How to Rapidly Build Brand Signals for SEO

In SEO’s never-ending evolution, algorithms are continually assessing different elements to determine where brands rank.

I remember the time, “back in the day,” when you could often get ahead with only rudimentary SEO tactics like keywords stuffing, e-zine posting, and even article spinning.

Oh, but how things have changed…

Search engines have never been more sophisticated, and Google is relentless in its pursuits of providing users with the best experience possible.

One element of SEO in particular that’s garnered a lot of attention recently is brand signals.

What are brand signals?

In a 2011 post on Moz, Rand Fishkin explained that

Google wanted to separate the ‘brands’ that produce happy searchers and customers from the ‘generics’ – sites they’ve often classified as ‘thin affiliate’ or poor user experiences.

Long story short, brand signals are cues that show:

1. Your brand exists
2. You’re a credible brand
3. You’re a trustworthy brand

In other words, brand signals prove to Google that you’re legit—you’re not merely a “generic” charlatan.

The way I see it, building brand signals is fast becoming an important way to establish trust with Google and increase your exposure in search engines.

On top of this, effectively building brand signals should also have a positive impact on your overall brand equity.

I also predict that the companies who skimp in this area will be at a major disadvantage in the very near future.

How does Google decide whether you’re a brand?

I think the best way to answer this question is to look at this chart Moz created:

On the left hand side, you can see which factors cause Google to view your business, website, blog, etc. as a “brand.”

On the right hand side, you can see which factors will result in it being viewed as “generic.”

Needless to say, you want Google to consider you as a “brand” and not “generic.”

Even though this chart is a little outdated (it’s from early 2011), it definitely offers some valuable criteria to guide our efforts in building brand signals.

In one of my posts on The Content Marketing Institute website, I also pointed out some of the main categories that comprise brand signals:

• Mentions on the web (e.g., references to your brand on big-name publications)
• Verifiable identity (e.g., business incorporation listings and comprehensive contact information)
• Activity on social accounts
• User queries (e.g., a high volume of people searching for your brand on Google)

How can you build brand signals for SEO?

Now that we know how Google determines whether or not you’re a brand, let’s discuss how to build brand signals for SEO value.

More specifically, I’d like to explain how to do it in a hurry.

Here are some techniques that have worked for me and should work for you as well.

Create a comprehensive About page

As Moz clearly indicates, Google wants to know your brand actually exists.

Therefore, it’s important you beef up your About page and include plenty of details.

You’ll notice on the About page of Quick Sprout that I’m pretty comprehensive in explaining my background. I leave no stone unturned.

While you don’t have to go to this length, this should serve as a good template to guide you.

What’s another thing that Google is looking for? Whether or not you have a physical address.

Let’s be honest. It’s easy for any snake oil salesman to create a website and claim that they’re an authority in their industry.

But Google wants to know that you’re a legitimate brand and genuinely adding value. That’s why it typically gives preferential treatment to businesses with an actual office address and a physical presence.

So, be sure to include this information as well.

Be active on top social networks

Do I really need to even say that having a social media presence is important?

I’m sure you already know this.

But if you needed yet another reason to be active on social media, building brand signals is it.

Besides the direct traffic it brings and the SEO juice that comes from its signals, social media also plays a direct role in whether or not Google deems your business as a brand.

I would say the networks you’ll most definitely want to be active on are:

• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Twitter (ideally, as a verified account)
• Instagram
• Pinterest

Google+ is optional, considering it’s pretty much a digital graveyard these days. But if you’re feeling frisky, creating a Google+ account should be beneficial as well. After all, it is Google’s social network.

If you’ve got the time, I also recommend creating an account on YouTube.

Besides the fact that it’s owned by Google, it can really be advantageous from a branding standpoint.

It’s also incredibly popular and should help you penetrate your market more effectively.

Here’s proof:

And there’s one other trick I think will help you build brand signals through social media even quicker.

That’s to have your employees create profiles on these networks and link back to your company’s profile.

For LinkedIn, make sure that they explicitly state they work for your company.

Doing so shows Google that you DO have employees working for you, which makes it more likely that it’ll identify you as an actual brand.

Be active on relevant niche platforms

Another strategy for quickly gaining traction is to sign up on “niche platforms,” which are basically sites geared toward a specific industry.

For instance, a lawyer would want to be on Avvo, and a real estate agent would want to be on Zillow.

You get the idea.

This should send the right message to Google and get it to take notice.

Sign up for review sites

I also suggest taking advantage of sites such as:

• Google Places
• Yelp!
• Angie’s List
• Bing Places
• Yellow Pages

Google Places in particular should serve as a great brand signal.

Consistently create high-quality visual content

Okay, so this probably sounds like a no-brainer. And it is.

I’m not going to drone on about the impact a well-run content marketing campaign can have, but consistently distributing high quality content throughout the right mediums will help your SEO on many levels, including building brand signals.

But for maximum impact, visual content is the way to go.

Why visual?

As I mentioned before,

…brand signals aren’t just about mentions. They are about mentions that people see, recognize and identify. Brand signals are for users, not algorithms.

Visuals not only help you connect with your audience in a memorable way but also expedite your brand signal building efforts considerably.

That’s because visual content tends to receive a lot of shares and has the potential to go viral.

In fact, “content with relevant images gets 94% more views than content without relevant images.”

Infographics in particular are a great medium to utilize.

Just look at how popular they have become in recent years:

This graph illustrates the spike in searches for the term “infographics” over the past decade.

Guest-post on authority sites

I mentioned before in another post that

as other websites mention your own, your brand gains credibility through cocitation.

