National Brands without Physical Stores Struggle to Rank for Local and other 2013 #SMX West Insights

My Web Writers Attended #SMX 2013

By My Web Writers

How can You Rank for Local, if You’re a National Brand without Local Stores?

Good luck.  There are few alternatives to building physical stores.  When a user types in a qualifying term like “pants Toledo”, he or she is probably looking  for a Toledo clothing store that sells pants.  Often the user is located within 1.5 miles of the store at that time.  In many cases, it’s becoming the norm for national chains, that solely sell online, to fall below the local listings of brands with stores.

How do you get around the local problem if you’re a national chain without physical stores?  Some panelists suggested building local pages on your website, while others suggested empowering affiliates to drive traffic for local, long-tailed keywords. Local landing pages are required and must have phone tracking, pricing, transparency, an adoption plan, and ensured alignment with the national PPC campaign.

Balihoo.com, which offers a free download of going local ideas, suggested starting with 4 – 5 affiliates and empowering them with incentives in local markets.  My Web Writers also published a post on going local back in 2012.

For those businesses that do have physical stores, Scott Nickels of Home Depot shared a story of a map pin to a local store that ended up in the wrong place. Traffic kept flowing to a residential home before the resident finally called to complain about the headlights in her back yard. Store managers have to be aware of the postcard process required for validation of the physical addresses and Maps needs to better hone in on the locales.

Home Depot’s word for 2013 is “local.” Nickels suggests creating one page per store and localizing social, too. He somberly shook his head when an attendee asked, “Do you mean if I have 53 stores, I have to optimize 53 Facebook pages?”

“Yes, yes you do,” he replied.

2013 #SMX West Insights

There are already so many, insightful, #SMX West 2013 recaps floating around the web from various attendees, but here are a few more insights as well as a list of the recaps.

Random Notes from Watching Sites Get Critiqued:

• Put Java Script and CSS in external script.

• Don’t use disavow if possible. Don’t tell Google you have a problem unless you have a PhD in understanding linking. You don’t want to accidentally remove links that are actually working for you.

• Submit articles to Reddit.

• Canonicals- make sure all products are given credit.

• PR can build legitimate page links.

• Shopping cart pages should be optimized with what the latest coupon codes are. Remember to 301 redirect expired coupons.

• Experiment with Google Plus to get juice for search-ability.

• Don’t blog just to blog. Consider putting monies toward PR opportunities.

• Schematag.org – a plugin for WordPress

• Enrich your Google Places ranking.

Take-aways from other SMX West sessions are as follows:

• Authorship and identity will matter more over time. False identities will be found.  Do authorities and brands have rank? Individuals have their own brands and should use authorship to maintain them.  Big brands are still struggling with this, which makes it a good time for small companies to utilize Authorship.

• “Links still have many good years ahead of them.” ~Matt Cutts

• Social interaction helps to determine SERP’s.

• Mobile is going to surprise a lot of people. It’s a critical factor.  Isolate mobile in Analytics. There’s a web page test tool that @AnneCushing likes to use to watch a video of how long it takes to load a client’s page.  It helps clients to see the importance of improving site speed- http://www.webpagetest.org/.

• “SEO is no longer about tactics, but more about strategy.”

• “Keep the company focused on metrics that matter to the company and not ranking reports.”

• Duane Forrester says the most important SEO factor for next year is “usability.  It’s more important than h-tags.”

• Ann Cushing said to “focus less on keywords and more on landing pages.”

• Matt Cutts reiterated that the “global view is the same as in other years. Give the user what they want.” Annotate your web pages with ‘about of’ markup for Chrome users. You can also disavow at a domain level.

• Rae Hoffman encouraged SEO’s to “Let go of how easy it used to be.”

• Greg Bowser said, “Embrace the big data.”

Looking for additional #SMX 2013 Recaps and Insights?  Read these excellent posts:

SEO Success in 2013 & beyond: Matt Cutts & others’ insights at #SMX

Matt Cutts, Duane Forrester talk ‘Adventures in SEO’ at SMX West

SMX West 2013: Top Tips, Tools & Takeaways

Insights from a Conversation with Matt Cutts about Google Authorship

Live Blog Recap: SMX West 2013 Day Three

Live Blog Recap: SMX West 2013 Day Two

Live Blog Recap: SMX West 2013 Day One

My SMX West 2013 Takeaways- Sugar Rae’s blog

What ideas do you have for national brands that want to rank for local search terms? Is there a #SMX 2013 blog post that I missed that you like?

