Great copywriting does more than get your message out there. It combines that message with your best qualities to create copy your readers can relate to. They'll feel the difference between you and your competitors and be compelled to act.

5 Post-Penguin Content Strategy Tips

If there’s one thing the last two Google algorithm updates have in common, it’s panic. The Panda Update started it all off. Legitimate sites tanked, while crap websites floated to the top of the search results. Leaving site owners confused and wondering how to update their content strategies.

(Photo Courtesy of ICanHazCheezburger)

Penguin was next, and it caused just as much panic, if not more. Sites that had sat in the top ten for years suddenly vanished. And practices that had worked well for a good many years suddenly had negative effects on the site’s rankings. The result? Even more legitimate sites felt the slap of the penguin.

While Google said this last update was designed to affect those using crap tactics like link networks and keyword stuffing, it seemed to do much more than that. Duplicate content, (which has been an issue for quite some time),  large amounts of copied or republished content, and pages created specifically (and solely) for SEO purposes also seem to be creating hassles.

This has left website owners with more questions than answers. Now what are they supposed to do?

 

Consider Your Audience

I really thought this was Marketing 101, but after seeing tons of posts recommending that you focus on keywords and link building tactics, I’m not so sure. I’m not saying I disagree, but you need to use basic common sense. If you’re building a brand (as opposed to a turn-and-burn site), you should always consider your audience. That’s the whole point of creating the site in the first place!

Sadly, far too many website owners focus on what they want to tell everyone, rather than what their audience wants to hear. And to these people, I have one thing to say:

You don’t matter.

No one cares about a brand or a company. They don’t care about what you think, and they certainly don’t want to hear about the next big idea you have. They aren’t going to hand over the cash just because they like you.

Customers care about the benefits and value you can provide. That’s it. And without providing them with some sort of payoff, the rest doesn’t matter. It’s only after you’ve provided this value and built up a rapport with your customers that loyalty, devotion, and other important elements in the sales process come into play.

(Photo by Jurvetson)

Stop Creating Content for the Sake of Creating Content

Lots of websites create and publish content simply because they’re trying to maintain a regular schedule, or because their SEO professional told them to publish x number of articles monthly. This is all well and good. These things definitely have benefits, but eventually, you’ll run out of things to say and start publishing junk.

(While James Chartrand didn’t specifically mention SEO or marketing benefits in her post about abandoning her editorial schedule, she did talk about how the constant need to create great content can ruin your image. The comments are also full of good information and ideas.)

And your customers want something in return for investing time and energy into your company (even if that “investment” is nothing more than clicking a link to your site). Stop providing that value, and they might not come back.

Think of it like this: Every time you come home, the family dog greets you at the door and you give him a treat. Then, you run out of treats, so you shout at him. Run out of treats often enough, and the dog is going to stop greeting you at the door (or bite).

You might not be yelling at your site visitors (and I’m not saying they’re dogs), but you get the idea. Everything you create, publish, and spend time on should have a purpose and a point. And if you keep your audience’s needs in mind, this step should happen naturally.

If It Seems Too Good to Be True, It Probably Is

“All you have to do for a number one ranking is distribute 30 articles a month to 2000 different sites. These articles cost $10 each, so you can be number one for just $300!”

Ready for the bad news? If an SEO strategy seems really easy and cheap, it’s probably not going to work. And if it does work, it won’t work for long. As soon as Google updates its algos, the value will disappear and all that money and time will be wasted.

Bad article marketing is just one example. Even great link building techniques can be a bad thing if they’re overused. Your marketing strategy needs to be customer-centric and have variety, if you want to get anywhere and avoid animal updates like these.

To do this, you need to take three steps:

• Assess what you’ve already done and what you have access to.
• See where your industry is in terms of news and information.
• Identify things your target audience isn’t getting from your competitors.

The resulting strategy you create should be as unique as your website and the customers who frequent it. (As a side effect, creating a strategy like this should also naturally eliminate low-quality tactics like keyword stuffing and constant content republishing.

(Photo by Cayusa)

Resist the Urge to Put a Band Aid on the Issues

It’s hard to resist the panic when your site’s rankings and traffic drop, but don’t scramble and take desperate measures to fix things. You could very well end up costing yourself far more than you gain.

For example, I recently spoke to a website owner who removed all the backlinks to his site that didn’t come from standard websites that had a Toolbar PageRank of 3 or higher. This sounded good, at first. But think about it: Now, all his links are the same. There’s no variety. And there are now no low quality links, which would appear naturally anyway. He also spent the better part of a week getting rid of these links. (The value and accuracy of Toolbar PageRank is a whole other post…)

My suggestion? If the links and content you’re worried about are really bad and likely having a significant negative effect, get rid of them. Otherwise, forget about the low quality stuff and start investing in higher quality content and links. Take the opportunity to do it right. Create a link bait strategy and build better links, for example.

