Reposted fSEO experts have spent the last decade preaching a gospel of optimized page-level elements and inbound links. "Those things are still important today," Jonathan Lawoyin writes in an article at MarketingProfs, "but getting real SEO results these days requires not only a technically optimized website and relevant inbound links but also a strong, vibrant Web presence that supports your overall brand. Which is where social media comes in."

Lawoyin offers tips like these for using social media to improve your organic search rankings:

Promote your content at sites like Facebook and Twitter. Search engines use shares and tweets as a factor when ranking content—so be sure to publish your most recent how-to articles and blog posts where readers can express their approval.

Interact with your fans and followers. You can't just dump content in social networks and expect it to go anywhere. "If you don't have many engaged followers on these social media sites," Lawoyin says, "there won't be anyone to help promote your content via shares and re-tweets."

He also suggests driving engagement with tactics like these:

Use keyword research to drive content development. The keywords that visitors use to find your site provide a good indication of the content they want to read. "Look for areas of high search volume, and develop content around those subjects," he advises.

Use historical keyword data to exploit seasonal trends. Lawoyin noticed that a client's traffic spiked on the term "motorcycle safety" in May. After discovering May was Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month, he prepared content ahead of time so it would rank well during that period.

"White hat search engine optimization (SEO) principles that apply to B2B online marketing also apply to B2C, but B2B is otherwise a different animal," writes Nick Stamoulis in an article at MarketingProfs.

In other words, SEO is simply not the same strategy for B2B as it is for B2C. And to get the most from your B2B SEO, you'll need to:

Understand your sales cycle. "SEO is a long-term effort," Stamoulis says. "If it takes six months to ramp up your SEO program, you have to wait that long, plus your sales cycle time, to be able to determine ROI." Without knowing the right timeframe, you might end up killing an SEO program before you have the chance to measure its success; be patient.

Mix up your keywords. Potential B2B customers will search for a variety of terms, so optimize for each of these categories:

• Branded. Some of customers will search for specific model names, spec sheets and instructions; be sure your branded terms rank well. 
  
• Nonbranded. "These are the highly searched, competitive, and relevant keywords that someone who has never heard of your company can use as a search perimeter and still find your company," he explains. 
  
• Demand Generation. Don't forget niche keywords used within your industry—especially those you yourself have coined. "If you develop specific keywords for your products that no one is searching for, you have the opportunity to build a whole new set of keywords that you own," Stamoulis notes. "For instance, HubSpot created the term 'inbound marketing' and built a successful business around it."

reposted from Marketing Profs:
Do you optimize all of your online content? Before you say yes, here's a question: When was the last time a press release received your SEO treatment?

"All communications, including press releases, can be 'tagged' with key words to receive priority placement in organic searches and therefore drive users to your message and content," writes Kimberly Schmitz at the CaliberPulse blog.

And it's not as tricky as you might think: "A press release can be optimized for searches by including key words and phrases and adding relevant links to the text," Schmitz notes. Here's how:

Incorporate keywords. Schmitz suggests placing your keyword once in the headline and three times in the body of your text. If the press release has more than three paragraphs, she also recommends inserting your keyword in a subhead. As with any other keyword placement, it should look natural to human eyes. "Do not use the word or phrase so much that it becomes redundant or clutters the messaging," she advises. "Ensure that key words and phrases are used logically and strategically."

Include relevant links. An online press release must provide links for follow-up, so be sure they're optimized, too. "Use keyword-rich anchor text to link target websites that incorporate non-branded keywords," Schmitz recommends. "For example, it's best not to use 'Caliber Group' as the anchor text for the link to the CaliberGroup.com website. Using 'PR and marketing firm' as the anchor text would offer a more searchable option for the link."

The Po!nt: PR needs optimization, too. Don't forget to optimize your press releases for improved SEO results—but be sure to use a light touch.

“Be more concerned about people listening to you than worrying about them stealing from you.”