~Jean

Put a Little Romance in Your Vocabulary- 10 Synonyms for Love

by My Web Writers

People commonly extoll the need for more words for love in the English language. For example, Counselor Sheryl Paul  argues that so many people struggle in love because our culture is committed to a single word and a single ideal for what we feel for each other. Others point to the plethora of words meaning love in other languages. While these points certainly have merit, perhaps English is getting a bad wrap. After all, one thesaurus offers 47 synonyms for the common word “love.” This Valentine’s Day (I’m assuming, can be cut if not and start from:) spice up your love life and your vocabulary by using a different, or more specific, word to express feelings of love.

Here are ten strong synonyms to convey love:

Adulation: Adulation implies enthusiastic praise and flattery. Sometimes it even connotes worship. Offer your love adulation. Write him or her a letter showering them with praises and flattering reasons why you love them. Describe a character’s expressions as adulation. Adulation is probably best for more established loves. Adulation too early can come across too strongly.

Affection: Affection can mean an emotional fondness, closeness, or concern. It can also connote physical caresses. Lovers can offer one affection, but the word can also be used to express love between friends, family members, and colleagues.

Amour: Amour spells romance. Call an affair, liaison, or passionate love affair and amour, either as a euphemism or to imply the ardor of the connection. You could also call someone with a tendency to fall in love (or lust) amorous.

Appreciation: Granted, it’s not as sexy as “amour,” but appreciation can convey love in a way that lets the other person know they aren’t taken for granted. Tell someone you love you appreciate them to express your gratitude or to acknowledge the reasons why you’re glad to have them around. Appreciation works well for co-workers and friends as well as more intimate relationships.

Enchantment: Enchantment means magic. Use enchantment to imply the magnetic quality of a lover or particular traits that captivate.

Fidelity: Fidelity, or faithfulness in a relationship conveys allegiance, ardor, or constancy of attachment. Fidelity is commonly used to express steadfastness in marriage or family, but it can also be romantic. Let your partner know that you’re on his or her team.

Friendship: Friendship or companionship adds affection and love to many relationships. Let your friends know you love them, or tell your partner she/he is your best friend. Though less fiery than romance, friendship is often equally satisfying.

Infatuation: It’s just a little crush. Infatuation can express that tightness in your chest you feel around a new love. Describe an early or fleeting love as an infatuation. Or, use infatuation as a way to describe an old love that still gives the lovers butterflies.

Respect: Respect implies admiration or feelings of equality or appreciation. Respect is a key component of love. Describe a strong love as imbued with respect. Telling someone you respect them can also be a way to convey your feelings to a colleague or friend.

 Zeal: Zeal is an enthusiastic devotion to a person or a cause. Often zeal has negative connotations, but it doesn’t have to. Describe the love of someone coming on too strong as zealous or the lover as a zealot. Or, you could express your strong love or admiration as a zealous attachment.

Use one of the above words to portray love with more nuance and clarity or to express yourself with more creativity. You might also be interested in our tips on how to Tell a Better Story. Use our Call to Action Verbs in connection with these synonyms for love for writing that captures ardor, enchantment, or steadfast affection as well as your audience’s attention.  ~Kasey

Popular SEO Resources for 2013

by My Web Writers

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the buzz-term we’ve been bombarded with for several years now. It’s formed an entire industry and has helped businesses both large and small get found all across the globe. It’s also an invaluable tool that is sure to become increasingly important in the coming New Year. To cut through the clutter and confusion that these three letters can often bring, here are The Top Five SEO Resources to add to your favorites for 2013:

1. Inbound Writer (http://www.inboundwriter.com)

Inbound Writer is a plugin that can be used on your web site or blog that is specifically designed to optimize your content for better SEO. Once installed, it will analyze the content on each of your web pages and point out easy and immediate tweaks you should make to score higher in search engines. Simply put, Inbound Writer acts like your personal SEO guru. It reviews your existing web content and tells you how to make it better in several simple steps. Best yet, you can try it for free and you definitely don’t need to be a tech expert to understand how to use it.

