Thursday, 4 July 2013

Free Ways to Reach More People on Facebook




EBRIKS SEO COMPANY INDIA Provides The Information About The study carried out on social media spends brought to light that people are regularly increasing their budget in this area in order to reach more people through social media sites. It makes sense, as there are more than 650 million daily active users and it is 26% increase year-over-year. These insights are supposed to be helpful in monitoring progress. The effectiveness of social media as a marketing channel has left industries wondering. One of the strong reason of its increasing popularity is low cost associated with it. One needs not have to spend much to reach more people. The visibility over Facebook can be increased by sharing right type of photos, text and videos.
Let’s discuss about free ways to reach more people on Facebook. 

EdgeRank: A large amount of time is spent on browsing through NewsFeeds. EdgeRank is a Facebook way of evaluation, if the content is worthy of being put on friend’s News feeds. Affinity, weight and time are taken into consideration at this point. Affinity is measurement of relationship between developer and viewing user. The closer is the relationship, higher is the EdgeRank. Weight is measurement of type of video, text or photos shared. In order to have more weight, the posts should be more interactive.  Videos and photos are believed to be more effective, as they have proved to keep visitors on site. Time is the direct measure of freshness. The updates should be posted regularly to have this edge. 

Stay Relevant: It is very important to post relevant updates. Topics, like religion and politics should be avoided. One should keep an eye over audiences’ interest and should post accordingly.
Short & Sweet: The posts should be short, something around 250 characters or less, as Facebook users have a limited amount of time to surf them.  

Know Your Audience: The best way to know your audience is to analyze traffic. What time of day does your site gets most traffic? When does your site get the most visits? Such data can be collected to know the audience.
Be Consistent: One should always have a consistent posting strategy to keep people updated. It would maintain their interest and remind them of the brand regularly. At the same time, consistent post keep people informed.
Above all, a planned marketing strategy is very vital to maintain online visibility and keep user engage. One should not forget that social media is a growing platform that increases online presence and help companies spread brand awareness. 

EBRIKS INFOTECH:-


Wednesday, 3 July 2013

11 Ways To Get Your Local Search Strategy To The Next Level



EBRIKS SEO COMPANY INDIA Provides The Unique Information About  This.With the changing technology, new entrants are finding their way into the online world to take the advantage of online presence. With the aim to get more business, local business is also finding something for itself. Let’s discuss various ways that businesses with local search should adopt to reach to the next level.
  1. Just don’t restrict yourself to Google maps. Do something beyond using cheap tricks. Launch marketing campaigns to help you improve upon the local search visibility.
  2. Look for the ways to organize free seminars and promote the same to let people know about it.  Ask the visitors to review your business. Create online referral program.
  3. Apart from online promotion, advertise offline. TVs, newspapers also have their reach. Collectively, both online and offline means increase brand awareness, which leads to increased search, traffic and in turn, conversion.
  4. Keep a check at various metrics that could be used to measure the growth. Analyse which metrics are useful for your business to keep an eye over the same.
  5. Consistency also plays an important role in Google Places Plus Local. The website for local search should be best in terms of search engine optimization and conversion optimization. One should adopt various practices to maintain a position in local blogosphere and a strong presence in search engine platforms.
  6. It is important to maintain reputation. In order to do so, one should look delivery and customer service sector. A bad reputation can have negative effect on the business. One should monitor the web with the help of features, like Google Alert. The things that are wrong or not liked by customers should be fixed. Resolve customers’ issues, instead of getting into conflict with them.
  7. Pay per click advertising can do wonders in attracting new customers. Know the amount of money; you should spend to get a new customer.
  8. Local content is deemed to play crucial role in local search strategy. It would help you to drive interest of local traffic.
  9. Be active on mobile marketing. The increasing growth in mobile search has widened up the horizons for mobile marketing. People use mobile to carry out local search. Thus, it is must to have mobile version of the website to make it easy for people to search.
  10. Use tools, like whtespark to manage citation building process. One can also use data aggregators for small businesses.
Be aware about the changing algorithms, trends and technology, as local search is the most volatile segment of search. 

