Complete Beginner’s Guide to SEO

Since I started working in online marketing a few years ago, my head has gotten pretty crammed with acronyms. Alphabet soup like KPI, PPC, SoLoMo, TOFU, BOFU and FOMO sound perfectly normal to me now – crazy, huh?

But by far, the acronym most people ask about is SEO, or search engine optimization. This aspect of online marketing seems to defy explanation for lots of folks.

In this post, we’re going to break it down in the complete beginner’s guide to SEO: what SEO is, how it works, what factors affect search and what sorts of changes you can make today to improve your search optimization.

What is SEO?

If you’ve ever searched for something online (and most of us have), you already know more about SEO than you think you do.

Think about how that works: You put a word or a phrase into a search engine like Google (the main search engine we’ll talk about throughout this article) that describes what you’re looking for.

Then you pick the result that seems the best or most useful for your search, from pages of results that look something like this.

But there are a few different agendas under the surface of any search. Let’s say your search is for sneakers.

• You want to find the shoes you want (so you can look cool/play sports/etc.).
• Your search engine wants to provide you the best, most useful results (so you’ll come back).
• And any business that sells sneakers – whether online or in a store – wants to be the first result you see when you search (so they can sell more sneakers).

Making all those “wants” match up is the job of search engine optimization. SEO professionals employ a variety of different strategies to make websites appear higher in your list of results and make it more likely that you’ll click on them to find what you’re looking for.

SEO is important for lots of companies because if people find you via a web search and find what they’re looking for, you can receive lots of new web visitors that can help you make more money. If people can’t find you in a web search, you miss an opportunity – and they might find your competitor, instead.

SEO is often part of an overall online marketing strategy and complements other tactics like social media marketing, content marketing and more.

What factors affect a search?

When we type something into the Google search box, there’s a lot going on under the hood. Google takes into account more than 200 different factors to help it determine the results for each query. No one knows all of the factors, but there are a lot of guesses – meaning there are many different paths to optimization.

Google’s excellent Inside Search interactive resource offers a small glimpse into the process:

Let’s look more closely at a few of the major factors that we know Google takes into account as it considers your search.

1. Your question

The first thing Google tries to do is understand what you’re getting at with your query. It uses a technology called Knowledge Graph to help it better understand the nature of what you might be looking for, and whether it can best satisfy you with a definition, a list, a map or something else.

You might have noticed the way Google guesses the end of your search as you start typing and fixes your spelling if you mistype.

It also works hard in other ways to give you what you need quickly. For example, if you type “timer 30 minutes” into Google, it will create a timer for you right from the search results instead of having you click away to an online timer.

If you’re checking on the status of a flight you’re set to take when signed in to Google with your Gmail address, Google will search through your mail to give you the status of your flight.

Search engines are continually working on new and better ways to predict what we’re looking for and what we need faster and more accurately.

2. Your location

A search engine not only takes into account the nature of your question but also where you’re asking it from. For instance, when I put a query like “pizza” into Google, it does some thinking for me and assumes I’d rather have a list of pizza places near me than a Wikipedia entry about the history of pizza.

So local businesses have to put special effort into maximizing their SEO efforts for local visibility, which means doing things like optimizing their Google Places pages.

3. Who created it

Google likes rewarding real people who write great content. One way it accomplishes this is through Google Authorship, which gives a special designation to authors who are verified through Google+. You can identify a verified author by
the small photo their byline next to their content in search results.

4. Your friends

Another factor search engines are increasingly banking on is each individual’s social network. “Social search” allows you to easily find content – like restaurant reviews, blog posts, photos and more – created by your friends and the contacts in your “social circle.”

In this search, you can see how Google has pulled one result for me specifically because Max Minzer, whom I’m connected with on Google+, shared it.

5. How it got shared

More that using your individual social network to serve you personalized results, search engines also use social sharing as a signal to determine the quality level of a piece of content.

That means social actions like Facebook shares and Google “+1s” likely play a part in how Google chooses which results to show you for a given search.

Here’s how Searchmetrics explains it in its ranking factors study:

Well positioned URLs have a high number of likes, shares, tweets and plus ones, and specific URLs stand out in the top search results with a very high mass of social signals. On one hand, this means that the activity on social networks continues to increase, on the other hand it means that frequently shared content increasingly correlates with good rankings.

