About Jeremy Abel

Presenting at conferences and seminars is a great way to market your brand, promote thought leadership within your niche, and establish new connections within an often rare and intimate personal setting. When leveraged with the proper online tools, your presentation materials can act as source of evergreen content for your inbound marketing efforts long after the presentation has been delivered. Today’s post will show you how to optimize your presentations using SlideShare and Bit.ly, along with a unique blogging tip to help you stand out in the search engines!

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Content marketing has surfaced as one of the leading components to an effective digital marketing strategy. Unfortunately, many businesses are still at a loss when it comes to understanding WHY content is such a key ingredient to getting found online and turning more visitors into leads. Following an enlightening discussion with a small business owner, I’ll discuss why a digital marketing strategy needs content to survive in today’s world.

Content as a Ranking Signal in the Search Engines

Here’s the thing about SEO- if you believe where your website ranks in the search engines is simply a matter of technical SEO and link-building, then it’s time for us to have a little sit down.

I’m going to let you in on a secret…

For all the technical talk about SEO, there’s a significant amount of emphasis placed on the content factor as well. In fact, Google recommends that you- as a website owner- keep your website updated with fresh, relevant content that helps answer your visitors’ questions.

Content tells the search engines everything you want searchers to know about your business- from the details explaining your products and services to the geographic markets your company serves. (This is why it is so important to make sure geographic and regional terms are used throughout your website.)

Remember all that talk about keywords and search phrases?

This is where it lives, and where search engines look when deciding whether your website shows up on Page 1 or Page 5 in the search engine results.

Keeping your website fresh with new content is also vital. Blogging has made it possible for everyone and their mother to share their perspective on the web. For better or for worse, the digital highway is getting clogged with more and more information each day, which means you have more voices to compete against when vying for your customer’s attention.

High quality, informative, and engaging content that answers your customers’ questions will help you stand out from the crowd, and drive more targeted traffic to your website.

Content as the Answer to Your Customers’ Questions

“After learning nothing about my lawyer through his website, I could just sense that this guy was an expert and that he was the right person to represent my case!”

Have you ever heard someone say something along these lines? Of course not!

Convenience and self-assurance are two significant quality indicators when people search for a business.

How can you be more convenient? Answer customer questions on your website, where they can be accessed 24/7.

How can you assure people they’re making the right decision when contacting your business? Give them enough information about your skills, knowledge, and expertise to prove that you can solve their problem!

Your customers crave as much information as possible to help them make a decision. The more information they have, the more secure they feel about knowing their options.

Fortunately, the web is an excellent platform to share information with potential customers. It is an “always on, always available” channel for people to learn about you and your business.

When it comes to your website, you need to be as transparent as possible when describing your product, service and expertise.

There will always be some information that’s more appropriate for a consultation or one-on-one meeting, but the content on your website is what can persuade visitors to make that next step and contact your business.

Content as the Gateway to Social Traffic

People love to share great information, tips, and resources with their friends. Of course, they’re more likely to share that content if it resonates with them and adds value to their own situation.

But they can’t share what’s not there!

When you start producing relevant content in the form of blog articles, short videos, infographics, SlideShares, etc., you’re building an arsenal of information that your website visitors are able to share with their social media networks. Once they’ve shared this information, your name enters the discussion and gets in front of a new group of potential customers.

How’s Your Content Strategy Looking?

Content marketing is an intense, long-term oriented strategy to helping you get more business. Don’t feel overwhelmed. This is a marathon- not a sprint.

When you’re ready to find out what type of content strategy your website needs to make your business grow, give us a call or schedule a no-obligation consultation.

As an SEO it’s critical to keep a pulse on industry trends and how search results are being displayed for various search queries. Yesterday we noticed that Google+Local profile photos were showing up for a select number of listings in the local search results, very similar to how Google+ photos show up for websites with verified authorship accounts. This could have a major impact on click-through rates for businesses that have an optimized Google+Local page.

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From trade shows to TV ads to seminars and press releases, executing a multi-channel marketing strategy means your website must be prepared to capture and convert new traffic from a variety of sources. The following 5 tips will show you how to enhance your website so you don’t miss out on any opportunities from your multi-channel marketing efforts.

1. Make it Easy for People to Find you on Search Engines

People are exposed to more than 3,000 advertisements each day. So when they visit Google and search for your product, it’s easier to just search for phrases that describe your product or service.

Here are a few of the keywords I searched for when trying to find a company I saw advertising on tv last week (disclaimer: I have no use for products related to these terms):

• “multi-purpose baby bibs”
• “non-toxic baby bibs”
• “american-made baby bibs”

Even though these were phrases that described the company’s unique selling points, their website wasn’t showing any signs of life on the first page of Google for ANY of these search phrases.

This is where an ongoing SEO strategy could have helped the company, by making sure their website had the right keywords in the right places so that when people searched for these relevant terms they would have a better chance of getting found.

2. Choose the Right Hosting Company to Avoid Server Crashes

If your website has been optimized for the search engines and you’re showing up on page one of Google, kudos. Now let’s talk about what happens when people try to land on your website but something so terrible, so shocking, and so easily-preventable stops them from getting there.

That’s right- I’m talking about a crashed server.

Server crashes happen when a web server gets overloaded by too many visitors to a website in a single session, causing the website to temporarily crash.

