Tag: authority

  • Harnessing the power behind each and every blog post

    How knowing when your audience accesses blogs and social media is paramount in ensuring that your blog posts have the maximum reach and impact. Do you know the best time to post?

    An effective company blog

    For many years now, companies from small and medium sized enterprises, local companies to massive global concerns have been blogging. Posting a variety of interesting, fun and informative articles on their website on a frequent and consistent basis can see a website crawl from the bottom slot to the top spot. With the right content, it can maintain this position.

    However, to maintain an effective company blog is THE most time-intensive activity you can do. Which is why there is a thriving ‘sub’ sector ghost writers, bloggers and creators of content that post articles on websites of companies across the world.

    The first part of the equation

    If you ARE blogging, this is great news! Studies by the Content Marketing Institute show that 72% of business to customers (B2C) business are blogging, as are 76% of business who sell to other businesses (B2B). These studies also show that established and start-up business are using increasingly sophisticated websites and social media  to reach people, from webinars to podcasts, video to guest posting on other websites.

    Research has shown, time and time again that customers love an informative blog post…

    IF they can FIND it.

    The Challenge

    But, there seems to be other challenges that lurk in the shadows… which of these can you relate to?

    • Lack of time for creating and posting blogs or articles
    • Producing the right kind of content that engages customers and your audience
    • Producing and posting enough content
    • Finding the right person to create the content

    And so, it is easy to see that from the starting point of any blog – the idea – to putting pen to paper, proof reading it and posting it, is a huge investment of time, effort, energy and in some cases, money.

    But, there is one part of this equation that is missing – maximising the reach of your blog post.

    Generating ideas, writing the posts, posting them etc. all takes valuable time and, as a result, many companies are honest enough to say that the quality quite often drops in the face of so many adverse conditions.

    And when you have expended huge amounts of time and energy (and maybe a decent slice of your marketing budget too), you need these blog posts to work as hard as they possibly can for you. Simply creating a link and tweeting it, updating your status, pinning it etc. is not enough.

    Get the statistics

    www.trackmaven.com collect, analyse and number crunch all kinds of data that is useful for ‘digital marketers’. Before you think this is a separate section of society, they are basically referring to YOU! Any company, established or start up, large, small, micro or medium sized who posts content online for others to access, to inform them and to amuse them is a ‘digital marketer’.

    So you have invested up-front.

    The blogs are written.

    They are posted on your website.

    WHEN do you use social media to advertise them? WHEN is the optimum time to post them so that they work their socks off for your business? WHEN is the time that your customers or audience will engage with them?

    Track Mavern generated some fabulous analysis that holds valuable lessons for us all.

    Many business owners work odd, unsocial hours and our customers may not necessarily buy online from a company during the hours of 9 to 5. The internet may be slowly changing this but, overall, we still run our physical lives – the school run, the shopping, everything else in fact – on a 9 to 5 basis.

    It is a routine, a habit that is ingrained in the majority of us from a very early age, from days that were pre-Internet and when there were 4 channels on mainstream TV, all of which stopped broadcasting on a daily basis at 10pm, that the majority of tasks needing to be accomplished in any given day happens between 9 and 5.

    What their research found was that during the week, Monday to Friday, give or take a few exceptions in blogging and posting frequency, the majority of posts were made between the hours of 9 and 5… and yet, customers – that is, social media users – were accessing websites, social media platforms etc. in the evening.

    In other words, what is happening is that businesses are posting articles and blogs at times that suit them, but they are ‘missing’ their audience as they are not searching online or ‘surfin’ the web’ until later in the evening.

    5 minutes in Internet Land is a long time, just like they say a week is a long time in politics. Your delicious posts may be simply missing your key or intended audience as once it is published, by the time they log on 2 hours later, the online landscape is awash with posts and articles.

    Social shares

    The whole point of this articles is about showing you how – or at least, making you aware of how – social shares of your blog posts can be maximised.

