Posted by Naylla Kassam on Fri, Jul 30, 2010
Better safe than sorry? I should think so. There is a lot of controversy over how much weight meta descriptions hold with search engines. Easy answer is cover your basis and write fantastic meta descriptions for your website pages.
Here are 4 simple tips to writing meta descriptions:
- Meta Descriptions should be within the 150 character limit. Search engines stop reading after that, so say it well and keep it short!
2. Make your meta descriptions compelling: If people search for something and you are lucky enough to be on the list, make the meta description compelling enough for someone to want to enter the site. Call-to-actions make great meta descriptions.
3. Use target keywords in your meta description. Tell your readers and the search engines what this page is about. If the page is about pink polka dot umbrellas, then say so. Don’t be repetitive. Make it visually appealing and use long tail keywords.
4. Make your meta descriptions unique. Each page is about something different or it wouldn’t have its own web page. So make every meta description unique to that page.
Meta descriptions are just part of the puzzle. They are just as important as page titles, page content, and images. Find out more about Search Engine Optimization and what you need to know to get your website found!
Posted by Patrick Murphy on Fri, Jul 30, 2010
Los Flamingos is somewhere I like to go for a break away from Dublin and it appears that Michelle Obama, The First Lady, also likes the idea of coming here for a break from the White House and Washington. Los Flamingos is built around a Ritz Carton hotel so there is no need for her to camp on my sofa. She will be staying at the Ritz Carlton, Villa Padierna classed as one of the premier luxury hotels in Marbella. Surrounded by the sparkling waters of the Mediterranean, this five star hotel in Marbella will offer Michelle Obama a relaxing retreat where luxurious accommodations, championship golf and a lavish spa give way to awe-inspiring views of the Costa del Sol.
So what has Michelle Obama coming to Los Flamingos got to do with Inbound Marketing? Inbound Marketing is about people finding you either through Google, Social Media or Blogs which depends on you having interesting content. Next week when Michelle Obama is visiting the worlds press will be all focused on Los Flamingos. This will give Los Flamingos a chance to shine and sell itself to the rest of the world. This is not down to adverting but just simply what Los Flamingos has to offer to her and the average tourist which is what Inbound Marketing is. Inbound Marketing is about creating remarkable content and reasons for people to find you.
How do you get the equivalent of Michelle Obama visiting your website? Here are some Inbound Marketing tips for bringing traffic to your website.
1st Inbound Marketing Tip: High quality unique content
2nd Inbound Marketing Tip: Update content regularly
3rd Inbound Marketing Tip: Keyword Research
4th Inbound Marketing Tip: Good SEO
5th Inbound Marketing Tip: Great Page Titles
6th Inbound Marketing Tip: Inviting other people to contribute content. This really is the same as Michelle Obama coming to Los Flamingos. By people contributing is a public vote of confidence of your website, company and brand with the added advantage of generating traffic to your website.
If you are looking for some ideas on how to attract people to your website or how to develop a social media strategy check out the SiliconCloud workshop.
Posted by Naylla Kassam on Wed, Jul 28, 2010
Page Titles….WHERE are they? What are they? Do I need them? And do I care?
The answer to all of these questions is YES!
1. Page Titles – Where are they?
Page Titles are at the top of the internet browser.
2. Page Titles – What are they?
Page titles are not only important to the visitors to your page, but they are also important to search engines. Google for example looks at the page title to determine what keywords that specific page should rank for. The key here is that search engines look at the page title for EACH page.
3. Page Titles – Do you need them?
Yes you need page titles. If Google looks at page titles for every page, then think of each page as a lottery ticket. For every page on your website, you have a chance for ranking on page one of Google for those specific key words. So take some time and work on your page titles.
4. Page Titles – Do you care?
Yes you should care about your page title. Every page title identifies to search engines, what the page is about, so take the time and ask yourself what each page on your site is about.
