Myrtle Beach Real Estate

Website Linking Strategies- Are your efforts paying off?

I wrote the other day How to Get Your Website to the First Page of Google which received an awesome response from many. One of the main points I discussed in that article was the importance of linking in your blog posts. I explained how this can be a vital part of your Search Engine Optimization and if done properly can bring great results.

Many questions were asked in the comment section as well as a few practices that were used by commenters that I wanted to address.  Before I get into that, let's do a quick review of what I'm talking about.  In that post I said:

"The more sites that are pointing links at your page (especially when titled with the keywords you are trying to achieve) will produce a great return.  One easy way to get some great links pointing to your site is to make sure you have added your business site to your profiles on any and all networks you participate in.  Links from higher ranking sites help the search engines realize that these sites recognize your website." 

Many who read the post I believe stopped reading there & rushed off to their twitter profile, Facebook profile and every other social network they participate on and started adding links.  But, if you read on, there was a very important disclaimer that went along with that statement.  I said: "One thing for sure, you need to be positive that the links you insert places are actually working for you.  Many networks block the search engines from following the links to prevent spam."

A common misconception is that when I place a link online, that link is automatically recognized by the search engines and is benefiting me each time I place it somewhere.  So, every time there is an opportunity to place a link, the instant notion is to place one.  Don't get me wrong, I am not saying do not place the link just because the search engines are not reading it.  I always place a link when there is a place asking me.  Even if the search engines do not follow it it still can bring a consumer reading that site to me. 

So, how do we know whether the link is a benefit or not?  What can we do to check?  As I have shared in the past, I am huge fan of using Firefox as my web browser because of the amazing add-ons they have to enhance & help you analyze your online presence. Firefox has an add-on called NoDoFollow.  This simple add-on can easily be turned on and off and show you whether the links you are leaving are being followed by the search engines or not.  Here is quick video showing you how NoDoFollow works:

Try using NoDoFollow and see how effective your linking strategies are.  My guess is that you will be surprised by some of the places that links are followed and not followed.

Anchoring Your Links

Another common mistake I see when inserting links is not setting them as anchor text.  What do I mean by anchor text? Anchor Text as defined by Wikipedia is the visible, clickable text in a hyperlink.  Think of them in the most literal play on words possible, they anchor the link down for search engines to understand what that link is supposed to be.  So when you are writing your posts, instead of placing a link like this, http://www.eventbrite.com/event/581158260 you would make a link like this: How to Chug Google Juice & Gain 15 Years of Fame.  Not only does this assist the search engines in understanding what you are trying to say, it also assists consumers to know what they are about to click on. 

If both of those links were placed in a blog post, my guess is that the one with anchored text would be clicked on at a ratio of around 5:1 to the other link.  I wrote how to insert links into your blog a few months back, so if you are not sure the proper way to do so, visit the tutorial for assistance.  While this seems like a minor thing, if it is done properly over several hundred posts of content, it can really pay off in large dividends. 

Titling Your Links

This is another minor step that can help both consumers & search engines understand what you are trying to convey.  When adding a title to the link, it does exactly that, titles the link for everyone.  That way when someone hovers over a link, a pop-up appears with what that link is supposed to be.  So even though the link anchor might be Jason Crouch, and the link is to his profile, the title is completely different pops up when you hover over the link Jason Crouch.  Once again, a very minor thing to do that can result in many more clickthroughs and SEO benefits.

I hope this helps everyone have a better understanding on linking strategies.  If you have any questions, let me know. And by the way, 210 Consulting- Social Media Advisors offers some really great personal coaching taught by myself and Jason Crouch on this subject.  We also have a webinar coming up where we will get into this in more detail.  Find more info here.

Photo Credit 1HappySnapper(photography)& John of Austin

Over the past few weeks I have been amazed by infinite power that social media possesses.  There have been some really amazing examples of how social media has changed the entire reputation of major companies that have worked years to build that reputation in a matter of moments through social Media.  There have been good, bad, & really ugly examples that have happened.  All of these examples demonstrate the sheer power of social media.

