Go ahead and mark this down as the unpopular answer to the common question of the day. When people ask me what the secret sauce is in any truly successful search marketing program, whether through search engine optimization or PPC, my answer is never greeted with enthusiasm. The answer: manual effort.

People always want the path of least resistance. They want to hear about the easiest way to make something successful while putting in the least amount of effort. Unfortunately, the answer to the question regarding search has been made the least popular answer in marketing. Between Penguin, Panda, and other things that are happening with the Google algorithm, the ideas that used to drive SEO in particular have changed from the automated processes and systems of the past to the labor-intensive manual efforts of today.

In PPC, much of the same has been happening, though not nearly as clear as with SEO. There are still many automated PPC services and programs that work well, just not as well as the manually monitored and adjusted systems. In many cases, particularly for those who work with thousands of keywords, the automated systems still make sense overall. The time it takes to tweak such campaigns manually is often too much as the improved results may not even be noticeable.

Back to SEO. Google rewards manual effort. They like content that has been written thoughtfully with the visitors firmly in mind. They do not like spun or syndicated content. The do not like bulk links that took no effort to get. Links that are earned from high-value sources are golden; one link from a respected and relevant publication is more powerful than a thousand low-effort spam links. They like social signals that are organically generated. Real people sharing real content with their real friends – that’s much more powerful than bulk retweets or +1s.

If you want to mix the right ingredients to make the perfect secret sauce, you have to be willing to put in the effort or pay someone else to do it for you. Any system that is “turn key” or “autopilot” will fly your search marketing right into the face of a mountain. Turn your targeting computer off and use the force if you want to destroy the Death Star.

Go ahead and mark this down as the unpopular answer to the common question of the day. When people ask me what the secret sauce is in any truly successful search marketing program, whether through search engine optimization or PPC, my answer is never greeted with enthusiasm. The answer: manual effort.

People always want the path of least resistance. They want to hear about the easiest way to make something successful while putting in the least amount of effort. Unfortunately, the answer to the question regarding search has been made the least popular answer in marketing. Between Penguin, Panda, and other things that are happening with the Google algorithm, the ideas that used to drive SEO in particular have changed from the automated processes and systems of the past to the labor-intensive manual efforts of today.

In PPC, much of the same has been happening, though not nearly as clear as with SEO. There are still many automated PPC services and programs that work well, just not as well as the manually monitored and adjusted systems. In many cases, particularly for those who work with thousands of keywords, the automated systems still make sense overall. The time it takes to tweak such campaigns manually is often too much as the improved results may not even be noticeable.

Back to SEO. Google rewards manual effort. They like content that has been written thoughtfully with the visitors firmly in mind. They do not like spun or syndicated content. The do not like bulk links that took no effort to get. Links that are earned from high-value sources are golden; one link from a respected and relevant publication is more powerful than a thousand low-effort spam links. They like social signals that are organically generated. Real people sharing real content with their real friends – that’s much more powerful than bulk retweets or +1s.

If you want to mix the right ingredients to make the perfect secret sauce, you have to be willing to put in the effort or pay someone else to do it for you. Any system that is “turn key” or “autopilot” will fly your search marketing right into the face of a mountain. Turn your targeting computer off and use the force if you want to destroy the Death Star.

As with any site, the more exposure received the better it is for your brand, in particular organic exposure. Organic is content seen by people on the site and is numbers or views that are not inflated with fake or irrelevant accounts. Although once upon a time where views came from didn’t matter, today in social media it does, and knowing what tool can help you gain exposure without hurting your brand is a valuable lesson to learn prior to using any tools.

Images have gained in popularity in 2012 and is continuing as we begin 2013, it most certainly looks to be a trend that is yet to fade into the past as visual content is not only popular by social users but by the algorithms within social networks as well as amongst image sharing niche sites like Pinterest.

