SEO Factors Archives - Page 17 of 21 by Mark Murnahan

SEO Backlinks: Why Most SEO Fail at Link Building

Backlink search on Yahoo! for awebguy.com

Backlinks are massively important to SEO because they reflect a consensus that your Website is either great, or it is not. Most people know that it is important to have a lot of links pointing back to their site, and some even know why … but few really understand how. I will draw this out for you and explain just why most SEO really stink at backlinks. Unless you settle in for a good read, right now, you will miss a huge lesson in SEO that you should know before you spend another cent. Get comfortable, because this is information that will benefit your business.

Most SEO Are Clueless About Backlinks

Most SEO fail at link building, and there are a few good reasons. Yes, I said most, and I mean it. Most SEO are failing at this one singular most measurable task that will make the difference in everything from customers finding your Website, to your Website conversion. The troubling thing to note is that they will often not tell you about it, and worse yet, they don’t even have a clue why they are so awful at it.

First, I will explain the couple of terms I use here and how they work for you, since I know everybody is not totally into SEO the way I am. SEO stands for search engine optimization (interchangeable with search engine optimizer, like me).

SEO is a whole lot more than just making sure you are at the top of the list when people search for what you offer. It goes much deeper, and it has a whole lot to do with another important and misunderstood term. Conversion! Oh, you’ve heard the term, right? In my most simple way of explaining conversion, it means converting searchers into clickers, clickers into buyers, and buyers into raving fans who will take your business to a totally different playing field. Conversion does not mean you conned another sucker into buying your stuff! Conversion could be said to mean that you are converting your business from an “also-ran” to the lead in the race.

Link building, as I am discussing it here, does not mean asking your cousin Sally to add a link to your site about insurance from her site about landscaping. When I say link building, I mean valuable, sustainable proof that you are serious about your business and that other people recognize this fact.

SEO Often Lie About Backlinks!

Now for backlinks; a backlink is what you have when somebody links to your site. It seems simple, right? Every joker who sends you an email offering to sell you backlinks for $49 knows that term. It means a squillion people will come flocking to your Website and enter their credit card number to snatch up your massively important stuff before you change your mind and raise the price. Yeah? Well … NO! This is the way a lot of SEO will explain it, but then, people lie … even on the Internet. By the way, why are they emailing, and why do their Websites never have more than a couple backlinks? I actually think it is not always just a mean-spirited lie, but more because they see this huge market and they are desperate to grab their piece but not willing to learn before they sell it to you. They are trying to earn as they learn, and the customer is often a victim.

Build Backlinks With Talent and Trust

When you have quality backlinks it tells Google and other search engines that others place a trust in you and they like your site. It is a democratic process. It is often faked, just like any other democratic process, but what sets you apart is that you are up for re-election today, tomorrow, and every day. Your business cannot afford to mess this up, and a bad fake in this democratic process can get you banned from search engines and waste a whole lot of your money. The biggest portion of the cost is the money you didn’t earn because you were wasting time with what did not work and your competition got the business.

If you take a creative and well-considered approach to your business and your Website, backlinks are simple. I never asked anybody to link to this site … not even once. I did not have to. I provide information that people want and can use to their benefit. People link here because they trust the content and they believe that others can benefit from it, too. This is the mentality it takes to build backlinks that matter. This is the kind of backlink that is relevant to those people looking for you, and a whole lot more likely to give you that conversion you are seeking. It is the kind of backlink that the SEO who sees you as a meal ticket will never create, because their mind simply does not work that way.

Trust and familiarity can build a whole lot of backlinks. Branding takes time and it takes purpose. When you do it right, you build great relationships. Here is an article that explains the difference that trusting relationships make in SEO and social media marketing: “How the Big Dogs Get Paid”. Have a little faith. I would not link to it if I didn’t think it would benefit you.

How SEO Sucker People: A Simple Explanation!

How does this happen that SEO sucker people out of their money? It is another blog post all together, but it is too commonly because the nature of need, greed, and fear tells people that they should seek the lowest cost in their business. They are out to make money without spending money. They want what sounds great, but for the lowest upfront expenditure. The first SEO to claim that they can do all that those other guys do for a fraction of the cost gets the money. What you should consider is that old saying that you get what you pay for. I would add that sometimes you don’t even get that.

