Category: Social Media

March update

Post author By Andy Commons
Post date March 29, 2017

Hi Everyone,
It’s spring, which means it’s already been a full quarter since the year started! As always there is a lot of new digital marketing information to catch up on and hopefully implement into your strategy as we enter the next three months.

If you follow me on social media (Facebook / Twitter / Linkedin) you may have already seen some of the following articles, but I have also compiled some here so you may easily read through. Each month I sift through a variety of articles with topics you will find useful as you build an online marketing strategy for your business.

Enjoy and relax while you learn with the content I’ve shared, and if you have anything you want to discuss, drop me a line.
Andy Commons – Internet Marketing Consultant
Andy@andycommons.com
www.andycommons.com
406-962-5683

Search Engine Optimization
Google gives SEO tips on how to handle day-long site closures
Need to turn off your website for a period of time, but worry your Google rankings will drop? Here are some tips from Google’s John Mueller on how to handle it.

Blogs
Will my organic rankings suffer if I don’t have a blog?
A blog can be a major investment, but the SEO benefits can make it worth the effort. Columnist Stephanie LeVonne makes the case for why blogging works to improve search visibility.

The Best Words and Themes to Generate Featured Snippets
Featured snippets have proven to be a valuable source of organic traffic and increased click through rates. This post explores the effects of query modifiers, CPC, search volume, and query length on featured snippets.

Social Media
Follow These Simple Steps To A Massive Social Following
By following a few simple rules, any business can begin building or expanding their current social media presence.

Online Marketing Pay Per Click Search Engine Optimization Social Media

Internet Marketing 101 presentation

Post author By Andy Commons
Post date May 7, 2014

A few times each year I have the pleasure of speaking on the fascinating world of Internet Marketing.

Recently, I was invited to speak again at a group of young professionals, many of whom work in the non-profit area. The audience was attentive and asked great questions! (I’ll mention a few below).

I promised them I’d share some slides with them… and if you are a reader of this blog, or perhaps got my latest newsletter, you of course are welcome to review the slides as well.

Here is the link to my 2014 Internet Marketing presentation!

But if you haven’t clicked yet, hang on. I wanted to share a few of the questions (and answers) that were asked, and point out a few other resources on this site you may want to take advantage of.

Question 1

One student asked a great question about incoming links. They had someone who took a differing view from their blog post and then linked to it from their own site. The result was even more ‘haters’ coming over to bash their blog post and leave nasty comments. They asked if they should take down the blog post, or somehow block that incoming traffic. I said No, and here’s why: Just like there is no bad PR, in my humble opinion, there is no bad traffic or links… except for totally spammy links, which is a different story. In that case, I think the inbound link is doing more harm than good in terms of better search engine rankings. But in the student’s case, not only are the inbound links valuable, the student is getting people that disagree with them to take notice and engage. Now it might be hard or uncomfortable to engage with those who don’t agree with you, but it’s a good opportunity to at least try to reason with them to get them understand your side of the issue. You may not win them over, but how you treat them will say a lot about you and your blog. Do it well and you might gain some new fans.

Having said that, if the comments on your blog are downright nasty or hateful, then you have every right to remove that comment from your blog. It’s YOUR blog, and you can control the narrative. But just know that if you start removing everything that doesn’t agree with you, then you are not really engaging them, and they will likely take notice of all the deletes.

Question 2

We discussed directory listings and how important they can be. On my homepage, I offer a free tool that will let you check your listings. PLEASE use my free Listing Checker found here. If you go directly to Yext and run their tool, you’ve just given a sales rep your company name, address and phone. You WILL get a sales call from someone. My tool however doesn’t send anyone (not even me) your info. So you can check out your rankings, and then if you are interested in learning more, you have to reach out to me.

Question 3

Finally, someone asked if posting content to a Google Plus business page is worth the effort. I can only say that I use a tool such as Hootsuite to automate posting to Google + at the same time I post to Facebook and LinkedIn. So it’s no more work, and there are rumors that a link from a Google + page is helpful in Search Rankings. So I say, why not!

So again, please enjoy my 2014 Internet Marketing presentation!

And if you know others who might benefit from this, please feel free to share this blog post.

Thanks.

Wishing you all the best and online marketing success….

-Andy

PS. If you are not on my newsletter list, please sign up. You won’t get too many emails, but when I do send one, they just might have a golden nugget you can use in your business.

Social Media

Facebook Marketing Blog Post – cliff notes

Post author By Andy Commons
Post date November 13, 2012
2 Comments on Facebook Marketing Blog Post – cliff notes

A great blog I follow (InsideFacebook) had a post the other day on some of the questions marketing folks are asking. It dove into how to get a Fan Page’s posts seen, and other things.

It’s a good read. If you have time, check it out here:

http://www.insidefacebook.com/2012/11/08/news-feed-edgerank-and-page-posts-whats-really-going-on-with-facebook/

But Here’s a quick summary:

EdgeRank is a tool Facebook uses to try to figure out what it should show users.
Marketers get upset when their posts don’t get seen by their fans.
But without EdgeRank, it would be worse.

How does EdgeRank work? It looks at past behavior of the user, and their friends, and tries to give them more of what they probably want. (And perhaps less of what the marketers want them to see).

Other reasons fewer posts are getting viewed include: more posts by others, people using a new “hide” feature or creating Interest Lists, ongoing updates to the EdgeRank algorithm and the sheer luck it takes to post at the same time your fans are using Facebook (and much more.)

Some feel the new “Promoted Posts” feature means Facebook is showing your fans fewer updates in order to make you feel you need to pay to promote your post. Facebook says this isn’t true. Others tend to agree.

So what can be done to get those fans you worked so hard for to see your posts? Inside Facebook recommends, your posts “be as interesting and engaging as possible. Before making a post, admins should consider, “Would I want to see something like this in my feed?”

Adding photos is another good thing to try.

And you might educate your fans that there is a tool called the “Interest List” and “Get Notifications” that can help them see your stuff if they really want to.

One last thought: What InsideFacebook doesn’t mention in their blog post, but I will point out, is that Facebook is just one tool for communicating with your customers and prospects. Getting them to opt-in to a more direct communication tool, such as an email newsletter or text message alert system, can really help you stay in touch with your most passionate fans.

-Andy