Tag: social media marketing

Do It For Me SEO

Our ‘Do It For Me’ SEO services will allow you to concentrate on running your business without the worry of handling the Internet marketing as well. We take care of everything from planning and research to implementation and maintenance.

Though we don’t believe in SEO packages, the following are a few of the mindsets we use when approaching a new client.

Small Business and Local SEO Services

The Local SEO service focuses primarily on a specific region, usually a city. This will enable your business to market to the people who are actually looking for your products or services.

Advanced SEO Services

With more to gain, comes more to overcome. Our advanced SEO services are catered to the business with a need to reach a wider, usually national audience; and the need to overcome stringent competition.

Custom SEO Solutions

Though all of our services are customized, sometimes you just have specific needs. Perhaps you need a hint of a local strategy mixed with some national coverage. Maybe you need to fully encompass an SEO plan along with social media marketing. Whatever your needs, SEO Factor can accommodate.

March 24, 2010
SEO Factor » Blog Archive » » Social Media Marketing: You Need To Start With A Plan

22 October 2008 2 Comments

Some of the most successful viral marketing campaigns in our little Internet’s history were those that involved video in some fashion. So, it stands to reason that if you want to move forward with a social media strategy, a video is a good bet. But wait!

Before you get too excited like our young friend pictured here, you need to have a plan. I don’t know why, but I think of giddy kids when people come to me with the great ideas they have. Great idea or not, we too often jump the gun on those ideas.

To set the tone for this article, let me share with you a short conversation I recently had.

Me: So I hear you’re going to do a video.
Guy: Yeah, I want it to go viral.

Me: Well good on ya. You have goals I’m assuming?
Guy: Yeah, I want it to be everywhere, perhaps lead to some interviews.

Me: Umm, fair enough. That’s a meaty goal for your first campaign. But possible.
Guy: Yeah, I want it to be on CNN, YouTube, various other sites. I want it to be everywhere, and I want a ton of attention within a week.

Me: Wow! Ok, well, let’s talk about your plans to promote such a video.
Guy: I already told you, I’m going to put it on YouTube.

Me: Excuse me?
Guy: You know, YouTube.
Me: Sigh. I see.

Can you identify where this conversation took a turn for the unsuccessful in my mind? Let’s set aside the fact that this is going to be the first attempt at a viral campaign for a moment. It has been done, however accidental, so even the fantastic goals aren’t out of reach. Instead, let’s focus on the lack of strategy to achieve such a goal.

Does The Campaign Have Merit
This doesn’t apply in my example above, as the video idea was actually quite impressive. It was timely, it had a great idea behind it and the implementation of the video itself impressed even my very scrutinous mind. However, I think it wise to note how many times I’ve had the conversation with an executive that wants to move forward with a video marketing campaign, only to find out they wanted to make a video about their products. This isn’t a bad video idea, but the marketing of such a video is very different from that of a viral video.

A Sprint commercial on T.V. starring their new CEO (or owner, or whatever he is) in a diner that would normally be frequented by us regular folk, containing a soft-spoken sales pitch for Sprint as a company was nice in my opinion. I think Sprint’s ad campaign will do some good for them (as much as I really hate Sprint). However, this isn’t the type of video that goes viral. It doesn’t get Digg attention by itself, and it isn’t likely to gain a lot of traction on YouTube. But, do you remember the “Leave Brittany Alone” video? That went viral. It even ended up in one of those parody movies.

Now, I’m not saying that you have to get the owner of the company to start crying in order get a video to go viral, but I hope you get the idea. Sales pitches don’t work as well in social media.

Identify Goals vs. Strategy
Here is where the problem in my example above comes in. My friend that wants his video to go viral has a goal, but there is a very blurry line between his goal and his strategy. The closer you get to anything that could be considered a strategy, the fuzzier the picture.

Because you are likely to be educated on promoting a website, let’s change a few words in my example above to make this a bit clearer.

Me: So, I hear you want to promote your business online.
Guy: Yeah, I’m going to start a website.

