What Are The Most Common SEO Mistakes?

SEO is easy to get wrong. It’s a fact. But when you get it right, it can make an immeasurable difference to your company’s online standing. But a bad SEO strategy can be more damaging than no strategy at all. With this in mind, it’s just as important to learn what not to do as it is to keep up-to-date with the latest techniques. There are plenty of common SEO mistakes that companies continue to make time and time again. To help you avoid making them yourself, here are some of the main ones:

Choosing The Wrong Keywords: Your keyword selection, if you’ll pardon the expression, is key. Many people choose the wrong ones simply because they sound impressive, or perhaps because they don’t fully understand their customers’ priorities. It pays to do proper keyword research and analysis to find out exactly what kinds of terms your customers would type in when they are searching for products or services like yours.

Keyword Stuffing: This is an absolute no-no, as anyone who has fallen foul of this rule will tell you. Stuffing is when a person over-uses their keywords or phrases. This was OK when search engines were relatively unsophisticated, but now they can pick up on keyword-heavy blocks of text and you may well be penalised. This is because search engines are geared towards helping users find the highest quality content. A piece of text that simply repeats the same thing without telling them anything new does not qualify as useful. You have been warned.

Duplicated Content: More and more, search engines are penalising websites that don’t publish original or high quality content. It used to be far too easy for companies to simply copy large chunks of text from one site to use on their own. Doing this on a regular basis will now reduce your rankings to get producing some useful and original content.

Too Broad-Based: If your website doesn’t have a strong focus then search engines will find it much more difficult to direct users to your site. And once they’re there, if your content is too broad-based you will be lacking a certain authority. What you need to do, at least to begin with, is specialise. That way you can have a small number of really targeted keywords and work on building up a reputation as an expert in your field.

Poor Backlinks: Backlinks are just as important for your SEO rankings as keywords. But you have to be selective about them: links from sites with little relevance to your subject or to poor quality sites will not do you any favours. And another thing – never be tempted to buy backlinks to boost your search online standing. Search engines are now wise to this and regard it as a form of cheating. If you practice this regularly you may well find your site blacklisted and this is very hard to recover from.

How To Respond To Negative Social Media Comments

Social media offers many benefits to companies in terms of marketing and connecting with customers. But alongside this, it does carry the downside that occasionally you are going to come up against some unhappy customers who aren’t shy about sharing their views with all your other followers. When this happens – and at some point it will – it’s a good idea to be prepared.

Learn some tactics for responding to negative social media comments, such as:

Work Quickly: If someone feels they have a genuine grievance against you, then the longer they have to wait for your response to their post, the more annoyed they will get. Also, because these are public forums it means that every minute you waste is a minute that the story can be spread around other users or exaggerated. Respond calmly, telling them you are aware of their complaint and are looking into it right away. Often the biggest frustration for people is not being able to get hold of someone to talk about their issues. If they know they have your attention they are likely to calm down and be willing to work out a solution.

Be Human: Offer your name and give a sympathetic, warm response rather than a generic, corporate reply. You will find that this can go a long way towards softening people. It is far easier to deal with upset customers if you talk to them like human beings and really listen to their grievance.

Make It Right: If the mistake is on your side then you need to make a genuine apology to the customer. The next thing to do is to find a solution they will be happy with. If it is a case of a faulty product, for example, most people will usually be content to accept a replacement or refund. If they feel they have received a poor service or a member of your staff has been rude, an apology, voucher for credit or something similar will help to show that you are taking the matter seriously.

Don’t Get Into Arguments: Even if the allegation against you is unreasonable or completely false, as a company you should always be above getting into a social media slanging match. Remember that absolutely anyone can see this and it will make you look very unprofessional. If someone is being rude, aggressive or complaining just for the sake of it, you should simply give a single, calm response stating your position and then ignore them. They will normally get bored very quickly.

Keep It Open: If you are working to fix a mistake your company has made, you may be tempted to ask the customer to take the conversation offline and email you privately. This is a mistake: it’s actually better to keep things in the open as it shows you have nothing to hide and other potential customers can see that in such cases you do your best to fix the problem. It can actually work to your benefit by giving other people confidence to buy from you, knowing that if there is a problem you can be contacted.

