivate new fans. Nurturing a customer base who'll add tremendous value starts with OVER delivering.

Zappos is infamous for their over-the-top crazy customer service policy. They maintain a stellar reputation by exciting their customers into spreading the news about their experience.  Their high intensity customer satisfaction objectives won't take a multi-million dollar marketing budget. 

You can achieve the same results by going out of your way for your customers and hiring people who will do the same. Some people will naturally talk about you online, most people might need a little nudge.

Here are a few friendly nudge ideas:

• Give coupons or discounts in exchange for referrals & reviews.
• Offer commissions on referrals like we do.
• A review for a contest entry — “Review your experience for a chance at a $200 shopping spree!”
• Appeal to your social media followers - shout out customers publicly.
• Ask them! — send a handwritten note or make a personal phone call.

Treat them right, provide incentives, and you've got a great sales funnel at your disposal.

2. BECOME YOUR OWN PUBLICIST

Who needs a fancy pants, expensive publicist? Well, you do - but you can also be your own PR expert!

Resources like HelpAReporter.com (HARO) are fabulous ways to get your name in lights!  Reporters, radio stations, magazines, newspapers cruise HARO looking for leads and sources for their stories. Journalists post queries and anyone can respond as a source.

Other DIY PR platforms similar to HARO include:
•    Source Bottle
•    PitchRate.com

With effort, these free resources will get you noticed and have you saying buh-bye to the languishing world of anonymity. There's no excuse!

3. SOCIAL MEDIA

When it comes to social media, the benefits are far too huge to overlook.

A surefire way to tap into a whole new group is to explore new social media sites, especially ones where your customers are hanging out. Most of us can maneuver Facebook and Twitter, but what if you're not reaching the right audience?

Depending on the platform, the audiences on social media will vary from site to site, so do your research, find your market, and hang out with them!

4. SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS

In most cases, we want to hear from the expert, so defining yourself as an industry expert is a dynamite way to create demand for your business. Giving a speech is a surefire way to showcase your expertise. It’s that simple—talk about what you love, what you do, what you know, and people start to see you as a knowledgeable source. And it's not uncommon for speaking engagements to lead to free press.  BAM! Insta-demand!

5. STEP UP YOUR ORGANIC  LOCAL SEO

Google receives over 40,000 search queries per SECOND!  Yes, you read that right — almost four billion searches every day.

Here’s the thing: you can buy a domain name and set up a website that’s perfectly designed to convert customers, but you need traffic. If you want to be visible to search engines and the people who use them (everyone), you have to wrap your brain around local search engine optimization (aka SEO).

Here are some quick & easy tips for improving your SEO:

•    Keep your content fresh – update regularly.
•    Don't be a wallflower – get on Google+, get on StumbleUpon, get on Yelp.  Put your name as many places as you can.
•    Spread Your Love - seek out guest post opportunities with influential bloggers & authority sites

The Only 3 Tips You Need To Finally Get Your Web Design Started

If you need a website and don’t know where to start, these 3 smarty pants tips will set the foundation and have you on your merry way.

1. Right Now, Decide If You Will Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Or Hire Someone

If you're a little introverted and a little bit of a perfectionist, getting your first website up might be freaking you out. Or at least, that's what you keep telling yourself. There are so many options when it comes to getting your website up and running. Maybe you've looked into it and haven't found the right designer.

Decide right now what you're going to do. Either DIY, or find someone to do it for you. Those are your ONLY two options.

2. Commit To A Due Date

If  #2 makes you sweat a bit, ask yourself this question...

Where are you not committing in other areas of your life? Because how you do one thing is how you do everything.

Here's the thing, most people procrastinate because they don’t know where to start. But not you. You're one of those people who make a decision and make it happen.

What’s your deadline? Do you want a website up before Memorial Day? end of Summer?

3. To Thine Own Self Be True

Don't let time, perfectionism, or lack of confidence be the reason you put it off for another day.

Especially if this is your first website, sabotaging beliefs will start to surface and slow you down if you let them. You'll start to panic and tell yourself you're not ready.

What will you regret not doing at the end of your life? Is it a website? Of course not.
It’s what you do after having a tool, like a website. You'll be able to express yourself and connect with people who get you.

Enjoy yourself and the process of getting started. Push past the fears of doing something that freaks you out. Make a decision. Pick a date. And believe you are good enough as you are right now (because you are).

If you decide to hire someone to get you there, consider us + schedule a free consultation to get help leveraging the internet to increase your bottom line!