Image Credit to Pandafix.com
I’m prompted to write this article after a client asked “Should I be worried about the latest Google Panda changes”.
According to Matt Cutts from Webmaster Central Blog, white hat SEO and/or no SEO will work with the new Panda changes. See Reference below.
Should you be worried about Google Panda changes?
Having read a couple of articles on the Panda changes, I automatically answered the following….. “As your website is only run on white hat SEO strategies and pure content, you have nothing to worry about.”
This is what Google really wants for their consumers and from my point of view, these changes,like the Panda changes that Google makes several times per year are simply a way of cleaning up the “Web spam” or “black hat” manipulators.
After all Google is an information service, they want their users to be satisfied. They want their users to keep coming back time and time again. By keeping their content at its highest quality, they know that their satisfied customers will keep coming back.
Stop Keyword Over Stuffing
As I mentioned in the 1st paragraph, reading this article by Matt Cutts, “Another step to reward high-quality sites” and seeing exactly what he means by “Webspam” as seen in this example you can really understand why Google implemented the Panda changes and why they continue to run a tight ship. I have to admit I’m not surprised to see this type of black hat SEO, which obviously will only ever work in the short term. You can easily see why Google has made this change and why this could harm them as a search engine long term. People are looking for quality relevant content and this type of web spam above, clearly has no place on page one of any of the search engines.
What Is Google Doing?
According to MicrositeMasters.com,“Google is trying to replace or devalue “anchor text” use with niche/content relevancy of linking sites” as a primary link relevancy, (or “quality”) signal.
Anchor text, has been proven by SEO’ers for the past 10 years as easy to manipulate. However, obtaining links from websites or pages in a similar niches and with relevant content to the keyword you’re trying to rank for is generally much harder to manipulate. This reality and ease of the manipulation obviously prompted Google to create this update.”
What should you be doing?
Having read the above post from MicrositeMasters.com I’ll break it down for those who find all this SEO jargon a little confusing.
I’m not an SEO “guru” however, I have been assisting my clients large and small, find their place on page one of the search engines for the past 3 years. I’ve been using my own white hat techniques that I pass onto my clients and to date have not had any problems.
The Panda changes that have recently taken place have hurt many businesses that have been using questionable SEO methods to improve their rankings. Some white hat websites may also have been affected with a drop in Google page rank. Keep in mind that if you are one of these businesses it won’t be long before your rankings are back to normal.
In Conclusion
All Google really wants to achieve when they make these changes is to keep relevant quality content their consumers are searching for at the top and to keep those website using black hat methods where they belong, which is nowhere near page 1.
Google simply wants to give you, their customer top quality relevant search results for the keywords you enter. If this means getting rid of the bad guys, then so be it.
Keep in mind, when trying to rank on page one of Google, if you think you can pay someone a fortune to get you there faster…… BIG MISTAKE! Over the past 4 years I have watched people waste thousands of dollars to get them on page one, only to end up with empty pockets and a lot of dissapointment.
My best advice for landing your business on page 1 for the long term is, use only white hat SEO strategies. You can either learn to do this yourself with my support or contact me for a free consultation to do it for you.
Having your business on page 1 of the search engines is no longer the mystery it once was…… when you know how.
Have the Panda changes dumped on your site, have your rankings dropped?….. let me know what you think in the comments below.
Thousands of consumers and businesses are using Facebook for Business, however are they using it the right way and can they capitalise in 2012 on the through traffic?
Who’s using Facebook for Business?
I don’t know anyone who doesn’t have a Facebook account and any offline or online business that isn’t promoting their company online is leaving thousands of dollars on the table. For those of you not using Facebook for Business, it’s time to take a closer look. This isn’t a fad this is the way life is now, go online or go broke.
Facebook for Business, why should you care?
- Internet users are 51% more likely to buy from your brand if they follow you on Facebook.
- Plus they are 60% more likely to recommend your brand. – eMarketer
- 70% of Internet Users reported “trusting” consumer opinions posted in social media.
- Internet users spend 6 hours a month on some form of social media. – Nielsen
Even though some people may follow your business and not necessarily buy from you they are very likely to recommend your business and brand to their friends.
Facebook for Business – How do you capitalise in 2012?
Here’s some quick Facebook facts –
Over 500 million people on Facebook worldwide
Approximately 500,000 – 750,000 accounts are opened every day
There are 150 million on mobile
Facebook is #2 in web traffic (Google is #1)
When you think about the amount of times you search Google each day, we can confidently say that Facebook is the second most popular site for traffic online.
Facebook for Business in 2012
Facebook is one of many faces and is constantly updating the way we use it. Sometimes I’m not sure if they are attempting to make it more difficult for the average user, however I am sure they are making it easier for businesses and organisations to express their identity through new features just released.