That’s why my final suggestion for building brand signals for SEO is to guest-post on relevant highly respected and authoritative sites within your industry.

For example, I make it a point to contribute to sites such as:

• Forbes
• Inc.com
• Entrepreneur
• The Content Marketing Institute

They all have to do with business, marketing, and entrepreneurship and have helped me create tremendous leverage.

Of course, the specific sites you target will depend upon your unique industry/niche.

Just go after the big boys that receive a high volume of traffic and are well-respected.

You can learn more on the process I use for guest-posting in this guide.

To maximize your impact even more, use branded anchor text (where your brand name is included in the hyperlink) when linking back to your site.

Just make sure it looks natural—not like you’re deliberately trying to stuff your brand name into your hyperlinks(s).

Conclusion

Although the concept of brand signals is a fairly new one, it’s something you’ll definitely want to have on your radar moving forward.

If you haven’t already made a concerted effort to ensure that Google views your business as “a brand,” it’s definitely time to get on board.

Fortunately, building brand signals for SEO isn’t rocket science. And it actually revolves around several techniques most brands are already implementing in some capacity.

It’s just a matter of understanding what Google is looking for and structuring your branding strategy accordingly.

By following this formula, you can kill two birds with one stone.

First, you can appease search engines so that your brand’s content ranks consistently higher.

Second, you can establish a tighter relationship with your audience and boost your overall brand equity.

What kinds of things is your business doing to build brand signals?

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A Step-by-Step Guide to Dominating Any Keyword You Choose

Page one, position one.

It’s the ultimate goal of every SEO marketer.

But of course reaching this goal can be difficult, and there is a seemingly infinite number of variables that determine how your content ends up ranking.

And let’s not forget about Google’s fickleness.

Their unending updates can leave you scratching your head as to what your next move should be.

I know that I’ve found myself frustrated more than a few times.

But what if I told you that there was a specific formula you can follow to dominate any keyword you choose?

What if you could knock it out of the park every time and continually outrank your competitors?

Well, there is!

Not to sound like a sleazy used-car salesman or an obnoxious motivational speaker, but there’s definitely a recipe for crushing it with your keywords.

During the years, I’ve experimented with nearly everything under the sun and have come up with a surefire formula for dominating the SEO game by targeting the right keyword and tailoring your campaign to reach your audience.

Here’s how to do it step by step.

Target descriptive phrases

Your first order of business should be to go after long-tail keywords.

As you may already know, it’s extremely difficult to gain any traction by targeting broad phrases.

There’s just too much competition out there, and the top spots are usually filled by the usual suspects—big-name companies with deep pockets and massive brand equity.

But long-tail keywords level the playing field significantly. They’re what lets the little guys hang with the big boys.

I like to think of them as the low hanging fruit of SEO. A top spot in the SERPs is there for the taking.

My general rule for long-tail keywords is that they should be a minimum of four words.

This should ensure that you have a realistic chance of breaking through and at least getting on page one (if not in the top three spots).

Here’s a nice graph that illustrates long-tail SEO and keyword length:

Notice that the more words you include in your keyword phrase, the more your competition, cost, and risk shrink while your probability of making a conversion increases.

The best part is that there are plenty of long-tail keywords to choose from.

In fact, they account for roughly 70% of all keywords.

Here’s how the “search demand curve” breaks down overall:

And I know what you might be saying.

Hardly anyone will be searching for super specific keyword phrases. It’s going to negate the entire purpose of going this route if there’s a low volume of users who actually find my content.

But as I mentioned before in another article on Quick Sprout, “long-tails don’t have a lot of search volume. But you shouldn’t worry about this. You’re not going for high volume—you are going for focused intention.”

The trick here is to find a long-tail keyword phrase with minimal competition that still receives enough searches to justify you targeting it.

Let’s go back to the example of long-tail keyword SEO. You would be much better off targeting “red Nike mens running shoes” than “mens shoes.”

Finding low competition keywords

If you’re looking for a shortcut, there’s a simple one on Google’s Keyword Planner.

Here’s what you do:

Click on “Keyword filters” located on the left-hand side of your dashboard.

Then click on “Low,” and it will leave a checkmark indicating that you want all your results to have low competition. Then save.

Your results will be populated only by keyword phrases with low competition.

Note: Sometimes there may be pretty slim pickings for low competition keywords. In this case, you may want to also search for medium competition.

This will save you a lot of time from having to manually sift through the results to find something relevant.

If you’re using some other type of software, just look for a similar feature to streamline the keyword research process.

Ideally, you’ll find a keyword phrase that receives a reasonable number of searches but isn’t completely saturated with competition.

Understanding user intent

Intent is everything.

When creating content, it’s vital that you understand precisely what your audience is looking for and deliver the goods.

Let’s look at two slightly different keyword phrases as an example.

Phrase 1: buy red Nike mens running shoes

Phrase 2: red Nike mens running shoes review

Although both phrases are geared toward the same thing—red Nike men’s running shoes—the user is at two very different stages in the sales funnel.

People searching for the first phrase are further along the sales funnel and ready (or at least close to ready) to make a purchase.

In this case, it would probably make sense to incorporate a call to action (CTA) in your content.

However, people searching for the second phrase aren’t quite there yet and are looking for information to help them decide whether this is a product they actually want to buy.

In this case, you would simply want to provide them with the information they’re looking for and warm them up rather than straight up trying to make a sale.

For instance, you might want to point them to other resources on your site, get them to sign up for your newsletter so you can get them to buy later, etc.

Keep this in mind when creating your content because it will influence your approach and how quickly you go for the sale.

I think this graphic breaks down user intent quite well:

The bottom line is that Google’s mission is to provide users with content that best matches their intent.

