Google... The Panda Strikes Back
So over the past few months Google has been rolling out its new update for ranking websites, using a mix of the old and some new techniques. Old meaning you should stick with great content (Content is King) and quality back links, and the new meaning a focus on growth of your social media marketing efforts.Google up until the past year was mostly about link building and content but as social media has become the norm, Google has shifted focus. They bought in real time search, which allows them to sift through the likes of twitter and Facebook, plus a few other tools and more recently they have shown a big uptake with the introduction of their plus one button similar to the Facebook like and Twitter Follow buttons, offering a more user centric push - aptly named The Google Panda Update (AKA the farmer update).
What does this mean for your Internet Marketing and SEO?
The answer first is quite simple, make sure you have multiple marketing strategies online. Make sure you're tackling lead generation and sales from multiple view points.What were the effects of the Panda update..? Some websites which massively relied on Google for traffic were hit big time due to the change in what Google considers to be a good website for ranking on SERP's.
Some examples of the sites hit:
- Ehow.co.uk has been hit as hard as ehow.com was hit in terms of visibility in the search engines.
- A site known as Qype.co.uk (a point of interest site) has lost 96 percent of its visibility which is a real massive drop.
What can you do you're asking?
Create a multi level Internet Marketing strategy and act on it each minute, hour, day, week, or month. The keys to achieving success are to act and move with the shifts in technology, because if it means you can generate customers leads from Google then "go get em".So to get you started.
Internet Marketing Strategies to boost you online
TwitterSetup a twitter account www.twitter.com, post messages (tweets) about your industry and your company approximately 8-18 times a day, and think this is too much? There's ways to achieve this on auto pilot. The key here is to just get started. You can get a great following which you can turn into visitor traffic.
Setup your Facebook personal profile and then setup your page for business here: www.facebook.com/pages Post updates 3 times a day is optimum. Get a following of fans who like your business.
Sign up to Google Webmaster Tools www.google.com/webmasters/tools/, let Google know where all of your web pages are.
Blog
Setup a Blog and post news and info about your company and industry, 1 a day is optimum for generating leads. You can also setup external blogs over at www.blogger.com
Email Marketing
Setup an email list and grow your subscribers, send out and track your email campaigns. Get a free account here at Mail Chimp t get you started: www.mailchimp.com
Video
Did you know video increases conversion rate and reduces bounce rate massively? Setup a channel for your business on www.youtube.com one of the top social community websites and the second biggest search engine. Get your videos on there to drive traffic to your website.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
Continue to monitor your keywords, focus on conversion rate and improvements by analysing your website statistics and Google Webmaster Results.
Your Website
Create and add fresh content. Continue to monitor conversation rate from your web pages. Integrate with social media, Like and Follow buttons, social book marking widgets, and more.
RSS
Push your content around the web in a format that is on the whole universal and will expand your websites reach. Use RSS aggregators and central feed repositories like feed burner here: http://feedburner.google.com
Pay Per Click Advertising
Setup accounts with Google Adwords (http://adwords.google.com) and Facebook Advertising (www.facebook.com/ads) to trial two proven methods of instantly driving customers to your Website, Facebook Page and Blog etc. The advertising will keep to your budget and put you in control.
Tip: search on Google for "Free Adwords Vouchers" or "Free Facebook Advertising Vouchers" because you can normally get free Money vouchers to the sum of £30, £50 and £75 for new accounts les than 14 days old, to get you started on these two advertising networks.
Test & Measure
Monitor leads and sales on your website by setting up Goals and Ecommerce tracking using Google Analytics here: www.google.com/analytics. You want increased goal conversion rate, increased eCommerce conversion rate and reduced bounce rate.
With your email marketing Test and Measure Open Rate (OR) and Click Through Rate (CTR)
Testing and measuring these Key Indicators will assist you with getting started on the right track.
Finally...
With all of this in place you will be in a better position to ride out the current changes with Google and more importantly join the other communities on the internet where your customers are waiting.I would be really interested in hearing about the great things you're doing online with your Internet Marketing so leave a comment below.
Thanks for reading,
Leon.