Businesses have caught on to the latest trend in sharing images and are using them to relate to users on social sites but it has also become a terrific way to share your brand as well as products on sites like Pinterest, since they make it super easy for businesses by providing another way for people to click to your desired site in which images are being hosted.

Pinterest has done wonders in particular for blogs and for websites who have taken interest in creating supporting pages and picking proper images. Knowing how to properly categorize your pins and label your boards imaginatively along with a well written social description explaining the board, will help create a strong page rank for your board, since every board does and can have one.

With that said, it is not always easy depending on others to repin your pins and in some instances promoting pins can help further your reach.

An image promoting site, Reachli, helps content creators and sellers of goods measure their visually shared content with an array of tools. With the ability to promote through campaigns using Reachli not only will you be able to extend your brands reach but more importantly be able to scale the types of images that best suit your audience and hone in on those skills to strengthen your strategy and further your image sharing not only on Pinterest but elsewhere as well.

Being able to measure your efforts when sharing images in particular can help you not only connect further with like-minded people but potential customers as well and knowing what works and what doesn’t helps businesses weed out the unnecessary and instead use social sites for purposeful efforts and attain information that will make using those sites for your brand more beneficial.

Currently Reachli targets Pinterest but may expand in the future for more niche sites that target visual sharing into their insights. Reachli is ideal for your brand to be able to scale and strategize using measurable feedback that can help you target your audience better, which will then in return make for better connections when using social media.

[Cats and Bacon image via infographr]

As with any site, the more exposure received the better it is for your brand, in particular organic exposure. Organic is content seen by people on the site and is numbers or views that are not inflated with fake or irrelevant accounts. Although once upon a time where views came from didn’t matter, today in social media it does, and knowing what tool can help you gain exposure without hurting your brand is a valuable lesson to learn prior to using any tools.

Images have gained in popularity in 2012 and is continuing as we begin 2013, it most certainly looks to be a trend that is yet to fade into the past as visual content is not only popular by social users but by the algorithms within social networks as well as amongst image sharing niche sites like Pinterest.

Businesses have caught on to the latest trend in sharing images and are using them to relate to users on social sites but it has also become a terrific way to share your brand as well as products on sites like Pinterest, since they make it super easy for businesses by providing another way for people to click to your desired site in which images are being hosted.

Pinterest has done wonders in particular for blogs and for websites who have taken interest in creating supporting pages and picking proper images. Knowing how to properly categorize your pins and label your boards imaginatively along with a well written social description explaining the board, will help create a strong page rank for your board, since every board does and can have one.

With that said, it is not always easy depending on others to repin your pins and in some instances promoting pins can help further your reach.

An image promoting site, Reachli, helps content creators and sellers of goods measure their visually shared content with an array of tools. With the ability to promote through campaigns using Reachli not only will you be able to extend your brands reach but more importantly be able to scale the types of images that best suit your audience and hone in on those skills to strengthen your strategy and further your image sharing not only on Pinterest but elsewhere as well.

Being able to measure your efforts when sharing images in particular can help you not only connect further with like-minded people but potential customers as well and knowing what works and what doesn’t helps businesses weed out the unnecessary and instead use social sites for purposeful efforts and attain information that will make using those sites for your brand more beneficial.

Currently Reachli targets Pinterest but may expand in the future for more niche sites that target visual sharing into their insights. Reachli is ideal for your brand to be able to scale and strategize using measurable feedback that can help you target your audience better, which will then in return make for better connections when using social media.

[Cats and Bacon image via infographr]

No, no. Not Martin Short. Short, as in not very long.

Bloggers have been told for a long time that the longer and more detailed the title, the more likely it will be that people will click on them. We have seen quirky titles popping up for a long time and they definitely have an extra clickability factor to them that shorter blog post titles do not. However, the singular benefit does not compensate for the negatives associated with longer titles.

First, the shorter the title, them more search engine optimization clout it has. Google and Bing look to title tags as one of the most important onsite factors when determining rankings. It's a mathematical scale - the longer the title, the less "juice" each individual word and character has when it comes to SEO.

