This has caused me to do a fair amount of research and to once again present my own view point.

There are three reasons why you should be seriously looking at creating a Google+ Profile

SEO Benefit

This is by far the main benefit. SEOMoz, a respected international search engine optimisation firm have run multiple tests and have found that companies with Google+ profiles are being prioritised inn search engines based on their social connection with the searcher.

This means that your company can getter better search engine exposure simply by creating a good Google+ page.

SEOMoz created a great video to explain this in more detail if you would like to know more.

Google+ is full of influencers

A big part of social media marketing is building relationships with key influencers in your marketplace who have the Internet savvy to take your brand to his or her networks (and hopefully viral).

Google+ is full of (over 100 million) people who are early adopters of social media technology and who have extensive networks, followers and fans. Due to the fact that Google+ is not too saturated with many people yet it provides a great opportunity to find those key influencers who can take your message to their networks on other popular platforms as well.

It’s always good to be the first

Getting into something first always presents an opportunity to capture a marketplace before your competitors. Providing an excellent competitive advantage.

We would recommend getting into Google+ early in order to build good, engaging and trusted networks for your industry before your competition does.

Three reasons to get into Google+ originally posted on Mike Saunders - Keynote Speaker and Social Media Coach

Social media loves fresh content

Fresh content released on a blog often ends up in the social media sphere, and is shared around by interested people until the content has become dull and boring. As this content travels around social media channels it generates a relatively large amount of initial traffic to your website.

Round about now people usually ask me what makes content social media friendly. There are three tips to think about:

1. Fresh content is relevant to the times and needs of your customers
2. Fresh content adds value to the global online conversation on the topic you are writing about
3. Fresh content is easy to digest and easy to share

Google loves fresh content

Google is looking for websites that are creating content on an ongoing basis. This is because they can see that a well managed and often updated blog/website is normally managed by someone who cares about what they put online. They care about their website and the audience.

Google reward these site by ranking them well in search engines. They rank the articles quickly but over time a website that produces consistent content on a specific topic will benefit with better general search engine growth. So how do we create content that is Google friendly? Here are a few thoughts:

1. Make sure your on page SEO is flawless
2. Make sure you make it easy to share to social media (articles shared on twitter are quickly found by google)
3. Guest blog on other blogs and use the opportunity to link back to your blog.

Daunting?

If this sounds daunting to you, don’t stress too much. Drop DigitLab an email and let’s set up a meeting to discuss your content strategy online. Content Strategy and writing is something that we love doing, and we would love to help you improve your online presence. We also do video and audio content should that blow your hair back.

Content Strategy: Keeping it fresh originally posted on Mike Saunders - Keynote Speaker and Social Media Coach

So lets look into how this will impact your SEO efforts in attracting the attention of influential internet users.

Starred/Bookmarked Results are appearing on the font page

When people bookmark pages in google chrome it syncs with their google account and prioritises those results in google search. Google does this because they believe that the most meaningful results are those that come from sources that you trust.

This means that our SEO and internet marketing job just got harder. If we are not able to build trust with our consumers and our competitors are then they will most likely hold a top, front page position instead of us.

Here’s an example:

I have bookmarked TomorrowToday, the company where I am a Keynote Speaker and Social Media Coach. Recently I did a search on Keynote Speaker and found a page full of results that did not link to TomorrowToday. I only found TomorrowToday on the second page of the search result.

However, because I have TomorrowToday bookmarked the search result displayed TomorrowToday on the front page in my starred/bookmarked listings. This listing showed up at the top of the page.

Building Trust

Building trust is a complicated and onerous task. It is done by building relationships with the end consumer and  learning to appreciate their unique situation. Companies and brands online need to build trustworthy communities in order to naturally gain the competitive edge in their market. More and more Search Engines are looking towards the personalised social graph of internet users to create a personalise search result.

Google Chrome users are getting a more personalised view of the internet originally posted on Mike Saunders - Keynote Speaker and Social Media Coach

What does this have to do with search? As I always say in my social media presentations, search is all about delivering relevant results to your search query. Relevancy on the internet used to be related to the amount of links linking back to a website (this was Googles primary way of discovering relevant, topical websites).