2. SpyFu (http://www.spyfu.com)

In checking your own SEO, have you ever continued to stumble across a competitor’s web page that seems to always rank above yours? Clearly they’ve decoded the puzzle to the most effective keywords for your industry and to compete you need to know what these are to target them as well. Highly recommended by Forbes, Entrepreneur, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post, SpyFu takes the guesswork out of finding your most profitable keywords and eliminating bad keywords by analyzing your competitors. For an advertising campaign this helps to maximize your ad dollars and for your website this helps to maximize your organic SEO.  SpyFu is a paid service, but offers a free trial period.

3.  WordTracker (http://www.wordtracker.com)

If you’re ready to get serious about SEO then WordTracker should be on your list of essential resources. This makes the often confusing and arduous task of keyword research strategic and straight forward. Just because a keyword is ranked as the most popular in your industry, doesn’t mean it’s the best choice for you. WordTracker analyzes all the facts like competition, Keyword Effectiveness Index (KEI) and specific data sources to give you an expert opinion on your choice of keywords.

4.  Search Engine Roundtable (http://www.seroundtable.com)

Search Engine Roundtable is a unique blog that offers insightful and education information on SEO straight from the world’s most popular conferences. Every couple of months a different SEO conference takes places and Search Engine Roundtable provides an easily digestible version of the content covered for your benefit. This is a great blog to earmark and check in on regularly. You can gain valuable SEO information for none of the cost of attending the conference in person.

5. Search Engine Watch (http://searchenginewatch.com)

Also a blog, Search Engine Watch provides what its name describes – a pulse on the emerging trends and useful information for SEO. In addition to search engine related information, you’ll also gain a broader understanding of online marketing, pay-per-click advertising and the businesses and apps that affect them. This blog will teach you the various aspects of Search Engine Optimization far beyond the basic definitions.

With these five resources, you should be adequately prepared to make 2013 the best year for your SEO. Together, they should provide a solid foundation of education and understanding as well as the tools you need to advance your strategy several steps forward. Whether you handle your SEO in-house or outsource to a specialized firm, it is still invaluable to personally understand what these three letters stand for and how they can impact your web site or blog.  ~Stephanie

What You Need to Know About SEO: Guidelines for Content Writers

by My Web Writers

SEO – Search Engine Optimization. Whether you’re a content writer, blogger or small business owner, this is a concept you can’t afford not to understand. When all boiled down, it’s quite simply utilizing relevant keywords and search terms to help your content get found in search engines. Powerhouses like Google, Yahoo and Bing have helped businesses and blogs skyrocket to success by driving millions of visitors to their web site. To effectively harness the power of these search engines, you have to know the basics of positioning your content so it gains the most visibility. But don’t worry; it doesn’t take a web guru or html code writing to follow these essential guidelines. Here is how you can start improving your SEO right now:

Choose Your Web Site’s URL Strategically

When you choose the name for your business or blog, you are taking your first major step in defining your brand. A name can say everything – and on the web, your URL is your name to the internet world.

This is also an important SEO opportunity of which you can take advantage. Your web site URL should match as closely as possible with the name of your business or blog, but it should also incorporate at least one of your main keywords. For example, a business that offers writing services should incorporate a variation of the word “write” somewhere in the URL. If it’s a blog specifically about time management, “time” should ideally be found in the URL as well. Because popular or common domain names are often swept up right away, don’t get discouraged if your preferred web site name is taken—get creative! Use other keywords, reorder the words or consider using .org, .co or.net. Your web site name is one of the first ways you’ll be found in search engine results and including this relevant keyword in your URL greatly increases your SEO.

Be Mindful When Naming Your Files

Think of your web site or blog. If you’re like most, you have quite a few files or images included in this site. Do you know how each of your files are named? Search engines do. The names of your files and pictures are found in search engine results. For example, if you are searching for an image of an American flag on a white background, a picture named with this description will be most likely to be
pulled for your use. If you name your own files with the most accurate description possible and include relevant keywords for your site, this is yet another way visitors will be directed to your web site or blog. If you have not been currently doing this, it’s worth the effort to go back and update your files and in the future be sure to think “SEO” before you click save.