If you’re able to do that effectively, you have a high probability of achieving a favorable ranking.

Create epic content

Okay, so you’ve selected long-tail keywords with a reasonable number of searches and minimal competition, and you have an understanding of what your audience is looking for.

The next step to dominating the search results is to create epic content that vastly exceeds anything that the competition is doing.

This is perhaps the most important step in the process and your ticket for getting the results you’re looking for.

In fact, I’ve based my entire marketing campaign on this concept.

And not to toot my own horn, but my ability to consistently create in-depth, insightful, and valuable content has been a large part of my success.

How exactly do I go about this?

Well, there are several things that make content stand out, but from my experience, you should focus on the following:

• Longform content – just over 2,450 words is the average length of content that ranks number one on Google.

• Use plenty of high-quality visuals for maximum aesthetic appeal
• Incorporate videos
• Sprinkle in data-driven charts and graphs
• Throw in external links to credible and relevant third-party publications
• Make it scannable (e.g., use short paragraphs, sub-headers, and bullet points)

But this is just the tip of the iceberg.

I don’t have time to fully launch into all the components that make for epic content here. But you can learn much more by checking out this other post I wrote.

I actually prefer to think of each piece of content I write as “an ultimate guide” instead of just another post.

Having this kind of mindset helps me ensure that I go above and beyond the status quo and increases the odds that my content gets shared, receives mass exposure, etc. so that it inevitably ranks highly.

Circulate your content

Let’s assume your post is in fact epic.

That’s great. But you can’t just sit back and wait for good things to happen.

You need to take action.

But what should you do?

For starters, you’ll want to post it on relevant social media accounts to generate some initial buzz.

If you’ve got a considerable number of followers, that right there should have a decent impact.

But what I really recommend is reaching out to influencers to see if they will link to your content.

If you can make this happen, the number of shares your content receives can skyrocket.

In fact, a study from OkDork and BuzzSumo found that “just having one influential person sharing your content resulted in 31.8 percent more social shares.”

But look what happens as more influencers link to it. The number of shares continues to increase.

Getting five influencers to link to it could be considered the tipping point with a dramatic spike in the number of shares.

For more information on creating content that influencers will link to, just check out this post I wrote.

Conclusion

Let’s recap.

There is a wide array of factors that determine where content gets ranked. However, there is definitely a degree of predictability to the process.

When you use the formula I discussed, you should be able to target the right keywords that you have the best possible chance of competing for.

Then, by building your content around those keywords and following my recipe, you can surpass your primary competitors.

This ultimately translates into a great ranking within SERPs and plenty of highly targeted, organic traffic that’s likely to convert.

What successful tactics have you used to dominate a keyword?

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A Step-by-Step Guide to Using Google Search Console Like a Boss

Killing it at SEO requires that you use a lot of different tools.

There’s SEO software, apps, analytics, and so on.

But in my opinion, one of the most helpful tools, pound for pound, is Google Search Console.

Formerly known as Google Webmaster Tools or GWT, Google Search Console is the name of the “free service offered by Google that helps you monitor and maintain your site’s presence in Google Search results.”

It’s powerful, it’s potent, and it gives you a behind-the-scenes snapshot of how your site is performing on multiple levels.

More importantly, it provides you with insight into what needs your attention so you can optimize your site more fully.

Here’s a screenshot of why you would want to use Google Search Console, according to Google:

As you can see, it can be used for a plethora of different purposes and offers some tremendous benefits.

But in order to fully capitalize on this free tool, you need to know which features to use and how to use them.

In this guide, I’m going to highlight some of the key features I’ve found most helpful in optimizing my websites for Google Search and explain how you can use them as well.

Let’s dive in.

The initial setup

Before you can use Google Search Console, you’ll first need to verify ownership of your domain.

This is a pretty straightforward process, but if you need some help, check out this resource from Moz.

Dashboard features

Once you’re set up, you’ll see a dashboard on the left side of the screen that looks like this:

Needless to say, there is an extensive list of features.

Although I don’t have time to fully cover every single one in this post, you can find a detailed look at all of the features in a previous article I wrote on Quick Sprout.

But what I do want to cover in this post is some of the core features most critical to your overall SEO.

HTML improvements

This section can be accessed by clicking on “Search Appearance” and then “HTML Improvements.”

Google will then scan your site and “detect any potential issues with content on your pages, including duplicate, missing or problematic title tags or meta descriptions.”

If there are any content issues with your site, you’ll definitely want to know about them and promptly find a resolution.

For instance, you may need to tweak your meta descriptions to ensure they’re the optimal length (roughly 160 characters).

Search analytics

This section can be accessed by clicking on “Search Traffic” and then “Search Analytics.”

It will provide you with a wealth of information about the performance of your content.

For instance, you can determine what your most popular queries are, which devices people are searching with, which countries your traffic is coming from, and so on.

One of the first things you’ll want to look at is the number of clicks per keyword.

This will show you how a certain keyword ranks in search results and its number of clicks.

Analyzing this data will quickly let you know which keywords are bringing the most traffic and which have had only marginal results.

This is obviously beneficial for determining which type of content is resonating the most with your audience.

I also recommend taking a look at the number of impressions per keyword.

This will let you know what percentage of people are actually clicking on each keyword.

If you notice that a keyword is getting a high volume of impressions but only minimal clicks, this could indicate that the title of your content needs some tweaking because it’s not interesting enough to motivate users to check it out.

Links to your site

As you probably already know, the links that point to your site play a major role in the value (or lack thereof) that Google gives your site.

Get plenty of links from authoritative, relevant websites, and it’s going to help your SEO tremendously.