This makes sense because social media is a growing way to find websites and content. The percentage of people who used social media to find websites increased 7 percent from 2011 to 2012 – in fact, using social media to find websites is growing faster than using search engines, according to Forrester Research data.

6. Your device

Finally it’s important for a search engine to understand whether you’re on a computer, a tablet or a mobile phone as it prepares to give you search results.

Think about how your needs change from one device to another. On a laptop, you may be looking for content to read at leisure. On your phone, you might need a phone number right away, or a quick way to compare a price.

Mobile search requires a different type of result for different needs.

All these factors combined mean that my search engine results for a specific question might look totally different from yours, depending on things like who we know, where we are and what type of device we’re searching on.

But what does an SEO do?

So beyond understanding and studying the many factors that affect search results, what does an SEO actually do?

Although all SEOs generally shares the same goal – to help a website be found by more people, more easily – the way they get there can vary widely.

But there are some common practices that you’ll hear about when it comes to search engine optimization. An SEO:

Optimizes the site

The first part of a solid SEO strategy focuses on the technical side of a website. Since Google finds information about a website by crawling it, it’s often the job of an SEO to make sure the site is easy for Google to find and crawl. This graphic from DataDial focuses on site architecture.

That means doing lots of different things to optimize the site itself like assuring the site has a sitemap Google can find, making sure it loads quickly and analyzing the site’s design and architecture to make sure it works well for users. Lots of SEOs will perform a technical audit to determine a list of issues with a site.

Researches and optimizes keywords

Keywords are the words you enter into a search engine to find what you’re looking for. If we go back to our sneakers example, a shoe company might want to be known for shoe-related keywords like “tennis shoes,” “sneakers” and “athletic shoes” as well as specific brands like Nike or Reebok.

SEOs perform keyword research to determine which keywords would be best to target for a given site. Then they make sure the site uses those keywords often enough and in the right spots in a process called keyword optimization. This graphic from DataDial is a good primer on some basic spots for keywords..

Builds links

Before search engines like Google had fancy ways to personalize your search results based on your friends and your location, they used one main element to figure out which stuff was the best on the web: links.

When a well respected, trusted website links to your site, it sends a signal to Google that you’re hanging out with good company. If this happens often enough with enough trusted, quality websites, Google gets the idea that you’re a trusted, quality website – and makes it more likely that searchers will see your site.

This means that SEOs spend a lot of time working on getting links in a process called link building. Link-building tactics can range from simply asking for a link to writing a guest post – and there are many others. Again, DataDial  breaks it down.

Helps creates content (that builds links)

One of the best ways to get links these days is by creating great content. Whether it’s a video, a blog post, a tool, a comic or another resource, great content naturally attracts links as people visit it, share it and talk about it. Thisgraphic from Top Rank explains it well.

When you put all the main components of an SEO strategy together, it looks kind of like this diagram.

More SEO reading

To learn even more about SEO, here are some in-depth resources.

• Google’s How Search Works
• Moz’s Beginner’s Guide to SEO
• Point Blanks SEO’s What the Heck is SEO and Why Should I Care?

source: https://blog.bufferapp.com

A Beginner’s Guide to Successful Email Marketing

“You’ve got mail.”

Do you remember hearing that? It’s one of those legendary pieces of Internet history formed when the road was still being paved and we were foraging our way through the wilderness of what was the original World Wide Web.

Although times have changed and AOL no longer sends CD’s in the mail, we can still thank them for introducing us to email and our addiction to it.

These days, we’ve replaced that message with Tweets, likes, and status updates, but that doesn’t mean that our affinity for email is any less. In fact, because of the noise that is social media, one could argue that the inbox has become our virtual dojo, our place of solitude amongst the chaos.

This is why, as an entrepreneur, I believe that building successful email marketing campaigns has never been more important than it is now. But there’s a problem; most people don’t know how to do it right. So in the interest of furthering best practices and helping you succeed as a business owner, let’s get back to the basics and talk about how a great email campaign is built, from the ground up.

You’re in their house

People are inundated with interruption, pitches, and advertisements everywhere they look, and though you might think yours is special, there’s a high probability that to the reader, it looks the same as the rest. This is why it’s important to remember where you are, and use your good manners as a result.

