How Content Marketing Defines Your Internet Niche

The Internet is designed to share information. It is used for education, advancing new ideas, expressing personal opinions, enhancing name brand recognition, and promoting the sale of products or services. Article marketing sites, also called article directories, help improve the efficiency of this communication process. They establish a number of dedicated marketing outlets. Each article directory provides a multitude of users with the opportunity to give free information in exchange for valid Internet backlinks.

When successfully applied, content marketing is an effective means for expanding your business outreach. It can attract qualified Internet leads, establish long-term customer communications, and be used to define your precise market niche. Companies and individuals post articles that are specific to a given industry or targeted market niche. When the content of the article successfully:

• Engages the desired reader base your company prospers
• Relays relevant information your name brand identity expands
• Establishes a sense of honest information exchange, you gain a reputation for providing expert advice in a given field.

The math is simple. The Internet provides an abundance of free information. Prospective customers seek advice from trustworthy sources. Successful content marketing enables you to establish yourself and your business as an Internet authority in a given field of expertise. It works just as effectively as display ads or PPC, but the cost of playing is much less expensive.

Content Marketing Enhances the Power of Internet Selling

In a recent thread on how to be successful on the Internet, the author penned an eight-word answer: “Produce great stuff and sell it to people.” These words read slick, but they over simplify a very complex task. Unless you are marketing a self-promoting, self-selling product or service, you must engage in some manner of active product marketing.

Reliable business leads are not always easy to generate. The Internet is bloated with information, misinformation and overstuffed information. The competition comes and goes but it never dies. Internet selling may involve the most competitive arena the marketing world has ever faced.

Content marketing provides a cost-effective solution to the greater demands that Internet selling places on modern businesses.

The Concept Made Real: Using Content Marketing To Increase Your Business Leads and Your Internet Authority

Okay. You are now ready to use article marketing as a means of promoting your website or blog. Every content marketing strategy must be designed to meet two primary goals:

1. Targeted Traffic: Whether it relates to product sales, membership promotions, or content subscribers, you need traffic that will remain on your site, return to your site, and eventually become an income generating client in whatever format you have set as the focus.
2. Relevant Links: Article directories are designed to enable you to generate relevant links to your website. These matters pertain to search engine optimized (SEO) keywords. The purposes for search engine optimizing your content falls under a separate subheading of this document. For now, just remember that content marketing helps develop relevant backlinks to your website or blog.

Knowing the purpose of content posting is only half the battle. You must also understand the principles of how to produce content marketing that actually increases your business leads and your reputation as an Internet authority in a your given field of expertise. Furthermore, you must learn what it takes to bring your posted directory content to the top of the search engines. Here are some questions that will help you get started in the right direction:

• What is your area of expertise, your market niche?
• Who is your target market?
• What should be the primary topic for your articles?
• Is your target market large enough to support multiple subtopics?
• What are the subtopics that you might use for additional articles?
• Who is your primary competition?
• How well are they performing in the content marketing field?
• What is your competition doing right?
• What are they doing wrong?
• Which, if any, of your competitor’s articles are making it into the search engines?
• What keywords are they using?
• What synonyms and acronyms can be used to create the same keyword effect?
• What related keywords are producing desired search results through the inline search engines on various popular article directories?
• How much time are you willing to devote to writing and marketing your content?

The Value of Search Engine Optimized Article Content

Perhaps you know the ins and outs of your business niche better than most people know the details of a well-watched classic movie. You can write about it. You can talk about it. You can express the details in terms that most people don’t even understand. Now realize the insufficiency of knowledge alone.

Content marketing is not about being discovered. It is about pushing your content to the top of the information chain. For this, you must learn to utilize the power of search engine optimized keywords. This is a critical line to success. In order to establish your mark as an Internet authority in any field, Internet users must see and read your materials.