Me: That’s great. I’m happy to hear you take this step.
Guy: Yeah. I saw the design, it looks incredible. It’s very clean and I feel it shines a favorable light on my company and the products we offer.

Me: Awesome. So, I’m sure you’ve also got a strategy to promote your website?
Guy: Yeah, the site will be up next Wednesday.

Me: Yeah…but…how to promote it.
Guy: I just told you, the site will be up Wednesday.

Does that seem a little more familiar? This was the problem SEOs had yesteryear, when putting a website up and promoting it were one in the same to most people. This isn’t such the case anymore, but its a very common issue when we talk about social media marketing.

Getting people to see your video in hopes of viral success, that’s a goal. Putting said video on YouTube is a small beginning piece of the strategy. But understand, you can’t leave it there. There’s a level of preparation.

Before You Go Viral
I think the problem most people have with social media marketing is very similar they had when they put their first website up. They thought it to be a silver bullet that would rocket their business to new heights. Now we understand that we need to optimize the site. We need to ensure our copy is relevant and enticing. We need to have a strategy for link-building. There are a ton of parts we need to put into motion before we will see hit number one. This is the same for social media.

Do you have an active Digg account that will be used to promote your YouTube channel that houses your new video? How about a ton of Twitter friends that you can call upon to help push the link to your video? Do you have an active account in a social community that is relevant to your video’s content? Have you built any relationships with bloggers in the same vertical as your video? Do you have an active Facebook account with friends that may be interested in your video in the first place? These are all pieces of the puzzle that will help to promote your new campaign, and increase the potential for its success.

If you need some help getting started on this part. Consider my old post on 7 Considerations For Social Media Marketing. If you keep the right mindset, you can prevent yourself from looking like a company that doesn’t actually care about the community, but just wants to sell.

Let Me Close
Because this article is more about theory than implementation or detailed strategy, I get a little long winded. I hope that this helps you to understand though, that simply making a video and uploading it to YouTube will not bring you fame or fortune. There is always that ‘X’ factor where its a possibility, but you don’t see that so much anymore. In the end, to increase your chances of exposure, you need to have a solid foundation. You need to plan things out as best you can. You won’t tell the future, and you aren’t likely to plan your way to the top but you should at least get an idea of how you are going to get things moving.

August 4, 2009
SEO Factor » Blog Archive » » 7 Considerations For Social Media Marketing
Home » Social Media

28 November 2007 2 Comments

MySpace. Flickr. Facebook. The plethora of social bookmarking sites. So many avenues to promote your site, so few people doing so with reserve. These are all very viable ways to promote products, services, blogs, etc., but there are a few things that you should consider when making use of a social media to market yourself.

This post isn’t meant for the veteran Social Marketer, but for those that are just now considering it’s application to your business, and need a few pointers.
1. Be Nice
  I think I’m going to make this the first rule on every single list I make. It really should go without saying that you should be nice to those around you. Not only will it help your SMM progress, but acting the opposite way will actually diminish it…greatly. Unless you have made a niche for yourself as the blogger with attitude, and it’s already proved successful, then you should probably be considerate of others, their opinions, and their space.
2. Don’t Be Selfish
  A one-day-old StumbleUpon account with only stumbles to your site isn’t really going to get you anywhere. People notice that kind of thing.
3. Get Involved
  In line with the last one, you should get involved in the community. Got a MySpace account? Make friends, join or start a group, post relevant comments on friends’ accounts. Don’t jump to self promotion just yet.
4. Stay Involved
  And in line with the last 2. Perhaps the biggest reason I don’t make use of a MySpace account (I took the name, but haven’t set anything up) or most other Social Marketing avenues, is due to the amount of time that really should be given to the project. It’s not an absurd amount, but your social account really shouldn’t go stagnant. If you just stop stumbling for a long period of time, it’s going to take time to gain followers again. If your MySpace or Facebook account shows that you haven’t logged in for 3 months, there will be some question as to your company’s “open” status.
5. Stay On Topic
  If you start a “professional” Flickr account to showcase your paintings, you probably don’t want to sprinkle it with pictures of Angelina Jolie and her new child. It’s not too relevant. Sure, there are times when you take a vacation and want to share a personal photo you took (not too personal mind you), and doing so may even help your perception as a “real person” and not a big bad company, but try to be conservative.
6. Don’t Spam
  A lot of communities let you message others. This function can be used to ask for a vote on Sphinn or StumbleUpon. Use Sparingly!! You may have friends that you have grown to communicate with on a regular basis, and sending them a quick “hey vote for my story” probably doesn’t hurt anyone, but when you make no connections, and arbitrarily send “vote for my story” messages to people with whom you have never communicated, it will definitely have an adverse affect. It’s a good way to be black marked, or even banned from the community.
7. Beware The TOS
  Finally, become aware of the official Terms of Service for your community. These were thought out and put forth for a reason. Flickr’s TOS, for example, states that you agree not to “exploit for any commercial purposes, any portion of the Service.” This means that having an account solely for the purpose of promoting a product is against their TOS. Making yourself aware of this will help you to promote your product or service appropriately, without getting your account banned. Hint: I’ll be showing you just that with the Flickr Marketing article I’m putting together.
Hopefully this will get you on your way with Social Media Marketing. In the end, use your noggin. Things are pretty much common sense and etiquette in the online world as they are in the offline world (well…most of the time).
August 3, 2009
SEO Factor » Blog Archive » » The Other ROI: The Risk Of Ignoring Social Media