EBRIKS INFOTECH:-



Tuesday, 2 July 2013

Using The New Adwords Keyword Planner For Local SEO Keyword Research

Let's face it. Local keywords research has never been that easy since the Venice update. While we have always been able to use the Google Keyword Tool to find out search volumes for keywords with Geo Modifiers such as "City Name + Keyword" we have been lacking some reasonable data regarding keywords that do not already have a Geo Modifier.
My frustration has always been this: So what if Google tells me there are 12,100 searches for "Personal Injury Lawyer"? My client is in a local city and I want to know how many people in his city are searching for his services. The good news is that there is now an adequate solution to this problem we have long been plagued by.
Let me introduce you to the Google AdWords Keyword Planner. This new tool combines the data from the Keyword Tool and Traffic Estimator which are nowbeing replaced by this nifty piece of software. The good news is that this data that we were previously lacking is now available in this great tool! So let's dive into a practical exercise of how to get this data.

Start with some good local keyword data

Before you start, make sure you are setup for success by doing some preliminary keyword research in your niche. While the Google Adwords Keyword Planner is a great tool by itself, you can generate even more ideas for keyword variants by using a few tools already available. I prefer to use:
  • Mike Blumenthal's Category Tool - To get some ideas on locally based keyword categories and synonyms
  • Local Marketing Source's Keyword Research Tool - This will help you get an idea of surrounding areas you want to focus on
  • Google Analytics - Check your analytics and see what keywords are already bringing traffic. There may be opportunities to increase your visibility on something that's already preforming.
Using these tools and collecting some good data up front will make the process more laser focused. Make sure that you always focus on converting keywords that provide the searcher (and then website visitor) with the proper intent.

So how do you use this fancy new tool? Let's get started!

Before you get started make sure you have a Google Account because to access the planner you will need to be logged in. Once you are logged in simply visit the Google AdWords Keyword Planner here.
Google Keyword Planner Intro Screen

Step 1: Log in and input your keywords

Start by logging into the Google Adwords Keyword Planner and select the option "Search for keyword and add group ideas." In this box you should put the variants you typically might use for your industry. For example, if you're a personal injury lawyer, you could put in variants related to your practice area including:
  • Personal Injury Lawyer
  • Personal Injury Attorneys
  • Car Accident Lawyers
  • Auto Accident Lawyer
This is also a good place to put in the keywords you found in your preliminary research.
Put your keywords in this box

Step 2: Remove the country targeting

This is where it starts to get real cool! Using this new tool you can see the search volumes for your keywords in certain geographic areas. By default, you will likely see your country in the list. To use this tool to its full potential for a city, you will want to click on the country name under targeting and select the remove option.
Remove the country
Pro Tip: If you don't remove the country as mentioned above you will find that your searches will also combine the data from the entire country which defeats the purpose.

Step 3: Add your first city or cities

Since we are using this for local keyword research, we want to find out how many people in our city or surrounding areas are searching for our keywords. Under the targeting area, make sure to add the cities you want to focus on. As a general rule of thumb, the larger cities with higher populations will generate more results for your keywords. Where there are more devices, there are more searches.
How to add your cities in Google Keyword Planning Tool

Pro tip: Keep in mind that this tool is using actual city boundaries defined in Google Maps. Getting to visualize this data will show you if you need to add more cities, etc.

Google Cities Visualization in the Google Keyword Planning Tool
But what if you want to target surrounding areas?
Using this new tool, Google also integrated the "Surrounding Areas" option which allows you to add surrounding cities and also visualize the data. To access this information simply click the "Surrounding Areas" option. As you will see below it will come up with some recommendations, but also allow you to add your own information including "a country, city, or region."
Surrounding Areas in Google Keyword Planning Tool

Step Four: Get Ideas & See Exact Matches

After you have inputted your keywords and selected the cities you want to target, hit the "Get Ideas" button at the bottom to be taken to the results page. If this is done correctly, it should display the areas that you're targeting on the left side of the screen. To see the exact keywords you entered, make sure to select the Keyword Idea's tab in the top middle. By default, it will likely show the "Ad Group Ideas" tab. Typically, I will also select the exact match option as seen below.
Keyword Ideas Results from Google Keyword Planning Tool
Just like the old Google Keyword Tool, you can also scroll below the keywords you input and have access to other keywords that Google believes is relevant to your search term. Of course, the more work you put into finding initial results, the better the results will be.
Other Keyword Results also show as normal

How Can You Use This Data?

