by Ane Krstevska | Nov 15, 2017 | Blog
The million dollar question! Well, in some ways, we think that optimizing for Facebook Instant Articles could affect the website SEO of every publisher, ultimately for the better. And here is how:
1. The publisher will have to publish more content.
Any publisher, whether it is a media outlet, business or some individual will have to get more serious about publishing more content. The approach for one post every month will no longer fly if you want to get serious about Instant Articles.
So, this is a positive effect on SEO.
2. Publishers will have to get more serious about the content formatting.
Those publishers that were not paying particular attention to the specific formatting elements in the articles they post will start to if they plan on getting into Instant Articles. Facebook will also look for headers (H1 for the title and H2 for the subtitles), image and video, as well as captions, author attribution and some related article links for the Instant Articles.
All of these above mentioned are beneficial for SEO. You just need to make sure to keyword optimize article titles, subtitles, and captions.
By giving proper credit, you will have the ability to potentially gain some organic search traffic when people are searching for those authors by name.
3. Publishers will start experimenting with different media.
Besides the boost in performance, one of the major highlights of Instant Articles is the ability of the publishers to create some rich media experiences with content. Facebook is supporting images, video, animated GIFs, audio annotations, interactive images, maps, and slideshows.
Considerably, this will warm publisher up to the idea that creating more diverse content for their audience. In such way, publishers can expand their reach by distributing different media to networks which are based on the type of the media.
The prime targets could be Imgur, Flickr, YouTube, Vimeo, SlideShare, iTunes, Soundcloud, and a lot of others, most of which will allow you to go back to the original article as the source of the media. In that way, you will gain additional SEO value.
4. Publishers will also have to clean up their code.
To ensure that Facebook Instant Articles work, either in their template of the website of their RSS feed, additionally, publishers will have to clean a good bit of their coding. Cleaning their code will make it easier for them to search engine crawlers to do their jobs.
Honestly, if HTML coding did not matter to Google, then they wouldn’t have provided a free HTML improvements tool inside their Search Console.
5. Every person will have to improve their mobile performance.
Besides Facebook Instant Articles and Google AMP, every website and not just publishers will have to improve their mobile performance. But why? Because, it is simply the nature of humans and it goes like this:
People will start adapting to the mobile-friendly, high-performance of Facebook Instant Articles.
After that, they will expect every website they load on their smartphones to have the same mobile-friendliness and high-performance as well. This will be particularly true for sites which are linked to within Facebook Instant Articles.
But, if they don’t open to a mobile-friendly experience at high-performance, you can be sure that this spoiled audience will leave.
Those websites that optimize for mobile friendliness and high performance will be better in search ranking, as Google wants to search for users who have great experiences on the sites that they click upon in the search results. It is evident that those websites that are mobile friendly will rank a good place in mobile search.
Google usually prefers responsive design, so in the mobile-friendly efforts, you should steer towards that. You can also use the free mobile usability tool of Google in Search Console, to see if the website has some mobile issues which could affect the mobile search rankings.
by Ane Krstevska | Oct 19, 2017 | Blog
All of us have our favorite go-to business tools, whether it is an app to save us time or just our favorite social media platform. Pinterest is one of the tools which is really overlooked. It is essentially an electronic pinboard, where you set up categories and save interesting online articles, images and so on. It is overlooked because we think of it as a visual platform for recipes, home improvements, crafting and so on.
However, you can find Pinterest as really effective in attracting great clients. A couple of months ago, we have done some research on Pinterest. We found out that there are over 150 million active Pinterest users, 2 million Pinterest users save shopping pins on boards daily and more than 14 million articles are pinned each day. Recently, we have also noticed that Pinterest is now advertising on TV — which all goes to show that there is a demand for ‘pinning’.
Pinterest is a great way for driving traffic back to your website.
Why I love Pinterest:
- Because it is free;
- It is fun;
- It is quick = less hours spent on social media;
- Posts can also go viral quickly (great images and titles are a key part in that);
- It also boosts the online visibility;
- It can help you in attracting dreamie clients.