    We have talked in previous posts about social signals; there are conflicting views about how effective, if at all, these social signals are to a website but, if they are not that important, why does every company, from the smallest local, microbrewery to the largest global conglomerate covet these social shares, likes etc.?

    If nothing else they are psychologically important; someone is liking your work. Like an artist who needs praise and critiquing of their work, your blog posts are your shop window on the web. And when people like your work, you radiate a soft, but radiant glow of success.

    And so, in a nutshell, what are the findings…?

    Avoid the highly competitive online sharing and posting times of mid-week and during the week day, 9 to 5 posting slot. Instead, look to post…

    • At the weekend – Saturday was the optimum day for shares across social media of all kinds of blog posts
    • Leisure time – in Greenwich Mean Time, it was found that social shares of posts increased steadily between 6pm and midnight
    • European time – it was also found that shares increased between 4 and 6am GMT, as is the time European businesses tend to be awake and functioning, clearly an important statistic if your company is looking for a global or European reach.

    What the research did show was the Internet landscape is rarely quiet; even the early hours shows significant likes and shares across a range of platforms. Using an online scheduling app can also help hit these high spots for maximum reach and www.bufferapp.com have also published a range of statistics and data on when is the best time to post on Facebook and across Twitter.

    (*SPOILER ALERT: according to their research, the optimum day to post on Facebook is Thursday – early afternoon, just after lunch if you really want to pin point the best time – followed by Sunday and then Friday…)

    When is the best time for you to post your articles?

  • Hands up – do you have a social media strategy?

    (look away, embarrassed, fiddles with phone to see if anyone has text…)

    It seems that our online, local businesses is swamped in paperwork and strategies, when all you really want to do is earn a living BUT, as part of that essential daily activity, you also need to keep one eye on future work – a portion of your day, week or month does really need to be given over to finding new customers, new products, new services and improving the ones you have.

    Do local, online businesses need one?

    The clue to the answer is in the question… ‘online’. If you are online and you canvass the majority of your new customers (and keep welcoming the ‘old’ ones back) by online means then, yes it really does make sense to have a social media strategy.

    Don’t forget those social signals too; exactly how Google does work out how it ranks pages on the web is still a slight mystery with only really the top few people at Google really understanding, but it seems that the more ‘authority’ your site appears to have, the more people will trust it (* see bottom of page) – or so Google thinks.

    So getting plenty of likes, pins, shares, G+s, tweets and the like, the better placed your website could be placed in the increasingly crowded world of the web.

    A social media strategy: how does it look? What’s in it?

    The first point to note is that is isn’t just about updating your status on a daily basis; this is, of course, not necessarily a bad thing although this can mean you spend more time tweeting etc. than doing any actual work.

    A social media strategy is about sharing content on your website; this could your blog, new product and additions to your online ‘shop’ as well as any news items regarding your business. It is a way of connecting your website to the outside world and the outside world to your website.

    Below are 8 steps that could form the outline of what your social media strategy could look like. In a table format, we think it makes a handy ‘cut out and keep guide’, a start as to how you can make the very best use of your social media strategy…

    What is it?

    Your notes…

    Step 1:

    the time, the place…

    Just like a first date, you need to give this some thought but bear with us before you flick to another website. This is a serious point; all too often we try and cram things into the shortest time possible, working on the back of a scrap piece of paper whilst driving the car and filing a tax return.Step 1 is to recognise the importance of this strategy. It might not break your business not using social media to its fullest, but it will as heck make a massive difference. Where can you work uninterrupted?

    Step 2:

    Target – WHO are you trying to reach through which social media?

    If you have a marketing plan, the information should be in there but it doesn’t cause any harm to take a specific look at this with your social media.There are now various studies that show which age groups use certain social media platforms, hence it pays to know where your potential customers are at…If you have a product that is visual, then the platform that share photos are a great starting point; those with non-visual products or services may be better looking at sharing platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.It pays to do your homework.

     

    Jot down demographics, such as gender and age… where are these people hanging out on social media?

    Step 3:

    Content – WHAT do you have to offer them?

