UPDATED: March 8th, 2022

Moller Marketing (DBA WEB801) provides small business consulting to help clients learn how to best optimize their websites for search.

Through our experience, we’ve realized that there are a few principles that, if practiced, will dramatically increase the likelihood of your business website getting found in search engines for targeted keyword phrases.

Since we’re a big fan of lists in blogging, here’s the simple list of things you SHOULD do in every business blog post:

10 Basic Blogging Tips for On-Site SEO

1. Make the article at least 250 1,500 – 1,800 words

This has changed a LOT since I last wrote this article. 250 to 500 words used to be the homerun when it came to blogging and content creation: it showed Google and other search engines that your site was “active” and updated.

But now, comprehensive articles are what get the traction. Brian Dean from Backlinko has researched it:

Comprehensive content with a high “Content Grade” (via Clearscope), significantly outperformed content that didn’t cover a topic in-depth.

Longer, more comprehensive content WORKS!

2. Give the article a keyword rich title tag

More than just a “keyword rich title tag,” I’d say that today you want to use questions or solve specific problems people are already looking for.

In Chapter one of this video, you’ll see a list of titles that really work:

3. Adjust the permalink to include a variation of the same keyword phrase as your title

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Make your permalink structure short.

Use a keyword phrase.

Here’s a great example:

4. Keyword repetition and density

Repeat the keyword phrase you’re targeting at least 1% of the time within the content of your blog post (ie. starting an online business would be used 3 times if the article I’m writing is 250-300 words long).

Sure, this can be helpful. But like #3, it’s not something I’d lose tons of sleep over at this point.

We’re creating content MORE for end users than for search engines. If they read the content and the keyword phrase keeps showing up all over the place, it can get annoying.

SOLVE PROBLEMS = GET RESULTS

5. Use the keyword phrase to link to another related article on your website

This is still valid. Internal linking can do two things: 1. help search engines find other content on your site easily. 2. increase curiosity clicks from readers.

When I think about this today, it applies even more to the visitor path – where do you want the visitor to END UP and what does success (or conversion) really look like for your website?

6. Give credit where credit is due

Reference another legitimate source with a “target=”_blank” hyper link (that means the link opens in a new window)

I still like and agree with this concept.

Sometimes a mention of another leader in your industry (and a link to their content) is all it takes to gain more validity in your space.

Other business owners recognize these links and as the saying says, “What goes around comes around.”

The more you give to others, the better chance you have of that carma coming back around.

7. Use images

Use at least one image in your blog post and include a title tag and alt text with the keyword phrase you’re targeting (make sure the image is somewhat relevant to the keyword phrase you’re using)

Still applicable today.

8. Share, share, share! & Ask for shares

Send the new blog post link to friends and ask them to share in social networks and comment.

Still applicable.

One of my favorite “sales” tips for websites is “You’ll never get what you don’t ask for.”

If I want traffic to come to my site, sometimes the best way to start that trend is to ask those closest to me to read it, comment, and share.

9. Be consistent in your blogging

I recommend at least 1 time per week to clients who are using blogging as an online marketing strategy (which you all SHOULD BE). Scheduling blog posts is a “secret” that makes blogging consistently a LOT easier.

Still valid.

The quantity, though, isn’t as important to me as the quality of the content.

Mark Rober, one of the YouTuber’s I really look up to, only posts videos once per month, sometimes even less than that. But the content is QUALITY and he gets millions of views every time:

10. Review this article from time to time

For some reason many of these tips are often overlooked in business blogging.

And, as you can see by the update today, things change with time.

Many of the concepts are still applicable, but some have taken different directions.

Conclusion

There you have it.

Nothing really too “under the table” or “crazy unique”.

But, if all business bloggers implemented these strategies, their websites and blogs would get a LOT more natural search engine traffic – and I can GUARANTEE THAT because I’ve tested it with brand new sites and old sites alike, and I’ve seen over-night results (and that’s a phrase I really HATE so it must be true).

What results have you seen/are you seeing as you practice these business blogging tips?

UPDATE:

In doing more research on this, I found this notification:

Subject: Discontinuation of Service in the United States

April 16, 2020

Dear Savefrom User:

As you may have heard, our industry has been under strenuous attacks by certain US copyright holders. Because of these attacks, it has become financially impractical for Savefrom to continue to provide services in the United States.

Accordingly, Savefrom will be terminating its services in the United States as of April 28, 2020.

We thank you for your past loyalty and patronage and wish you health and safety during the present health crisis and beyond.

Very truly yours,

Savefrom

So, unfortunately, this process no longer works.

More information coming soon.

