Posts tagged as:

Search Engines

How to Get More Search Engine Traffic

by Robert Bruce on July 21, 2011

image of scribe seo logo

Thousands of content creators are getting more targeted search traffic to their sites, their ideas, and their businesses by doing one thing — using our Scribe SEO software.

Here’s what just a handful of them are saying about Scribe:

I have been using Scribe for about three months and my presence in organic listings has jumped almost 50%! I have more visitors than ever before and that is converting to more sales. Thank you for such an easy to use, effective tool. I recommend it to everyone I know!
~ Laurie Cohen

Since installing Scribe SEO 10 weeks ago, my traffic has increased 28%. This is a fantastic application.
~ Sharon Kyle

Scribe helps to make sense of SEO, the WordPress way, simple and easy to understand. I taught my 19 year old college freshman how to use and now he’s helping me manage SEO content for my sites and his own. I’ve seen improvement in traffic since using Scribe, especially my wife’s real estate site.
~ Matt Greger

Scribe has been a great resource for me! Without the analysis that Scribe provides, I would be writing my articles in the dark. Scribe allows me to see my articles exactly like the search engines do, which is invaluable!
~ Julie Groth

Those who know me consider me a good writer, mainly because I carefully craft my articles through several drafts. So why do I use and value Scribe SEO? Because it’s like a very clever educator sitting right at my elbow — it’s truly a terrific service.
~ David Bennett

My skepticism of Scribe was short lived. Not only has the blog traffic to my site increased when using Scribe, but those posts I had created using it continued to get better traffic than my newer ones I was creating without it.
~ Tina Marie Hilton

I really rather love Scribe, and after playing around with my free trial, I got my husband to use it on a blog that he was writing. Now instead of standing over his shoulder muttering … Scribe does it for me.
~ Sarah Arrow

Scribe truly gives back the joy of writing to those of us who love to do so freely. We can finally forget about having to follow tricky SEO writing formulas that schmooze up to search engines but snub human audiences. One click of a button and your content is given an SEO score using best practice criteria. If you fail to make the SEO grade it’ll tell you what to tweak. Simple as that. I like it. I like it a lot!
~ Catie Hughes

For the past few months, I’ve been using the Scribe software to try and tighten up the SEO around my blog. It’s been working, and I’m pretty excited about the possibilities.
~ Stephanie Stiavetti

Scribe works wonders! It automates SEO processes which otherwise take my time.
~ Sean Si

I started using the Scribe software about a month ago and it has completely boosted the search engine ranking for every article I’ve put up since.
~ Jonathan Wells

Go out and spend the money on Scribe. It’s awesome. Seriously.
~ Jay Fleischman

It’s like having your very own SEO Master standing over your shoulder with critical instruction for tweaking your content. The Scribe software service is content optimization at it’s finest.
~ Mick McCrory

Scribe can make you more visible. I’m now receiving consistent traffic that’s increased weekly since I bought the subscription. So try it for yourself.
~ Tyler Hurst

Scribe takes the guesswork out of blogging, will benefit every aspect of your content … I’ve been using it and have been very impressed with its speed and how much better it has made my writing in general.
~ Jason Wietholter

Scribe just makes sense for our clients that are new to blogging or those that need an out of the box simple solution for making posts more SEO friendly. It’s a simple no brainer recommendation.
~ Sommer Poquette

Prior to using Scribe only 4% of my traffic was coming from search engines. Last night I checked and 53% of my traffic was coming from search. I know you can’t prove causation from correlation, but that is just too big to be a coincidence for me. I am thrilled that people are finally finding me through search!
~ Carole Brown

As an online marketing director and website consultant, I’ve watched dozens of small business owners glaze over with the thought of performing their own search engine optimization. Thanks to Scribe’s SEO software, those days are over. The immediate feedback and virtual hand-holding that Scribe provides gives small business owners the confidence that they can improve the visibility of their website on their own time, without blowing their budget by hiring an SEO pro to manage every page and post on their website. On behalf of all my clients now using Scribe … thank you.
~ Gregg Murray

I just want to tell you how much we appreciate Scribe SEO. It has made life so much easier — my husband and I are not very technical. Using Scribe trains us to write better copy. Thanks for that! It’s genius level stuff!
~ Linda Caswell

Scribe delivers a strong combination of easy SEO compliance and effective education of SEO techniques. After one month I am already seeing results and feel my capability growing. Effortless automation at a simple level, and huge leverage with the more advanced techniques.
~ Kien Leong

In the 16 years I’ve been doing web design, I’ve never seen anything like this, and have to say I’m very excited over the direction this amazing service is heading. I’ve already begun recommending Scribe to many of my web design and consulting clients with tremendous results. Its ease of use and friendly user interface provides for powerful SEO software services for even the novice, non-techie user. For those of you looking to achieve higher organic search results, Scribe is by far the best low cost, do it yourself option for you!
~ Sean Smith

Click here to try out Scribe for yourself today.

