You’ve been hearing a lot about Pinterest being the latest and greatest in trendy social media, with good reason.   Not only is it free and easy to use, it’s fun and quite addicting, without all the many annoying elements we’re beginning to tire of on Twitter and Facebook.  (If I get ONE more !@#$ Farmville request…)

And with 1.5 million visitors daily, Pinterest is absolutely an area of opportunity for savvy business owners.  If used correctly, Pinterest can seriously increase traffic to your website and improve your Google rankings.

First, you have to decide if Pinterest is right for your business.  If you’re an entrepreneur, a photographer, an animal lover, a graphic designer, a fashion guru, in the food industry, or a creative of any kind, then Pinterest is for you!  Accountants maybe not so much.  Why?  Because Pinterest really does functions primarily as a billboard, with interesting (re: pretty) visuals attracting the most attention.  At its core, Pinterest is all about beauty (for the 97% of its users who are female, at any rate.)

 1. Pinning 101 – A few things to note.

The more visually striking your pins are, the better.  Although humor does have its place on Pinterest, it just doesn’t seem as popular.   Beyond photos, you can try pinning ‘behind the scenes’ images of your business, visually interesting coupons, humorous infographics, famous quotes, seasonal content, and videos.  Yes, Youtube videos can be pinned, the same as images, but this hasn’t become popular on Pinterest…yet.  Make sure you:

• Follow the Pinterest social etiquette.  Make sure not to over promote your brand.  Engage in other Pinterest users- repin, like, and comment.  Pin from a variety of sources and not just your own website.
• Come up with interesting board names and descriptions- these get shared when you pin, so it’s a great way to differentiate your brand.   You could also create a board for each one of your staff, or for each of your clients who are online, or to highlight a specific product or service.
• Use the @username functions in your descriptions and comments to tag other Pinterest users- this is a great way to network with others in your industry and to build a following.
• Use the “Popular” link on your Pinterest home page to stay abreast of trends and use them for your own pinning strategy.
• And if you sell consumer goods, make sure you add prices to your pins to get featured in the ‘gift’ section!

2. Network network network.  Network!

Pinterest should be a part of your overall social media strategy.  You can integrate your Pinterest account with Facebook and Twitter quite easily.  Plus, you should include Pinterest elements in your website.

• Add a Pinterest RSS feed to your website – in your account, under your profile picture simply click the RSS icon to get your pinning RSS feed address.
• Add “pin this” to every blog post and page on your site that you think may appeal to pinners.
• Add a “follow my pins” badge to your website. Learn how here.
• Thank people who follow you or who pin things from your site using the @username in the comments.  Offer them coupons or discounts, repin their material, or if they’re frequent pinners of your content, you could even ask them to blog about you with a link back to your site.

3.  Take advantage of the free SEO!

There is, of course, fabulous SEO value to having a Pinterest account as well.

• The description in the tags you write for your pins are used for ALT tags, so be descriptive and put your keywords first!    Same goes for board names and descriptions.
• It goes without saying that you should link back to your site in your profile.  (It’s the globe icon under your picture.)
• When people share or repin, they’re sharing the link of the original pin- seriously great for your website rankings.  So, the more repins, the better (obvi.)
• Even better, these Pinterest links are ‘dofollow’ links, making Google very, very happy.
• And just when you thought it couldn’t get better- Pinterest has a current Domain Authority of 94 (that’s really impressive, fyi.) What does this mean?  Your links matter more to Google coming from a site like Pinterest than if they come from some stupid, low-quality link exchange site.  So, in the short term, pins to your content will likely come up in search results for your keywords before of your website.  In the long term, these high-quality links are going to greatly improve your website’s rankings.  Yay!
• Also, you should utilize your tracking software to determine the most efficient pinning methods and how to best get these links.  You can easily set up specific traffic segments to determine the best times of day to pin, the best days of the week to pin, and what type of pin is most often repinned or liked.

No way around it, Pinterest can greatly add value to your SEO strategy.   So, take advantage of your blog!   Every single post you write should have an image, and every single image should be pinned, either by you or someone else.  Free, high quality links!! Links!!!

4.  Optimize Your Site for Conversions!

It’s great to start getting lots of new traffic to your site- now make sure your visitors are getting what they want.

• Check bounce rates and navigation paths to get an idea of how you’re performing and make appropriate changes.
• You should make sure that there are highly visible calls to action in each part of your site that pinners are visiting.  (This is a good idea anyway.)  Bright, big internal links and plenty of options should be clearly available for visitors to either view more, sign up for a newsletter, subscribe to your RSS feed, inquire about services, or just leave a comment.
• Don’t have any outbound links on these pages either- you want to keep these visitors engaged in your  site’s content.  If you must, make sure they open in a new window.