If you are needy, greedy, and scared, do not cry to me or the other SEO who take the job of marketing your business seriously. Until you can get over the anxiety for grabbing fast money from the Internet, you are probably not ready for SEO performed correctly. If you take your business seriously and consider the importance of doing it right, the backlinks will come effortlessly.

Summary of SEO Backlinks

This little observation of backlinks explains a lot of reasons that when somebody asks me (as they often do) “What is your hourly rate for SEO?” I explain that they are asking the wrong question. The cost of SEO does not boil down to hourly rates for SEO or even how much money you wave goodbye to upfront. It comes down to how you look at your business and whether you only plan for tomorrow or plan to take your business to the head of the race. If you want to know my hourly rates, just Google it. If you want some free SEO lessons, go ahead and Google SEO lessons and find out if those backlinks I write about really matter.

If you want it done well, stop and think about these things and bring your lunch money. Doing SEO well does not mean doing it cheap. Real SEO means that you are in business and that you can swim with the sharks, and not that you are just willing to test the water.

HubSpot SEO and Social Media Lessons and Review

HubSpot has some things to learn about both social media and SEO. I like some of the people at HubSpot, so don’t take this all as negative. This is just my cursory review from what I know of the company. I think if you are willing to spend a lot of money for mediocre search engine results in a non-competitive market, they are a great bet. Their Website Grader product is a kind of neat tool, and the company has some great minds at work, when they elect to use them.

I met Jonah Lopin, VP of Customer Operations at HubSpot during “Integrated Marketing Summit” in St. Louis, where we both gave talks on social media. After our talks, we were both very pleased with the similarity in our message, and we exchanged cards. It was actually a bit shocking how similar some of the messages we delivered were. I spoke from 11-12:00 p.m. and Jonah spoke at 2:45 p.m., so he surely took a lot of great notes (just kidding Jonah)! I like Jonah Lopin. He is clearly a thinking man.

HubSpot is Marginal … But Trying

HubSpot has a lot going for it, but a long way to come, in my professional opinion. In the true spirit of giving and sharing, I figured “where else will they learn it but from an SEO guy whom they spit on after a social media campaign gone wrong?” Yes, that is me, and yes, I feel like HubSpot spit in my face. They still owe me a camera that I won last December, and they still do not seem to listen … but I will get to that.

Remember, I did say that I like HubSpot, so when I say I want to teach a lesson, I mean it in the most constructive possible way. The real question is in whether HubSpot will accept the lesson in good spirit, or just keep spitting until they run out of moisture.

Am I qualified to give lessons to a company that just secured $33 million and has such smart SEO people? I will allow you, my reader, to find the answer to this question. Let’s first just consider this: You were looking for information about HubSpot … and you arrived here. Most would say that I am extremely well qualified to give HubSpot SEO lessons (after all, go and search Google for SEO lessons and you will find me pretty readily). When it comes to HubSpot’s social media lesson, I think social media already answered this in my favor as well. I will explain.

SEO Lesson for HubSpot and Website Grader

My first lesson for HubSpot would be this: You are wrong about H1 tags. Go ahead and try to prove me wrong, the way a few other “SEO gurus” have tried, but the proof is in the Google. If you Google H1 tags, I will give you a cookie if you find more than one unpaid spot above my article on H1 tags titled “H1 Tags Improve Search Engine Placement“. Go ahead and Google H1 tags to see for yourself and then tell me how having multiple H1 tags on a page should create a warning on Hubspot’s Website Grader. Note: Be sure to count how many h1 tags you find in that article, will you please, HubSpot? If more than one H1 tag receives your warning, why the heck have I been riding the top of that search for most of a decade with a badly formatted page full of H1 tags?

It seems funny to me, but the issue of multiple H1 tags must be the one thing that makes this blog only rank 99.9 out of 100 in HubSpot Website Grader, while you graded your own Website lower than mine. Don’t make me pull out the screenshots.

Well, HubSpot, this blog has a comment section, and you should perhaps hike your “junk” up really high and use it to engage with your proper audience, which are my readers.

Social Media Lesson for HubSpot

This social media thing is great, but does HubSpot get it? I think they really want to, and I think they try really hard, but just like so many other companies busy borrowing millions of dollars and appeasing their investors, they lose all grasp on doing what they set out to do. They let me down, and I am quite certain I am not the only one.

In my case, I clearly showed HubSpot how social media works.

