Daily Archives: January 6, 2013

Katonah NY Realtor | How to Increase Blog Reader Engagement

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Companies are always excited when they increase in Google rankings or finally reach that PR 6 that puts them right in the rankings with all the rest. However, what many companies don’t realize is that PR isn’t always the best way to determine your place in your niche online. Page Rank and Google rankings prove to readers that Google has recognized your good SEO, but this doesn’t mean much if your readers don’t find your content engaging. One of the things (one of the very major things) that separates one PR 6 site from another, or even one PR 3 site from another, is blog reader engagement. It will take some time to gain these numbers, however, so it’s best to start creating a strategy and putting this at the top of the priority list as you enter into the New Year.

Top 5 Ways to Improve the Engagement on Your Blog

It might sound as though it’s easy to improve your engagement, but this is one area of your website that actually can turn quite difficult. It takes careful planning and even more careful analysis of your efforts to determine how to make your readers respond. A few ideas to get you started on the process include:

  1. Relevant Posts. This is first and foremost the most important thing to remember about reader engagement. If you’re not writing something that is current and you’re not writing something that is directly related to your niche or the keywords you are targeting, you’re going to find the wrong readers and give them the wrong information. Readers are far more likely to comment on something if it is relevant to them, so do your best to think about what is going on in the news and what advice you can give to really help.
  2. Related Post Plugin. On that same note, this is one of my favorite things as an editor and as a reader. This plugin is easy to use and will allow other relevant blog posts that you have written to show up on the bottom of the article. This will help readers find something that interests them by giving them more choices, and so you have a better chance that the person will respond to the text.
  3. Ask Questions. Giving readers a reason to respond is never a bad idea. End your posts with questions or offer a controversial or interesting thought that will provoke some responses. People are usually more apt to engage if they have a clear idea about how to really get the conversation (and even promotion) started.
  4. Be Readable. You want to make sure the font and size of your content is something easy to read. Not only that, but make sure that the article is formatted in a way that is easy to read—lots of bullet points, subheadings, italics and bold faced text, etc. You’ll also want to make sure that the article isn’t too long that it turns readers away. Keep it between 700 and 1400 words. There are certain instances where this may not be the case, but the majority of the time this will do the trick for your readers.
  5. Load Times. If your article doesn’t load fast enough, readers are going to leave and choose another one of the top ten results on Google. It’s easy, and the Internet isn’t the place to bother being patient. Google also likes to see faster load times for pages, so you’ll get an added SEO benefit. You can learn more about how to improve your load times here.

In the end, reader engagement often works like a domino affect. Once people see that hundreds of others are tweeting your articles, they will be more apt to do the same.

via socialmediatoday.com

Online Video Weekly News Round Up – New Year’s 2013 Edition | Bedford Hills Realtor

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Happy 2013! If 2012 was any indication on where online video is going, then 2013 is set to be a major year again for several parts of the industry. As we watch it unfold it’s always nice to see what’s going on in areas that we don’t quite cover here at ReelSEO, including, daily news.

It was both a short week and a fairly quiet one with the holiday and the tech industry practically holding its breath waiting for CES next week. So hang in there for now. Next week we’ll see what the TV makers will be pushing this year. I have to believe it will be a lot of connected TV and multi-device options.

Washington Post Political Video Channel In Works

The Washington Post is set to offer around 30 hours of online video for a dedicated political channel by summer 2013.

Source: Washington Post

Sony Looking to Become Virtual MSO Provider?

Variety reports that Sony is set to create its own multichannel TV service, which would most likely send content to its line of Bravia TVs and Playstation consoles most likely.

“The Japanese conglomerate is in active negotiations with at least two major content companies about licensing their channels for a package that could roll out in the U.S. later this year, according to sources.”

YouTube Expanding Content Beaming to More Devices and Players

We all know Google and Apple have been going at it on a variety of fronts with the latest being remote playback of content, or beaming content from one device to another.

YouTube’s take on AirPlay allows users to browse videos with the YouTube Android app for phones and tablets, and then initiate playback on the TV screen with the click of a single button. Device discovery is facilitated automatically as long as the devices are in the same network. Previous iterations of YouTube second-screen control functionality required users to first manually pair their devices.

Source: GigaOm

Rovi Selling VOD Venture

Rovi has announced that it will sell its CinemaNow, which powers Best Buy, but will retain the rights to the DivX codec.