And that’s all she wrote!  (for today, anyway.)

Good luck and happy pinning!

Every time Facebook makes changes, I get a frenzy of hateful opinions in my news feed, because most users simply don’t like changes.

Me?  I LOVE when Facebook updates, because it makes my online marketing job (and observation of online consumer behavior) that much more interesting.

So, let’s talk about the major changes that marketers will certainty be taking advantage of.  If you’re simply a Facebook user, consider this blog post as a way to educate yourself about the ways to avoid the inevitable scams that are going to pop up quite soon.

*Note:  some people may not have these changes yet- they roll it out slowly.  Look for it in the next few months.

Best change for marketers: third party apps will be fully integrated into your profile page.

Each time you ‘like’ something, instead of asking if you want to allow the app access to your profile, it will automatically be given access.   The Chicago Tribune sums it up perfectly::

“Facebook, mostly through your “likes” — and with its growing list of partners, including Netflix, Spotify and The Washington Post — will track all of your shopping, listening and viewing and identify patterns so that it can suggest more things to buy, listen to or view.”

And that’s just the beginning- Facebook wants to partner with as many news, music and video companies as possible to integrate Facebook as an ‘entertainment hub.’

So, when you buy something on Netflix or Hulu or any other partner, it’s announced to your Facebook feed.  Are you listening to a song on Spotify?  Everyone knows what song you’re listening to on Spotify, because your feed will announce it- and then maybe everyone will comment on how fabulous your Glee music station really is.   Awesome for marketers, bad for privacy buffs.  Can you turn this off?  Sure.  But I’m not going to tell you how.

 Second best change for marketers:  New brand page uses.

Among other things, marketers can now view and track shares of a post, users don’t have to ‘like’ a page to comment on its wall (making it easier to increase consumer engagement,) and impression per data post is going to be part of Page Insights, making it way easier to do analytics.

 Third best change for marketers:  Facebook ‘Sponsored Stories.’ 

This is truly inspired (and kind of creepy.)  Brands will be able to use Facebook user activities to generate endorsements that can be placed in ads and shown to friends.  For example, Facebook knows I watched “Maid in Manhattan” on Netflix- and Netflix will tell all of my friends too, in a Netflix ad in their user profile.   Even if I hated the movie, the Netflix ad will announce to the world I watched it.  (Never actually saw Maid in Manhattan, by the way- just needed a terrible movie to make a point.)  Ditto for stories I read on the Guardian or Washington Post.

Other things of note in the new Facebook:

• More buttons like ‘like.’  There will now be buttons for “read” “listen” “watch” etc, guiding page activity.  Online marketers will be able to develop campaigns based on what their fans do more- read, watch, or listen- and naturally, this will go on your feed as well.

•  Timeline.  It actually looks pretty cool- it ‘”compiles all your activity into a visual scrapbook and life story.”  If you don’t have it yet, you will in a few weeks.  Basically, it puts everything from your profile into chronological order, making your profile more of a ‘story.’

•  Subscriptions. You can now ‘subscribe’ to anyone’s feed on Facebook, even if you’re not friends with them.   (You’re automatically subscribed to all your friends.)  People who ‘subscribe’ to you will be able to see your public updates.  For example, if you want to subscribe to a celebrity, you would see any posts they deem ‘public’ in your feed even if you aren’t friends.  It’s basically Facebook’s response to Google + circles.

Anything I missed?   Viva la online marketing!

Here’s a few answers to that argument, which I’d be happy to offer if the phone hadn’t been slammed down by a cranky business owner immediately following my cheery 30 second 15 second pitch. (I talk fast.)

1. SEO can be really time consuming.

Sure, you can do your own keyword research or link building, but if you’re doing it for the first time, expect to spend at least 10-25 more hours than it would take a professional. Way, way more if you’re not familiar with HTML or using FTP.

2. SEO strategies can be really tricky.

You could add all the keywords in the world, but if your website hasn’t submitted XML sitemaps to Google, you can expect zero results despite all that hard work- and you won’t know where you went wrong. A professional SEO, however, knows all the elements that goes into ranking well. Yes, you can read free online SEO tutorials- some of which are great- but if you’ve never written copy for a fully optimized landing page, you’re probably not going to get it right on the first try. And I doubt you feel like doing it every two weeks after studying Google Analytics to figure out where you went wrong.