Social Search

Now Google has launched Social Search which takes into consideration your social connections on Facebook, Twitter and everywhere else. This means that articles written by peers may be higher in your search results than another persons search results. Google describe the impact of this best with a video example of someone looking to travel to Zurich:

To put it simply, the bigger your network on Facebook and Twitter the more impact you could have on people’s search results.

If you would like a more personalised search experience visit www.google.com/profiles and update for profile.

How social media affects Google search results originally posted on Mike Saunders - Keynote Speaker and Social Media Coach

YouTube also creates SEO advantages for your company because Google seems to love video. If there is video content on the web (especially in YouTube) that matches your search query you will find links to those videos on the front page of your search result.

So what you need to do is make sure that your video’s on YouTube have keyword specific titles and tags. This is much the same as making sure that your website has H1 headers and meta tags.

However, when people find your video through Google they are usually taken to your YouTube profile and not to your website. So make sure that your YouTube profile is geared to drive that traffic to your website.

So video marketing can not only help in creating more hype in social media but it can also have a great impact on your SEO efforts. All the more reason to get started on a video marketing campaign to complete your internet marketing campaign.

Looking at SEO for Youtube originally posted on Mike Saunders - Keynote Speaker and Social Media Coach

Well now we have something new to consider: Facebook Community Pages

What it looks like and why have one?
A Community Page looks and feels exactly like a normal Facebook page but it has a slightly different purpose. The page is meant to be used for all the unofficial band, brand and business pages that are out there. Facebook seems to be trying to bring a more official status to a Page by letting the unofficial pages have their own platform.

What’s so different about it?
Basically the biggest difference is that when these pages gain popularity they have the potential to be handed over to the Facebook community. This will mean that the community page will start to look like a wiki about the page topic.

Start your own community page

Why not just use a group?
My personal opinion is that Facebook is trying to phase out groups but there is no proof for that other than my gut feel. Another thought would be SEO. Groups on Facebook are not indexed by Google. So if you would like to start a community of people and wish that community had a search engine presence then a Community Page is they way forward.

The other thing to remember is that pages provide user statistics. So your community page could provide some interesting insight into its users.

Allfacebook makes a very interesting observation:

“As Facebook has come to realize that the users want to use Pages as a general “community platform” to socialize ideas and causes, they’ve decided to enable users to essentially create their own “Unofficial Pages”. Users can then meet other users who have similar ideas and interests. One strange distinction is the difference between Pages and groups. Facebook states that groups are for “professional interests or hobbies” whereas community Pages are for “causes and topics”. I’m not sure users will understand (or even care) about this distinction.”

The success of the Community Page concept will completely depend on the users taking to it the way the Facebook expects them to.

The summarised version
Pages are for your ‘official’ presence on Facebook. Groups are for ‘professional interests and hobbies’ and Community pages are for the Facebook Community to express themselves.

To look at the effect this may have on marketing take a look at my post on Ideate

Interested in knowing more about Facebook?

Consider booking a social media workshop

What on earth is a Facebook Community page? originally posted on Mike Saunders - Keynote Speaker and Social Media Coach

I recently read an article that was retweeted by @QuirkEducation from Daily SEO Tip that made me very happy to see that the old school tricks of the trade are slowly becoming an historical method of search engine optimisation.

In this article Christopher Holland highlights “7 widely believed myths of SEO” and I wanted to take some time to comment on my experiences with 5 of these SEO techniques.

1) Submit your websites to search engines

“It has been at least 5 years since this technique has been necessary and all you need to do is obtain a few backlinks and make sure your not blocking robots from crawling your website.”

I recently launched a website for a non-profit organization called LIV who have started a village for orphans and widows, where the website was indexed in about one day. This was achieved because the team at LIV sent and email to their loyal database announcing the new website. Someone on that mailing list linked back to the website and ‘magically’ we were indexed with Google. In the first two weeks the website was live  it was already experiencing a substantial volume of search engine traffic.