Here are a few basic SEO tips:

• Keyword Research: Start by learning how to identify the keywords or key phrases that specifically define the content of your articles and your website. Measure the competition for those keywords or key phrases. Now pick your battleground with care.
• Keyword Tools: These are the doorways into your keyword research. Many Internet vendors present an array of keyword tools, include detailed “how to use” instructions. Start with the Google Keyword Tool.
• Keyword Strategies: This ties into keyword research. The number of free materials available on the subject of keyword strategies exceeds counting. But if you intend to produce content marketing that works, be sure to read up on keyword strategies.

Content Marketing Increases Your Business Leads and Your Presence as an Internet Authority

The conclusion to this discussion is obvious. The online evidence speaks for itself. Content marketing is a powerful and aggressive means for increasing your business leads and establishing yourself as an Internet expert in your given market niche. Don’t pass up this avenue to success. Even if you must hire a ghostwriter to clean up your content and to distribute your image to the article marketing websites, go for it. Content marketing pays off.

Tips to Increase Your Business’ Presence In Local Internet Searches

Do you remember searching for a local business, service provider or product using the yellow pages? Today, those massive, unwieldy tomes — with their tiny font size and finger-staining ink — have gone the way of the recycle bin, replaced in large part by online local searches.

In fact, 97 percent of consumers search for local businesses online and 20 percent of all online searches are locally focused, according to Google. From restaurants to print shops, hair salons to IT companies, law firms to mortgage brokers, the more-than 50 million local businesses listed on sites such as Google Places receive millions of page views each day.

Even if your business is purely online, local search marking is important because:

• Your customers are performing local searches
• Even if you sell nationally, you are still a local business

When you’re optimizing your web presence for search engines, it’s much easier to achieve high search-result rankings when you’ve incorporated local search terms into your online marketing strategy. For instance, a search for “attorney” brings up almost 400 million results; add “Seattle” to the search, and the results narrow to 53 million. Add the term “west” and the results plummet to 2.5 million.

Even if you sell your product or service at a national level, consumers tend to search for businesses in a particular geographic area.

Smart phone and other mobile device users also represent a growing market of local-search based consumers. In January 2011 alone, more than 77.1 million consumers accessed local content on a mobile device, an increase of 34 percent from 2010. These statistics indicate that more than 33 percent of mobile subscribers are local content users, a number that will continue to increase in coming years.

If your business isn’t listed on local search sites, you’re missing out on customers — and not just any customers. As a group, local search users represent well-informed consumers that tend to spend more. A 2010 study by Forrester Research found that more than one-third of customers do research online before visiting a local business. This group tends to not only buy what they came for, but also to spend — on average — $154 more on other purchases, a market that reached $1 trillion in 2011.

Today, the Internet has replaced the phone book as the consumer’s search method of choice. In order to remain competitive, your business must increase its online presence on local search sites such as Google Places, Yahoo! Local, Bing Local and Best of the Web.

How Does Local Search Work?

Simply search for information that’s linked to a particular geographic location, like a street address, a city, a state, a postal code or even an IP — Internet Protocol — number. The four major search engines — Google, Bing, Ask and Yahoo! — all offer local search features as part of their general search, as well as through specialized platforms.

More frequently — and significantly for business owners — search engines automatically include local content in general search results, even if the user doesn’t specifically request it. This is known as organic search. For instance, a general Google search for “Chinese restaurant” will generally include local eateries among the top ranking results. Though it may seem as though Big Brother is watching, this personalized local content is the result of geo-location.

When search terms include location cues, such as a city name, search engines automatically return localized information, or a local search. To use search terms for a local search, just add geographic information to a general search, such as “yoga studio Atlanta.”

Localized sites allow search engines to take an educated guess as to where a user’s computer is located. Countries often have domain extensions at the end of their web addresses, such as google.se. In this case, the domain name extension — .se — suggests that the user is located in Sweden. Some sites are localized to even narrower geographic areas, allowing search engines to assess the computers’ locations with some accuracy — and provide relative local search results.

