If you are like most people you dread Search Engine Optimization. In fact, I bet you avoid it at all costs. What if I said you can get 80% of the work done in less than 5 minutes and greatly increase your search engine ranking?

You probably think I am lying. Well let me give you an example. I was doing some digging for a recent class on SEO basics and discovered a great keyword with over 165,000 monthly searches and little competition. I put up a post and was ranking in page 1 in under 1hr and then top of page 1 in a few weeks. Don’t steal it, but the keyword was “What is Places on Facebook”. Type it in to google and check it out. Using quotes I come in first. If I spent more time I could even come in first for broad search (more on that in another post).

So what did I do for these rankings?

1. Search Google Keyword tool for odd spellings or phrasing variation for the keywords you wish to rank for..

In my example, the correct way to type in a search for the feature is “Facebook places”. People undoubtably search for the feature based on their limited knowledge and put in “Places on Facebook” because they are unfamiliar with the feature. These are the people I want to reach and the phrasing that is commonly overlooked.

Go to the Google Keyword Tool, type in your main keywords with longer phrasing.

Look for odd spellings or conjunctions (e.g. With, for, on, in, etc). These tend to have lower competition and higher search volume.

Go to google and search for your keyword or phrase in quotes (e.g. “Your Keyword or Phrase”) and see how many sites show up (shoot for 30,000 or less).

Now type your keyword or phrase with the quotes and add the text INTITLE: in front of your key phrase (e.g INTITLE:”Your keyword phrase”). Now see how many results appear.

These are the results that have your exact phrase in the title. Shoot for less than 1000 and hopefully only several hundred.

Make a list of 5 key phrases you find with the above criteria.

2. Write a Post Using Your Keyword

Now that you identified a keyword you can create a post that is optimized for it.

Keyword In Start of Title
To do so, first write the title with the Keyword exactly in the start of the Title (e.g Your Keyword or phrase: some description). You can add a new descriptive phrase after the title to make it more readable.

Keyword In Header 2
Create a H2 tag that contains the keyword and the a list of bullets below your H2 tag.

Example post:


Your Keyword or Phrase

• Example Bullet 1

Blah blah blah Your keyword.

• Example Bullet 2

Blah blah blah a variation of your keyword.

3. Post your Blog post link to Digg

In order to rank you will need to get indexed by google. One of the fastest ways to do this is to get your post into the digg.com website. Google crawls this hourly and follows the links.

If you follow these steps, you will appear in google fairly quickly with very little effort. The hardest part is the keyword research, but once you do it you are 90% farther than most bloggers or marketers online.

I can’t guarantee results as it will depend on your keywords and competition, but you will be well in your way without spending a lot of time and money on SEO.

For more tips check out 21 Tips to Simpler and More Effective Social Media & Internet Marketing

Social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are simple to start, but without a plan can easily become a time-sink and money pit for most businesses.

How do you avoid this costly mistake? Easy!

Create a Social Strategy Plan!

Keep the plan simple by answering these few questions?

1. What is our main goal for Social media this year?

Are you trying to drive traffic to promote a product? Are you trying to build buzz or brand loyalists? Each of these will have an impact on how you choose and use your social site.

2. Are you looking for new customers or to engage old customers

Social strategies often fail at this critical point. If you are looking for new customers then you are likely going to focus your content and promotions to entice first time action. Whereas for existing customers you might want to have them create and submit videos of their experience with your products to strengthen brand engagement.

3. Which Platform are you focusing on?

You need to be where your customers are. If you are targeting consumers Benin Facebook. If you are targeting businesses you would try LinkedIn. if you want to target the
Tech saavy youth, try Twitter. If you are looking for cutting edge businesses try Google+.

The basic idea is to stay in one platform until you have built momentum and exhausted that traffic source.

4. Where are you capturing that Traffic?

When you start with a social campaign you must always have a plan for how you are going to move people from casual social users to the next phase of your purchase process. You need to capture that lead into your email list. This allows you I reach them at the frequency you desire with the exact content you desire.

Don’t just go for likes and be upset when you realize no one is converting to a customer. The truth is that you made it too hard for them. Each step they need to take to become a customer, the more will drop off. Make it easy by sending them to an optin form on your Facebook page offering a free sample or download. Capture that lead early and as swiftly as possible before they just become a casual user.

Once you have thought about the above steps, you are ready to begin the initial steps for executing your social strategy.

Go here to learn 21 Simple Tips to managing this easier: 21 Simple Tips for Social Media Success

You may be sabotaging your own business quietly and without any intent. You work hard every day to develop great products or services, but free tools like WordPress, Facebook, and photoshop have been conspiring against you. How you ask?

It’s fairly simple, technology has become so inexpensive, even free, that it has diluted the role of a business owner. We now think we know how to build a website, market using Facebook, and create our own logos and graphics in photoshop Elements.