Here are some rules on page titles to help you along:
1. Google only looks at the first 70 characters so make the most of those 70 characters.
2. Make them visually appealing – that means don’t stuff keywords into the title. For example – management software for managers at management companies.
3. Make the page title inviting. Nothing worse that business analytics to help define business process and infrastructure reviews – what the heck does that mean? Make your page titles simple and make them make sense!
4. Don’t put your company name in every page title. If it makes sense, use it, if it doesn’t – don’t.
Posted by Patrick Murphy on Wed, Jul 28, 2010
Inbound Marketing requires generating new content but not just any old content it has to be interesting. The best way to way to do that is by blogging but how do you come up with ideas for blogs. Here are some simple tips on creating a blog for inbound marketing.
1st Inbound Marketing Blog Tip: Respond to something you have seen elsewhere on the web or in the news. For example in the news recently is it now illegal to unlock your iPhone. What are you views on this etc.
2nd Inbound Marketing Blog Tip: Interview someone that has something to do with your industry or market. It does not have to be face to face, a simple email interview would work. And if possible ask for their advice or their 3 tips. You could make your interview into a series with similar themes.
3rd Inbound Marketing Blog Tip: Talk about an upcoming event. For example today we are running a free webinar on the latest social media trends. Provide at little insight into the event, or after the event with an update.
4th Inbound Marketing Blog Tip: Blog just does not have to be about writing. If could be visual such as a video or pictures. You tube is a great resource so use it to your advantage. It is the next biggest search engine next to Google.
5th Inbound Marketing Blog Tip: Write a list of tips or 10 things to consider before..... Lists are very popular on the web, frequently topping websites’ ‘most shared’ lists. A good start for your first post could be to make a list of the top 10 blogs in your market.
Last Inbound Marketing Blog Tip: Don’t write it yourself. Look for a guest blogger. If you find someone with particular expertise or experience, invite them to write a ‘guest post’ on a particular subject.
These are just some ideas on how to start you blogs. One thing to remember is that according to latest research companies that blog generate more leads than those that do not blog. Which company do you want to be?
Posted by Patrick Murphy on Tue, Jul 27, 2010
Any part of a successful Inbound Marketing strategy is generating leads. But what do you do when you have too many leads that it is not possible to follow up with them straight away. One idea would be to move them further along the sales process by identifying their pain points with an online survey. Here are some tips to run an effective inbound marketing survey.
First Inbound Marketing Survey Tip: Know what you want to achieve. Inbound Marketing surveys are easy and very cost-effective way to identify your target markets needs and priorities. When preparing you Inbound Marketing survey think about what information do you want to get from your target market? What information do you really need? But do not forget to keep a clear focus on the goal of your inbound marketing survey as you create it.
Second Inbound Marketing Survey Tip: How will they answer. Think if it is ok for your respondents to tick off a checkbox, or maybe to write out a response in their own words. Remember that multiple-choice surveys will produce results are easy to tally and compare. It is also possible that there may also be a higher response rate for multiple choice questions, as they are faster and easier for people to answer than open-ended questions that require more time and thought.
Third Inbound Marketing Survey Tip: Remember the end.Let people see what they are getting themselves in for with your inbound marketing survey before they start. Let them know how many questions you'll be asking, or where possible give an estimate of the time needed to complete your inbound marketing survey.
Fourth Inbound Marketing Survey Tip: Remember the carrot. Sometimes you have to dangle an incentive to get things done. If this is the case with your inbound marketing survey why not make it something that moves the prospect further along such as a free consultation or a sales discount. Think about how you might reward your own target market for taking part in your inbound marketing survey.
Final
Inbound Marketing Survey Tip: As with all
Inbound Marketing follow up. Do post an update on your blog to report your findings, making the most of
inbound marketing. As with all inbound marketing it can also new leads from those that are interested in the topic of your survey.
