Category: Recent Blog Posts

The Duplicate Web Content Problem

It seems to be the biggest piece of the content puzzle that Google Panda is attacking is copied or duplicate web content. Sites with mostly copied content are seeing up to 88% drop in Google rankings. Whether it’s a paragraph, a page, or an entire site’s worth of copy, don’t do it. Not only will a site lose validity in the eyes of the user, but Google will not take kindly to the duplication.

The war on duplicate content even includes the use of the same original content used in multiple places on one site. For instance, if a site has two separate pages that have the same information it can be seen as spam behavior.

Analyzing Quality Web Content

The other important factor in Google Panda’s algorithm is strong, quality content a website visitor will actually want to see. While it used to be that the more pages you had the better you would rank, that is no longer necessarily true. It is much better to consolidate content onto fewer pages that can hold their own, rather than many pages with only a paragraph or two on each.

It is recommended that every page of a website have at least 300 words and at least one supported (and properly acquired!) image. Hitting those minimum numbers isn’t enough, however. The content must be engaging, current, informative and unique. A good rule of thumb to keep in mind when writing web copy is to ask yourself - “Would someone want to share this page with their friends?” If you can answer yes to that, you are on the right track!

So, what can do you do to combat these and future updates?

• Use completely original content. If it wasn’t written by or for you, avoid it.
• Ensure every page has enough content (300 word minimum)
• Write engaging and quality content good enough to repost

If you’re concerned about how Google Panda or other aspects of the changing SEO landscape are affecting you or challenged with writing content, call Graphic Memory Internet Services today to see what we can do for you!

2. Yelp!
Yelp! reviews rank well with search engines, and are generally seen as reputable thanks to their algorithm that helps curb fake reviews. Simply check to see if your business is already listed: if so “claim” the listing via phone verification; and if not just register to submit your company information. Yelp is one of the better business review sites online.

3. Facebook
Facebook remains one of the top business review sites online and can be found on over 80% of smart phones. A business page is easy to use, lets you engage your customers, and allows for ratings, reviews, and check ins. Although algorithm changes have lessened interaction on business pages, Facebook still boasts over 1 billion active users worldwide and users have learned the power of business reviews.

4. MerchantCircle
MerchantCircle was designed solely as a user review site, but has set itself apart from other business review sites with the availability of offers and coupons from merchants. MerchantCircle also lets you verify your account and assigns you a score from 0-100, 100 being the best based on reviews and a variety of other factors.

5. Foursquare
While Foursquare seems like a simple social network, it is a top review site for businesses. With 50 million members worldwide, over 6 billion check-ins and more than 1.7 million verified businesses listed, Foursquare allows you to connect with customers (or potential customers) with a complete location listing. Businesses can offer specials, and reward first time and repeat visits. Customers in turn provide tips and reviews of your company.

There are many available sites on which to list your business and gather customer reviews. Research ones most suited to your industry and best fitting to your current online presence. Once your company begins using these review sites to attract new customers, keep in mind:

A. Be Honest – do not create false reviews. You risk being banned from these sites, and it will damage your reputation if caught.
B. Ask happy customers for reviews - many customers would be happy to if reminded.
C. Respond to reviews – thank the positive to show you appreciate their honest opinion, follow up on the negative to resolve the issue and gain back trust. Do not overlook the good or get defensive about the bad.

Reviews are an absolutely essential factor in achieving top placement in organic search engine rankings. Be sure to monitor your reviews regularly and share your review site links on our website and social media platforms.

Getty Images is probably the largest stock photo image agency in the world - and can see how they have managed to become so with the practices they've employed to protect their images. Although very prevalent now, at that time was there were no obviously viewable watermarks added to their copyrighted images so it was very easy in our final review process to have a photo get past us without purchasing.

Since there was no clear watermark viewable in the photo, that didn't mean there wasn't one.  Apparently Getty was using hidden watermarks and employed a "spider" to crawl the Internet looking for it later to go after those using their copyrighted images illegally. Come three or four years later, we received a frantic phone call from a client saying they had received a letter from a Getty Images attorney demanding several THOUSANDS of dollars for using a very small $10.00 or so (if purchased at the time) photo in their website that wasn't purchased. I have to say the wording of that letter scared us, as well.

My phone call to Getty to explain what happened and offering to make it right by paying for it then was met with a stonewalled response that it was too late for that and we could resolve the matter by paying $1500.00 instead of the original few thousand dollar demand. Since they were going after our client and not us directly - as we were responsible for it happening to begin with - we paid it taking it as a lesson learned. At the time, we took it as a rare one-time incident and it couldn't happen again.

We were wrong.

A couple of months later, we get another panic call from another web client. Same call process and response from Getty and we paid it again. Several months later a third one.  This time, we balked and started doing research online to see if others were experiencing what we were. It opened us up to what an incredible money-making scheme Getty had going on. In case after case from others in various forums outraged by this, several claimed refusal to pay anything and described a progression of three ever more threatening letters from Getty's lawyers threatening to take them to court and the potential for tens of thousands of dollars in additional expense if the payment was not made.

