Top 18 Tips That Can Maximize Your Content Marketing

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By Hector Cisneros

Anyone engaged in content marketing today needs to cross their T's and dot their I's if they want to be successful. This means much more than just proofing their content for spelling and grammar. It means making sure that all the odds and ends need to be taken care of on a regular basis. You can think of the odds and ends of content marketing as the principles you follow to make sure you're providing not only the best content but content that is found, followed and forwarded to others looking for the same. In this episode of Working the Web to Win, we will explore a 16 point checklist that needs to be addressed and managed so that your content is at its best and has the greatest reach for the time that you invest. So read on, learn and use the Top 16 Tips that every content marketer needs to complete in order to achieve the full potential of their content marketing.

What Your Webmaster Should be Telling You!

By Carl Weiss

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If you have a website, then you know your webmaster has the power of life or death over it.  You probably also know that he or she speaks in tongues, where terms like “Link Equity,” “SERPS,” and “Meta Tags,” have a meaning all their own.  In today’s blog, I will part the curtain and allow you to see what the wizard of the web is doing as they pull and tug on the strings of your website.  I will also show you what you need to know to make sure your web presence is a strong one and not just a billboard in the desert. 

Seven Habits of Highly Successful Internet Marketers

By Hector E. Cisneros

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Many years ago, I read Steven Covey's book "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People". This book had a big impact on my life. I spent many years cultivating and incorporating his philosophy and ideas into my business and personal life. This article is my attempt to bring the spirit of his philosophy to the world of internet marketing. However, I did not want to just rehash his ideas. I wanted to bring the reader a new perspective, a new view of how my seven internet marketing habits incorporate and embrace the sea change that has occurred in organic search engine marketing. I wanted these seven marketing habits to showcase how any internet marketer could use content marketing to be successful at achieving their client’s goals. So if you’re ready to learn how it’s done. Read on and embrace the Seven Habits of Highly Successful Internet Marketers.

What's Up With SEO?

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A  Principled Guide To Search Engine Marketing

By Hector Cisneros

When it comes to working the web to win, there have been a lot of changes over the years; 

none more so than Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Since Google's most recent update  called Hummingbird, many website owners and a number of professional optimizers have found themselves in a quandary when it comes to generating Page One search engine results.

SEO used to have a very specific meaning. Today, if you ask 100 different SEO experts what SEO means, you will get 100 different answers, many of which are still rooted in the way Search Engine Optimization used to work. There is an old saying that goes something like, “If you ask a carpenter how to build a house he will tell you use wood, a hammer and nails. If you ask a mason how to build a house, he will say with brick and mortar. Well Internet marketing experts also follow this line of thought. They base their answer on what they do (their particular niche of expertise) or who they have asked (Google, Yahoo, Bing, or third party research results). This article will aggregate what is known from many sources and provide answers that haven’t changed (even after Penguin, or its new successor, Hummingbird). If you are looking for a leg up on what it takes to climb up the ladder to Search Engine success, read this article and pass it along to your friends so that you, too, will know “What’s Up with SEO?”

English: A Saw-billed Hermit (Ramphodon naevius) Deutsch: Ein Sägeschnabel-Schattenkolibri (Ramphodon naevius) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Your Website - Lost in Cyberspace

 By Carl Weiss

Lost In Space Second Series. (Photo credit: Jimmy Big Potatoes)

Every time Google sneezes, the entire Internet comes down with a cold. Many websites fall off Page One  every time Google updates their search algorithms.  Because Google controls 82% of search, it is vital that you understand its likes and dislikes. You also need to know what  to do to bulletproof your web presence so that the next time an update occurs you won't be lost in cyberspace. The problem is that Google, like all other search engines, doesn't make it easy for webmasters and site designers to understand the rules of engagement.  This article will attempt to part the curtain and give you a look behind the scenes in order to show you what the wizard wants. 

Is SEO Still Important Today or in the Future?

By Hector E. Cisneros

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SEO is a term that is bandied about as if it were the holy grail of Search Engine Marketing. But what is SEO really? It is optimizing your website? Or, is it optimizing what you post to your web properties? Is it key word sensitive, key phrase-centric or is it something else altogether? My answer to these questions may surprise you. SEO is no longer just one thing. It's not just optimizing your website for proper Meta tags and matching content. It has grown to mean so much more. In this article, I discuss how Search Engine Optimization (a.d.a., SEO) has evolved into Search Engine Marketing (a.k.a., SEM). I will discuss how what was once a single-faceted injection has evolved into a multifaceted ongoing process. In this article you will find information on how a company can improve its search ranking, specific methods to follow that will insure a strong ranking position. Best of all, you can accomplish all this without resorting to tricks, gimmicks or deception that tries to bypass the search engine ranking systems.

Is it Still Possible to Make Money Online?

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By Carl Weiss  

The concept of making money online is nothing new.  It’s what drove most of us onto the internet in the first place.  Back in the good old days before Google more or less monopolized search, there were real opportunities to grab the top slots on a number of search engines (some in as little as 24 hours), create an eCommerce site and get to it.  However, the game has changed to the point where there are now more than 300 million websites online with 130,000 new sites being spawned daily.  And they all want to be on page one of Google.  

Teams Win in the Search Engine Game

By Carl Weiss

Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

I often use analogies when I talk about advertising and marketing. Words like war, battle, game and winning all come to mind. Like most Americans, I enjoy a good football game. The rules are well-defined. We have professional referees keeping the game honest and of course, you have the players and their performance that makes winning or losing happen. In contrast, the search engine game has unpublished rules, Google is the referee throwing hidden flags and there are lots of players are trying to cheat the system.

Is Google Calling? Or is it Someone Else?

By Hector Cisneros

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Recently our company was approached by one of our clients who held in his hand a printout of a form letter he had been spammed with that read as follows:

Hi,

 I recently visited your website, “www.abc123xyz.com”,  during a routine survey of sites which may be capable of higher search engine performance through Search Engine Optimization (SEO).  Efficient SEO brings an increase in online sales or leads. I hope this information may be of use to you, if not then I apologies for any inconvenience caused.
So, here's a summary of my findings on your site:

Working the Web Just Got Easier

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By Carl Weiss

Everyone knows that Google is the most popular search engine in the world, dominating more than 80% of the search market. As such, businesses large and small move heaven and earth in search of the elusive goal of being on page one. The problem is that with more than 240 million websites online and an additional 130,000 sites being spawned daily, trying to obtain and maintain page one results is harder than ever. Today’s marketing experts in the know approach Google with its favorite food, SEM (a.k.a. Search Engine Multimedia Marketing). So today’s blog is intended to show you what it takes to please the 800 lb. gorilla in the room named Google.

Working the Web: The Lowdown on Local SEO

By Carl Weiss

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Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a bit like the Air Force in World War II.  It was great when it came to carpet bombing cities.  But it was woefully inadequate when it came to discriminating individual targets.  The phenomenon of SEO is a lot like that.  Type in keywords like Jacksonville Video Production or Jacksonville Boat Club and the companies that pop up on Page One of Google are listed based upon their overall SEO score. 

While this works out fine for video production companies and boat clubs, where customers are prepared to drive clear across town to get the best deal, it doesn’t work so well for businesses (such as Auto Repair, Dry Cleaners or Pizza Parlors) that draw their customers from a smaller geographic area.  Although Google sometimes displays a map of the surrounding area where you can select businesses close to home, it has been proven that search engines have a built-in bias that favors firms located close to the city center. A recent article by Search Engine Journal pointed out: