Google Ranking Help, How To Get On Google 1st page, Organic Search, Social Media Uses

Get Your Hand Out Of My Pocket……….Should You Pay For Back Links To Improve SEO


seo-link-building-service

 

With all the advances in technology  your business can go from being a thought to an real business with a website, logo and business cards within a day.  When I started my business over 3 years ago I was amazed at how much I could get done with Vistaprint. I was able to get 500 business cards for about $10.00!  There are many more services available to small business owner’s today.  Moo.com is the new  Vistaprint offering custom cards.  As soon as you register your domain you will be inundated with requests for your money to save you time.  SEO Strategy companies offering you free assessments of your site, Online listing services offering to get you listed on over 50 sites with just a click of a button.  You know you need to optimize your site, but do you need to pay an arm and a leg for it?  One of the best ways to gain page rank organically is to have back links, or links to your site, thus increasing the relevance and page rank of your site based on the referring sites linked to it.  I have received many requests to pay to have my site back linked to a network of sites to improve my ranking quickly.  I was tempted, but I wanted to see what the experts thought about link building so I did a little research and here are the results.

To understand the need for back linking you have to understand the usage or importance of a link.  If you compare the internet to the US,  your site would be considered a great hole in the wall microbrewery.  I’m in Washington D.C. but you are in northern California. The Natural Bohemian (Natty Boh) brewery is just a short drive up 295, it’s convenient easily accessible and familiar so I buy from them constantly.  A friend from California comes to visit and brings a 6 pack of your beer from California and I am hooked.  I go online and buy a case, and the next time I visit California I make it a point to visit the actual brewery.  My friend from California supplied that link that lead me to your brewery.  This is the same with back links to your site, if your site is new no one is referring to your site for information or for services so your relevance is low.  My friend created a link to your brewery/site.  My friend was a trusted source so the conversion rate was high.  This is the same thing as with link building links from influencers, authorities on the industry and educators confirm the relevance of your site.  But how do you build these links? Moz.com has a detailed strategy that goes the natural route but is very effective.

1.) Natural Editorial Links:  These are other sources linking to your site as a resource.

2.)Manual Outreach: These are links that you manual contact a blogger, website etc and ask a back link to your site.

3.)Self Created: These are links that are created by sites that have guest book sign-ins or blog comments.  These can be plentiful but

have low value.

 

If you are looking at the list you can see how daunting a task link building can be.  With that in mind, most SEO Strategist and Small Business owners will opt for the pay per link model.  Google, Bing and other Search Engine frown upon this option.  The reason being, you may be linked to low quality sites that may not be related to your site simply trying to trick the system.  As most Web Masters and SEO Consultants know, Google’s refresh will always catch up to you.  If is found that you have paid for link building then your site will be effected significantly.

Although the thought of paying for such a task seems wise, the consequences could be extreme.  It takes a long time to build relevant quality links, but manually building links is the only way to go.  The best way to achieve this is to create quality, useful content and others will link to your site.  You may not be able to afford the cost of the alternative.

 

Juan De Cruz, Jr.

http://www.socialmediajuander.com

jdecruz@socialmediajuander.com

(240) 479-0082

 

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Google Ranking Help, Online Marketing, Organic Search, Paid Search Marketing

Dominate Locally To Compete Globally……The Importance Of Local Listings To Boost Organic Search


SEO-services-using-local-online-listing

 

Small business owners have enough to mark off of their checklist when starting out.  Once you have devised your business plan, the  next thing is to create your online presence.  You either pay a web designer or  embark upon building your own site by using one of the many drag and drop web design platforms.  No matter how you arrive whether paid or free…..the need is the same……TRAFFIC.  With all the other start-up costs, you don’t want to create a huge Google Adwords bill so what do you do?  The answer is to dominate your local online listing!

Most people think claiming your online listing means registering your domain with Google, Yahoo and Bing.  While that is a huge part of the equation, you can quickly gain relevance for your domain by claiming local online listings.  This is especially important if you live or do business in a suburb outside of a major city.  You can’t compete with companies with huge Adwords budgets but you can Search Engine Optimize your site to claim local searches for your product or services.  Most SEM companies buy keywords based on Metro areas because they have no knowledge of surrounding towns or counties.  The first step is deciding which online listing service to use.  I Googled top-online-listing-service and came up with this list from Hubspot.