The truth is that we aren’t that good as any one of those things. If you are a business owner that is not in the business of website design, graphic design, and marketing, but you are spending any time on these efforts you are sabotaging your business.

If you were opening a retail store, you wouldn’t build the building Just because you know how to is a hammer and a saw? Why then would you spend hours building your virtual storefront or office using free tools? It still has as much of an impact on your sales as a physical storefront, yet you wouldn’t fire your contractor and build it all yourself.

Focus on Strengths to deliver the most Profit Potential
Ever hour you waste on a non-core activity in your business is lost profit. It is what we marketers an economists call opportunity cost. Every activity you participate in has a cost because it takes away from time that could be used to make money.

What to Hand over to the Experts
Not everything you do on your website should be outsourced. You still want to maintain your own blog content for instance. I don’t recommend handing your blog writing because your site needs to accurately reflect you. The actual layout, design, an development should be handled by an expert. The marketing plan should also be done collaboratively with a marketing expert. Graphics are always to be handled by a designer. There is nothing worse than an amazon website with great content, but a hideous logo, banner, or background.

What is the Process of Website Design
Always start with your marketing plan. You should have a clear process and goals for your site. You should know the exact process flow for a user from initial visit to prospect to sale. This will guide your visitor gracefully into a customer relationship.

Simple Tip: Each Page should have one purpose only. Don’t create a lot of crazy sidebar links to distract your users. Have a call to action for each page (e.g. sign up below to receive our newsletter)

If you want more social media marketing tips, visit my 21 Tips for Social Media and Internet Marketing Guide.

What is Places on Facebook?

Places on Facebook is a powerful and highly interactive feature on Facebook for mobile users. This feature can be used exclusively as a very effective mobile marketing tool for small businesses or anyone who has a physical business location that they would like to drive customers to.

How to use Places on Facebook for users

Using the Places on Facebook feature of the Facebook mobile app is easy. A user simply needs to open the Facebook app or Facebook mobile website when at a specific Physical location (e.g. A store or retail location) that exists on Facebook and “check in”.

Here are the steps to do so:

1. Open the Facebook mobile app and go to “Nearby”



2. Go to the “CheckIn” Button



3. Select a place from those available GPS must be On



4. Add Who you are with or Message or Photo in the Check in Screen



5. Choose who to Share it With and hit Post

Now you have shared your location and post with the world or whomever you desired.

The post will show up in their status stream and potentially drive business to that store or physical location that you “Checked In” at.

How to use Places on Facebook for Business

Facebook places is ideal for retail businesses who want to generate foot traffic in their stores. People who see status updates from their friends saying they are at your location can drive business and act as a form of social proof that your business is worth their time. This is also good because friends generally trust friends more than advertising and we generally surround ourselves with people of similar tastes.

How do you get people to Check In at your location for Places on Facebook?

The simplest way to get people to check in at your location is to Create an incentive. Place a message at the counter asking them to check in and offering a free treat or discount to do so.

Have them show you the CheckIn on their phone and you will take 15% off the purchase price for doing so. Th immediate incentive will be automatic and you will get a much higher ROI this way. Here is a Places on Facebook Guide from my friends at Mashable

For more tips on how to create and implement a places on Facebook campaign, signup for the blog below.

There are several common mistakes that people make when starting email campaigns.

Top 4 Common Email Marketing Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make

1. Misleading Subject Lines

People will try anything to get others to open their emails. This starts out innocent with an email titled “Download your free program” and slowly slips into more deceptive tactics designed to confuse you into thinking it is an email you requested.

Sure this may increase open rates in the short term, but it kills credibility and sales in the long term. I have unsubscribed from more email lists due to this practice than any other reason.

2. No Value in the Email Body

When we sign up for an email list, we expect value IN THE EMAIL! More often than not lately it seems people are desperately trying to get people to their site before ever adding valuable content in the email body itself. They simply insert short enticing messages and links without even describing what you get by visiting their links.

Ads value in the email and people will trust you more and your sales conversion rate will increase even though your click-though rate from the email may not.

3. Asking Before Receiving

When someone signs up for your email list, you must prove yourself to them. You need to provide immense value immediately an consistently to build trust and credibility. Don’t ask them to buy too frequently without first adding value.

4. Acting as a Company, Not a person

One fatal mistake I see is that entrepreneurs try too hard to brand their lists with their company persona rather than their own. People learn from and by from other people. Be sure your email comes from you, not your company name. Be sure to sign your name at the bottom of all emails as well.