To HubSpot: I not only provided a very creative response to your contest on Facebook, I won it by such a huge margin that Stevie Wonder saw that from a mile away! Was anybody even within fifty percent of the votes, or even one tenth as many new Facebook fans that I brought you? What I am left with is a bad taste of HubSpot for dropping the ball and not standing up and showing that you can do anything with the benefits you receive. If your Facebook fans are worth so little that you have to wait for a $200 camera to go on sale to fulfill your contest, then what in the heck did you do with the $33 million reported by Jonah Lopin at Integrated Marketing Summit in St Louis?

My Summary Review for HubSpot

We can all talk about doing things to create more business, but only the companies who actually back it up will matter in the end. HubSpot has a good grasp on the importance of inbound marketing. Of course, if you look at HubSpot material, it seems they think they invented it. Wrong, HubSpot … it has been around for a very long time, and even here on the Internet.

I have been an inbound marketing practitioner for decades. I built one of the most recognized companies in the wholesale Internet access market without so much as speaking at a single conference or even poking my face above a computer screen for years. I was even called a “bully CEO” by some pretty huge and well-funded competitors because I would engage in real business instead of just talking about it or letting investors screw it up. I have been doing this “new” online inbound marketing since the mid 1990’s, so I guess online inbound marketing is not so new, really. Maybe it just takes a pack of hungry investors and a Guru or two putting out fluff and maybe some people will buy it. Maybe it will last until the investors are happy, and maybe it will not.

We can all make up cool and flashy terms that sound so “engaging” and as if HubSpot is the latest flock of Guru birds, (I tasted my own vomit when I saw the word “Guru” in your articles) but what HubSpot failed to recognize is their market. The market for HubSpot is being missed by a mile, and the ones that are not being missed are the ones you are irritating.

What do you have to say about this, HubSpot?

Hubspot is Trying, I Get That

I am aware that you are seeking to improve HubSpot, and I want the best for you. The best thing I can say that this individual needs to get paid better than you may be ready to hear, and come in prepared to upset the apple cart and start making things happen. When you want to make improvements to inbound marketing, don’t go shopping for a camera on sale, and be ready to give this person the kingdom. He or she may teach you a lesson or two.

REVISION: 3 February Mid Day:

Did anybody notice that Mike Volpe of HubSpot responded pretty quickly, but did not come back when people started to question his word after realizing he was not truthful with me? Denial is a curious thing. It can save you from your shame … for a little bit. I hope you will enjoy all the comments below.

REVISION: 3 February Evening
I got the camera … but you should really watch this video! Somebody over at HubSpot is not very apologetic, and may do well to get his conscience in check. o_O

I think he should read “Living in the Storm” for a better look at life beyond only the moment.

In any case, the camera is fantastic and I still have some respect for HubSpot. In my overall HubSpot review, I must say that they have a lot to learn, so I may just have to treat them like kids once in a while. They will likely never be able to provide a return on investment for their customers the way I can, but maybe they will improve in time. For now, it seems that if you look around a bit for other reviews of HubSpot, it reflects a similar sentiment to mine, and a lot of potential to improve.

Tynt Helps Track Content When it Leaves Your Website

Tynt content tracking has some great uses and is extremely simple to implement. I just cannot figure out why more people are not using it. My guess is that they will!

I am a fan of knowledge. I love to know things, and this is especially true when it comes to Websites. I use a lot of tools to track what people are doing on my sites. I use Google Analytics (of course), and I love Clicky Web Analytics because I like to watch what people are doing on my site in real time (yes, I see you there, reading and copying stuff). I use BackType and Disqus, and many other great applications to keep a finger on the pulse of what is around me. Of course, not the least of these is Twitter.

What is Tynt and How Can it Help Track Content?

Today I want to share a handy tool called Tynt. What is it? It is really very simple. It helps to track content that is copied from your Website. People copy and paste things from Websites all the time. It is often just to share it with others in an email message, their Facebook, or on their blog. For the most part, it is a really great thing, and often innocent rather than theft of your content.

Tynt makes it easier to not only know what they are copying, but also to help them provide attribution. When they copy something from your site, it will automatically add additional information that you specify to their clipboard. In my case, I just have it add the page title and the Web address for where they found it. However, you can also add additional information, such as Creative Commons Licensing, an advertisement, or some other greeting.

