Social Media and SEO

Over the last year as sites like Twitter, Facebook and now Google+ become more and more popular its has had an effect on the way Google ranks websites and what the SEO process looks like. Not so long ago SEO was the science of combining the right keywords with unique content and making sure your on-site factors were up to speed. Then you moved offsite and built up good backlinks from all sorts of places. Always building a steady stream of backlinks and your ranking would rise. Today we have the social media factor to consider. You have to be active socially to get Googles respect and rankings. Here is my small business guide for social media that doesn’t take up your whole day.

Twitter

This one is essential to your online sucsess. Create a profile and don’t stress about making it look amazing. Use one of the preset themes and put your company logo or even better a photo of your face so that your profile has a real voice. If you are the tinkering type you can add a custom background. If you go this route try to include your website address and maybe your phone number here. Then you will want to start tweeting. Tweet once a day and talk about what is happenoing in your business. Maybe you have a sale on for a product, maybe a new product or service has just been added or you can tell about the color options of your top selling product. Keep it light and focused on what your customers want to know about your business. Once a while, but not too often, throw a personal antidote in there to show you are human. Try to avoid telling people what you had for lunch but you can tell them what the popular song around the office is. Make sure to include links to your products or your webpage time to time.

Facebook

This is an extension on to what you are already doing on Twitter. Set up a business page not a profile. Noone wants to be friends with a business. They want to like it and stay upto date. I will write a follow up post about how to effectively setup a business facebook page later on. Post an update once a day, it can be the same as your twitter post. Facebook has the luxury of adding photos to posts and I suggest you use it. Users are more likely to read and click on things when they see a picture. Show them that new product!

Your website

I always suggest that you include a “like” button, “tweet” button and +1 button on your site. I also suggest a spot on the home page that displays your latest tweet or two. This really helps your SEO and the customer experience. From an SEO standpoint, don’t worry so much about the amount of followers or likes you have on your profiles. They will get built up over time. Your updates are public and people do see them wether they are followers or not. Not everyone want to get your updates all the time but they do like to stop by and see what you have to say more often then you think. Be social and update once a day. It only takes a few minutes and the benefits are increasing all the time. Speaking of social we just launched our own social media seo tool that’s free and easy to use. Check it out: www.faseeo.com

The Importance of Google Search Domination

It’s amazing how Google had change the Internet world. It started of with a search bar in a website, which probably stemmed from the Windows interface. Today, Google is a successful multi-billion dollar business that no businessman can deny. Of course, success didn’t spontaneously appear for Google, it made success from taking advantage of this millennium’s most celebrated media platform. And yet many people still don’t get the magic of the search engine. You see, when people want something, they first research something about it. If I would want a brand new car, I’d first look for a list of the best new cars in this era. Of course, this problem can be solved by going to the most accessible car dealer in town and ask the clerk with eyeglasses who seemed to finish a PHD in car retail. But this is not the case. This generation is powered by the Internet. People had ditch the nearest car dealer in town, and instead opted for easily accessible search engines on the web. The brilliant minds behind Google made a fortune off of this need, and today it is one of the most respected search engines all over the world. In fact, because of its impact to the society and life as general, Google is now part of the newest edition of the Webster dictionary. Ordinary consumers of the internet like your mom, your dad, your girlfriend or your neighbor don’t seem to understand how important the Google search engine is for business men like you and I. They pop on their chair, turn on the computer, and log-on to the Internet and Google what’s been bothering in their minds or the latest news perhaps. Businessmen take advantage of the Google search, to make their products move up the top searches, because of course: the first thing that pops-up on the Google search is most likely, the most relevant and most important website that is related to your query. Vlad Works specializes in this service, and yes we have perfected this art. With years of experience and over a hundreds of satisfied customers who availed of our service, there’s no doubt about it that Vlad Works may be your answer to the domination of the Google search.