The Bad- "We're a sue first, ask questions later kind of an organization"

I am sure many of you have heard of the travesty that came about when a Real Estate Company sued a former tenant for $50,000 over a tweet that she made. By this company taking this sort of action, they immediately became known as a "We’re a sue first, ask questions later kind of an organization"  That statement instantly placed the company in the spotlight with some of the worst media possible.  This subject became a trending topic on twitter in less than 3 hours & thousands of posts were written about it.

While I am not going to get into the debate of whether it was ok or not for the tenant to make a statement like this, or if the real estate company had a right to sue, the point I am trying to convey is that the issue from the real estate company standpoint should've been handled differently. 

While the lawsuit itself was a big step that would be questionable by many to take, that also isn't the part that really brought the bad press onto the Real Estate Company & changed the entire reputation of that company in a matter of minutes.  The statement made by a high up representative of "We're a sue first, ask questions later kind of organization" is what changed everything at that company instantly. 

A reputation that the company had worked over 25 years to establish a reputation as one of the premiere apartment leasing & property management companies was destroy in less than an hour by one executives statement. 

Unfortunately for this company, it may take them another 25 years to rebuild their reputation back to where it was.  Or even longer. While the Executive has issued several other statements since trying to explain their reasons for the lawsuit, most people will remember them always for that negative statement.

The Really Ugly- United, please fix my Taylor guitar!

A rather unknown band used a catchy song & lyrics with a silly video to let the world know how United Airlines took care of their instruments. This poor gentleman tried for over a year to get someone from United to help him with a claim after he watched the workers throw his guitar around on the tarmac & ended up breaking his very expensive Taylor Guitar.  He talked to several members within the organization to try & get help but all he received was sorry, we won't replace, and claim denied.  So, Dave Carroll took matters into his own hands decided to write the song & make a video.  If you haven't watched the video, take a minute & have a good laugh. United Breaks Guitars has received over 4.6 million views in just 28 days on Youtube.

In less than a week, the video was well over 1 million views & United had also agreed to pay Dave for his broken Taylor guitar.  Once again, the power of social media changed the life long reputation of a major company in less than a few days. 

Barcelona wants to thank you!~ A Good Example of Responding in Social Media

A visitor to the Okinawa Churaumai Aquarium shot a beautiful video of Kuroshio Sea, (try watching it in HD & full screen, it is awesome!) which is the second largest acrylic viewing  panel in the world.  On the video, he overlaid a great song by a band called Barcelona.  The gentleman who published the video used the song without written permission & the band was left with choices of what type of actions to take.  They could have either became very angry & demanded the video be removed for using their song without permission. 

However, this band took a different approach.  Instead of telling you what they did, I will let you just watch the video below:

This band decided to embrace the use of social media and it has paid off in huge dividends for them. Their sales have increased tremendously & also their reputation has grown by leaps & bounds as a band that appreciates their fans. The video has since been viewed over 1.5 million times! Another example is of a super funny wedding entrance video that Claire shared on her blog. BMG records & Chris Brown could've required them to take down the video because it is within their legal rights to do so. Instead, they allowed it to stay up & the creators of the video loved the song so much that they placed a simple ad link on the video to "buy this song on iTunes" and the song sales went up incredibly.

What's Your Point to All of This?

The point to all of these examples is this. Social media is one of the most powerful forces out there for your business. You can write posts, create videos & make tweets that can shape your business from top to bottom. However the key to doing so successfully is to look at the overall picture. In my two negative examples above, if the Real Estate company had just ignored the tweet that the person shared with her 29 friends on twitter they would not have such bad press & a totally ruined reputation. While they may have the right to sue from a legal standpoint, the $50,000 suit will never come close to covering the damages done by social media to their reputation.

United Airlines had all the chances in the world to fix their situation. instead they stood firm and said no. Saying no to Dave Carroll has turned him into an instant star & also brought United some of the worst publicity a company has seen in years. All over a $3,000 guitar. While United has since agreed to fix the guitar it will never fix the damage caused by one simple video.

While these two companies ended up in the negative, the other two examples show how picking the "best" solution instead of the "right" have paid off in great dividends of higher sales & also some of the most positive story lines of Social Media. So, before you make that response in business you may want to stop & consider this: Is being right always right? You be the judge.