Article Writing, Year-Round

Posted by Edan Shertzer on May 28, 2009

Writing an article about your business is easier than it sounds. All you have to do is look at the calendar every month and see what’s coming up in your industry (as well as in the world at large). Not convinced? Here’s an examples that shows how the calendar can help you come up with article topics:

This past Monday, we commemorated Memorial Day here in the USA. As a kid who watched TV every hour he wasn’t in school, I remember knowing that there were Memorial Day sales going on at every store in the area, from department stores to car dealerships. Today I’m made aware (sometimes painfully aware) of the many Memorial Day sales going on from the circulars that arrive in my mailbox, notifying me that supermarkets have lowered the price of beer “For One Day Only!” and that bottles of barbecue sauce and inflatable beach balls are now cheaply available in ludicrous numbers. But guess what? Advertising for Memorial Day sales segues perfectly into advertising for summer sales; summer sales lead to July 4th discounts; July 4th discounts lead to August back-to-school bonanzas, and so on and so forth….

The point I’m trying to make here is that during the summer months you don’t have to re-invent your business nor do you have to introduce a new product or service in order to generate excitement for your company. What you need to do is exploit the calendar to re-iterate and capitalize on the products/services you do best.

If you need help looking at a calendar and figuring out what you can say about your business during ANY time of the year, please give us a call at 212-993-5828 or check out our website at http://www.SalemGlobal.com. Our website is always open — 24 hours a day, 365 days a year… and we promote that too….

Articles Writing — Not Just for Journalists

Posted by Edan Shertzer on May 20, 2009

It’s not the best known fact in the world, but (surprise surprise) blogging actually has a forgotten sibling — article writing. The difference between the two is academic, really. Blogging tends to be a more informal, impressionistic form of writing. A couple of paragraphs about the particularly mocha color of your morning coffee, some breaking industry gossip, a word or two about recent business developments, and you’re all set. Articles, on the other hand, are longer pieces of writing that tend to explore subjects in a little more detail than a typical blog post. Make no mistake, articles can be informal and humorous (and blog posts can be serious and detailed), but at the end of the day they’re just that — articles — which entails a certain amount of invested research, analysis, and expertise.

At SalemGlobal, we like to think of articles as interesting “stories” told within specific, industry-related contexts. A good article will enable you to convey information about your company, your services, and/or your industry in general in a tone that is not as chatty and colloquial as a blog post, yet not as heavy and technical as an academic essay. Let’s take an example from recent events: the swine flu phenomenon, which to all appearances is not turning into the pandemic experts feared it would become, gave rise to thousands of articles by all kinds of professionals in the medical field. Not just veterinary medical pathologists wrote about the influenza: dentists wrote articles about the importance of oral hygiene; general physicians wrote articles about the telltale signs of the flu; even personal fitness trainers wrote about the necessity of maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

Now, most businesses do not need to wait for a potential pandemic to erupt before they sit down to write an article about their work. (Or we hope so, at least.) Find an angle for your story and run with it. Remember that all of the writing you’ll be doing is incredibly valuable from an SEO perspective. Articles can be added to your site as new pages, they can be summarized and made into blog posts, they can be linked to on other people’s websites and blog posts. What we do at SalemGlobal is optimize your article, market it ourselves, and submit it to the best article distributors. If you’re looking to build a name for yourself in cyberspace, articles will play an important role in your success.

Don’t Just Start a Blog, Maintain It

Posted by Edan Shertzer on May 12, 2009

Over the last few years, as blogs and other features of the Web 2.0 tool kit continue to gain prominence, we’ve frequently encountered the following unsettling scenario: while our clients are aware of how powerful and useful a company blog might be, they hesitate to set one up. Why the hesitation? Well, for the most part, these companies worry that they do not and will not have anything to write about. Their concern is not unique. Many businesses that are just becoming acquainted with blogging culture balk at the prospect of starting their own blog for fear they will not be able to sustain it. For any number of reasons, their line of work appears unbloggable.

Well, we’re here to tell you that that excuse frankly won’t fly anymore.

All web-conscious businesses today can and should maintain company blogs. It’s easy to do, really. Just think of the 5 Ws — Who, What, When, Where, Why — and that horrible 6th W, Writer’s block, won’t ever be a problem.