About the Author: Robert Bruce is Copyblogger Media’s resident raconteur, copywriter and Scribe junkie.



{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Meet the Lazy Marketer’s Best Friend: The Email Autoresponder

by Sonia Simone on June 21, 2011

image of an email button on a keyboard

No one loves blogs more than I do. They’re a great way to build your authority, attract an engaged audience, develop trust and rapport, attract links, and stake your claim in search engines.

I love blogs. But like babies and kittens, two other things I love, they’re also a lot of responsibility.

Blogs take time. You’ve got to write terrific content that stands out from the general noise, promote it intelligently, and cultivate reader relationships. And that’s in addition to everything else you do in your business, from producing your product to getting your taxes filed.

That’s why there’s another content marketing tool that I always recommend having in place — ideally before you write your first blog post.

It’s the email autoresponder.

What is an email autoresponder and why do I want one?

An autoresponder is just a sequence of email marketing messages that gets sent to subscribers in the order and frequency that you decide.

Let’s say you have a seven-part autoresponder that delivers a great tutorial for your potential customers — something that they’ll find beneficial and valuable, and that lays the groundwork for you to make a sale.

That autoresponder creates a great experience for your first subscriber. And it creates the same great experience for your 100,000th subscriber.

It never gets tired. It never needs the weekend off for Father’s Day or Mother’s Day (or Email Autoresponder’s Day).

It never gets bored with your marketing message. It never gets snarky. It never gets sick of newbies.

It delivers your best content, in the best possible order and frequency, to every new reader who finds you. Forever.

That’s why I say it’s the lazy marketer’s friend. Whether you want a day off to head to the beach or a month off for a life-changing adventure, your autoresponder is back home taking care of business.

What goes into a really good autoresponder?

Most autoresponder sequences aren’t all that good, because most of them are about the marketer.

Your autoresponder needs to be about the reader.

The autoresponder’s most important function is to take people who are curious about what you do and turn them into raving fans.

That means an autoresponder needs your best content — the kind of content that makes readers glad every time they click through.

It doesn’t have to be funny, witty, charming, or poetically written.

It has to be damned useful.

It has to solve problems your readers need to solve. It has to give them small, quick wins toward what they want to achieve. And if it can show you’re a nice, relatable, trustworthy person — not just an expert but a likable expert — that’s even better.

Autoresponders make your case for you

You can use autoresponders for anything you need to educate prospects about before they buy.

Explore the pain and problems they’re facing today. Paint the picture of what their life will look like with that problem solved. Address and overcome objections, build trust, outline features and benefits, and create intense desire for what you have to offer.

And if your prospect isn’t ready to buy right now, great email content will keep her “parked” until she is ready … whether that takes her six months, a year, or ten years. As long as you keep adding to the sequence, you can keep prospects engaged and interested until the time is right for them.

Build it first

There’s no such thing as free traffic.

You either pay for web traffic with money — with advertising or affiliate commissions — or you pay with time and creativity.

Blogging is particularly demanding of that time and creativity. So you want to make sure you capture each and every true fan you attract, from the very first days of your blog.

That’s why if you’re starting from zero in a new topic, I recommend you build your autoresponder first, before you start blogging or doing any other social media marketing.

And if you already have a blog going, the second best time to build your autoresponder is today.

How about it?

  • Do you have an autoresponder in place right now?
  • If so, does it have the kind of content that’s going to turn your readers into raving fans?
  • Are you happy with the number of messages in your sequence, or do you think you could extend it a little and deliver even more value?

If the answer to any of these is No, let us know in the comments when you’re going to fix that. You have my permission to be as lazy as you like after you get it done. :)

About the Author: Sonia Simone is co-founder and CMO of Copyblogger Media. Get more from Sonia on twitter.

P.S. OK, how about an example?

Want to see what an effective autoresponder looks like?

Ready to discover the smartest ways to mix social media, content marketing, and SEO for lead generation and developing new business?

We’ve got you covered on both counts, with Internet Marketing for Smart People.

It’s a free 20-part course and email newsletter that delivers the techniques and strategies you need to know when marketing online. Find out more and sign up here.



