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What Google Added To The Link Schemes Document Found In Webmaster Tools

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By Matthew Schmoldt

Recently, Google updated the “Link schemes” informational document found in Webmaster Tools. The change was easy to miss. There were no large scale announcements.

Unlike a Wikipedia document, there is no easy way to see what was changed. Thankfully, the Internet has the wayback machine for such matters. The tool shows that two records have been kept this year for the page in question. One archive is from June 28th, the other is from August 5th.

As you can see, there seem to be significant changes. The June 28th version of the link schemes page had an opening paragraph that explained why external links were important and why Google uses them as a key influencer in search results. Now the document begins with a stern warning:

“Any links intended to manipulate PageRank or a site’s ranking in Google search results may be considered part of a link scheme and a violation of Google’s Webmaster Guidelines. This includes any behavior that manipulates links to your site or outgoing links from your site.”

To many, this paragraph is not only troubling but troublingly ambiguous. You will notice the use of the word “intended” in the paragraph. How does Google determine if a link is intended to manipulate PageRank? In the second sentence, is Google saying any link building efforts will be considered manipulation?

On July 10th, Matt Cutts, the head of Google’s webspam team, was interviewed and said the following:

“No, not all link building is bad. The philosophy that we’ve always had is if you make something that’s compelling then it would be much easier to get people to write about it and to link to it.”

Does the July 10th interview with Matt Cutts answer the questions of the August update to the link schemes document? My guess is, yes. Google seems to be preparing to take the webspam fight to the next level and has updated their official link schemes document with a hardcore and broad stance.

In the same interview, Matt Cutts said:

“I would concentrate on the stuff that people write, the utility that people find in it, and the amount of times that people link to it. All of those are ways that implicitly measure how relevant or important somebody is to someone else.

Links are still the best way that we’ve found to discover that, and maybe over time social or authorship or other types of markup will give us a lot more information about that.”

It is clear to me, that link building is quite appropriate and still legal. But, shift from thinking about link building to the idea of link earning. High quality links from high authority links should be the target. These sorts of links are earned and not built with a few clicks of the mouse.

What else was changed in the link schemes document?

Buying or selling links that pass PageRank. This includes exchanging money for links, or posts that contain links; exchanging goods or services for links; or sending someone a “free” product in exchange for them writing about it and including a link

The above paragraph seems to be fairly black and white. Google doesn’t want people to sell links for money or for products. But, what If you sign up for a Chamber of Commerce and pay a fee. Have you just purchased a link from their site? Should you request a nofollow of your link just in case?

Matt Cutts has said that you should only pursue a link if it is something you would have built or pursued if SEO did not exist.

Excessive link exchanges (“Link to me and I’ll link to you”) or partner pages exclusively for the sake of cross-linking

The use of excessive and exclusively are ambiguous and troubling in this new entry in the document. It is impossible to know where the line is with this rule. But, remember, Google wants you to do things naturally. They want you to do things that make logical sense. If you are a flower shop, it makes sense to have a linking relationship with the local chocolate shop. It may make sense to link to the local cookie shop, to the local wedding dress store, etc.

Large-scale article marketing or guest posting campaigns with keyword-rich anchor text links

The ambiguous word here is “large-scale.” To me, I refer back to my rule of link earning and not link building. If the link is too easy to get, it’s probably not the kind of link that is desirable. Removing the easy to get links removes most of the ability to create a large-scale link building operation. The hard links take time to get. Also remember, Google is targeting keyword-rich anchor links and not generic links in articles.

Using automated programs or services to create links to your site

This seems to be the one area where Google was decisive. Do not use automated means to build backlinks. If you are tempted to use automated programs, don’t. Google is constantly indexing the Internet and can detect a sudden and unnatural increase in backlinks.

Author’s Bio: Matthew Schmoldt is an Internet marketer who has been published at Yahoo and Moz. He has four years of SEO and social media experience. He is the owner of Cool Things To Buy Inc. His website features amazing gadgets other neat stuff.

What if you want to move?

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By Barbara Fowler

What if you are in the right business but in the wrong location??

