Get More Clients Online

7 Ways to Successfully Link SEO & PR Together

By Guest Blogger Michael Jenkins

The connection between search engine optimization (SEO) and public relations (PR) is not always obvious, even if they are often closely interlinked. Indeed, the relationship between SEO and PR is quite strong, and is slowly becoming more transparent as our traditional media sources, like newspapers and magazines, are crossing over to the digital world.

Whether or not journalists and other media personal want to admit it, they do rely on PR specialists to pipeline their stories. They need qualified specialists to launch their work, and increase their audience base. The best way to achieve great results online is by implementing a thorough search engine optimization strategy.

To set up a well-planned SEO campaign for digitally savvy PR groups and departments, consider the following guidelines.

1. Track down the media – Because the behavior of journalists is changing, you will have to alter your strategies to find the sources reporters, analysts, writers and journalists use to do their research and report their news. By optimizing your news content and digital presentations, you will be able to locate and attract more media sources.

2. Extend communications - The content created by PR departments can be quite valuable to various audiences, even some outside traditional media circles. Important news stories can influence many people, such as your employees, potential customers, investors, or partners. Use this knowledge to your advantage and optimize your website through press releases, fascinating articles, and announcements. The more distribution channels you use, the bigger your following will become.

3. Improve your exposure and rankings – Websites specializing in the promotion of news content frequently receive unsolicited tips from industry related news sites, and blogs, as well as online and offline publications. They will go through all this information to see which is newsworthy. Once that has been established, the PR department will instigate a search to verify that the data is indeed correct. This means that, if you were the one capturing the media’s attention, you have to make sure that your site or content show up first in your media source’s search results.

4. Approach the consumer directly – Independent companies no less frequently use traditional media like radio & TV stations, newspapers and other publications to spread the news. By using the Internet and fully optimizing their website, they can now handle their own public relations. You too can join these pioneers and attract paying consumers by creating top quality content. If writing is not your strong suit, hire an experienced copywriter.

5. Optimize your PR through back links – No search engine optimization is complete without link building. Links can be added to new content, or to news stories that are being re-published. The more links from external sites you have going back to your website, the more extensive your network will be, and the faster your online visibility will improve. The more people you attract to your company site, the quicker you will reach your marketing objectives.

6. Protect your brand & online reputation – Establishing a strong brand and reputation is crucial to any business success - offline as well as on the Web. It takes a lot of effort and a strong SEO approach to establish a well-recognized brand and an outstanding reputation. Don’t have it all spoiled by a few disappointed consumers, a handful of angry bloggers, or a couple of envious competitors. No! You have the right to protect your brand's integrity, and can do so by being proactive and frequently optimizing your content and increasing your PR efforts.

7. Always incorporate SEO – Substantial cuts in the budgets of Marketing and Public Relations departments are not unheard of in these tough economic times. As a result, the funds that are left for PR have to stretch further, and the service has to be much more efficient.

The best way to achieve the same results - or better – than before the cutbacks is to incorporate more SEO techniques. Focus on link building, create micro sites for additional PR publications, and contribute company related material to various blog sites. The more you get your company’s name published online, the greater your success will be!

About author:

Michael Jenkins is the director of Shout Web Strategy which is a firm in Melbourne, Australia specializing in search, conversion rate optimization and web usability.
 

TextLinks

TextLinks

Looking for an easy way to get started in building strong inbound links to your site to enhance your search engine rankings? Now you can get started free of charge with a service that will help you find your first 25 one-way links, for free.

Text Links is offering a free, 21-day trial (no credit card is required to register and use the trial) that permits you to create quality, relevant backlinks to your web site. The real power of their unique system is the ability to add your link to any of over 10,000 Google-indexed blogs. These are quality blogs, each with a separate domain name. Each of your text links can be managed from a simple user control panel which will allow you to search and browse for the best and most relevant blogs on which to add your text links.

When you select your links, you can choose a site-wide or sidebar placement or links in individual articles. You can even choose the anchor text you'd like to use. These links are permanent. You have the option of linking to your homepage or any internal page you'd like, and TextLinks does allow for deep linking (creating a hyperlink that points to a specific page or image on another web site, instead of that web site's main or home page).

