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Say Goodbye to Worthless Social Media Groups

February 25th, 2015

I just love joining new social media groups, especially on LinkedIn. It’s so exciting to see all those new faces. So, imagine my own sad face when I realized that I had reached my LinkedIn groups limit of… 50? !

What’s up with that? Why would LinkedIn, the preferred business social media platform for millions, not let people join more than 50 groups, especially when Facebook allows us to join up to 6,000?

In any case, it’s time to bite the bullet and detach myself from a bunch of dead-beat social media groups that I don’t benefit from anymore. That’s what I have to do if I want to grow my network and find referrals and customers that are a good match for my business.

Time to Weed!

Experienced gardeners purchase mulch by the truckload and pile it onto their flower beds 6 inches deep. Mulch suffocates the weeds so they can’t, in turn, suffocate the classy flowers. Unfortunately, we can’t just pour mulch over our LinkedIn social media groups and expect our clutter to magically disappear without putting serious thought into which ones are worthwhile and which ones are not.

Here are a few questions that helped me decide which LinkedIn groups to leave:

Which groups do I rarely visit?
Make a list of all these groups and then leave them.
Which groups don’t I participate in?
Unless you really want them to show in your profile, leave any groups you do not participate in.
Which groups are dominated by one or two people?
This was true for a lot of my groups. These groups are worthless unless the participants are true thought leaders in your industry.

(Be patient because LinkedIn only allows members to quit groups one at a time.)

My only other exception to these quitting rules are social media groups that tout good causes, like Susan G. Komen for the Cure and The Jimmy Fund. I will keep my memberships in these because I support their causes and want to learn all I can.

Time to Replant!

As I was deciding which groups to leave, I have to admit that I may have joined a lot of these groups for some pretty shallow reasons…

how many people were in the group (popularity)
whether or not the group had a pretty logo (visual appetite)
I got invitations from people I didn’t know (ego)

Not terribly effective ways to choose groups.

Choosing LinkedIn Groups that Matter to Me

With these wrong reasons for joining still in my head, it should be much easier to find new groups that will help me. Here’s the criteria that I will use…

the group must be relevant to my business… and therefore me
I can visualize myself participating intelligently
it will have active and current posts by more than a few people
my expertise will stand out from the crowd

With social media being such a big part of business networking these days, it’s important to be thoughtful about which groups will produce the highest-quality referrals, and maybe even some customers…

And, now that I have used my own advice to break up with a bunch of groups, I’ve also decided to take it slow and only re-add one group per month at the most. I think it makes sense, for me, to participate with depth… instead of trying to be all things to all groups.

In any case, I’m down to 20 groups and it feels great!

It’s Time to Overlook the Obvious and Clean Up Your SEO

By Nate Kruska

January 14th, 2015

Inbound Marketing

Since my last post on building an effective website through blogging, a number of concerned business owners have asked about ways to clean up their SEO. Specifically, they understand the benefits of topical articles, but don’t see value in going after those less popular keywords.

To address those concerns, you first have to acknowledge that the technical landscape of SEO has changed dramatically in the last few years. No longer are there surefire methods to rank on the first page for your desired search terms. Google’s ranking algorithm is a moving target that becomes more advanced on a daily basis. Elements that were once a priority for on-page search optimization have been replaced with new factors that Google wants to see.

As a basic example, a year or two ago, the meta description (a short block of text hidden to visitors) was weighed heavily by search engines in their ranking formula. Today, however, many experts agree that it has very little weight, if any at all.

This example is truly indicative of what Google has always tried to do: give its users the most relevant search results possible. At its foundation, the concept of a search engine is to provide wholly unbiased information, prioritized by relevance for its users. The meta description, while useful for a long time, is easily manipulated by marketers… and that’s the opposite of what Google wants.

So, we’re really not talking about Google’s algorithm here. We’re talking about what led them to change it.

It’s Time to Acknowledge Your Competition

Face it, without all that pesky competition you’d rank #1 for whatever you want, right? So, if you can’t join ’em, you really only have 2 options for those highly competitive keywords:

Try to beat ’em

OR

Admit defeat

Obviously, you’re going to try and beat ’em. But, before you suit up for battle, think about the long road ahead. Attempting to outrank your competition for the most desirable search terms will usually end up as a demoralizing, fruitless endeavor. Unless your company provides an abnormally unique product, there will always be a bigger competitor, with more brand awareness, more clout with Google and more money to spend on marketing. So what are you supposed to do?