Every computer has its own IP address. When computers access the Internet, IP addresses provide servers with a specific location to send the data. IP numbers are affiliated with certain geographic regions, often cities or states. Though it’s not an exact science, geo-location technology is improving, making it easier for search engines to automatically provide local content to searchers – and more important for your business to be accessible for both general and local-search users.

Local vs. Organic Searches

Though major search engines automatically provide local search content as a part of general search results — also known as organic search — they draw information for local searches from another set of data, known as indexes. Local indexes represent another way for you to localize your web site and reach more customers. In order to rank highly in organic and local searches, it’s important to increase your business’ presence in both organic search indexes and local search indexes.

Increase Your Business Presence through Local Search Results

One of the most effective ways to increase your local business presence is by adding business listings to the local business directories that feed search indexes. When a consumer enters a location-based search, such as “pizza Manhattan,” search engines pull from local indexes to provide geographically specific results.

Though there are many local search engines on the web, the “big four” include Google Places, Yahoo! Local, Bing Local Search and Ask Local. Each has its own process, policies — and sometimes fees — for listing your business, but seven simple listing tips can help increase your business’s presence on local search. These include:

1. Including a local phone number
2. Including a local address
3. Optimizing the listing description with target keywords
4. Adding videos to the listing
5. Adding photographs to the listing
6. Completing every section in the listing in a consistent manner
7. Completing local business listings on multiple sites

Always use a local phone number rather than an 800 number or a call center number when listing your business on local search sites. Though the exact specifics of search engines’ algorithms, or the data they use to create ranked results, are closely guarded proprietary secrets, many industry experts — such as David Mihm of Local Search Ranking — include local area codes among the top ten most recommended factors to focus on when listing businesses on local search engines.

Specifically, the phone number you list on your “place page,” or local search listing, should have a local area code that corresponds to your business’s address. Consistency is also important; the phone number you use in business listings should match the phone number you use on your business’s web pages.

Similarly, your business listings should include a local address that matches the address you use on your web page. A physical local address ranked first in the Local Search Ranking list of factors to focus on; address consistency was ranked fifth. If your business is located in a suburb, this could negatively affect local search rankings; consider renting a mail box with a suite number in an urban core to use as a business address.

Some local listing sites allow you to add text, like descriptions of products or services, to your listing. Use this opportunity to optimize the listing description with target keywords. Add as much relevant text as you can to your listing; this not only gives search engines more chances to find search terms, but more text provides more searchable content, which may in itself raise your ranking.

If local listing sites allow you to upload video or photographs to the listing, as Google Places does, take full advantage of the opportunity. Videos and photographs on place pages both add more content to your listing and increase the probability that search engines will view your business as legitimate. Add as many relevant videos and photographs as you can. Photos can be of products, staff, your business’s location; anything relevant that increases the possibility that local search engines will pick your listing up and add it to their index.

It may seem basic, but it’s important to complete every section in the listing. Sections give you the chance to get as much relevant content out there as possible. Include information such as:

• History of your business, including the year it was established
• Description of your business
• Staff biographies, including languages they speak
• Lists of products — including brand names — or services you provide
• Descriptions of products and services you offer
• Operating hours
• Types of payment you accept
• Any other relevant information that will help search engines and consumers find your business

Be consistent when entering information; provide the same information in each listing you complete for your business. For example, if your street address is “1234 Main Street Suite 100,” always write it that way. Don’t change it to “1234 Main St. Ste. 100” or even “1234 Main Street #100.” When it comes to local search rankings, consistency adds legitimacy, leading to better results.

Finally, complete local business listings in multiple local search engine locations, including the big four — Google Places, Bing Business Portal, Yahoo! Local and Ask — as well as other important directories — such as Best of the Web, CitySearch and Yellow Pages — and review sites, such as Yelp and Urbanspoon.

The “Big 4” Local Search Engines

Each of the top four local search platforms has its own application policies and procedures. Some are free, while others charge a listing fee or upgraded services for a fee. The biggest, Google Places, offers free listings that include videos and photographs. Users must have a Google account to complete a listing and verify that the business is legitimate though a postcard send through the mail. You can list more than 10 businesses at a time using Google’s “bulk uploader” feature.