23 October 2008 2 Comments

While at the SMX East this year, I heard a panelist say this. I really wish I could remember who it was because I would like to give credit to said person. It was said in regard to social media marketing, and how there is still this dis-belief of its use and power. Executives often get hung up on Return On Investment, ignoring the other ROI; the Risk Of Ignoring.

I was reminded of this today when I had a short conversation on Twitter:

seofactor @PearlyWrites HoJo Microsite is getting there! We are almost done, or at least that is what we keep saying…

seofactor @PearlyWrites Hey, you’re doing a HoJo site?

PearlyWrites @seofactor Yes, we have been working on Organic SEO w/ their internal department & they asked us if we can develop a site&database.

PearlyWrites @seofactor So we have been as well as finished up Organic SEO for all the Wyndham Hotel brands&doing final proofs on 160 pages.

seofactor @PearlyWrites Cool. I work for a hotel Internet marketing agency. Nice to know someone else out there gets to feel the pain of hotel seo.

PearlyWrites @seofactor haha I find it fun but I am known for being a little odd

seofactor @PearlyWrites Fun, yes. Easy, no. Requires sleep deprivation when you manage 90+ hotels, certainly. I like it too though. Especially the

seofactor @PearlyWrites hard ones. Like Orlando. It is difficult to shine when your job is too easy.

PearlyWrites @seofactor YES I totally agree with you! Lots of travel sites tend to take over the rankings vs the true hotels. Challenges are fun…

seofactor @PearlyWrites Ah yes…stupid TripAdvisor. Let me know if you ever hit a stump. I might have some ammo for you.

PearlyWrites @seofactor Def. and the same for you!

What does all this mean? At first glance, not much for a big company. However, for the independent SEO, conversations like this mean the difference between steak and Ramen noodles. At it’s core, these few short sentences have created a connection that may prove valuable one day.

You see, I work for an agency that deals primarily in the hospitality industry. It turns out that my Twitter friend is working in this segment currently. Without this conversation, we were not likely to ever meet or speak. But, now we are fully aware of each other.

Perhaps one day she needs an SEO. Maybe one day she has a question about hotel SEO (a segment in which I am very comfortable calling myself an expert), and I will be there to answer it. Maybe vice versa. Maybe she will post a job opening, and I am in need. Well, she will at the very least know that I’m a hotel SEO genius (maybe that’s a bit much).

Either way. I can directly attribute Twitter for 6 job offers (one of which sounds incredibly nice), and 3 of my current clients. what if I had ignored it all together? I might very well be eating Ramen noodles tonight (I’m having steak, by the way).

