Search Engine Marketing

Eric Brantner

SEO Writer

Press releases are great tools for promoting your brand and increasing your online visibility. When used properly, your business can experience many benefits. Unfortunately, many companies misuse their press releases, and they simply don’t know how to write them properly.

To get the most out of your press releases, follow these 5 tips.

1. Make it Newsworthy- The first step to writing a great press release is making sure you actually have something of value to say. Press releases are used to deliver news to interested parties. If you don’t have anything newsworthy to write about, then you might want to hold off on creating a press release. Otherwise, it will just look like a desperate attempt to promote your business.

2. Optimize the Content- Online press releases have changed the face of their distribution. Now, companies can publish their press releases on distribution websites online. For this reason, it’s important to optimize your press release for relevant terms. Since the search engines crave fresh content, your press release will rank well if optimized properly.

3. Get to the Point- The best press releases are those that can be digested easily. Within the first few sentences, readers should have an understanding of what the press release is about. You give them a brief overview of the topic first, and then, the rest of the press release includes the details.

4. Avoid Sales Jargon- Although the ultimate point of your press release is to promote your company, you don’t want it to read like a sales brochure for your products. Remember, a press release is a news item. Stick to the facts throughout the content, and avoid hyperbole at all costs. Stay professional, and your press release will be far more effective.

5. Include Contact Information- When writing your press release, you need to include as much contact information as possible. Include your website url, email address, phone number, and physical address. This will help interested parties get in touch with you quickly and effectively.

Eric Brantner
SEO Content Writer

Copywriting is the backbone of every successful website marketing campaign. You can have the most advanced design of any website online, but without the right words, you’ll never convert your visitors into customers. Not only does SEO copywriting help you get the rankings to attract website visitors, but it also helps you convince your readers to take action.

Unfortunately, many websites are filled with boring, filler content. It’s almost as if the content was simply an afterthought.

Here are 5 common SEO copywriting mistakes.

1. Not Hiring a Professional Copywriter- To me, the biggest mistake most companies make is to not hire a professional SEO copywriter for their website. They hold the belief that just any old content will do. That’s simply not true. A professional copywriter can create results-driven content that makes your visitors take action.

2. Keyword Stuffing- As a copywriter, few things frustrate me more than landing on a website stuffed with keywords. While optimizing your content is certainly important, you have to make sure your human visitors can easily read your web copy. Like I always say, what’s the point of getting high search engine rankings if your visitors click back as soon as they see your website?

3. Boring Titles- This is another instance of SEO gone wild. Yes, placing keywords in your title is a good idea. However, you should never sacrifice the quality of your content for the sake of SEO. You can have the best of both worlds. Make your titles compelling and keyword rich.

4. Big Blocks of Text- Several studies have been conducted to determine how people view content online. All of the experts agree: online users tend to scan content rather than read it. For this reason, using long passages of text is suicide for your website. You need to break your content up into short paragraphs with bolded headings throughout. This accommodates your readers by making it more scanner-friendly.

5. No Call to Action- This is Copywriting 101—a strong call to action is necessary for getting your visitors to take action. Your readers will never take action unless you tell them what you want them to do. Your call to action should be clearly visible, incentive-based, and easy to follow. A strong call to action will improve your conversion rate exponentially.

Eric Brantner
SEO Content Writer

Did you have a busy week that didn’t give you enough time to keep up with the latest internet marketing news? Never fear, the Friday internet marketing roundup is here! Okay, that was cheesy, but the point is here are a few of the top blog posts from the past week.

From the Directory One Blog

• It’s no secret that we’re living in some tough economic times. Because of this, many companies are reconsidering their spending habits. However, I think that internet marketing during a recession is absolutely necessary. Now is the time to take care of the past marketing mistakes of your company. Remember, marketing is not an expense; it’s an investment for the future of your brand.

• As you know, I’m a huge advocate of always furthering your SEO education. That’s why I created a list of the 5 best free SEO eBooks. All of these books have useful information that can help you propel your site to the top of the search engine rankings. If you’re always learning, you’ll have a better chance of creating a well-rounded online marketing strategy.

• The benefits of social media marketing are limitless. You get to connect with your audience on a personal basis, and you can increase your online visibility exponentially. However, to get the most out of your social media marketing efforts, you need to understand how to create content for social media sites.

From Around the Web

• The importance of Twitter has been a hot topic of discussion recently. In this post, Ann Smarty of Search Engine Journal talks about 16 huge brands currently using Twitter to promote their business. The fact that these big corporations are getting in on the Twitter bandwagon just proves how effective this tool can be for increasing your online exposure.

• Is your blog suffering from a lack of comments? Follow these 9 easy tips to get more blog comments. Next thing you know, your blog will be buzzing with great conversation from a loyal reader base.

• If you’re just starting out as a blogger, it can be easy to get overwhelmed with building a successful online presence. Here are several suggestions for beginning bloggers. Follow these tips to get your blog on the right path toward success.