3. Poor SEO can hurt you in the long run.

Unethical, ‘black hat’ practices are endorsed by lots of websites online. If you unknowingly get into the wrong kind of SEO, you might be happy with your traffic for a while, but eventually, your website will never seeing a decent ranking again when Google gets wind of it. Trust me, it happens.

4. In-depth understanding of demographics is key for SEO in Westchester, NY.

Like any good marketing plan, understanding ages, education levels, income, etc of the average Westchester NY resident is important- and I’ve studied how Westchester NY residents use search engines. HUGE plus for hiring Ad Astra!

If your business is in Westchester NY and you’re interested in SEO or other internet marketing services, contact Ad Astra today for a free analysis of your website!

If you’re in the job market, then you may have already taken steps to make sure potential employers who Google your name don’t inadvertently come across your sex tape before your LinkedIn recommendations.   If you haven’t, Google yourself and see what comes up.  Scared?  Then follow the recommendations below to clean up your online image.

1. Consider an ePortfolio, where you can add your resume, recommendations,  a contact form, and perhaps even a blog.  Link this ePortfolio to every place you’re online.   A few reasons why:

• It’s a fantastic way to stand out from the tons of other cookie cutter resume and cover letter applicants.
• It allows you to present a holistic image of yourself.  You can showcase your academic strengths, highlight your experience, and present your asthetic in any way you choose.
• It shows that you’re internet savvy- which in many industries is a big plus today.
• With a little SEO, it’s easy for this to be the first thing that shows up in a Google search for your name.   
• About.me and flavors.me are both great, free places to start.

2. If you’re not on LinkedIn, get on LinkedIn.

• You may be tired of hearing it, but it simply is the best professional networking site out there.
• While we’re at it, make sure that you customize your profile URL to have your name in it, instead of a string of letters and numbers.  Read more about that here.

3. Update your Facebook, Twitter, Google +, etc privacy settings.

• Or, use an alias.  At any rate, make sure that no one outside your network has access to those great posts where you’re airing your very appropriate opinions on Sarah Palin, or bemoaning public drunkenness laws.

Need help?  Contact Ad Astra.  We have experience in designing affordable, professional ePortfolios.  When you land your dream job (taster at Willy Wonka’s factory, for me) you’ll be so glad you did!

Was this blog post useful?  Sign up for our online newsletter to receive SEO news, tips, and more!

Here’s 4 reasons why you need to blog.

1. Google’s preference for freshness.

Google likes websites that are updated often- and your best way to do that is to blog.  If there are two websites, identical in everything else, but one blogs monthly and one doesn’t, the blogged website will show up way higher in rankings than the latter.

 2.  SEO best practices.

Blogging allows you to use more keywords (and title tags, alt tags, h1 tags, etc) attain more internal links with organic anchor text, and increases your odds of getting external links on the internet.  All of this means more traffic and higher rankings.  So local businesses owners need to blog, especially if your competitors are doing it.  Confused?  Check out our free SEO tutorials.  (See what I just did there?)

3.  Show off your expertise and increase consumer trust.

Let’s say I’m looking for a local wine store.  Obviously, like 92% of Americans, the first thing I’m going to do is look up websites online.  The ones that blog about the new wine they just got in and why it’s great drinking for those hot August months are way more likely to get my business.  Why?  Because the website with the wine is making an honest effort to teach their customers about their product, and at the same time they’re showing that they know what they’re talking about.  Same goes for photographers, electricians, veterinarians, piano tuners, accountants- you name it.  I’ll take a case, please.

4.  Generate leads through your blog.

Keep blogging useful, insightful posts, and before long you’ll have readers who are going to comment, sign up for your online newsletter, or like your Facebook page because they appreciate your blog.  And voila!  You now have the names and emails of someone who you know is interested in what you do- or they wouldn’t be visiting your website in the first place.

If you you are a business owner who needs a blog but you don’t have the time, you’re a bad writer, or you need ideas for writing engaging blog posts, contact Ad Astra today!

I recently had a client who couldn’t figure out why his competitor ranked higher than him on Google.  The competing website wasn’t optimized, it didn’t have a blog, and there was no social media integration at all.

One word:  links.

I know, my infographic is sweet.

Anyway, having a great, optimized website with carefully selected keywords in the right places is a must, but it can only take you so far.  For local search, content is important, but links are crucial.  This means that the crappy website with the most links will come up high on the Google search.  But the great website with the best links will win, every time.

What is Link Building?