Example: The following company did a great job optimizing their website for the phrase “best paddle boards,” showing up in the first TWO organic search results for such a highly competitive keyword phrase.

When I clicked-through to their website the night they were featured on ABC’s Shark Tank, I saw the following message:

“Our servers are overwhelmed”!? Are you kidding me?

“Try back in a few minutes”? Sorry, but just like the rest of the world, I’m impatient… back to Google.

No matter how much time and effort this company devoted to get their website to rank for such a lucrative search phrase, their website couldn’t handle the surge in traffic during their spot on primetime television.

Talk about a barrier to entry.

3. Optimize Your Product Pages for Conversions

It’s the moment you’ve been working towards, as all of your inbound marketing efforts are leading to fruition- the moment when visitors land on your product page.

Congrats my friend, you’ve made it.

But not so fast!

There’s something very important missing on the landing page below (can you spot it?).

Yes: the design is clean, and the product information is sufficient.

I have 2 questions: Can I buy MORE than ONE of your products and are there any related products?

(Apparently, yes- But the quantity selection is on the next page, after I’m content with purchasing one unit, and there are no suggested or related products on this product landing page).

4. Use Responsive Design for a Mobile-Friendly User-Experience

Our smartphones are always within an arm’s reach, while tablets are working their way into more and more homes. The growth in mobile web browsing makes it easy for people to visit your website from anywhere and at anytime.

But is your website ready?

You can be with responsive web design. (Find out the details of responsive design here).

Today, 48% of mobile users believe that if a company’s website is not mobile-friendly it means the company does not care about the consumer’s business.

While that’s a tough perspective to swallow, there’s some truth in that statement.  (For instance, wouldn’t you feel frustrated if a Contact Us form did not have a “submit” button?).

5. Publish Your Offline Marketing Content on your Website

So you just delivered a ground-breaking seminar at the local chamber about “Twitter for Small Businesses.” It was so great, in fact, that people will be referencing your presentation for the weeks and months ahead.

But what if your audience lost their copy of the slides? What if they wanted to follow-up with the speaker, tell their colleagues about the presentation, or link back to the slide deck?

This is exactly why you must publish your offline marketing materials directly on your website!

But don’t wait a week or even a few days after it’s been delivered- Publish that content immediately after it’s been presented (WordPress makes it super easy for website owners to schedule posts so content can be published when they don’t have immediate access to a computer).

What Tips do You Have?

I would love to know what your company is doing to get more online conversions from your offline marketing strategy. Share your tips and suggestions in the comments below!

Links are- and probably always will be- an important part of SEO, serving as a ranking signal that search engines use to asses a website’s authority. By generating high-quality links to your website you can improve its presence over time. But at the end of the day, you need to look beyond the link to improve your SEO strategy. I’d argue that one of the greatest opportunities that precede a new inbound link is the potential for establishing ongoing relationships with the people and businesses behind them.

Great content starts the discussion

On the drive into work I was listening to a great episode of the Mad Marketing Podcast by Marcus Sheridan. With the question of “How do I get more inbound links,” Marcus’ response was right on-par: create great content that answers your customers questions.

Yes, I wholeheartedly agree that generating awesome content is a surefire way to earn inbound links. Controversial articles, pillar posts, whitepapers, and other forms of content marketing are wonderful.

But I’ll take that one step further and suggest the process of link-building is what can really influence your inbound links. Your approach to link-building could be more efficient if looked at the same way we earn links build relationships offline.

Links are simply icing on the cake

From an SEO standpoint, links are Google’s reward to website owners for being great marketers on the web.

Receiving an inbound link to your website is like another website owner saying to Google, “I think this company has an awesome perspective on topic XYZ, and I vouch for what they’re preaching!”

In offline terms, it’s analogous to a current client recommending your product/service to a prospective client.

The cake is the relationships we build

If links are icing on the cake, then the cake itself is the relationships we build from writing great content, navigating through the “blogosphere” to leave engaging comments on other blogs, and ultimately creating dialogue.

By building your internet marketing strategy around this mantra, you’ll experience greater results beyond the link. For instance, social shares from respected members of your industry, referrals from similar firms, and guest post opportunities are just a small list of potential benefits.

Talk about an organic route to expanding your online presence…

You don’t need links to run a business, but you do need relationships

Most web-savvy marketers realize that Google has picked up on the dirty link-building tactics of the past. But the marketers who approached link-building online as they would approach relationship-building offline fared much better following Google’s major algorithm changes in the past year.

Why didn’t their website get penalized following the Panda and Penguin updates?

First, their website was loaded with useful and informative content that helped solve customer problems. Second, they focused on building real, genuine links (the quality over quantity approach), with their sights set on the net benefit: relationships with website/business owners.

Not only did the links themselves have more meaning on this new-found path to organic glory, but the relationships that resulted carried more significance for the business.

Let’s get back to business and start building relationships

Links are one of the many signals Google uses to rank a website. Nothing to debate there.

But your customers aren’t ranking your website- your customers are ranking your business. They want to know that you are an authority in your niche, have a solid reputation, and are respected by your competitors.

By taking a relationship-first approach to marketing your business, the links will surely follow. So please, get back to business and let the links fall where they may.

What’s Your Take on Link-Building and Establishing Relationships?

Do you agree or disagree with this approach? I would love to hear your take on links, and why so many companies are willing to put all of their eggs in the “get more links” basket, rather than focusing on the big picture marketing.