SEO & Social Media

Here is a great article by Jennifer Horowitz, Director of Marketing, www.EcomBuffet.com

SEO & Social Media News: September 2011

Topics covered:
• Facebook Changes
• Search Engines – love them or hate them but always obey them
• Post Panda SEO
• My Advice
• Something To Think About
• Featured Fan Page
• Search Engine Optimisation Tips

Facebook Changes

It was a busy month for Facebook. I’m going to quickly recap all the changes.
Facebook changed profiles, which was met with the usual grumbling. They then hosted their f8
conference and announced even bigger changes. Wait until you see the Timelines coming out for
everyone in just a few days.

I followed the tricks and got mine into Timeline mode early – I actually really like it. But there are
definitely going to complaints, it’s radically different. If you want to sneak in a few days early, check my
Facebook Fan Page for directions on how to get the page sooner.
As a personal user you may or may not like these changes. As someone networking or doing business
online, it will either make your job harder or easier. It’s up to you. They are now prioritizing content in
people’s news feed based on an algorithm that is supposed to identify what types of stories interest that
person the most.

So if you step up your game and are coming up with really interesting posts, you’ll find yourself in the
priority section of your Fans’ newsfeed and you’ll get a lot more attention. So go on, accept the
challenge and come up with killer posts so yours really stand out. You won’t regret it when you see the
results. When used properly, Facebook can really help generate quality leads.

The new Ticker features actually increases exposure also. So many people are
actually checking out the Ticker because it’s new and interesting. So how does
it work? People see the actions of all their “friends” in the ticker which stands
out a little more than everything in the newsfeed. So if they like your page and
a friend sees it and checks it out, you’ve got that viral spread you want. I’ve
noticed after I like a page, many of my friends do as well. They are seeing it in
the ticker and then liking it too. You can get that benefit for your own page!
They also announced that they won’t allow Blog feeds on pages anymore.
They want fresh content posted manually – no more feeding Blogs.
So, get in the habit of manually updating your page when you have new Blog posts.

A few Facebook tips:

Use EdgeRank: There is a free EdgeRank checker tool
(http://EdgeRankchecker.com/index.php) that allows you to access
information and insights about your Page. It will tell you a bit more about how
people are interacting with your content. EdgeRank is Facebook’s version of
PageRank – it’s an algorithm they use to determine which content appears in
the ‘Top News’ section of a newsfeed (which is how the majority of people
[according to Facebook] access their feed). By using this tool, you can
determine what are the best and worst days for gaining new fans. If you see
fans interacting with you more on a certain day, this might be a good time to
start a promotion or time an important announcement. Note the higher your
EdgeRank score, the more likely your fans are to see your content.
Fan Pages are a great tool to have in your arsenal and you will definitely
benefit just for having a page (you have a presence there if people are
searching for you and you get some link juice from the links back to your site.)

BUT the real power of the page comes from using it as a marketing tool. Like
most online marketing strategies, you can’t just throw something up and get
instant results. Your page will take some effort if you want to get the most out
of it. It can be a lot of fun and you can be really creative.

Big/Important Fan Page Change

Starting October 1 if you own a Fan Page and are pulling images or text in via FBML or an iFrame, you will need to make surethe files you are calling into the page are on a secure server. They will not display after October 1, if you don’t get them on a secure server.

Most people think this is overkill so we have to be compliant if we want our pages to show
without security warnings!

Search Engines

In reading all the message boards online, I’m seeing that many sites have reported taking a hit this
month. Rankings and traffic have decreased for many. It really doesn’t help to try to game the engines,
it’s only a matter of time until you get caught.

Ignoring optimization is just as bad. So many people feel comfortable with the rankings they have and
they don’t do anything to ensure they hold on to them! The engines are always changing (in 2010
Google averaged just over 1 algorithm change every single day of the year!). Not only are the engines
changing but new sites are popping up and competitors are optimizing more aggressively. Just because
you have rankings, doesn’t mean you are guaranteed to hold on to them.
Be proactive in adding content, building links, working on social media and keep on-page optimization in
place. It’s the only way to create long term exposure for your site.

Post Panda SEO

There was so much hype, confusion and general hysteria about the Panda update. Now that things have
settled, I want to be sure we all learned from it.
So the key take-aways for a Post-Panda world?

Quality over Quantity:

Don’t go out there and chase every link you can find. Focus on building quality links. How do you get
quality links?

Quality Content:

The best way to earn quality links, satisfy the engines and actually convert your traffic into customers is
quality content. Make sure the content is unique, of the highest quality and actually informative.
Notice that word Quality being used over and over? (Ironically that is keyword stuffing and therefore
not “high quality” and not something you want to do! But this isn’t being indexed and I’m trying to make
a point, so I’ll accept keyword stuffing in this instance only!!)
All Panda really is, is a wakeup call from the engines saying we are now going to strictly enforce quality
guidelines.

They don’t want boiler plate/template items that serve no purpose pasted all over your site pages. They
don’t want redundant or duplicated content on your pages. They want to see quality links and quality
content.
So be sure to keep in mind going forward that you should focus on quality and the users experience on
your site – and not just on blatant optimization strategies that create a lower quality site and userexperience.
It’s really pretty simple.

My Advice

If you want to learn more about SEO, either so you can handle your own, so you can check up on your
SEO contractor or so you can learn what you need to know in order to hire one, you need to check out
my new ebook Secrets of Successful SEO. It’s clear, concise and its free!
Get it now: www.website-consultant.co.nz

It includes on-page SEO, social media, link building and more.

"In the absence of clearly-defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily trivia until
ultimately we become enslaved by it." -- Robert Heinlein, American Novelist
With the holidays approaching and with 2012 not too far off, now is the perfect time to create your
action plan. Don’t let more time pass you by without specific goals and plans.

SEO Tips

As I already mentioned in my Post-Panda rant, the engines as well as site visitors are looking for quality,
informative content.

So how do you go about creating this high quality content? It starts with figuring out what your site
visitors want and need to learn on your site. Even ecommerce stores can be an informational rsource
about your products and industry.
So when you sit down to write content, ask yourself this:

What questions do potential customers/clients have?
What is their pressing need?
What is their biggest worry? How can you solve it?
What would be their biggest objection to buying from you be and how can you overcome it?
How will they feel when they read what you are writing? Is that how you want them to feel?
What will get them excited?
What can you tell them that is unexpected?

It takes some effort; you can’t just sit down and pound something out. But it’s worth the time. Write
out the answers and use it to refer back to when you sit down to write articles.

If you are writing about your product or industry and your customers main problems/concerns, you
should naturally get keywords in there. If you find you don’t, at the end you can always go back and edit
it a little to add some keywords in. Just be sure to end by reading it out loud (yep literally out loud, our
brain processes things differently when we hear ourselves reading it out loud and it’s a better test to see
if it sounds stilted or keyword stuffed).
The best tip I can give you when you write your content is think of your visitors and conversions first and
then think about the engines.