On the other hand, getting links from sketchy, irrelevant sites is going to have the opposite effect and hurt your rankings.

While there are several paid tools that will analyze your site’s link profile, Google Search Console is a really nice alternative.

I’ve found it to be quite sufficient, and it’s free.

Just click on “Search Traffic” and then “Links to Your Site.”

You’ll instantly see a lot of helpful information, including:

• Total links
• Who links the most
• Your most linked content
• How your data is linked

Knowing this information is important for two main reasons.

First, you’ll know which sites are linking to you. If you’re getting links from sketchy, spammy sites, you’ll probably want to disavow those links.

Second, you’ll know which reputable, relevant sites are linking to you. If you find that a high profile publication is featuring your content, this could lead to future opportunities.

Index status

Next, I recommend seeing what your site’s index status is like.

This can be found by clicking on “Google Index” and “Index Status.” Then click on the “Advanced” button at the top.

You’ll see a graph that looks like this:

Why is this helpful?

This feature will give you a rundown of how many total pages are indexed as well as how many have been blocked by robots or have been removed.

If there’s a particular page you want to be indexed that isn’t, you can look into it and see what went wrong.

More specifically, I suggest looking at your robots.txt file or your sitemap to determine exactly what the problem is.

You obviously don’t want integral pages of your website to escape Google’s notice. This can hurt your rankings.

But by checking the index status, you should be able to get everything to where it needs to be.

Crawl errors

One thing that can be detrimental to your SEO is if you have crawl errors such as:

• 404 errors
• Server errors
• A URL pointing to a nonexistent page

This can not only hurt your site’s ability to climb the search rankings but also diminish the user experience and make you look unprofessional.

I find it irritating when I get hit with the dreaded 404 error while exploring content.

But you can identify any such problems by clicking on “Crawl Error” under the “Crawl” section.

Google Search Console will then show you what (if anything) is wrong and will display both site and URL errors.

If you spot any errors, click on them for a more detailed description. You’ll then want to diagnose any problem areas and correct them.

I really like this feature because it saves me time from having to manually look over my site for issues and ensures that I can provide my audience with a positive browsing experience.

Fetch as Google

Let’s say you just made some significant changes to your website and you want Google to index these updates ASAP so that the changes will appear in search results quicker.

You can expedite the process by using the “Fetch as Google” feature under the “Crawl” section.

A box will appear that looks like this:

What you’ll want to do is type in the URL you want Google to fetch.

If this is only a single page, you’ll want to type in http://ift.tt/2gSko7y

If it’s a large scale, site-wide update, you’ll want to leave the box blank.

Then click the “Fetch and Render” button. If you only update a page or two, this should be completed quickly.

But if there are a lot of changes, it’s probably going to take a few minutes.

Once it’s finished, click on the “Submit to Index” option at the bottom.

The final step is to choose between one of two options.

There’s “Crawl Only This URL” and “Crawl This URL and its Direct Links.”

Choose the first option if you only want to index a single page. Choose the second option if you want Google to index your entire site.

After you’ve completed this final step, you’re all done. At this point, Google will send its spiders/bots to crawl the updated sections of your website, and the changes will appear in search results fairly quickly (usually a couple of days or so).

This is really helpful because it increases the odds of new content ranking well in a shorter period of time than it would otherwise.

Conclusion

I love Google Search Console.

It’s an easy-to-use tool that can be applied to improve numerous aspects of SEO.

Whether you want to see which keywords are bringing in the lion’s share of traffic, check your link profile, or ensure that updated content gets indexed quicker, you can do it all with this tool.

I think of it as my SEO headquarters. It’s like sitting in the cockpit and pulling all the right switches and levers to keep my campaign running without a hitch.

This puts you in a position to monitor nearly every aspect of your SEO campaign and prevents you from making needless mistakes.

The best part is that it’s completely free and goes right to the source—Google itself.

What’s your experience with Google Search Console? What power tips do you suggest?

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14 Advanced SEO Tactics That Your Competition Doesn’t Know About

Believe it or not, SEO is still an ultra-powerful tool in 2016.

I posted recently that SEO isn’t dead—far from it. If Google is still taking it seriously after all these years, you should too.

In fact, SEO might be more powerful than ever, and for one simple reason: Most sites are neglecting their SEO.

A lot of people have convinced themselves that SEO isn’t worth pursuing. Others tell themselves it shouldn’t be a priority.

It’s an easy mistake to make, and believe me, I’ve been there. I wasted time not taking SEO seriously, and it hurt me.

What does that mean for you? If you pay attention to your SEO, you’ll see real results. It might take some time, but it’ll be worth every second.

And it doesn’t hurt to be in the know. If you do some simple research on little-known SEO techniques, you’ll be miles ahead of your competition.

To get you started on the path to SEO mastery, here’s a list of 14 advanced SEO tactics your competition doesn’t know about.

1. Expand your presence

You’ve heard the saying “don’t put all your eggs into one basket.” That’s true for SEO, but so many people still focus on only one or two aspects of SEO.

For this tactic, you’ll concentrate on becoming more visible across multiple platforms.

One way is to create as many social media profiles as possible for your brand. In short, you need to be actively involved on as many networks as possible.

And don’t skip some channels because you think they’re unpopular. For example, you might not include Foursquare or Periscope in your current social media strategy, but if you do utilize them, you can reach an audience you wouldn’t be able to otherwise.

Think of this technique as marking your territory. Your SEO will organically improve because you’ll be in more places. It’s a simple yet powerful strategy you can start using today.

2. Create a mobile app

You probably think I’m crazy, but hear me out: creating a mobile app can help bolster your SEO.