Getting into someone’s inbox is like being invited to their home for dinner. If they ask you to take your shoes off, you respectfully do so. It’s the same with email marketing, so before we begin I’d simply like to remind you to be on your best behavior at all times and remember…you’re in their house.

Phase I: Getting Permission

Of course, no email campaign was ever built without getting permission to get started, so first we’ll need to focus on building a sizable email list.

There are many ways you can do this of course. Some prefer to give something away for free while others simply offer a newsletter or product updates.

I can’t tell you which is the right or wrong answer in this case, but I can tell you that it’s important to have a clear purpose when asking for an address. This is where a strong call to action comes into play, and copywriting is super important.

• What do I get when I give you my email address?
• Are you going to spam me?
• How often will you email me?
• Will I get discounts?
• Will I get a first crack at your beta?
• Will you send me relevant offers or more junk?

These are the kinds of things you’ll need to address if you want to be successful in phase 1. Simply posting “enter your email for updates” isn’t going to get anyone excited to do so. Instead, consider sharing specifics:

Note the Clear and Concise Call to Action in the Examples Above

Take a look at the examples above and you’ll see that the first tells me I’m getting a free catalogue and a series of reviews and special offers, while the 2^nd tells me exactly when I’ll receive the newsletter updates. This is a far more specific, and effective, way of doing business.

A quick look at my own practices tells me that the offers I subscribe to most often are for:

• Email Series’ (i.e. 6 Ways to Change the World)
• Free Downloads
• Free White Papers or eBooks
• Update Lists (New Issue Notifications, Product Updates, New Releases)

Lastly, and Amazon does this really well, your customers make great candidates, so don’t forget to integrate some form of registration or email subscription as part of your purchasing process. Just remember to treat these addresses with special regard, which we’ll talk about in phase 2.

Get Whitelisted

While almost all reputable email service providers work very hard to make sure that your emails are not blocked by major ISP’s, they can’t control whether or not your emails hit the inbox or the spam box. Although most will help you by providing a quality score to help you determine availability, getting whitelisted is the most effective way to ensure that your emails get delivered properly.

Essentially, getting whitelisted is equivalent to being marked as a friend, and the best way to achieve this is by being added to the recipient’s address book. The best way to do this is by providing instructions to do so at the top of each email, especially on the initial thank you and first follow-up email.

Furthermore, here are instructions from some of the more popular online providers:

• AWeber
• Mailchimp
• Constant Contact
• Campaign Monitor
• Blue Sky Factory
• Emma

Phase II: Playing the Numbers Game

Manage Expectations with Follow-Up Efforts

Email marketing is all about expectations, and it’s up to you to set them. If your call to action is strong, and your follow-up is consistent, then you can count on a positive campaign. However, if you promise to send one email per week and instead send them daily, then you’re setting yourself up for failure. On the contrary, if someone is expecting daily updates or critical product updates and you don’t’ deliver, then they are likely to be just as upset in that case too.

Because I asked, I expect Hugh MacLeod to email his cartoons daily.

This is why the first follow-up email is so crucial to the success of your email marketing efforts. Almost all email service providers give you the option to create an autoresponder sequence, and it’s imperative that you take advantage of it.

The initial follow-up email should be sent immediately as a way to introduce yourself and detail what you plan on doing with your new subscriber’s email address. It’s better to be long-winded and detailed than it is to be quick and unobtrusive, but if you can pull off quick and concise then more power to you.

From here, it’s simply a matter of living up to their expectations.

When to Pitch

If you’re going to get in the habit of pitching often, try to put yourself in the reader’s shoes. Ask yourself if your messaging is consistent with the expectations you’ve set. As I said before, Amazon does this well because they send relevant offers based on my buying habits. Those that send blind offers are far more likely to lose permission to keep doing so.

Notice how Amazon recommends products based on my prior buying habits.

Another option to consider is the value you’re providing. While Amazon can provide value in an offer, you might have to provide it with a newsletter or in linking to blog posts or other forms of media content.

Again, each business has different needs, and there aren’t any hard and fast rules as to how often you can pitch or provide content, but remember that an email list is a permission asset and it’s better to err on the side of caution than to play it loose and reckless.

What’s in a Newsletter

The Sprouter Newsletter is a welcome addition to my inbox because they provide value through insights, updates, and new content. Each email is prefaced with an introduction, and includes a list of great posts, local events, and hot startups.