For those already using Facebook for business you will perhaps be aware of these new changes:-
Brand your Page
Highlight what matters
Manage everything in one place………… See the highlights here
Be ready, these Facebook for business page changes take place on March 31st, 2012.
Facebook for Business – Your cover photo
Your cover photo is the first thing people will see when they visit your page. It’s important you choose a unique cover photo that represents you and your business brand. This could be a menu item if you are a restaurant, album artwork if you are a band or performer or a picture of customers using your products. Be creative and experiment with images your audience will respond well to.
You will find more information about cover photo’s here.
To be successful using Facebook for business it is imperative you have an appropriate amount of training in this area so you don’t make mistakes and drive thousands of potential customers away from your business.To be successful using Facebook for business it is imperative you have an appropriate amount of training in this area so you don’t make mistakes and drive thousands of potential customers away from your business.
Facebook for Business – Customer Service
Without you knowing it … your customers are looking for you on Facebook, if for instance they have technical issue with your product or questions about the service that you offer. When you have customers coming to your Facebook Business Page looking for answers this is a good thing. If your customer service is up to scratch and your company standards are high in this regards this is the place for you.
Imagine the feedback for your brand, business, company when a customer can have their question answered online and the problem fixed in a matter of minutes instead of waiting for up to an hour on a phone line or worst still a queue.
Many companies these days are employing someone from inside their business to man their social networking sites and keeping customers up to date with the latest information about the company and the latest products on offer.
Facebook for Business – When Customer Service Counts
Even companies known for poor customer service, such as a particular phone company here in Australia are on Facebook Pages! Now you may think this is a risk for a business of this size not generally known for its good customer service (I speak from my own experience). This would be one of the most disliked phone services in Australia as far as their customer service goes.
So, why would they risk people seeing abuse from their customers? There are many reasons:-
They want to be seen by the millions of people and potential customers that flock to Facebook daily.
They know that although there customer service may not be up to standard, they want your opinions on how to improve your experience with their company. What better place to get your instant point of view in real time.
They want you to see their latest products the minute it hits the market, you’ll see it on Facebook.
Imagine those Companies using Facebook for Business that have excellent customer service and offer online attention for their customers in real time? These customers are spreading the word online at a rapid rate of knots by hitting the “LIKE” button and sharing it with their friends, leaving you great product reviews and testimonials all over Facebook.
It’s no wonder thousands of businesses are making Facebook for Business their product of choice for advertising their business in 2012.
Facebook for Business | Where should you start?
It’s not really about where you should start but WHEN you should start and the answer is right now!
If you have someone in your business that is computer savvy and is keen to learn how to master your social networking it would pay to look at Mastering Social Media here. This is a training and marketing platform for those wishing to be successful online and learn how to market their business using social media and Facebook for business in particular. This is also a platform to learn how to generate new customers for your business long term through free online marketing strategies. I also offer personal support and guidance along the way when required.
There is a right and a wrong way to use Facebook for business so I highly recommend you source out the right information to assist you with the different strategies when using Facebook for business.
If you don’t have a staff member to do this for you or you would like to save yourself the time it takes to learn and implement Facebook for business, there are other choices available.
To discuss further options I can be contacted via the following methods below.
Phone: +61 415 145 948 or jump onto Skype.com and call me directly free of charge, Skype to Skype. 
Skype: sandymoore1
Contact us Here via Email
If emailing the subject line should read:- Facebook for Business
There has been a lot of talk lately about the hottest new Social Networking site Pinterest. According to Compete, unique visitors to Pinterest increased by 155% in just one month from December 2011 to January, 2012.
Back in December 2011, Pinterest was one of the top 10 social networking sites sitting at #5 knocking out the big guns like Linkedin and Google+.
Can you use Pinterest for Marketing your Business?
This is the question on everyone’s lips……. And of course the answer is YES!! The way you use Pinterest is by posting (pinning) images and video’s to your pinboard or others boards. User can either upload their own images from their computer or from the internet either by using the Pinterest Bookmarklet or simply posting the URL.
Use Pinterest with Caution
Yes, your heard right…. According to Galen Moore of Boston Business Journal. Here’s what he reports after a short experiment with Pinterest and how Pinterest’s service agreement gives it the right to sell images that users upload.
Request an Invite to Pinterest
Oh, another thing…. you can’t just join up and you’re in, apparently once you request and invitation they will send you an invite within 48 hours. Really, what are they thinking? As one of the fastest growing Social Networking sites, as if they’re not going to let you in. Anyway check Pinterest out and make up your own mind.
Free Download | How to use Pinterest for Business
Before you request an invite take a look at the latest book by Magdalena Geogieva of Hubspot where she shares how to drive traffic and leads to your website with Pinterest.