It’s Time to Overlook the Obvious

I know, ever since 5th grade, you’ve always been told “don’t ignore the obvious”. I’m not here to argue against that age-old wisdom. My point is, if you truly want to clean up your SEO, you need to take note of your most obvious search phrases, recognize the stranglehold that your more powerful competition has on those premium keywords, and then look beyond that glaring first level to a place that’s a bit less explored.

In other words, by modifying those very apparent search terms with appropriate adjectives, locations and less common synonyms, you can find and tap into small niches within the market. While you’re attempting to attract a much smaller group of people, you’re also much more likely to be found by them at all.

At its foundation, these markets are much more accessible to smaller businesses. Plus, if you take this technique and apply it to a variety of niches, what you’ll have is a well diversified and testable marketing campaign. A marketing campaign that can be as focused or broad as you and your team can handle.

In the near future, I’ll expand on the idea of using a diversified keyword portfolio to attract different types of people, and learn which are your best customers.

The Blogging Resolution: 7 Ways to Grow an Effective Website

By Nate Kruska

December 31st, 2014

Inbound Marketing

If you are already a staunch supporter of the inbound marketing ideology, you’re also likely to have a vast appreciation for the promotional power of blogging. A good content-based strategy is at the heart of every effective website… and consistent blogging is the foundation.

In my opinion, every small business should make a resolution to blog more (and better) in 2015. But as anyone who’s tried will tell you, it’s tough to keep it going… especially when you may not see huge results overnight.

In the long run, it’ll be worth it… but there are things you can do now to make it easier on yourself and your blog-posting staff. Here are 7 things you can start doing in the new year to help you keep your blogging resolution and continue to grow a more effective website.

1. Find keywords that you can actually rank for.

Writing a blog that you want to rank in the search engines takes a little creativity. Your competing with every other blog in your industry, but fortunately you are more creative. If you sell shoes, don’t write a blog about “shoes”… write about those new “stylish hiking boots” that just came in. (Moz has some great keyword tools for this and a free trial.)

2. Write a big list of blog post ideas.

If you ever get writer’s block just trying to think of a title, keep an ongoing list of blog ideas so you can just pick a topic and start writing. Even if your titles sound kind of the same now, chances are the blogs will end up being very different, especially if you write them weeks or months apart.

3. Write about what you like to write about.

If you don’t actually like what you do, I guess you’re outta luck. For everyone else, writing about what you like is a simple concept that’s often over-thought. Don’t try to tell people about what you don’t understand or what you don’t care about. Your readers will either think you’re dumb or end up bored and leave.

4. Put yourself out there and welcome the feedback.

You really need to take the old expression “don’t be afraid to fail” to heart. Fortunately, and unfortunately, the collective memory of the internet community is shorter-lived than a goldfish. Egregious blunders and spectacular thoughts will rise and fade as quick as you can blink. Either way, you’ll have valuable feedback, both direct and indirect, that you can apply to future efforts.

5. Don’t ignore inspiration.

When lightning strikes and you’ve got a great idea for a blog post, don’t put it off. Write while the iron’s hot (or something like that). If you are truly in the middle and can’t get to it immediately, write down some notes/keywords/titles at the very least, so you can come back to it later.

6. Stockpile your posts.

If you have the attention span to sit down and write more than one post at a time, you can set yourself up nicely for the future. Hunker down and hammer out 4 or 5 blogs over the course of a day or two. You might also try getting a few posts started with just an intro or an outline, so you can pick it up later (that’s actually how this one started).

7. Celebrate your blogging success.

The true joy of blogging doesn’t come from just hitting the publish button (save the occasional frustration-fueled rant). The real reward comes after that… Bask in the glow of the rankings, the visits, the comments, the shares, likes, tweets and retweets. Don’t forget to keep an eye on all of these in the hours, days and weeks that follow. After all, that’s why you blog in the first place.

A safe and happy new year to you all!

SEO for Business: Are You on Google’s Naughty List?