Eric Brantner
SEO Content Writer

The benefits of social media have been well documented. You can earn tons of inbound links and increase your brand’s exposure. However, just because you’re a member of a social media site doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed success.

Creating content for social media sites requires careful planning. To get the most out of your social media content, follow these tips.
• Choose the Right Site- It doesn’t matter how great your content is if you’re submitting it to the wrong social media site. For example, if you’re submitting content on the medical industry, it does you no good to put it on a social network for internet marketers. These days, there are social networks for virtually every niche. Sign up for accounts on the sites related to your industry.

• Understand Your Audience- Each social media site has a unique audience. If you want your content to get attention, you have to create content specifically for this audience. If your audience promotes complex industry articles, give them something detailed. Likewise, if late breaking industry news tends to go hot often, try to be the first to break relevant news for your niche.

• Participate in the Network- Remember, it’s called “social media.” You have to be social if you want to gain respect on these sites. This means voting for other people’s content, engaging in discussions, and submitting content from other sites besides your own. If you’re a good participant on a site, people will be more likely to promote your content.

• Create Useful Lists- It’s almost a given—lists make for great social media content. Creating useful lists that can be read quickly and easily will grab the attention of the site’s users. People love lists because they are so easy to scan through. If you don’t believe that lists work, just look at the cover’s of magazines at the bookstore. You’re almost guaranteed to see a music magazine with “20 greatest songs of all time” or a sports magazine with the “10 greatest NBA stars in history.”

• Write Great Headlines- I don’t care if you’ve written the greatest article in the history of the internet. If it doesn’t have a great headline, no one will ever click on it. Social media sites have thousands of articles submitted all day long. If you want to stand apart from the competition, you have to write eye catching headlines that demand users click.

Eric Brantner
SEO Content Writer

The popularity of eBooks has risen considerably lately. They’re a great way to distribute important information quickly and cheaply to online users. While most eBooks cost money, there are several available that are free.

What follows is a list of 5 free SEO eBooks that deliver useful information to SEOs of all skill levels. These documents give tips that will help your website get more visitors and increase online sales.

1. 101 Tips on Search Engine Optimization- As the title of this book implies, this eBook gives you 101 tips for improving your SEO strategies. Included in these tips is everything from creating basic, keyword-rich title tags to advanced tips on increasing the back links to your site. Apply these tips to your website to improve your online visibility.

2. Beginner’s Guide to SEO- Have you heard about SEO, but don’t know much about it? This free eBook is an excellent resource for SEO beginners. It provides all the information you need to start your SEO education. From defining SEO to helping you build an SEO friendly website, this eBook has it all. Highly recommended for all SEO novices!

3. SEO Made Easy- SEO Made Easy is a 90 page eBook that gives you all the information you need to start building your presence in the search engines. It discusses keyword research techniques, common SEO mistakes to avoid, competition analysis, and advanced SEO tips to help you dominate the SERPs. In short, it’s a great eBook for SEOs of all skill levels.

4. Keyword Research- Great keyword research is the backbone of an effective SEO campaign. Target the right keywords, and your site will experience an increase in targeted traffic that leads to sales. This eBook gives you a comprehensive resource for properly conducting keyword research for your website.

5.  The New Rules of Viral Marketing- You’ve heard the term “viral marketing.” Do you know how to create it? Viral marketing can be a great way to spread your ideas to a new audience. This eBook explains what viral marketing is and what you can do to make it work for your brand. This is a great read for companies looking to increase their exposure in a new way.

Eric Brantner
SEO Content Writer

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve heard the horror stories about the economy. There’s no doubt we’re in difficult economic times, and it’s necessary for everyone to rethink their spending habits.

However, it’s important to make sure you’re cutting spending in the right areas. Marketing isn’t one of the places you should be looking to cut spending. In fact, I believe Internet marketing is more important now than ever before.

Here are a few reasons to support this statement.

• Higher ROI- One of the most attractive things about Internet marketing is the potentially unlimited ROI. With traditional marketing, you pretty much know the results you’ll get for your marketing dollar. With SEO and other online marketing, the potential ROI is unlimited. Good online positioning is an investment that will continue to pay off for years to come. During a recession, it’s necessary to get the most out of your marketing budget. Internet marketing gives you the best chance for maximizing your ROI.

• Undo Past Mistakes- When business is good, it’s easy to get lazy with your marketing efforts. Sure, you’re making a lot of money at the time, but it doesn’t mean you’re doing everything right. An economic recession presents the perfect opportunity for you to correct your past marketing mistakes. During this downtime, you can create a unified marketing theme that separates your brand from its competitors.

• Positioning for Post-Recession- Things won’t always be like they are now. The economy goes through its ups and downs over the years. Now is the perfect time to position your company as an industry leader. Your marketing efforts will pay off tremendously when the economy recovers and people are more willing to spend money. It’s all about planning ahead!

Don’t succumb to the tough economic times. Remember, your image is important. Show the consumers that your brand is resilient and that you’re still the best choice in your field.