{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Marketing the Old Fashioned Way: Earning It

by Robert Bruce on May 20, 2011

Internet Marketing for Smart People Radio Logo

The reign of image/display/brand advertising (particularly for small businesses) is fading fast.

You mute the ads during your favorite tv shows, or skip them entirely.

You block banners on websites, or even skip those sites altogether.

What’s a small business — or any size business — with tight budgets and tighter margins to do?

Can John Houseman save us?

There’s a relatively new way of attracting, engaging and converting customers online that’s deeply rooted in the independent, hard-working and profitable mom and pop stores of the past.

It takes work. But, it sure beats digging ditches. Or blowing revenue on an advertising ego-binge. And it can make you … highly profitable.

In this episode Sonia Simone and I discuss:

  • Is content marketing really worth the effort?
  • The 3 steps to earning loyal (and possibly rabid) customers
  • The real effects of content marketing on the bottom line
  • Why buying your customers is a difficult and dangerous game
  • The simple business plan that’s made Copyblogger (and others) cook

Hit the flash player below to listen now:

Other listening options:

Links from the Show:

About the Author: Robert Bruce is Copyblogger Media’s resident raconteur and copywriter.


Scribe SEO software

SEO comes down to three basic things: 1. the language searchers use, 2. the way search engines view your content, and 3. the trust search engines have in your site.

Our Scribe SEO software makes these three basic steps easier and more efficient than ever:

  1. First, the Scribe keyword research tool tunes you into the right language before you write. Once your content is created, the Scribe keyword suggestion service shows you keyword phrases you might have missed.
  2. Second, Scribe analyzes your natural, reader-focused content, and tells you how to gently tweak it to spoon feed search engines based on 15 SEO best practices.
  3. Third, Scribe’s link and social tools help you build backlinks from other sites, crosslink the content within your own site, and identify influential social media users who will want to share your content.

Find out more about Scribe here.



{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Copyblogger Weekly Wrap

by Johnny B. Truant on February 5, 2011

image of Copyblogger Weekly Wrap logo

So Copyblogger finally has a Facebook page.

I suspect that this has to do with psychology more than public relations. I mean, sure, Copyblogger has a lot of subscribers. On Twitter, it has a lot of followers and gets a lot of retweets. But does it have any friends? Does it have any fans? Well, it does now, and it’s about time….

Which leads me to conclude that Facebook today is kind of like a McDonald’s birthday party when you were a kid. All you have to do if you want friends is to sign up, and stay away from the clown. Now, if we could only get a PlayPlace around here. I have my fingers crossed that they’ll spring for the big slide, but Brian keeps arguing for a ball pit.

In any event, here’s what happened this week on Copyblogger:

Monday:

The “Common Sense” Mistake That Makes Your Writing Lifeless

Want your writing to be more effective and interesting? Ignore common sense. And yes, sure, you can read about some kinds of common sense to ignore in this post, but it’s best to be safe and ignore all of them like most unknown bloggers. I once heard about a guy who tried to remove a bunion with a shotgun. Now THAT’S senseless!

Read the full post here.

Tuesday:

How to Capture Your Reader’s Attention

Some proven ways to get attention: Yell “fire!” in a crowded theater. Streak at the SuperBowl. Fall into a neverending sequence of drug rehab and jewel thievery incidents beginning shortly after starring in a remake of The Parent Trap. However, I wouldn’t recommend any of those after having tried them all myself. And since you’re going to need to get attention if you’re going to be able to sell anything at all or move anyone to act, you’d really better read this post.

Read the full post here.

Wednesday:

The Straight Dope on Facebook, Twitter, and SEO

Finally… the long-awaited answer to whether my fifty Twitter spam bot accounts are increasing my ability to rank in search engines for the term “elephant examinations.” First Google says that social media doesn’t contribute to ranking, then they change their mind, and then they declare that all of the actual ranking is done by magical faerie savants. I guess we now finally have our answer. (Hint: faeries.)

Read the full post here.

Thursday:

Convert … or Die

I totally misunderstood the title of this episode of the IMfSP podcast. It’s actually about the need to convert readers and casual visitors into paying customers (with a detour into how a really popular way of doing business can sink you) but I thought it was literal. So, in a misguided panic, I sent my entire stack of 1980s action-adventure videotapes to the Ukraine, where they’re able to do VHS-to-Beta transfers using a process that somehow involves oxen and a yeti. The nice man I talked to on the one phone his village owns assured me that “American stereotypes seeing much better in glorious new Beta format,” but I remain skeptical.

Read the full post here.