That’s from Ross Kimbarovsky, co-founder of crowdSpring, encouraging Spark & Hustle attendees to share more of their ideas without fear of having them ripped off. 

Ross also gave everyone 10 tips for improved email marketing results based on his company’s experience after sending hundreds of thousands of emails:

1) Tuesday is the best day to send a newsletter between 10am and 2pm.  Wednesday and Thursday are the next best days.  Monday and Friday not ideal.

2) Short subject lines are best.  This is the only thing between people opening your email or not.  

3) Limit self-promotion. Don’t sell too much in your newsletter. A soft sell or special offer is more valuable.  If the only thing you do is sell, people will unsubscribe.

4) Have the email come from a person, not a company.   More people will open a personal email than a company email.

5) Use an online service.  Don’t use your personal email program to do your email marketing.  (Mail Chimp, Campaign Monitor and Constant Contact are just three options.

6) A/B test subject lines.  Test them to know what works better for your audience.

7) Put your best content on top.  If you have something great, say it early. Not at the end.

8) Keep a regular schedule.  Don’t be sporadic.

9) Make it look pretty.   Professional, too.


10) Overnight success takes 10 years.  

That last one applies to lots of stuff way beyond email marketing, but as you build you list of subscribers, fans, friends, followers, don’t expect instant miracles.  Invest the time to build real connections.   

When managed well, Facebook's community of 500 million (and counting!) global users is an ideal place for brands to get the message out. But before you start developing dazzling social campaigns, start by taking a small foundational step in the right direction.

If you're using Facebook to promote a brand, be sure to create a dedicated Brand Page (not to be confused with an individual profile). Brand Pages let companies promote wares while giving multiple admins access. A skinny on the perks, kindly listed by The Social Path:

• Vast reach. Brand updates are broadcast on the newsfeeds of fans—which can hit unlimited numbers. (A personal profile is limited to 5,000 "friends.")
• Admin privacy. Fans can't see page administrators, ensuring no distraction from brand engagement.
• Customization. You can create custom tabs for applications, coupons or special offers.
• Analytics. You can measure fan growth, engagement and traffic.

When wading into Facebook's volatile social space, give yourself the solid foundation of a well-managed Brand Page equipped with the tools you'll need for more complex social marketing down the line. It doesn't sound like a grand gesture, but it's an integral step in ensuring the success of your engagement strategy.



Read more: http://www.marketingprofs.com/short-articles/2099/four-great-perks-of-a-facebook-brand-page#ixzz1KXlDYaYD

 A guest post by Alexandre Sagala of Alsamarketing.

Your business probably spends a good deal of time and money on driving people to your website using different marketing channels. Now, having massive amounts of visitors every day is good—but if you can’t convert them into customers, then what’s the point?

Would you prefer 100 visits a day with a 10% conversion rate or a 1,000 at 0.1%? I would pick the first. So how do you increase your online conversion rates?

1. Make it easy. Be sure it’s easy for visitors to respond to your call to action or your offering. If you are trying to get visitors to fill in a form for a trial or a demo, make sure the form is simple and easy. You don’t need all 30 fields. Get the ones you need and then fill in the rest during further communications with your visitors. They shouldn’t have to work to provide you with their information.
2. Test, test, test. This is a surefire way to increase online conversions. Test everything—forms, landing pages, anything. Testing will give you information that you can use to improve rates. Over time, this will guarantee higher conversion rates. One thing to keep in  mind when testing: Go slowly, and test only one or two thing at a time, so you know what worked and what didn’t.
3. Offer multiple communication channels. Not everyone likes to use the same communications tool. Some people prefer phone, some choose email, and others might like filling in forms and getting a call-back. Make sure you have the tools in place to handle your prospects’ preferred way of communicating.
4. Know your visitors. Understand who your potential customers are. Understand how they speak, what matters to them, how they prefer to make decisions. Make your content and offerings relevant to them. To provide value, you need to understand what your visitors value.
5. Provide a clear call to action. Make sure visitors know what you want them to do—and that they can actually find your call to action! This means make sure you call to action message is clear and direct, and that your call-to-action placement is prominent.

