Saturday, April 5, 2014

Lesson 12 Reflection - Ranking, Link Building & Google Analytics

Ranking and Link Building
These notes, specifically from the reading help center my thoughts. Look for some particular links I have identified below as great step by step options. 

 Link building plays an important role in SEO and Social Media Marketing.  Link building refers to the practice of getting other sites to implement hyperlinks back to your web site. In broad terms, Google ranks your website based on its link profile (i.e., the quantity and quality of hyperlinks back to your site).
In this lesson, we will learn about link building and how to improve your site’s link profile. Begin by reading Intro to Link Building and then scan these strategies for building links here: Advanced Link Building Strategies. Next, refer to the Link Building Strategies: Checklist article to write a link building strategy. In doing so, prepare for the discussion board by making sure you provide an answer to the following questions:
  1. Map out your strategy. (Part 1) Who and When?
  2. Map out your strategy. (Part 2) What and How?
  3. Map out your strategy. (Part 3) Where will the links be gathered?
Input your response in the question area by clicking “Start” below.
You have 6 minutes to complete it and will only be given one attempt.
Once you have submitted your response, answer the questions that have been posted in the “Ranking and Link Building Discussion Board.” The discussion board will open Tuesday at 12:01 AM. 

  1. Map out your strategy. (Part 1) Who and When? I plan to do the work myself and reserve one day per month to focus solely on link building. I feel like this is an ongoing process so the work won't ever truly be done. I'm sure from that one day of work, I will have some spill over assignments to do throughout the month but at least setting aside that one full day will get it on the calendar and get it started.
  2. Map out your strategy. (Part 2) What and How? I'm going to focus on one page at a time. After doing a full adwords campaign focusing on one page and its best keywords, I will have enough knowledge on what keywords work to then go and work on seo strategies based on the knowledge I paid for with a ppc campaign. The sites I will target will be complimentary sites that focus on healthy living but aren't necessarily focused on wheatgrass. Wheatgrass has its own very specific niche audience so if I can become the resident expert in multiple communities, I will be in a great position. I will search around the internet to find such sites and then work on building a relationship with the site owner.
  3. Map out your strategy. (Part 3) Where will the links be gathered? There is a great list in the article we read of 20 places where you could gather links but I think I will start by focusing on internal links, complimentary websites/relevant blogs, forums, how-to sites, social sites, and guest posting.
I think the principle of giving without expecting anything in return could help soften site owners enough for them to offer you a link or even a guest post on their blog. The key to this would be to first have a great website yourself so you actually do have something of value to offer them. A simple email or phone call asking a popular blogger if they would be interested in doing a guest post on your site could be a great start. I think they would jump at this opportunity, then you could share with them a well thought out guest post you would like to share on their website and explain to them how you think that post would be relevant and useful to their readers.


A sample schedule:
Monthly: 
  • list site in two good directories
  • link to interior site pages from a couple of relevant posts on your blog
  • distribute one press release to news sites
  • write one great article that other people may want to link to and then let them know about it.
  • Check and monitor incoming links (see tools below) and look to build relationships with additional web properties.

article about Press Release Optimization: http://www.seo-advantage.com/seo-topics/press-release-optimization.php

See who links to you:
Google: link:www.wheatgrassjuicing.com
or 
Google's free webmaster tools: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/55281?hl=en&topic=13509
or
Yahoo! Site Explorer https://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/

GOOGLE ANALYTICS:

2. Go to Google Analytics and use it to determine your worst keyword, ad, and/or landing page.  
3. Write an essay explaining what metrics indicate which keyword, ad, or landing page is the worst.
4. Input your essay in the comment box by clicking “Submit” below.
Once you have submitted your essay, answer the questions that have been posted in the “Google Analytics Overview Discussion Board.” The discussion board will open Monday at 12:01 AM. 
Reading:
References:
Preparation:

Analytics overview 
what are the top / most important metrics to you

see what keyword brought someone to my site
paid vs organic

boucne rate, means they only looked at one page???

when you are asked "is this a good idea" what do you research? eyelashes 

 Adam web posted this: 
I determined my worst keyword by the number of searches that it was getting and the number of impressions. If it isn't being searched for than it isn't going to be much good to my campaign. I was still able to have a very limited number of keywords in my campaign that were relatively successful. I averaged about 50 clicks a day so those that were not getting any clicks and a very small amount of impressions didn't help promote my campaign at all.

QUESTION:
Method for determining keywords based on a competitors site?

Some people have commented that they cannot find information about their AdWords in Google Analytics. Here is a tutorial on how to link Google AdWords and Google Analytics: http://support.google.com/adwords/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1704341
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