Author Rank Best SEO Practices
Posted by Lynnea on Mar 12, 2013 in Da Blog! | 0 comments
The Location Based Social Media Frontier
Posted by Lynnea on Feb 7, 2013 in Da Blog! | 0 comments
Joining social media and SEO with locationary services and mobile smart devices represents the next gen of digital marketing, according to experts speaking at a recent Search Marketing Expo.*
Source: CIO.com –
Combining the three modalities is simply an evolution of how they are being used individually, said Mac Ling, director of mobile at digital marketing company iCrossing. “We’re just now starting to see, as with the Internet, a new medium, a new way of talking to customers. That’s happening now because of this beautiful little device in our hands,” he said, referring to a mobile phone.Dashboard
Jennifer Grappone, a partner with Gravity Search Marketing, offered an example of a small company using social media for marketing. Cool Haus, which operates ice cream trucks in a few cities, uses what she called “geotargeted flattery.”
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SEO For Accounting Firms, CPAs and Other Professional Practices
Posted by ADMAX on Jan 19, 2013 in Da Blog! | 2 comments
SEO or Search Engine Optimization, for accounting firms and other professional practices, is a procedural strategy whereby a CPA firm expends large sums of money and/or valuable time adjusting its Internet-based content and related factors with the goal of ranking higher in the ‘organic’ (or natural) search engine results served up by Google (principally) and Bing, Yahoo, AOL and ASK.com (secondarily).
— Originally published at Cloud9 Real Time
One of the immediate things we do when exploring an SEO relationship with an accounting or other professional services firm is a short assessment of their website.
We aren’t really checking how visually aesthetic their website is (that is secondary), we examine what their site is doing to be visible in search engines queries. We look at meta tags and page titles, descriptions and how keywords in headlines and body content.
Some firms “get it”, but many CPA websites are far behind the curve when it comes to SEO.
Organic search ranking (showing high up) in non-paid search results is a key avenue to drive prospects to your accounting firm because most searches won’t get click-thrus beyond more than the first page of search results – but a high visibility search ranking can produce large numbers of inquiries from prospective clients.
However the rules of the SEO ‘game’ (yes it IS a form of gaming) are in a state of constant flux. Older SEO tricks that Internet savvy accounting and law practices used — embedding reciprocal links between websites, stuffing lots of keywords into website pages and utilizing excessively keyword rich content that rank highly but read like gibberish are losing favor as search engines get increasingly smarter.
Google, for instance, has recently added a search parameter called Search Plus Your World that deems more importance on your accounting firm’s social network and what it finds interesting in deciding the search results you’ll see when logged into your Google account. As a result Google search results are increasingly variable – frequently two querents performing an identical search will receive very different search results.
If traditional search optimization is not working the way it once did for your accounting firm – one way to show higher in search is to constantly generate unique and quality accounting-related content that is relevant to what your ideal future accounting clients are Googling (or Binging or Yahooing) for.
Your Accounting Web Site is the Center of the Internet Tornado
No matter where you are sharing accounting-related information – whether it’s via social media or other sites – as many links as possible should point back back to it. Quality links, mind you – poor quality links will hurt you.
Your accounting firm website should have a blog (WordPress is our favorite) that allows you to update content easily and with a minimum of editing.
Your blog should be updated four to eight times a month, at a minimum with relevant content that your target customer might be searching for.
We’ve generated much Internet search traction, attracting existing QuickBooks and Sage users who may be looking for a new consultant or accountant, by generating unique blog posts about typical accounting error conditions and how to fix them.
Example:
QuickBooks Slow – Speed Up QuickBooks Tips (Titles are important)
The Web can be a tough place to get seen. Firms can spend a lot of money on a beautiful dream websites, exquisite graphics, and then count the number of visitors it receives per week on the fingers of one hand. CPAs and accounting firms have historically used traditional non-digital marketing, expecting to attract attention from new client prospects as prospects’ needs are identified. The reality is that a focused SEO strategy can do wonders in bringing these prospective clients in the door.
Read MoreBig SEO Killers That Must Be Avoided in 2013
Posted by ADMAX on Dec 19, 2012 in Da Blog! | 1 comment
There’s much discussion of Google killing SEO through the recent Panda and Penguin algorithms, which continue to ensnare more and more websites with every new update. Recurringly, announcements of the death of SEO are increasingly frequent. Many webmasters have seen their hard-earned organic search traffic collapse in the cae of ever frequent search algorithm updates.