Thursday Part 2:

Save $100 on Search Marketing Expo: Early Bird Discount Expires Saturday, 2/5

I think the headline says it all. Except for this sentence and the previous one.

Read the full post here.

Friday:

5 Steps to Captivating Readers with Your Secret Message

Did you know that you’re telling your readers something even though you may not be directly intending to do so? It’s true. You should read this post and figure out how to 1) maximize the positive impact of that message and 2) minimize the impact of the stupid things you’ve told them over the years. Example: Remember the time you ran out of paper towels and decided to use the cat to dust the top of the TV? Yeah, you told them about that, too.

Read the full post here.

This week’s cool links:

  • Use YouTube to Build Your Blog’s Audience: I’ve always heard that YouTube can be a great traffic source but wondered how exactly you were supposed to use it. Now I know.
  • In Social Media, Everyone Can Hear You Fart: When I first heard that Kenneth Cole made a politically incorrect tweet about the Egypt riots, I figured people were overreacting. But then I saw what KC had done wrong. It was just a stupid tweet. One lesson from this: if everyone can hear you fart, at least fart in a clever or funny way.
  • How Small Business Can Get BIG Online with Content Marketing: This is a good “101-style” post that delivers what the title says. If you’re tired of drill-down articles on specific content marketing topics and need to see the big picture, read this.
  • Do welcome popups work?: Sigh. I’ve very seriously considered a popup myself for one reason: People are distracted online, so I figure putting something right in front of them might be a good idea. I’m now convinced it works, and the question is whether I want to be (more) annoying.

About the Author: Johnny B. Truant specializes in selling through stories and is the proud creator of The Badass Project, a site profiling amazing people who make your excuses look stupid.

StudioPress Designs take WordPress further


{ Comments on this entry are closed }

An interesting essay on search neutrality

by Matt Cutts on January 25, 2011

(Just as a reminder: while I am a Google employee, the following post is my personal opinion.)

Recently I read a fascinating essay that I wanted to comment on. I found it via Ars Technica and it discusses “search neutrality” (PDF link, but I promise it’s worth it). It’s written by James Grimmelmann, an associate professor at New York Law School. The New York Times called Grimmelmann “one of the most vocal critics” of the proposed Google Books agreement, so I was curious to read what he had to say about search neutrality.

What I discovered was a clear, cogent essay that calmly dissects the idea of “search neutrality” that was proposed in a New York Times editorial. If you’re at all interested in search policies, how search engines should work, or what “search neutrality” means when people ask search engines for information, advice, and answers–I highly recommend it. Grimmelmann considers eight potential meanings for search neutrality throughout the article. As Grimmelmann says midway through the essay, “Search engines compete to give users relevant results; they exist at all only because they do. Telling a search engine to be more relevant is like telling a boxer to punch harder.” (emphasis mine)

On the notion of building a completely transparent search engine, Grimmelmann says

A fully public algorithm is one that the search engine’s competitors can copy wholesale. Worse, it is one that websites can use to create highly optimized search-engine spam. Writing in 2000, long before the full extent of search-engine spam was as clear as it is today, Introna and Nissenbaum thought that the “impact of these unethical practices would be severely dampened if both seekers and those wishing to be found were aware of the particular biases inherent in any given
search engine.” That underestimates the scale of the problem. Imagine instead your inbox without a spam filter. You would doubtless be “aware of the particular biases” of the people trying to sell you fancy watches and penis pills–but that will do you little good if your inbox contains a thousand pieces of spam for every email you want to read. That is what will happen to search results if search algorithms are fully public; the spammers will win.

And Grimmelmann independently hits on the reason that Google is willing to take manual action on webspam:

Search-engine-optimization is an endless game of loopholing. …. Prohibiting local manipulation altogether would keep the search engine from closing loopholes quickly and punishing the loopholers–giving them a substantial leg up in the SEO wars. Search results pages would fill up with spam, and users would be the real losers.

I don’t believe all search engine optimization (SEO) is spam. Plenty of SEOs do a great job making their clients’ websites more accessible, relevant, useful, and fast. Of course, there are some bad apples in the SEO industry too.

Grimmelmann concludes

The web is a place where site owners compete fiercely, sometimes viciously, for viewers and users turn to intermediaries to defend them from the sometimes-abusive tactics of information providers. Taking the search engine out of the equation leaves users vulnerable to precisely the sorts of manipulation search neutrality aims to protect them from.

Really though, you owe it to yourself to read the entire essay. The title is “Some Skepticism About Search Neutrality.”



{ Comments on this entry are closed }

← Previous Entries