banner_slide_img1

Loebig Ink is a small business consulting firm
fueled by coffee, creativity and music to provide
SEO, web design and social media solutions.

What is a Google Plus Code?

A new location mapping feature by Google!

How many times have you done a google search for a business and you’ve seen that weird symbol that looks like a target underneath the business’ address? Has your natural inquisitive nature made you ask the question, “What in the world is that?”

Welcome to the world of “Google Plus Codes! In the Google blog, Rasťo Šrámek, a software engineer, explains, “Last April we released a new system to help provide an address for every location in the world, called Open Location Code (OLC, also known as ‘plus codes’). You can find the plus code for your location at http://plus.codes.

Today, plus codes are now searchable on Google and Google Maps. Plus codes are a useful way of representing locations that don’t have specific street addresses. These codes become extremely helpful in places with high population density but poor data accuracy or coverage, or those that lack a specific addressing system altogether. These codes can help many different people, in many parts of the world: Small businesses rely on customers being able to find them. Crisis response organizations rely on accurate location information–often long distances from established roads and buildings–to provide aid and save lives.”

The main benefits from this more advanced mapping process:

  • The google plus code provides longitude and latitude coordinates for the better absolute location of a physical building or road (see image below for reference)

  • Google plus codes provide more specific navigation of foreign places in the absence of local knowledge of an area or country.
  • Google plus codes significantly decrease the chance of customers getting lost finding a local business and increases the survival rate of people in a crisis situation.

After reading this what are your thoughts? There seems to be a lot of positives, but also what might be the potential negatives to this kind of technology?

Personal Branding SEO

How to Increase Your Visibility on the Internet

If you own a business or are an entrepreneur, you know how important it is to be visible online. But are you making the most of your efforts? It is easy to allow some simple actions to get past you that can really help your personal brand. Let’s take a look at some ways you can avoid leaving opportunity on the table.

Key Points to Maximizing Your Personal Branding Power

  • Create your own personal brand website.
  • Fill out your social media profiles completely and consistently.
  • Get listed in the niche directories that cover your field.
  • Boost your visibility with listings in local directories and review sites.
  • Join business networks like BNI and chambers of commerce.
  • Begin blogging on your own site or as a guest contributor.
  • Create fresh content with online engagement.

 

Mavericks on the Move Live Talk Show, Baltimore, MD – 2018

Waller Executive Institute for Personal Branding Workshop, Washington, DC – 2017

 Your Website

Creating your own website might seem like a no-brainer for someone who wants to get seen on the internet. However, it could be a daunting prospect for someone who is not tech savvy or is just getting started. Thankfully, there are ways to start out with an easy-to-manage, low cost website. Wix is a great example of a platform that makes your website easy to build. A basic Wix site is free. You will pay a small fee when you connect to your domain name. The option of choosing more bells and whistles is always there when you wish to expand the site.

About.me is a useful, free one-page website that you can make your own. It is an excellent way to get your name and information out to people who want to find you. About.me brings together the professional and the personal. Think of it as your postcard to the world on the web.

Social Media

One of the most, if not the most important thing to remember about social media for personal branding SEO is to fill out your profile completely and consistently. Decide on a primary location, phone number, and how you will present your address. On each social media site, link to as many other social media sites of yours that you are able. Here are a few that are particularly useful for personal branding:

LinkedIn has one of the highest visibilities for a personal name search. It not only gives you the chance to connect with others who are also on the business platform, but may be one of the first links to come up when someone Googles you.

Twitter is also very highly ranked in Google. When completing your profile, add hashtags that someone looking for you would be likely to use in their search. Make sure to include the specific location of your business, even though you may be, or aspire to be national or international. Make sure to provide the link to your website, and when you have a message you want to highlight, pin the tweet to the top of your page to give it more views.

Meetup.com is another very good, but often missed chance to get the word out about who you are and what you do. Post a nice photo of yourself. Meetup allows you to link to three other social media platforms, so make sure you do.

Have you explored NextDoor.com? This is a site with a very local focus. You will need to be invited onto the site, and then you will be able to join a group that includes your immediate neighborhood. NextDoor is good for helping neighbors find a lost dog, report on a crime concern, or get the word out on the weekend yard sales, but it can also do more. Simply knowing those who live nearby is good for word-of-mouth business. You can also have a business page on NextDoor, which makes it easy for others to refer you when asked for a recommendation.

Niche Directories

Find out which directories cover your field and get listed. Because they are well established, in some cases your profile in an industry-specific directory such as Wedding Wire, Avvo, or Houzz may come up in a search above your own website. One good way to discover niche directories is to think of the keywords you would most like to rank for. When you Google those terms, take note of which free directories come up first. You will want to sign up for those. There is something to be said for “Barnacle SEO,” i.e. attaching yourself to something bigger than you are. Take advantage of that ready-made internet trust!