Two years ago, I took an early retirement package from Prudential and looked around for a new career opportunity. I had been working for 30 years and had loved it. I had moved around a fair amount, been given the opportunity to be the Chief Marketing Officer in both Europe and South America and had spent the prior four years, based in Newark, New Jersey, in charge of International Field Training.

When I left Prudential, I was interested in finding a company that could utilize my marketing expertise and help me continue to develop my skills. I soon found Chief Outsiders, a company that specializes in providing part-time and fractional CMO services to mid-size companies and I got to work.

It was an entirely different experience, working with a small start-up, developing my own clients and investing my own money. I loved it, except that I didn’t want to live in New Jersey the rest of my life. I had nothing against the people and the opportunities there but the weather, the taxes and the congestion made me long for another location.

What to do?

I remembered a letter someone once wrote to Ann Landers. I know that dates me but the gist of the letter was a woman, asking if it was worth it to go back to college and complete her degree. She shared with Ann that it would mean less time for her family, her housework and her friends. It would take three or so years to complete. Would it be worth it?

Ann responded by writing two letters, dated three years in the future. In one, the woman was three years older and asking the same questions. Should she go back to school? Would it be worth it?

In the other, the woman wrote that the last three years had been tough, she had lost sleep and had to ask her husband and family for more support. But she had completed her degree and she was so happy. Her kids were so proud. I think it was an analogy to my situation. I knew it would be harder to start in a new location, to begin again.

After much reflection on this, I decided to go for it, to start-over, in a location of my choice, a location that I wanted to remain in for many years to come. After looking at a couple of places, my husband and I decided on the Charleston, South Carolina area. But I knew no one. I had no contacts, no business possibilities. Many of you have probably been in this situation or contemplated it so I would like to share some tips.

These are my five best ones:

Linkedin:

  • Send a note to all of your Linkedin contacts, telling them about your move. Request help in getting new contacts in the new location. You will be amazed at who responds. Some people who you are extremely close to who you know have contacts don’t respond at all while others who you can’t entirely remember give you great contacts. Don’t judge anyone, just appreciate those who reached out and remember this in the future. Pay it forward.
  • Join local Linkedin Groups. For example, in this area, there are several local Linkedin groups like Charleston, South Carolina Professionals and The LowCountry Business Network. Reach out to them to ask for advice and recommendations. Remember to give as well as receive. Offer some of your advice and services.
  • Do a search of your target market in the local area. My target is CMOs of mid-sized companies so you can check out these on Linkedin and seek them out. You can’t get everyone’s name on Linkedin unless you have connections in common but if they are in one of your Linkedin groups, (see above) you can reach out and ask to connect. Again, ask for advice and recommendations, don’t ask for business.
  • Look for Alumni from your University. I happen to have gone to a couple of universities: Wittenberg, Wake Forest and NYU and I looked up local graduates and reached out. Many responded and were willing to meet.

Business Organizations:

  • Look at the organizations you are currently in. Determine if they have a chapter in the new location. If so, reach out. If not, see if one is needed and think about starting it. I belonged to several groups in New Jersey: ACG (Association for Corporate Growth), MENG (Marketing Executives Networking Group), and Vistage (an organization designed to help CEOs of mid-size companies grow their businesses). There wasn’t a local ACG or MENG chapter, but Vistage has been especially helpful in getting me started here. The local Vistage chair, Dan Wertenberg, asked me to join his group and has given me a lot of valuable counsel.

Community Organizations:

  • Look at the Chamber of Commerce, Rotary. Lions Club and groups like that. Do members of your target market belong? If so, join and become active. If not, look for other groups where your target market is active. These could be church groups, volunteer groups, neighborhood groups. Do not join the group unless you are interested. No one wants to meet someone who has only joined a group like this to get business. But when you have interests in common, you can make good friends and connections over time.