Granted, this is a rather expensive option, but it’s also an investment.

How exactly can an app boost your SEO? Google is now indexing apps on Google search with Firebase App Indexing.

When people are searching for keywords in your niche, they could find your app, and that creates some juicy SEO.

For example, when you search “reserve a restaurant” on Google, you’ll find an app on page one:

When your app pops up on a Google search, it automatically becomes a valuable resource.

But back to the main point—you can see the benefits of having a high-ranking app on Google. Yes, it’s costly, but it’s so worth it.

3. Fix any crawl errors

According to Google, URL errors are “specific errors Google encountered when trying to crawl specific desktop or phone pages.” Some common examples are 404, DNS, and server errors.

While these errors seem harmless, they have a big impact on your SEO. If you have any crawl errors, your SEO is hurting.

But don’t worry—crawl errors often have simple fixes. I highly recommend checking out Moz’s awesome article on fixing crawl errors.

4. Optimize your images

If you haven’t been optimizing your images for SEO, start now—there’s no time like the present.

And if your site is especially image-heavy, you need to put the extra work in here. As a result, you’ll get a faster-loading more SEO-friendly site.

Here are a few easy ways you can enhance your images’ SEO:

• Give your images specific names (e.g., traffic-analysis-graph.jpg)
• Give your images keyword-rich alt titles (but don’t go overboard!)
• Use the smallest possible file sizes (but don’t sacrifice the quality)

5. Use latent semantic indexing (LSI)

Although latent semantic indexing (LSI) is very powerful, not very many sites are using it. And that’s a shame because LSI can give your site a serious SEO boost.

LSI is the process search engines use to find related keywords in addition to your main keywords. In other words, LSI finds synonyms for keywords.

For example, if you’re writing an article about Facebook, you’d include “social media network” as an LSI keyword.

Let’s take a look at LSI in action. When you Google “buy new laptop,” one of the first pages that pops up is this TechRadar post:

Right away, you can see that “best laptops” is one of the post’s keywords.

You can see other keywords and phrases sprinkled throughout such as “budget” and “affordable.” And sure enough, when you Google “budget laptop” and “affordable laptop,” the post appears on page 1.

This article is a great example of how LSI can improve your SEO. Take it for a spin, and you’ll see just how effective it can be.

6. Optimize your landing pages

When you create your landing pages, are you thinking about SEO? If you’re not, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity.

You’ll be driving tons of traffic to your landing pages, but if they’re not SEO optimized, you’re doing yourself a major disservice.

Let’s take a look at a landing page from Copyblogger that I analyzed on NeilPatel.com:

Copyblogger’s landing pages perform so well only because the team put a lot of work into them. Here’s how you can do the same:

• use one or two long-tail keywords to write your landing page;
• make sure your copy is at least 2,000 words long;
• make sure your copy is strong, clear, and relevant to your audience.

It’s not rocket science, but it does take effort. Put in the effort now, and reap the rewards later.

7. Spy on your competitors’ keywords

This is a sneaky trick that will put you way ahead of your competition.

By spying on your competitors’ keywords, you can see exactly what you’re up against and compare your own performance to that of your competition’s.

You can use SEMrush to easily find keywords. This is a crazy useful tool, and it’s free!

Enter the site of your choice (e.g., quicksprout.com), and you’ll see something like this:

You can see the top organic keywords, their volume, and traffic amount. But I especially like that you can see a site’s main organic competitors as well.

If you scroll down, you can also see the top paid keywords and competitors. And if you need more detail, just click on “View full report.”

Don’t forget to enter your own site on SEMrush. Like I said, it’s a crazy useful tool, and you should use it regularly.

8. Fix your broken links

I use a lot of links in my blog posts. Unfortunately, linking isn’t a set-and-forget process. What’s new today is old tomorrow, and some links you use may die in the future.

If your site has lots of broken links, search engines will view your site as less accessible. That’s why you need to make sure all of your links, both internal and external, are alive and healthy.

I like using SEO Spider by Screaming Frog to check for broken links. Plus, it’s handy for a lot of other SEO areas.

9. Sniff out unnecessary code

Code is good, but you know what they say about having too much of a good thing.

In this case, if your site has excess code, search engines will take longer to crawl your site, which is bad. On-page JavaScript and CSS are among the main offenders here.

Your code should be as lightweight as possible. This will also help your page load time, and a faster load time means better SEO.

10. Fix any errors in your code

Excess code is bad, but erroneous code is even worse.

Errors in your code will also cause search engines to take longer to crawl your site. Too many mistakes can signify that you have a poorly maintained site, which will cause your SEO to tank.

You can check for errors using W3’s markup and CSS validation services. Depending on the size of your site, it may take a while to fix the errors, but it’s well worth the effort.

11. Tell a story with your internal link structure

This idea comes from Ben Oren of Search Engine Journal. He says that your link structure should tell a story. In other words, when you read your anchors consecutively, you should get a clear idea of your site’s theme.

When you’re creating your anchors, make an anchor story of your own. Link from your newer posts to your older posts, and make sure you’re following internal linking best practices.

12. Join question-and-answer sites

People are hungry for knowledge. That’s why so many people post on Q&A sites like Yahoo! Answers and Quora.

But there aren’t many answers out there. That’s where you come in.

The trick is to compose a thorough, well-written answer to someone’s question, preferably a question that doesn’t have many answers. You need to write the best answer possible and include links to your site when it’s relevant. (Don’t get spammy here!)

By doing this, you’re accomplishing two things at once. First, you’re helping the person asking. Second, you’re getting attention to your links, exposing them to countless readers. You’ll be seen as a valuable resource by the community, and people will be more likely to click your links.

