Posts Tagged ‘link worthy content’

Don’t be Afraid of Spiders: In Fact You Should Lure Them In

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

890284_lan_spiderThere are spiders around our homes and all over the Web, or, shall we say, the Internet. But the creepy crawlers lurking under our kitchen sink are very different creatures from those who traverse through and index websites. The biological specimens are fond of old, dirty clutter that they can hide behind and wait for their victims. The mechanical arachnids seek out fresh new territory that they can explore; they tire easily of the same old prey and will move along quickly when they are hungry for something relevant. These are the spiders you want to host, and you should invite them over frequently.  

It’s getting to be that time of year when we can actually see spring just around the corner; which means it’s also time for spring cleaning. So all the stuff that’s been accumulating around the house will be sorted and some of it will be thrown away; the rest will be carefully stored. Then we will dust, wash, scrub and clean everything until it shines. This is also an excellent process to do to your website. How long has it been since you’ve taken a careful look at all of your pages (not just your home page)? Has your content been the same for a while? Is there really anything on your site that’s interesting and worth talking about? Well, just follow along for a couple of ways to get your site all cleaned up so those search engine spiders will be crawling all over it, and at the same time keep your users happy. 
 
Keyword Research
 
Do you know what words or phrases searchers are typing in the search engines to find the pages on your site? If you don’t, you need to find out, now. And even if you do, it’s always wise to make sure none of your keywords changed. There are various tools available to perform keyword research, such as Wordtracker and Google Adwords. Through these tools you can discover the keywords that your pages should be optimized for. 
 
There is a current trend toward keyword phrases instead of single words. For example: “long sleeved striped shirt” instead of “shirt”. Like catnip for a cat, search engine spiders are attracted to plain text as this is what they can read and understand. Spiders don’t like to be confused, so you can help them out by making sure that your targeted keyword phrase(s) are included in the URL (if possible), page title tag, page heading (h1, h2, h3) tags and page content. When these spiders understand what your page is about, they feel content and welcomed, and will want to visit often. 
 
Link Worthy Content
 
The old Bonnie Raitt song, “Something To Talk About”, could be considered the theme song of the Internet. This is what all website owners hope for, to have link worthy content that users will want to share with others; hopefully by placing a link that goes back to your site. For search engine spiders, links are like the transporter on the U.S.S. Enterprise. The spiders find a link and are teleported to new territory. The more transporters that the crawlers find that have your coordinates, the better. Links to internal pages of your site work in the same way, leading the spiders to the other pages of your site. Make sure to include a few of these internal links in your content on each page.
 
You’ve got your list of keywords or phrases that you’ve researched, right? Now put them to good use. When creating the content for your pages, be sure to include your targeted keyword(s) or phrase(s) in the first paragraph, last paragraph and several times within the text on the page. Keep in mind that every page on your site is a potential “home page” for a searcher. Not every user starts out on your home page then clicks through to the page they’re looking for. Make sure each landing page welcomes users with great content that makes it clear where they are and what they’ve found. 
 
In regards to the content itself, think about what your site offers that is unique, unusual, weird or special and accentuate it. Here are a few content ideas you can use to get a buzz going:
 
·         Top 10 Lists
·         User tips for your products or services
·         Humor related to your industry
·         Case Studies
·         Video
·         Press Releases
·         Contests or Giveaways
·         Research Reports
·         Survey Results
·         Free Tools
·         How-to’s
·         Charts or Graphs
·         A Blog (perfect for new content on a regular basis)
 

Websites need to be in a constant state of evolution. You should check the relevancy of your keywords and freshen up your pages often. While always striving to be spider bait, the ultimate goal for a website is to provide a great user experience. Hopefully you are inspired to begin your website spring cleaning project today.

 

Ardala Evans

Ardala is a Project Manager working with the client Services Team at Vertical Measures. She supervises the completion of the monthly tasks for the clients. She also works directly with clients to provide reporting on their projects and ranking reviews.

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What Movie Rentals Could Mean for YouTube and You

Thursday, January 28th, 2010

 

YouTubeWhen YouTube announced last week that it would be offering five films from the Sundance Film Festival for $3.99 a pop, it wasn’t a big deal because people no longer had to make like Ari Gold and Vinny Chase from Entourage to view some of the best independent films upon their release.

Instead it’s a big deal because it could be the first step for the popular Google-owned video sharing site to eventually adopt mainstream fare into its already robust menu of wedding dancing and baby biting videos.
 
The biggest question surrounding YouTube for years, not unlike Twitter, is when will it stop being a bandwidth hog and start justifying the $1.65 billion price Google paid to acquire it three years ago?
 
There is only so much money that can be made from Google ads, so YouTube protruding into the rentals market could be significant.
 
According to The Huffington Post, analyst Douglas Anmuch projects YouTube to produce about $700 million in revenue this year, which would be a 55 percent increase from 2009 in large part because advertisers will be more willing to put ads next to professional content than amateur and potentially offensive material.
 