2) Keyword Densities

“So instead of spamming, I recommend that you write great content targeted towards your visitors and to include your chosen keywords naturally”

My most successful online marketing campaigns have a strong backbone in creating content for people – not search engines. The result has alway been listings in search engines on relevant keyword searches.

3) Content Length

“Your content should be as long as it needs to be to tell the reader exactly what you need to.”

I couldn’t agree with this more. Real people want you to get to the point and stop wasting their time. Write your articles for people.

4) Keyword Rich Domain Name

Personal Experience: My “non keyword rich” domain name of www.mikesaunders.co.za ranks in the number two position on google for the term “social media coach” (number one for SA Google) above the key word rich domain www.socialmediacoachingcenter.com

5) Meta tags are no longer relevant

Meta tags may not be relevant but the following are extremely important to use in your website code:

• Page Titles
• Meta Descriptions

These fall into the metatag category and are incredibly important to present yourself inside the Google search once you are listed. A great title and description could make a great difference in your search engine traffic.

Great search engine ranking comes from great content originally posted on Mike Saunders - Keynote Speaker and Social Media Coach

Does your domain name stick in the mind of your clients, or even better, your future clients?

Researching the available names for your product or service can be tiresome and confusing because of the different views expressed all over the internet. My advice (to add to the confusion) would be to make sure that whatever domain name you choose – it sticks!!

In fact, in my opinion, nothing else matters with a domain name.

In the area of domain names only two factors need to be considered to make the name stick – Simplicity and Consistancy

Simplicity should be the king of it’s domain

A simple domain will stick in the mind of a consumer better than a fancy, creative, obscure name. The following process has always helped me to find great domain names:

1. Start with focusing on the purpose of the website – make sure that the purpose of the website is a part of the doman name.
2. Research your target market – do the neccessary research to find out what keywords your target market are searching
3. Look at creative way to combine your website purpose with the targeted keywords – make sure that in your creativity you remain simplistic!

Consistancy makes you easy to follow

When considering your domain name it is important to look at the social media channels you intend using as well. Social media URL’s can create a confusing environment for your client if they do not follow the same ‘simple stickieness’ as your chosen domain. In this case the aim is consistancy. When all  your domain names (website, blog and social networks) follow the same simplicity you will find that your online profile will start to stick in the mind of the consumer.

Real-life example

An example I can use here is my latest online project Glamour Bride. The current primary focus of these domains was to create a simple and sticky portfolio of domain names that can be easliy remembered by people talking about it.

Simplicity: The domain name: www.glamourbride.co.za is simple and short, it includes a targeted keyword and makes a statement about the brand of the magazine.

Consistancy: The twitter profile and facebook page echo the brand with @glamourbride and www.facebook.com/glamourbride.

Finally, once you have your chosen domain name ask a few trusted friends for their opinions on the name. It is best to ask people that fit into your target market. Once you have their positive feedback buy the names immediately and secure the social media channels as soon as possible. A good idea disappears fast. I know this from experience.

Will your domain names ‘stick’ in the mind of your clients? originally posted on Mike Saunders - Keynote Speaker and Social Media Coach

The top twenty most visited websites by South Africans, as provided by Alexa, show us that South Africa internet users are interested in information, fun and money.

Information

Looking for something?

Search is still the primary point of a South African internet user with large portions of usership is driven towards Google. Yahoo may add to these search orientated statistics but it may be misleading as most Yahoo users are mail users and can only access their email from the Yahoo website itself. MSN is also one of the Top 20. The popularity of Wikipedia shows that South Africans are starting to ‘choose’ their search engine according to their specific needs.

Latest News

It has become inevitable that the internet in South Africa will provide a better news service to the public. As first world countries have may an almost complete shift to internet news the biggest hurdle in South Africa will the internet access. I don’t believe that we can say that internet holds the majority of our news readers but it is safe to say that most internet users in South Africa are following the news over an internet connection. News24 has been the most successful service offering in this regard trumping all overseas competition.