Second, shorter titles are more likely to be shared on social media. Call it psychology, call it "too long to retweet" fear, call it whatever you want, the stats show that blog posts with longer titles get shared less often than shorter ones.

Finally, and this is arguably the most important thing to remember, shorter titles that get to the point are better for getting the focused reader. It's true, longer titles are more likely to get clicked, but your real blog visitors are more interested in getting to the point and staying focused on their goals rather than getting to see how clever the blogger was in their posts. That's not to say that you shouldn't be creative with your titles or that longer titles are against some arbitrary rule. It's just that all too often bloggers will extend their titles because some blogging expert told them to get wacky. If you don't need to get wacky, don't do it.

You're reading this post right now so something about the title compelled you to read further. That's a good sign. If you can recognize the importance of having titles that get to the point, then you can appreciate the abilities that shorter titles have for SEO, sharing, and focused interaction.

No, no. Not Martin Short. Short, as in not very long.

Bloggers have been told for a long time that the longer and more detailed the title, the more likely it will be that people will click on them. We have seen quirky titles popping up for a long time and they definitely have an extra clickability factor to them that shorter blog post titles do not. However, the singular benefit does not compensate for the negatives associated with longer titles.

First, the shorter the title, them more search engine optimization clout it has. Google and Bing look to title tags as one of the most important onsite factors when determining rankings. It's a mathematical scale - the longer the title, the less "juice" each individual word and character has when it comes to SEO.

Second, shorter titles are more likely to be shared on social media. Call it psychology, call it "too long to retweet" fear, call it whatever you want, the stats show that blog posts with longer titles get shared less often than shorter ones.

Finally, and this is arguably the most important thing to remember, shorter titles that get to the point are better for getting the focused reader. It's true, longer titles are more likely to get clicked, but your real blog visitors are more interested in getting to the point and staying focused on their goals rather than getting to see how clever the blogger was in their posts. That's not to say that you shouldn't be creative with your titles or that longer titles are against some arbitrary rule. It's just that all too often bloggers will extend their titles because some blogging expert told them to get wacky. If you don't need to get wacky, don't do it.

You're reading this post right now so something about the title compelled you to read further. That's a good sign. If you can recognize the importance of having titles that get to the point, then you can appreciate the abilities that shorter titles have for SEO, sharing, and focused interaction.

Search engine optimization in the automotive industry isn’t hard, which is why it surprises me how often companies choose to use shortcuts rather than to apply proven and acceptable white-hat techniques. It’s a problem that has been on the rise more in the last year than ever before. The reason for it is simple: true search engine optimization requires manual effort.

Large vendors prefer to avoid this because they feel it isn’t scalable. Smaller vendors scramble to assemble the manpower necessary to make it happen. It doesn’t have to be this way. It’s possible to perform search engine optimization at a scalable level that delivers real results for dealers. Identifying those who can bring you the results is as easy as answering five questions.

Before we get into the questions, it’s important to note one important omission from the list. You’ll notice that I did not include, “Do they have examples of dealers ranking well for challenging keywords?” If a vendor has more than a handful of clients, they will have examples of strong rankings. It’s inevitable. There are too many poorly optimized websites out there. A list of examples of clients who rank well is something that every vendor can provide. We’ve even seen occasions where websites that we have optimized on other website platforms are used as examples by that website provider.

Here are the questions that can truly help you make an educated decision.

Is Their Solution Centered Around Unique Content?

The Google Panda update of 2011 specifically attacked websites with duplicate and/or low-quality content. The automotive industry was not terribly harmed by this as most dealers have variations of “spun” content on their sites. Relative to other websites in the same realm, most dealerships are equally harmed by the lack of truly unique content, which means that the bar is set low to achieve higher rankings.