Here's a quick word on buying links: Google does NOT want you to buy links and has delisted web sites it has found to buy links. How do you avoid a problem with Google when you use TextLinks and other services? You must make sure that these kinds of links are not the ONLY kind of link your site has. It's a great way to get started, but don't stop at this point.

After the free 21-day trial, you are asked to sign up for their monthly service, which sells links for a low one-time fee of $1 each for sub-page links and $3 for home page links. You are required to buy 99 credits each month for $99. Credits do not expire.

Start your inbound linking strategy here

SEO Tips: 10 Most Important Inbound Links You Must Have to Your Site

As you think about search engine optimization for your site, don't overlook your inbound linking strategy. An inbound link is simply a hyperlink back to your site from a page of another web site. Search engine algorithms change frequently, but the one constant and reliable strategy in search engine optimization over the years is that sites with a variety of high quality backlinks trump their competition in the search engine results pages.

Why are these links to your site important?  They can can...

• bring potential customers to your site when they click on the link
• increase the number of visitors to your web site
• dramatically improve your search engine rankings

Even though there are software packages on the market that help automate the linking process, use them sparingly, if at all.  The only way to succeed in linking strategies is (aside from creating useful content that will encourage inbound links) by manually creating the links.  That's a hard fact to swallow, given how I like to automate as much of my marketing as I can.

Here are the 10 most important inbound links you must have to your site:

1.  Directory links:  Directories are indexes of online sites, typically organized by category. Links back to your site from directories like Yahoo Directory and DMOZ.org are very valuable.  DMOZ.org is edited by human editors, and while it's free, it may take awhile for your site to be listed.  Getting listed in Yahoo's Directory costs $299/year.  (OnlineBizU.com members can get a list of the top 23 search engine friendly directories here.)  

2.  Press releases:  If you're writing press releases, make sure they are optimized for keywords that someone would use to find a business like yours and include links back to your site, as well. Once written, you can have your press release distributed through a service like PRWeb.com, which will create links from high traffic news sites back to your site.

3.  Article directories.  Writing and distributing articles through high traffic article directories, like EzineArticles.com, is a great way to get valuable inbound links from a high traffic site.  And, with a good resource box at the end of your article, you can drive traffic to your site at the same time!  (Onlinebizu.com members can get a list of the top 25 article directories here.)

4.  Social bookmarking:  Similar to web browser bookmarks, social bookmarking sites store individual pages (bookmarks) online and allows users to tag (with keywords), organize, search, and manage bookmarks of web resources as well as share them with others. If you bookmark your own content on these sites (like Digg.com, Reddit.com, Del.icio.us.com), you get a link from the service.  And, if you produce content that your readers love and bookmark to their followers, the link becomes that much more valuable.

5.  Blog comments:  Use blog-specific search engines (like Google Blog Search) to find blog posts on which to comment.  Make sure these are blogs read by your target market, not your colleagues. Brand yourself by always using the same name and remember to link back to your site. Always leave a comment that adds to the conversation that's happening within the comments.

6.  Social Media:  Google is now indexing Twitter updates as well as social networking profiles from social networking sites.  Add that to Web 2.0 hubsites like Scribd or HubPage and you've got the option of creating many, many inbound links in a very short period of time.

7. Blog/podcast syndication.  Submitting the RSS feed of your blog and podcast to syndication services will give you a link back to your site.  In some cases, each time you publish a new blog post, the post itself will also get a link. (OnlineBizU.com members can get a list of the top 50 blog syndication sites here.)

8. Video syndication.  YouTube is one of the most visited sites online, and the number of sites that syndicate videos is growing each day. These sites often allow you to link to your site either in your video’s description or on your profile page, or both.

9.  .EDU and .GOV links.  Search engines place a great deal of credibility in government and education web sites, and the links carry a great deal of weight.  However, it's not easy to get links from either type of site.

10.  Internal Links.  If you have multiple web sites, or just a web site and a blog, don't forget to link one site to the other. You can do this by linking one article to other related articles, or link to categories or archives of information.

Creating a sound inbound linking strategy is a key component of your search engine optimization efforts.  Try a few of the strategies listed above and see how your traffic and rankings increase.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this blurb with it:  Internet Marketing Automation Coach Donna Gunter helps independent service professionals create prosperous online businesses that make more profit in less time by teaching them how to automate their businesses, leverage their expertise, and get found online.  Would you like to learn the specific Internet marketing strategies that get results? Discover how to increase your visibility and get found online by claiming your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, at ==>
http://www.TurbochargeYourOnlineMarketing.com.