Thanks!
Have you ever wanted to use bits and pieces of a Youtube video or have a Youtube video on your desktop, phone or tablet device?

Me too.

So, I researched how to do this and found a really simple process that anyone can do.

Step 1:

Go to the Youtube video you want to download.

Step 2:

Let the video play for at least a few seconds.

Step 3:

Type in http://ss and then the youtube video URL:

ie. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PG_u0aisIZc

then

https://ssyoutube.com/watch?v=PG_u0aisIZc

You’ll be taken here:

Step 4:

Click on the Green Download button and you’re done!

If you know of a better way, please comment below.

Thanks!

Did you realize that Twitter is giving some users the option to update the overall layout of their account?

Twitter changed their account profiles so you can visually tell the story of your business.

The good news is, with a little planning, you’ll now be able to create a Twitter page that performs like a business welcome page for existing and potential customers.

Tips & Tricks to Set Up Your New Twitter Profile

Here are some metrics to be aware of:

 The Profile Picture

• Recommended Size: 400×400 pixels
• If you’re using Twitter for business, include business logo as part of YOUR picture profile can help
• Use the same profile picture in all your social networks to create brand recognition and help others “put a name to a face”

 Sharing Most Important Tweets

• You can now not only embed a tweet within a blog post or page, but you can also Pin a tweet to your profile page
• If there is something you’re promoting or want visitors to see, this is a way to get targeted traffic to a service or cause you value

“Amplify your awesomeness. Pin your favorite Tweet to the top of your profile, so nobody misses it. Swap it out anytime you want.”  – Twitter

Profile Decorating Tips

• Choose a unique image to brand your Twitter profile
• Recommended size: 1500 x 1500 pixels
• Use this section as a resume of sorts
  • Share address to your other social networks
  • Share a tag line, mantra, or mission statement
  • Include a simple CTA (call to action)

Oh, the ease…

With the new Twitter profile, you’ll now be able to see all your photos and videos in one place.

Filter by favorites, followers, and more.

And view your Tweets — without lots of replies — in one seamless timeline.

Other Stuff We’ve Learned

What else is new? Here’s a running list of what’s been spotted:

• Tweets that do better (more retweets, more favs, etc) are shown slightly larger than the rest.
• If you pound the fav button constantly, heads up: your profile now keeps track. For example, Re/code’s Mike Isaac (a man who legend has it can actually fav tweets before they’re even written) has around 64,000 fav tweets.
• You can pin tweets to the top of your stream, letting you set the first impression you give to any could-be followers who stumble across your profile. Here’s Josh Constine’s take on the importance of this feature
• When viewing someone else’s profiles, you can now filter down to Tweets/Replies, Tweets with photos, or just tweets

More to come on this as we watch the changes.

Conclusion

First, here’s what our new Twitter profile looks like – at least one part of it:

Since this is somewhat new, it’s TBD on how we feel about the changes. We’ll start testing it out and see what we think.

The bottom line is, like most social media changes, it will eventually be required for all users so you might as well just implement it and test away.

Look forward to your feedback.

I woke up this morning to an alert on my phone: it was Jimmy Fallon and Idina Menzel singing “Let It Go” from the kids hit “Frozen” with classroom instruments.

I didn’t think too much of it except that it brought my entire family together to watch this funny video on my phone.

Then my wife made a comment that was revolutionary:

Jimmy Fallon is gonna be ok cuz he knows how to go viral…

Look at that, all my years of talking about online marketing, about video marketing, and about going “viral” and my wife had been taking mental notes the whole time.

It’s true – Jimmy Fallon gets social media; he gets how to use topics that are already “in the news” in order to capture a varied audience.

To illustrate this point, here are a few examples of how Jimmy Fallon uses trending topics to go viral and indirectly self-promote:

The Top 6 Viral Videos from Jimmy Fallon on the Tonight Show

Video #1: Jimmy & Idina Menzel Sing “Let It Go” from “Frozen”

Not only is “Let It Go” one of the most popular songs of all time, but “Frozen” is on it’s way to the top of all Disney charts.

When it was posted: 13 hours ago 14 hours ago
How many views: 837,923 1,193,961
How many likes: 22,764 24,873

Video #2: The Evolution of Hip-Hop Dance with Will Smith

This is a spin-off of the epically viral “Evolution of Dance” Youtube video that is at the top of all charts. Not only did he do a parody of that video, but he threw in Will Smith for added flavor.