It does not stop there. Tynt also reports back to you with what was copied and statistics on the copied content. You can choose to receive emailed reports, and you can even have it automatically post the most popular text copied from your Website to your Twitter account!

It is still simple for somebody to delete the additional information, so it is not really for thwarting content theft. There are other great tools for that (which I also use). In this case, it is more about knowing what people found compelling, outside of the commonly measured metrics like page views, time on page, and sharing statistics.

Perhaps the best way I can explain this is if you simply select some text from this page and paste it somewhere … anywhere. Just copy a little piece of this post and paste it in the comments below to see what I mean (or a text editor, or anywhere else). You may be surprised just how cool it really is. Oh, and there is a FREE version of Tynt! Here is some more information about Tynt.

Please add your comments and tell me what you think about Tynt.

How to Sell SEO (and Compare SEO)

How to sell SEO is a challenging topic for SEO agencies, freelancers, and in-house corporate SEO alike. In each case, they must have the right answers for why their job is important, why they are the right choice, and why they need more of the company’s budget. In order to sell SEO, they must have a plan that beats all of the other squillion SEO experts, and they must convey the plan properly. This can also help the person seeking to hire or compare SEO services.

Here is a bit of thought on how to sell SEO effectively, and I hope it will help you. I also hope you will participate in the discussion by adding your comments.

The SEO Client

Let us first look at the SEO client. What are they searching for, and how will you deliver what they want and need? Do they want to find out what you know so they can use it to shop it around with other SEO agencies or implement it in-house? Why are they contacting you? You need to know this!

What is the SEO client searching for? They contacted you, right? I assume that they contacted you because any SEO worth their Google should have clients contacting them, often (another blog post). The SEO client knows this, too, and it should make sense to them when you ask why they contacted you. The fact that they came to you makes them a whole lot hotter lead than if you contacted them. After all, the fact that they found you is exactly the thing they want you to do for them. In my case, if they have filled out a form on one of my sites, I know what link or search has led them there, what else they have clicked on, how long they spent there, and how many times they have come back.

This gives me some great data, but then I consider an instance where the Chief Technology Officer, Marketing VP, and the whole marketing staff was totally on board with my SEO plan for their surgical supply company, but the CEO would not present it to the board because he had already made a $150,000 mistake with the last Internet marketing decision he made. He was afraid for his job, and ashamed of his last mistake. This makes it important to dig deeper into what human elements and fear factors you must overcome to get the job done. You cannot overlook these factors, such as the last joker who came in and made your industry look bad.

It is easy to toss out a few amazing claims and sprinkle their eyes with SEO dust, but let’s look at something much greater. The human factor of offering a service for sale is important, even if you are selling a nuclear reactor. If the client cannot work with you or you cannot work with them, this will clearly not work. Both the SEO client and SEO provider should be diligent in their choices, and this requires a lot of trust from both parties.

The facts and figures are hugely important to any marketing campaign, but all the numbers in the world will not satisfy a client who does not see what is in it for them, or understand your vision for their success. This is vital, and if you are selling facts and figures without how that translates into your client’s needs, goals, and comfort level, you will not sell SEO for very long.

Shopping and Comparing SEO

I have been selling SEO for over a decade, and I do not even bother counting how many SEO contact me to try and know what I know, or to gather ideas on how to sell SEO. Prospective SEO clients and SEO agencies alike will do this. If you are one of the SEO who has been in the business for a while, you have probably given many proposals or other valuable information to somebody who has no plan of ever doing business with you. SEO espionage is pretty rampant, and you will not stop it. I remember some early lessons in selling when I would go out and present myself as a customer in order to find out what salespeople were doing right and wrong, and using the information to do my job better. In the case of SEO, it is often the reason an SEO will hold information close to the vest and avoid discussing details of a plan and their SEO pricing model. It is a hard hurdle to leap, but if you are doing the job well, they will need a whole lot more than a copy of your contract or your plan … they will need you to get the job done!

If you are going to sell SEO effectively, you will need to weed this out and spend your time wisely, which brings me to the next point on confidence.

SEO Arrogance Confused with Confidence:

Have you ever talked about SEO or Web development with somebody who knows more than you? Yeah, I remember those days. When I was new at this, I recall thinking that I would never be able to absorb all that information and store it up here in my little head. That was not only in another decade for me, it was in another century altogether, and this is 2010. I do know a whole lot more than 99.999 percent of people about my job. That should be expected. I mean, how crazy would it be if you went to the dentist and learned something about search engine optimization from the dental hygienist? If it was me, I would jump up out of the chair before the drilling begins!