Here’s something else to be aware of:

In the process of trying to fix things, this site owner obliterated all of his content, except the site’s main pages. This worked. The site rose in the search results. But, a short time later, the site’s rankings started to fluctuate, and eventually it plummeted beyond its previous position.

What happened?

It could have been a few things. First, he may have very well eliminated content and links that were keeping his site afloat. Interestingly, Google had also released another algo tweak while he was making changes to his site, so that could have done it, too. But because everything happened so quickly, he has no idea which actions helped the site and which one harmed it.

All the time and money he had invested in his site is wasted. Customers that might have landed on his site through various links will now get a 404 page. And, instead of a few tweaks, this site owner now has to start over from scratch.

If you feel the best way forward is to remove content, links, or make other changes to your site,  do yourself a favour and make the changes slowly.

• Keep track of what you do and when you do it.
• Give the search engines time to assess and rank everything, before making additional changes.
• Make sure the changes are reversible, at least at the start.
• Try to change a small area first. This way, you can get an idea of what the results will be, before you invest heaps of time into making the change.
• Get a second opinion and do some research. This way, you can be sure that the problems you’ve identified are actually problems.

Variety, Creativity and the Desire to Stand Out

Perhaps the best thing to come out of all this is the challenge Google has presented to the billions of brands trying to be found online. With these last few changes, the search engine has upped the ante and challenged website owners to go beyond blending in. Take advantage of it.

Get creative with your strategies, your content, and your branding. Take risks. Have fun with it, and don’t be afraid to branch out a little. You’ll give your readers some relief from the same old stuff and  improve your rankings and authority in the process.

Focus on variety. Use different mediums, markets, industries, and strategies to give your site (and link profile) as much variation as possible. Not only will this help immunize your site against future updates, but it will also help expand your reach and capture the eye of different audiences.

Remember: Nike didn’t become an industry leader by fitting in. This company created amazing products, took chances, and did things differently from everyone else. And today, thousands (or even millions) of people won’t wear anything else but Nike brand sneakers.

Want to know more? Head over to Success Works to watch Heather Lloyd-Martin’s video on the subject. In the meantime, what tips do you have for recovering from Google’s algorithm updates?

Is Google Getting Into Flight Comparison Shopping?

While looking up the distance between my hometown and Vancouver to find out how far away a friend was from me, I came across this:

If you look at that, you’ll notice there is a spot for you to enter your departure and return date. It seems Dean Cruddace was able to reproduce the same results with his query:

Google now selling flights? No! They’re pushing travel sites. When you click the link, you get this:

Interesting right? But wait! There’s more!

The site links below the title link are as follows:

Top of Form

Bottom of Form

Expedia – Travelocity – Priceline – Orbitz – Hotwire – Kayak – CheapOair

Now, the title link has several referrers: http://www.expedia.com/pub/agent.dll?qscr=fexp&flag=q&city1=YXH&citd1=YVR&time1=720&time2=720&cAdu=1&cSen=0&cChi=0&cInf=&infs=2&date1=10/29&date2=11/05

The site links? As Thomas Fjordside pointed out, some have ref=googleflightlink. Others have what looks to be affiliate codes, and others have nothing really substantial aside from tracking codes.

So what’s the deal here?

Are these sites simply authority sites? Has a deal been reached with the companies? Or is this something they’re just testing and those are the sites they picked out of their magic hat?

Google Beating Up On the Small Guys By Profiting Off the Big Guns?

This has me asking lots of questions:

• Has Google entered into partnership with Expedia?
  
• What about the little guys who are missing out on the profits?
  
• Will this spread to hotels, cruises, tours, car rentals, and other competitive niches in the travel industry?
  

Not sure I like what’s going on here, but I’m sure we’ll find out more in the near future. I’m going to do a bit more digging around, and I’ll get back to you when I find out more. In the meantime, have a look yourself and let us know what you find!

What are your thoughts on the new feature? How could clients use that to their advantage?

The Fine Art Of Creating a Guest Posting Strategy

When was the last time you created a guest posting strategy? How carefully do you choose the host sites for your content?

Guest blogging (content placement) is one of my favorite ways to build good links, expand a company’s reach, build authority, and bring more traffic to a site.

Guest posts can also be a smart alternative to paid links — many believe the links acquired through guest posting are worth more because they’re located in the content, rather than in a sidebar, or list of links. They’re less likely to disappear; they have a one-time cost, and give you the most bang for your buck.

