Google gets bored and turns away from old content just like you do. That’s why their spiders or “bots” are always out crawling through websites, including yours, looking for the latest relevant information that their consumers (most people) are seeking.

What’s new? When you ask that simple question, you really do want to know the answer because what’s old is irrelevant. Is there anything less interesting than old news; stuff you seen and heard before?

Frequently updating website content tells the search engines that you are at least an active publisher of information. The more relevant the information is to your business category, and the more valuable it is to your target audience, the better Google and other search engines will rank your pages organically. Provided that your website is coded well enough, quality content is pure SEO gold.

The more often you add fresh, high quality information to your website, the more Google’s crawlers will come back around to see what’s new. As that new content is determined to be relevant and valuable to searchers, Google will index it and raise your pages’ visibility. They are looking for authoritative sites that will deliver the right information to the searcher. Freshness and frequency combined with relevance and quality build authoritative status into your website. Again, this is SEO gold!

Effective SEO is not complicated but it’s extremely competitive. Maybe we should just leave it at that.

The post Entertain Google! appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.

Seth Godin is one of the most brilliant and prolific business thinkers of our time. He understands human motivation and behavior. That’s why I go to him for ideas. You might say I’m in his “tribe.” I choose to follow him because his ideas are valuable to me. And I’m a customer, having purchased one of his books and patronized his advertisers. I’m sure that Seth would be glad to know that I’m a follower and consumer.

On the other hand, let’s take the CEO of say, Proctor & Gamble. Right now I have no idea who that is, although I can find out in a snap. He or she might care about me as a consumer though, and really want my business for multiple products. Should I be loyal to their brands, I would spend hundreds of thousands, potentially a million on P&G products throughout the course of my lifetime. Multiply me and the numbers are staggering. I know I’ve used their products but I’m indifferent to them and most of their competitors’ as well. I’m bombarded with messages from them delivered through mass media every day and it hasn’t made a bit of difference in how I feel about their brands.

Now, I’m sure Mr. Alan G. Lafley (I just went to Google because I wanted his name.) would be concerned to know that most consumers feel as I do about P&G brands – indifferent to them vs the competition (product parity and no attractive differentiation). P&G broadcasts its messages at me and Seth Godin simply gives away his specialized “product” on the Internet, and somehow I find it because I seek it. He knows what I’m looking for because he specializes in understanding my professional needs. When I need something of his that he isn’t offering free, I go to Amazon and buy his book to be edified. In essence, I’m a micro market to Mr. Godin.

Whatever approach you use to push your message (create and buy advertising) in mass media to reach a mass audience, use the opposite approach on the Internet. Seth Godin gets the fundamental difference between Internet marketing and everything else (mass media; TV, radio and print advertising). Let me sum it up succinctly:

Web = “I seek and want your offering.” All other = “What do you want out of me?”

Seth himself points out, “When someone wants to know how big you can make your audience, your market share, your volume, it might be worth pointing out that it’s better to be important, to be in sync, to be the one that’s hard to be replaced. And the only way to be important is to be relevant, focused and specific.”

Mass media relevance is fading because the messages are mostly phony and manipulative. Seth goes on, “Mass marketers don’t like this and they often don’t even see it. They’re struggling to turn Snapchat and Twitter and other sites into substitutes for TV, but it’s not working, because it’s an astonishing waste of attention [for the consumer].”

Broadcast media exists mostly to enable mass marketers to do their job. Broadcast technology (TV) was essentially invented for that purpose, but the Internet was not invented to enable big brands to reach their audiences. It was first developed for the purpose of sharing information quickly among scientists – highly specialized knowledge.

On the Internet, whether it’s your website & SEO strategy, blog or social media channels, you need to think micro. Appeal genuinely to individuals who would benefit from the use your product or service and develop relationships with each one that connects with you. Since you read this far, we probably have a relationship and I want to thank you wholeheartedly for it! <3

The post The Internet and everything else. Don’t be confused. appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.

The inbound marketing model is working well for the companies that have discovered the successful formula. The formula works in B2B as well if not better than in B2C markets.

The first question that comes up is what do we talk about? The simplest answer is anything that might come up in a business conversation with customers and suppliers in your industry. In most industries, that covers a wide range of topics!

Offering favorite family recipes in your newsletters is nice but what can you offer that’s valuable to the recipient and relevant to the business? If readers like the recipes, go ahead and include them – along with the valuable business information your readers can use; compelling material that keeps your brand relevant to them.

There are many more questions to answer. What topics are interesting to people? Are there experts available to interview? What about using video and audio podcasts versus the written word? What about mailing lists, frequency, social media and web integration?