• “Who”: You. You and your staff are the easiest topics to write about. You can blog about the daily goings in your company, about your funniest staff members, about your work culture. It’s all relevant, and the audience that is interested in your company’s products/services will likely be interested in this information as well.
• “What”: You are the industry expert, the knowledgeable resource in your field. Take the time to write up a couple of paragraphs about your business and enlighten us mere mortals. You’ll find that industry news is a subject matter you’re unlikely to exhaust any time soon.
• “When”: Any special or out of the ordinary events coming up? Any promotions, or any you-don’t-wanna-miss-it kind of opportunities? Whether you’re launching a new product or organizing a networking meeting, let the blogosphere know about it.
• “Where”: If you work in a major metropolitan area, tap into the endless flow of information stemming from your area’s major media outlets and give it your own spin. If you’re in a minor metropolitan area, like the suburbs, become a major media outlet yourself and write about what’s happening in your locality.
• “Why”: The most open-ended of the 5 Ws. Here’s your chance to write a couple of passionate paragraphs about the mission of your company. Or your chance to explain why you’re launching a certain product/service at this time. Or your opportunity to question the business maneuvers performed by your competitors. Why not?

If you’re the one planning on doing the writing, we recommend scheduling a weekly/daily block for blogging. Just sit yourself down and crank out a paragraph or two. The more you write, the easier it’ll get. And don’t forget, any blog entries you write can easily be modified into new content for your website!

“Dear Diary, My How You’ve Changed!” — Business Blogging Goes Personal

Posted by Edan Shertzer on May 5, 2009

To start off this week’s Tip, here’s an extremely abridged history of the blog: in the olden days (we’re talking 1990s here, practically pre-history to current Internet users), blogs, short for “weblogs”, were the exclusive prerogative of computer geeks and tech nerds of all stripes and colors. Then, a New Yorker named Jason Calacanis got together with seven of his friends and they all started writing blogs. Each friend maintained 10 blogs, for a total of 80. After blogging for a year, the 80 blogs made $1 million in Google AdSense revenue. Soon thereafter, Calacanis’ company was bought out by AOL for $25 million.

All of a sudden, blogging ceased to be regarded as merely the tech nerd’s favorite pastime.

Today, blogs are just about the fastest-growing feature of the Web 2.0 tool kit. Actually, to be a little more accurate, blogs are spreading across the Internet like wildfire. It certainly seems like everyone and his brother now runs a blog, from hot-shot celebrities to angst-ridden high schoolers. Blogging has changed the face of media as we know it — the worlds of politics, sports, entertainment, and daily news are now cocooned in a blogosphere that is bigger and more comprehensive than any information source previously known to man. And that’s no exaggeration.

Every business could use a blog. As far as SEO goes, blogs are great for creating new content for and generating backlinks to your website. If your business doesn’t have a blog, start one, either on your website or at a new domain. The smartest option, at least from an SEO perspective, is to host your blog on a separate server with a different IP address from your corporate website. You’ll be rewarded with a faster and more powerful indexation from Google and the other search engines.

Don’t know what to write about in your company blog? Well, that’s the real beauty of the whole blogging thing. Feel free to write about anything that enters your mind, even the most mundane events of your day. Spend a couple of minutes getting your thoughts together, and eek out a paragraph or two every so often. Before long, you’ll find that blogging isn’t just an important chore, it can actually be fun.

The Art of (URL) Redirection

Posted by Edan Shertzer on Apr 29, 2009

So, the idea behind URL redirection is pretty simple: you click on a link you’ve found off a search engine query, or you type in a certain URL into your web browser, but instead of landing on the URL you searched for, you are either automatically or manually transferred (or redirected) to a different URL. There’s an ongoing debate in the SEO industry about the merits of URL redirects, or lack thereof. Some SEO experts choose to veto redirects altogether. Others claim there are a select few types of redirects that can be applied to a site without harming its ranking. At SalemGlobal, we fall somewhere in the middle — we think URL redirects should always be used sparingly, and cautiously.

However, one fact does emerge out of the noisy cacophony made over URL redirects, namely, if you’re going to use a redirect, it should be a 301. 301 redirects are referred to as “server-side”, “permanent” redirects, which means that (a) when the redirect occurs, all of the transferring action is performed automatically on the server with no involvement from the person typing at his or her computer, and (b) the redirect tells the search engines that the move to the new URL is permanent, for good, everlasting, etc., etc. This latter element is especially important to keep in mind for those who are SEO-conscious, because it means that when search engines run into a 301 redirect they will most likely not de-index the page from their database, meaning the website as a whole will continue getting credit for the page being redirected. And, as readers of this weekly tip have come to know, the more pages on your site, the better.

When should a 301 redirect be instituted? To answer this question, we might as well consult the people who really count. Google’s publicly available webmaster guidelines recommend using a 301 redirect when:

• You’ve moved your site to a new domain, and you want to make the transition as seamless as possible.
• People access your site through several different URLs. If, for example, your home page can be reached in multiple ways – for instance, http://example.com/home, http://home.example.com, or http://www.example.com. It’s a good idea to pick one of those URLs as your preferred (canonical) destination, and use 301 redirects to send traffic from the other URLs to your preferred URL.
• You’re merging two websites and want to make sure that links to outdated URLs are redirected to the correct pages.