If you want all this, however, you can’t just drop guest posts on the first site you come across. You have to choose the destination sites very carefully.

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Find Authority Sites To Guest Post On

Social Media Today recently published a list of the 10 Places To Find Blogs To Guest Post On. In it, the author listed several places that maintain collections of authority sites. This is excellent advice. It works well, but you can’t rely on this alone.

First, use search to find the ones the lists above have missed. Advanced search queries are a powerful way to find good guest posting opportunities.

You can find out more about advanced search queries here:

• Google Search Basics — Google’s Web Search Help
  
• Link Building Search Queries Collection — Search Engine Journal
  
• 21 Link Builders Share Advanced Link Building Queries — Search Engine Land
  
• Long List of Link Searches — SEOmoz
  
• Link Building Tools and Content-Based Link Opportunity Analysis– Ontolo
  
• Link Search Tool — Solo SEO
  

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Sort the Great Guest Posting Opportunities From the Good Ones

Finding the best places to guest post involves more than just locating authority sites on a related topic. In fact, if you focus purely on the link value of guest blogging, you’re missing out on the real SEO and marketing value this tactic can generate.

You need to find a spot to guest post that matches your goals and attracts your specific target audience. It should reflect the skills or strengths of your business, and open the door to future opportunities.

Being a copywriter, you’d think I’d post mostly on copywriting sites. This isn’t true. Instead, you’ll find I frequent SEO, social media, and Internet marketing sites, as well as various industry-specific sites. Why?

While there are plenty of authority sites in the copywriting industry, these sites have very little value for me:

• I’m rarely hired by other copywriters.
  
• My customers don’t read sites focused on copywriters.
  
• My business and I are painted into a corner. If I only post on copywriting sites, I’m perceived as being strictly a good writer. And while I do have excellent copywriting skills, I’m much more than that. To be a great copywriter, you need to know about more than just spelling and grammar. In reality, copywriting online involves SEO, social media, conversion optimization, branding, business, marketing, usability, buyer behavior, and much more.
  
• There’s no opportunity for growth, if I stay in the copywriting niche.
  
• I have more competition within the industry. This isn’t to say other copywriters disappear once you leave the industry, but unless you’re willing to get out there and stand out, you’ll blend in.
  

When I guest post, I focus on helping others see the value in quality copywriting and how to use it to their advantage. I help others understand how to integrate content into their businesses and websites, how to create winning content strategies, and how to achieve and surpass their goals because that’s what my products and services do.

In return, my guest posts have earned award nominations, become a recommended resource for governments and university professors, generated clients, and opened the door to opportunities I wouldn’t have gotten otherwise. This is all in addition to the buzz, traffic, and additional links the practice initially created. This would have been much more difficult to accomplish if I had stayed on my own blog.

I would say these  benefits are worth the time invested in choosing guest post destinations, and far more valuable than a $2,000 paid link. Don’t you think?

You can and should do the same with your guest posting strategy. To get started:

• Make a list of authority blogs and content-based sites.
• Study their style, direction and audience.
• Make connections with the site owners.
• Craft and publish your content.

That’s it!

Do you have a guest posting strategy?

Is Personalization Changing Your Game Plan?

The Web is changing. Big surprise, right? Well, it might be for those who aren’t prepared or fail to see what’s going on.
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In recent months, Google has introduced social and real time results to its regular SERPs in addition to an increase in personalization. With more and more people out of work and bending under financial strain, new websites and competition are popping up everywhere. The big question is what are you doing about it?

In terms of basic SEO, there isn’t much besides keeping up with the changes and doing what you can. Social Media is definitely starting to play a much larger role in many marketing plans. In fact, the latest study suggests 66% of government agencies have even got onboard. But what about your marketing plans and the strategies you create for others? Are they changing with the introduction of personalization and an increase in competition?

The Internet Marketer’s Guide to Battling Personalization?

One thing is for sure, sites that don’t cater to the user are going to be left behind, if they haven’t been already. Site owners need to start considering how they’ll go the extra mile in order to make the user feel at home and become a favorite. On the other hand, webmasters also need to keep it profitable. No easy task, for sure.

Usability

Usability has become almost a trend word, but there really is something to it. After all, the more easily I can navigate your site and find what I want, the more money I’m likely to spend. You might be thinking your website is already quite user friendly, but like someone who smells his own body odor for too long, it can be hard to spot the obvious.

Having a usability expert is one way to fix this. And, if you choose a good one, you’ll find that he or she has the uncanny ability to spot things that most of us don’t think of until they’re fixed. If you can’t afford one, but would still like to make improvements, talk to a partially technologically-challenged person and have them test your site.