Twitter Followers: Why You Should Never Fake Them

If you’ve ever been struck by the huge amounts of Twitter followers some of your competitors seem to have, it’s worth pausing for a while before you boil over with jealousy. You may be thinking that your tweets and the information you share are far more valuable, so why is it that internet users are flocking to them in such great numbers? The answer may well be that many of these followers are in fact fake.

But how do these companies even get their ‘fake followers’ to begin with? One way, believe it or not, is to simply purchase them. In this way you can suddenly acquire 1000 Twitter followers in one sweep. By contrast, a company doing things the normal way might perhaps hope to get about 20 new followers each day if they are really putting a lot of effort into their social media marketing.

On the other hand, it’s also possible to acquire fake followers by accident. In fact, around 5 per cent of total followers will be from fake accounts that make it a point to follow other users in order to appear real. If you don’t want to get involved with fake followers then be on your guard and don’t follow anyone back if they seem suspicious.

But are you still tempted to fake some followers because it seems like an easy option? A lot less work? Well think again, because this kind of practice can destroy your online credibility. It can be quite obvious if you have a large number of fake followers and if you’re trying to make your mark in a B2B environment, where trust and reputation are key, you will do your credibility a lot of damage. People will simply avoid you.

Also, bear in mind that if the majority of your followers are fake then this is just a meaningless number at the end of the day: you will not be able to engage with them and this means you won’t be using your Twitter account to boost your brand. After all, social media is all about engaging in conversations, sharing content and ideas. If all you’re doing is garnering a lot of followers who won’t respond to you, it not only makes you look bad but it is also a waste of a valuable marketing opportunity.

As a last point, fake followers are actually contrary to Twitter’s terms of service which means that if you are employing this tactic regularly then your account can simply be suspended or deleted. Once it becomes known that this has happened to you it will take you a long time to build up respect within the online business community again – if indeed you are able to at all. Taking all this into account, it really is best to hone your social marketing skills and do things the honest way. Yes, you may have fewer followers to begin with but they will all be relevant to you and hopefully willing to engage with your tweets.

How To Get Ideas For Good Online Content

We’re all aware of the need to keep our website content fresh and relevant for online marketing purposes – ‘content is king’, as they say – but how on earth can you keep coming up with new ideas and keep your business running at the same time? It may seem as though everybody else finds it easy to churn out more and more interesting content whilst you sit there racking your brains and coming up with nothing. In fact, there’s no real secret: anyone can do it if they just learn how to identify those hot topics through some simple techniques.

Such as:

Watch Google Trends: If you really want to keep your finger on the pulse, then Google Trends will let you know what’s being searched for in real time. It works by breaking down hot searches and updates constantly throughout the day. Helpfully, it also sorts this information by sector so if you’re in a particular niche you may need to look no further to find a suitable topic to blog about on your website. You can also search by keyword or current trending news stories if you want to be a bit more specific.

Google+ Communities: Another helpful tool from Google if you’re looking for content: if you put your search terms into the search bar and then filter the results to look for ‘communities’ you can find the ones with a lot of posts and followers. Have a look at the kinds of things they’re talking about and any issues people are having that you may be able to help them with through useful blog posts.

Search News: This is as simple as it sounds. Every search engine has a news function that you can use to look for the latest events relating to a particular topic. If you’re the kind of person who is able to come up with content quickly then this can be very useful as it means you can be one of the first to comment on a particular story.

Twitter Advanced Search: This has become a vital source for content generation because the Twittersphere covers just about everything in short, succinct dialogue so you can quickly pick up an idea of the opinions around a certain topic or issue. All you need to do is go to the Advanced Search function in Twitter and enter a few keywords of your choice into the ‘any of these words’ section to get you started. You will then come up with plenty of potential content leads to follow.

The above are just a few examples of the resources available to you. Other useful tools are online forums, Reddit – the list just goes on. By compiling yourself a guide of the different content generation resources out there you should never be stuck for hot topics to comment on again. As a result, you can keep your website fresh and relevant.