May 12, 2009
SEO Service Details

SEO Service Details

As with any business move, the SEO and Internet Marketing process will begin with a consultation with you to determine the campaign’s goals. This can be done via email, or a phone call at your convenience. Some questions to think about before the initial consultation (or before you make any small business Internet marketing moves with your site, with or without my help) would include:

What is your definition of success?How long has your site been active?Who is your target audience?

What are your goals with the site?

With both the local and national services, I will make use of the following methods of optimization and marketing to best promote your business’ site:

More information on these steps can be explored below.

These are the most common methods to basic optimization of the site. However, there are cases where extra efforts are needed. This can include rectifying improper syntax on the site with various coding languages that can prevent a search engine crawler, spam methods, internal linking, etc. These points are also taken care of as part of the service. The page being optimized will be completely undertaken by myself, Josh Garner, and optimized to comply with the very best practices of SEO.

Keyword Research
Arguably the most important part of any Internet marketing campaign, your site starts with the selection of the appropriate terms. With research, we can determine the search terms that your potential customers are actually using, and the terms that will bring the proper traffic to your site.

Current Rankings, Traffic and Link Analysis
You can’t move forward if you don’t know where you are. Once the targeted search terms are selected, I will run a number of reports to determine your site’s current status in the search engines. Not only will this give us a better understanding of where your site stands, it will help to provide us with a better plan of action for your site’s next moves, pointing out the strong and weak points that need attention.

Competition Analysis
The next step is to identify your competition. This will help us to determine a number of goals for your site including more keyword research and targeted link sites.

Meta Optimization
I will optimize the meta tags of the site to promote the desired search terms and induce a higher click through rate. This will include optimization of the title, description, and keywords meta tags.*

Content Optimization
Part of the optimization process also involves creating quality, optimized content on the site to focus on your major search terms, and attract a higher rate of link building once those efforts are implemented.

Press Release/Article Distribution
As part of the promotion service, we will often make use of articles and/or press releases. A press release can be one of the most inexpensive and effective ways to get your site noticed by increasing relevant traffic and increasing link popularity. A properly written article can create an online awareness of your site, and the show the integrity of your service or product. Though an increase in link popularity can indeed result from a great article or press release, it is not the main focus of this part of the service. Articles and press releases are used more to increase the visibility online, and to promote awareness of your company.

Link Building
One of the most important ranking and traffic building factors in SEO is link popularity. Once the site has been optimized, we will begin a link building campaign by approaching other relevant, and quality built sites, submit to directories, promote to social media groups, and paid links if and where appropriate.**

Social Media Marketing
Depending on your business model, we will sometimes promote your site and business in various social media marketing areas. Beyond online article and press release distributions, social media marketing will provide a much higher potential for inbound links from other websites, as well as promote your business to a more targeted audience. We will create and manage various social media accounts to broaden the reach of your site’s coverage, and provide quality links and traffic to your site. Please keep in mind that Social Media Marketing will have varying effects for various types of businesses. It should be noted that some business models simply do not benefit from Social Media Marketing.

Ranking Report
A monthly ranking report will be conducted and provided to you, showing your current standings in the search engine, your rankings the previous month, and the degree of change. This will be provided for the duration of the contract, with the option to continue thereafter.

We, Us and My Commitment to You
You may have noticed that I used the words “we” and “us” throughout these descriptions of the SEO services. No, there isn’t a team working on your site, just little ol’ me. However, it is important that you, as the client, take some part in the process. I will work with you through the steps to provide you with a better understanding of what methods are being used, how, and why. It is a personal and professional commitment that the services I provide come with satisfaction.

*The keywords meta tag has not as much an impact on your sites rankings as other factors. Due to years of abuse, the search engines have discounted any weight given to this tag. We do optimize it though for some directory submissions in the future (some of them pull from this tag) and so that there will always be an account of what terms are targeted for that page.

**It should be noted that paid links, currently, may sometimes come with a penalty by Google to the sites that sell them. Though there is no evidence of a penalty to the sites purchasing them, if a link is purchased on a penalized site, the money spent may very well be in vain. Any link build approach involving paid links will be discussed with you in detail before any action is taken.

If you are interested in any of my services, or just wanna talk SEO, feel free to contact me.