    Social media is not just about selling – in fact, go down this road and you may find that you actually drive customers away.Social media is about conversation, but what it is that your customers want to know?What information will they value?Once you have an idea, post this information vis your social media and then invite potential customers or partners to your website.

     

     You can share blogs and news, both current and already published work, especially if it coincides with something current.

    Step 4:

    Be proactive

    Customers will not come to you; this is the bit where you need to be pro-active and you need to start building your following audience.Great content is fabulous (we go on about all the time at Locally!) but, it is not a case of someone will stumble upon it and away you go.Do apart from tweeting what you had for breakfast, or pining a photo on another platform of your new delivery van, you also need to be creating great content (like this blog!) and then share it; tell people about it.And then tell them again in a few weeks’ time…

     

    Create a blog calendar schedule and stick to it.

    Step 5:

    Contact – be easy to get in touch with

     

    This is part a. of two small micro steps. The whole ethos behind social media is that people share things, share data, share information…So, on your website have the icons for the social media platforms you use See your web design company for help…

    Step 6:

    TALK!

    The second mini step from above is once people have contacted you, liked or shared any of your tweets, statuses, pleas for help, you need to converse back. A bit like being at a party and making small talk.Thank people for liking something; ask questions; engage! Make it part of your day to check social media platforms, just like you do your email…

    Step 7:

    Keep it going…

    And this is the hardest step.Keeping your social media stuff happening can be a full time job in itself and so unless you have the financial resources to buy in a social media manager (they do exist!), you either see your social media presence fail OR, you load it on to someone else in the office… either way, the results can be disastrous OR you can realise that your strategy can include times and dates when items are sent out etc.Have you seen www.bufferapp.com? You can schedule tweets, status updates and the like so that the app automatically do it for you. Takes the pressure off but still needs managing; message need responding to etc.

     

    Build in a monthly review; get your staff team on on board. If not, maybe outsourcing is a cost-effective idea?

    Step 8:

    Looking for new opportunities – constantly review and adapt it

    Social media, like the rest of the web, never stands still. So keeping an eye on any new social media platforms that seem to be gathering pace and favour is a great way of staying where your customers are at.Current platforms also look set to change in the future; Twitter for example, with its acquisition of CardSpring not so long ago, is hotly tipped to start offering ‘buy through Twitter’ in 2015. Keep an eye on current trends, as well as making sure you are using your current social media platforms to their fullest…

    Need any more persuading?

    Social media has had proven results but it took courage and commitment, as well as conversation but there are success stories out there!

    *upcoming blog in November talks about trust and how a blog may be the all-important signal that your website IS trustworthy… but is it that simple?

  • Storm in a tea cup or something you need to take note of?

    Web Design GoogleThe “Google Authorship is Over!” headline and what it means for your website

    Here at Locally, we like to keep all our online, local businesses up to date with the goings on of search engines and how they will, or will not, select your website for in their rankings. And one announcement that seems to have thrown the proverbial cat amongst the pigeons – in other words, it caught the tech world off-guard – is Google’s announcement that Google Authorship is over.

    Whilst those ‘in the know’ all sucked in their breath, tweeting and emailing their surprise to one another, us lesser mortals have been wondering if this has any implication for us, for our constant, yet brave struggle to outrank the big bodies when it comes to search engine ranking and whether we need to really do anything…

    Scratching our heads, we take to the Internet and research the whole thing, only to end up more confused. Some may say that is has no implications but others may be more cautious… in this post, we attempt to explain the whole episode and what, if anything, it means for your online business.

    Let’s start at the beginning: what is Google Authorship exactly?

    Acronym alert! SERPs means search engine results pages: the further up the SERPs you are, the increase in website traffic you should get (as you are more visible)

    You will have noticed across a whole range of websites the G+ button, the Google plus account that some people and businesses have. If you have a G+ account, you will have a profile and circles of people, from family to friends and circles for acquaintances/colleagues/business associates… in fact, you can create your own circles as you wish.