Seeking Opinions

The international blogging community is full of personal opinion which has helped marketers to perform fast and effective research on product feedback and brand reputation. In South Africa it seems that we are moving towards a similar environment of both readers of blogs seeking opinions and bloggers giving opinion. Blogger.com seems to be the platform of choice with most South Africans followed by WordPress which are both free services.

Fun

Socialising

It’s no surprise that Facebook is the second most popular webiste in South Africa after Google. However it is interesting to note the rise in popularity of Twitter, YouTube and Flickr networks. This indicates that South Africans are taking to Social Media as a lifestyle rather than just a fad of one specific software programme. New development on the international front have laid the foundation to Social Media becoming a fundamental and reputable marketing channel for almost every compentant marketing plan.

It is also interesting to note from checkfacebook.com that roughly 25% of South African Facebook uses are over the age of 35 showing how the social networking site has been able to bring the concept of ‘sharing’ on the internet across generations.

Money

Shopping

Coupled with the idea of having fun on the internet South African’s seem to be taking well to online shopping. At the very least the seem to be bargain hunting which would lay the foundation for more confidence in e-commerce in the future. Gumtree is extremely popular with their classfied style listings, Bid or buy and Amazon have also done very well attracting our attention. On a personal note, it is interesting that my wife (who is your everyday internet user) did about 80% of her christmas shopping online this year.

Banking

South Africans took to internet banking very well a few years ago and the stats show with both Standard Bank and ABSA in 13th and 14th place respectively. The main competitor to internet banking seems to be mobile banking due the distrubution edge it has. It will be interesting to see how the Smartphone’s impact the cellphone verse internet banking statistics.

What can we take away from this?

1. Search Marketing (SEO) still has its place in our marketing plans and needs to be prioritised within your organisation
2. Social Media is here to stay – it is not a fad – invest now and start experimenting with campaign ideas. This is unchartered territory for most companies.
3. Banner Advertising on News websites may still bring returns on your advertising budget
4. South African are open to using web-based software packages. This is shown in the adaptation to internet banking, the use of blogging software and online shopping. There is definitely scope to extend your company services online in a practical and intuitive fashion.

The complete Top 20 most visited websites by South Africans

1 ) Google SA
2 ) Facebook
3 ) Google
4 ) Yahoo
5 ) YouTube
6 ) Wikipedia
7 ) Gumtree
8 ) Wikipedia
9 ) Blogger
10 ) Twitter
11 ) Windows Live
12 ) News24
13 ) Standard Bank
14 ) ABSA
15 ) WordPress
16 ) MSN
17 ) IOL
18 ) Flickr
19 ) Bid or Buy
20 )Amazon (Courtesy of Alexa.com)

SA’s Top 20 Websites: What South Africa want’s from the internet originally posted on Mike Saunders - Keynote Speaker and Social Media Coach

Too often I see a small company, and even some larger companies, try to do too much on the web. Yes, I agree that the internet is a great tool for business and for generating business but I have to remind people that the website is only one part of the entire business geration exercise for a company. Sinking tens of thosands of rands into a webiste does not necessarily mean that your webiste will be ore successfull.

A successful website is one that has a very clear objective. The website is then designed around the objective rather than the desire for a great and beautiful website.

This project has such a clear objective of putting the company on display for potential clients and then providing contact information for clients to contact them. As the company is a staffing solutions company there was a need to cater for the potential candidates that may arrive on the website looking for work. Staffinder already use a very effective carreer finding tool called Carreer Junction where they house and manage all their available positions. Instead of recreating the elaborate staff management system, a link to the available jobs page was all that was neccessary to achieve the company objective.

The other aspect that I love about this website it that it integrates so well into the current business practice that already exists in the organisation. There are no orgnisational shifts and learning curves to take place in order to use the website to its full potential. Therefore a very short learnig time is needed before the website becomes useful to the client.

This is a great website because it is made up of a winning formula:

1. A clear objective
2. Clear direction to the user of the website
3. Well laid out ‘On Page SEO‘
4. Website integrates into the current business practices

A Small Website is Sometimes the Best Website originally posted on Mike Saunders - Keynote Speaker and Social Media Coach