Vendors that do the same thing may not be hurt by this type of content, but they certainly aren’t helping. Building unique content pages on a monthly basis is a differentiator that only a handful of vendors utilize. Look at examples of their website SEO. Copy the first or second paragraph of the HTML content on the page. Paste that into Google and search. If you see a lot of websites that have the same basic content but with small changes such as the dealership name and city, you’ll know that their content is not unique enough to be a differentiator.

Do They Automate the SEO Process?

All of the old tricks of the trade are dead. Google and Bing have more brainpower behind fighting blackhat SEO than all of the blackhats combined. One of the worst potential offenses that both Google and Bing despise is automated SEO content.

There is no system today in or out of the automotive industry that can fool the search engines by generating pages based on actions from a feed. In other words, if a vendor is automating page creation by “spinning” content with different cities or models, they are going to be hurt by this practice. Some dealers have learned this lesson the hard way. This type of blackhat SEO isn’t just ineffective – it’s potentially dangerous.

Does Their Keyword Strategy Meet Your Individual Needs?

The most powerful SEO in the universe is worthless if the proper keywords are not targeted. The foundation of any strong SEO service is keyword selection and maintenance. It’s not just about picking out the right keywords in the beginning. It’s about enhancing the keyword selections based upon needs, changes in the industry, and expansion of the keyword reach.

Ask potential vendors to send you their onboarding or launch questions. This document should ask you what cities, new vehicle models, and used vehicle makes are most important to your dealership. There’s no way to put together a proper keyword strategy without having an understanding of the individual dealership’s competitive landscape. Only the dealer knows this information. Any vendor can make an educated guess, but you know your competition and opportunities better than anyone.

Do They Employ Inbound Link Strategies to Enhance Rankings?

Links are not dead. Automated and low-quality links are dead. That happened last April with the Penguin update when some dealers saw their rankings drop quickly.

Google and Bing both still give a lot of weight to inbound links. The difference now is that quality greatly trumps quantity. In fact, Google is making it detrimental to have low-quality links pointing to you. Employing a content-centric link-building system is the best way to make a positive impact on your search rankings. Without links, content alone does not have the power necessary to achieve the more challenging “money keywords” that are based on your make and/or model and city. You won’t be able to rank at the top for terms like “Milwaukee Chevrolet Dealers” with content alone.

Do They Rank Well With Their Own Sites?

A great chef cooks well at home as well as at the restaurant. It’s a shame that so many claim to have the best automotive SEO available without having the ability to get their own sites ranked for terms like “automotive SEO”. How does that make any sense?

Do some searches pertaining to keywords the prospective vendor would hold important. If they are truly good at SEO, they will certainly apply their techniques on their own websites. If they can’t get their own websites ranked well, how are they supposed to help their clients reach the top. After all, “automotive SEO” is a much more challenging keyword than “Milwaukee Chevrolet Dealers”.

Again, automotive SEO isn’t hard. It requires effort, proper strategies, and the ability to keep up with the rapid changes that are happening at Google and Bing. If you aren’t completely satisfied with your rankings, it’s time to find other options. Once you have those options gathered, ask these five questions. The answers will help you determine whether they’ll be able to get you higher rankings or if they’ll have your rankings tanking.

Search engine optimization in the automotive industry isn’t hard, which is why it surprises me how often companies choose to use shortcuts rather than to apply proven and acceptable white-hat techniques. It’s a problem that has been on the rise more in the last year than ever before. The reason for it is simple: true search engine optimization requires manual effort.

Large vendors prefer to avoid this because they feel it isn’t scalable. Smaller vendors scramble to assemble the manpower necessary to make it happen. It doesn’t have to be this way. It’s possible to perform search engine optimization at a scalable level that delivers real results for dealers. Identifying those who can bring you the results is as easy as answering five questions.

Before we get into the questions, it’s important to note one important omission from the list. You’ll notice that I did not include, “Do they have examples of dealers ranking well for challenging keywords?” If a vendor has more than a handful of clients, they will have examples of strong rankings. It’s inevitable. There are too many poorly optimized websites out there. A list of examples of clients who rank well is something that every vendor can provide. We’ve even seen occasions where websites that we have optimized on other website platforms are used as examples by that website provider.

