A client asked me the other day why we were optimizing his software for Los Angeles, when he’s located in Atlanta, GA. In explaining the reason to him, I realized that a basic guideline for optimizing pages is long overdue. I’ve developed the following flow chart and explanation in response.
Theming Content
The first question you need to ask yourself when optimizing a page is, What is the Page About?
If you can’t answer this or your answer is a keyword, then maybe you shouldn’t be building the page. Seriously. You need the page to be about something in order for it to have value on your website.
In the case of my client, the page was about a conference in Los Angeles where the company was going to exhibit. It’s starting to make sense now, isn’t it? Specifically, the page was about a single type of software it sells. Let’s call it Software A.
Putting Content Into Context
The second question you need to ask yourself is, What is the Purpose of This Page?
Is it news, a press release, a blog post, an educational piece, a sales piece? What are your goals with the page?
In my client’s case, the goal was to announce that it would be at the event and give a little bit of background about Software A. I’d call it a press release.
Consider Content Timing
The third consideration is: How long will this content remain relevant?
- Is it an educational piece that will always be useful?
- Is it a product explanation that will be relevant until the next version comes out?
- Is it a news item that will always be interesting?
- Is it an event that will recur?
In my client’s case, the page was about an event that would happen once (next week, in fact) and then be over.
Content Optimization
Finally, we get to optimization for search. Given the other questions you’ve asked, what makes sense for optimization?
- Are there relevant keywords to use?
- Should you include links to other content?
- What should the Title, Description and Heading say?
Making Decisions
The answer is, it depends. Don’t apply a one-size-fits-all method to your optimization. Sometimes it doesn’t make sense to even put keywords on a page. Sometimes a few well-optimized links are all you need. Either way, the answer is common sense.
In my client’s case, they were putting out a news item about a conference for Software A in LA next week. I chose two key phrases in the text and linked them back to Software A’s pages. I chose a Title and Heading that read something like, “Company Presents Software A at Conference.” Anything beyond that would have been overkill.
So next time you’re wondering how to optimize a page, first use the handy chart below.
Keep in mind, this isn’t a prix fixe meal where you can choose one salad, one entree and one dessert. Good optimization isn’t done that way.
Great optimization is more like a four course a’ la carte meal, where you carefully select each element based on what you know about your users. Just throw a few crumbs in every now and then for the search engines.
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Facebook Changes Marketers Need To Know About
By · CommentsFacebook’s done it again!
Another round of changes for you to get your head around. Fortunately, these are mostly good.
Here’s a summary of all the stuff you need to know…
Admin Roles
This is my FAVORITE update! Previously, any admin for your Facebook Page would have the ability to do ANYTHING with the page – including post stuff for fans, edit settings and even delete the Page.
However, now you can choose what permissions to give to each admin you add to your Page – so they can help you with the things you want, without being able to access the things you don’t. Perfect for getting an employee or freelancer to help with your content or comments, without worrying they’ll accidentally delete all your hard work!
Example: For our Pages and clients’ Pages we now have TIM team members who can moderate and respond to comments, but can’t post new content or make changes to the Page.
To change roles for your existing admins, or to add new admins, go to the new “Admin Roles” section of your Page’s settings.
You can see the different roles and their associated permissions in this table.
Promoted Posts
It’s always been the case that content you post on your Page doesn’t get seem by ALL your fans. There’s tons of reasons for this and ways you can improve it for free, which I go into elsewhere.
But now Facebook is allowing you to pay a small amount to guarantee that a greater number of your fans will see your post.
Important: The post is only promoted to your EXISTING fans, and appears in their news feed in just the same way as a regular post. What you’re paying for is a much greater percentage of your fans seeing your content.
To start a paid promotion for a post, click the “promote” button that appears next to the “post” button when you’re adding new content to your Page.
You’re able to set a budget for your promoted post and Facebook will tell you how many people you’re likely to reach. All post promotions run for 3 days and you’re only charged as people actually see your post – it’s not a fixed fee, so you might not use all your budget.
Promoted posts have two primary benefits
- They’re cost-effective
- You don’t have the hassle of creating a regular ad (image, headline, body text, targeting, etc.)
For more details on promoted posts, see Facebook’s info here.
Scheduled Posts
This is another much-requested feature. You can now schedule a post to be published in the future.
Previously, it was annoying to have to be in front of your computer and logged into Facebook at the exact time you wanted your content to go live… but you also wanted to make sure you were posting at the time most people would see it.