Events and Publications:

  • Subscribe to the local business journal and local newspapers. Check their websites for events and activities. Oftentimes people make the mistake of going to events for people just like them and hoping for business. Go to different events targeted for your potential clients. I went to Knoxville and attended Social Slam and met Rosemary O’Neill, who sat down with me, shared her experiences and asked me to write a blog post on the topic. Charleston has a harbor and so had a world trade event recently. There was a technology event last weekend. Go, check out the booths, see if you can volunteer, be there, meet people.
  • When you read the periodicals, check for people you want to meet. Keep a list of them and ask others you meet if they can introduce you. For example, if one of your target markets is professional service companies and you are meeting a lawyer, have a list of several accountants, lawyers and other professionals. When you meet your lawyer, share the list, tell him or her you are planning to contact them and ask who they might be able to introduce you to-then ask for people similar who aren’t on your list yet.

People I Met During Move:

  • You meet a lot of people when you move, including mortgage brokers, real estate agents, real estate repair people, home inspectors etc. make sure everyone knows what business you are in. My real estate agent, Mary Carson helped. My mortgage broker, Lorcan Lucey added his support. The man renovating our house, Phil Bennett, gave his advice. Also, ask them for advice on who is a good professional for services you need-like a new furniture store, home decorator, hair salon, Veterinarian and dog sitter. When you get recommendations from them, they are more apt to help you.

Has it all been successful? Was it worth it? These are two different questions. Right now, success is not guaranteed. This is a work in progress. I am meeting people and working hard. But there are no results yet. Was it worth it? My husband and I love our new community in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, The weather has been great. The people are special.

I took a risk. Sometimes we are not in the position to take these kinds of risks. Sometimes we have to stay where we are, we don’t have the option or money to change locations. However, if you do find yourself in the right business, but the wrong location, I urge you to at least examine the possibilities. Even if you cannot afford to move right away, once you decide on the plan, you can do many of the things mentioned above to prepare you for the future. And if you choose Charleston and need some help, reach out to me.

Author’s Bio: Barbara Fowler is a CMO and Partner with Chief Outsiders in the Charleston, S. C. area. Follow her on twitter at @barbfow50 or contact Barbara at 908-956-4529 or email at bfowler@chiefoutsiders.com.

 

Thank you, Barbara!

It’s been such a pleasure welcoming you to the Lowcountry!

Rosemary

When’s the Right Time to Expand Your Small Business?

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By Ben Thomas

Your first few steady customers are finally paying all your bills – and as celebration-worthy as that is, it also raises new questions in need of executive answers. Where are the next few customers or clients going to come from? What’s a reasonable advertising budget – and how much is too much? How will hiring a new employee (or three) or renting some new space impact your rate of expansion?

Questions like these can make your small business’s first expansion feel at least as stressful as your initial launch – but a little intuitive knowledge of your expansion’s objectives, boundaries and processes can reduce even the most complex decisions down to simple “yes” or “no” analyses. Here, three small-business experts share the analytical strategies that have become second nature to them as they’ve progressed through their own business expansions.

Flow like water

There’s an old saying that water is stronger than rock, because water never cracks – it just reshapes itself to fit whatever surroundings it’s in. The exact same principle holds true in business: The more your expansions – and shrinkages, if and when those come – all follow naturally from the size and shape of your market, the less likely you’ll be to overextend yourself and fragment your team.

In other words, the clearest signs that it’s time to expand are those that make it harder and harder not to: When you’ve got so many customers that sales are slowing you down; when products are selling out too quickly for your space to hold onto stock; when you find yourself giving a lot of referrals for a service you could be providing – and so on. In cases like these, there’s probably no reason to delay an expansion, even if it feels a little intimidating.

“When we started, we only had a small space and we only had one room,” says Donna Alexander, founder and president of Anger Room. “But we started getting so much publicity, and so many customers coming in, that we actually had to start turning people away. And that was like a big neon sign: ‘OK, it’s time to get a bigger space.’”

By the same token, the clearest signs that you’ve overextended your business are those that feel like hitting some kind of wall: When the money you’re pouring into new ads and/or spaces isn’t correlating with any return; when training a new employee is slowing down sales; when you find yourself starting to give referrals simply because you can’t handle the volume – and so on. Although these signs don’t necessarily mean that you can’t expand, they do point to the fact that you’ve got some bugs that need to be worked out.