How to Improve my Ranking on Google

Q:  What are the two most important things that I can do to improve my ranking on Google?

Rachel

A:  Great question, Rachel!  Actually, there are 3 things I'd advise you to do:

1.  Optimize your site for keywords by which your target market can find you.

Here are 2 articles on my blog that might help you:

Keyword Density in Metatags

Search Engine Optimization: 11 Basic SEO Strategies for Beginners

2.  Drive traffic to your site with content marketing, also known as repurposing your content

Here's an article from one of my sites that might help you:
10 Ways to Re-purpose Your Content

And, if you want more info about that topic, buy the audio of the teleclass I conducted:

Repurposing Profit Machine: 20 + Ways to Write Once and Get Paid Again and Again

3.  Create one-way backlinks from high traffic sites.  One way to do this is by repurposing your content on high traffic sites and using your keywords as the hyperlinks that link back to your site. For example, if you're a professional organizer, rather than saying " For more information, click here" and link back to your site, say "For more information, contact Seattle professional organizer" where "Seattle professional organizer" is the hyperlink back to your site, and you want to rank higher in the search engines for the term "Seattle professional organizer."

Bonus tip:  For more help in creating and implementing these strategies, names of the resources and tools I use to implement these strategies, and answers to your questions, become a member at OnlineBizU.com.

Got an Internet Marketing question?  Ask it here: AskDonnaGunter.com.

Keyword Density in Metatags

Q:  Could you tell me how the right percentage of keywords in my meta tags?
Reece

A:  Hi Reece!  Great question!  Actually, there are three primary of metatags to consider. A metatag is a special HTML tag that provides information about a web page but have no affect on how the page is displayed. Instead, they are present in the source (web design code) and help search engines decide how to index a site.

1.  Title Tags: Your title tag is a simple piece of HTML code that's located in the "head" of your web page and is only seen by search engine spiders -- not in the body of your page. Your title tag is important because:

• Most search engines look at your title tag FIRST when they're spidering your website.
• Your title tag usually determines what will appear as the title of your website in the search engine results.

This means that your title tag is a great way to appeal to both search engines AND your potential visitors!

The most effective title tags contain description simple -- just a sentence or two, limited to 250 characters including spaces and punctuation. Anything longer and the search engines will likely cut the end off. While it's important to use your main keywords in your title tag, you definitely DON'T want to "stuff" your title tags full of a meaningless jumble of keywords.  Do include a descriptive, accurate title that describes your business clearly, letting potential visitors know EXACTLY what they can expect to find on your site
 
It's important to focus on one main keyword phrase like this in your title tag -- or two keyword phrases at a maximum.  And, your most important keyword phrase should come first, which can make a difference.

Google allows only 70 characters in title tags and will cut off the text after the last whole word, so your best bet is to optimize for 70 characters because of Google's importance in the world of search.

2.  Description tags: A description meta tag describes the purpose of your web page and ideally sits just below the opening title (<title>) tag in the source code of your website.

The text you include in your description tag usually appears as the blurb that's included in your listing in the search results. This blurb gives searchers an idea of what your site is about before clicking through to it.

Just be sure to keep your description simple -- just a sentence or two, limited to 250 characters including spaces and punctuation. Anything longer and the search engines will likely cut the end off.  Your keyword should appear no more than 3 times in your description meta tags.

3.  Keyword meta tags:  At one time, the keyword meta tag was essential for letting the search engine spiders know the keywords a web page was optimized for.  However, these days, the keyword meta tag tends to be ignored by search engine spiders, mostly because they became overused by people trying to "keyword-stuff" their way to the top of the search results.  Here are some simple steps to follow in creating your keyword metatags:

• List the 2 – 3 keywords you're optimizing the page for in order of importance, with your main keywords appearing first.
• Separate keywords with a comma or space or the | (pipe, on the same key as \)
• Don't overdo it. If search engines think you are keyword stuffing, you run the risk of being penalized.

Bonus tip:  For more help in creating and implementing these strategies, names of the resources and tools I use to implement these strategies, and answers to your questions, become a member at OnlineBizU.com.

