Keep Up With The Web – Sherryl Perry

Are You Confused about Google’s New Ranking Signal?

Last week, in my post Are You Ready for the Google Mobile Friendly Algorithm?, I shared resources about Google’s announcement that on April 21^st, they plan on including mobile responsiveness as a ranking signal. This week, let’s take a closer look at what Google is really trying to achieve here and that is to focus on UX (user experience).

Well, (as I’m sure you know), once Google stated that this change “will have a significant impact in our search results”, the blogosphere went abuzz. Understandably, that sent a lot of us to test our sites using Google’s Mobile Friendly Test. People who were confident that their website looked great on mobile devices suddenly questioned whether they really were.

Continue reading “Are You Confused about Google’s New Ranking Signal?”

Are You Ready for the Google Mobile Friendly Algorithm?

Chances are, you’ve already heard that Google has announced a new algorithm update that will include “mobile friendliness” as a ranking factor. The expected “date” for this algorithm will be April 21, 2015. So what does that mean to you and me? Is the solution to use a responsive WordPress theme? Will a WordPress plugin meet your needs? If you don’t make your site friendly for mobile devices, will this Google algorithm update affect how your site ranks in the SERPs (Search Engine Result pages) for desktop computers as well?

Continue reading “Are You Ready for the Google Mobile Friendly Algorithm?”

Does SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Confuse You? #FridayFinds

Wouldn’t it be nice if we could just write content for our blogs and websites and not worry about SEO? Is SEO even important in 2015? What if you don’t do anything special about optimizing your content for the search engines? What if you just write?

Sure, your content may or may not show up in the SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages) but if you totally ignore meta-tags, descriptions and alternate text tags, would it matter?

If you don’t pay attention to backlinks (both to and from your site) are you putting yourself at risk of a Google penalty or a manual webspam action or being totally de-indexed by Google? Let’s take a step back today and look at the overall picture of SEO through a #FridayFinds round-up of some great articles that I found for you.

Continue reading “Does SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Confuse You? #FridayFinds”

People Will Buy From You When They Understand What Business You’re Really In!

Are you confused and wondering why people aren’t buying more from you?

After all, you have a great product or service that everyone needs or wants! But for some reason they are not coming to your website to buy from you or to contact you for a call or meeting.

When you follow-up with people do you get pleasantries and are asked to email or call them and when you do all you get is silence on a routine basis?

The cause may be revealing and the solution easier than you may think.

I don’t know about you, but whenever I meet someone for the first time at a networking event, in the line at the store or even on the airplane I’m often asked; “What do you do?”

Continue reading “People Will Buy From You When They Understand What Business You’re Really In!”

Re-Thinking Your After Blogging To-Do List

It’s not over, when it’s over,” they say.

Just writing up awesome content and publishing on your blog isn’t enough. There’s a lot more that has to go on after publishing. Sharing on your social networks, reaching out to influencers to let them know that they’ve been mentioned in your post, and a lot of those other things you do to push your own content are basic essentials, and you’re probably already doing these.

But then, there’s a lot more that ought to be done. There’s just too much content out there and you’ll now need to do keep doing more just to be seen, heard, and read.

Continue reading “Re-Thinking Your After Blogging To-Do List”

What SEO Tools Do You Use? #FridayFinds

SEO is one of my favorite topics to cover here in my #FridayFinds series. In the past, I’ve talked about how the Google Panda 4.1 update rewards quality content, how to optimize your sites for SEO, the differences between manual web spam actions and algorithm changes and the importance of Google semantic search to website owners. (Thanks to Jeannette Paladino for authoring that article..)

This week, let’s take a closer look at the SEO PowerSuite tools by Link-Assistant. Also, for those of you who have ever noticed a drop in your organic search traffic, I found a fun infographic that’s actually a flow chart that could help you figure out if you’ve fallen victim to a Panda or Penguin update (or possibly something else like a dreaded manual webspam action).

Continue reading “What SEO Tools Do You Use? #FridayFinds”

Self-Serve: How the Mobile Age is Impacting Customer Service

Prior to the days of the Internet, businesses were very limited by the number of options they had for communicating with their customers, making it difficult to build brand loyalty on a broad scale. But thanks to the ever-evolving technology, the ways in which businesses are able to connect with the customers has changed and improved drastically. Today, in the digital age, small and large companies alike are leveraging mobile technology and social media together, interacting with their most loyal customers in ways that are convenient for both parties involved.

Continue reading “Self-Serve: How the Mobile Age is Impacting Customer Service”

Will Building Your Blog Community Make You a Superstar? #FridayFinds

When I first started blogging, (back in 2010), I struggled to get anyone to visit my blog – let alone comment. That’s a common problem and one that many (if not most) bloggers struggle with. I finally turned the corner and started building a solid following after implementing what I always refer to as my “Stalking the Popular Kids” strategy. It was effective for me then and still is now.

This week, in my #FridayFinds series, lets take a look at how two bloggers (both have been blogging since 2009) are building blog communities that are driving traffic to their sites and engaging in comments! Meet Jackson Nwachukwu who recently launched his latest blog, WorthBlogger.com and Adrienne Smith who is launching her new course “Build A Blog Community”. I’m sure you’ll be able to learn something from both of them. (I know I have.)

Continue reading “Will Building Your Blog Community Make You a Superstar? #FridayFinds”

What’s Better Than Blog Updates? Autoresponder Series That Rock!

Are you creating permanent marketing assets that can be used over and over again? How many sales do you make from people who subscribe to blog updates?

Bloggers are writers and, therefore, uniquely qualified to craft engaging autoresponder series for themselves and clients.

Do your clients a huge favor by helping them create strong, meaningful email marketing materials and steering them away from “just blog updates.”

They are filling the seats. Hanging on every word that proceedeth from your lips (err, pen). Because you’re sending them an autoresponder series that rocks, not just ‘blog updates’. Right?

Is your email marketing audience looking for blog updates or informative autoresponder series?

Email Marketing: It’s The People That Matter

We’re almost at the close of 2014. We’re looking forward to filling our calendars with engagements for 2015. Some of us are in the midst of mobile marketing for the holidays or thinking about how to incorporate responsive email design in the coming year.

All those activities are worthwhile but totally worthless unless you add major value to those outgoing emails.
Continue reading “What’s Better Than Blog Updates? Autoresponder Series That Rock!”