    When you find something you want to share, you can share it on this platform and send it around everyone, or a selected few; in other words, G+ is a sharing platform.

    As part of this platform, you could also tell Google you were an authoritative writer, blogger or sharer of information… in other words, you ‘owned’ an ‘authorship’ (however, as we will see, this was not quite all that it was cracked up to be…)

    Hence, whenever you search on Google for ‘search engine optimisation’, at one time the top few results in SERPs would be authors you would eventually become familiar with as they are seen as an authority on the subject. What would spring up is their photo and some of the blogs they had written on the issue.

    Now, clearly, it is Google’s ‘baby’ and so some of us opted for a G+ account; you can customise your profile, add a delightful thumbnail photo that shows your best side (but there were rules on this – the photo had to be good quality, not a cartoon or any other kind of graphic; this was all about authority, don’t forget).

    And it is these photos and additional information that has, it seems, been creeping up the ranking in previous years. But many of us were simply unaware that there were additional steps to getting the very best out of this account; this has all changed now…

    … BUT, it only worked if the person verified their accounts (told Google they owned it) and only 12% of people using G+ are thought to have done this. On researching the topic of Google Authorship, we looked into how authors verified ownership of their G+ accounts and it seems it was not easy…

    In a nutshell, Google authorship was a nod to the reliable, trustworthy information, blog etc. that searchers would find useful.

    And…?

    Well, Google has stopped placing weight behind these authorship accounts and have effectively removed them as signal to its algorithm. The effects seem to have been immediate, whereas you would have seen results with photos or graphics, you will now not see these.

    BUT, it seems that companies/business/people with G+ accounts are still figuring in these rankings. Which seems a bit odd but look on it as a minor tweak which could affect some people, but for others it may not make too much of a difference.

    Why is Google getting rid of ‘authorship’?

    Well it seems, according to Google that it was not giving its users what they wanted; it was distracting; and they’ve done their research too. By not having the results high in SERPs (some people say that authorship was removed in October 2013…), it did not reduce traffic to sites nor reduce the number of clicks on ads.

    In other words, no one really noticed. Google have since said it was an ‘experiment’ that last three years and they have been tweaking it along the way.

    As a result, Google have released results from 3 years of data collection that show it was not working how they envisaged it would because…

    • Those that did set up Authorship did not do so properly – in other words, profiles were completed
    • Users did not find any value in it

    Right, what do you need to do?

    Well, it seems that this announcement has caught people off guard and wondering if it is all a ploy by Google to get people on to G+ as they are using these results in SERPs; some people see it as an aggressive tactic to get people to use G+ as most people doubly-serious about their rankings will do anything to get the edge.

    What not to do – panic!

    This is not a massive change to search engine optimisation for some people but, it may be worth looking at Google+ as another platform to add to your website as a means of being able to share your content, offers, business, ideas etc., especially if you do not have an account yet. SEO experts are currently leaning towards this idea simply because one thing that has been noted is that blog posts by G+ authors are coming out near the top of the rankings.

    If you have a G+ profile, you may need to make sure you are using it but, Google are currently telling us that the results are not much different when it comes to SERPs it is always worth keeping an eye on any changes that this search engine creates – after all, it is used billions of times every day across the globe.

    The basics have not changed: quality content, regularly updated on your website and plenty of social signals via your chosen social media platforms – it is still a marathon, not a sprint.

    Coming up next: top tips on how to not be punished by Google and then we are off to the Cloud…

  • Want to be IN the cool gang? Part 2

    Social MediaLet’s re-cap: we are talking about social signals – the shares, the likes, pins and +’s (and the many others) – and how these can be an indication to Google that your website is authoritative which customers quite like.

    Local businesses also need these social signals as it shows Google that you are worth having a look at and so when those sometimes elusive local customers type in ‘builders Shropshire’, your website bobs up alongside the larger companies that are based in London.

    So yes, they are important but they are not the ‘be all and end all’. We also looked fleetingly in Are you in the cool gang? Part 1 at the 200 variables that Google uses to filter and rank websites. Social signals play a part but more important is getting the right keywords, along with regularly updated appropriate content.