There are many great ways you can use this data, but I'll point out a couple that are important to me. For starters, you can now provide clients with accurate information on the searches for their business that are happening in the area they service. You can target your campaign towards cities where you know search volumes already exist and scoop up the business. Another thing you can do is start developing strong content marketing strategies to provide great information on the web and reach potential customers through long tail searches. If you looked on in horror when you saw the low volumes for these searches, it's important to remember that all searchers are different. This is where a long tail strategy comes into play. Put yourself in other's shoes and create content that actual customers would want.
Overall, the good news is that the days of not knowing where geographic searches are coming from are at an end. I give Google props for making this tool available for use and I'm looking forward to see what they will be releasing in the future.

Reference:-http://moz.com/blog/using-the-new-adwords-keyword-planner-for-local-seo-keyword-research

EBRIKS INFOTECH:-

Monday, 1 July 2013

Google Local Carousel Results: Where Do Users Click Most?

Google officially rolled out its local carousal results to all U.S. users last week for select verticals like hotels and restaurants, and since then, marketers have been trying to figure out what makes it tick.
Two search agencies independently conducted experiments of their own to see where people click when presented with the new carousel in Google local results. While these tests were largely informal and consisting of a small sample size, they are still interesting to note.
Local U and Ethical SEO Consulting had a combined sample of 112 respondents in their separate experiments. Searchers were given a prompt search results page, and asked to go to the part of the page that was most relevant to them for that search.
Here’s what one of those search result options looked like to respondents for the query: "pizza in Denver":
pizza-in-denver-local-results-before-google

What the Local Carousel Result Studies Found

Both studies showed the map and carousel results on the page were favorite areas for users to click in order to find what they were looking for.
The "pizza in Denver" results showed the map result received 32 percent of the clicks, followed by the first image in the carousel at 17 percent, and then the first organic result at 11 percent.
pizza-in-denver-local-results-heat-map-google
The other experiment used the query "Chicago restaurants" to generate a results page, and found 48 percent of the total clicks were on the carousel results:
chicago-restaurant-google-click-data
When asked why the searchers clicked where they did within the carousel, the Chicago restaurants respondents mentioned reviews as a determining factor.

What Does It Mean?

People are clicking on the carousel to find what they need. But more studies will need to be conducted to truly understand how the new carousel results in Google are impacting overall click-through rate on the results page.
Both Ethical SEO consulting and Local U and commented on the challenges and opportunities of the new look and feel of Google local results.
"One challenge with images is that Google is not letting you choose what picture to display on the front page. They choose it for you from the images that are uploaded," Local U said in its post.
Ethical SEO consulting also noted that reviews were going to continue to be important, and added, "having a long tail keyword site content strategy is also going to be an important factor in showing up in as many carousels, and map results as possible. The organic results also cannot be discounted."

EBRIKS INFOTECH:-

Well-Timed Link Building: How to Capitalize on Popular Topics

phone-stages
 In SEO, timing is of the essence. Timing is very important for regular topics with a predictable life cycle. Your link building efforts will be much more effective when you understand the separate phases.

Is There a Predictable Life Cycle for Your Keywords?

Your industry probably has keyword trends that clearly show a life cycle (mainly product names). Google Trends offers some insight into keyword trending when your keyword stays above a minimum threshold.
Social media monitoring tools often provide even better insights into popular topics and the keyword combinations in which they are addressed.
Using Radian6 I discovered that there are four or five main phases in the life cycle of a mobile phone. In such phases people discuss distinctly different topics in combination with phone names. You should attract links in all these phases, but that requires a different type of message in each phase.