While we’re on the topic of content, let’s talk about the difference between a good newsletter and a bad newsletter.

The first sign that you’ve received a bad newsletter is that you don’t recall ever asking to receive it. Typically, this happens when a business either fails to maintain a regular email routine or uses poor form and manually adds me to their list after receiving a business card or personal email.

I find that the most compelling newsletters are those that do a great job of mixing messaging and updates. For example, while the email might contain a list of product updates and images, it’s balanced by a personal message or friendly update.

As a rule of thumb, try to use your newsletter as a way to further your relationship with the reader/customer rather than to pitch them. Save the pitch for unique updates, offers, and announcements.

Using the Autoresponder

As a marketer myself, one of the issues I run into most often is that I forget to talk to my list until I have something to sell. Obviously, this is not ideal.

This is where an autoresponder can save you, and why I recommend scheduling content to be delivered on a consistent basis over the course of several months.

For example, Copyblogger offers a newsletter titled “Internet Marketing for Smart People,” and it contains a dozen plus great pieces on how to market better as an online entrepreneur. I can’t remember when I signed up, but I do know that I’ve received an occasional email at least once per month over the past 6 months.

The benefit of that is when you do need to announce a new product or sale, you can count on the fact that you’ve already been in touch, having built a relationship over several weeks/months, and are much less likely to annoy your readers. Of course, it’s important to schedule your autoresponder sequence on specific days so that you know when you can afford to send an email. More than one per day and you’re probably mailing too much.

If you find yourself asking “will this email be one too many?” then it’s probably one too many.

Phase III: Segmentation and Analytics

Analytics

Notice the detailed daily statistics for open rate on a recent AWeber campaign.

We’ve talked before about the importance of analytics in web copy, and email is no different. Every service provider I’ve ever worked with provides complimentary analytics.

Though they’re all important, the 3 most important to me are open rate, click through rate (CTR), and unsubscribes.

Your open rate will tell you how well you’ve built your relationship; if the number is low, it means that people have started to delete upon receipt, which means you need to work harder on providing value and/or managing expectations.

If your CTR is low, it means that your message is either not targeted enough, or simply not getting through. In this case, focus on improving your copy.

If your unsubscription rate is high in relation to your opt-in rate, then you’ve passed the point of building value and writing good copy…you’ve got some serious work to do. If this is you, try to examine when people are leaving and take action based on those leaks.

If they’re leaving after a certain autoresponder email, then re-work it. If they’re leaving after marketing messages, then re-work the way you present offers. If they’re leaving early on in your funnel, then you need to fix your original call to action so that it’s in harmony with what you’re sending.

Email analytics are critical in that if you’re paying attention, they’ll give you very specific clues as to what you’re doing wrong. Of course the key variable here is “paying attention.”

Segmentation

If you’re unfamiliar with the term, segmentation is the practice of splitting up your email list into more targeted groups.

For example, the following are ways to segment a larger, more unified list:

• Customer List (in comparison to leads)
• Product Updates (in comparison to a customer list)
• Newsletter
• Daily Email List (in comparison to weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, etc)
• HTML (yes, some people prefer the option for text)

In dividing your list in this manner, you give yourself the ability to send more targeted communication. Some customers want both product and sales updates, while others might only want to hear about new versions. If you don’t give them the chance to choose, you risk losing them all-together. Since customers make the best buyers, it’s fairly obvious why you want to keep them subscribed to your customer email list.

With segmentation, you can send a broadcast only to those that didn’t open your last message (ask them why), or to those that showed interest (a 2^nd pitch). You can also split test messaging amongst different groups in order to refine your best practices.

As you can see, segmentation isn’t rocket science, but it is work, which is why most don’t take the time to do it right. If you do, you’ll immediately separate yourself from the pack.

The Value of Your List

In the future, we’ll talk about more advanced techniques, such as measuring the cost of lead acquisition, but for now know this: your email list is one of your most valuable resources, and if you learn how to treat it right, the cost of doing so will pay for itself.

If you can imagine that each person on your list is worth a set value, say $5, then you can understand immediately how losing several hundred could be dangerous to your bottom line.

What do you think? How has email marketing served you best? What practices help you to keep your numbers growing and your readers engaged? Share in the comments.

source: https://blog.kissmetrics.com