When it was posted: Februrary 17th, 2014
How many views: 11,942,753
How many likes: 76,510

Video #3: The “Full House” Get Together

Here Danny Tanner, Uncle Joey, and Uncle Jesse stop by Jimmy’s bedroom to teach him a life lesson about leaving “Late Night.” This is a classic example of how to market to varied audiences. Most kids don’t even know what Full House is; but they like Jimmy Fallon, it’s funny, and, yep, it went viral!

When it was posted: January 29th, 2014
How many views: 8,717,726
How many likes: 48,287

Video #4: Jimmy and Paul Rudd Lip Sync Battle Part 2

Jimmy and Paul Rudd compete in a lip sync battle, and Paul raises the bar in the second round. This, too, was a spin off of another viral video Jimmy did before taking over the Tonight Show.

When it was posted: February 25th, 2014
How many views: 7,830,750
How many likes: 40,123

Video #5: Brian Williams Raps “Rapper’s Delight”

What a mix! Not only does this show dedication, but it ties in a marketing segment that actually knows who Brian Williams is (the older peeps) and then associates that with a hip-hop tune all the younger people can sing by heart.

When it was posted: February 19th, 2014
How many views: 7,059,167
How many likes: 80,495

Video #6: The History of Rap Part 5 with Justin Timberlake

Jimmy and Justin are at it again. This is The History of Rap Part 5 of an ongoing viral campaign Jimmy and Justin have put together. It’s funny, it’s catchy, and it’s got Justin Timberlake – how couldn’t this go viral?

When it was posted: February 21st, 2014
How many views: 6,610,904
How many likes: 62,063

The Takeaway’s for Your Business

I know, I know, you’re probably thinking to yourself…”Yeah, but this is Jimmy Fallon…” or “Yeah, but he already had a ton of visitors…” or maybe “Yeah, but he has all this technical equipment and time…”

ENOUGH with the “Yeah, but’s”.

Takeaway #1: You have to start somewhere.

Jimmy Fallon’s first video was only a year ago, it was with Charlie Sheen, and it only has 251,149 views. Sure, that’s quite a few views, but compared to the views he gets now, that’s nothing. Even back then Jimmy was watching what was trending (Charlie Sheen at the time) and was implementing a strategy to get viewers, shares, and in turn, LINKS to help with rankings in search.

Takeaway #2: Video marketing is something EVERY local business can be doing.

I don’t care if you’re a plumber, an electrician, an attorney, a dermatologist, or an author – you can create videos that will help people “SEE” who you are, what you do, share helpful information, etc.

The rumor is that “Youtube is the 2nd biggest search engine next to Google” (not 100% true), and whether it is or not, people are using Youtube and other video platforms to find answers to questions, reviews on products and services, and maybe even just a good laugh. You can help them find what they’re looking for with simple videos about what you do.

Takeaway #3: Watch the news, stay in tune, and create something similar related to your industry.

A high proportion of viral marketing campaigns are based off of other trending topics in the news. Jimmy Fallon gets this: he uses popular songs, trending entertainers, and past viral campaigns to create new and updated content or parodies on past content.

You can do this too.

Takeaway #4: Create your first Youtube video today by setting up your phone and interviewing yourself.

It doesn’t have to be break-through. It doesn’t have to be super-professional. Ask yourself some questions and then answer those questions. Make a list of frequently asked questions you get from clients then answer those with a video.

Not only are you providing helpful content, but you’re “putting a name with a face” and creating content on another website that gets TONS of natural traffic.

Takeaway #5: Don’t expect to have the type of instant Jimmy Fallon success.

And honestly, you don’t need it. Jimmy Fallon’s audience is global. Your audience is most likely within 50 miles of your brick and mortar company. If you can get one new lead or sale per day because of a simple one minute Q & A you’ve created, that’s worth it, isn’t it?

Video marketing is here to stay. Jimmy Fallon gets it. Famous musicians get it. Let’s hope your competitors haven’t got it yet.

Once you’ve created your first video, post the link in the comments below and we’ll share it with our readers, fans, followers, etc.

At Moller Marketing, we care most about one thing – CONVERSION! That’s right – sales. We want our online marketing clients to get sales with their online marketing dollars.

Sure, it’s great to be at the top of Google for a ton of different phrases, but our main question is always, “How many sales have you driven because of that phrase?”

A sale can be created in a couple different ways via a website:

• A purchase through the website
• A lead generated that turns into a sale via a phone call or face to face meeting

For clients that offer a service like car care or gymnastics training, making a sale directly no the website may not be very likely. But generating qualified leads via an online form can turn into a sale that has a great lifetime value.

One of the most common questions we get from clients is “Which of all the social networks is the most effective for my industry?”