You can download How to use Pinterest now and start using it to drive traffic.
Download the Ebook now by clicking on the book below.
Leave a comment below and let me know what you think of Pinterest! Is it for you and your business and do we really have time for another social networking site?
Posted on 27 February '12 by Sandy, under Free Books, Training. 25 Comments.
I’ve heard over the past few years that an Alexa ranking means nothing to your online status. Recently someone said to me “Simply don’t worry about it, no one takes any notice of your Alexa Ranking anyway”. I have to say that I totally disagree with this statement and here’s why!
Your Alexa ranking can position you as an authority when someone searches for your business. They want to know how long you’ve been online, perhaps take a look at any reviews that have been completed about your site. One reason someone would check your Alexa ranking would be if they wanted to advertise on your site.
When People Advertise
The lower your Alexa ranking the more visits your website is receiving. Which also means the closer you are to page one of the search engines, the more traffic is coming to your site. When advertisers are looking for a site to place their ads on, they of course would want a site with a large amount of traffic. Your Alexa Ranking helps searchers determine your site’s popularity and credibility. People tend to trust websites that have lower Alexa ranking, before they make any purchases.
Boost your Alexa Rankings for Page One Status
Back in mid-October, 2011 I was approached by Shirley Kerkow – The Inspirational Success Coach. Shirley wanted to move forward with her business plan and knew she needed a high ranking website, generating free traffic to make this happen.
At the time Shirley’s website was known as ShirleyKerkow.com and her Alexa ranking was extremely high, as you can see from the image below.
You can see above that Shirley’s site only had one other site linking into hers and that her Alexa ranking was 25,208,668. This being the case she wasn’t getting a lot of love from the search engines or from anyone else for that matter. Shirley and I worked together ad implemented a plan to follow, so she could make her business work for her and so others could find her on page one of the search engines.
To explain the process in full would take another post altogether so, I will do that sometime soon. However, one of the main things we did was to change her domain name from ShirleyKerkow.com to the keywords she wanted to rank for. The keywords are inspirational success coach and now her domain name is InspirationalSuccessCoach.com.
90 Day Alexa Ranking
It took some work, however 90 days later and lots of amazing content posted, the InspirationalSuccessCoach.com has come from 25,000,000 with 1 backlink to an Alexa ranking of 827,347(and dropping), 33 sites linking in.
Plus Shirley ranks in her home country Australia at 17,869. That’s an awesome result and to top it off Shirley’s website also ranks on page one of Google globally for her keywords. Congratulations Shirley!
Lower your Alexa Ranking with these Tips
♦ Open an Alexa account and claim your website.
♦ Download the Alexa toolbar and keep an eye on your Alexa rankings and see site information of your competitors.
♦ Ask your clients to write a review on Alexa for your site, giving some positive thoughts on your website what they liked about it and the services you offer. This takes less than a minute to complete with a check box system.
♦ The Alexa tool bar can also come in handy when commenting on other sites within your niche. I know I am flicking around different sites all day and if I come across a site within my niche that has an Alexa ranking under 100,000 or lower, I will definitely take a few minutes out to read a post and make a valid comment.
Notice I said valid comment? Don’t leave comments on others website that says “Great Post….. I’ll be back” This is another post altogether…. Just make sure your comment is valid to the article and either asks a question of the writer or make reference to a particular paragraph in the article.
♦ When adding content to your website make sure you express yourself as you were speaking to your customer/reader. This is a crucial tip for bringing prospective clients back to your website. If they know they are getting YOU from the heart, they will be back to read more of your quality content in the future.
If you continue to add this quality content to your website, packaged with all the right SEO strategies and sharing tools it is possible to improve your Alexa ranking and start getting the traffic your business requires for success.
To all those “nay sayers” out there, do you still think your Alexa ranking doesn’t matter? Share your thoughts in the comment box below, I’d love to hear what you think……..
Posted on 5 February '12 by Sandy, under Master Marketing, Training. 54 Comments.
People are always asking me how I made 5,000 Facebook friends and the answer is very simple. I’ll give you all the details later in the post…… for now, I would like to focus on why some businesses can’t build 5,000 Facebook friends.
Why Can’t you Make 5,000 Facebook
Friends
One of the main reasons is that many people wishing to grow their business online using Facebook, simply don’t realise there is a process involved. What people do is they take it for granted that people will want to be their friend. This is not the case as a rule.
You must remember that not everyone on Facebook is there simply for business and not everyone is interested in what you have to sell.
Treat your Facebook friends with respect, the way you would like to be treated is a great way to start.
What is the process?
To start building 5000 Facebook friends the right way you need to have the follow.
A clear photo of yourself preferably in business mode. Many people put blurry images up which are very unprofessional.