Scan for indicators

Even if you’re not drowning in customers, your interactions with the customers you do have can serve as strong indicators about whether it’s time for an expansion – and if so, what direction that expansion should take.

“You’ve got to listen to your market, because with every sale – or lack of a sale – those people are telling you what you do for them, and if you could be doing more, or doing something differently,” says Carolyn Andrews, a certified business and executive coach with Actioncoach. “One of the most important things about timing your expansion is looking at how your market perceives you.”

It doesn’t take a market research firm to find out how your customers feel – it just takes some mutually honest conversations.

Those conversations will come in handy as you analyze the shape your sales are taking, and the reasons why. Which products or services are you selling more or less of than usual? What changes in your market could account for those shifts in sales? What’s your competition doing in response? Does their response leave a new vacuum into which you can expand? “Having a really solid handle on what’s happening in your market is crucial,” Andrews says, “and it’s so much easier to get personal insight into your market’s behavior when you listen to what customers are saying to you.”

Andrews advises looking for “green lights” on all three indicators – positive customer conversations, promising sales analysis and under-adaptive competitor behavior – before you make the leap into your expansion. “When you analyze your potential for expansion in terms of those three indicators,” she says, “you end up with one simple answer: a ‘yes’ or a ‘no.’”

Jump straight in

Leaping into your expansion isn’t just a figure of speech – the only way to be sure your expansion will succeed is to throw everything you’ve got (yourself included) into it.

“In the end, there’s no such thing as a perfect time to expand,” says Stacy Deprey-Purper, founder and CEO of Better Business Together. “But you and your staff still have to jump in with a ‘whatever-it-takes’ attitude, because that’s where your reputation, your customer need and your buzz ultimately come from.”

Still, jumping in doesn’t mean jumping blind. So take as much time as you can afford and draw up a clear plan for your expansion, including employee roles, steps of the expansion, timing projections and so on. “I say that everybody needs a plan… so they can deviate from it,” Deprey-Purper says. “You don’t need a detailed long-term plan, but you need to have some idea of what you’ll be spending and where it’s going to go. I had a client the other day who spent $50,000 on decorations for his restaurant, which ate up 99 percent of his marketing budget.” In short, check that your plan makes sense as a whole before you start throwing money at specific parts of it.

A trusted group of advisers can help on that front – and that can mean a business coach, other successful entrepreneurs, consumers in your market or even a lawyer. “We were once approached by a group of investors who seemed very kind and polite in person, but who actually wanted to take over our company,” Alexander recalls. “When we sat down to sign the paperwork, they suddenly told us, ‘We want 90 percent of the company, and you’ll get the other 10.’ Luckily we’d hired a lawyer to look over the papers for us.” It’s situations like this that demonstrate why it’s vital to have some professional second-guessers in your corner.

At the same time, though, it’s important to keep in mind that you’re the boss, and that the decision depends on your instincts in the end. “If you’ve got too much thinking and not enough doing,” Deprey-Purper says, “you can overthink yourself out of taking action. No matter how much planning you do, you’ll always get some curveballs – and you have to take those as opportunities to learn about your business and plow forward.”

Author’s Bio: Ben Thomas writes about careers in marketing, among other business career fields, for The Riley Guide.

Smarter Shoppers: How to Convert on New Buyer Behavior

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By Darren Creasey

Online marketing is an industry that is acutely aware of buyer behaviors and patterns; in fact, many trends in digital marketing are driven by this awareness. The Internet is a positive feedback loop- it has changed the way consumers research, shop, and buy, which in turn shapes how marketers use the web to market to buyers. Do you know how the Internet influences buyer behavior, and how to capitalize on that information? Read on to find out.

1. Shoppers are smarter

One of the best features of the Internet is the accessibility to learning resources that it provides. This is true of product information as well as academic knowledge. Consumers are now taking advantage of this wealth of online resources to learn more about the products and services they are interested in: what their options are, the key differences from each competitor, and what price levels to expect. This smart shopper means that they have an element control over the sales process – they no longer need to wait for your sales presentation to learn the details about your solutions. Instead, you need to be prepared for dealing with a middle of the funnel customer, with knowledge of the product and specific questions, earlier in the buying cycle.