By Nate Kruska

December 22nd, 2014

Inbound Marketing

It’s sort of amusing to think of Google as being as powerful as Santa… but in the world of search engine optimization, they get to write the list of who’s been naughty and who’s been nice.

Fortunately, when it comes to SEO for business, there’s a list of rules that we can follow to avoid such scorn and disappointment. So, when you expect the gift of high search engine rankings, you better not pout and just do what Google says, or else you will NOT have a very Merry Christmas.

5 ways to stay off Google’s naughty list this holiday season:

1. Write different titles and descriptions for ALL of your website’s pages.

This is the most common problem we see with older websites that were never optimized for search engines. Page titles have always been the #1 thing Google uses to figure out what each of your pages are about. Make sure every single one of your page titles are completely relevant and unique.

2. Write website content for your visitors, not for Google.

As ironic as it sounds, Google actually doesn’t want you to write content for them. In fact, over the last decade, they’ve spent billions dollars trying to weed out those that do. Write naturally, without stuffing keywords in every chance you get. Always good to use proper grammar and spellign too :p

3. Connect your website to Google webmaster tools.

As daunting as Google’s mysterious algorithms may seem, they will actually tell you about major problems they find with your website. Hook it up to webmaster tools (takes about 5 minutes with the help of your web designer) and in a few days you’ll have a much better idea whether you’re getting coal in your stocking.

4. Make sure your site is fast and mobile friendly.

It might be easier said than done, but Google has started to weigh this very heavily. As websites become more and more bloated with ads, high-res images and nifty little bells and whistles, the time it takes to load goes through the roof. Google wants people to find what they’re looking for, and they know it’s not…

5. Don’t try to trick Google.

Just as Santa knows when you’ve been bad or good, Google knows when you do things that are against their “code of ethics”. Even if they don’t catch you every time, a pattern of sketchy tactics will keep you from playing anymore reindeer games.

Merry Christmas!

SEO for Business: Bobbing for Customers

By Nate Kruska

October 27th, 2014

Inbound Marketing

If you’ve ever tried working on the SEO for your business website, you know it can be a time-consuming, and sometimes frustrating undertaking. There are a dozen factors you need to consider, even before you make a single change to your website. What’s more… after you’ve made those changes, it can take weeks to figure out if you’ve actually made a difference.

Also check out: Some tips on how to boost your website leads.

If you’re relatively new to the SEO game, chances are you won’t be achieving super high rankings for the premier keywords that you want. One thing you can do to save yourself days of fidgety anticipation is to broaden your horizons from the beginning and start bobbing for customers.

For example: If you’re an accountant looking to sign some new clients, trying to go after “accounting services” will likely be a fruitless experiment. There is simply too much competition and too many BIG players going after the same keyword. If, on the other hand, you focus in on more specific search terms, something like “income tax preparation service”, you will have a much higher chance of success.

There will certainly not be as many people searching for something so specific, but you will end up ranking higher for those that do. As an added bonus, when they see you provide exactly what they searched for, they are even more likely to take you seriously and become your customer!

If you can bob for customers in a few different niches, SEO efforts for your business will gain more exposure, and be far more effective than going after the most obvious keywords you can think of. In fact, if you create different pages (or blog posts), each one optimized for a niche keyword, you’ll have even more luck ranking, converting and learning what works best!

Experimental Marketing: Outbound’s Out. Inbound’s In.

By Nate Kruska

January 20th, 2014

Inbound Marketing

For businesses, the biggest advantage of having a website has always been the ability for customers to immediately access information about about a company, no matter where they are. To this day, no other medium allows businesses to broadcast their products and passions to such a large audience, in a way that matches their brand.

One of the biggest challenges, however, has been getting this great website content in front of the eyes of the people who want to see it. Outbound marketing techniques, such as advertising, continue to be one solution to this frustrating problem—but it’s far from a perfect answer. Costs continue to rise, managing a campaign is becoming ever more complicated, and without the proper understanding of analytics, ads still may not be finding the right people.

So where do leads come from (if not from advertising)?

Most ad campaigns are designed to seek out potential customers, but what if the customers were the ones seeking out companies? When you boil it down, that’s what inbound marketing is all about.

As web technology evolves, companies have more opportunities to be creative in their marketing efforts; Creative in ways that could have been potentially harmful to their brands just a few years ago.