Posted by Patrick Murphy on Mon, Jul 26, 2010
Inbound Marketing and Social Marketing is always changing, there is always something new happening or a brand trying to push the limit further. Recently that task has fallen to Old Spice. In case you are one of the few that have not seen the advert here it is:
Social Media and Inbound Marketing is about building brand awareness and driving business. Did Old Spice manage to achieve goals? There is no doubt that they have increase brand awareness. By looking at Twitter alone the number of tweets has increased dramatically over the last week. Old Spice presence has gone from next nothing to over 1,000 tweets a day.
But what are people saying about Old Spice in social media? The typical conversion appears to range from talking about the guy to the smell of Old Spice. Here are a few of the typical tweets.
“I’m an Old Spice man”
“Did you guys get a picture with the Old Spice guy? Jealous. I may have a man crush on him lol.”
“@OldSpice My wife doesn't like the smell of the super manly Old Spice products, How can i get her to fall in love with Old Spice?”
“The Old Spice man has convinced me. I switched from Axe to Old Spice deodorant.”
Inbound Marketing and Social Media is great at appealing to all markets and demographics. For example the The Old Spice advert is targeted at women. While that may be the case, but if we take as sample text of the conversions online the spilt is 62% male against 38% Female.
Was the Old Spice advert successful, judging by the increased online conversion and that they have managed to reach their target market of males aged between 21 -35 it appears so. But more importantly will it increase revenue?
The answer is a Social Media and Inbound Marketing yes, according to Nielsen. According to them, sales of Old Spice Body Wash—the line touted in the Wieden + Kennedy-created campaign—rose 11 percent over the past 12 months and since the effort broke in February, sales seem to be gaining momentum. Over the past three months, sales jumped 55 percent and in the past month, they rose 107 percent, also per Nielsen.
The success of their social media inbound marketing campaign has seen Old Spice become the No. 1 brand of body wash and anti-perspirant/deodorant in both sales and volume with growth in the high single/double digits according to P&G rep Michael Norton.
Remember that for your social media or inbound marketing campaign that good social media campaigns can take a while to take off but great social media campaigns can have an impact straight away.
Posted by Patrick Murphy on Fri, Jul 23, 2010
Social Media and Twitter is a great source for information but who should you follow? Rather than spending time going through the usual list here are some different names on Twitter to check out. Before I get there, I looked into the social media theme for the week. Social Media is a big conversion topic to help understand what people are talking about we have created a Buzzgraph around Social Media. I looked at the conversations or mentions related to social media and mapped them out.
It is interesting to note that the main topic around social media is promotion and business promotion. The key links around social media are: customer, businesses, network, advertising, brand and market. Does this mean that a large part of social media is used to promote business? Here are a few of the key conversions with people mentioning Social Media.
“the next step would be to build a website around your niche market, optimize your keywords, build quality links and promote your website.”
“check out this blog post about how popular social media is right now and how popular it should be in the future.. 22% of online time spent with social media. 75% of u.s.”
“internet households visited a social networking site in may 2010. 22% of the time spent online is attributed to social networking sites. 55% have at least one or more social networking profiles..”
“social media – social media is media designed to be disseminated through social interaction, created using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques.”
So back to whom you should follow on Twitter, below are some people worth checking out:
http://twitter.com/LaPeregrina
http://twitter.com/ClodaghHiggins
http://twitter.com/TWEETSDRAMA
http://twitter.com/jeffbullas
http://twitter.com/johnhaydon
http://twitter.com/ItsCoachNick
These are just 5 different people worth following if you want to pick up something on Social Media. Have a look and come back with who you would recommend to follow?
Posted by Naylla Kassam on Thu, Jul 22, 2010
Facebook announces its 500m mark of active users: the United States having the highest user rate at 127m, Brazil coming in at second with 28.7m users, and the UK at 24.2m users. These numbers only have one place to go and that’s UP. So can you afford not to be on Facebook? Or Twitter? Or any other social media site?