The hardship here is to convey confidence without being a jerk. I am not sure I have this mastered, but I try to remember the human elements I mentioned above. Sadly, some of the smartest and most talented people in the SEO industry will have a hard time talking about their work without either seeming like they are talking down to the client or just shooting straight over their head. The conversation is also often damaged by the fear of SEO espionage and that they are just being used for free information. Withholding information can make you seem sneaky and sinister, or it can make you seem as if you do not know what you are doing. Drawing the line on what you give away can be tricky, and it will be different each time.

Feeling out the client’s knowledge on the topic and tailoring your focus to their understanding is a challenge. A little fact-finding up front can help a lot.

Ask Many Questions … and Listen to the Answers!

One of the hardest things for somebody trying to sell SEO is to give their answers without really having a clear picture of the questions their prospective client has. If you are an SEO, you know the job, and you know that it does not matter whether they are selling fishing lures or race cars … the job of SEO has many of the same basic principles. The client may not know this, and what they need to know is that you have the creativity, experience, and ambition to help them.

I cannot drive this home for you enough. It is one of the biggest mistakes I have ever made, and that anybody selling SEO or anything else makes. You cannot serve the client to the best of your abilities without knowing specifically what they need, want, and expect from you.

The best way to answer those questions is to ask questions. This seems basic, but just consider how many times you are backed down because a client simply does not want to answer the questions you must ask in order to give them the best plan for their company. When this is the case, it is often best to hang up the phone, walk out of the room, or otherwise let the client know that you cannot help them until they allow you to help them. Veterinarians struggle to find the answers from patients who cannot speak, but these are human beings, and they can give you the answers. In order to give them the best results, they must!

Sure, you can do the research and you can improve their position in search engines, but if it does not speak to their expectations and goals, you will be foolish to continue. Much of this can be improved with an engagement letter and a fee for anything over “X” level of discussion. If the client is more comfortable, whip out your non-disclosure agreement for their security.

Whether you are selling SEO or buying the service, you must drop the inherent cynicism to do business. This requires confidence, which comes from asking questions and getting accurate answers. This is beneficial to both parties. If I ask a client for their server logs before I enter a performance-based contingency SEO contract, I will have an answer or I will walk away. If I ask for a clear picture of their existing marketing efforts and results, I want it for comparison and their view of their target. If I ask for their budget, I expect an answer. I do not ask for their budget without a reason, and that reason is that if I have a $5000 SEO budget, I will have a totally different plan than if I have a $50,000 SEO budget. Each of these has a totally different focus and set of criteria. Each client will answer my questions as differently as people walking into an emergency room. How I treat them depends on honesty and trust.

Just as an attorney will not defend you in a murder case without hearing your alibi, the SEO with best intentions will not take on a client without hearing their case.

So there you have just a few factors in how to sell SEO. This could obviously become a novel, so I will continue this in other articles. In the meantime, I want your input. Give me your comments and let’s discuss this.

Social Feed in Google Search Results

Do you see your Twitter updates or recent blog posts in Google? Well, of course you should. I would be pretty surprised to write a blog post and not see it show up in Google … at least at some point. However, it is taken up a notch with the near-real-time “Latest Results” section in Google search results.

What do I mean? Here is an example Google search for “murnahan“. Under the “Latest Results” it will show you what I sent on Twitter just a moment ago, instead of only a link to my Twitter account.

I heard it stated in a recent talk at Integrated Marketing Summit in St. Louis, that Google and Bing are the largest users of social media. It is true that when you break it down, their algorithms base results on community popularity. When something has a lot of incoming links, the ranking improves. The success of a site’s Bing or Google ranking is largely based on people voting it up by linking to it.

Social media really is a basis for search engine rankings, even when it is not as immediate or as conversational as you find with Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, and etcetera. It is still social media.

I have heard some people say they like this this, some said they do not, and others on the fence. In my opinion, it shows that Google is working very smart to keep up with the massive explosion of real-time social media, and doing a nice job of it. I think it may also help to remind people just how interconnected the many social media sites really are, and remind them to watch what they do with their social media presence.

Where do you stand? I would like to hear your thoughts on Google’s addition of Twitter and other social media feeds in search results. Please add your comment here on my blog.