The Local Search Marketing Business

To become a successful businessman in the Internet business, one must be know what Local Search Marketing is, or else he or she may opt to putting up a bigger business instead. By definition from one of today’s most visited information website, Search Engine Marketing, (SEM), is a form of Internet marketing that seeks to promote websites by increasing their visibility search engine result pages (SERPs) through the use of, paid placement, contextual advertising, and paid inclusion. SEM is utilizing various means of “marketing” a website in order for it to become more relevant in regard to search engine searches and their rankings. It should be asserted that SEM is NOT SEO and vice versa. That means, a businessman’s website can more popular than Facebook with the help of Search Engine Marketing. But what does that relate to Local Search Marketing? Well, it’s SEM by definition; just add the word and its meaning ‘Local’ to the word ‘Search’. It is an effective search marketing strategy that has the following purposes: optimizes a website in the correct manner so that it ranks at the top for location based search queries; makes sure that a website appears and ranks well on the search engines’ local maps, and; promote a company on a local level using social media platforms. It Is quickly becoming a must for every business owner. People are putting away their yellow pages, and searching on their computers + phones to find everything from a local dentist to a great place to eat. Local Search is becoming increasingly important to any company. If set up correctly and utilized appropriately, one can get pass established websites; by appearing on the location map that frequently appears for location based searches. There are a lot of companies today that offers Local Search Marketing for a professional service fee. One must consider however, the excellence of how these companies carry out their professional service. Here at VladWorks.com, Local Search Marketing is just on the park. They deliver the goods as easy and as efficiently as possible. Don’t be fooled however: these hardworking guys do work like every drop of sweat was meant to be paid.

Facebook SEO & The Power of the Facebook Button “Like”

The Facebook is a global phenomenon currently unmatched by most of today’s websites. It was either that Zuckerberg guy was very lucky with embracing the thought and opportunity a few realized, or that Zuckerberg guy was really very lucky with embracing the thought and opportunity a few realized. Enter the world of the Facebook Fan Page. It’s a mini-website powered by Facebook’s engine, designed for the lazy website programmer for an opportunity to become the next billionaire. And the best part about it: it’s free! The problem about the Facebook Fan Page is it ranges from millions to billions: about 3 for every Facebook user. People utilize this feature for many things: for fun, for entertainment or for crowding the Facebook traffic. But nevertheless, it also provides an opportunity for business minded-people. You see, a Facebook Fan Page can also be like a working website: it can also earn bucks. The challenge is how you can attract a lot of traffic and a lot of people to your fan page. May it be a product, a service, an application or simply a plain old prank for your annoying best friend, just add advertisements to your liking and viola; instant money on the web. So the question now is, how can you attract your whole neighborhood onto your Facebook page? There are a lot of ways actually; you may attract potential visitors if your page has a lot of likes. These likes act like votes: the more the number of fans (or likes), the more the website is famous; and hence, more people in the future will be attracted to open the page themselves. Facebook SEO however exists in a Facebook Fan Page. Today, millions of website owners either turn to Facebook for increased traffic to their own websites, or even move their whole business to the Facebook Fan Page. This phenomenon can be easily described by the power of the Facebook featured called “Like”. It’s a convenient way for users to gauge the relevance of a Website Page. No wonder why a lot, and if not, all websites turn to this feature: it gives the facebook SEO power to users themselves.

What does an SEO company do, by the way?

It seems as though the internet is getting crowded by the minute. You would always turn to the more trusted online search engines, hoping to stumble on the most relevant website you’re searching for. For the more ignorant and internet illiterate user, it seems that search engines were made for the specific purpose of searching the world wide web only, not minding the content of a specific website. For them, it seems as though there is no science involved in the process of searching for the most relevant topics. But through time, the search engine technology has been modified, reworked and made importance of.
Welcome to the world of Search Engine Optimization, or fondly called SEO by the most of the techno-adults today. SEO is actually not a new trend; it’s been quite present since the early days of Google and Yahoo, only it wasn’t offered as a separate occupation. Its function actually is quite simple that even a child who can understand the Internet, can also understand what it is.
Search Engine Optimization is optimizing or improving a particular website to make it appear the most relevant in any search engine in the World Wide Web. Simply put; it pimps a particular profile to make it more searchable. Now, for the consumer or user, it actually isn’t quite a ‘big deal’. I mean, who would care what particular website pops-up first when I type the word ‘Salami’ on the search bar? The website owners would care, of course.
Website owners earn money by putting up advertisements in there websites; much like how the TV and Radio programs make money. Problem was, consumers (or users) must not only view an advertisement; they must click the link attached to it. And of course, with the billions of people using the internet all over the world, and the thousands of websites created a day, how the hell can a website stand out from all of its competitors?
An affordable SEO company is the answer. Here at VladWorks.com, we just not only “pimp” the relevance rating of your website; we also make your website appear it would be the last website the searcher would search for.