There are multiple ways of actually implementing the 301 redirect code. The best method is to introduce the 301 into the htaccess file of your website, since this is the file checked first by search engines bots. However, if you prefer, you can also easily add the 301 redirect with PHP or ASP code, among other options. The one method you should avoid is adding your 301 redirect through javascript or meta tags. This is a sure way of getting your page de-indexed, and thus hurting the overall ranking of your website.

Video Sharing — More Than a Quick Laugh

Posted by Edan Shertzer on Mar 3, 2009

Many, if not most, people use YouTube primarily for recreational purposes. Got a moment to spare? Why not check out rare footage of the world’s best waterskiing squirrel? Nothing good on the tube? YouTube webisodes are a dime-a-dozen. Of course, in recent times, YouTube has become an attractive and very legitimate resource for those interested in more serious-minded pursuits. The video sharing site saw heavy use in last year’s presidential campaigns, and is now a popular public forum for political commentary, product advertising, and niche vlogging.

To the businessman or woman, or at least to the most sophisticated ones, YouTube and other popular video-sharing sites (e.g. Revver, Metacafe, Yahoo Videos) are also important business accessories. Essentially, YouTube offers you a free and relatively easy opportunity to broadcast your business to the staggeringly huge, locust-like audience that roams this and other online video vendors. Really, to those interested in using online media to promote their business, video sharing sites are simply gateways to airing their own commercials.

Visit SalemGlobal’s YouTube Channel, and see how we chose to promote ourselves and our clients using short, carefully branded videos. Some pointers to keep in mind when uploading your own new video: First, be sure to include a URL back to your website in the accompanying text — it’s user friendly, and indicates a conscientious linking strategy. Second, keep the description of the video short! All video vendors place restrictions on the number of characters you can use for a description, don’t exceed it, you’ll get caught off mid-sentence. And third, if possible, either download or purchase video editing software that allows you to insert information into the video itself. The goal is to familiarize your viewer with your business name and service as quickly as possible, so be concise, and don’t forget to have a little fun with it, too.

Word-of-Mouth Goes Virtual

Posted by Edan Shertzer on Feb 24, 2009

A few days ago we wrote about some of the advantages of adopting a social media outlet that is oriented toward building business contacts. (LinkedIn was our example back then.) This week, we’d like to reexamine social media in its natural mode — as a top purveyor of viral marketing.

Remember playing “Broken Telephone” when you were a kid? (Maybe you called it something different, like “Operator” or “Pass it Down”, but please indulge us for just a couple more sentences….) Well, online social media can be understood more or less as a giant, worldwide game of “Broken Telephone”, except that each player can whisper in multiple directions simultaneously, and the telephone isn’t really all that broken since the smartest phone technicians in the neighborhood are constantly doing maintenance on it.

So…. Come to think of it, maybe that analogy falls a little bit flat, but don’t stop indulging us quite yet. The modern social networking website — Facebook, MySpace, Windows Live Spaces — is undeniably the fastest and, by now, the most far-reaching tool for transmitting word-of-mouth buzz. If you want to spread the news about yourself and your company quickly, your best bet is to complement a traditional business marketing campaign with a healthy dose of social media outreach. Actually, sending out mass e-mails through personal information managers like Outlook or through POP3/IMAP webmail services such as Gmail can leave you wallowing in the spammer boxes of most of your contacts without even realizing it. Besides, these e-mail applications all present rather severe restrictions on how many contacts you can send your message to in the first place. There are no such restrictions in most social networking sites, and when restrictions do exist, they are much more lax and forgiving than your typical e-mail application’s. (So choose your online friends carefully! They will be able to message you at will.)

For the second week in a row, our own Raphi Salem can serve as an exemplar of the savvy social media user. With close to 700 friends on Facebook, all gradually amassed through personal and business connections, Raphi is much better off sending one general Facebook message that will reach all his friends rather than making targeted phone calls or winnowing down select e-mail addresses for a mass message. Social networking is instantaneous and direct, and better yet, since participation in social media is consensual on the part of both sender and receiver, it’s an unobtrusive way of getting the word across.

With a Little Help from Your Friends

Posted by Edan Shertzer on Feb 17, 2009

Today we live in a media savvy world. Blogs, personal profiles, online videos — we willfully inundate ourselves with the piles of information that stream constantly, endlessly, out of the gaping maw that is Web 2.0. Today, even baby boomers are getting hip to social media in its many manifestations, and horrifying their children with requests to become “friends” on Facebook or MySpace. Yet, by joining the social media revolution, these post-grad professionals and business owners aren’t just looking for an easier or faster to keep in touch with their loved ones, though that is one of social media’s best and most obvious perks. Importantly, today, social media has pushed the personal business network into space — virtual space, that is — and made it practically limitless.