2. Buyers want you to help make them smarter

While a more informed customer might sound like a tough sale at first, it’s important to look at the positives of the situation. A well informed, inquisitive customer will place a lot more value and trust in your brand if you help contribute to their knowledge. Content marketing is a great tool to use here – by publishing information that helps consumers understand your industry, your products, and their options, you are not only demonstrating value to the buyer, but also strengthening your own position as a reputable, knowledgeable company.

3. Consumers are listening online

But buyers aren’t just going to take your word for it. Social media, forums, and other third party online communities help potential customers hear from real users, and can help sway their decisions one way or the other. You should be actively monitoring and engaging in these conversations; you need to know what people are saying about your company, and you need to be ready to jump into a conversation when a question is asked – this is a great opportunity to help educate the customer.

Your turn: how have you changed your strategy to deal with the new, more informed consumer?

Author’s Bio: This article was written by Darren Creasey to inform people about the advantages of online marketing. He believes that through internet marketing techniques, companies can achieve a greater level of success.

How to Get Customers to Open Your Email

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By Mark Saghy

Email is, has, and continues to be, one of the best ways to retain customers. It reminds them you’re still around. It reminds them they need to purchase something from you that they may otherwise forget about. It is often the single greatest way to highlight a new product, promote a new brand, or inform about an upcoming sale or event.

How to get your email opened

A person’s inbox is, for many, a sacred space; for most of us, we check it daily, hourly, or even more frequently than that. The advent of smartphones makes it impossibly easy to stay connected to our flow of email coming through.

Despite the benefits, sending your customers an email can be a very sharp double-edged sword. With the increased ease of email use and access can often come a heightened sense of intolerance about the amount of business or advertising that flows through it.

Even with your most dedicated and loyal customers, there is a fine line between informing them and annoying them. One extra email, one unhelpful or confusing title, one tiny mistake noticed at an otherwise bad time, and bam–that customer has deleted the email without even opening it, or worse–they have permanently unsubscribed from your mailing list.

Here are some ways to keep that to a minimum, while encouraging customers to open as much of your email as possible.

Remember the Value of Quality over Quantity

Clearly, one of the best ways to lose customers is to inundate them with email. Again, a customer’s inbox is their personal space; they don’t want it being tied up with marketing campaign after marketing campaign. Unless the customer has specifically requested to receive a particular quantity of email from your company, it’s pretty safe to assume that you should pick and choose your battles very carefully when sending out a message. Consider the following:

  • Think about why you are emailing-is it a friendly “hello”, or do you have very important news you feel your customers would like to know?
  • When was the last time you sent an email out, and why? Is your message informing them of something new or exciting, or has business slowed down a bit, prompting you to send out a communication?
  • The last time you sent an email, did you check the number of mailing subscribers afterwards, to see if you lost any? If you did, how many did you lose, and what percentage of the total was that?

Each of these questions should be analyzed, a clear answer formulated, and those answers compared with one another. This should typically be done before every email you send out. Remember, you want to focus on the quality of emails being sent, while also keeping a close eye on the quantity emailed over a period of time. Even the best-crafted emails will start being ignored if you send too many of them.

Personalize

No matter how far we have advanced technologically, some of the basic tenets of sales and customer service still apply to the business world today. Even though email cannot create the same kind of in-person relationship that a brick-and-mortar store can have, you can still try to recreate a perceived sense of a personal relationship with your customer. Done right, this can still be one of your most important retention tools.

One great way to help personalize emails is simply to use names. “Dear Customer” is one way to ensure the customer knows you don’t care enough to address them by name-even if their name is sitting right there in your mailing list database. Why not use “Dear Shirley” instead? It’s a simple fix and, presuming there is indeed a database of names, it can be computer automated.

Furthermore, consider having a name in the “from” portion of the email, too. Rather than yourcompany@yourcompany.com, consider using “Paul D. in Sales” or “Maggie, yourcompany.com’s VP”. In addition to encouraging the customer to open the email, doing this makes it sound more personal, more relatable, and less like a standard form letter-even if you send this same exact email to hundreds of your customers.