Here are the questions that can truly help you make an educated decision.

Is Their Solution Centered Around Unique Content?

The Google Panda update of 2011 specifically attacked websites with duplicate and/or low-quality content. The automotive industry was not terribly harmed by this as most dealers have variations of “spun” content on their sites. Relative to other websites in the same realm, most dealerships are equally harmed by the lack of truly unique content, which means that the bar is set low to achieve higher rankings.

Vendors that do the same thing may not be hurt by this type of content, but they certainly aren’t helping. Building unique content pages on a monthly basis is a differentiator that only a handful of vendors utilize. Look at examples of their website SEO. Copy the first or second paragraph of the HTML content on the page. Paste that into Google and search. If you see a lot of websites that have the same basic content but with small changes such as the dealership name and city, you’ll know that their content is not unique enough to be a differentiator.

Do They Automate the SEO Process?

All of the old tricks of the trade are dead. Google and Bing have more brainpower behind fighting blackhat SEO than all of the blackhats combined. One of the worst potential offenses that both Google and Bing despise is automated SEO content.

There is no system today in or out of the automotive industry that can fool the search engines by generating pages based on actions from a feed. In other words, if a vendor is automating page creation by “spinning” content with different cities or models, they are going to be hurt by this practice. Some dealers have learned this lesson the hard way. This type of blackhat SEO isn’t just ineffective – it’s potentially dangerous.

Does Their Keyword Strategy Meet Your Individual Needs?

The most powerful SEO in the universe is worthless if the proper keywords are not targeted. The foundation of any strong SEO service is keyword selection and maintenance. It’s not just about picking out the right keywords in the beginning. It’s about enhancing the keyword selections based upon needs, changes in the industry, and expansion of the keyword reach.

Ask potential vendors to send you their onboarding or launch questions. This document should ask you what cities, new vehicle models, and used vehicle makes are most important to your dealership. There’s no way to put together a proper keyword strategy without having an understanding of the individual dealership’s competitive landscape. Only the dealer knows this information. Any vendor can make an educated guess, but you know your competition and opportunities better than anyone.

Do They Employ Inbound Link Strategies to Enhance Rankings?

Links are not dead. Automated and low-quality links are dead. That happened last April with the Penguin update when some dealers saw their rankings drop quickly.

Google and Bing both still give a lot of weight to inbound links. The difference now is that quality greatly trumps quantity. In fact, Google is making it detrimental to have low-quality links pointing to you. Employing a content-centric link-building system is the best way to make a positive impact on your search rankings. Without links, content alone does not have the power necessary to achieve the more challenging “money keywords” that are based on your make and/or model and city. You won’t be able to rank at the top for terms like “Milwaukee Chevrolet Dealers” with content alone.

Do They Rank Well With Their Own Sites?

A great chef cooks well at home as well as at the restaurant. It’s a shame that so many claim to have the best automotive SEO available without having the ability to get their own sites ranked for terms like “automotive SEO”. How does that make any sense?

Do some searches pertaining to keywords the prospective vendor would hold important. If they are truly good at SEO, they will certainly apply their techniques on their own websites. If they can’t get their own websites ranked well, how are they supposed to help their clients reach the top. After all, “automotive SEO” is a much more challenging keyword than “Milwaukee Chevrolet Dealers”.

Again, automotive SEO isn’t hard. It requires effort, proper strategies, and the ability to keep up with the rapid changes that are happening at Google and Bing. If you aren’t completely satisfied with your rankings, it’s time to find other options. Once you have those options gathered, ask these five questions. The answers will help you determine whether they’ll be able to get you higher rankings or if they’ll have your rankings tanking.

It’s this simple. When given the choice between being ranked in the top 5 for good keywords or being ranked #1 for a great keyword, I will (after asking for further qualifications and some examples) almost always opt for the former. Search has changed dramatically in the last couple of years. As a result, above the fold for many is normally better than at the top for a few.