How to generate more Facebook Fans for your business

The world of SEO is always evolving, and lately social media has been creeping in and playing a much larger role. The trend towards social media popularity playing a role in SEO makes a lot of sense. Google’s top 10 rankings for any keyword try to reflect the most relevant sites for that subject ,and what better voting system than the people having the final say. In my quest to remain a high performing but affordable seo company I jumped into Facebook with both feet and here are the results. Now that we know we need Facebook fans to our optimized FB page, how do you go about it? I have been working on this exact same issue and have found 2 great, simple and free methods to generate hundreds of likes to your FB page.

www.fantunnel.com

Go to www.fantunnel.com and sign up. Its free and easy to use. Simply input your FB page info and like as many other people pages as you want. Personally I only like pages of real value rather then those that give me high credit counts but thats up to you. So now you have earned yourself probably 20 or so new fans. Not bad for 5 minutes work.

www.twiends.com

Log on to www.twiends.com and sign up. Twiends is just like Fan Tunnel, but much more complex and there is a way to use their system to generate a loop of credits to get you like after like. I managed to collect about 200 likes over a few days and using less then 3 minutes a day. 1. After you sign up your first screen is the twitter page. Follow step one to link your twitter account. I suggest using a twitter account that is aged and also has no issues with following a lot people with it. I use multiple accounts on Twitter so I used an account that I don’t mind having to weed out the spammers later. 2. Next you want to click on settings. This is crucial to your success. Make sure to set the credits you give to zero or turn it off. You will be trading following people on twitter to getting fans on Facebook. 3. Now click the Facebook tab and connect your Facebook. This should be the Facebook account that has your Facebook fan page that you want to promote. 4. Click the settings tab and set how many credits you want to give for each new like. Personally I like to give the users 6 credits for being a fan. This places my page at the top of each users like list and gives great incentive to like my page. You can set this as high or low as you like. 5. Thats it. Now go back to the Twitter tab and start to “Twiend” people. You will build up credits for each person you follow and trade them for likes to your page. I suggest logging on each morning to see what new users are there to follow. I also poke around in the 3 other tabs to see if anything interesting pops up to earn a few credits. The whole process take me about 3 minutes a day and I gain valuable like after like. It boosts my rankings in Google and builds my following. Note: I am guilty of following those who give high credits so get more likes faster. Only follow those you are comfortable to follow. If you do follow someone try to read their tweets for a few days before deciding to unfollow them. You may make some good connections.

Top 10 reasons you need SEO in 2011

As the year ends lets take a look at some of the many reasons you need SEO to have a successful 2011.

1. Organic results make up 85% of all clicks in search engines and the paid ads only 15%. This makes good long term seo a good investment over ppc any day.
2. Organic rankings are long term. Unless you immediately stop with SEO after you get the desired rankings your position will stay a long time and continue to give you free traffic. With proper keyword research you can have cost effective and quick results.
3. More people Google then ever before. There are more and more people going online and “googling” more often and for more phrases everyday. Studies show that search traffic is increasing and not decreasing.
4. Google is becoming more local. Google Places, Google Maps, Google Reviews these are becoming a bigger factor in the way we search. The way we search for information and businesses is changing all the time.
5. Proper SEO has a high return on investment. SEO delivers tracking that enables you to see what is working and creating profit so you are always focused on phrases that pay.
6. Top 10 results give your company credibility and builds an online reputation. A company that understands the value of SEO also understands the value of a customer and it always shows. No one buys from websites they don’t trust.
7. Proper SEO delivers the most targeted traffic to your website you can find. Every click from Google is a real human looking for exactly what your website delivers. This is the ideal customer.
8. Google is online every minute or everyday. There are people searching at all time and from all over the world. It is your salesman that doesn’t take breaks or sleep or come in late. With PPC you need to monitor time zones, days of week and times of year to maximize your spending. With free Google traffic you are always selling.
9. When was the last time you didn’t Google for what you needed to find information on? Google still controls over 2/3 of search traffic and hence 2/3 of our daily online life.
10. Google is and will stay the boss for a long time. The way we access the Internet is expanding and changing everyday. More devices go online and more people continue to use Google and its many search apps. Getting to the top of their lists will always be the most reliable and cost effective way of getting access to that traffic.