In a post at Deliverability.com, Dennis Dayman tells the story of receiving a spam message that pitched—ironically enough—anti-spam products. He decided to investigate, and discovered it had come from a familiar email service provider. "I contacted a friend there and asked them to look into how this company [the author of the email] got my email address since it was not an opt-in email or a company I'd ever done business with," he recounts.

The answer: At an anti-spam conference in 2008, Dayman had entered a contest by putting his business card in a fishbowl. "Yes," he notes, "it took them three years to send me the first email." Even without that strange delay, however, he would have taken issue with being added to the list, he says.

"Not once did I hear: 'By registering for this free item you will get an email from us,'" he explains. "What I heard was: 'Drop your business card in here to win an iPod.'"

His wife offered an alternative perspective: "You didn't think they would ever spam you when you tried to win the Apple product by dropping your business card into the fishbowl?" she asked.

This goes to the heart of the opt-in debate. If you add people to your list without their explicit permission, some—like Dayman's wife—will see it as a natural outcome and opt out if they don't want your messages. But others won't be so generous, and they're rarely shy about hitting the spam button.

The Po!nt: Assume permission with care and caution. "[U]nderstand that when I give y



Read more: http://www.marketingprofs.com/short-articles/2256/do-you-really-have-permission-to-send-that-email#ixzz1JWqigkMo

The sales cycle begins the moment you get a sales lead. How long is it going to take to close a deal from that point? If a B2B company sells very expensive technical or complex equipment, its sales cycle is probably going to be much longer than that of a B2B company that sells office supplies.

Why is the sales cycle important to SEO? It's simple: SEO is a long-term effort. If it takes six months to ramp up your SEO program, you have to wait that long, plus your sales cycle time, to be able to determine ROI. You can't kill your SEO program if you don't see immediate results; that's because it already takes time for your sales cycle to go from "new lead" to "closed."

If your typical sales cycle is 12 months, it could be 18 months before you could attribute that sale to your SEO.



Read more: http://www.marketingprofs.com/articles/2011/4838/the-top-three-b2b-seo-recommendations-to-consider#ixzz1JWnxCBVq

by Karen TalaveraPublished on April 13, 2011    


In this article, you'll learn...

• Why a thank-you process should be a part of your email marketing message stream
• How saying thanks and sending nonpromotional greetings can humanize your brand

Unless you were raised by wolves in the wild, at some point you learned that it is polite to say thank you. It's not merely proper etiquette; it's just downright considerate and gracious.

Yet, for marketers, saying thank you is about much more than just being polite. If you're in the business of building lasting, loyal customer relationships (and if you're not, please ask why you're bothering to be in business at all), it's an essential practice that pays both monetary and goodwill dividends. Without it, you're at greater risk of customer flight—and you're a sitting duck for the competition.

If you don't already have a thank-you email process in place, it's easy to begin one. I suggest matching the format of your initial thank-you message to the channel via which someone first did business with you, then expanding that process over time.

For example, did someone purchase from you online? If so, email the customer a thank-you message with an offer to revisit or purchase again; ideally, you'd provide a coupon or free gift to entice action soon. Did someone buy in your store or office? Send a thank-you follow-up letter via postal mail. Did customers do business with you at a conference, fair, or tradeshow? Email and mail them an invitation to engage with you at your physical place of business, your online storefront, or both. And keep the follow-ups going.

The thank-you and other conversational greetings (such as birthday, holiday, and anniversary acknowledgments) become a legitimate reason to reach out to and talk to customers and should be different in feel from the ever-present invitation to buy, buy, buy. They make you approachable, grateful, and personal.

Remember, people don't buy from brands; people buy from people. Adding thank-you emails to your marketing illuminates the human side of your brand.

Acknowledging the performance of the action you requested is as important as, if not more important than, asking for it in the first place. Always thank promptly, but also show gratitude when it's expected (such as, at a minimum, at Thanksgiving and on a customer anniversary date) and when not expected (at any other appropriate juncture, when it willsurprise and delight).