Keep It Simple, Keep It Clear

People are busier than ever before, and as such, people are more connected to their inboxes than ever before. Mostly gone are the days of walking out of the office and leaving that world behind until the next morning; for many of us, we are expected or required to maintain email communication with our jobs, no matter where we are-including a the dinner table, while traveling, or while watching our kid’s baseball game. Therefore, it is arguably more important than ever to keep the emails you send your customers as simple, clear, and effective as humanly possible.

You will need to use a little bit of psychology here: instead of thinking about the message from your company’s perspective, consider it from the customer’s point of view. Answer the one very important question your customer is often thinking when staring at your email: “why should I open this?” Whatever you want the answer to be, make that the primary focus of the message.

  • Want to pitch a new product? Make the title pop, give as little background information as is needed in the intro, then pitch that product immediately.
  • Upcoming sale? Make sure the customer knows it within the first few seconds of reading.
  • Just checking in to say hi and keep in touch? Do it quickly; skip the fluff.

Keep your email as short as you can, and get your point across in as few words as possible. After you have composed your email, a great way to edit it for clarity is to go back and remove anything that isn’t absolutely relevant or necessary. When possible, bring in a second set of eyes to help with editing and whittling down the language.

Want to share some of your best email tips? Do you have a favorite subject line?

Author’s Bio: Mark Saghy is a marketing executive at ExhibitDeal.com. He is constantly learning and finds joy in sharing his knowledge with the blogging world. You can find him on Google +.

Image credit: http://us.stocklib.com

How Can Webinars Help My Small Business?

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If webinar is a term that you’re not exactly up to speed on, a webinar is a live seminar or conference that is held over the Internet.

That being said, it is becoming an increasingly preferred marketing tool among small businesses, because it provides many benefits over a traditional seminar.

Here are a number of reasons why you should consider conducting a webinar for your company:

Cost-Effective and Hassle-Free

A webinar is a lot more cost-effective than a traditional seminar, because it does not require you to rent a convention hall and incur traveling expenses.

All you need to do is get web conferencing software and hire speakers, who can choose to speak from their home, office or any other place.

Also, organizing a traditional seminar entails considerable planning and effort. You need to make a lot of practical arrangements, ranging from organizing seating to catering if you are offering refreshments.

A webinar, on the other hand, can be conducted by just setting up a web conferencing system.

Promote Your Products to a Worldwide Audience

A webinar is not only easier to conduct; it is also more convenient to attend.

People from around the world can attend your webinar without having to travel to a specific location. As such, a webinar can potentially reach a much wider audience than a traditional seminar.

You can introduce and demonstrate your products to your viewers via screen sharing and encourage them to ask questions or visit a purchase page at the end of the webinar.

Establish and Maintain a Closer Relationship with Customers

In order to gain the trust of your customers, you need to add a personal touch to the way you communicate with them.

A webinar enables your customers to see and hear you talk about your company and products, giving them the assurance that you are a human being and not just a website.

There are many kinds of webinars that you can hold to build a closer relationship with your customers, including press release updates, online meetings and client training sessions.

Get More Business Contacts

Similar to a traditional seminar, a webinar is a great way to make new business contacts and enhance your brand identity.

The attendees can show their names and headshots, and interact with the speakers and you during or after the webinar. This helps build credibility and establish a more genuine connection between the audience and your company.

Position Your Company as an Authority in Your Niche

Conducting a webinar can also help you stand out from your competitors.

By providing helpful and expert information through a webinar, you will gain a reputation as an authority in your niche. As your reputation spreads, more and more people will come to you when they need information or advice that is related to your field.

A webinar provides an engaging and effective way for you to promote your small business to a large group of people from all over the world.

When it is used correctly, it can be an invaluable tool for ensuring business growth and success.

Photo credit: educationcloset.com

About the author: John McMalcolm is a freelance writer who writes on a wide range of subjects, from online marketing to biographies of entrepreneurs such as Steve Wynn, David Kiger and others.