Posts

Learning Link Building and Analysis April 1, 2021 This week I learned about the importance of link building. Links from reputable sites to your site increases your ranking with Google. So, it is important to take some time to establish links. This can be done in a variety of ways. You can post content on social media and hope to get some interest from someone with a site that they could use to post a link on. You can ask your network of people you know (whether family, friends, co-workers, etc).  Blogs are a great source for links. You can contact another blogger and see if they will link your site. You can have your own blog others may link naturally if you have relevant and unique content. You can use document sharing sites to have PDFs with information. If relevant to your industry, you can try to utilize press releases or Google News. Infographics are a really great way to get links. Embed any image or graphic with your site information. Then, if it is good, it may come up on G...
 Learning Social Media for SEO March 27, 2021 This week I learned about how social media usage can help increase exposure to your website, brand, and products/services. This is important because social media usage is free. You can also pay for advertisements, which could be beneficial, but there is no reason to not at least use the free opportunity. Links to your website increase Google's quality score. One of the easiest ways, if done right, is to get more shares and circulation in social media. Ok, so social media is good for business, how do you do it effectively? Social media posting can be complicated. There are certain rules that make it more effective. In my opinion, the most important are these 4. Make your content snackable, searchable, segmented,  and shareable.  Snackable content is organized. Headings and subheadings help the reader scan and for the internet's "spiders" to quickly know the gist of the content. Also, try to have visuals. Making your c...
Learning Search Engine Optimization March 20, 2021 This week I learned about SEO, or search engine optimization. So, what is search engine optimization? It is making your website searchable and findable.    One of the biggest aspects of SEO is keywords. Keywords are hot words that briefly describe what your site is for. For example, if your website is advertising a roofing contractor company, then keywords would include things like “roofer near me”, “roofing contractor”, or “install new roof”. These keywords should be in a few important areas of your website. These areas include the page title (part of the html), headers, the URL, images (file name, alt text, etc), and the body text. Google is constantly reevaluating sites, so you need to keep your site active and fresh while still using these keywords to do so. One way to do that is to have a blog/post section, or a testimonials section. This would allow useful and fresh content to be added regularly.    Another imp...
Learning ROI & Ad Optimization March 13, 2021 This week I actually began running my Google Ads campaign. So, the campaign is running, but how do you know that it is doing what you need it to do and at maximum efficiency? That is where ROI and optimization comes in.  ROI stands for return on investment. Basically, it is a measurement that tells you how much money you are making from your ads. This allows you to know if you are making or losing money on Google Ads advertisement. We don't typically go into business to lose money, and we hope for the most profit we possibly can, so we want our ad to run the best and cheapest it can. That is where ad optimization comes in. Ad optimization is improving your ad to have the best keywords, and the best negative keywords. It is an ad that attracts the right kind of potential customers. By looking at the reports on your Google Ad account, you can see what words are working, and which ones are not. You can also see which ads are doing the ...
Learning About Quality Scores March 6, 2021  This week, I learned about Google’s Quality Score. This score is based on certain criteria that Google views as important. The three criteria are click-through rate, ad relevance, and landing page experience. The score is a 1-10 scale with 10 being the best. Anything below a 5 means you have serious work to do. But unless you have a 9-10, some improvements can be made. The advantages to having a good Quality Score is that you will get lower cost-per-clicks, better ad positions, and eligibility for ad extensions.  So, how do you get a good Quality Score? The main ways are to have relevant keywords, specific ad groups, and a user friendly and relevant landing page. Take a good look at your keywords. Make sure they are effective. Usually, 2-3-word phrases work better than single words. Then, make sure your ad groups are specific. Have more than one group so that you be specific. Finally, make sure your landing page is relevant to the a...
Learning Better ADs February 27, 2021 This week I learned how to make Google Ads better. Google Ads allows for 3 headlines and more subtext. Having 3 headlines can draw more attention to your ad. The extra text can allow for further information about what you have to offer. Those ideas alone can help, but I also learned some other aspects that can help write an effective ad. The thing that I focused most on improving my ads with was a call to action. If you are selling something, add an “Buy Now” in you ad. If you offer a service that, add a “Call Now” in there instead. Whatever you want the end result to be of them clicking on your ad or visiting your website, just call them to action right there in the ad.  The other two ideas that struck me were to make sure you highlight what makes your company different or unique, and if you have any promotions (such as free shipping, or a percent off). The goal is to make people know why they should choose you, and convince them to follow thr...
Learning Google Ads February 20, 2021 So the business idea, model, and legal mumbo jumbo have been decided. A website has been created. How do we get consumers to the store front?  Advertisement. In a brick and mortar store, some advertisement is good, but people in the area will also simply see the store if you are in a good location. The web has so many stores, the chances of someone stumbling onto yours is not very likely. So, advertisement is necessary. There are plenty of companies that will happily advertise for you, but for a fee. Or, you can learn how to run your own Google Ads campaign. It’s not as hard as you would think. The key is keywords.  Put yourself in your customer’s shoes. What would you search for if you were interesting in what your business has to offer? Start there. Then, Google has a keyword finder that helps you find other related keywords, how often those words are searched for, and even how much is typically costs to use that keyword. These features ...