Social media , PPC, Link Building and SEO all made great strides in 2010. Your company probably made a lot of changes in all three areas this year. That probably has you thinking: what’s next?
Here are some ideas on what you should resolve to do in 2011 to keep the momentum going:
- Build Smarter Links. For years link builders have ignored the warnings regarding over optimization of anchor text. Google tightened its grip even further in 2010 causing many link builders to lose rankings because their link profile looked too artificial. Make it a 2011 resolution to mix up your anchor text as much as possible, include more branded links, and link to deep pages.
- Blog More. Why it took so long is a mystery, but 2010 was the year when most companies realized the hidden potential waiting in their corporate blogs, simply by including keyword-rich content. If you’re doing that now, you’re probably seeing the results. If you haven’t started, get going. If you’re not much of a writer, find someone in your company who can write to be the “voice” of your company. While you’re at it, resolve in 2011 to be a guest blogger on at least one other website. It helps to establish you as an expert in your field. What’s more, you get a one-way link back to your site, and you certainly can’t get enough of those.
- Re-energize your PPC campaign. If you’re using paid search, look at what you’re paying for and make sure it’s still working for you. Create some new targeted ad groups, new ads, and landing pages to maximize your conversion rates.
- SEO, Meet Marketing. Whether you have in-house marketing and SEO departments, or you farm everything out, you need to establish rapport between the creative’s and the nerds. Make sure everybody’s on the same path when it comes to your marketing goals. The creative department needs to know how to please search engines, and the SEO geeks should know why the site has to look good.
- Tweet. A lot. To many of you, that sounds like a waste of time, and a year ago you may have been right. But not anymore. This year, literally millions of companies established a Twitter presence. They use it for everything from simple announcements to special offers and free giveaways to their followers. Twitter is an instant audience; its brevity makes it perfect for conveying messages in a “can’t-wait” world. While we’re on the subject, make it a point in 2011 to be more social in general .Get active on your Facebook site. Make it work for you.
- Communicate with your SEOs. Too many companies are happy to just let the SEO do his business and wait for the phone to ring. But nobody’s perfect. You may hear about a new trend that sounds interesting to you that your SEO hasn’t discovered yet. Don’t wait, call. If you don’t understand what SEO is, and you simply have a person who does it because somebody said you should, you need to sit down with that person and learn as much about it as you can.
- Focus on local/Mobile search. Currently, there are at least 4.6 billion mobile subscribers in the world. That’s half the world’s population. Can people find your business with their smart phone? If not, why not? Talk to your SEO provider and start being seen.
- Read More. Sure, this SEO and link building stuff gets pretty dry if you’re not in the business. But it’s information you need to know.
Happy New Year from all of us to all of you!