Perhaps the most important question is, how do I plan, develop and implement a successful content driven (inbound) marketing strategy?

Okay, I’ll give you all the answers right here, right now. The best part for me? I’m letting someone else do the heavy lifting to provide an excellent how-to book on successful content marketing. The book is yours free. Just click for an instant download of It Takes a Content Factory – A Guide to Creating and Delivering the Content Your Company Needs to Attract and Retain Great Customers by Open View Labs.

The post Content Marketing: Time + Quality = Money appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.

There are always people out there looking to make quick money with services based not on uncompromising quality but minimalism or mediocrity. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is no different of an industry.

I learned years ago that there is this “website designers vs. SEO” mentality. For real results, SEO must be involved throughout the entire website design process.

Whether you call the clean coding of a website good SEO practice or first-rate website development, your’re missing the boat. Does SEO include making sure the website is coded optimally? Yes, but it’s only part of the overall picture.

Having a website built by a first-rate website designer using clean code is good starting point since we can then focus on more important aspects of SEO including keyword research, keyword tracking, other On-Page SEO tactics, Off-Page SEO, and Content Creation. By having your website perfectly coded, you are only implementing one part of your SEO Strategy.

Your website is the foundation for your marketing and lead generation efforts. However, it does not by itself generate new leads for your business. It makes a good impression on people searching for you directly but great SEO is how you actually gain NEW leads online. Let’s look at myth versus fact about achieving SEO results.

Myth: “Search engine optimization is only about outranking your competitors…”

Fact: SEO is not only about outranking competitors. It is all about driving quality traffic to your site for more opportunities to make a sale. Off-Page SEO increases your rankings, but just as importantly, gains quality referral traffic to your site.

Myth: “If you have competitor websites that are doing HTML properly…they will outrank you”

What are Google’s and other popular search engines’ number one goal? Provide the most credible and relevant results to their end users.

Fact: Credibility comes from Off-Page SEO, which builds links to your site. These links,also referred to as backlinks, are seen as votes of credibility to the search engines. Google will rank a site with many credible backlinks and that is coded at a third-rate website design level well before a site without credible backlinks that is perfectly coded.

Myth: “SEO techniques are usually only required if your site has quality competition.”

Fact: Very few niches nowadays have such low amount of competition where just optimal coding can get you ranking on the first page, as optimal coding is only one aspect of the SEO lead generation strategy.

Myth: “It’s worse if the SEO staff is inside the design agency.”

Fact: Keyword research and analysis finds the profitable and accessible phrases around which to base the website’s content. This is best completed before writing even one piece of code. If you develop a site and then incorporate SEO afterwards, it’s not a true results-driven marketing or lead generation effort.

Again, web design isn’t something that generates leads or quality traffic. It is where your leads are directed to learn more and buy. SEO is the actual lead generation aspect to gain new business online.

It’s important to make sure SEO is involved from the start so that the website is built on the most profitable and accessible keyword phrases. Oftentimes a website designer without knowledge of SEO will develop a perfectly coded site that doesn’t make first page search results and therefore sits in a dark back alley of the Internet only gaining low quality traffic that never leads to any sales.

If you are in this position, then perhaps our team can recharge your lead generation.

Jon Parker is the owner of Recharged Business Solutions. On the web: www.nhleadgeneration.com  Phone: (603) 493-6344 Email: jparker@rechargedsolutions.com

The post Clean Code is Merely the Beginning of a Good Website appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.

The post Dress and Code Required appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.

“You cannot be serious!” Imagine if John McEnroe had a meltdown about something he couldn’t believe was so… good!

Every once in a while there’s a new product or service so damn good it’s hard to believeit’s available without an inordinate cost. For example, I’m amazed by the value of email marketing on Constant Contact, Mailchimp and other email services. Just think of the service Google provides free – with very little if any advertising annoyance to you, the consumer.

Let me challenge you (I’m challenging myself starting right now!) to earn your next customer or client by being too good a value to pass up.

This is as transparent as it gets right here:

I screen every ad in this newsletter. I was just given a huge lesson when I clicked on my new ad this morning. It gave me the idea for this article: Be so good that even skeptical prospects will say yes!

My advertising service is just that – too good a service for me to pass up. LaunchBit put me in the online media business just by finding this newsletter (based on its excellent content) and offering to make the Chuck Sink Link actually pay something. All I had to do was give them some basic information and now this little newsletter generates a bit of income aside from the educational service it provides you.

So, just wait till you click on our feature ad today. I’m not saying this to be self serving. I’m blown away by how simple, easy and valuable this online tool is sign up for. If they follow through with their promise, this company will skyrocket. By virtue of their UX (User Experience) alone, this company will do extremely well. It is one of the best websites I’ve visited in a long time!

