7 ways to turn a webinar into a stream of link-attracting content
Contributor Jordan Kasteler explains how to use webinars you've created to develop new content and become a marketing and link-building machine your competitors can't keep up with.
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Jordan Kasteler's latest articles
5 must-dos for SEO beginners
If you're new to SEO, or if it isn't your primary focus, you might be neglecting tactics that will really move the needle. Contributor Jordan Kasteler outlines 5 things you should be doing and shares tools to help you accomplish these tasks.
9 tools to help you succeed with Google SERP features
Columnist Jordan Kasteler notes that strong search performance requires more than just ranking well in organic results. The tools listed here can enhance your existing listings and help you to appear in other places on the search results pages.
How To Optimize For Facebook’s News Feed Algorithm
As you may have heard, Facebook EdgeRank is no more. A Facebook insider recently confirmed that the term [EdgeRank] is no longer being used internally (and hasn’t been for over two years) and noted that there are currently over 100,000 factors that go into what a user sees on their News Feed when users log into […]
The Lost Art Of Social Sharing Buttons
Sharing buttons are no doubt one of the best ways to get your content shared via social media, email and other online channels. However, while many website owners agree that sharing buttons are a good thing, not everyone agrees on how to implement them. There are several ways to optimize these buttons to increase your […]
Why You Need To Treat Your Social Media Strategy Like Your Content Strategy
In a typical organization, the social media tweets away in one department while content writers toil away in another. The social team links to fresh content, sure… and that’s about the extent of their interactions. But, at the end of the day, what you post and share on social media is content, and it’s time […]
Propel Promotion Of Your Content: 9 Ways I Promote Sharing Online
Search Engine Land recently published its top 10 articles of 2012, and I had articles in the #1 and #6 positions on that list. The Social Search Revolution: 8 Social SEO Strategies To Start Using Right Now had over 40,000 unique pageviews with 2,004 tweets, 708 likes, 389 +1′s and 1,353 linkedin shares. While great content and choice […]
9 Search & Social KPIs To Start Tracking Right Now
If you don’t measure what you’re doing in search and social media, how do you know if what you’re doing is working? How do you know if you’re helping or hurting your business—or having no effect whatsoever? How do you know that all those hours and/or wages aren’t being wasted? How do you know you’re […]
14 Ideas To Utilize Custom Variables For Search & Social Tracking
Custom variables are one of the most (if not the most) powerful tools Google Analytics has to offer to better understand your audiences from search and social. Unfortunately, they’re also one of the most underrated and underused. So, if they’re so useful, why do so few sites utilize them? For the same reason that custom […]
Making Your Site Sticky For Both Search & Social Users
You are probably well aware of the benefits of making a “sticky” site. Sticky sites — engaging, well-designed sites that visitors find irresistibly hard to leave — offer dozens of benefits for your business and sales, including: A lowered bounce rate (because visitors stick around longer) Increased brand understanding and awareness (users learn more about […]
The Hidden Cost Of Cheap SEO & Social Media Labor
Fact: All businesses, large or small, want to save money wherever they can. I understand this. I sympathize with this. What I don’t understand, however, is why so many businesses try to take the cheap route and cut corners in their online strategy— and then are dumbfounded when they get scammed/receive terrible results/get blocked by […]
Helping Or Hurting: The Debate Over Google+ Local
It’s been two months now since Google replaced Google Places with Google+ Local. The reactions thus far have been mixed: SEOs hailed it as a revelation for small businesses, while consumers were left scratching their heads over the new Zagat system. Google+ Local has the potential to be everything this column is about: the intersection […]
It’s Not WHAT You Need to Go Viral – It’s WHO
Everyone dreams of going viral. Think of the traffic! The links! The search signal boosts, the audience growth, the brand awareness! It’s true: going viral does wonders for both search and social. I’ve already written about what makes content go viral, but we too rarely consider the who – the users who make content go […]
Is Presentation More Important Than Content Itself?