No doubt we’re still months away from YouTube becoming Netflix, if that ever indeed does happen; this is just a trial for certain.
 
It’s not going to be easy for YouTube to negotiate with major motion picture agencies, but this is another step in the paradigm shift in how we watch movies.
 
Why would anybody go to Blockbuster again when they could watch movies on demand on Netflix or YouTube?
 
Beyond the rental charge, I wonder what kind of monetary opportunities such a shift would mean for YouTube.
 
Could they get advertisers to sponsor the video page with a relevant ad that would be showing on the webpage during the viewing? That would certainly cost a pretty penny for sponsors.
 
For link builders, this could be most noteworthy because the popular "Related Videos" tab remains intact for the Sundance videos.
 
A company that offers video marketing services such as Vertical Measures could create a video with the aim to go viral and optimize it with keywords related to the major motion picture. If the general public agrees that the video is as entertaining as you think it is, its hits would likely explode.
 
Of course, this would not be as good as getting direct traffic to your actual site, but it could drum up buzz and at least a nice bit of traffic from the link to your site in the description of the video.
 
If YouTube becomes a giant in the movie rental industry as it could be poised to become in the coming years, you will definitely want to ride its coattails for your own benefit.

 

Michael Schwartz

Michael Schwartz is an Internet marketing strategist at Vertical Measures as well as an accomplished reporter, blogger and editor. He covers the link building beat.

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How To: Create and Promote Link Worthy Content

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

If you know a thing or two about search engine optimization then you are likely aware of how important creating link worthy content is (and probably know how hard creating it can be as well). Recently our founder, Arnie Kuenn, came to the Vertical Measures team with an idea: lets do a series of video interviews with experts in our field. We’re in Phoenix, many Internet experts are here in Phoenix, why not? Within two weeks the concept, "2010 Predictions from 10 Internet Experts", was developed, experts were contacted, the recording took place at GreenScreenFX, videos were edited, and promotion had started.

Was it successful? For us, yes: we’re an Internet marketing company and appreciate the power of a link. For a relatively small investment (time to shoot videos/promote/organize, and money it cost to film/produce/edit) we accumulated MANY backlinks from different domains (325 links according to Site Explorer). Not to mention the publicity we received from our post: Business Journal picked it up, many bloggers did as well, and we were featured in Search Engine Lands Search Cap on January 15th. In addition: 

2000+ page views, 120+ retweets, 3800+ results on Google, 49 Sphinns, top 5 Google ranking for term "internet experts", and 150+ views on Stumbleupon.

We are extremely thankful for the Internet experts who agreed to the interviews, as well as our staff for putting the time and effort into this project. You too can create your own successful link worthy content piece with the below tips for creation and promotion: 

A Few Link Worthy Content Ideas

Interviews: Just as we’ve done, take an interview (or interview series) and turn it into something applicable for your business. Instead of just interviewing over the phone or via e-mail, why not video the interview or interview in a non-traditional setting, like on Twitter (as Jay Baer does: The Twitter 20)?  Ask interviewees for their predictions, tips, tools, secrets, their take on controversial topics, etc.

Whitepapers: An expert in your field? Write about it in an informative and interesting whitepaper. Give away a few of your trade secrets, and don’t be afraid to give truly valuable information!

Lists/Tips: It may sound like old news, but creating lists and top tip type posts or articles are highly linkable…if done well. Make sure your blog post or article is extremely helpful, interesting, and not just a reiteration of old news.

Promoting Link Worthy Content

Ask connections: Don’t be afraid to ask your friends, family, and professional connections to help get the word out about your link worthy content. They might just be the spark that ignites the conversation and buzz about your content.

Press Release: Distribute an online press release about your new content. Many online press release distribution sites will get the word out, links back to your website, and traffic to your site as well.

Social Media: Send out tweets, post on your Facebook fan page, submit your content to bookmarking sites like Stumbleupon, Digg, Reddit, and others, and don’t forget about LinkedIn. If your link worthy content is centered around expert feedback or insider information, LinkedIn will prove essential: other professionals in your industry will want to get the insider scoop.

Creating link worthy content and promoting it, is probably the very best strategy for obtaining those highly valued "editorial" links.  If people voluntarily discuss your content and link to it, those links often provide the very best link juice for your website.  Feel free to list some other link worthy content ideas in the comments below.

Kaila Strong

Kaila is a Sr. Account Manager at Vertical Measures. She works directly with clients to evaluate and analyze their overall Internet Marketing needs, creates sales proposals and recommendations. In addition she regularly reports on client rankings, gives SEO advice to brands in a variety of industries and manages client expectations.

Kaila has a background in social media marketing, link building, SEO and content marketing. She’s an active blogger on SearchEngineWatch.com, and an avid social media user (@cliquekaila on Twitter). She brings her experience to the table with new clients and enjoys writing about her experiences as well here on the VM blog and throughout the web.

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