    And so, now we have convinced you that social signals do play a part, here are some ideas to help you out… (need a hand? Contact us!)

    • Get on social media – take a browse through them and decide where your customers are more likely to be. Facebook and Twitter are the obvious ones, but if you have the ability and technical know-how, using some of the photo bases social media platforms are great way of showcasing your work. But, don’t be half-hearted about it – complete your profile on each social media you plan to use and then get it linked to your website (we can do that bit, if we haven’t already).

    But which one? Take a look and think about your audience or customers – what social media platforms are they using https://searchengineland.com/choose-right-social-media-networks-b2b-business-186307

    • Stay on social media – having a Twitter account is not a magic fix to bumping up to page 1 on Google; you need to be active on it. Many of the social media platforms have groups etc. that focus on local issues, services and customers etc. – Twitter, for example, have groups such as #northwesthour who ‘meet’ at certain times on a certain day; they are great way to network with potential partners and customers. These guys can be really supportive too and when you do posts links to your website or blog post, will either re-tweet, share it or favourite it, meaning all their followers get to see it too… can you see how it could build, and to your advantage?
    • Be the conversation – this takes a little more effort but in any industry or trade, there will be conversations about products, services, traditions and issues: you could not only be part of it, you could start it!

    For example, the changes in the pension arrangements in the UK are being rolled out over the next few years. If you are a local Human Resources or accountancy firm, why not start a debate with local small businesses to see how they feel about this? What help will they need in the future when it is their turn to enrol the small number of employees in the micro business in to the scheme…?

    • Quality content – we go on and on and on about this all of the time, to the point that people look slightly disinterested. Your customers (potential ones and loyal ones) need to be informed, entertained and inspired – NOT inundated by spam and rubbish.

    For example, a post on why people really do need to get rid of Japanese knotweed from their gardens (and why a local gardening firm is a better option) than simply posting rubbish about weeding the garden…

    • Buttons! – of course people can only poke you, like it, share it and + it, or even pin it with the right buttons on your website (the bird for Twitter, the big F for Facebook, the white P in the red square for Pinterest…). It is not too complicated a technical process but if you don’t have the time or inclination, just call us cos we can do it in a jiffy.
    • Buttons at the top! – if you are confident in placing your social media buttons, put them at the top of the webpage, some experts say, as people rarely go searching for them.
    • Blog – yes, you need to blog. Free and interesting information is something we all love and this is what your blog is. A paragraph or two, with some photos of your work, is better than nothing (all comes back to the 200 variable and regular, appropriate content being added to your website).

    No time? Not a writer? We can sort that for you too… see how versatile we are?

    • Ask people to share – like we did at the end of the first part of this post, we asked you to share our content, because we are proud of it and we want more and more people to see the great work we do here at Locally. There is no shame in asking; some people will.
    • Reciprocate – in other words, share something you comes across that relates to your business or something that you like. All these signals are important and gets your name out there.
    • Keep an eye on Google – they change their algorithms, and update them at what seems like an alarming pace. So keep an eye on them too.

    So, it’s that easy?

    Mmmmm yes, kind of but there are a few things to avoid:

    Do NOT go overboard – remember the kerfuffle over links and stuff from ages ago? Well, is it the same with social signals; Google is quite nifty at working out which websites are used and which are fake.

    Quality over quantity, every time – blogging is great, but if it is just rubbish to fill a space you will be taking a backward step every time you publish something. And make sure any websites you use to post any blogs etc., are quality websites too.

    Social media is not everything – so don’t trade everything in for tweeting all day or updating your status; there are 200 other variable that Google uses and you need to ensure you are including some of these in your website and marketing strategy. Getting rid of everything else is like making a salad without the lettuce.

    And so, for local businesses what are the lessons?

    • Be yourself and stick with the local aspect of your business
    • Network and share with customers and other businesses
    • Keep you website updated
    • Blog!