Is content presentation more important than content itself? In a word: Absolutely. Yes, you’ve heard the “(Quality) Content is King” argument for years, and I’d never deny that that having quality, original, must-read content is essential to any content strategy. But the visual presentation is your first impression with the Web visitor: it’s what makes […]
The Social Funnel: What You Lose When You Ignore It
I’ve written often about the dangers of ignoring social media in SEO (and vice versa), but I’m here today to write about another danger: ignoring social benefits in the traditional sales funnel. It’s frustrating that people continue to treat social media as an individual entity, a separate department, instead of a versatile tool. We shutter […]
Why Pinterest Is NOT Your SEO Miracle Worker
If you caught yourself groaning when you saw this was yet another Pinterest post, I don’t blame you. The Web’s latest social media darling has taken both the Internet and the industry blogosphere by storm, and the network’s popularity shows no sign of slowing: the site is now the third most popular social network in […]
The Social Search Revolution: 8 Social SEO Strategies To Start Using Right Now
Google’s searchbots have long relied on humans to endorse relevant and useful links. Recently, however, Google upped the human ante by introducing Google Social Search. Google recognizes that one personal endorsement from someone we know easily outranks endorsements from 10,000 strangers. The same applies for a trusted authority: a blogging link shared by Darren Rowse […]
Guide To Finding Linkbuilding Targets With Social Media
There’s been a lot of debate in the SEO community lately regarding social media versus traditional linkbuilding methods. While some SEOs argue that social media links are the wave of the SEO future, traditionalists staunchly maintain traditional, authoritative links from quality sources are still the best way to go. Whatever your stance, I think it’s […]
How To Improve Site Credibility Through Search & Social Media
Anyone—anyone—can make a website. Anyone can create a Twitter account, start a blog, or launch a Facebook fan page. And anyone—from 13-year-old girls to 45-year-old men—can pretend to be an attractive 20-year-old woman on the Internet. In the world of Internet spam, scams, and shams, we’ve learned to be wary of what we find online. […]
21 Types Of Social Content To Boost Your SEO
I’ve written often about the benefits of going viral in both content and marketing strategies. Increasingly, however, social media content (a.k.a. viral content) does more than increase brand recognition and site traffic: it can also boost your SEO signals. As search engines pay more and more attention to social signals, going viral is rapidly becoming […]
Making PPC & Social Media Work Together Seamlessly
You’ve read time and time again about how social media can fuel SEO and even vice versa, but where does PPC fit into this equation? The answer is in retargeting also known as AdWords remarketing. If you’re not familiar with the concept of remarketing, I’d recommend you read this step by step AdWords remarketing guide. […]
Facebook Gestures: How Users Could Be Sharing Their Opinion
Facebook “Likes” have become a universal way to share or promote a piece of content on a blog or website (or Facebook itself). There are even T-shirts with the Like button printed on them. The Like button is now a recognizable symbol, and while it is used millions of times each day, the fact remains […]
How To Ensure That Your Content Will Go Viral
It is every blogger or Internet marketer’s dream that their content will go viral, meaning that it will be shared thousands of times, thus resulting in a massive stampede of traffic to the site, which may even cause servers to crash under the weight of its popularity. However, several things are put into effect in […]
Blind Social Sharing & Its Effect On Personal Credibility
Social media may seem like ‘information overload’ for some, especially since there are now thousands of tweets sent per second and millions of people with a Facebook account. But how is this information created and sent? What is the ratio of actual unique information compared to the amount of re-tweets and Facebook posts about it? […]
Effects Of Choice Positioning On Social Purchasing Behavior
As I discussed in How Prototype Theory Influences a Social Strategy, they way that people influence others and their decisions is based on their associations with certain words and phrases. For example, the word tree will most likely bring up an image of an oak or maple tree in a person’s mind, versus a less […]
How Information Is Socially Shared
The mystery of how and where articles, information, graphics, and more are shared online has been something to plague both marketers and content creators alike. Catering your information towards your target audience and where they share it most is crucial to producing content that spreads like wildfire online. Linkbait tactics would be without effectiveness if […]
The Difference A Company’s Size Makes In Social Media
Maybe the size of a company has never been pondered by the employees or consultants who are managing their social media campaigns. However, whether or not a company is considered a small business or a big company can make a significant difference in overall strategy, timeliness, and overall presence on social networks like Facebook, FourSquare, […]