But Really: Is SEO Dead?
“The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”
-Mark Twain
Analytics data showing losses of over 50% of Google organic traffic is not uncommon for afflicted websites, and traffic that used to increase over time, suddenly took a huge dip. These patterns certainly make it look as if SEO could be dead.
But Is SEO Really Dead? (From Jill Whalen at SiteProNews) –
In order to answer that question I went back through the multitude of lost traffic site audit reports I’ve been doing since early 2011. I looked for website problems that were consistent through many of the sites I reviewed.
It didn’t take long for me to conclude that, while SEO was certainly not dead, SEO tricks and shortcuts were definitely on life support – if not already completely dead.
So if you relied on tricks and shortcuts, then yes, for you SEO is dead.
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Video Mojo For Attorneys
Posted by ADMAX on Dec 2, 2012 in Da Blog! | 0 comments
Imagine you requiring the services of an attorney but having no idea about the nearest attorney office. Now what? You will search for attorney online –obviously. Now let us suppose that there is an attorney website where you see videos about the attorney explaining insights about the law,sharing his success stories,and appears just the right attorney for your specific requirements.
You have one more option,attorney site,which does not provide interaction (videos) or tell you much about the attorney firm. Which one would you select out of the two? Obviously,the first!
However,you will find many sites belonging to the second category than the first. The worst part is that most of the sites,belonging to the first category,are not educative for bringing a sense of trust and credibility in mind of the individual seeking attorney services online. This is the reason why attorney service providers,all over the world,need to realize that they need to appear as trustworthy entities than mere entities.
Read MoreSmall businesses not excited to pay Facebook for enhanced marketing
Posted by ADMAX on Nov 18, 2012 in Da Blog! | 0 comments
Facebook is the preferred social media channel for small companies trying to leverage free social media offerings from networks to promote their products and practices, but when it came to paid social media offerings, the reality was quite different, according to a recent small business poll of 3,434 MerchantCircle member merchants, conducted by Reply.
74.3 percent of respondents said they did not use any paid products from social networks to promote their businesses, with only 6.6 percent using Facebook’s offerings, compared with 12.6 percent for Google Plus, 10.8 percent for other, and 1.3 percent for Twitter.
In a survey by MerchantCircle last December, 96 percent of the more than 2,500 small business owners who responded were aware of Facebook’s targeted display ad offering, but only 23 percent used it. Of those 23 percent, 28 percent said they would not continue doing so, citing as reasons:
- 66 percent said they did not acquire new customers.
- 41 percent said the service was too expensive.
- 37 percent reported low click-through rates.
In the latest survey, MerchantCircle did not find much reason for optimism, as 42.6 percent of respondents who do not currently use paid social media products said they were very unlikely to do so within the next three to six months, and 37.2 percent were indifferent, with only 20.2 percent answering that they were very likely to explore paid products.
Respondents were also asked how their feelings changed about Facebook after its May 18 initial public offering, and 69.1 percent said their opinions were unchanged, compared with 20.8 percent who replied negatively, 5.6 percent positively, and 4.5 percent other.
Readers: What can Facebook do to entice more small businesses to sample its paid advertising and promotion offerings?
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Brand Facebook Page or Brand Website?
Posted by Lynnea on Oct 6, 2012 in Da Blog! | 0 comments
Facebook now has over 900 million active users around the world, making it a huge source of exposure for brands, and a Facebook Page/Timeline is significantly easier to set up than a stand alone website.
Results from a survey from Lab42 indicate that 50% of people find a brand’s Facebook page more useful than the same brand’s website.
If you aren’t putting much time, effort or thought into your Facebook presence, that should make you sit up and consider it.
“Only five years ago, the term ‘like’ was just another word used to describe one’s preferences,” the firm says .”In today’s digital universe, however, the notion of ‘liking’ something has become ubiquitous. Liking is one of the primary ways people exert their tastes and preferences online, and it has created an entirely new type of conversation – one between consumers and brands.”
“Lately we’ve heard a lot of debate about the value of a Facebook like,” the firm adds. “Some have tried to calculate the ROI of a like for a brand, while others argue that the intrinsic value of a like can’t be quantified. With so many competing opinions on the value of a like, our team decided this was a topic worth investigating further.”