Link building is the process of creating external links from various places on the internet that point to your website.  A good link building strategy isn’t finding every free directory on the web and submitting your website.  Instead, it’s finding resources with a decent Google Page Rank and/or high amounts of traffic and adding your business to those resources.

Why Does Link Building Matter?

It matters because the more links you have pointing to your website, the higher your Google ranking.  There are exceptions, of course.  If all of your links are on sleezy directories (known as ‘link farms’) this will likely not affect your rankings- and could even hurt you in the long run. See the JC Penny fiasco. Generally, you want links from respectable online directories, social media networks, and local online resources, the more diverse, the better.  To give you an idea, consider this: 2 links coming from website.org and website.edu will always help more than 10 crappy website.com links.

How to Do It

1.  Get organized.  We recommend that you start a spreadsheet with columns containing the name of the website, the URL, the date you started, a username, and password.  (Most of the directories will require you to sign up- we created a separate email address that we use only for this process to keep our inbox clean.)

2.  Go to getlisted.org. This is a great place to start with the biggest, most important directories like Google, Bing, and Yahoo.

3.  Make sure you’ve claimed your business on these directories: AOL Local, White Pages, Yellow Pages, Yellowbook, Local.com, Merchant Circle, Yelp, InsiderPages, SuperPages, Localeze, YellowBot, Kudzu, SuperMedia.com, DexKnows.com, Wikibusiness.org, and Mojopages, to start.

4.  For social networks, definitely create business profiles in LinkedIn and Facebook.  Twitter is optional- Twitter links can be very useful, but it’s not worth it if you won’t tweet.   Ditto with many of the other social networks like Quora, Foursquare, SlideShare, etc.   But if you think you can get into the social networking scene, then this is a great free way to boost your rankings.   Check out other social media sites for small businesses.

5.  Look for industry specific links.   For example, if you are a veterinarian, Google “veterinarian directory” “veterinarian listings” etc and make sure you aren’t missing any free places online to include your business.

6.  Look for geography specific links.  For example, if you live in White Plains, you’ll definitely want to check out WhitePlains.patch.com.  For more ideas, use Google with terms like “White Plains Business Directory”  “New York Small Businesses” “White Plains Small Business Directory”  etc.

7.  Go to whitespark.ca. This is a great free resource that will find other places you may have missed for your industry and location links.

8.  Keep track of your listings, adding more whenever you get the opportunity. The best link building strategies are an ongoing process.  Guest blogging, your college alumni websites, Better Business Bureau profiles, any organizations or affiliations that might allow you to create a listing online- these are all opportunities that will help your website rank better.

Need help formulating a link building strategy?  Don’t have the time to do it all yourself?  Contact Ad Astra eMarketing today!

POSTED:  Wednesday, July 27, 2011.

“Ain’t nobody on this joint” declared my sister Meredith Leonard when asked her opinions on Google +.

It’s surely a problem for the masses, used to Facebook with nearly everyone they know on it.  My 82 year old grandmother is on Facebook now, in fact.  (Which made my 30 year old cousin Hal delete his account, explaining “if Gammies is on it, I’m not!”)

But back to Google+.   Right now, for most people, there just aren’t enough people on it, despite the many ways to get an invitation.   News articles abound about how there may already be upwards of 10 million users, but my list still shows only a paltry 20 people in my network.  That makes playing around with Google+ difficult, to say the least.

There are some awesome features though.

Things I like:

1.  The ‘hangout.’  This is video chat with up to 10 people, and I must admit it was really fun- and super easy.  You can watch youtube videos together too, which would have been great except we had no luck with it- must be one of the quirks Google is still working out.

2. The privacy settings.  You’ve probably heard a lot about it, and I have to say it’s pretty great. You put people in your network into circles as soon as you add them to your network- a circle for “Friends” “Acquaintences” “Family” etc, and you can add people to multiple circles – see the screen shot below.  Then, when you post something to your wall, you can choose which circles to share with.  And, best of all, no one knows which circle you put them into.

3.  The integration with Google search (obviously.)  So, the Google+ equivalent to FB’s ‘like’ is a + button.  You will have seen these on your Google searches too.  Obviously, at some point the amount of +’s a website receives is going to factor into Google’s ranking algorithm, just as FB likes already do.  The difference is, anyone can +1 a website, not just people in Google+.   Awesome.

4.  It’s easy. Really, there isn’t too steep of a learning curve – after spending about 10 minutes, aforementioned sister was able to ‘hangout’ with us even though she isn’t very tech savvy.

