Seo Sunday: Linking

To start out our SEO on Sunday series, I think it's perfect to talk quickly about Linking. I'm not going to go into massive detail, but I am going to share an example of what NOT to do.

Don't ignore or decline an inbound link opportunity.

(Unless it's bad for business of course.)

When I had the concept to do this series, I contacted Steffan Antonas to ask permission to link to him. He responded with a yes, and also a, "let me know when you do - I'd like to join in on the conversation". Now THAT'S what it's about (ok, so it's also about driving traffic....), this new day and age of the Internet. Having conversations, sharing content, sharing information. But I digress.

I also contacted someone else whom I respect in the area of SEO. I've been reading his articles for a few years, I get fantastic ideas from his work, and I find him to be quite knowledgeable and (usually) approachable. But he didn't get back to me regarding my request to link to him.

Don't do this.

Incoming links are SO important to drive up your search engine rankings (= more traffic = more sales). If someone wants to link to you and their site is aligned with your strategic plan?

Do it.

SEO Sunday

I've been coming across a lot of articles lately about SEO and it's really got me thinking about my own site. I've decided to do a bit of an "optimization overhaul" in the area of content, keywords, internal links, outbound links, page titles, etc and I thought I'd bring you along for the ride!

Last year I wrote a post to pass along some SEO pointers called SEO in 3 Minutes or Less. I'd suggest you give that a quick read for some basic SEO concepts (hey, it's less than 3 minutes!) and ideas. Next I'd visit Steffan Antonas. His blog was the inspiration for my SEO in 3 Minutes or Less post, and when I want to learn something new, or am a bit stuck with something technical, I have a peak to see what he's got going on. Usually, he's got some great tidbits, even video!, that help me out.

In my next SEO post I'll start breaking those ideas apart and really looking to dissect the SEO concept and how to implement changes in your own website. Stay tuned!

Quick Tip Tuesdays

This is the second in a series of Quick Tip Tuesdays about Press Releases. Our first tip was about Google Insights for Search (amazing tool!).

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It may seem simple enough, but so many of us can forget to research, let alone USE, keywords! So just do it!

Find out the EXACT words potential clients are searching for and use them. And don't forget to create a link (we wrote a few pointers in our post SEO in 3 Minutes or Less) out of the words/phrases and make sure it points right back to the corresponding page of your website.

What are your publicity ideas or tips? Feel free to share in the comments!

Quick Tip Tuesdays

We took part in a webinar recently hosted by the good folks over at PRWeb, entitled "Creating a Killer Publicity Strategy with Online News Releases". Bill Stoller of Publicity Insider offered some insight into what makes news and how to create news, but the real scene-stealer (to me) was Janet M. Thaeler, author of "I Need a Killer Press Release - Now What?". She offered a couple of fantastic tips that I'm going to share with you over the next few weeks in the Quick Tip Tuesday posts. Thanks Janet!

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This could be a blog post all on it's own. Actually, it could be it's own series of posts. It's THAT good: Google Insights for Search. I'm still learning more about it, but the basic idea is to find the current search trends, check out the rising search trends, and use these terms in the title of your press release. Another tip? This is a great source for SEO... incorporate these terms into your website too!

See you next week for another Quick Tip Tuesday!

*If you have any quick tips, feel free to comment or email me for inclusion down the road!

SEO in 3 Minutes or Less.

It seems I've been waiting for this man my whole life. (ok, ok, a few months anyway!) Steffan Antonas. He's explained SEO for the ordinary person. He's explained keywords for the ordinary person. All pertaining to links. The links you use in your blog. HOW you use links. HOW you write links. And just how to use keywords in those links. And a bit about the importance of linkbacks. (Anyone care to link to me? Let's chat!)

It's helped me to turn my thinking around (and I love when I find information, or a quote, or a blog post that does that! That totally re-arranges the pathways in my brain and gets me thinking bigger, larger, grander....), and all it took was a three-minute read. The best thing? I had no idea at all how important it was to have links in your posts. Keywords, yes. Links? No. Now that I do, it will totally change the way I write posts, do business, and increase my knowledge base for my customers therefore helping them to gain an advantage as well.

Fantastic.

To read Steffan Antonas' article, pop by his SEO post and have a look!

Blogging for Business

Are you not getting the attention you deserve? Do you need to get a new product in front of a crowd? Have an announcement to make but don't know how to tell the world? Don't even know how or where to start?

You need a blog. And we can help!

A blog is like an online dairy. It can be about, and be used for anything at all. It can be used for personal thoughts and opinions, news, reviews, keeping in touch with family... but we're talking about Blogging for Business.

Quite simply, it's a method of quickly updating content on your website. And the search engine spiders LOVE eating up fresh content! It automatically increases your exposure.

Automatically.

There are many ways to get your blog seen and read by people, not just via the search engines. There's a whole new world out there, Web 2.0, where people are collecting information and sharing it with their friends, contacts, etc. It's a digital word-of-mouth. And you know you can't pay for word of mouth.

At Scratchpad Secretaries, we can set up a Blog for you. Better yet, we can update it for you if you're too busy to write yourself. We can submit it to social bookmarking sites. We can add the RSS Feeds. We can make it happen for you.

Make sure you get noticed. Call us for your free 30-minute consultation!