Got an Internet Marketing question?  Ask it here: AskDonnaGunter.com.

SEO Companies

Q:  Do you use a SEO service?
Kathy

A:  Hi Kathy--

No, I don't use an SEO service.  I did hire one about 6 years ago, but the info that they found for me in a keyword search was not very different from what I'd discovered for myself, and the fee they wanted to charge me to optimize my site was much more than I wanted to pay, so we parted ways.

It's really not that tough to do your own basic SEO.  One key element you need to understand, however, is the terms by which someone might use to search for a business like yours.  If you don't know, ask your clients/colleagues for suggestions and broaden your search from there.  A second key element to remember is not to mix businesses on one site.  It's tough to get a high ranking for any aspect of your business if you offer disparate services, say like  dog grooming, graphic design, and bookkeeping.  You really need a separate website for each.

I've been using the public Google Keyword tool for my keyword research.

Here's a link to an article I wrote recently that should help you called, Search Engine Optimization: 11 Basic SEO Strategies for Beginners. 

Got an Internet Marketing question?  Ask it here: AskDonnaGunter.com.

Search Engine Optimization: 11 Basic SEO Strategies for Beginners

Search engine optimization is the process getting your website ready to be found in organic webs searches.  By organic searches, I'm referring to web searches that appear naturally as the result of a search for a particular keyword or phrase, rather than appearing in the sponsored links (pay-per-click advertising) section of a search page.

Frankly, for the first few years I was online, the thought of doing my own SEO made my eyes cross, and I was overwhelmed at where to start.  I even toyed with the idea of hiring a specialist to do this for me, but never got around to it. However, over time, I slowly began to see a pattern emerging, and started to optimize some of my sites accordingly.  One of the best days of my business is when I recently ranked #1 for a particularly competitive search term.

I'm not a search engine optimization (SEO) specialist, nor do I play one on TV.  However, even a new business owner who creates and updates her own websites can implement some very basic SEO strategies to make her website appear higher in the organic rankings on certain keyword searches.

Here are the 11 strategies that I regularly implement on my sites for better SEO positioning:

1.  Page title tags.  This is the page information that you see in the blue bar of your browser in the upper left-hand corner when you visit a website. For best SEO, use your top 2 keywords in your title tag.  The best way to do that is separated with a bar, as illustrated in this example:  Internet Marketing |  Web Marketing.

2.  Domain name:  If at all possible, use one primary keyword in your domain name.  You will have a slight edge over your competition by doing so.  If you already have a domain that you have used for some time, include a keyword in the name of files for your website pages.  Example:  http://www.yoursite.com/internet-marketing.htm if your keyword is Internet marketing.

3.  Meta tags.  These are descriptions on a web page that are not seen by most visitors except when looking at the page source code in their browser. While the keyword and description metatags used to be the primary way that search engines indexed sites, that is no longer the case.  However, you shouldn't ignore them entirely, as it is still worthwhile to include them as a part of your page description.  For optimal SEO, your meta description and keyword tags should be no more than 150 characters each.

4.  Header tags.  Header tags are the HTML code that indicates a headline, like <H1>, <H2> and <H3> and show up as bolded headlines in your page content.  The first 3 header tags are the only ones you need to be concerned about, and the primary header tag, <H1>, is the most important.  Use your primary keyword one time in the <H1> tag, 2-3 times in your <H2> tags, and multiple times in your <H3> tags.

5.  Alt image tag:  The alt tag typically describes an image in a floating text window when you put your mouse over the image if the image isn't able to be displayed.  The best use of any <ALT> tag is to use your keywords in your image descriptions.

6.  Content formatting.  Search engines pay attention to formatted content, as in when text is bolded, italicized, and underlined.  Make sure that you are bolding your keywords in the content of your website.

7.  Keyword density.  Keyword density refers to the number of times a keyword or keyword phrase appears on a web page.  Rather than trying to focus on the number of times a keyword appears in the content of your page, aim for a more natural density by keeping your keyword phrases in mind as you write the copy for your page.  Optimally, keyword density should be between 2% - 7%.  There are a number of keyword density checkers available online to assist you with determining the keyword density of a page.