13. Use infographics

Infographics pack a huge SEO punch. At Kissmetrics, we used infographics to generate over 2 million visitors and 41,142 backlinks. And our infographic strategy is still flourishing:

For your infographics to be super powerful, you need two things: great design and great content. Don’t overlook the content when creating infographics. Lots of people do, and guess what? Their infographics don’t perform well.

I also recommend coupling your infographic with at least 2,000 words of high-quality content. That’s because Google won’t index the text on the infographic itself, so writing longform content will give you extra ranking power.

14. Consider making videos

Video marketing is relatively new, and it’s absolutely blowing up.

Marketing Land found that videos make up 62% of all Google searches. And it’s easier to get a video to rank on page 1 of Google than a site.

If you’re not making videos already, check out this post for more on enhancing your SEO using videos.

Conclusion

SEO is more alive than ever before.

If you want a thriving site in 2016 and beyond, you have to have a firm grasp of SEO principles. And if you go beyond the basics, it’s even better.

Need another reason to start taking SEO seriously? Here’s one: as SEO moves forward, many sites will stay in the past. They won’t pay attention to Google’s algorithm updates or the effect of mobile use on SEO.

But if you stay up-to-date with SEO, your site will improve by leaps and bounds while your competitors’ sites get left behind in the dust.

You can tell I’m a fan of SEO. That’s because I know the power of SEO. It’s not an outdated gimmick—it’s a long-term strategy with lasting benefits.

Put in the work to keep your SEO in tip-top shape. Trust me, it’s so worth it.

What’s your SEO strategy for out-hustling your competition?

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7 Lessons I Learned Launching 23 Products on Amazon in 2016

As I reflect back on my business this year, I realize that I’ve had a lot of both ups and downs.

I sold my software company, Long Tail Pro, and that was a huge win this year.  On the other hand, I’ve launched several products on Amazon and some of them have performed terribly.

However, some of my products have also done quite well…selling more than I expected.

I started the year with the ambition of launching 15 new products on Amazon by July.  Now that the year is over, I’ve gone from selling just 5 products at the beginning of the year to now selling 28 total products!

Today, I want to share the lessons I’ve learned by launching 23 new products on Amazon in 2016.

1. Taking Lots of Swings Can Work

I recently read the book, “Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World” by Adam Grant and there is an entire section dedicated to the fact that innovation is often achieved by those taking lots of attempts.  The more swings you take, the more chances you get at hitting a home run.

This was true for Thomas Edison, who had tons terrible ideas (thousands), but also had some great ones (light bulb, phonograph, movie camera, etc).

In 2016, I took this idea to heart and launched as many products as I possibly could.

The end result is that my Amazon FBA business revenue grew by 433% in 2016! (In full transparency, I only started selling on Amazon in March 2015, so I didn’t have a full year in 2015 to compare to 2016).

While some of these products were more unique ideas, many of these were generic ideas without any originality.  In fact, some of these were simply ordered straight from Aliexpress and quickly launched on Amazon just to see if there was a market there.

This is the only way I could have launched so many products in a year.

2. Unique Products Sell Better Than Generic Products

As I look back at what products are selling well for me, I can clearly see that unique products are the big winners.

So, while I launched lots of “generic” products, the few unique products that I launched are the ones driving most of the revenue.

What I mean by “unique” is that its has very few or no products exactly like it on Amazon.  The competition for the exact product or variation is extremely low.

So, if I was selling shower-heads, and I was the only one selling a pink shower head or a shower head with some other unique feature, that is what I’m considering unique here.

I’m not necessarily talking about a patented product or revolutionary design (although that’s on my bucket list).

When I look at my listings, I count that 8 of my 28 listings have what I would consider a “unique” feature that helps them stand out from the crowd.   These 8 listings easily drive over 80% of the sales.

So, going forward for 2017?  I’ll be focusing on more unique products and not messing around with the generic or copy-cat type products.  In fact, I’m already in the process of designing a couple of truly unique product ideas (would require a special mold to create, etc) and see more unique ideas as the future of my business.

3. Unique Products Have a Higher Price Elasticity

If you have a unique idea, you will have less competition.  As a result, you can typically raise your price and drive higher margins without impacting your sales velocity.

Customers are willing to pay higher prices when you are the only one (or one of the only ones offering your product).

If there are 4 or 5 pages of your exact product on Amazon, you usually can’t get away with raising your prices.

As a result, not only have I found that my more unique products sell more, they also have the highest profit margins.

4. Some Winners Can Become Losers

When I started 2016, I had 5 total products and 3 of those were what I would call big winners.  The sales volume increased dramatically in January for one of my products and I needed to reorder.

Instead of looking at the average sales over the previous 3 or 6 months and taking an average, I simply looked at what was happening in the most recent month and ordered a full container load of this product (yes, it’s an oversized product).

Over the next couple of months, the sales of that particular products started creeping downward.  This trend continued pretty much the entire year, until this once great selling product has become a dud.

I’ve done everything I know to revive it: giveaways, huge discounts, sponsored ads, and more.  However, at the end of the day, I’m pretty much resigned to the fact that I’m going to most likely drop this SKU from my lineup.

The 2 big reasons I see for the drop in sales: negative reviews and it’s a generic product.

For 2017, I’ll be focusing more on quality and innovation.

5. Manufacturing is Capital Intensive

I’ve mentioned this in the past, but I think its worth re-iterating for anyone interested in jumping into Amazon FBA: this business can take a lot of capital.

Unlike digital products, if you start selling a lot you have to re-order inventory before you get paid from Amazon.  When you add in a couple months for manufacturing time, your bank account can run dry long before you get paid.