Quick update: after signing up so easily, a highly professional individual has emailed me twice and was very forthcoming with pricing and product info. We’re connected now as fellow marketing professionals.

Make sure you click the ad below before you exit. If you’re a businessperson, you’ll want to consider arming yourself with this tool because, literally, your competition will be all over you if they do. And yes, Mr. McEnroe, I AM SERIOUS!

Track Your Competitors What’s working in your competitors digital marketing? Let’s not leave that unanswered, so get tracking with TrackMaven – the competitive intelligence platform. (Sponsor this newsletter)

The post Be So Good They Have to Try You! appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.

There is web design and there is graphic design. These are two completely different disciplines. Avoid melding the two.

There several different definitions of the word, design. Let’s consider a few of them:

Design:

1. to prepare the preliminary sketch or the plans for (a work to be executed), especially to plan the form and structure of,
2. to plan and fashion artistically or skillfully,
3. to intend for a definite purpose,
4. to form or conceive in the mind; contrive; plan.

If you’re thinking about or are in the process of getting a new website designed, you need to focus on definitions 3 and 4!

Many small business owners (and sometimes enterprise-class business executives) end up with websites they accept and later come to hate after seeing well designed websites in their industry. What often happens is the person in charge of designing a new website knows a “web designer” or graphic designer who does websites. It might be a friend or family member, or a referral from a friend. They place their trust and confidence in the person to do a good job because they make the mistake of thinking: “We just need a decent web presence and our other marketing or word of mouth will take care of business.

Website user experience – UX – is a science for which major universities offer PhD degrees. It is a field of study that is helping to shape not only the way people use websites, but how business is accomplished.

I don’t know about you, but my business and many others run on the internet. When you and I have a good experience, whether its on a website, in the form of an email or a social share engagement, we’re delighted and we remember it. If, for example, you need an online management tool or client portal to integrate with your business, you crave simplicity and ease of use. You want to go there and intuitively find what you need and just start working efficiently. Who has time for frustrating trial and error; long learning curves?

You want your website to deliver your brand experience, make clear your message and call the visitors to do business with you, right? Your website has a purpose and it must be true to its purpose. This requires strategic planning. It often requires guidance from a senior marketing professional to get it right.

There are lots of artistic “designers” who can make the website look nice and that should be a given, whoever designs your site. The differentiating factor of great web designs is knowing exactly who the target visitors (audiences) are and planning for their user experiences. It requires knowledge of such factors as user cogitation, navigation paths, interactive features, backend programming and, yes, branding.

As an executive or manager, you must bring your specific business expertise to the design table. After that you should expect the work to flow smoothly and efficiently according to your strategic direction, having had the best consultation right up front. Incidentally, I love helping to build great websites!

The post There’s a better way to design your website. appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.

I’m in the thicket of online media every day. I’ve studied and practiced all the best practices in
social media, blogging, email and web content. I was a very early adopter of LinkedIn and Twitter, then Facebook. I’ve been doing email marketing successfully for about 7 years now.

My educated opinion is there is something very wrong with current “best practice” marketing models that will have to change at some point. Marketers may be more transparent but they’re also more full of BS than ever. It’s not intentional BS, it’s just a lot of useless information to which I’m referring as BS.

Why is this? Most marketing departments are trying to out-tweet and out-blog each other in an attempt to win the Google position race. So what happens to content? It becomes diluted and cheap, even if it does raise visibility.

Now PLEASE don’t misunderstand. There are many excellent blog writers out there sailing valiantly in the ocean of mediocrity. Much of my continuing education has been gleaned from reading good blogs. They can be entertaining and very enlightening. The perfect turn of phrase in a tweet can open up a whole new area of interest and enrichment, but finding such a tweet is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

If in doubt, leave it out!

If planned and executed well, a blogging and social share strategy can certainly raise your keyword rankings in Google. That’s great, and the planning & executing should only include high quality content.

That’s why I’ve cut back the volume of my own social shares for business. If a post doesn’t smack you with a “must see more” kind of experience, you won’t share it. If you won’t share a post or be moved by it to take action, just how effective is it?

When other people – outside your organization – enthusiastically share your content with their valued friends and connections, you’ve struck social pay dirt… if it leads to referrals and new business.

I understand the term “conversions” to include when people fill out a form on a landing page for a free E-book download. You “converted” them from an unknown human entity to a “lead” in the database. You have their email address but did you really convert them? Do they even have the capacity to be a client? Do they have relationships with potential clients?