Local Directories

It is also incredibly helpful to boost your visibility with review sites and other local directories. Get listed on sites like Yelp, Google My Business, Angie’s List, and Bing. If your business already appears in a directory, claim the listing and fill out the profile completely. Some shy away from review sites for fear of bad reviews. It is by far better to be a presence and to respond quickly and publicly to any negative feedback rather than to hide your head in the sand. Take the reins and create a positive image.

Bonus tip: In local directories, your business name should be just that – your business name only. Adding extra SEO keywords will earn you a demerit from Google. Save your search terms for the description.

Business Networks

Join one or more of your local or regional chambers of commerce. A single backlink to your website from a chamber of commerce is great for SEO. It may seem expensive, but chambers of commerce are high traffic, high trust websites and your own online trust score will benefit. Even if you have to pay a little extra to include your logo with your listing, go for it. The extra visibility is worth it.

Apply to join a BNI near you. When you fill out your Business Network International profile, include details such as your top product and your ideal referral. Be sure to take advantage of the many connections and benefits available to you as a member of a BNI chapter.

Remember that aside from its social aspect, MeetUp.com is also a great place for business networking. See which meetups relate to your specialty and get involved. If you don’t find any that quite work for you, start your own. If you build it, they will come.

Blogging

Google has over 200 ranking factors to determine what content and web pages rise to the top of user search results. These ranking signals fall into three main categories; website technical factors, fresh quality content and high authority backlinks. From a personal branding SEO perspective, blog writing addresses the quality content piece of that puzzle and can propel ones personal brand to new heights.

A personal blog is what we normally think of when creating content from an SEO perspective, but guest blogging is an even lower hanging piece of fruit. Search for blogs that mirror your personal passions and business interests and discover if the blog owner offers opportunities for guest blog writing. To maximize the impact of guest blogging from a personal branding SEO perspective focus on these elements when researching opportunities:

  1. Ensure the blog has an author attribution profile where users can find out more about the author through “active links” to your personal branding website and/or social media profiles.
  2. Evaluate the “authority score” of the blogs and choose the ones with the highest authority score. The higher the authority score of the website, the more visibility your post will have on the Internet.
  3. Choose a blog that is directly related to the topic you are writing about. It is better to write a blog about social media on SocialMediaExaminer.com than it is to write that same article on PsychCentral.com.

Online Engagement

Google loves fresh content. Repurpose your work: If you make a video, use some of that same material to write an article. If you have a speaking engagement, upload your PowerPoint presentation to SlideShare. Creating a good blog and posting consistently is an excellent way to show up in Google’s ranks. Guest blogging also boosts your profile and can help you reach new audiences. When you don’t have time to tackle original material, make time to follow and comment on others’ related work. Be sure you are logged in via your Gravatar, Twitter, Facebook, or provide your web link so the connection is made. Here are some great ways to increase your online engagement which will exponentially increase your visibility:

  1. Follow EVERYONE you know on Linkedin and take 5min each day to like, comment and/or share content from your connections.
  2. Change your Facebook personal profile header photo once a month. Facebook’s algorithm prioritizes profile photo and banner image changes so that more of your followers will see it! [Keep your profile pic consistent across your online profiles however so that people start noticing your smiling face everywhere] 🙂
  3. Comment on your favorite, most read blogs, podcasts and news stories. The author will appreciate it and your comments can actually drive viewers to your own online profiles.

Get to Work!

Once you get through the task of choosing your focus and the image you want to show the world, many of the steps you need to take toward personal branding SEO begin to reveal themselves. It is almost impossible to overemphasize how important it is to find or create relevant profiles and fill them out consistently and completely. So many people neglect to do so, that simply by including all your information, a photo, and a logo wherever possible, you are already ahead of the pack. Get to work and make it easy for customers, collaborators, and fans to find you!

 

Optimize Your Blog

Blog Writing Best Practices for SEO

Optimize Your Blog - Best Practices for SEOWhen you’re trying to keep up to date and make sure your website is the best it can be, it is easy to get caught up in the many possible tasks you can take on to effect improvements. Making sure the site is mobile-friendly, eliminating bulky images that slow download time and exercising due diligence to understand your competitors and what makes them successful are all relevant efforts. However, there is one thing you should make sure not to lose sight of in the mix: always keep your content in the forefront of your mind.

Fresh content is a must. It makes a lot of sense to update your main pages with new information to keep your audience informed. But beyond those changes, adding regular quality content is a big step along the road to high search engine ranking. If you are taking the time to make strong, consistent blog posts, give it a little more forethought and make sure your SEO is up to the task as well.