So, if you are bootstrapping this business. You might only be able to go one or two products at a time and may not be able to grow as quickly as you would like.

This lesson of lag time between manufacturing and getting paid was something that I quickly realized this year.

Fortunately, during the second half of this year the business has become cash flow positive, and my bank account is finally growing each month instead of shrinking.

This is just a big heads up for anyone considering entering the game.

6. Amazon is Great, and Amazon is Terrible

Amazon is an amazing platform with TONS of traffic.  Billions of dollars of product was sold in just one day during Black Friday this year (and yes, it was the biggest day of the year for me as well).

Selling on Amazon is a great way to tap into ready and willing buyers.  Amazon stores, packs, ships, and provides all the customers.  I never could have built the size of business that I have so quickly without Amazon as a platform.

However, there is also an ugly side to Amazon that I learned about this year.

Yes, like many of you perhaps, I’m always skeptical when a big corporation controls so much of my business.  I mean, they could shut us down at any point!

I was never shut down; however, I did receive quite a scare this year.

There was a safety incident that a customer had with one of our products, and the listing was closed by Amazon. (Don’t worry, the customer was not hurt or anything, it was a pretty minor thing.  And the customer ended up giving us a 5 star review after we resolved their issue through customer service).

Amazon does not communicate well (like all large corporations I’ve dealt with like Google, etc.).  They wouldn’t tell us what the safety incident was, but only that one occurred.

They wouldn’t tell us how to get our listing reactivated, but only that we needed to submit a plan to address the issue.

After several emails to Amazon, we still got no where, other than a very scary email saying that we could never sell the product again and if we did, they would shut our account down.

Whoa.

I decided to hire a consultant and he was able to help me formulate a plan and get the listing reactivated.  I’m happy to say that we’ve addressed the issue, including additional testing on future batches, and this SKU is now one of our best selling products.

However, the fear of Amazon is still in me.

Yes, Amazon is great, but I definitely learned that they can have a darker side for your business as well.

I hope to become less Amazon reliant in the future by selling on my own websites and driving traffic through SEO, social media, and paid strategies.

7. Think Bigger

I recently attended Freedom Fast Lane Live in Austin, Texas.  Although the speakers at the conference shared almost no strategies directly that will help me grow my Amazon business, they did help me to think bigger.

In fact, as I networked with other attendees, I could see that perhaps some of my results have been limited by my own thinking.

I met Amazon sellers that started around the same time that I did that are doing between $3 to $5 million a year in sales!

I know it’s not healthy to compare directly to those around me, but this help me see that I could be doing so much more.  Yes, I got quite a bit done this year by launching 23 products on Amazon (okay, my employee Jake really did all the work), I now realize that a little bit more focus and perhaps a slight shift in strategy could help me grow this business much bigger than I have been thinking.

Seeing so many other sellers face to face and hearing their multi-million dollar stories, is inspiring.

I’m ready to think bigger, build real brands, and grow a true following around those products and brands that I create.

In 2017, I’m ready to take this business from the six figure to the seven figure level and beyond.

Are You With Me?

These are some of the lessons that I’ve learned over the past year launching rapidly and growing my Amazon FBA business.

I always love hearing about other people having success in their own business as well.

If you are selling on Amazon, I would love to hear in the comments below how 2016 went for you or what lessons you’ve learned along the way.

Overall, who is with me to start thinking bigger in 2017?

The post 7 Lessons I Learned Launching 23 Products on Amazon in 2016 appeared first on Niche Pursuits.

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18 Things You Need to Know about Marketing Your Local Business on Instagram

In just six years, Instagram has gone from being nothing more than a novelty photo-sharing app to a legitimate social media marketing powerhouse.

Some of the world’s major brands, such as National Geographic, Saturday Night Live, and Coca-Cola, use this platform as a means of building buzz and strengthening relationships with consumers.

To give you an idea of how Instagram stacks up against other social networks, here is a graph from Smart Insights:

With 400 million users as of April 2016, it has surpassed Twitter and is poised for sustained growth.

You can see its level of growth on this graph:

What I love about Instagram is its simplicity and the fact that it’s completely visual-centric.

It’s the perfect resource for connecting with your audience visually and for rounding out your social media campaign.

I also love the level of engagement that takes place on this network.

In fact, “Instagram is now seeing 15x more engagement than Facebook and 20x more than Twitter.”

While we sometimes think of Instagram as a platform used by brands on a large and even global scale, it’s ideal for marketing local businesses as well.

It just takes a few slightly different techniques.

Here are 18 things you need to know about marketing your local business on Instagram for maximum effectiveness.

1. Include your location in your bio

For starters, your bio needs to make it clear where you’re located.

You don’t have a whole lot of room in your description, but you can definitely throw in your city and a line or two about what your business offers.

Here’s a good example from The Orange Peel, a popular music venue in Asheville, NC:

Notice that it’s immediately apparent what their location is.

2. Post local images

The key to any effective marketing campaign is knowing who your target audience is and zeroing in on them.

As a local business, you’re probably tailoring your campaign to a finite audience that’s located within your immediate geographical area. You’re trying to reach a certain city or region.

One of the best ways to capture the attention of your demographic is to pepper in images of local scenery.

For instance, a local business in Seattle might post images of the Space Needle, Pike Place Fish Market, or Woodland Park.

Although this won’t necessarily resonate with Instagram users outside the area, it definitely should resonate with the locals—people you’re trying to reach in the first place.

In my opinion, this helps you create a sense of authenticity, build a connection, and show you’re proud of your locale.