Incorporate Main Keywords Into Each Page or Post

Every page of your web site or blog is an opportunity to incorporate as many relevant keywords into your site. From the homepage to the about page, you should know the keywords you’re trying to promote and skillfully weave them into the content. The basic SEO rule of thumb is once a specific word or phrase is mentioned over 5 times in one page, you are highly optimized for this word to be found
in search engines. While it’s tempting to focus on SEO above all else, don’t sacrifice the quality of your content just to optimize a word. Be mindful that your writing still makes sense to readers and paints the best representation of you or your business.

Own Your Niche – Go for Unique over Most Popular

There’s been a lot of mention of “keywords” as they are an essential part of SEO. If your business or blog falls in the category of writing it’s expected that your keywords might include: write, writer, freelance writing, professional writing, etc. However, these are all very popular keywords that are extremely hard to compete with for search engines’ attention. While it is possible to earn a high-ranking spot for such
keywords, this is also an opportunity to think “niche.” Rather than competing against larger and more-established web sites, aim your focus at owning a keyword that serves your niche market. For example, a professional makeup artist would have a hard time competing for the keyword “professional makeup artist” but could more easily earn a 1st place search engine ranking for “Harrisburg, Pennsylvania bridal
makeup.” Don’t be afraid to be specific to define your niche, but be careful not to limit your scope or isolate an audience when doing so.

By following these guidelines for SEO, you will have taken advantage of the most obvious, but also the most essential opportunities for search engine optimization. It’s easy to be overwhelmed by all of the information out there on SEO and the many companies and software packages you can buy into to increase your SEO for you. Remember this point –the metrics for SEO are ever-changing, but if you consistently feed your web site with fresh, high-quality content, you will remain on the cusp of what SEO is all about.

~Stephanie

Writer Tips for the Google Penguin, Over-Optimization Penalty

By My Web Writers 

If there’s one quality needed to be an effective content writer, it is probably flexibility. Just when you think you’re stellar at finding and using keywords in copy, headings, and titles, Google makes changes.

Throughout 2011, My Web Writers made quality content suggestions for Panda and Google’s Knowledge Graph .  We summarized Google’s Quality Rater’s Handbook and shared tips for the 2013 savvy e-tail writer.  We owe you some concrete content suggestions for Penguin.

Penguin Basics for Content Writers

Penguin is actually a series of algorithm changes.  In March 2012, Matt Cutts pre- announced the first iteration at SXS West (and you can listen to the audio here).  Updates continue to this day.  Penguin prefers quality content and penalizes over optimization and too perfect anchor text.  If you’re simply a good writer with some SEO knowledge, you can create a website that performs well with natural sounding sentence structure and word choices.  Link buying and keyword stuffing are taboo.

Keyword stuffing is the overuse of keywords.  In the “old days”, a piece on Kate Middleton would include her name as a keyword in the article to the tune of 7 – 8 percent density.

That’s not a good tactic, according to Penguin.  An article today should refer to Kate in subsequent mentions as Duchess Catherine, Prince William’s bride, and the Duchess of Cambridge.  While Kate’s name can still appear in the article, avoid ad-nauseam usage.

Imagine a friend who speaks to you, but repeats a certain phrase over and over in conversation. This would become really annoying pretty quickly, as does keyword stuffing.  Basically, write copy you’d enjoy reading.  Be creative and fresh.

We also suggest examining your inbound linking profile.  Questionable links need to be removed, if possible.   Also, don’t over-link to your website from your blog, lead gen site, or affiliates.

Penguin’s Dislikes

According to John Doherty of distilled.net, Penguin does not like the following:

• low quality sites (sites with a low page rank),
• exact anchors,
• over optimized exact anchors,
• too many exact anchors over branded terms.

Penguin Prefers Natural Sounding Anchor Text

Don’t over optimize anchor text with exact meta titles. You’re a flexible writer, so you can do it.  Use synonyms, plural or singular forms, or conjugations.  Anchor text that falls within a sentence needs correct usage and grammar.

Keep content engaging and interesting.  In short, write what you, as a potential customer, would benefit from reading.  Write content that doesn’t knock buyers over the head with sales pitches. Your customers will thank you, and it’s likely that Penguin will show his or her pleasure by ranking your site high.

Keeping up with Google’s frequent algorithm changes can seem like a full-time job, but reworking your content for Penguin is worth the investment.

~Susan and Jean