In reality, it isn’t that simple. You’d have to look at all of the factors to make an educated decisions. This general rule, however, works a vast majority of the time. The reason is based upon search habits. People trust Google and Bing to be a guide but not necessarily to be 100% accurate. In the past, the clicks for the top-ranked listing received the lion’s share of the clicks. #2 got fewer but still more than the rest, and so on, and so forth.

This is still the case for very specific searches. For example, if someone searches for “Dell” and dell.com is at the top, it will get over 90% of the clicks. However, for searches that are more general, the ones where the searcher is looking for options such as “Seattle Dodge Dealers”, the gap in clicks between #1 and #5 is minimal. In fact, there are times when the #2 or #3 listings get more clicks than #1.

People doing these general searches are looking for possibilities, not to have a definitive answer. Searching for “Seattle Dodge Dealers” gives them options. From there, they decide which to click on based upon reputation if they know the dealerships, the listing titles, descriptions, and position on maps when appropriate. The look at reviews, domains, and even previews in some cases. The point is this – being “above the fold” is the first goal. Moving up to the top is the second goal.

Some might wonder why we would only shoot for being above the fold. In most cases, the effort it takes to get a site moved up from #5 to #1 is about equal to the effort it takes to get several keywords into the top 5. It isn’t that dealers shouldn’t strive to be #1, but they shouldn’t do so at the detriment of getting more keywords driving traffic to the site. From experience, we’ve seen where the benefits are highest for dealers.

Step 1, get as many keywords into the top 5 as possible. Step 2, once a good chunk of the possibilities of valuable keywords are in the top 5, it’s time to circle back around and push those listings up higher. It’s not as glamorous as focusing on getting a few keywords to the top and forsaking the rest, but it’s definitely more effective in the long run.

* * *

(Originally posted here)

It’s this simple. When given the choice between being ranked in the top 5 for good keywords or being ranked #1 for a great keyword, I will (after asking for further qualifications and some examples) almost always opt for the former. Search has changed dramatically in the last couple of years. As a result, above the fold for many is normally better than at the top for a few.

In reality, it isn’t that simple. You’d have to look at all of the factors to make an educated decisions. This general rule, however, works a vast majority of the time. The reason is based upon search habits. People trust Google and Bing to be a guide but not necessarily to be 100% accurate. In the past, the clicks for the top-ranked listing received the lion’s share of the clicks. #2 got fewer but still more than the rest, and so on, and so forth.

This is still the case for very specific searches. For example, if someone searches for “Dell” and dell.com is at the top, it will get over 90% of the clicks. However, for searches that are more general, the ones where the searcher is looking for options such as “Seattle Dodge Dealers”, the gap in clicks between #1 and #5 is minimal. In fact, there are times when the #2 or #3 listings get more clicks than #1.

People doing these general searches are looking for possibilities, not to have a definitive answer. Searching for “Seattle Dodge Dealers” gives them options. From there, they decide which to click on based upon reputation if they know the dealerships, the listing titles, descriptions, and position on maps when appropriate. The look at reviews, domains, and even previews in some cases. The point is this – being “above the fold” is the first goal. Moving up to the top is the second goal.

Some might wonder why we would only shoot for being above the fold. In most cases, the effort it takes to get a site moved up from #5 to #1 is about equal to the effort it takes to get several keywords into the top 5. It isn’t that dealers shouldn’t strive to be #1, but they shouldn’t do so at the detriment of getting more keywords driving traffic to the site. From experience, we’ve seen where the benefits are highest for dealers.

Step 1, get as many keywords into the top 5 as possible. Step 2, once a good chunk of the possibilities of valuable keywords are in the top 5, it’s time to circle back around and push those listings up higher. It’s not as glamorous as focusing on getting a few keywords to the top and forsaking the rest, but it’s definitely more effective in the long run.

* * *

(Originally posted here)