(Using third-party scheduling tools like Hootsuite meant your posts didn’t show up as much, so you should avoid those too)
To schedule a post, click the small clock icon next to the “post” button when you’re adding new content to your Page.
Important: If you choose a date and time in the future, your post will appear automatically at that time. If you choose a date in the past, your post will immediately be posted on your Page in the relevant part of your timeline (i.e. not necessarily at the top)
Over to You
That’s all the changes for now. What do you think of the new options? Some new flexibility for Page-owners, but a clear indication from Facebook that it’s prioritizing those businesses willing to pay for access to its audience.
Will you be using the new promoted posts? Please let me know if you need help with any of these new changes. Team Internet Marketing can coach your staff or manage your Facebook page for you. To get more information call me at 440-530-9564 or contact me here.
Create a website and get “guaranteed web traffic.”
By · CommentsBack again today with more online advice and strategies.
Guess what a HUGE online misconception is?
Create a website and get “guaranteed web traffic.”
Nice thought, but totally untrue.
Why? Because you first need to think through the *type* of traffic you want driven to your site(s).
Type of traffic??
Yes.
Joint venture traffic, affiliate traffic, paid search traffic, SEO traffic, email traffic, are just a few types of *traffic*. For example, SEO traffic is really composed of two subsets of traffic, if you think about it:
- Keyword/keyphrase traffic – words/phrases that generate searches in Google and direct traffic to you.
- Back-link traffic – links from other sites, that direct traffic to you.
So before you shell out a lot of money building your site, think through the keywords you want to target because this exercise needs to be an integral part of building your site code.
But the truth is, few think through what I’m mentioning. For example, you might want to target low-search volume keyword phrases eg: financial seminar marketing; or you might want to target high-search volume keyword phrases: direct mailers.
So you need to have your traffic strategy in mind *BEFORE* you start planning your site design. It will save you both time and money!
I realize this is just some quick advice today — and there’s certainly more involved — but hopefully it puts this notion of “guaranteed” traffic” into perspective for you.
If you don’t know what I am talking about, or don’t want to take the time learn about this topic then look to Team Internet Marketing for a free website analyst. Every website that they create comes with total internet marketing strategy included.
Mandatory Changes On Facebook
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If you are having trouble finding your way around Facebook it is because, as of April 1, Facebook made some mandatory changes. This is not a joke. What it is, at the end of the day, is more changes that will affect how you do business on Facebook.
Some of the changes don’t make sense to me, while others clearly make a huge difference for business owners. I have listed 6 of the changes here that I feel will make a difference in your business.
Change 1. Your site now has an 851 x 315 pixel banner above of your timeline. The purpose of this is so Facebook can regain control of all landing pages. You can post any photo you want – but it can not include material that asks people to like your page.
Change 2. Facebook pages have a timeline that is made up of milestones, photos and posts. Be sure to go into Facebook and include your business’ successes as part of your business timeline.
Change 3. If you have customers visit your location, you will now find under ‘page tips’ that you can have a customer like your Facebook Page while they are visiting your location.
Change 4. Facebook has a new feature called Facebook offers. This is similar to Living Social or Groupon but is for your fans to help you, the business owner, keep them as loyal customers.
Change 5. As a business owner, Facebook has made it easier for you to track who is visiting your fan-page and where are they coming from. To learn who is coming to your page go to the ‘insights’ section.
Change 6. Facebook has added a ‘reach’ feature for those in the Facebook advertising business. This provides a new tracking tool to see the depth of your ads exposure.
As in most applications on the Internet, it is important to stay current with changes that will, either positively or negatively, affect your business. Also, you should strive to be consistent with your time spent on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, etc. services as well as efficient with your time spent posting to them.
If you have questions regarding any of the new Facebook changes contact me at Jackie@TeamInternetMarketing.com.
If you are concerned about any of the Facebook timeline changes give us a call at 404-530-9564. Team Internet Marketing is here to help you.
Create a Tweet for People to Tweet
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Ever wonder how those little tweet links produce a prewritten tweet with the perfect message all ready to go? I am going to tell you how it is done and you can use this in your newsletter and your blog posts for people to share your material even if you are not regularly using Twitter yourself.
The trick is to have people share your posts you have to make it easy for them and now Click to Tweet has made it so easy for us.
Here’s how it works…
- Create a message that you want to share when someone clicks the link on your website or newsletter.
- Click the “Generate” button to create a custom link.
- Share the link. You copy it and add your custom link to your content!
When someone clicks the link, your message will automatically be added to their update status box on Twitter – all ready to go out or for them to add to it when they click the tweet!
Want to see this in action? Tweet about this post!
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