Ahhh, Google Juice. That glorious feeling of doing a Google search for your keywords and turning up on page one. Or better yet, number one page one.
Recently, I was asked to give a presentation to a local real estate company on why they need social media. They gave me 20 minutes. I only needed five.
First I showed them a quick video I had prepared on Canadian social media statistics, and secondly (and my favorite) I opened a web browser, brought up Google and did a search on my keywords. "Nova Scotia social media consultant". Go ahead... do it. We DOMINATE page one. (insert enormously proud grin) I told them, "The last thing I do each night is visit Google Analytics to measure the traffic to my site, clear my cache (to get a true reading) and perform (yet another) search for my keywords." It's true. My routine. The LAST thing I do each night. One particularly outspoken (and fun) guy in the group said, "Get a life".
I bet I'm not alone. It's said that the driving force behind the success of Facebook is vanity. I completely relate. And there is something COMPLETELY satisfying about "the feeling" of being in "control" of your Google ranking.
So... What's my secret?
- First of all, admittedly (and luckily) there is not a lot of competition for my keywords. (Whew!)
- Second, you will notice a lot of links to my various social media profiles. Twitter, LinkedIn, Activerain, and my favorite, Facebook. Each of my social media accounts are optimized for my keywords. Yours should be too.
- And finally - I employ a little SEO.
What is SEO? Search engine optimization is the art making small modifications to parts of your website that could have a noticeable impact on your site's user experience and performance in organic search results. SEO is a quest for increased visibility in search engines via relevant copy, quality links, domain trust, social popularity and search engine connectivity.
Here are a couple of guides that helped me with SEO:
Google Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide Download
SEOmoz The Beginners Guide to SEO Download
Join Supernova Studios e-Club to download our SEO Guide and recieve our monthly newsletter.
Getting (long term) traffic from Google is about KEYWORDS and LINKS. It’s about being relevant enough for a keyword search, and being trusted enough to rank for it.
To help improve your sites ranking:
- Use "Geo Keywords" in all your title tags and make sure each page has a unique title
- Make sure your meta-descriptions are unique and reference copy you have on your pages
- Link your pages to one another. Links are like lasers. When you link to a page, you heat the page you are linking to
- Make sure you use unique original copy. Google favors diversity
- Get quality inbound links. Google considers an inbound link from an authority site as a "vote" for your page
- Read Google Webmaster Guidelines and make sure you comply but do not use “Google Submit Your Site” to submit your site. Google prefers to find a link to your site on a site it already knows.
- Setup your Google Places account immediately. Read our blog for instructions.
- If you are totally lost, contact us.
What is a keyword? And specifically "geo" keywords.
When you're looking for a great pizza in a town you'll be visiting next week, you do what millions of other people do. You go to Google and type in "Pizza, any town" You ALWAYS include the town/city/location. That's the "geo" in geo-keywords. Note my keywords "Nova Scotia social media consultant" Someone in Nova Scotia searching for my services would (hopefully) perform a search using my keywords. Or possibly "Nova Scotia social media trainer". My site is optimized using these keywords. Specific pages within my site are optimized for various synomyms of my keywords.
What is a "quality inbound link"?
Inbound links are links from pages on external sites linking back to your site. Inbound links can bring new users to your site, and when the links are an authority source, they're also a positive signals to Google about your site's importance.
How can I get "quality inbound links"
Create Good Content: Nothing will serve you better when it comes to inbound links, and many other areas of your site, than creating good content. Writing an insightful blog post or creating a useful template or presentation will not only lead people to link to your site, but also drive traffic and build equity in your site and brand.
Directories can be a great inbound link source. Focus on local/industry-specific options if available.
Online News Release and Article Sites
Vendors/Suppliers These people or groups have a vested interest in helping you succeed. Explain to them that you’re trying to increase your exposure on the web and that this will in turn help them as well.
Business Allies Business allies can include any type of business partner that you’ve worked or networked with that isn’t a direct competitor.
Sponsorships / Charities / Associations If you serve on a Board, have made a significant contribution to a charity or are a member of an association, these groups are looking for ways to thank you and provide value in return -- especially if it doesn’t cost them any money.
Sure hope this helps, I'd be interested to hear from you about your results. Changing your page titles to include your Geo-keywords will take 5 minutes. Do it! Measure your traffic today and compare in 2 weeks. You can thank me then.
To your success! (unless of course we have the same keywords!) wink...
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