Specifically, you can use the Pinterest tool for the following:
- Showcase your expertise and authority to a huge group of your ideal clients:
- Share your content which educates, informs and inspires your tribe;
- Be seen as an expert or as a go-to person.
- Attract more of your ideal clients:
- You should build your know, like and trust factor;
- Build your ‘voice’;
- Spread the word in a much quicker way;
- Build and showcase your brand.
- Boost your beautiful tribe and get a lot more people who will soak your content:
- Invite people to join your new tribe.
Here, we are going to present you the 3 steps to use Pinterest for business and attract more clients.
1. Set up a board, specifically focused on your area of expertise.
I started out with a board for Coaching, where I saved a lot of different quotes, infographics, and links to coaching topics online. We could be a lot more specific and break this down into several boards. For example relationship coaching, teen coaching, stress coaching, self – esteem coaching and even more. You can also check out the Coaching tools company boards on Pinterest for some more inspiration.
As the business grows, you can create business specific boards for people to view your blog posts. Some other ideas also include boards for guest interviews, as well as inspiring quotes, links to Facebook, some other social media, video, audio and so on, the list goes on.
If you are just starting out with Pinterest, you should try the following:
- You should create one board for your business (share some of your content). It does not have to be salesy, but it can be as simple as sharing a few blog posts in order to drive traffic back to your site;
- Create one board designed to help your dreamie clients with problems and goals that they have (also share useful and relevant sources);
- Create one board just for fun (let the people get to know you a bit more, what you like, as we all want to learn more about the people we are going to work with).
2. Set up one group board.
A group board is actually where you invite people to collaborate. It is a good way for connecting with each other. Another great way in using group boards was for her group coaching programs when she was sharing specific boards in order to help her clients.
If you are just starting out, you should try this:
- You should create a group board. For example on favorite self-development books, quotes and also invite people to pin their favorites too.
3. Follow, explore, start pinning and sharing.
Follow people which you find interesting. Also, search some specific topics that you are interested in. Add pins to your boards and grow them, so they become a resource for your followers.
As you learn Pinterest, you will begin to create some useful resources and links to your website, blog posts, videos and links to your freebies and so on.
Tip #1: It is a visual platform, so you should use images and titles for your content that attracts attention and interest so the people will want to click through.
Tip #2: You should always keep in mind who your ideal clients are, as well as how you can help them. In that way, everything you share on your business-focused boards will be on point, and help you build your credibility.
7 ways to get new followers for your Pinterest account:
- Create a blog post about your new Pinterest account.
- Also, create a post on your social media platform with the link to your account. Invite to follow you, for example: ‘I just created a Pinterest account, come and follow me.’
- You can share your Pinterest profile link to Skype profile, or some other social media profiles and descriptions, such as Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter and so on.
- You can add your Pinterest profile link to your email signature.
- Send a note out in your newsletter.
- Share the link in groups in which you take part.
- Send an email to people that you know.
Wrap–up:
Pinterest is like any other social media — it is about being consistent, showing up, sharing useful content, as well as following other people and profiles. All these same principles apply to Pinterest as well.
I hope that some of these tips have been useful in giving you ideas of using the Pinterest tool for your business.
by Ane Krstevska | Oct 16, 2017 | Blog
Unless you have built a website in order to showcase your collection of salt and pepper shakers, you will probably want to attract some visitors. If your business does depend on your site attracting visitors, as well as soliciting sales, then web traffic is essential for you.
It is not enough to simply submit your site to search engines. You should also work to implement the following 10 tips for increasing the level of web traffic to your site. Here they are:
Increase Traffic Tip #1: Content, content, content
First and foremost, you should make sure that your site is informative. You should not only list your services but also elaborate on what you do and do it well. The more details you include on your website, the better your search engine results will be.
Increase Traffic Tip #2: Classified Ads
You should take advantage of the variety of free online classified ad websites and get the word out about your new site. Be sure to always post a working link to your website.