I can't imagine how many thousands – probably millions - of Getty images that must have been used by all sorts of entities out there that they had to have gone after. My cynical self found it very interesting that Getty hired a former US Attorney in either 2007 or 2008 as their senior VP and general counsel. It kind of made sense to me considering what was going on.  I've never read where Getty ever followed through with actually taking someone to court but have to assume they never had to with the money it was generating for them. Why there was never a class action lawsuit brought against them, we'll never know.

Always Buy Copyrighted Images

So, where is the lesson with all of this and was Getty using an underhanded scheme to generate massive revenues?  What does it matter? We know other stock and professional photography entities out there have learned from this scheme and are using it now too. Getting a cease and desist letter is the best scenario you can hope for by using someone else’s copyrighted images.  What you can probably expect is demands for outrageous money and a lot of stress.  Bottom line is, be a professional and DO NOT USE COPYRIGHTED IMAGES WITHOUT PURCHASING THEM OR ASKING FOR PERMISSION TO USE THEM.

Update Plugins and Themes

Updating any plugins is also just as important as keeping your installation up to date. New releases contain security upgrades that could be vital to the functionality of your site, especially for larger plugins, such as real estate listings or job posting boards. Not only that, but often times exciting new features or settings are released that can give your site a mini-facelift!

Updating the site theme is the same principal. Today, WordPress themes are just as functional as your plugins, as they run code that is just as susceptible to security risks as anything else.

Clean Out Unused Themes and Plugins

I know I often go through a few plugins before I find the right one for the job, especially when trying something totally new. However, it’s important to remember to not only deactivate but delete any plugins that aren’t actively being used. Just because they aren’t seen on the live site doesn’t mean the files aren’t still on your server taking up space and inviting security issues!

The same goes for unused themes. Other than the main theme and its child theme, (see my previous post on the importance of a child) you shouldn’t need to hold onto anything else. The only exception is if you’ve created your site with a third party theme. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to keep just one updated WP theme to fall back on for troubleshooting purposes. I recommend either Twenty Eleven or Twenty Twelve.

Backup, Backup, Backup!

Getting on a good backup schedule is imperative to running a smooth WordPress website. It might be a good idea to run a complete backup after every update, keeping you on a well-rounded WordPress maintenance plan. Regular backups are important not only for your peace of mind in the unfortunate event of a hack or security issue, but also for that time you might make a change that causes a full on website meltdown.

I recommend not only backing up all your core files, but a backup of the database as well. With these, you can save yourself the terrible headaches involved in trying to rebuild if all data is lost.

In the same way cars require a little TLC from time to time to stay in tip top shape, your website needs your attention too. Avoid having to rebuild the engine by staying on top of oil changes! By proactively monitoring and taking care of your installation and continual WordPress maintenance, you’ll have a functional and fantastic site to be proud of.

Where Is Your Target Market Online? (Cont...)

Most often, their social media connections will fall within your target market. Therefore, if you find your customers are using Facebook regularly, then Facebook is where you should focus a portion of your marketing efforts. On the other hand, if your target market does not utilize Twitter, then that is not a platform to focus on. The best place to start is where your target market is active.

Getting In Front of Them

Step three is to get your company in front of your target market. Blogs, social media platforms, business directories, and customer review sites all serve a purpose for your product or service: they provide information to the internet community and drive potential customers to your storefront or website. By choosing appropriate topics, partnering with like minded businesses, keeping online information current, providing customer testimonials and interacting with current customers your company will establish a presence in the online community.

Be Consistent

Step four is to maintain your marketing presence by staying active and contributing to the communities into which you have entered. It is important for your company to contribute worthwhile information and not just advertise your product or service. Regularly checking in and interacting are essential to build your online reputation: answer questions, respond to issues, refer to other businesses things outside your realm, and remain a consistent message across all platforms.

Track and Interact

Step five is to track and react to responses. Keep up to date with your customer base and identify where prospects have found you. Monitor communication and performance on your online platforms to gauge participation and consumer opinions. Track likes, re-tweets, posts, blog comments and shares to ensure you are in the right places. As any of your results trend towards less of an impact, simply research where to shift time and focus to another venue.

Whether your company handles its own marketing strategy, or hires a professional company for assistance and implementation, it is imperative to identify who your audience is at the onset of your planning process. Your target market, not your “dream” customer, needs to be the focus of your marketing efforts. You can't go wrong by focusing on these five steps to online marketing.

Some good examples of domains we have registered for various attorney clients of ours in the southeastern Virginia region that fit this criteria are tidewaterdivorce.com, bankruptcylegalcenter.com, divorcelawfirm.com, hamptonroadsinjurylawyer.com, richmondvirginialawfirm.com and others.

Despite recent claims to the contrary from some of the SEO articles we keep up with, we still see domain names with strong keywords within them typically are on the first page of the search results. We are still convinced that keeping these points in mind when registering your primary domain bears a lot of weight in the success of how your site indexes.

Multiple Domain Names - Are They Necessary?