Top 50 Online Listing Sites

hubspot50

This is a great place to start if you are a do-it-yourselfer optimizing your own site, but if you are a Search Engine Optimization Consultant this is a daunting task.  The screen shot above only has twenty sites listed, think of going through all fifty one by one!  One of the most visible is Yext.com.  Yext.com has partnered with many online listing services such as Manta, Mapquest, Yahoo, Superpages and Yelp.  They offer to save you time and effort by providing a single point mass listing service.  For about $500.00 you can have them list and correct errors for 50 sites.  I felt there had to be a cheaper option, so I continued to search and found Synup.com.  The dashboard is very clean and easy to use and the best part…..it’s FREE! The site checks your listing over 182 sites.  You can either go to those sites and correct your listing yourself or just click on the correct listing link and have Synup correct the listing for just $1.50 per listing.  That’s 182 sites for about $273.00!  This is a quicker and more cost-effective option if you’re a small business owner or a Search Engine Optimization Consultant.  You can add multiple sites/listings and it keeps them all organized.  There is also a function on Synup.com that allows you to check and respond to reviews received from your listings.

I registered with about 20 sites and then did a test search using the term chain-music-social-media based on a blog that I wrote yesterday.  Here are the results: The NUMBER ONE spot!

oganic-search-number-one-rank
oganic-search-number-one-rank

I then searched social-media-consulting-waldorf-md which is a suburb of Washington D.C..  I Search Engine Optimized my listing to highlight my local area and Washington D.C. to get added traffic.

google-first-page-rank
google-first-page-rank

The first spot in the organic search is the manta.com online listing.  When you click on the link my company is listed number two.  I didn’t opt for the premier listing or pay anything extra.  I just built out my free listing.

manta-number-two-listing
manta-number-two-listing

 

The task of dominating local web traffic is a very hard one.  You need to make sure your listings and content are optimized with local terms larger SEM firms may not know.  As your site gains relevance based on your local search, your search results will ultimately improve.  But whatever you do, remember to Dominate Locally To Compete Globally!

 

Juan De Cruz, Jr.

http://www.socialmediajuander.com

jdecruz@socialmediajuander.com

(240) 479-0082

Google Ranking Help, How To Get On Google 1st page, Online Marketing, Organic Search, Paid Search Marketing, Social Media Marketing Consultant, Social Media Uses

The Curious Link Between Social Media & Chain Music


Social Media Marketing Consulting
The Curious Link Between Chain Music and Social Media

I am a self-confessed Hip-Hop head.  I reached my Hip Hop heyday in the 90’s with groups such as Tribe Called Quest, The Pharcyde and De La Soul.  This form of Hip Hop was called “conscious” rap because of the content, thought and movement that was a product of the music of the time.  Studio Gangsta Rappers were shunned and your rep was based on the music you produced, not a marketing campaign.  As a 42-year-old Social Media Marketing Consultant I struggle to stay true to my Hip Hop roots, or move on to Classic Jazz?  I can not relate to today’s version of Hip Hop “Chain Music”.  No content, no point, just a catchy heavy base beat and a gold chain.

When you look at the current Digital Marketing landscape……one could say it’s gone the way of “Chain Music”! Social Media is  “en vogue” so companies jumped in flooding timelines with shameless sales plugs and pitches.  Forbes Magazine wrote about the importance of Social Media for Small Business as far back as 2011.  Over that span of time the Social Media Marketing Industry has changed immensely.  It was the connection that was important…….an online interaction that creates an in person engagement.  With the introduction of Facebook Ads and other products, you can pay for Likes and Followers.   It’s no longer about building an organic online community, it’s about paying to get into the timelines of the masses.  Social Media has gone the way of the Google Search Consultant…”but you have 50,000 impressions!”  When numbers become the game in Social Media, failure is imminent.  When there is no true content, people will eventually learn the truth.  There are those Social Media Marketing Consultants and Agencies that get it right.  They realize that just setting up an “Enter to Win an iPad” link  isn’t true traffic.  When I see companies and marketing consultants that get it right, I remain hopeful for our industry.  Despite all the filters that keep  your message out of timelines unless you pay to play……..we can still be heard if you have the rigtht content, the right message and the right audience.

Just as my hope in the Social Media Marketing industry is renewed from time to time, my hope in Hip Hop is renewed when I hear song’s like  Wale’s “Chain Music”. Wale is a Washington D.C. Metro area native and has been on the scene for years but he didn’t receive the national recognition he deserved until he inked a deal with MMG.  Although Wale’s message hasn’t changed, his delivery has……a line from Chain Music states, “tried to give you light and a message, but you’d rather have some VVS’ (diamonds).  He realized that the culture of the Chain Music era is a necessary evil, just as Social Media is a necessary evil for businesses.  If there is no engagement, no connection, no information exchange……..Social Media Marketers may as well trade their corporate suits in  for gold chains.

Juan De Cruz, Jr.

Social Media Marketing, SEO/SEM, e-Mail Marketing Consulting

http://www.socialmediajuander.com

(240) 479-0082