Yahoo! Local provides a basic listing service for free. Users must have a Yahoo! Account. If you want to add photos, business descriptions or tags, you must pay a monthly fee.

Bing Business Portal also offers a free listing service, including photographs and detailed business descriptions. Like Google Places, Bing verifies business legitimacy using the postal service or through your mobile phone.

Ask Local doesn’t operate its own local business index; rather, this search engine pulls data from CitySearch. In order to submit a listing, you must go through Universal Business Listing, a “point of entry” site that distributes listing information to search engines, online yellow pages, social networking sites, mobile apps, GPS navigation systems and 411 directory assistance. UBL charges a fee to create a listing.

Directories

The many directory sites on the web – such as Best of the Web, CitySearch, Yellow Pages, Super Pages, Merchant Circle and Manta, just to name a few — all offer listing services for local businesses. While many are fed data by UBL, others – such as Think Local, Localeze and CitySquares rely on both user data and business owner input.

Spend the time to consistently and completely fill out a listing as many local directories as possible. You’ll be rewarded with more links back to your business’s web site. As an added benefit, the major search engines perceive many these directories as “trusted” sites, which may boost your site in the ranking algorithms.

Review Sites

When listing your business on local directory sites, don’t forget review sites, such as Yelp, Urbanspoon and Angie’s List. In fact, Local Search Ranking lists Yelp as the most influential review site in the U.S. Again, placing consistent, complete information is key to increasing your web presence. Getting great reviews also helps.

Increase Your Business Presence through Organic Search Results

Following these seven simple tips can help increase your business’s presence in organic search results. These include:

1. Adding your full address to each of your businesses’ web pages
2. Mentioning your city and zip code in your text
3. Including a list of all the areas or regions you are interested in doing business
4. Adding your city name to meta tags
5. Including your city and state in the link text when you link from other websites
6. Creating a separate Contact Us page for each location you have
7. Adding keywords to your contact pages

The first, and perhaps most important, step in increasing your ranking in organic searches is by adding your full address to every single one of your business’s web pages. Many businesses limit their contact information to a single “Contact Us” page. While this page is necessary for users, when search engines crawl the web looking for content to present in search results, they’re more likely to “notice” sites with information that appears more than once.

Search engines also take prominence, or the placement of terms, into account. Place your address near the top of the page — a highly prominent placement — rather than in the footer — low prominence — whenever possible.

Use your city and zip code in the body of text. Add city and zip codes to headers and accentuate them with bold font. This helps search engines to find and index your local data and incorporate it into organic search results.

If you do business in more than one place, make this clear. Add a footer or sidebar that lists cities or regions to each of your business’s web pages. Make this geographic data even more search-engine-friendly by linking each city or region name to a page that contains specific information about that area.

Search engines also examine your site’s meta tags. Add the name of your city to your title and description meta tags to help search engines locate your business. Prominence counts in meta tags, too; terms near the front of a tag receive more search-engine attention than terms near the end.

You probably already know that linking back to your businesses’ web site from other sites is a great way to drive traffic; this practice can also increase your search result rankings. When you link back to your business’s web page from other sites, include your city and state in the link text. This gives search engines yet another way to pinpoint your location.

Though it’s important to include your address on each page of your website, tweaking your Contact Us pages can also help search engines locate your business. Make sure to create a separate Contact Us page for each business address you have. For example, if you have offices in Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco, create a page for each address.

Finally, add keywords to your contact pages. Keywords help search engines find and index your site, resulting in higher rankings. Choosing the best keywords is important; start by performing a keyword analysis. Your web site’s hit logs — also called access logs — may show you the keywords that people used when they found your website from a list of search engine results. You can also use Google’s free keyword tool to find common searches related to certain keywords.