What we're talking about here is registering several different NAMES of domains - and registering several EXTENSIONS for a domain name.

Concerning the registering of related domain names - this tactic has been used by some of our client's - tactics we have never recommended - with the impression that if they registered other similar domains and pointed them to their primary, it would somehow increase their indexing. We have had numerous clients register dozens of domain names from reading some of these articles online. In the past, there were various schemes that search engine optimizers employed by registering and using multiple domain names for a client to market through.

Another good point concerning registering pointer domains would be using a keyword heavy URL as your primary, and registering a shorter acronym-based domain for it to market conventionally. In this instance, you are getting the benefit of a keyword rich domain name as the one recognized by the search engines, and being able to  market abz.com, for instance, as a fast, easy conventional marketing domain.

However, today there is no point to doing this unless you intend to set up blogs with those domains that support your primary domain or core website. If you do employ this tactic, be sure to host those domains on different web servers than the one your primary website resides on.

I will say that a good one we recently experienced is one business registering a new competing business' name before they could register it for themselves. It really caused a lot of stress for the new business as their "name" .COM points directly to their main competitors website.

When it comes to domain extensions, I have always stressed having a primary .com domain no matter what and - depending on the client - have suggested they also register the .net and .org extensions, as well. But, that's about it. We are hard pressed to recommend a client register the .NET and/or .ORG that might be available if the .COM is already registered by someone else.

Any other domain extension would be strictly for branding purposes. For example, we might recommend a .tv extension for a video production company.

I hope you got something useful out of this article. Next month we'll talk about domain ownership and management. If you are interested in having a consultation about registering your domain name, contact us at 757-728-0099 or visit our Domain Registration and Management web page.

Back to Basics (Cont...)

Facebook started out as a word-of-mouth platform.  When pages became popular, it’s because somebody started out with some great content, and their friends, family, and/or loyal customers loved it and shared it.  It then branched out from there.  With the changing landscape of the platform, businesses need to go back to this.  Paid ads and increasingly strict limits on organic (free) reach of business and fan pages have changed this.  So what can you do?  Get your employees to like and share your page.  Ask your friends and families to do the same!  You can have the best, most original and interesting content on the web…but if your reach is limited by the expense of paid ads, you will have no audience to see your content!

Stay Involved

If you are a small business with a marketing budget that needs to get you a great deal of bang for your buck, the best way you can do this is to help your internet marketing company help you.  It is the responsibility of your marketing company to post original, interesting content; to do everything in their power to engage people; and to increase your brand recognition and trustworthiness as much as possible.  That being said, strangers that haven’t used your goods/services yet won't have the same passion and excitement about your brand as your own personal connections.  The more people you personally ask to follow/like/engage, the more new visitors will see your content through the networks of your personal connections.  If your marketing company is doing their job, the content should then draw more people in.

Keep the Content Coming

Depending on what type of internet marketing program you have, it may help tremendously to make a routine of sending pictures/news/events to your marketers for them to spread out across platforms over time.  Your marketing company should be contacting you to find out if you have anything like this for them.  Make sure you do!  People who follow companies/brands usually do so because they’re interested in what that company/brand is doing or has going on.  They don’t just want regular information…they want the latest news!  Communicating regularly with your marketing company is the best way to make sure you always have the best-of-the-best content!

The social media trends shifting towards paid ads may be daunting, but don’t let it get you down.  If you are proactive, and have a reputable internet marketing company working for you, you will still build brand awareness and excitement.

Online business directories listings are an important element in a marketing strategy to make it easier for people to find your business on the internet. These directories directly impact your website domain popularity by increasing backlinks to your site, which in turn places you higher in search engine results and gets your business better online exposure.

Online Business Directories & Linking Strategies

This link building strategy is most effective when your business is placed in established and quality online business directories. Utilizing popular directories is the first step to improving online visibility, but your efforts should not stop there. Industry specific listings (and there are hundreds to choose from) assist those who already know they are seeking your product or service. Local directories help those in your city, region, or state find you with a location based search. General listing sites which allow you to add a business type or category are also a necessity, as they promote the key words associated with your industry.

Research is required to insure proper placement of your company information and website links. You need to determine if:

a)      Is there traffic filtering through the directory?

b)      Are there category choices relevant to your business?

c)       Is the directory found on Google and Bing?

d)      Are there guidelines for what types of businesses allowed to be listed?

In order to drive potential customers to your business through a link building strategy, they must be able to find your website easily with a professional presentation. Follow up to make sure your postings appear in a timely manner, monitor them periodically, and make changes as directories increase the fields displayed.

To show natural link growth to the search engines, directory listings should be introduced a few at a time along with building links in other ways.  An organic link building profile consists of various types of links: blogs, other businesses, social sites, media, etc. Directories should not be your entire backlink strategy, but rather a base to build upon.

The time taking to research directories and enter your submissions will pay off in the long run by increasing search engine optimization (SEO) for your website and providing backlinks for your potential clients to follow. Remember - online business directories cannot be ignored and area critical part of local SEO in 2014.