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Musicians are the ultimate entrepreneurs. They set out to build a brand and make a living with their passion. Often times, they will go through years living in poverty-like conditions in an effort to persue their dream. How do I know this? I used to be one. I set out with a dream to be a career musician before college. I learned along the way how to develop marketing plans, build websites, make sales calls, entertain business partners and fans, and more things than I probably ever learned in college. It is that desire that lead me to the web itself long before there were massive websites, or even many websites for that matter. As a musician I taught myself how to entertain a crowd, write lyrics, and to dig deep inside myself to fight the basic fear of rejection. You learn to put your all into building a dream inside your head of what life can be.

Business for entrepreneurs is the same thing. Today I went with family to the Currier Art Museum to see an exhibit with backstage photos and behind the scenes footage of great artists of the 60s through today. I watched as these musicians like the Beatles, Jimmy Hendrix, Bob Dylan, Bob Marley, Chet Atkins, Frank Zappa, the Rolling Stones, and the Beastie Boys all were desperately trying to do something they only first saw in their dreams. The photos of these now legendary musicians reminded me that everyone starts somewhere. No one is born into greatness and we all have to work for it. Even those we regard as legends were at some point nobodies to the general public. What is it then that drives some to remain anonymous and others to be revered?

I have boiled it down to three basic elements: the ability to dream, the ability to act, and the ability to persevere.

These musicians were all willing to dream of what they could accomplish. When we are young this comes easy, but as we grow older it becomes harder to dream because many will push you to conform to their expectations of life. It takes courage to keep dreaming. Never be afraid to dream as this is the key element that without it, action and perseverance would not exist.

These musicians were then willing to take action in pursuit of that dream. They created a definite plan to create a career. This plan included writing music, recording, and performing. All of these elements could have been a stumbling block. Writing music can be a difficult task as it is deeply personal. Recording an album takes a great deal of money (or at least it used to before digital recording), which requires business connections. This then forces them to look at how to best accomplish their dream without giving up too much control (this is akin to a startup looking for funding). Then they need to perform the music in order to build a following and sell their music. The performance must connect with the audience and persuade them to take action. This is no different than an entrepreneur working to obtain their first customers and then build their business.

Finally comes perseverance. This is the ultimate determining factor of success. The musicians who gave up when others criticized at any step had no chance. Those who were willing to forge ahead and ignore the critics atleast had the chance of success. The ones who created the right mix of talent and branding were a step further. The ones who reach legend status were able to not only do the first two steps, but they successfully converted large masses of consumers into raving fans. This is no different than the lines of customers waiting for the newest Apple Devices.

So the next time you feel like you are struggling to reach the next step in your business or even where to start, remember that we are all just people struggling to do something we believe in with the hopes that others will listen and accept us. In order to be legendary, you have to show up each day and put your entire heart out there. If you can do this successfully while dreaming and taking action then you are almost sure to find success if not at least find satisfaction.

Have a great day!
Keith

www.SimpleMediaMarketing.com

Check out these articles here as well:

How to Create Content that Attract Leads and makes Sales

Internet Marketing has become one of the most misunderstood professions for entrepreneurs online.

People throw out common sense in favor of the flash and sparkle of someones rip off claims and unfounded information. People sell a dream and the more ridiculous the better. People suspend their sense of reason in hopes of a big payday. We forget basic business principles like building a loyal customer base in favor of one time profits.

The most frustrating thing for me is to watch hardworking people creating decent content and then undervaluing their information product and selling it for $17, $27, or even $47.

Why spend all your time trying to make such small profit margins.

3 Ways to Charge More For Your Products

1. Find a New Audience

If you are charging people low dollar amounts and they are not buying, perhaps the issue is that you are not targeting the right people. I see many people who are pricing themselves low because that’s what their current target customers will pay.

The truth is that their info product could serve many markets. Try switching to small businesses instead of other marketers. Shift focus to online businesses vs offline or visa versa.

2. Change the Format

Your ebook might be awesome, but do your customers like to read their content? Perhaps video or audio is a better medium. Perhaps you could even offer the content on DVD instead of download. There are many services that burn/print/ship on demand. Their is a higher perceived value for a physical item in certain fields. Try it and see how it can work for you.

3. Change your Offer or Product Title

Titles sell books. In the book “Think and Grow Rich”, Napolean Hill describes an entrepreneur who built a career off of selling books that wouldn’t sell by simply changing the title and cover.

If you are stumped for a new name, write a few blog titles and see which gets the most reads or comments. Another great idea is to create a landing page for several different titles with a free download for the first chapter. Then create a google ad for each using the title. See which ad gets the most clicks and which landing page gets the most signups. It is a simply but effective way to target people for a fast decision on a book title.

Also be sure you are targeting the right keywords. Just because you have a product for a market doesn’t mean you are reaching that market at the correct point in the buyer cycle. A small tweak with the right keyword can skyrocket your sales by meeting your markets’ needs at the time they need your product.

For more info visit my

Many people I work with are confused if their business is right for social media. When faced with the option of markeing via facebook, twitter, youtube, or any other “social” site, the first objection for most people is usually “Social Media doesn’t apply to my business”.