Want To Get More Comments On Your Blog?

Blogging is a very simple form of online marketing and it’s certainly one of the cheapest. All you have to do is identify your area of expertise and begin writing informative articles about it. If you’re a business owner this is a way of establishing yourself as an expert in your sector by offering worthwhile advice or sharing tips.

But to be really successful at this you need to build up a readership. One sure sign that you’re efforts are working is if a lot of readers are engaging and contributing to the ‘comments’ section usually to be found at the bottom of any blogging page.

Here’s how to get those comments coming in:

Don’t Sit On The Fence: Readers won’t feel compelled to respond to your blog if it doesn’t give them something to think about. For this reason, you should never be afraid to voice clear opinions (as long as you aren’t being offensive). Challenging people by taking a stand on a certain subject gives them the option of either agreeing or disagreeing. Whichever side of the fence they sit on, they will often feel compelled to offer their own opinions. You will not get comments if your blog is simply a dull outpouring of platitudes or previously expressed opinions.

Pose Questions: The simplest and most direct way to get people to comment on your blog is to ask questions. People like to be asked for their input, so you could for example ask what articles they would like to see featured, any problems they have working in this sector; or what their priorities are. Even better if it is relating to a controversial issue that is likely to divide opinion and produce a strong response.

Cross-Blogging: If you interact with other bloggers through commenting on their blogs you will often find that they will do the same for you. Look for blogs which are similar to yours without being identical. You may then find that people who read and comment on their blogs will see the link to yours and follow that too. Also, remember to respond to any comments on your blog, whether this is to thank the reader for their interest or follow up on any point they have made. If you can establish an interaction with your readers they are far more likely to continue commenting in the future.

How To Turn Your Idea Into A Business

Everyone has a good idea for a business now and then, but how many of us act on them? Sometimes it is the simplest ideas that can ultimately be the most profitable, so if you’ve had a concept rattling around in your head for some time why not try to turn it into a reality? Many people are intimidated by the idea of starting their own business – thinking they are not ‘business people’ – but actually anyone can do it if they have the dedication and patience required to get it off the ground. Here are some of the steps to take:

Understand the Market: Every business idea will appeal to certain kind of market, so the first thing to do is to work out what kind of audience there is for your product or service? Is it something for young people? Professionals? Are you targeting certain kinds of occasions such as the wedding market? Whichever it is, once you have identified your sector you need to understand it. What do customers in this field want and expect? Is there a gap in the market for your idea to flourish, or does it need to be adapted a little to give it that competitive edge? There’s no point wading in there with a new business until you have assessed your chances for success based on market research.

Costing: Now is the time to get down to the nitty gritty, and for this you may need to take some kind of business course if figures aren’t your thing. How much will it cost to manufacture your product or provide your service? It’s no good working out general amounts – you need to be very specific and realistic about the kind of capital you will need. In addition to manufacturing, this should cover marketing and any other start-up costs. You will then need to work out a margin that will cover your costs and ensure you make a reasonable profit. This is about striking a balance between offering a competitive price and making enough money for your business to be viable.

Test It: Before you go into full production it’s important to have a few test runs to see what people think. This way you can iron out any problems or make improvements before you’ve had to invest too much money. Post videos or photos on social media to get feedback or offer free samples to a test audience. If you get enough positive responses, only then can you begin to think about manufacturing on a larger scale. Find a marketing expert to help you at this stage: they will show you how to build up interest in your business so you can really hit the ground running.

Small Beginnings: Even when you do begin to manufacture larger runs of products to sell in your shop or online, it’s always a good idea to start small. Begin by selling a few items or getting a few bookings and this will help you to build up an idea of how much turnover you can expect. If your idea really is good enough then hopefully your sales will grow as word of mouth gets out. But the last thing you want is a warehouse full of goods you can’t sell. Also, keep it simple to begin with. Don’t try to increase your product range until you’ve got the business off the ground. If you find sales are good, then it might be a good idea to start thinking about expanding your range to keep it fresh and innovative.