Sit down with them at the computer and watch as they go through your website completing various tasks. This could include purchasing an item, signing up to your RSS feeds, finding specific information, and many other seemingly simple actions. Take note of how long it takes them to complete each thing, where they look, and the items they click on. You’ll find that doing this with a few people will help identify trouble spots. (Bonus tip: When they first open the site, ask them what the site is about and what they see first. This can be extremely powerful information!)

Conversion Optimization

Often confused with usability, conversion optimization can be a long, drawn out process. Experts in this field use analytics, live tracking, and many other components and tools to figure out what types of visitors use your site, what they’re looking for, and where they’re going. From there, they will create defined paths customized to meet the needs of each type of (profitable) visitor in order to boost conversions.

While this is no easy feat, there are steps you can take on your own to improve conversions. Site testing, analyzing your own analytics by creating custom events, and using tracking codes to find out what your customers are up to, what they like, and what they don’t like. Then, you can make the appropriate changes and test it out.

Site Optimization

While this is technically part of usability, SEO, and conversion optimization, I think it’s important enough to deserve its own category. This covers the technical side of the website and makes it work more efficiently and more accurately. In my eyes, this breaks down into two areas:

Data Optimization — This is a big one for sites with large amounts of information that are accessed by the user (For example, online catalogs, complex structures with numerous departments). These techniques use various structures and code systems to organize this data, recall it faster, and more accurately.

Web Design Optimization — Techniques such as combining or separating images into PSDs, improving the focus on particular elements, and improving the loading of the CSS through Javascript make the site faster, improve usability, and boost conversions.

These things might not help you overcome the effects of personalization and an increase in competition, but they can certainly help. If nothing else, you’ll be able to make the most of the traffic you do get.

So, what are you doing to help counteract personalization and improve the performance of your site?

The Modern Version of Customer Service: A Note to SEO Naysayers

The entire concept of people squabbling over the death or validity of SEO is absurd, completely ridiculous, and a waste of valuable time on all sides. If I hear someone tell me ‘they don’t use SEO because it’s evil and the Google gods will smite them and wipe them from existence if they use it’ one more time, I’m going to need one of these:

(Curious Expeditions)

You know what? If you own a website, you’re already using SEO. It might not have the most effective tactics on the planet or be one of the worst methods to ever hit the WWW, but it’s still SEO. Don’t believe me? Answer these questions and assign one point for each ‘yes’ answer:

• Does your website have a URL?
• Does your site contain text?
• How about images? (one point for each pic)
• Do you give visitors the option to explore your site via navigation?
• Does your site contain any links to any other internal or external page?

Here’s the deal: if you scored ’1′ or more on this test, you’re using SEO. And if you own a website and you’ve called SEO evil, denounced its existence, or said it’s dead, you’re an idiot. Congratulations.

URLs, text, images, navigation, links and many other features are all part of SEO. They’re just done well, poorly, or disgustingly.

SEO isn’t about title tags, anchor text, or what color hat you wear. It’s not dead because, last time I checked, it isn’t breathing, it doesn’t grow, and doesn’t have life. SEO isn’t about how good your buddies think you are, or whether you made it onto some list somewhere as the biggest marketer on the planet. Let’s knock off the bullshit and just cut to the nitty gritty shall we?

SEO is about usability. Period. It’s about making your website, content, ad, or whatever easier to use for both crawlers and humans. It’s about getting found for the right things and providing ‘good customer service’ from the moment someone finds your site until he leaves. It’s no different than keeping the aisles of your store clean, the shelves and racks neat and someone at the cash register.

Got it? Good! So, now that we’ve got that sorted, let’s look at the two basic ‘rules’ of SEO.

If something makes your website more user friendly, easier to explore, and more effective, do it. If it makes the site impossible to identify, difficult to use, complicated, and just plain nasty, or if it clutters up the Web and becomes a pain in the Equus Asinus, it’s a bad thing. Don’t do it. No! Don’t! That’s enough of that silliness.

Now, I know this has been harsh, but it’s for your own good.

If I can’t use your site, or have to fight with you to sell me something, I’m just going to go elsewhere and so will everyone else who might happen to stumble across your site while searching for ‘pink and purple polka dotted squirrels with eating disorders, bald tails, and bad attitudes’. (If your site provides information on pink with purple polka dotted squirrels with eating disorders, bald tails, and bad attitudes, you’re in luck.)

Whether you like it or not, you have to cater to your customer, regardless of whether it’s a human customer or a bot.

I think most would agree that SEO is constantly evolving and changing. It needs to in order to continue serving visitors of all kinds effectively. But, so long as websites exist, SEO will always be there in some way, shape, or form.

Done deal. Can we get on with it now?

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