Increase Traffic Tip #3: Articles
One of the best ways and steps that you can take in order to promote your site is to write and publish articles, just like this one.
First of all, an informative article can help you in establishing that you are an expert in your particular field. When the reader finishes reading the article, they may be inclined to follow a link to your website. This way they’ll learn more about you and your business.
More importantly, once you have distributed your article to some of the many online article directories, you will have some additional links back to the website which search engines will see and count as well.
Increase Traffic Tip #4: Local directories
There are actually two basic kinds of directories which should interest you. First of all, there are regional directories, perhaps for the local metropolitan area and the second ones are industry-specific directories.
These are quite similar to search engines in the way that they list other websites. But they are also compiled and organized in a different way. Additionally, a lot of directories allow you to create an online profile which will include information about your business, rather than just a link to the website.
You should take a few minutes in order to do some searches for directories in your area, as well as your industry. Submit your site to any that you find appropriate.
Increase Traffic Tip #5: Newsletters
An excellent way to keep your exciting and potential clients aware of the news or changes within your business is online Newsletters. If your business model can support a regular newsletter, you should encourage visitors to sign up to your website. You can also offer them a free copy of one of the great articles that you have written already, as a reward for signing up.
When you are writing for your newsletter, you should make sure that each of your topics has its own title, a teaser, as well as a link back to your website in order to read the rest of the topic. If you have interesting and timely topics, then you will ensure repeat visits to your site.
Increase Traffic Tip #6: Forums and newsgroups
There is also another way of attracting visitors and it is by participating in online forums and discussions. Take the time to understand what the forum or newsgroup is about. Be respectful of the other members. Simply just posting ads or links to your website will likely get you banned.
Post comments or questions which are on point, including a simple link to your site in your signature. You will be rewarded with interesting responses and visitors to your site.
Increase Traffic Tip #7: Press releases
There are a lot of businesses which forget the power of a press release. When you have something that is newsworthy, like the opening of some business, you should let the press know about that. They will be happy to print your release if they think that it will be interesting to their readers.
When distributing a press release, you should make sure to look for online PR distributors, as well as for the local news media. There are some sites where you can post your release for free. Also, there are some that will distribute your release for a nominal fee.
Increase Traffic Tip #8: Blogs, social networking and social bookmarking
Blogs are actually online journals and there are a lot of websites which offer free blogging accounts. With having an online journal, you can post a few tips or even full-fledged articles. If you consistently submit new posts and the topics are interesting as well, you will start attracting a variety of visitors.
There is also a great number of networking sites, both the social and professional. They allow you to create an online profile for yourself and for your business. These are all referred to collectively as Social Media, and marketing to them is also often referred to as SMM.
Finally, you should also look into creating accounts on several of the social bookmarking sites that have cropped up. These are all sites which allow you to simply bookmark and comment on other websites.
Increase Traffic Tip #9: Reciprocal links
Another thing which is also very important is to find other websites willing to put a link on their site to yours. Some of the methods we mentioned above will help you in accomplishing this.
For example, you may see if your website, and if they do, make sure you have a link by your membership name. You can also consider some other businesses which will compliment yours. When you are approaching these businesses, you would offer them to put a link on your site to their business, in exchange for a link on their site to your own business.
In this way, not only the visitors to these other sites will see the link to your site and follow, but as we previously discussed these additional links to your site will also help you to search engine ranking tremendously. Each link on a non-directory website is actually like the vote of a confidence in you and your website.
Increase Traffic Tip #10: Email and letters
There are also a lot of other different ways of promoting your website. For example, every piece of communication which comes from your business should include your web address. Your email can also have it in the signature and your letterhead can have it in the address area. Certainly, it should be included on business cards.
You should also make sure that your email address is from your website, and not from the internet service provider. Why advertise for ABC.net when you can be advertising for YourCompany.com?
So, we hope that you have gained some ideas on how you can promote your website and also note that none of the above-mentioned methods has to cost you a lot of money —just a little time and effort, that’s it.