  • Are you in the cool gang? Part 1

    Cool Gang

    Small business websites and ‘social signals’: are they important or not?

    (And, do they really matter to a local business?)

    Remember your school days? Were you in the ‘cool gang’? Your blood has either just run cold or you have a nonchalant look on your face.

    There was bound to have been a group of kids that everyone wanted to be friends with. They seemed to be the ‘beautiful people’, the group of people that were effortlessly gorgeous and handsome, blessed with a coolness that oozed from every pore…

    And then there were some of us who maybe aspired to be in this cool gang. This may now cause us embarrassment when we thing how we coveted the attention of someone in that group to just elevate us slightly from not-quite-a-complete-nerd to the almost-cool-gang.

    Social signals are just like that and it all it now seems a little shallow, superficial; so much so, in fact, that some people do not believe that Google places any weight on the number of likes, shares or pins your website has.

    But let’s flip this argument – YOU might not actually have been bothered about getting in to the cool gang at school and actually, you couldn’t give two hoots about likes, shares, pins, pokes or +’s for your website or blog posts. You are a local business, with local customers and world domination via Google is simply not on this month’s agenda.

    What the experts say

    Some people say that, yes social signals do matter as what they tell Google – and this is something the search engine is hot-to-trot on – is that your website has authority.

    Why covet the Google search engine, specifically?

    • It has 5 billion users a day and a 67.7% share of the search engine users (that’s quite a lot…)
    • Google is the cool kid and you need to attract its attention
    • Social signals – the likes, shares, pins etc. – all tell Google that your gang is actually quite cool, and what you have on your website is actually quite good; when people like it, and show other internet users they do, they are saying that your website is authoritative, worth reading and visiting.

    Oh, so simple…

    Not quite. Nothing ever is.

    Did you know?

    Google ranks or values your website using 200 different variables (take a look at them here! Great Infographic https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/google-ranking-algorithm-infographic). Some are really clear – age of your website (and why buying it for a year is not a good idea), keywords, links etc. – but others are not so… and it is this lack of clarity about how much, if any at all, social signals play in determining you website ‘value’.

    (Matt Cutts, webspam engineer at Google, says that they do not use social signals to rank websites BUT, talks of authority and not ruling out social signals in the future… https://searchengineland.com/googles-matt-cutts-facebook-twitter-pages-are-treated-like-any-other-web-page-on-the-internet-182370).

    With all this uncertainty, are social signals worth the hassle?

    The answer is, kind of…

             i.            REPUTATION – if nothing else, Google likes an authoritative website. So, if your local spa business offers services and products using the latest techniques and people ‘like’ or share the blog posts your write, it will start to wave a flag in Google’s direction. The cool kid notices it and pushes your site up the ranking… and who knows what new and exciting customers and opportunities this could bring.

           ii.            IMPROVED ‘REFERRALS’ – we all know the drudgery associated with trying to weed out non-human accounts from our Twitter feed, along with the many hundreds of spammy emails clogging the junk box… social signals are a way of Google understanding the needs of your potential customers and visitors better hence, you will start to figure in results that means something to the searcher.

          iii.            TRUST – we’ve all done it, so stop shaking your head at the back! You’ve read a post or hit on a website and the likes, share and pin it boxes have remained as a depressing ‘0’, no shares! And then you have hit a website that is hot, hot, hot and the post has been shared hundreds of times, with people pinning it and + all over the world… and you have been drawn in. Trust me, you have. I know.

         iv.            LOYALTY – regardless of where you do business, from the local high street in Surrey to a garage in the leafiest part of Cheshire, if you have a customer base you want their loyalty: loyalty + social signals = continued custom. And we all need that. Even if you are a local business, with local customers and no desire for complete world domination via Google (see earlier point) BUT, if you want your website to be visible to the local customers you crave, then you cannot afford to ignore social signals and authority entirely.

    Convinced?

    Great! Now you want to know how to increase social signals… and that, you will be pleased to know is coming in part 2.

    In the meantime, why not like this post? Or share it?