8.  Anchor text.  Anchor text refer to links on a page that connect your visitor to other pages.  So, rather than telling someone to "cl*ck here" in the content of your page, include a keyword in your anchor text, as in "cl*ck here for dog training tips."

9..  Inbound links.  Reciprocal link exchange (you link to my site and I'll link to yours) used to be a great way to attract the attention of search engines to your site.  Now, search engines pay attention only to the quality and popularity of the site providing you with an inbound link that is not a reciprocal link.  One of the best ways to get quality inbound links back to your site is to submit articles to high traffic article directories and submit press releases to paid press release services.

A second way to gain high quality inbound links is by listing your site in search engine-friendly directories in which humans review the listings.  Google and other search engines place more credibility in the directories in which the listings are reviewed by real people than they do other kinds of directories.  Consequently, these links are weighted more heavily and favorably in the inbound link evaluation process.  Members of OnlineBizU.com can see the most effective search engine friendly directories here in this download.

10.  New content.  Content is still king, so one way to increase your page rank for a search term is to write high quality articles containing one or two of your keywords in the title and posting those regularly (weekly is best) to your site.  Search engines are always seeking good, fresh, content, so your goal should be to make your site into an information-rich resource for your industry.

11.  Site maps.  There are sitemaps that help a visitor navigate a site, and sitemaps that are expressly designed for the search engines.  The two are not the same. To enhance your site, submit an xml sitemap to Google Webmaster Central and Yahoo Site Explorer.  I use  XML Sitemaps to build search engine-friendly sitemaps on my sites.

Search engine optimization strategy is not a difficult as it appears.  Take some time to do some keyword research for your site, and then spend another 15 minutes a day employing a few of these strategies until you have a well-optimized site.  Why pay for visitors through pay-per-click advertising if you don't have to?

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this blurb with it: Online Business Resource Queen (TM) and Online Business Coach Donna Gunter helps independent service professionals learn how to automate their businesses, leverage their expertise on the Internet, and get more clients online. To claim your FR*EE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, visit her site at OnlineBizU.com. Ask Donna an Internet Marketing question at  AskDonnaGunter.com.

Home Address for Local Web Searches

Q:  My office is in my home and I'm concerned about using my physical address for any online marketing.  I currently use my PO Box as my "physical" address. How can I submit my website for local search without disclosing my home address? 

A:  The best way to work around this is to have a PO Box at a UPS store, which can act as a physical location, as you get a street address with this. A PO Box from the US Postal Service won't really suffice. There are no UPS stores locally to me, so I just bit the bullet and listed my home address. So far, so good...;->

If I had a choice, however, I'd would attach my home address to the local listing feature only as a last resort. I always tell my clients who work from home to protect their home addresses whenever possible, as you never know what kook will come looking for you..:) I had an inmate from the GA correction system write me a letter several years ago, wanting to go into business with me. Fortunately, it went to my PO Box, so at least he didn't have ready access to my home address.

Got an Internet Marketing question?  Ask it here: AskDonnaGunter.com

Tip of the Week: SEO Book Keyword Tool

SEOBook Keyword Tool is a great resource to let you view the popularity of keywords across a Google, Yahoo!, and MSN, which are the 3 key players in today's marketplace..  No longer will you need  to log into each engine's keyword finder tool to do keyword research.  The numbers that you're given for searches, however are only rough estimates.  In addition, SEOBook Keyword Tool provides links to price estimate tools from Google AdWords and estimates roughly how much traffic you could expect AdWords to send you based on that bid price and ad position. This resource is driven off the Wordtracker keyword suggestion tool.

Start researching your keywords here.

Google Fight

First of all, this site has no official affiliation with Google, although it uses the Google search engine in the "fight."  While I don't endorse the metaphor they use for GoogleFight (it's such a guy thing), it's a useful tool to have when you're doing keyword research or copywriting, nonetheless.  What you do is enter two keywords or phrases into the "fight" and let them duke it out to see which one is a more popular phrase in Google's search engine.

For example, I was looking at some additional ways to promote my site, and I was debating about whether to use the phrase "how to promote my business" or "how to market my business".  When I entered one phrase each into each of the keyword boxes, I discovered that "how to market my business" won the competition hands-down.

Stage your own Googlefight here.

Thanks to Lorrie Morgan-Ferrero of Red Hot Copy for this tip!