Here is to many happy clients in 2011.

Effective Use of Social Media for small business.

As a small business owner I know how hard it is to find and engage your website users to get them to become clients for your business. Today’s social media demands are hard to keep up with and I get asked all the time how I do it for me and my clients and still keep sane. The only thing that keeps me going is the use of www.hootsuite.com This little online gem lets you sync just about every social media outlet into one handy shortcut called the “Hootlet”. The Hootlet lets me send a update to any or all of my social networks from any webpage I might be on. It conviently even shortens the URL and tells me how many characters I have left. Now I try to optimize my tweets and updates but really I would rather be consise in my messages and sound human then try to sneak keyword in. The other beauty of Hootsuite is it lets you sync your RSS feed ( every WordPress site has one ) into your social networks. Whenever you update your site Hootsuite sends it our to your social networks. Here is my current set-up: Hoosuite Account Holds (feel free to add me):

• Vlad Heger Facebook Profile
• Vlad Works Facebook Fan Page
• Vlad Heger Linked In
• Vlad Works Twitter Profile
• Vlad Works Marketing Profile

Vladworks.com autosends blog posts to:

• Vlad Works Twitter Page
• Vlad Works Facebook Fan Page
• Google Buzz ( through my gmail account )
• Linked In Profile

I think this about captures the most amount of traffic and lets you grab traffic in the following ways:

• Facebook Traffic
• Twitter Traffic
• Google News Traffic
• Twitter Search Traffic
• Google Buzz Traffic
• Google Twitter Results in “Latest” View
• Google Search Traffic

That’s alot of traffic sources you could be tapping into right now! As always I am personally available to help you create and maintain your social media properties and any SEO efforts.

SEO in 2010 and what it means for 2011

Over the holidays I have spent alot of time reading every SEO gurus, major SEO Companies and random SEO consultants blogs, twitters, facebooks and everything in between trying to get a full picture of what has happened in the SEO world during 2010 and where we are going in 2011. During 2010 we learned that high PR links still give you lots of love in Googles eyes even though “SEO gurus” don’t believe in them. ( The reason is because they are cost effective and they can’t charge outrageous fees for them ). We also learned that Google is giving more and more love to websites with Google Places, Twitter Accounts, Facebook pages and all other social media outlets. That means you need to be posting your links and getting your peers to share them more then ever. However Google has stated that while they are giving lots of love to the links now it will slightly fade over time as blackhatters and spammers exploit this by creating twitter armies. I think the biggest thing in SEO is to make sure you are doing something all the time. I always recommend to:

• Have a Google Place for your business. Make sure to optimize with key phrases.
• Have a Facebook Page for your business. Again optimize.
• Have a Twitter Page for your business. Optimize. Optimize.
• Have a Blog for your website. Post often. Even if its just a quick update.

Now I know you are all thinking who has time to manage all that. Easy! I always use www.hootsuite.com which lets me post to all of them at the same time. Make sure to post links to your blog entries, website pages and your homepages but don’t spam us every few hours with the same material. Google and internet users are all becoming more about instant content and being social. So get out there and mingle online! If you do all of this your business will grow everyday..I promise. See you all in 2011!

Happy Holidays everyone!

Over the last year Vlad Works has grown alot! I can tell how busy we have been just by the fact that I haven’t updated the news section since October. I know fresh content right? We have been tremendously busy with new clients and the ever changing algorithm. In the new year I will be much better at regular news updates and getting back to tips and tricks you can use right now for free to boost your search engine rankings. We will be more focused on small business marketing solutions and small business affordable seo packages that really work. Have a safe and happy holidays and look forward to talking with you all soon. Cheers, Vlad Heger – Owner of Vlad Works Inc