Sometimes that question is a hard one to answer depending on the industry the client is in. However, we found a great infographic recently from our friends at QuickSprout that shares some great insight about the best CTR (Click Through Ratio) social network. Check this out:

From the post:

Did you know that Pinterest will generate you four times more money per click than Twitter? And 27% more than Facebook?

…there is a 36% increase in likes for pins that contain prices, and there is an 80% increase in engagement for pins that contain a call to action. And if you are able to leverage trending topics, you can get a 94% increase in clicks as well.

Thanks to QuickSprout and Neil Patel for always sharing great content that’s applicable!

How has Pinterest worked for you?

In May 2008 I did an interview about social media marketing with Muhammad Saleem. That’s right, four years ago! As I reviewed the content, I found it interesting how applicable the same social media strategy is today.

The thought came to mind:

Some things will change; but others will remain the same.

Then I found this picture:

As you can see, he’s made some “changes” (to the tune of about 70 total pounds lost)! Congrats to Muhammad.

The core strategies of social media marketing, on the other hand, haven’t changed too much at all.

Using Social Media effectively will DEFINITELY help your organic search engine rankings and recognition in the online communities.

However, if you “expect value without creating value” you’re going to FAIL and fail hard.

Interview with Muhammad Saleem about Social Media Marketing

[podcast url=”http://mollermarketing.com/podcast/Muhammad%20Saleem%20Interview.mp3″]

5 Basic Social Media Steps anyone can use:

1. Building Relationships
2. Being a part of a community
3. Understanding the dynamics of different communities
4. Sharing the right kind of content
5. Voting and commenting on other peoples content

Social Media Manual: 10 Steps to take to become the Next Social Media Maven

Why Do you love Social Media?

The community aspects: you become a part of the whole process of submitting, voting, commenting, engaging and being a part of the process of opinion on things you’re interested in or passionate about.

3 Tips for Beginning to Intermediate Social Media Marketers

1. Understand the community before you start participating: what the age demographic is, what stories are popular, avoid mistakes
2. Build relationships with other visitors: talk to people, IM, comment on their stories, bookmark their stuff
3. Make sure your main goal is to not just promote yourself: create value for the community by submitting other peoples stuff, vote and comment on other peoples stuff, be part of the community, share content from other people to create value that doesn’t come directly back to you – it’s more than just scratching one another’s back – it’s bigger than that

How does effective SMO influence a website’s presence?

• Traffic, Traffic, Traffic: 10’s of Thousands of unique visitors, thousands of page views on a post
• Building links: hundreds to thousands of links – the more links you have, the higher you get ranked in search, which makes long-term organic traffic from search engines.

Thanks again for your information Muhammad. Stay tuned for more podcasting at MollerMarketing.com.

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Have you ever thought about starting an online business?

What held you back?

Was it money? time? lack of experience?

Or were you just afraid someone might already be doing the killer idea you’ve had in your head for some time or that the market was “over saturated”?

Well, step up, do something, and watch this video to inspire you to continue doing what you’ve always done…

So here’s my new challenge:

Every time I talk to a prospect on the phone who has a “break-through” idea, something we’ve “never even HEARD of before”, the “next Facebook for ______ industry” – or whatever – I commit 110% to sending them a link to THIS VIDEO!

How do you think they will react? Think I’ll “close the deal”? 🙂

Have you ever caught yourself saying any of this?

This post was all in fun. If you want realistic help in starting an online business that will succeed, contact Moller Marketing today for a free consultation.

What’s an “Infographic”?

Why do companies even use them?

What help are they, especially for SEO and Social Media purposes?

We get these questions quite a bit and decided today is the day to answer some of them.

What’s an Infographic?

According to a Quora answer,

“…An infographic can be described as a collection of images, charts, visualizations, and text that illustrate an idea or position.  I generally like to think of infographics as more of a combination of other forms of data visualization than a separate form itself.”

Why do companies even use them?

This is a good question and can be summarized with 10 simple reasons:

1. Infographics make information more appealing.
2. Infographics show valuable ideas.
3. Infographics are attention grabbing.
4. Infographics are easier to understand.
5. Infographics lessen boredom.
6. Infographics awakens one’s interest in a topic.
7. Infographics are easily accessible.
8. Infographics can be more persuasive.
9. Infographics are memorable.
10. Infographics can easily relay information.

 What help are they, especially for SEO and Social Media purposes?

Look at this image one more time:

150, 91, 158, and 1,053. Those are the number of back-links for this infographic (not all are followable links but “word of mouth” can work wonders via social networks…).

Not only are we able to track with pretty good accuracy how many links an individual infographic is getting, but we’ve been able to see direct results in SEO placement for specific targeted phrases based on infographic campaigns.