Having a picture of you in a bikini or with your shirt off will not attract professionals interested in your business.
After all you wouldn’t go to a meeting in a bikini or with your shirt off.
Treat your Facebook friends like your business associates. One of the crucial mistakes people make when building 5000 Facebook friends is they force sell. What do I mean by “force sell”? Force selling is when you friend someone on Facebook you immediately post your business on their wall or send them a personal message saying “Hey Sandy, great to friend you, have your heard of this awesome new protein shake my company makes.” ? Or how about this one “Hey Sandy, great to have you as a friend here on Facebook. If there is anything I can help you with feel free to ask me.”
What’s wrong with this you say? Well for starters, how do you know I’m looking for help and secondly why are you assuming you actually can help me. You have no idea what my qualifications are and who I am. If you did you wouldn’t be asking such questions. These are actual greetings people have used with me.
This is the worst one. “Hey Sandy, I love networking and I see you do also. What do you think of my business opportunity http://pushymarketinglinkhere.com?
The most popular strategy for making 5000 Facebook friends is the attraction marketing strategy. I’ve been marketing on Facebook for over 3 years now and I would have to say three quarters of the business people on Facebook are not using this method.
Once friended, they also think this is a rite of passage to then send their business opportunity link by either a personal message, via direct email or posting directly onto their new friend’s wall.
What’s my secret to 5000 Facebook Friends?
I can tell you this… I don’t do any of the above. However, what I do is take an approach of actually making friends and sharing valuable information with them. You have to remember these people have friended me for the following reasons. They want to get to know me, they are looking for a business opportunity or they are looking for what I sell.
They are attracted to the way I market my business online. They see that I’m not spamming my business opportunity but having conversations with my friends and they want in also… they see this as a safe environment to be in. They need this safe environment where they can relax and take their time and get to know, like and trust you.
So, how do I use attraction marketing to gain 5000 Facebook friends?
When you are just starting out you will want to friend about 15 to 20 people per day. This is time consuming, however done the right way can get you great results in no time.
Choose friends with a professional image
Make sure when choosing friends that you surround yourself with those people whose profile image is of them. Don’t go choosing people who use their pets, cars, babies or the latest rock star or Hollywood icon. If you’re using Facebook for business you want to position yourself as a professional so, make sure you also have a professional looking photo of yourself.
Like this
Not like this
When people friend you, do this.
When people friend you on Facebook, except the friend request then send this message below. This is the exact message I used to gain 5000 Facebook friends.
Hi firstname,
I’m glad we could connect here at Facebook and I’d like you to know that I mainly use Facebook to build my successful online business.
Feel free to share your blog URL with me if you have one, I’d love to learn more about you, what your interests are and what you’re into online.
Hope your week is a successful one.
Warm regards,
Sandy Moore
Skype: sandymoore1
sandytmoore@gmail.com
whoissandymoore.com
Above is the exact message I used every time I received a new friend request or sent a new friend request. You will notice there are no links to my business opportunity plus I have added a few options for contacting me. You will find by using this message invokes curiosity and your new friend will ask you what business you are in. This gives you the opportunity to send them your free offer and an option to take a look at your business if they choose. This is a much better way to 5000 Facebook friends without having to spam everyone you meet with your business opportunity.
Use the attraction marketing method to build 5000 Facebook friends and remember is not really about the number of friends you have but the way you interact with these friends.
How to build a relationship with 5000 Facebook friends.
Now, just because they are now your friend does not mean you can start spamming them with your business opportunity. In fact, I can say that I have never posted my business opportunity unless someone has requested it. I would go to the extent of not even posting my business opportunity on my own wall and only post valuable information that will help others. Remember, the average person wanting to learn more about marketing their business online has little or no knowledge on the subject. Take an interest in their posts by commenting and starting discussions and just basically being your friendly self.
How to interact with 5000 Facebook friends?
When interacting you’re 5000 Facebook friends you should be sharing valuable information with them. This information should be shared via your website/blog. Not your business opportunity website. You can share posts about your products and services, new stock, marketing tactics, reviews etc…. what you share specifically depends on your business and what you do. Not only do you share this information on Facebook, there are also hundreds of other social networking sites you can share your valuable information.
Last tip for 5000 Facebook friends
It won’t take too long to get up around the 2,500 mark and when you do making Facebook friends becomes much easier. You now look popular to other people on Facebook and they will soon start sending you requests in bulk, which certainly takes the pressure off your friending regime.
Social Networking can be a time consuming strategy, however being a free method for lead generation, can definitely work to your advantage.
I think Facebook should lift the 5,000 Facebook friend limit….. what do you think?
P.S. I love what I do and so can you…. Connect with me HERE