We’ve heard the excuses on why you're not engaging in social media:
- It’s too much noise
- I don’t have the time
- Social Media is not for my business
- I can’t waste my time on social media, I have a business to run
The fact of the matter is that social media drives traffic to your website, generates leads, and generates real customers. If there are 500m users just on one social networking site, I’d seriously ask yourself if you can afford not to be on there in some shape or form.
So rather than dwelling on whether to get involved in social media or not, the best advice I can give is: just do it!
Here are 5 tips to help you get started with social media:
- You have to listen as much as you talk. The only way to be heard is to listen.
- It takes discipline! It’s called “social” media for a reason. Make it part of your daily routine. It didn’t take you long to get in the habit of checking email did it?
- Don’t be a walking billboard. Become a trusted advisor, a valued resource, and a person YOU would want to speak to.
- Do your homework. Don’t keep aiming in the dark – look around you and see what people are saying and who is already successful at this strategy.
- Who’s the message for? Who is your ideal client? Target your message to the people you want to engage with.
Still not convinced? Join us on our free webinar for the Latest Trends in Social Media on July 29, 2010.
Posted by Patrick Murphy on Wed, Jul 21, 2010
I like to find social media tips from different places, as it appears that social media can copy what is going on outside social media. Here are my social media tips that I have picked up from Sex and the City.
1st Social Media tip from Sex and the City: Single is Not a Dirty Word. It is ok be alone in social media because you will not be single for long.
2nd Social Media tip from Sex and the City: It's Okay to Expose All to Your Girlfriends. Try and be open and personal on social media. People engage in social media to engage on a personal basis, if they wanted corporate speak they would read the business pages and not social media.
3rd Social Media tip from Sex and the City: Fate is Not Always Fate. Try not to kid yourself you need a very defined social media strategy to succeed. While social media works it does not come down to fate.
4th Social Media tip from Sex and the City: Sometimes to Be Real You Have to Get Ugly. While social media is about building a network you still need to give your opinion. Sometimes your opinion will not be what people want to hear but once it is in good intentions everything will be ok.
5th Social Media tip from Sex and the City: Be Vulnerable. For social media to work you need to be open and it works best when you are. So at times look to seek advice for other people. Remember social media is a two way street.
6th Social Media tip from Sex and the City: Know When to Kiss Goodbye. With so many social media channels out there at times you might try one that will just will not work for your business. Be prepared to step back and take a hard luck at your social media strategy to see if it working for you.
7th Social Media tip from Sex and the City: Patience and Compromise. Social media will not be an overnight success for your business. It take times and understanding. So be prepared to make mistake and learn on the way.
Posted by Patrick Murphy on Tue, Jul 20, 2010
Social Media in now growing among Irish Politicians. A few weeks ago a politician started to follow me on Twitter. What can social media tell us about the current state of Irish politics and people’s views? I choose the two main parties, Fianna Fail and Fine Gael to use as a straw poll.
Social Media’s first metric is the number of comments online about each party.
When compared against each other over the last 7 days Fine Gael has 67% of the mentions against Fianna Fail with only 33%.
The majority of Fine Gael’s comments came from the news forums at the beginning of the week focusing on the following keywords:
It is not surprising that for the political parties, online newspapers still provide the great percentage of mentions against any other social media channel. News accounts for around 55% ~ 60% of all mentions. Twitter accounts for only 20% of mentions. In summary Fine Gael is very good at ‘getting mentioned’ in the press. If we look further what can we establish?
Social Media’s next metric is to look at the sentiment of the mentions. Sentiment is calculated using an algorithm to look for positive or negative tone. If we compare the two parties together Fine Gael still has the under hand but with more positive mentions.
It is interesting that during the last 7 days the papers published that Fine Gael received a donation from a top NAMA developer which does not seem to have a majority effect on public sentiment... however, only yesterday the number of tweets increased for Fine Gale claiming that the honeymoon could be over:
In summary measuring online mentions provides us with a valuable insight into public opinion about your brand, company or products. For Fine Gael is appears that they are ahead of the curve.