When selecting keywords, keep types of locations in mind. Depending on the type of business you have, consumers may search at the state, city or even neighborhood level. For instance, many consumers would search for a yoga studio at the neighborhood level — “yoga on 7th Street” — rather than at the state level. In contrast, other types of businesses may warrant a search at the city level — “civil attorney Boston” — or the state level — “car insurance Ohio.”

Create a list of the common keywords and work a few into the text on your “Contact Us” pages. Be careful when adding keywords, though; if density is too high, search engines may dismiss your site. Instead of packing your contact page with keywords, strive for natural-sounding usage.

In summary, with the phone book largely relegated to the recycle bin, more and more consumers are turning to online searching. If your online marketing plan doesn’t include local search strategies that influence the results of both local searches and organic searches, you’re missing out on a large customer base that’s only going to increase in coming years. Optimizing your web presence for local searches and completing multiple, consistent listings with local search sites, directories and review sites are activities well worth your time.Take advantage of these free and low-cost listing tools and techniques to increase your online presence — and grow your business.

Just Because Google Suggests It Doesn’t Mean It’s True- 12 Examples

When you begin typing a phrase into Google, the suggest feature may offer some that are downright funny.

Here are 12 real examples of Google suggestions, which should make it clear that just because Google suggests it, that doesn’t mean it’s true.

1

Google might be making us stupid (many of us have lost our research skills thanks to it) but one things I know for sure is that Google is not God.

By the way, it’s not a number either.

2

“I am extremely terrified of Chinese people” is one of the five most popular suggestions. At least the phrase makes sense grammatically. Three of these five responses don’t.

Must be an “I am error.”

3

While I don’t pretend to be a theologian or know the bible inside and out, I’m pretty sure Jesus can’t fly, nor has he ever used a microwave to heat up a burrito.

4

Yes, we Aussies are many things, but can’t any positive adjectives pop up in this search? Okay, we are hot, but bad losers!?

5

“What kind of bike did you get for your birthday, Johnny?”
“I got the new Barack Obama 1500 series.”
“Do you like it?”
“It’s better than my old bike, but I don’t know if it’s as cool as the Barack Obama Cactus I got last year.”

6

I’m confused… which one is it, alive, dead, not dead or still alive?

Google, you’re supposed to make my life easier but I feel myself getting stupider!

(Oh wait, that’s a different search)

7

I thought an apple a day kept the doctor away, but now I learn an Apple is overrated.

Or maybe they aren’t talking about the fruit!

8

I think I first learned about people that like to tape their thumb to their hand on a television show about strange addictions.

9

So there are only four more important questions we should be asking Google than “why are flamingos pink?”

I’ll be honest, I don’t care why they’re pink, but all of a sudden I’m curious as to why manhole covers are round.

10

Huh? What does this mean? Is it like playing “Dark Side of the Moon” backwards? I’m a bit scared.

11

If a tree falls on a woman in a trailer at lunch period in the woods and nobody hears it, does it make a sound?

12

Blogging can be stupid, but it’s not for dorks, unless you’re writing a blog about dorks themselves. And Blogging is certainly not dead or dying. It’s a vitally important tool to use when growing your business.

How important is SEO to your business?

Do you use the proper SEO strategies to bring as many people as possible into your business? You may not realize it, but if you aren’t at the top of search engines you are losing business every day.

According to studies:

97% of American internet users shop on the internet and 57% typically shop online and then make their purchase offline

90% of online commercial searches result in purchases made offline

82% of local searchers follow up with an in-store visit or phone call

80% of shoppers’ budgets are spent within 50 miles of the home

74% of internet users search locally

73% of all online activity is invested locally

66% of Americans use online local search engines

61% of local online searches lead to purchases

54% of Americans have substituted the internet and local search engines for phone books and 35% of all searches are local in nature

25% of all internet searches have a purely local, commercial focus

So are you gearing your SEO strategies around these facts? Do you make it easy for people “in your neighborhood” to find you online? Do you leverage the resources of your brick and mortar business with your online presence?

If you aren’t, as you can see from these statistics, it’s time to start.