Easy-to-change websites, ever-evolving search engines and widespread social media adoption now allow companies (both big and small) to run mini-campaigns that come with a whole slew of advantages.

Find marketing concepts that work.

Experimentation has always gone hand-in-hand with modern marketing. Nobody knows for sure what’s going to work well and what’s going to bomb miserably. An inbound marketing strategy lets you try new things to attract potential customers. By keeping a close eye on what people like most, you can hone the effectiveness of your entire marketing strategy. You can expand on the concepts that work best to bring in new customers… and ditch the ones that don’t.

Get to know new target markets.

Any good small business will have a pretty good idea who their target market is. However, this is typically based the market they’ve been able to sell to in the past. A creative inbound marketing campaign can expand that potential audience tremendously simply by measuring the interaction of each of their efforts. A new age of analytics for websites, email, social media and search make it easier than ever to figure out who’s interested in what, and more importantly, where you can find them.

Do it all for less.

@Hubspot, an undisputed guru on inbound marketing, recently published the results of their annual survey. They found that 54% more leads come from inbound efforts as opposed to outbound. This is particularly significant given the massive amounts of money being spent on traditional advertising (like TV, radio, billboards, print, etc). One of the most compelling reasons for a small business to practice inbound marketing techniques is the low overhead cost. But what’s even more valuable, as any good business knows, is a great return on that investment.

Inbound marketing allows even the smallest of companies to experiment like the big guys, without giant budgets and massive risk.

Can’t do it all on your own?

Take a peek at our all inclusive marketing packages.

3 New Year’s Resolutions Every Small Business Should Make (and keep)

By Nate Kruska

December 31st, 2013

Inbound Marketing

#1: Start using social media in combination with your website.

It’s Twenty-Fourteen—and everyone is using social media in some form or another, and you can bet that your customers are no different.

Over the past year, we’ve seen a dramatic expansion of many different social networks—and that means now there’s a whole lot more out there than just Facebook. YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn and even Google+ are all major players now and very worthy of your attention. And image-sharing sites like Pinterest, Instagram and Tumblr have taken the web by storm as well.

So the landscape is broadening, but it’s not enough to simply “participate”. Social media is a world full of distraction. The very minute you send that post or tweet, your followers are getting a dozen more just like it.

So what’s the Solution? Distract them better than the rest… Get them to your website!

Businesses who approach social media as a way of engaging potential customers, need to capture them before they find something else to do.

Check out some cool social media stats from 2013.

#2: Start helping your customers find you.

Easier said than done, right? If everyone could do that we probably wouldn’t need marketing at all.

The truth is, however, that your customers are out there looking for you. It’s your job to put yourself in a position to be found. Social media, search engines, press—there are lots of ways to get yourself found… but there is another issue…

Some of your customers don’t necessarily know what they’re looking for. Seriously, a guy who needs a mechanic may start out looking for car parts; and vice versa.

Reach out to these wandering souls and show them the light. Think about all the reasons different customers should come to you… and go from there. Write a blog, send an email, post a Tweet. Few things are more cost-effective for small business than this kind of pin-point marketing.

Be creative, experiment with different ideas and keep going after what works.

Read why content will still be king in 2014.

#3: Start telling your leads how to become customers.

Few things on a business website are so important, yet neglected as the call-to-action. It’s that simple little phrase that ties what you’re selling to how a visitor can buy it.

You can have a website with a beautiful design, a great explanation of your product and better prices than anyone else. But if your visitors don’t know how to take the next step, it’s all pretty much worthless.

Thinking up creative ways to convert those valuable leads into customers is art form, but it’s finding out which of those strategies actually work best that will separate you from the herd.

There’s no such thing as a great, static website. The best companies are constantly changing their calls-to-action (and reverting them if necessary) to maximize the effectiveness of their websites and their marketing campaigns as a whole.

Check out these 10 call-to-action case studies that will blow your mind.

Need some help keeping your resolutions? Give us a call.