October 3, 2008
Outer Marketing » SEO Factor

3 September 2007

I don’t know why I’m on this big SMM kick lately. I have always loved the idea, but for some reason I’m spending more and more of my research time on it. One of the things I’ve been posting on a bit lately is the ways that “boring” industries can make use of Social Media […]

Build Links Like The Pros

31 August 2007

Link Building. Link Baiting. Social Media Marketing (SMM). The world of SEO/SEM seems to revolve around these things. When first learning about SEO, or when you start to tackle your first task, you soon realize that good, quality links are what you need. But how do you get these links?
You visit blogs, forums, and websites […]

Chris Bennett Shares Viral Social Marketing Ideas for Boring Industries

29 August 2007

Social marketing is relatively new, and still very exciting. A page on story on Digg can yield enough traffic to shut your site down for hours (and somehow you will brag about this). There are a lot of neat sites out there that do very well; video sites, gaming sites, those sites that offer a […]

Email Marketing Resources

1 June 2007

I’ve recently been tasked with sucking up, filtering, and compiling a report on the best practices and strategies for email marketing. I must say that I’m not as versed in this as I should be (even I don’t make use of it’s power, using only FeedBlitz for my subscribers), and it should be very beneficial […]

Free Social Marketing Idea

30 May 2007

In today’s SEO world, there is a lot f buzz about social media and using it to market a site/blog/business. With the advent of MySpace, and the literally thousands of other sites that allow for the creation of a profile, the sharing of pictures, the spreading of news, or anything else that allows for the […]

Viral Content on Mini-Sites

3 May 2007

A couple days ago, Cameron Olthuis from Search Engine Land posted 5 Reasons To Put Viral Content On Mini-Sites. Today, Rebecca from SEOMoz posted the flip side of the coin with 5 Reasons Not to Put Viral Content on Mini-Sites. Define: Viral Content/Marketing

Both are great posts with easy to follow guidelines. Read the first for motivation […]

Next Page »

September 26, 2007
Social Media Marketing » SEO Factor

24 September 2007

Everyone else has one. I went through a bunch of them, but these were the only ones that were actually “bookmarking” sites.

Here Is An Idea That Would Help Restaurants Get In The SMM Game

3 September 2007

I don’t know why I’m on this big SMM kick lately. I have always loved the idea, but for some reason I’m spending more and more of my research time on it. One of the things I’ve been posting on a bit lately is the ways that “boring” industries can make use of Social Media […]

Build Links Like The Pros

31 August 2007

Link Building. Link Baiting. Social Media Marketing (SMM). The world of SEO/SEM seems to revolve around these things. When first learning about SEO, or when you start to tackle your first task, you soon realize that good, quality links are what you need. But how do you get these links?
You visit blogs, forums, and websites […]

Chris Bennett Shares Viral Social Marketing Ideas for Boring Industries

29 August 2007

Social marketing is relatively new, and still very exciting. A page on story on Digg can yield enough traffic to shut your site down for hours (and somehow you will brag about this). There are a lot of neat sites out there that do very well; video sites, gaming sites, those sites that offer a […]

September 26, 2007
Link Building/Popularity » SEO Factor

24 September 2007

Sigh…I really didn’t want to blog about this at all. However, there is a huge uproar right now in the SEO world on the validity of directories in regard to links. Rand at SEOMoz made a few posts that prompted a few bloggers to bite. One post in particular (I’m going to fore go the […]

Link Building Tips From Shylock

18 September 2007

There are soooooo many link building tip articles and blog posts out there. I have even written a few myself (and will likely continue to do so). But I stumbled (actually caught on Sphinn) onto one today that was actually a more interesting read.

