Do you know the most important on-page optimization element? Is it internal links? H1 tags? Meta Description (is that even on-page?)? Your primary keyword? Secondary keyword? Or maybe it’s your page title?
Yesterday I stumbled across a web page that ranked No. 1 in its niche for the keyword the author was targeting. When I clicked View Source to check out what was under the hood on that page I discovered a div tag with the element title “hidden SEO”. It was followed by a long line of keywords, keyword phrases, and other SEO content. Could that have been the reason the page ranked No. 1?
Possibly. But even so ….
I wouldn’t put my life on it. That wasn’t the most important on-page optimization element.
So what is?
The most important on-page optimization element for any page you build for your website is the actual content on the page. If you think that’s vague, try building a web page with no words on it. Just build a sidebar with widgets. Does it look good? Do you think it will rank? Now add a link. Nothing more, just a link. Better now? How about adding a video. No description, just a video. Think you’ll make money with that?
I could go and on, but the point is real simple. A web page with no words, no content, no message that intrigues, entertains, enlightens, informs, educates, or sparks a call to action is not really optimized. It’s just there.
UGC stands for user generated content. If you use it, it means less work for you, more monetization opportunities, fewer time management hurdles, and possibly even better content. In most cases, it also means more website traffic.
User generated content can be solicited in any number of ways, however. And it can take on many forms. It can be straight textual content, other graphical content, photographs, videos, social networking content, or a mixture of the above. But how do you get people to send you their content to start with?
First, you should build your own content and get the pump primed. Once you’ve attracted a certain level of traffic, start building your platform. Then, put a call out on your website, in your e-mail blasts, and in forums within your niche.
You should make it easy for your website visitors to upload their content. Add a membership feature to your website and give each member the means to add content within their own community profile area. That content can be anything they desire, but you should encourage content that compliments the content you’ve already loaded to your site and that attracted people to it in the first place.
User generated content is how savvy webmasters build communities today. But you must build the platform.
Online marketers have recently begun using a different kind of language. It used to be that you’d hear a lot about link building, social media marketing, and the use of other terms to give a fragmented impression of Internet marketing strategies. But there is one term that draws all of these concepts together under one impressive term.
That one term is “content marketing.” So what is it?
Content marketing includes the full span of content that you produce to promote your brand. It begins with your own website content, but it doesn’t end there.
Beyond your own website you have your blog, your social media profiles, directory submissions, video content, links, articles, Knol pages, Squidoo lenses, guest blog posts and anything that involves promoting your content in hopes of drawing attention to it.
All content marketing is really about one thing – drawing attention to yourself. Anything you use that does that falls into the category of content marketing. That even includes press releases, forum content and comments on other people’s blogs.
So here’s the question you have to answer about your own content marketing efforts: Are all of your efforts consistent in terms of your message and brand? If not, what do you need to do to get it there?
Content marketing is as much as creating perceptions as it is anything else. What are you doing to make your content sell your business?
These days, just about every website has an About Us page. But they are largely misnamed. The page isn’t really about you at all. It’s about your customers and when you write it you should go to great pains to make it all about your customers.
How do you do that, exactly?
For starters, you don’t have to write it in second person. I’m not talking about that. What I am suggesting is that you make your About Us page content focused on the needs of your customers rather than on your need to talk about yourself.
Here are five ways to ensure that your About Us content answers your customers’ – or potential customers’ – questions about your company:
- Tell them what year your company started, and when you started working in your sector if your company is new. They want to know what experience you have to solve their problems.
- What inspired you to start your business? Were you trying to solve a particular need?
- How is your business unique? What sets you apart from the competition? Drive these points home. They are your selling points.
- Define your service area.
- What causes and charities do you support? People want to know so don’t be shy about telling them your community service hot buttons.
If you answer these 5 questions on your About Us page, you’ll go a long way to meeting the expectations of your website visitors and potential customers.
Every now and then I run into a new copywriter or a business owner/blogger who thinks it’s OK to copy/paste content from another website or blog. You’ll hear all kinds of excuses about why they thought it was OK to steal someone else’s work, but it’s not.
You might hear the question, “Is website content copyrighted?” Yes it is.
The website may or may not contain a copyright notice. If it does not, that doesn’t mean that the content isn’t copyrighted. It just means that the owner of the content chose not to put the copyright notice on the site. It isn’t legally required.
If you do see a copyright notice (it usually appears in the footer) along with a statement like “All Rights Reserved” or something similar, then it should tell you that the person who owns that website intends to enforce their rights. If you copy/paste their information, then you are likely in for a lawsuit. That includes photos and images.
It is best to never let yourself get into the habit copying and pasting information from other sources. If you do so, you should credit those sources. Always provide a link back. Even then, use discretion about what it is you are borrowing. You can’t just lift the content, link to the source, and be on your way. Fair use laws generally allow for additional commentary on your part, but the test is you have to provide some kind of added value.
Be careful when you write your own blogs and website content. Don’t plagiarize, don’t borrow content, and don’t copy/paste.
This blog post is not intended to be legal advice. Consult an attorney before making legal decisions.
Search engine marketing is the process of using search engines to drive traffic to your web pages, primarily through search and paid search platforms. Crafty Internet marketers do this by focusing on niche-related keywords in their marketing efforts. How does that work exactly?
For starters, you’ve got to build value into your marketing campaign in your keyword research. This should be your first step in the process. Look for the best and most profitable keywords for your niche and focus your marketing efforts on those. After you’ve identified the best keywords, put them into a list and build your web pages to focus on those keywords with each page focused on a primary and a secondary keyword. Then build links using your keywords as anchor text.
Try a PPC campaign as a test campaign on one or two of your keywords and attempt to drive traffic to a keyword-based landing page. As you do this, note your CTR. If you are getting a high CTR on any keywords then focus on those keywords for building more web pages and for increasing the search engine presence of others you’ve already built.
Search engine marketing is not hard, but it is tedious. You can build value into any niche if you know the basics.