SEO for Dummies: Black Hat vs. White Hat

By Nate Kruska

May 23rd, 2013

Inbound Marketing

Disclaimer: This is not an article about how to SEO, it includes no tips, nor any surefire ways to rank above those competitors of which you’re so envious. This article does attempt to explain the two big buzz-words in SEO, White Hat and Black Hat. I am in no way affiliated with the book “SEO for Dummies” by Peter Kent. I’ve never read it and offer no endorsement whatsoever, but if that’s what you’re looking for, you can find it here.

Now, on to business.

For most businesses, SEO can be a highly effective form of online marketing. Over time, your cost per visitor through search engine optimization can be far, far lower than all other forms of advertising. The problem is that it’s kind of a crapshoot. Google is constantly changing their mind about what’s acceptable in terms of optimizing your website… actually, to be more accurate, they are constantly improving ways to detect what they have already deemed unacceptable in their eyes. To be clear, there is a really big difference.

Google has said for years that… well, let me just quote them:

“Avoid tricks intended to improve search engine rankings.”
– Google

Sooo… isn’t that kind of why you hire an SEO company? Because they know the techniques and even the tricks to get your website ranking higher than the competition?

I would think so, yes.

Discerning the White Hats from the Black Hats

Typically, the term “White Hat SEO” refers to ethical changes you can make to your website and actual promotion you can do to attract quality links to your content. “Black Hat” techniques have a far more devious intent, with the decided ambition to surpass competitive sites in the rankings and do so through corrupt and immoral means.

Let me quote again, from the same place:

“A good rule of thumb is whether you’d feel comfortable explaining what you’ve done to a website that competes with you, or to a Google employee.”
– Google

You can’t make this stuff up folks. Google is basically asking you to tap into your noble and principled frontal lobe to decide how far to push your SEO crusade. So where is the line between black and white? I guess it depends on who you ask.

If you’ve hired a search engine optimizer before, you’re in the process of finding one or just doing research to try and do it yourself, you already know that everyone claims to practice white hat techniques. What’s more, I can’t really say they’re lying. The truth is, that anyone with a conscience simply cannot compete with those who have less-than-virtuous motives.

Hold-on, that sounds really bad… Let me clarify. I’m not a monster, I have a conscience and I like to think it’s a pretty good one at that. But as an SEOer, my ethical culpability lies with my customers… not with Google, and certainly not with my customers’ opposition. So when I go through and optimize a website month by month, the only thing on my mind is what works in general, and what will work for that customer. What’s more virtuous than that?

50 Shades of Gray Hats

One of the reasons I decided to write this blog, is that when a potential customer comes to us for SEO, it’s becoming more and more likely that they will ask “Are you white hat?” My answer, like everyone else, is always yes, and I truly believe that we are. It’s become very apparent to me, however, that people are hanging their hat (pardon the pun) on this term which really doesn’t mean anything at all.

Let’s say you performed a study in which you interviewed 10 SEO companies and then let them work individually on the exact same campaign for a few months. You would find two things. First, as I mentioned, they would all say their services are white hat. But secondly and more importantly, they would all go about their campaign in very different ways. Without question, they would each have a different view of what white hat tactics entail, and I would bet that at least a few would venture off into the shadows of what even they would refer to as black hat territory. Every SEOer wears a hat in their own unique shade of gray, each with a distinct set of values and views on their own ethical responsibility.

My point is not that the landscape is riddled with SEO companies with low moral standards. It’s more that the terms black hat and white hat SEO have become completely ambiguous, at best. Businesses need marketers who can do their job well, attract targeted consumers and lots of them. In this particular case, that may mean doing things that Google doesn’t necessarily want you to do.

The truest of white hats will claim that their services will provide a better long term answer. To which I would ask “How in the world can you guarantee that?” — (crickets). Google is continually changing the landscape of how website relevance is measured and there is no telling what solutions they will literally come out with tomorrow. Who knows how advanced the next Penguin or Panda update will be. It all circles back to Google’s axiom that anyone trying to manipulate their search results is in the wrong.

So ultimately, it all comes down to one question: Which shade of gray hat will be on top tomorrow?

The Takeaway

The truth is that websites are competing with Google for rank, not each other… and Google knows it better than anyone. By asserting that site owners should use their better moral instincts to decide what to do is merely a way of keeping SEOers like myself behind the curve.

Google, we’re on to ya.

Learn more about Chroma Sites’ “incredibly ethical” SEO services.