Here Is An Idea That Would Help Restaurants Get In The SMM Game

3 September 2007

I don’t know why I’m on this big SMM kick lately. I have always loved the idea, but for some reason I’m spending more and more of my research time on it. One of the things I’ve been posting on a bit lately is the ways that “boring” industries can make use of Social Media […]

Build Links Like The Pros

31 August 2007

Link Building. Link Baiting. Social Media Marketing (SMM). The world of SEO/SEM seems to revolve around these things. When first learning about SEO, or when you start to tackle your first task, you soon realize that good, quality links are what you need. But how do you get these links?
You visit blogs, forums, and websites […]

Chris Bennett Shares Viral Social Marketing Ideas for Boring Industries

29 August 2007

Social marketing is relatively new, and still very exciting. A page on story on Digg can yield enough traffic to shut your site down for hours (and somehow you will brag about this). There are a lot of neat sites out there that do very well; video sites, gaming sites, those sites that offer a […]

Will This Link Help?

23 July 2007

Aaron at SEOBook.com wrote a nice post on determining if a link will pass link juice to a site. In an Internet marketing world that can sometimes be completely wrapped up in gaining inbound links, it’s a good idea to know whether a link will pass any authority to your site or not; saving quite […]

Next Page »

September 26, 2007
Internet Marketing SEO Services | Website Promotion Service | Link Building Service » SEO Factor

Full Internet Marketing SEO Service
Starting at $2999

Once your site is optimized, the job is not complete. To maximize your site’s ranking and traffic potential, it must be submitted and effectively promoted. Let me promote your site to the online community through directory and search engine submission, and targeted articles and press releases to drive traffic and build link popularity.

The Internet Marketing SEO Service is much like the Meta Optimization service, with a more aggressive approach. Not only will I optimize the pages of your site, I will also employ other marketing techniques so as to ensure that your website reaches the top of the search engines, and market your site and business on the Internet.

I will make use of legitimate, relevant link building, press releases or article releases, and various other optimization and marketing methods.

Keyword Research
One of the most important, initial steps of optimizing and promoting your site is deciding on the most appropriate keywords to target. I will analyze your site, and the competitive market to not only provide the best ranking potential, but to also increase the quality of visitors to your site.

Site and Meta Optimization
I will optimize the meta tags of the site to promote the desired search terms, and induce a higher click through rate, and I will optimize the text on the site to focus on those search terms.

Part of the optimization process also involves creating quality, optimized content on the site to focus on your major search terms, and attract a higher rate of link building once those efforts are implemented.

Press Release/Article Distribution
As part of the promotion service, I will often make use of articles and/or press releases. A press release can be one of the most inexpensive and effective ways to get your site noticed by increasing relevant traffic and increasing link popularity. A properly written article can create an online awareness of your site, and the show the integrity of your service or product. Through an increase in link popularity can indeed result from a great article or press release, it is not the main focus of this part of the service. Articles and press releases are used more to increase the visibility online, and to promote awareness of your company.

Social Media Marketing
Depending on your business model, I will sometimes promote your site and business in various social media marketing. Beyond online article and press release distributions, social media marketing will provide a much higher potential for inbound links from other websites, as well as promote your business to a more targeted audience. SEO Factor will create and manage various social media accounts to broaden the reach of your site’s coverage, and provide quality links and traffic to your site. Please keep in mind that Social Media Marketing will have varying effects for various types of businesses. Some business models are not always positively impacted by Social Media Marketing (though I can usually find a way to promote the site in some creative fashion).

Link Building
One of the most important ranking and traffic building factors in SEO is link popularity. Once the site has been optimized, I will begin a link building campaign by approaching other relevant, and quality built sites, submit to directories, promote to social media groups, and paid links where appropriate.

Ranking Report
A monthly ranking report will be conducted and provided to you, showing your current standings in the search engine, your rankings the previous month, and the degree of change. This will be provided for 6 months, with the option to continue with a minimal fee.

Because this is an ongoing service, I will continually track the rankings and progress of your site. If at the end of the 9 month period, your site does not have page 1 rankings for at least 5 of the 20 search terms in any of the three major search engines (Google, Yahoo!, and MSN) then you will get 50% of your down payment back, and keep the optimized and promoted site.

This service has a one time payment starting at $2999. The price depends on the site, the competitive environment, and amount of time and effort involved. Please read the Terms of Service for full details.

If you’d like to inquire about services from SEO Factor, send an email to sales@ anytime or leave a message at 904-214-6588. I will promptly reply to your inquiry/request.

July 31, 2007