Things I don’t like:

1.  The terms of service. Essentially, Google owns all the content you post, royalty free.   If you’re a professional photographer, for example, you might want to think twice before posting your photos.

2.  Lack of friends on there, as discussed above.

…really, that’s about it.  Check it out for yourself- need an invitation?  Just let me know in the comments!

POSTED:  Tuesday, July 13, 2011.

Can’t get a Google+ invite?  I’ve finally figured out a way around the closed invites.  This is likely a glitch in the system, so I suggest following the instructions below sooner rather than later before it’s fixed.

All you need is a friend who’s already on Google+ and a gmail account.

1. 1. Find a friend who is on Google+.
2. 2. Ask your friend to upload a picture with you in it to the Google + Photo Albums.
3. 3. Have them tag you in the picture.  People, when you tag, make sure the gmail email of the person you are tagging pops up- if it’s a different email out of your contact list this may not work.
   1. Note:  this means that your gmail address needs to be in the contact list of the friend who is tagging you.
4. 4. Check your email.  You should receive one from Google that says “Friend XXX tagged you in an album on Google+” in the subject line.  Click on “view photo” or “view album.” Then, “Join Google+” to accept the tag.

And voila!  You’re in.  If this worked for you, please leave a comment, reshare this link on FB/Twitter or +1 my website’s blog page. Have a great weekend gplusers!

POSTED:  Saturday, July 9, 2011.

Tired of managing your social networks?  The instructions below will sync your Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook status updates in 4 easy steps!  Just decide which application you want to write your updates from, Facebook or Twitter, and follow the instructions below. Be prepared to sign into all three accounts.

To Sync Twitter and LinkedIn to your Facebook business page (you want to use Facebook to write your updates.)

note:  you can’t update  your personal profile page with this application, only your business page.

Step 1.

Link your pages from Facebook to Twitter here by simply follow the prompts.  The entire process will take less than 2 minutes.  Voila!  Pages synced.

Step 2.

Test it out- write a new status on your Facebook business page and make sure it gets posted to your Twitter account.  If it doesn’t work, make sure you’ve successfully installed the application.

OR

To Sync Facebook and LinkedIn to Twitter:  (you want to use Twitter to write your status updates.)

note:  this option will allow you to use either your personal Facebook page or your business profile.

Step 1.

Link your Twitter account to Facebook here by simply following the prompts.  The entire process will take less than 2 minutes.  Voila!  Pages synced.

Step 2.

Test it out- tweet a new status on your Twitter account and make sure it gets posted to your Facebook account. If it doesn’t work, make sure you’ve successfully installed the application.

THEN

To Sync FB/Twitter to LinkedIn:

Step 3.

Sign into your LinkedIn account and go to “Edit Profile.”   Look for the option to add your Twitter information to your profile, if it isn’t there already.  Click “Twitter”  and you’ll see a screen called “Manage Your Twitter Settings.”  Make sure that the setting “Account Visibility” is checked.  Save changes.

Step 4.

Do another test!  Update your FB status again, or tweet, whatever.  It should be reflected in your other two networks now- taDA!  Easy as pie.

So, now all you have to do is update one account and all three social media networks will update.  Should save most of you a lot of time (and hopefully money!)  Running into problems?   Need someone to manage your social networks for you?   Learn more about Ad Astra eMarketing, and then contact us for help today!

POSTED:  Wednesday, July 6, 2011.

So, I finally added Google Plus One (+1) to my website, about 3 weeks later than everyone else.  I know, I know, I’m super lazy.  But I wanted to see how many people would be early adopters and how big of a trend to expect.  Also…super lazy.

So far, I’m impressed.  Most of my favorite sites have the +1 icon next to it in search results, including PerezHilton, GoFugYourself, Wikipedia, IMDB, and the NYTimes (just kidding.  I don’t read the news.)

What is +1?  It’s a button that you can add to your website which visitors click to indicate that they like your site.  Similar to Facebook “like” but offered by Google- makes it more official, somehow. You have to have a Google account and be logged in to use this new feature.

Google, of course, now includes the number of +1 clicks in their algorithm to help improve the quality of their search results.  So, in terms of SEO- you want to add the Google +1 button, and you want lots of clicks, because you want Google to bump you up in the rankings.

I definitely want to keep Google happy, and I always like better rankings, so I added Google Plus One to my site. So please click +1- we appreciate it!

We also recommend that you add +1 to your site yourself- it only took us a few minutes. Or if you’d rather not mess with coding, we’d be happy to do it for you- contact Ad Astra today!

POSTED: Monday, June 20, 2011.