Once you have decided on your topic for a new blog post, consider the primary keywords for which you intend to rank. Don’t force-fit keywords; make sure the one you choose flows easily and fits well with the main focus of your post. If you have a pet care service in Hoboken, NJ, for example, you may decide to write a story about walking dogs during owners’ working hours. If you then choose “dog walking” as your focus keyword, you’ll want to make sure to use it in all the ways that will give you maximum SEO benefit. Here are your next steps:

Write great content. Think first of the reader, rather than Google. Make sure that the person who lands on your page will find your content relevant, entertaining, heartwarming, or whatever your goal is for the piece. Using at least 500 words makes it better for SEO. If you can write a longer article all the better, as the trend is moving toward longer articles for higher search engine ranking. A 1,000 to 1,500-word article that is authoritative, engaging, and well-focused on a topic relating to the target keyword will not only please your readers but will signal to Google that the web page is worthy of ranking.

Add the keyword to the text of your blog post. Make sure you use the keyword in the text two to three times. If you’ve chosen your topic well and matched it to a strongly associated focus keyword, this should be a seamless effort. Be careful not to use the keyword too many more times than the recommendation. Search engines will penalize keyword stuffing.

Use your keyword in the H1. The H1 is the main heading of your blog post. If you’ve chosen “dog walking” as your keyword, your H1 might be “Dog Walking in My Favorite City.” Using the keyword as close to the beginning of the heading is best. “Dog Walking in My Favorite City” is stronger for SEO than “100 Other Things I Love to Do While Enjoying Dog Walking in the City.” If it is not too awkward, you can use the target location in the H1 as well, as in “Dog Walking in Hoboken, My Favorite City.”

Use your keyword in the meta title and the meta description. The meta title appears in the tab of your web browser. You will also see it as the bold, blue title at the top of a Google search result. Next, write a meta description that gives a brief glimpse of what will be found in the blog post. This meta description will not be visible at all on your website but will appear below the meta title in a Google search result. Again, it is important to use the keyword and local modifier close to the beginning of the metatag. Here is an example of a meta title followed by a meta description:

Dog Walking Hoboken | Pet Care in the City

Looking for dog walking in Hoboken? We care for dogs, cats, and even some exotic pets while you’re at work or out of town. Call us at (201) 867-5309.

dog walking Hoboken - Google Screenshot

Link up. Find related content within your website and link to it from your blog post. You may want to provide a link to your About or Contact page, or you may reference a previous blog post and want to make the connection. Whichever links you choose, one to two internal links should be the maximum. Next, link to an outside, high authority website. Good possibilities for links that would make sense in the course of our hypothetical blog post would be Dogster or PetSmart.

Finishing Touches

Use images and ALT tags. Adding images and other media to your blog post makes for a pleasant experience for your readers, but it is also good SEO. Use at least one image in your blog post and find the area where you can add background information for the image. In the space labeled “ALT tag,” write a brief description of what is depicted. In this space, using the exact keyword is not ideal unless it is truly in the interest of the description. “A man with a standard poodle on a leash” or “children petting a dog on Washington St.” are examples of typical ALT tags.

Categorize and tag your post. Some popular blogging platforms such as WordPress and Wix give you the opportunity to create categories that describe your blog topics. You can also tag a few people or terms in the blog article that it makes sense to highlight. Choose a category and tags that are consistent with your keyword choice. A thematic category might be “Dog Care.” Tags might include more specific things like “North Jersey,” “pooper scooper,” and “Cesar Millan.”

Check your speed. Make sure you have the edge over the competition by keeping your mobile website up to speed. Use Test My Site to see how your rates. Test My Site, a Think with Google tool, offers optimization tips to help you if the text shows that your site has room for improvement.

Submit the blog to Google. Once you finish with your changes, submit the URL of the blog article using Google Search Console’s URL Inspection Tool. This helps the pages of your website to be more easily found and indexed by Google. Here’s how to do this easily, but easily overlooked step: https://loebigink.com/how-to-use-the-url-inspection-tool/.

Share it! After you have finished all the steps it takes to complete a great blog post, don’t forget to share it on social media. Raise awareness about your blog and get people talking about your web content on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other places online. Those who are interested in what you have to say may mention you on the web and create links back to your website, which is very valuable to SEO. The more buzz, the better! By following these guidelines, you will have a blog set up for success.

Read more about efforts you can make to improve SEO in our previous post, The SEO 80/20 Rule.

Resources:

searchenginejournal.com/4-important-ranking-factors-according-seo-industry-studies/184619

searchenginejournal.com/se-ranking-seo-tasks/229783/

 

remove-button magnifying-search-lenses-tool