The repercussions are clear: today, you should be extra careful and extra diligent when it comes to choosing your social media outlets. Again, it’s worth emphasizing the distinction between social media that are put primarily to personal use — Facebook and MySpace being the two most popular outlets in this case — and social media that are put to networking and contact-building use — LinkedIn being a good example here. A person interested in optimizing their presence online should opt for both kinds of social media. For an illustration, check out the personal profiles established by SalemGlobal’s own Raphi Salem — here is his Facebook profile (don’t even ask us about the Trump-do), and here is his LinkedIn profile. Note that, unlike his Facebook profile, Raphi’s LinkedIn profile has an option to display outgoing links to Raphi’s relevant webpages, which is great for SEO. Additionally, Raphi’s LinkedIn profile gives precedence to Raphi’s professional background and allows him to list the industry he works in. Both his Facebook and his LinkIn profiles are publicly available, but the LinkedIn profile is simply better geared toward not only establishing a business persona, but toward conveniently directing potential contacts toward Raphi’s business.

So, the moral of the story goes something like this: if you’re going to be social, you might as well be REALLY social, and sign up for different social media outlets that will enable you to achieve both personal and business objectives. Because of Web 2.0, today, making new friends online can also mean making more money at home.

The Key to Keyword Research

Posted by Edan Shertzer on Feb 4, 2009

A useful excerpt from this week’s SalemGlobal Newsletter:

“Everyone could use a few easy pointers when it comes to website marketing, SEO, and online promotion. SalemGlobal now introduces the SEO Tip of the Week, some words of advice on how to gain higher search results rankings in Google and other search engines. Today’s tip concerns researching keywords. Of course, when it comes to choosing good keywords, your industry knowledge is invaluable. No one knows your company’s services and capabilities better than you. After you’ve done some thinking, the next step is to research your competition. Simply search for those keywords and keyword phrases you’re interested in in Google and click on the first organic result. View the page source of that website; pay attention to page titles and descriptions. Repeat this process for the first two to three ranked results and you should gradually develop a complete list of keywords for your own website. Of course, organic research has its limitations, and there are fancy softwares that can help you isolate especially appropriate and relevant keywords (SalemGlobal uses one of the best, WebCEO), but nothing beats the old-fashioned organic effort, at least for starters. Questions? You can call Raphi Salem at 212-993-5828 or email him at raphis@salemglobal.com.”

To sign up to the newsletter, visit the SalemGlobal homepage and submit your e-mail in the Newsletter Sign up form. Sign up today and get the scoop on SEO, New York networking events, online marketing news and so much more.

Custom Search Bars — a SEO Must

Posted by Edan Shertzer on Jan 16, 2009

By now, almost anyone whose spent time online searching for a particular product or service has experienced the unfortunate phenomenon of “search vertigo”: it’s that heavy, sinking feeling you get when you land on a page that has no custom search bar. Suddenly, your computer screen seems to turn a few shades dimmer; each vague navbar title begins to sound strangely enticing, and each link seems to promise to lead you toward your end objective. You click and you click but, like that hamster on his wheel, you seem to be moving and staying in the same place all at once.

OK, maybe because we’re really into website marketing and SEO, we take our “search vertigo” harder than most. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t an annoying experience. In fact, there’s good reason to be annoyed if you’re website is missing a custom search bar — you’re losing out on an easy and relatively effortless way to make money.

The custom search bar is a great tool to use to boost your site’s user friendliness. Potential customers simply don’t have enough patience to play the insidious guessing game that is internal link navigation. Even if your webpage is highly relevant to their search, customers who can’t find what they’re looking for pretty quickly are more likely than not to exit your page and check out the next option on the search engine results page. On the other hand, if a custom search bar is in place, pleased customers who find what they’re looking for quickly are both more likely to purchase that product/service and spend more time on your site overall, which is a major SEO plus.

Programs such as Google AdSense for search make the custom search bar that much more inviting. Google’s thinking is straightforward: Google wants to push its ads into every nook and cranny available on the Internet, so it cuts the following deal with you, the owner of your own nook and cranny — when someone types search terms into your search bar, Google will analyze those terms and generate ads on the results page that are relevant to the search. If the user clicks on one of those generated ads, you get paid. Simple and sweet.

The Google AdSense program has some additional benefits, such as the free Google hosting page for custom search results and the Top Queries report that allows you to see the most popular terms users have typed into your custom search bar.  Either way, with a custom search bar embedded on your site, you can make the alleviation of “search vertigo” into a profitable business.