3. Use video too

Research has found that “Instagram videos are seeing significantly higher (over 2x) more engagement than Instagram photos.”

You can take advantage of this phenomenon by sprinkling in video content among images.

A good idea would be to highlight your local flavor by posting clips of your brand around town.

4. Use location-centric hashtags

Hashtags are one of the easiest ways to ensure that your images get found by the right people on Instagram.

Whenever appropriate, go ahead and include a hashtag that indicates your locale.

This could be your actual city or specific locations within your city. In the case of Seattle, you might use #pikeplacefishmarket or #woodlandpark.

And because posts with 11 or more hashtags receive nearly 80% interaction, compared to posts that contain only 2 hashtags (41% interaction), the more the merrier.

In fact, here’s a chart that shows how engagement increases as the number of hashtags increases:

5. Follow other local businesses/notable figures

What you want to do with your Instagram marketing is to establish a community.

The first step to achieving that is to follow the accounts of other brands/notable figures in your area. Ideally, they will be part of the same industry/niche as well.

This should help you build brand equity in your specific area and get local prospects to take notice of your business.

6. Engage with those businesses/figures

To expedite things, it’s important for you to be willing to initiate contact with others.

It’s especially important if you’re a relatively obscure brand just starting out.

Be sure to like and comment on their photos and, of course, respond to comments on your posts.

Once you get the ball rolling, this should generate plenty of local exposure and make your brand a viable part of the community.

7. Partner up with other local brands

Don’t think of your competitors as the enemy. Think of them as valuable allies, whose relationships you can leverage.

By this I mean reaching out to other local brands and seeing if they’d be willing to cross-promote.

For example, two local restaurants with Instagram accounts could post images of one another’s popular dishes, desserts, etc.

This kills two birds with one stone because it not only helps each restaurant boost their visibility but also reinforces a sense of “localness.”

8. Newsjack relevant local stories

The term newsjacking is defined by HubSpot as “the practice of capitalizing on the popularity of a news story to amplify your sales and marketing success.”

If there’s an interesting event happening in town, you could newsjack it by creating a brief clip, featuring you at the event, being part of the action.

This reinforces your business as a local brand and can be instrumental in strengthening the connection with your audience.

9. Take advantage of Photo Map

Photo Map is a cool feature that shows where your photos are taken. All you need to do is geotag your images.

The great thing is that posts with geotags receive 79% more engagement on average.

This obviously comes in handy from a local marketing perspective because you can make it abundantly clear where your business is located.

It can also help you earn the loyalty of your local audience.

Just make sure you’re not solely geotagging your physical address. Instead, geotag from multiple areas around town.

If you’re not sure how to go about this, check out this guide for details.

10. Create local brand ambassadors

Social proof can be incredibly powerful.

When you’re able to create brand ambassadors who praise your brand on Instagram and other social media sites, it’s inevitably going to boost your brand equity.

One way you can turn regular people into brand ambassadors is to encourage your local customers to post photos of themselves using your products or visiting your place of business.

In return, you can mention them on Instagram or re-share their images.

11. Offer giveaways

Another idea is to give your followers a product, t-shirt, etc. in exchange for their likes on your photos.

For instance, you might have a giveaway where everyone who likes your content is entered into a contest with the possibility of getting something free.

If you’re a local restaurant, you might have a giveaway where three people receive a free meal.

This can be a great incentive for promoting your brand on the local level and can help you earn a legion of loyal fans.

12. Hold offline events

One way to build up your local community is to take things offline and hold an event either at your business or another local spot.

This could be around backing a worthy cause or simply having a place where like-minded people can get together.

Simply post the date, time, and location on your Instagram profile.

13. Capitalize on trending hashtags

There’s always some kind of trend happening on Instagram.

If you notice something that ties in with your local area and is relevant to your business, go ahead and post an image that includes a trending hashtag.

In some cases, this can explode your visibility and net you hundreds or even thousands of followers overnight.

14. Get your audience’s input

A good way to build strong relationships with customers in your area is to ask them questions and get their take on things.

Here’s a good example from Juice Truck, a juice company located in Vancouver:

Notice how they encourage interaction while simultaneously making mention of their location.

15. Post at the right time

Part of getting plenty of engagement is posting at a time when your audience is active on Instagram.

Fortunately, this is fairly easy to do for a local business because of the fact that the majority of your audience will be located in the same time zone.

Although this usually requires some degree of experimentation, this chart from Ready Pulse provides a general overview of the best times to post:

16. Show you’re a homer

Want to truly earn the respect and adoration of your local audience?

Just show your love for your city.

For example, you could post a picture of your employees wearing jerseys of your city’s premier sports team.

17. Tell your business’s story

I know that I personally enjoy hearing about the evolution of businesses in my area.

I like to hear how they started and how they got to where they’re today.

One way you can do this is by posting old pictures from when your brand was just getting its feet wet.

For instance, maybe your restaurant started as a humble food cart that gradually blossomed into a much larger enterprise over time.

18. Share photos of your top customers

Do you have a loyal customer who’s been a consistent patron of your business for years?

Why not show them your gratitude by posting a picture of them on Instagram?

This is a great way to strengthen your bond with your customers even more, and it can help you become a staple in your community.

Conclusion

In my opinion, Instagram is one of the best networks for local businesses.

With the right game plan, you can create a very intimate, personal feel on your profile and deepen your brand’s bond with your customers in your local city/region.

I particularly like the fact that there are a great many avenues you can take for connecting with local customers and for pulling in a highly targeted demographic.

And with Instagram usage on the rise, it should remain a viable medium for years to come.

Can you think of any other ways for local businesses to gain exposure on Instagram?

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