1. The Rumor Phase

In this phase people use words like "leaked", "first", and they guess potential names for the new Android or iPhone.
Link building: Find sites that rank in this phase by already Googling for keyword combinations like "iphone 5s" or "iphone 6" (potential names for future phones). Focus on attracting links from them by feeding their rumor. Provide the first photos or potential sketches. Speculate about its name, release date and specifications and do so for all important phones in this phase of their life cycle.

2. The Introduction Phase

Once a new phone is officially announced, sample phones are distributed to the media and the first reviews are written. Words like "introduction", "review", "release date" and "new features" become more important in this phase.
Link building: Partnering with review sites is the most important link building activity for this phase. Comparing and rating their reviews might work, paying them to mention your site or providing your own sample phones for review are all possible link acquisition strategies.

3. The Pre-Sale Phase

In this phase people start selecting the provider or shop for their new mobile phone. Words like "compare", "features" and "support" (app compatibility) are often mentioned and searched in this phase.
Link building: Offering early bird specials or special package deals/editions for people that pre-register proved very successful. Providing comparison charts and selection wizards also makes your site more linkable. Gossip about scarceness or insufficient stock with certain providers has also worked wonders in the past.

4. The For Sale Phase

Once a phone is really for sale you should already be ranking because of all that effort in earlier stages of the mobile phone life cycle. In this phase keywords like "deals", "price", "prepaid" and "verizon" rise to the top of search volume and social mentions.
Link building: Combine your sales effort with link building, but try not to break Google guidelines for paid links. When you aid sites showing your advertisements with quality images and unique content, normal links can also be included. If you have access to sales numbers, share sales comparison charts for several phones. Even a widget, wizard, or other promotional tool can aid both sales and link building.

5. The Support Phase

Later in the sales phase accessories like cases are mentioned and searched for more often. Keyword combinations with "unlock" and "jailbreak" show that the phone has become an established name. Once second-hand or refurbished phones are sold on eBay, the most important phase of your mobile phone life cycle has probably ended. The search volume can however still be interesting for an upsell to the phone's successor.
Link building: I seldom do link building in this latest phase of the phone life cycle. It is often much more interesting to re-use the acquired link value for the current top phone. Redirecting the old phone URL to the new model makes this possible. The old phone should however still have a dedicated page somewhere on your website.

Working in Phases

Whatever product you're working on, phases from introduction to discontinuation are very common. Discover the life cycle of your products and tune your link building to the best link partners for each phase.
What sites rank in the top 10 in which phase, and what message or strategy have they used to do so? Try to be linked from these websites or emulate their strategy to attract similar links. Well-timed link building allows you to rank at the right time with half the effort.

EBRIKS INFOTECH:-

Content Marketing Tactics from the Trenches: A How-To Extravaganza

trenches
Content is on the minds of marketers everywhere, but how do you tackle it? What are some ways to show ROI and what sort of skills do you need on your team to make your brand or agency into an efficient, quality content producer? These are the questions speakers Miranda Miller and Natalie Henley tackled in an SES Toronto session on content marketing.

The Changing Face of SEO

Natalie Henley from Volume 9 Inc. opened up the conversation by talking about the changing face of SEO. Her company was forced about two years ago to adopt content marketing, and she talked about what she learned.
Content marketing is starting to look and feel more like traditional marketing, she said. You're giving away information to people who aren't necessarily ready to buy. This is at the top of the funnel versus at the bottom.

Create Personas to Solve Content Problems

The first problem with writing about not-so-sexy topics and companies is to look within. Henley said she solved this with something that transformed how they created content: creating personas.
To dig into personas, she and her team looked at several factors including the personal environment of the persona and environmental influence. Also diving into how this persona feels and what his or her attitude is can be crucial components of this.

Content Creation Ideas

The most important thing, said Henley, is not to to focus on the SEO when you're writing. A couple ideas she shared include:
  • Write based on personas.
  • Write everything first, edit later.
Henley warned that quality content is really hard to scale. It's not about volume. But you still have to publish a lot, so it's a bit of a conundrum. She gives some tips on ways you can outsource:
  • Textbroker is good for inexpensive content.
  • Writers Access is a step up.
  • Zerys is great for low-end agencies.
  • Skyword is more for high-end agencies.