How To Get News From Social Network Aggregators
Each day there are billions of posts on social media sites, and places like Facebook and Twitter allow users – with virtually no filter – to post whatever they may please. If babygurl14 wants to lay our her game plan for the day, she can (including pictures or Glitterfy links). If your grandpa accidentally posts […]
The Strategy And Success Behind Viral Marketing
Stock image from Shutterstock, used under license. Who doesn’t love Betty White? The supremely funny octogenarian has delighted audiences for most of her adult life. Her successes date back to the days when radio was king and men wore fedoras without irony. Yet White’s popularity – at the twilight of her working career — is […]
How Niche Social Media Sites Are Shaping Online Communication
Sure, everyone has heard of Facebook and Twitter, but what about Feed the Bull or Tweako? Yes, you can talk about sports on your old college roommate’s Facebook wall, but what about squaring off with strangers on a site like YardBarker? These types of niche social networking sites are what the social media industry has […]
How Prototype Theory Influences A Social Media Strategy
Social media experts, typically self-appointed, trumpet their belief that social media marketing (SMM) “throws out the rules” and is a “game-changer.” However, the extent to which SMM can change the rules depends very much on how thoughtful its practitioners are, and how well they understand the connection between the various ways people associate things and […]
The Fleeting, Yet Viral Spread of Social Bookmarking Links
Being able to share your information is one of the main reasons why social networking has become so popular. Combining real-time social sharing with search engine optimization tactics can give websites the indexing or popularity boost that it needs. However, the big question is, why do some Internet marketers place more emphasis on social bookmarking […]
Finding Answers Online: Social Networks Vs. Search Engines
Now more than ever, people are flocking to the Internet to find information. Newspaper circulation has gone down at a rapid rate, while the era of smartphones, tablets, and the Internet continues to grow. In February 2010, Search Engine Land reported that there are 34,000 Google searches per second. That is a lot of people […]
International Social Networking And Marketing Around The World
Believe it or not, millions of people in other countries besides the United States around the world are using social media. Although social media got its start in America with sites like MySpace and Facebook, these sites and their competitors have gained online popularity throughout the world. Some of the most popular international social networking […]
The Five Elements Of Social Media Alchemy
Before the opus of social content (linkbait), an Internet marketer must convince a client of the validity of social media-driven linkbait campaigns and their ability to aid SEO efforts. An effective persuasion tactic is to show them samples of competitors’ successful social media marketing campaigns and results from the social content promotion. A successful promotion […]
How To Make Paid Social Media Ads Effective And Engaging
While advertising on social media makes sense for advertisers, the owners of ‘free’ sites like Twitter and Facebook still need to make money. Ad banners have been the answer for many social media sites for a long time. However, banner blindness has created a large problem for advertisers since they are paying for impressions, but […]
How Core Components Of Social Media Have Made Us A Connected World
While ‘social media’ may not be a completely new term (see the recent Forbes Magazine article for examples of great social media campaigns that began in the 1990s), the fast development of what social media has now become in the past years is staggering. The Influence of Twitter and Facebook There are more people on […]
How To Focus On Content To Create Great Linkbait
Linkbait is quality content that people want to share or link to due to its engaging layout, ideas, and concepts. Although the name ‘linkbait’ sometimes carries a negative connotation, the fact remains that it is a great way to drive traffic, get links, contribute to the web, and share ideas. For bloggers and writers that […]
How To Prep Content For Social Media
Internet users are already notorious for fast browsing and scanning content by nature. It’s been long known that most people scan content and don’t actually read it word-for-word like a book. This behavior greatly intensifies when Internet users are browsing through content on social media sites. A user going down the front page of a […]
How Social Media is Influencing Your Behavior
We all know that everyone is a product of their environment. Circumstantial life events, influences, and surroundings can further change our behavior. Social media already highly influences our shopping, relationships, and education. But how large of a role does networking through social media play into our lives? Maybe more than any of us realize. Although […]