In response to that I created three quick questions to ask yourself before deciding whether or not social media should be part of your marketing strategy.

1. Do your customers use Social Media?

If you are a brand or business with customers in the 13-45 range, it is a definite yes. If your customers are 65+ the answer is likely not. If your customers aren’t on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Google+ or other social sites, then no amount of crafty marketing can help you. In other words, you can’t squeeze blood from a stone.

2. Does Your Business require Specialized knowledge?

People with specialized skills are always in demand. If you are a lawyer, you most certainly have specialized knowledge. Having a LinkedIn and perhaps Twitter account would be ideal for your business. On those sites you would be able to showcase some of your expertise in exchange for interested customers reading it and becoming potential leads. In that case, it is recommended to have a blog to send them to in order to capture those leads and post your expanded thoughts on a topic.

3. Do you have the time or resources to manage your Social Media presence?

Just because your customers are using social media doesn’t mean it is the only way to find customers. Before embarking on a social campaign you should evaluate whether you or someone in your company had the time, expertise, and resources to consistently manage your campaign.

Social media can be the most rewarding or the biggest time sink in marketing on the web. If you don’t have the time, perhaps evaluate paid advertising or SEO as other potential avenues to customers. You can also start small using one site in a limited way and letting customers know in advance what kind of interaction to expect on via social media.

Two ways to simplify your Social Media Presence

1. Use Ping.fm to multicast status updates

Ping.fm allows you to post updates to all your social profiles at once. This is a cool way to interact on your sites while not needing to log in to each.

2. Set up Social Alerts

Social alerts are similar to google alerts, but for social media sites. I personally use the Boxcar app for iPhone that monitors twitter for keywords including my name and company name as well any topics of interest for my business.

This will introduce you to many new people who are potential partners or customers in a passive way without needing to constantly be plugged in.

Before starting to build a presence, I recommend watching this quick video on Content Strategy

Social media has a growing influence on Search Engine Optimization. As google, bing, and others see your content retweeted, on google+, liked, on digg, etc it adds credibility and tells the search engine that your content is valuable and unique. It is essentially a social vote for your content.

But many clients ask me, is my content shareable? how can I make it more shareable?

There are a few easy steps you can do right away to help your content be more Social Media Friendly.

First step is to make sure all your blog content has share buttons. If you are using wordpress, there are many free plugins to help, but atleast do the big three: Facebook, Twitter, and now Google+. At the moment, google is giving providers higher ranking for content shared via google plus.

Second is to join the social network with the majority of your customers and begin posting our links. This can be done easily and automated if using WordPress. Simply create a twitter account and set up the Tweet Old post plugin. This plugin will begin posting your content randomly to twitter. Then you can set up a friend feed account that will replay your link to the other sites as desired.

Third is to become active on Facebook FanPages, LinkedIn Groups, or Twitter conversations that are relevant to your product. One way to keep up is to find a monitoring tool that keeps up with your keywords and notifies you when the discussion is updated. Put links to your content where appropriate to not seem spammy.

And lastly, contrary to what many SEO experts would tell you, make your Titles Shareable. SEO principles tell use to put keywords first in the title, but this is not always useful on social sites. Focus how to articles or other high relevant and readable titles. People read articles for titles first and content later. Contrary to search engines where people are searching expressly for your keywords, social is often sharing content with likeminded individuals that is not what they are searching for at the time. You need to grab their attention fast and the title must convey what they will get out of the post.

To learn more about how to increase sales from your content learn more here about Content Strategy

Thanks,
Keith
Simple Media Marketing
www.SimpleMediaMarketing.con

Email Marketing: How to Win back Unsubscribers to your Email List

We all get too many emails on a daily basis. We also know that we lost subscribers from out lists on a regular basis right? This is a natural progression of people on our list. We subscribe while the content is relevant and leave when it isn’t. But what do you do when someone subscribes to try to make them stay?

You can grovel, but that’s embarrassing. You can make it difficult, but that’s annoying. Or you can simply remind them about why they joined in the first place by providing content of amazing value.

How do you do this? Simple…when a user opts out from our list, they are always redirected to a confirmation page. You have the ability to customize the confirmation page in your list management software. Most people just customize the text by adding a message saying goodbye, but what if you did something unexpected.

What if you redirected the page to a video that can show them something really valuable.

I saw this in action today and was win back. I was purging the lists I was on when suddenly the Unsubscribe confirmation page had a video on it. The video gave me so much information about the email list topic that I was blown away. I ended up opting back into the list because it was so shocking and interesting.

The key takeaway was that it was unexpected and valuable. What are you doing to optimize your email list? Are you providing unexpected value to your list?

Thanks,
Keith
SimpleMediaMarketing.com