Source: Chris Crum / WebProNews –
They surveyed 1,000 social media users about their brand-related activity on Facebook. 1,000 is a pretty small portion of 900 million, but it’s a big enough number to pay attention to.
LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter?
Posted by Lynnea on Sep 27, 2012 in Da Blog! | 0 comments
Jason Nazar, CEO of Docstoc explains the benefits of LinkedIn vs Facebook vs Twitter for your business. See how you can leverage each of these networks to attract key people to your business and build awareness for your brand.
Read MoreWhat is Blended Search?
Posted by Lynnea on Sep 3, 2012 in Da Blog! | 0 comments
Blended Search Optimization will be one of the most important areas of focus for savvy website owners in 2011. If you have not yet started optimizing for blended search, start now.
With the release of Universal Search, Google was the first major search engine to delve into blended search results. ASK quickly stepped in with the very cool ASK 3-D results, but it continues to be Google that leads the way when it comes to blended search results.
So what are blended search results. Simply put, blended search results are those results that are not the typical blue link and description that we have traditionally seen on a Search Engine Results Page (SERP). Blended results consist of:
website results
news results
video results
image results
blog results
book results
and more
In fact we found examples of 20 types of blended search results.
The evolution of search –
Search 1.0 – keyword matching an Boolean logic, the first generation of search engines. Was easy to optimize for and easy to spam.
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Mobile Search
Posted by Lynnea on Aug 2, 2012 in Da Blog! | 0 comments
Global capabilities have now been placed into your palm. That’s right, the smart phone just got smarter. No more logging into your laptop computer or home PC to check the latest game info or the Dow-Jones/NASDAQ index, it’s all being provided by your carrier.
What this means for marketing executives, is a bit of new vocabulary that needs to be pursued. Mobile Search, Mobile Marketing and Wireless Marketing. And these are being pursued relentlessly, as its only right to do so.
Industry reports provided by market research giants, Synovate and InMobi, have shown companies are more inclined to advertise using mobile marketing and the expected growth in the next year is roughly billion, doubling that by the year 2012.
Read MoreGet Your Business Mojo!
Posted by Lynnea on Jul 23, 2012 in Da Blog! | 0 comments
Austin Powers got his mojo back… but what is it? Mojo is the moment when we do something that’s purposeful, powerful, and positive and the rest of the world recognizes it. This book by Marshall Goldsmith is about that moment – and how we can create it in our lives, maintain it, and recapture it when we need it.
In his follow-up to the New York Times best seller What Got You Here Won’t Get You There, number-one executive coach Marshall Goldsmith shares the ways in which to get – and keep – our Mojos. Our professional and personal Mojo is impacted by four key factors: identity (who do you think you are?), achievement (what have you done lately?), reputation (who do other people think you are – and what have you’ve done lately?), and acceptance (what can you change – and when do you need to just “let it go”?). Goldsmith outlines the positive actions leaders must take, with their teams or themselves, to initiate winning streaks and keep them coming.
Mojo is that positive spirit – towards what we are doing – now – that starts from the inside – and radiates to the outside. Mojo is at its peak when we are experiencing both happiness and meaning in what we are doing and communicating this experience to the world around us. The Mojo Toolkit provides 14 practical tools to help you achieve both happiness and meaning – not only in business, but in life.
Read MoreWhat Was Facebook Thinking?
Posted by ADMAX on Apr 17, 2012 in Da Blog! | 0 comments
Just in case you haven’t heard: Facebook is paying $1 billion to acquire photo sharing app darling, Instagram. Huh? How could Zuckerberg possibly think it’s worth anywhere near that much? All Things Digital reported that assorted VCs assessed Instagram at $500 million before funding it with $50 million in venture capital.
“If you find it odd that in one room Instagram was negotiating a billion dollar sale, while in another closing a funding deal, you’re not alone,” writes Ron Miller at Fierce Content.
But it’s not half as odd as Facebook paying twice as much for Instagram as the companies providing that funding think it’s worth. Was somebody else bidding against Facebook?
Ron Miller continues –
Possibly, but why would Facebook want Instagram so badly as to overpay for it? That’s the real question.