Content Promotion

When your content is good on its own, don't feel like to have to force optimization, said Henley. A couple tips though if you're thinking about the SEO side of things. If you optimize your title tag and nothing else, that's 90 percent of the battle. And don't forget Google Authorship.
Get a little SEO mileage with social bookmarking, said Henley. Don't forget to promote on social media. But remember it's not a one-size-fits-all solution. Be selective about what you promote.

The Biggest Challenge: ROI

How do you show return on content marketing? That's the next point Henley explored. The top of the funnel is not as profitable as the bottom of the funnel, she said.
Here's a couple ways to measure:
  • Low end of your formula: conversions from blog referral traffic.
  • High end of your formula: Percentage of traffic versus overall traffic.
  • Take total number of conversions times blog percentage.
It's not perfect math, she warned, but it's a great way to show progress.
She leaves the audience with a tool she loves. BlogDash allows you to pitch ideas to a network of bloggers. If they like it, they pick it up and blog about it. There's no money exchange, but you offer them something they might like.
For example, if the content is about flowers, you can offer the bloggers a bouquet of flowers for Mother's Day. She found this wildly successful.

Executing a Blog and Social Strategy

Marketer Miranda Miller talked next about executing a blog and social strategy. Execution matters, she said, because businesses don't have a lot of time and money.

Think Like a Publisher?

Your blog and social strategy needs to be agile and adaptable. "Think like a publisher" is the motto of the year, she said. You don't just wake up one day and become publisher though. You have to be trained in that.
Remember, traditional publishing and brand publishing is different. So how do you really think like a publisher? Miller gave a few ways:
  • Have an editorial calendar.
  • Create content guidelines.
  • Implement quality check and balances.
  • Make sure audience needs come first.
The smallest companies need an organizational tool. Miller recommended Kapost.com. It allows you to plan out your editorial calendar. Google Docs also works and is a free option. You can also try the Approval Workflow plugin for WordPress.
Style guides are crucial, said Miller. Every person who touches the content in your organization should have one. It's your Content Bible.
And with regard to quality checks and balances, make sure your communication team is qualified, she said. You need the right people in place who can work together effectively.

Brand Journalist Wizards Don't Exist for $12 per Hour

The job descriptions coming from companies are getting ridiculous for content creation, said Miller. Businesses are asking for very talented writers who are former journalists along with a boatload of other skills and only paying $12 an hour. This doesn't exist.
Here's what you do need on a content team, she said:
  • Bloggers
  • SMMs
  • Professionalism
  • Creativity
  • Grasp of online marketing landscape
  • Topic expertise not as important
  • New media skills
And Miller said the following is what the content team needs from its employer, which is just as important:
  • Clear, detailed expectations
  • Opportunities for input
  • Access to key people
  • Tools for the job
  • Logical working process
Who's got brand publishing right? Look to brands like Raytheon and Garmin for good examples of brands that are doing well in the content publishing area.

EBRIKS INFOTECH:-\

How to Effectively Make Your Site Social Media-Friendly

Having a website has become something of a necessity for businesses these days, due to the global paradigm shift where more and more people are integrating online activities with their lives. Besides this fundamental reason of going where the market goes, there are also great benefits to having an official site for your business.
Starting a website is much cheaper than building and maintaining a brick-and-mortar store. There is no need to look for a good location, pay the lease, take into account overhead expenses, etc.
You can reach a much wider audience not limited by time or any borders, making market expansion much easier and opening up more room for growth. You also get to showcase your products, as well as important information about your business to customers, establishing your credibility while making it convenient for your target audience.
Social Media as a Conduit
Of course, there are still some truths in promoting an “offline” business that apply to the online world. Merely having a website does not guarantee profitability. You need to be able to show your expertise and uniqueness in the industry, and you need to establish a good relationship with your customers. The best way of pursuing these goals is through leveraging the power of social media. (more…)

EBRIKS INFOTECH:-