Here are three suggestions for weaving both expected and unexpected thank-yous, in the spirit of gratitude, into your marketing.

1. The Immediate Thanks
   
   As I recommended, an initial thank-you message should match the channel via which communication or a transaction occurred. Make it immediate and consistent in tone, design, and style with your marketing message that prompted the purchase or action.
   
   Immediate thanks for e-commerce transactions can be sent easily via email, but don't forget social media. If, for example, you're asking customers to enter a sweeps or promotion on Facebook (or give you a thumbs-up there), redirect them to a thank-you page immediately after they take action.
   
   Also, the greater the purchase or commitment someone makes, the more time, effort, and money you should spend thanking that person. The last time I bought real estate, for example, I received a huge housewarming gift basket, not a lame postcard or text message. Match your thanks, in magnitude, to the action you are thankful for.
   
2. The Seasonal Thanks
   
   After you've sent immediate thank-you emails to acknowledge specific calls to action that prospects or customers took you up on, remember to also thank your customers at regular, natural intervals throughout the year. In the US and in other countries that celebrate a day of Thanksgiving, that one's a given, but go beyond national or religious holidays. 
   
   Are you also thanking your customers on the anniversary of their relationship with you? Of their first purchase? On holidays relevant to them (Mother's Day, Father's Day, New Year's Day, Veterans Day, Grandparents Day)? 
   
3. The Surprise Thanks
   
   Of course, we all love a thank-you for no particular reason when we're least expecting it. To start, weave a quarterly or (if you're ambitious) monthly thank-you campaign to reward repeat business and customer loyalty. It could be as simple as a winter/spring/summer/fall program with a special offered during each season. Or, to keep people guessing, make it random, maybe even behaviorally driven.

For example, as customers reach specific purchase levels with you, move them into segments that receive exclusive thank-you gifts. Think of how American Express does it with its charge-card holders: Gold, Platinum, and "black card" Centurion members all receive specific perks for being customers at those levels. The higher the level, the bigger the gratitude! In 2009, for example, American Express sent several "gifts" throughout the year to Centurion card members, ranging from a $500 gift certificate for swanky department store Barney's (no minimum purchase required) and a $500 gift card usable on a $1,000-minimum purchase at high-end jeweler Van Cleef. Centurion cardholders spend a minimum of about $300,000 per year, so $500 here or there is a drop in the bucket.

Remember, you don't have to be a big spender, but do be generous relative to the customer's value to your business.

* * *

When you integrate thank-you messages into your customer communication stream, especially your email programs, you won't be thought of as the friend who calls only when she needs something. Instead, you'll be considered—and appreciated for taking the time to be—sincere... and human!

"Building a brand through social strategies doesn't happen overnight," writes Maria Pergolino atMarketo's blog, "it requires a sustained commitment using effective strategies for engagement and relationship building." Even as Twitter celebrates its fifth anniversary, however, many businesses still get it wrong. 

Here are a few of Pergolino's tips for getting it right:

• When you see a tweet that your followers will appreciate, hit the retweet button. Retweeting is a win-win-win strategy that shares relevant content, shows respect to the author of the tweet and gives him/her exposure throughout your network.
• Report news and provide links to original content. As industry news breaks, pass it along to your followers. And, she says, "be sure to include links to your own content from newsletters, B2B blogs, white papers and other sources in your tweets."
• Use hashtags for enhanced Twitter searches. A hashtag is a word or phrase preceded by a # sign (for instance, #marketingprofs or #sxsw) that makes it easy for non-followers to find your information. "Research tags already in use," Pergolino suggests, "and utilize them in your B2B social media campaign."
• Interact with your followers. Respond when they send @ replies, comment on their tweets and send a quick "Thanks for the RT!" when they retweet you.
• Use lists to categorize tweeters you follow. Lists not only create an easy way to scan tweets by subject but also let the people on those lists know that you consider them go-to experts on a particular topic.