According to a post from the LA Times last week on Instagram’s Android app launch, Instagram has about 30 million iOS users. CBS reported that Instagram had a million downloads in the wake of the Android release.
By most standards, that a nice little app. By Facebook’s 800 million-member community it barely rates as a blip. 30 million users? Facebook laughs at 30 million users. It’s barely worth their attention.
So it’s not the network. Is it the technology? Hardly. Instagram, beyond its social aspect, is basically a fairly unsophisticated photo touch-up app. I think Facebook could have developed some filters on its own or bought a similar company for a lot less money. After all, Facebook already has a photo sharing component. It really doesn’t need another one, certainly not one that costs that kind of money.
As GigaOm noted, Instagram doesn’t even offer the promise of income for goodness sake, as it doesn’t appear to have a dime of advertising revenue. The staff, maybe? We’re talking 20 employees here, folks.
This isn’t Google paying $1.6 billion for the promise of YouTube. This is a simple photo sharing-social network that’s not terribly sophisticated technology.
It leaves us wondering: What was Facebook thinking? We may never know.
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30 Social Media Predictions for 2012
Posted by ADMAX on Jan 2, 2012 in Da Blog! | 0 comments
Story by Cindy King
Experts at Social Media Examiner look at he top 30 influences for 2012.
How will social media impact businesses in 2012?
We sought expert opinions from a wide range of pros you’re likely familiar with.
We are grateful for dozens of social media professionals who have written over 600 articles for us since we started Social Media Examiner in October 2009.
To give you a glimpse of what we can expect in next 12 months, we decided to tap ir knowledge expertise. Here are ir predictions of where social media is headed in next 12 months.
Source: Social Media Examiner Full Story
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How Social Media Impacts Brand Marketing
Posted by Lynnea on Oct 15, 2011 in Da Blog! | 0 comments
Source – nielsenwire — http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/consumer/how-social-media-impacts-brand-marketing/
Consumers are spending more time than ever using social media, as demonstrated in the Social Media Report recently published by Nielsen and NM Incite, a Nielsen/McKinsey company. Building on this report, research by NM Incite helps uncover what impacts social media may have for marketers trying to build their brands and connect with their audience more directly.
Social media plays an important role in how consumers discover, research, and share information about brands and products. In fact 60 percent of consumers researching products through multiple online sources learned about a specific brand or retailer through social networking sites. Active social media users are more likely to read product reviews online, and 3 out of 5 create their own reviews of products and services. Women are more likely than men to tell others about products that they like (81% of females vs. 72% of males). Overall, consumer-generated reviews and product ratings are the most preferred sources of product information among social media users.
Research shows that social media is increasingly a platform consumers use to express their loyalty to their favorite brands and products, and many seek to reap benefits from brands for helping promote their products. Among those who share their brand experiences through social media, at least 41 percent say they do so to receive discounts. When researching products, social media users are likely to trust the recommendations of their friends and family most, and results from Nielsen’s Global Online Survey indicate that 2 out of 3 respondents said they were either highly or somewhat influenced by advertising with a social context.
Social Media also plays a key role in protecting brands: 58 percent of social media users say they write product reviews to protect others from bad experiences, and nearly 1 in 4 say they share their negative experiences to “punish companies”. Many customers also use social media to engage with brands on a customer service level, with 42 percent of 18- to 34-year-olds acknowledging that they expect customer support within 12 hours of a complaint.
On the flip side, another interesting trend is the interest of consumers to act as ambassadors and advocates for brands through social media. A majority of active social networkers (53%) follow brands. These brands are increasingly recruiting their fans and followers to spread word-of-mouth recommendations about their products and services, and among consumers who write product reviews online, a majority say their share their experiences to “give recognition for a job well done” by the company. Social media users are also interested in collaborating with their favorite brands, with 60 percent of 18- to 34-year-olds saying they want to give product improvement recommendations, and another 64 percent who want to customize their products.
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Four Simple Steps to Video Marketing Gold
Posted by ADMAX on Sep 29, 2011 in Da Blog! | 0 comments
So business is booming. But you still want a little more traffic, a lot more revenue. How do you climb to the top of the list, over your competitors? You may already be familiar with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) but have you thought about putting social media sites to use? That’s right; I said it, Social Media. I am not talking about Facebook, Myspace or any of those dot com forums. I’m talking about Video Hosting Sites. Sites like Youtube, Kewego, Daily Motion and MetCafe.