Show me an example

Infographics can come in all shapes, sizes, and topics. They can be really informative, funny, or just plain informational. Here’s an example of a recent infographic, including some of the share numbers it got in just a short time:

If you like this infographic and would like to share it with others, simply copy and paste the code below on to your website and party on:

I signed up for Facebook in 2007 (much to the chagrin of my wife who assumed I was going to hook back up with old high school flames – which is what her little brother was doing at the time 🙂 ).

Since that time, I’ve seen a lot of changes to the Facebook interface – some for the better and some that didn’t last very long.

The following infographic gives a pretty detailed timeline about the evolution of Facebook. Thanks for sharing!

What are things you like about Facebook changes?

What DON’T you like?

I’ve talked with lots of clients about the benefits of having a self-hosted website.

To sum it up frankly:

• Credibility
• SERPs
• Functionality
• Ownership of Content
• Credibility

Yep, one of the biggest factors, in my opinion, about having a free hosted website like yourdomainname.blogspot.com is that you’re basically advertising for another company – in this case blogger. How can an online business really be taken seriously if they aren’t even willing to get their own domain name and promote what they are doing?

To help the “unbelievers” understand a bit more, here’s some hosting education:

What’s a Self Hosted Website?

“Self Hosted” means you pay a minimal fee (around $7.00 per month) for hosting and a domain name. That’s right, you get BOTH for that small fee.

The scope of hosting services varies widely. There are a few costs to a “self-hosted website”, but they are minimal for the benefits you get.

Here are a few details on specific self-hosted options according to Wikipedia: (I generally recommend the first option if you are just getting started)

• Shared web hosting service: one’s website is placed on the same server as many other sites, ranging from a few to hundreds or thousands. Typically, all domains may share a common pool of server resources, such as RAM and the CPU. The features available with this type of service can be quite extensive. A shared website may be hosted with a reseller.
• Reseller web hosting: allows clients to become web hosts themselves. Resellers could function, for individual domains, under any combination of these listed types of hosting, depending on who they are affiliated with as a reseller. Resellers’ accounts may vary tremendously in size: they may have their own virtual dedicated server to a collocated server. Many resellers provide a nearly identical service to their provider’s shared hosting plan and provide the technical support themselves. (BTW – I was compensated for the link in this paragraph.)

Hopefully you have a better understanding of what the options are out there for running a legitimate website.

Now the Pros and Cons:

Benefits of a Free Hosted Website

• “Free”
  • Is it really free if you lose all your content and have to start again?
  • Is it really free if you can’t modify the look and functionality of the site very easily?
  • Is it really free if you can’t use affiliate links or ad space without permission or without paying a price?
  • Is it really free if the content you write really isn’t owned by YOU at the end of the day?

Downsides to a Free Hosted Website

• Free blogs are not very search engine friendly.
  • Can’t customize Title Tags on all pages
  • Can’t add landing pages
  • Can’t modify friendly URLs
  • Sub-domains, like yourname.blogspot.com,rarely (if ever) show up high in search engine results
  • Often times, the home page is the main indexed page in search engine results
• Free blogs use a sub-domain.
  • This hurts your credibility
  • All the content you’re providing is actually “owned” by the main domain (blogger.com or wordpress.com), meaning they could turn it off at any time for any reason (see Janet’s case study above)
• Free blogs give you little to no online credibility.
  • How many big, professional sites can you list that use blogger or wordpress.com? I can count them on one hand.
• Free blogs limit what you can and can’t do.
  • In blogger, you have to be approved to use affiliate links within the Google Affiliate Network
  • In wordpress.com, affiliate links aren’t accepted. Here’s what WordPress.com says:
    • We have a feature called Ad Control that lets WordPress.com bloggers with a lot of traffic (generally 25,000 pageviews/month or more) and appropriate content turn on AdSense and Skimlinks for their blog and split the resulting revenues 50/50 with us. If you’d like to apply to try Ad Control, please use the form below to send us a message.
    • Adsense, Yahoo, Chitika, TextLinkAds and other ads are not allowed on free WordPress.com blogs. If you would like to run ads on your blog, one of these options may work for you:
• Free blogs can be turned off at any time for any reason.
  • There’s really no way to back up all your information unless you understand computer hacking and exporting…

Benefits of a Self-Hosted Websites

• Inexpensive: about $7.95 per month (all paid up front)
• Free Domain Name for life
• Unlimited add on domains
• Unlimited email accounts
• $50 worth of Google Adwords Credit
• Unlimited 24 hour access support via phone and chat

Does this information help to clear up your doubts?