Hello and Happy Tuesday!
This week in internet marketing, we’ve gathered some of the best stories and articles from around the web. We’re looking at a checklist to help you leverage the power of local SEO, as well as research ideas for strong SEO keywords, and digital trends to watch for this year. We're also looking at strategies for getting SEO traffic in a hard niche, and quick tips for effective blogging.
Match Your Local SEO to Your Business Type with the Local SEO Checklist
Ramping up your local SEO means increasing your company's visibility to potential customers in your geographic region. There is a series of straightforward steps to ensure you're covering your bases, including things as simple as ensuring your "Contact Us" page is accurate, consistent and complete. It also helps to have unique testimonials on each location page. The more you can get involved with the local community, like sponsoring or hosting a local event, the more opportunity you'll have to publish sincere, relevant content to boost your local SEO.
Keyword Research Ideas for SEO
To find the right keywords for boosting your SEO, start by looking at Google Analytics to see the search terms used by previous visitors. Keep track of search terms from the users that went on to convert to leads, to sign up for memberships or newsletters, or those that led to sales. Also, take your keyword research to the next level with data on your competitors. Finally, test out keywords by putting them to use in a PPC campaign and closely measuring the success and impact on your ROI.
5 Digital Trends to Watch Out For in 2016
There are a lot of moving parts in digital marketing, with new trends coming and going all the time. There are a few important and straightforward stats and tips to help you stay on top of it. For example, social media growth is slow but continues to grow, with platforms like Instagram and SnapChat showing the highest growth in a recent report. And on a positive note, low-cost marketing will expand beyond email marketing to include mobile and SMS text strategies. Also, the role of big data and real-time data is on the rise—marketers have access to more information than ever, and that data fuels a lot of major strategies and decisions.
5 Ways to get SEO Traffic in a Hard Niche
SEO tactics have different degrees of effectiveness depending on the type of business, and certain niches are trickier than others when it comes to SEO. These hard niches include those with smaller online audiences, those with high levels of SEO competition, or those that are focused on subject areas that are less flashy and sexy. For highly competitive niches, you may want to try finding keywords that your competitors wouldn't think to target, like long-tail keywords that have lower search volumes. Also, when it comes to building content for back links, if you have trouble making a case for getting sites to link to you, think outside the box and come up with content that's relevant to your customer but has the broadest possible appeal.
Blogging for SEO: five quick tips for beginners
According to SEO expert Neil Patel, "Companies with blogs typically receive 97% more leads than companies without blogs." It's hard to argue with statistics like that! But blogging has to be done well to be effective. For your blog, stick with WordPress, it's free and easy to use. Create good blogging content that users can trust, and that sets your company apart as an authority in its field. Blog often and keep your content fresh in order to attract positive attention from search engines. Good blogging takes commitment and hard work, but the payoffs are worth it.
Check out these additional articles for more Internet marketing news!
How to Compete on the New Google SERP
3 Tools to Rank in Google’s Featured Answer OneBox
How to Improve your SEO by Speeding up Your WordPress Website
29 AdWords Quality Score Factors – Facts, Myths, and Quick Fixes