It’s the next frontier in internet marketing. Not only can you rise to the top of a search engine by selecting specific keywords that highlight your expertise or steer the masses towards your product but you can utilize the social media world. Internet Video Marketing is enjoying exponential growth right now, which means more money for those that know how to put it to use.
Read MoreGrasping Video SEO
Posted by ADMAX on Aug 31, 2011 in Da Blog! | Comments Off on Grasping Video SEO
Or, How to Climb to the Top in Internet Video Marketing
You’ve got a fantastic video with high quality imaging and sound advertising your product or services provided. That’s enough to drive traffic to your site, right? Not so much. You need to get your video optimized for search first. This is not as difficult as you might think.
If you’ve already begun the process of optimizing your site by selecting keywords meant to direct traffic your way, you can do the same for your internet video marketing. Capitalizing on social media sites like Youtube can increase your success rate in regards to video advertisement and conversion, thereof.
It’s easy to post videos on any platform but platform selection is the first step to your internet video marketing strategy. Cross-posting is one way to make sure you are reaching the intended audience but you could also be wasting time and money, both too precious to just throw away. The most advantageous way to post your videos is selecting the platform most suitable for the product you’re advertising.
Read MoreGoogle Places: The Place to Be
Posted by ADMAX on Jul 23, 2011 in Da Blog! | 0 comments
What’s the first rule of real estate? Location, location, location. Google recently stated that one out of every five searches is related to location. That’s 2.6 billion local searches on a monthly basis and that is increasing steadily at 50% a year. Yeah, that’s a lot of zeroes in a month, which is why you need to claim your space on Google Places, now.
Having a good listing can increase your ranking on Google’s index, which only boosts your ability to commune more potential clients. Posting real time updates on events, sales or new products is possible Google Places. If that’s not worth it, I couldn’t tell you what would be.
Claiming Your Space
If you don’t have a Google account, you’ll need to create one. But that’s more great news because it’s free. Here are 7 ways to ensure you find success on Google Places.
Read MoreFour Things a Small Business Must Do in Social media
Posted by Lynnea on Apr 17, 2011 in Da Blog! | 0 comments
Business owners often ask us what y should y be doing for social media ir company. In our “expert” (LOL) opinion, this question cannot be glossed over, let alone without doing bonafide research. That being said, asking is first step so we will answer it with help of social media expert Nicole Fletcher (follow her). 
Here is Nicole’s quick list of what your company MUST first be doing to get into swing of things – (source: Jacob Tyler)
1. Create a Facebook fan page Twitter account use m. Keep m updated with fresh, relevant content bring in your personal network for growth. Ask your community what y want to hear about n provide m with that information. Talk to m, respond to m do it in a timely manner…not just today, but tomorrow next day day after that. Make time for se tools – you’ll be glad you did.
2. Install social network links on your website. Your business website should ABSOLUTELY have social links (preferably in top right corner). Include Facebook Twitter to be sure, n comes YouTube, Yelp. LinkedIn Flickr to name a few. Make sure links work – broken links don’t do anyone any good.
3. Write blog posts. Blog posts don’t have to be perfect or long or serious. y can be fun short funny informative. Post often (but make sure you’re creating good, original, fresh content) link key phrases (that pertain to your business) back to relevant pages on your website. This does wonders for your search engine optimization counts as a link back to your website (even though it’s from your own blog). Also post se articles to your social networks. Feel free to tweet your blog post a number of times but be careful with excessive posting on Facebook – people tend to get annoyed with anyone takes over ir newsfeed.
4. If you’re a restaurant or or service business, claim your business pages on review sites like Metromix, Citigrid Google places. Also claim your venues on geo-location sites like Yelp, Foursqare, Facebook Places, SCVNGR, Gowalla, list goes on. Run specials (start with foursquare – it’s easiest in my opinion) track your conversion. It’s easy it’s free. People are talking about you wher you’re watching or not- why turn a blind eye to such a valuable tool?
se in short, are BARE ESSENTIALS to social media. To clarify, once you have se set up, you are far from striking social media gold – so don’t celebrate just yet. If you have a solid grasp on aforementioned points you thought you were sitting pretty, shoot us an email as well. We’ll take next step toger as sky is limit when it comes to being social.
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