In announcing the decision, Rovi president and CEO Tom Carson said the company is aligning “primarily around delivering enabling solutions for our service provider customers and using those efforts to also generate growth with our consumer electronics and other customers.”

Source: Multichannel News

Samsung Upgrading Smart TVs

A new year, a new CES, an upgraded Smart TV from Samsung. It makes sense.

The company’s Evolution Kit, announced a year ago, attaches into the back of select 2012 Samsung Smart TV models. The module provides additional processing and memory to provide faster Internet browsing speeds, enhanced voice and motion controls, and app multitasking while watching TV, according to Samsung.

Source: Multichannel News

Intel Stumbles on its Virtual MSO Service

With so many trying to get into the game, is it any surprise they’re having content licensing issues as well as hardware?

One person familiar with Intel’s thinking on Monday predicted the company would launch its offering by mid-2013. Another person said a service might not arrive until as late as the fourth quarter, citing delays in reaching content-licensing agreements with entertainment companies that own major TV channels.

Source: WSJ

via reelseo.com

How To Tap Into The Social Media Community Through SEO | Pound Ridge Realtor

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EMDs, Pandas, Penguins; Google has been in frequent action. Multiple algorithms were released this year, and they left a huge impact on the rankings of online businesses. No one really knows what Google wants at this point. However, there is one thing that no longer works: writing for Google. ‘Write for Google and Google will reward you’, this was the statement made by so-called SEO gurus and online marketing experts. While this statement did hold true in recent times where everyone was being rewarded (even companies creating auto-generated web pages), the trend has shifted. While some online companies saw their rankings declined, others have seen a boost in search engine results.

Website owners who saw an improvement in their rankings were the ones who had a community. The latest Google algorithms have given the advertising power in the hands of the customers. Strategies that were considered to be the most important are now given the

Businesses that got affected can get back to the search engine results by devising their strategies in line with the new trend. Rather than spending money on banner ads, link-building, and other search engine optimization strategies, they should focus on building a community that gives them constant mentions on social media, and even offline. Here are few tips for building a community.

1. Increase social media awareness

You may have been spending on social media already. The common thing most businesses do is focus on getting more followers. While followers do play a role, they won’t benefit in the long run if they aren’t engaged. Cough… Lady Gaga’s Facebook page. Try to attract followers that are really interested in what you have to offer (no, don’t go on organizing competitions). Start networking with people in your industry, offer free advice, answer as many questions as possible and network with your existing customers.

2. Be active on all channels

Yes, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google+ have a huge member base and you’ll find many people interested in your brands. However, that doesn’t mean you should ignore the less popular social media channels. Referral traffic should come from as many channels as possible. You may never know that a customer coming from a less popular social media site may be more engaged.

3. Sign up customers

A simple pop up asking customers to sign up won’t cut it. You need to be different. Customers are signing up to be a part of your community, and they should have a good reason to do so. Your landing page shouldn’t be boring, and should have a well-organized hierarchy. It should match the desire of the customer. Additional things, if possible, should include a video and existing customer count.

4. Hire someone who can get people to talk

If you’re able to get someone who can get people to create a buzz, you’ll build and grow your community with ease. Content that touches the heart of the customer will get Liked, retweeted and Pinned automatically, getting more members for your community in return.  As opposed to investing in mercurial SEO tactics that can change overtime, hiring a good writer, as mentioned in this post on the Spread Effect content marketing blog, may turn out to be the best investment you ever made.

5. Involve others

You won’t be able to do this alone. You’ll have to involve others, and the best option lies in your staff. Give them freedom to talk about your brand, and answer customer queries. Hostgator was able to build a strong online presence through their live customer support. The representatives have the freedom to talk about the brand, give suggestions and solve any customer queries.

6. Attend events

The offline tactic has a part to play. Going to events will get you more mentions. Introduce yourself to others, and tell them about your company. Take interest in their business as well. You may be able to find people who aren’t related to your business, but have a strong online community. They may mention your company name, and who knows, the new referrals may already have interests related to your brand.

Be sure to attend online ‘events’ as well, and by this I mean stay connected to the overall SEO community. Many prominent SEOs keep up with social media networks as if they were the future of content marketing. And, in some ways, they are.

These actions will help you start and maintain your own place in the SEO community, which is going to grow over time if you stay on the right path. A strong community will have a strong voice, and the authority of your online business is going to increase. Search engines are now favoring website owners and online businesses that are authoritative. Once customers start giving you importance, and mentioning you on a daily basis, search engines would have no choice but to give you importance as well.

via socialmediatoday.com