That’s where good marketing automation OR good salesmanship comes into play to nurture the “lead” all the way to being a paying customer. However, high quality content over high quantity noise will shortcut the lead nurturing. My newsletters and blog posts generate direct sales without a lot of lead nurturing because people in the audience really like the message and therefore conclude that we can help them. People call or email a direct response requesting a meeting or proposal. Those are my key metrics.

Striving to be at the cutting edge of your industry requires cutting edge thinking, better product design, superior service models, strong and deep relationships… What else can you think of?

Being the first to re-tweet a technology advance or scoop news from a third party may be fast but it’s also quite easy. What did you and your company do to advance the technology? Why are you THE BEST re-seller of that hot new technology? If you consistently demonstrate best, you’ll be talked about with just a few well conceived and well placed posts. Others will do the volume sharing for you and your Google search rank will tend to skyrocket when that happens.

Our potential to positively affect each another through communication is enormous with the digital tools we have. We need to channel our messages in valuable ways or it’s a big waste of time. Let’s try to focus more on what really matters in business; quality work, quality relationships and growth – things worth blogging about.

The post Cheap Noise is Getting Out of Hand appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.

Has a headline or subject line ever grabbed your attention and then everything else in your world disappeared for several minutes while you voraciously read a good article? Did your current project take a back seat while your mind relentlessly pursued more information in the article? Perhaps you stopped and wrote a note to the author because you just had to offer your timely and relevant feedback!

Best of all, maybe the article struck such a resonant chord that you finally made a decision to take some positive action and invest in yourself or your company.

That, my friends, is what good content is all about. We hear about “inbound marketing” and “content marketing” all the time these days, but what is it? Is it an article that’s trending with what most of the target market is thinking? Maybe. Is it a thought provoking piece about a controversial or potentially game-changing subject? Could be.

These examples tend to be lay ups in the world of content marketing. Simply sharing a good blogger’s materials is fine but it tends to get the recipient thinking more about the blogger than the sharer! Lay ups are okay for staying in the game but it’s the more dramatic half court and 3 point shots that win tournaments.

The Secret of Good Content

When you can hit someone with information that experience tells them is prescient and relevant, your’re doing content marketing right. Real world experience and true stories are what grab attention and move people to take action. It’s often the repeated issues that are right in front of us – the problems we can identify and solve right now that we need to be talking about.

You need not always be concerned with innovation or cutting edge technology or the latest best practices to get your target audience’s attention. What you need is authentic value communicated in way that your customers and prospects will benefit from.

If you’re an architect or interior designer, offer easy space planning or simple energy saving ideas. If you’re an attorney, provide ways people can stay informed of changing laws. If you’re a mortgage officer, write about how to manage an escrow account to avoid surprise recalculations. If you’re a manufacturer, share your supply chain expertise in ways that would save customers money. If you’re a printer, show off a direct mail piece with an unusually high rate of return.

These are just the first ideas off the top of my head. I’m sure you can come up with better content ideas for your clients. Perhaps someone like me can help you better develop your content and consistently distribute it.

Keep thinking about things that your audience would like to know more about. Chances are, if something interests you, it will interest them too.  Listen closely to your customers and provide content that answers the questions they’re asking. Keep a file of ideas. Always write down your ideas or you will forget them!

When you see a great article you want share, instead of just slapping up a link, take some time and write down your own thoughts on the same topic. Make it relate even more specifically to your customers.

Clear away the clutter of information overload by serving up content your audience wants to consume and can actually use. You’ll become known as an authentic value provider. You’ll be trusted and called first when it’s time for doing business.

The post Good Content Clears away Clutter appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.

The website user experience (UX) your organization purveys will either drain you or sustain you in business. Plenty of money can be spent serving up completely different experiences to your audience depending on whom you choose to design your online marketing programs. The difference to your website visitors can be dramatic! One design may have their interest soaring while the other, they find, is utterly boring. Okay…

Bouncing visitors can be very disappointing and even costly, especially if your firm spends money on Pay-Per-Click advertising. You allocate a budget for search engine marketing and get great click through rates to a dull static website with no real value or entertainment to draw visitors in to interact and take action. Or maybe the information layout is difficult to navigate and confusing so they leave the site after 2 or 3 seconds. Then you wonder why your website doesn’t seem to be doing anything for you. (Hint: It must do something for them first!)

Your website is your most valuable communication asset.

Work with a web partner that demonstrates a knowledge of user experience and information design as well as traffic generation. The author’s opinion is the horse has to come before the cart.

You have the choice to serve your online visitors or be indifferent to their experiences. Make certain your site’s UX is worthy of their time. Then go ahead and invest appropriately in traffic generating activities.

So how is your website performing these days? When people land there are they apt to explore and ask for more?

The post SIMPLE Website Best Practices (Please read!) appeared first on Chuck Sink Link.