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The Beginner’s Guide to WordPress SEO

In recent years, WordPress has solidified itself as one easiest and most user-friendly content management systems available. As a FREE platform, business owners and bloggers have the tools and access to customization options to create the website of their dreams. However, one overlooked aspect is the easy implementation of WordPress SEO.

What is SEO?

SEO, or search engine optimization, is the process of enhancing your natural and organic search rankings through a variety of steps. No matter what search engine you use, you likely have noticed that certain results rank higher than others. Through SEO implementation, your site will rank higher allowing it to be accessed more easily by a wider audience.

Utilizing WordPress SEO Plugins

There are many different WordPress plugins that focus on SEO enhancement for your website. Because WordPress was originally set up as a blogging platform, creating SEO ready content is an absolute priority to achieve the desired search ranking. The following WordPress SEO plugins can help determine if your content is SEO ready or needs adjustments:

  • Yoast SEO – WordPress SEO by Yoast is one of the most popular SEO plugins available on the platform, and for good reason. For most, the user-friendly interface and content suggestions are more than enough to provide SEO ready content. Yoast also features a page analysis tool and XML sitemaps functionality.
  • All in One SEO Pack – All in One SEO Pack is an alternative to Yoast that addresses many of the SEO problems that WordPress webmasters face.

Even if you have no experience in performing proper SEO, you can use this plugin for a wide variety of challenges. Other features included in this plugin are Google Analytics support, automatic generation of META tags and helps you avoid duplicate content.

Keywords for WordPress SEO

When writing your blog, it is important to focus on keywords that you are trying to rank for or variations of those keywords. If you are in a highly competitive market, try included long tail search phrases that are more targeted. Once your blog has been written, you can check the status of your SEO through one of the mentioned plugins prior to posting for the biggest impact.

Still Need Assistance with WordPress SEO?

Search Engine Optimization is very much driven by written content. Search engines index every word on your website, using that information to display search results. At Skynet, we know how to find the right keywords and tone for your written message. You can fill out our contact form to get started today. You can also connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn!

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Marketing

Search Engine Optimization Solutions for Small Businesses

Though there are no shortcuts to dominating online with your business, there are many steps that small businesses can take to enhance their search engine optimization and compete in the digital world. Over time the importance of a web presence that is easily found has become critical to the success of a business, even a physical storefront. With the limited number of results on the first page, what can a small business do to compete with larger companies? Search engine optimization solutions can help small businesses remain competitive and increase the number of visitors that will find them organically through search engine results pages. To do this, it is important for small businesses to invest in building their online presence to rank higher. Here are some search engine optimization solutions for small businesses:

Get Your Business on the Map

One of the easiest, and most efficient, search engine optimization solutions a small business can complete is successfully “getting their business on the map”. If you have ever searched for a service in your local area, you likely saw different businesses placed on a map at the top of the Google search page. These businesses have utilized the power of Google’s FREE GYBO program. According to GYBO’s own statistics, a business that is online can grow 40% faster than the competition that isn’t. Furthermore, these businesses are twice as likely to create jobs as a result of this growth. Struggling to get through the GYBO process? Let us know, we can help!

Gather Reviews

After your business has successfully completed the GYBO requirements, you are now ready to start building your online presence. One of the easiest ways to do this is to ask your customers for reviews online. This can include multiple different platforms including Google, Yelp, Angie’s List, Trip Advisor or any other review site that meets the industry of your company. To specifically build your Google ranking, however, it is encouraged that you gather as many reviews as possible through Google’s own review system. Any reviews, good or bad, that you receive will be available to potential customers and attached to your business profile. For this reason, it is important to focus on providing the best customer service possible for your clients or customers to bolster your review status.

Get Social

Social media platforms have grown substantially recently. With targeted advertising opportunities on Facebook and other social platforms, you have the ability to pinpoint exactly who you are trying to reach. Finding these individuals and building a relationship with them through social media can help not only increase real-world visits but serves as one of the most powerful search engine optimization solutions as well. For example, say you have just completed a new blog that will resonate with your target audiences you have been growing. By posting this blog to your social media, you are creating shareable content that your customers will want to share because it aligns with their needs or wants. When this happens, more people can find your website and you will continue to grow.

Why Skynet Solutions?

You can always get in touch with the experts at Skynet Solutions for help with your online business listing, website development, social media marketing or anything else you need to help make your business succeed. With our diverse range of skills and experience, we are sure to have the tools you need to make 2017 your business’ best year yet. You can fill out our contact form to get started today. You can also connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn!

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Marketing

Ranking Your Website in Competitive Markets

Businessman with boxing gloves

To ensure your website is successful it’s important to strive to reach top search engine ranking. However, some very competitive markets are seemingly impossible to rank in when pitted against conglomerates and other large-scale companies. Don’t let this discourage you, there are several strategies you can use to gather your share of the market!

One of the most common mistakes website owners make is tailoring their content to try and rank for general keywords. However, if you have a clearly defined niche audience you are attempting to reach, you could be ranking higher in their search results than large companies. To do this, companies have to understand what makes their product or services stand out from the large corporations and target those audiences extensively. To do this, smaller companies must be more concise with what market they are attempting to reach and focus on less competitive search engine terms.

Large companies have many resources and funding that small business owners won’t. Trying to be competitive for general keywords will likely only end in a hurt wallet and no increase in business. For example, the supplement industry is very competitive. With the wide variety of products available to consumers, it is important to find your niche and exploit it when crafting new, engaging content. Instead of saying just “protein powder”, a smaller business could experiment with more detailed phrases like “protein powder for CrossFit athletes” or “protein powder for muscle recovery”.

By following this strategy, the small business will likely rank higher for these keywords because the large company has dominated the more general term. Search engines function to provide the most accurate result possible for their users. By clearly targeting your audiences based on how they search and the terms they use, you will be more likely to achieve sustained organic traffic growth.

If you need any help keeping up with your blogging requirements or updating your content, call the content creation experts at Skynet Solutions. We can write interesting, fresh content for any industry or business, as well as handling your social media and other marketing needs. You can fill out our contact form to get started today. You can also connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn!

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Marketing

Content: What is the Optimal Length?

Digital Dictionary Blog Follow Like Concept

If you’re a regular reader of our marketing blog, you’ll have noticed that a few months back our blogs suddenly got a lot longer. That wasn’t an accident. Our marketing team had been doing some research into ideal content lengths for different types of online content and found out that we were a little under where we needed to be to be able to get in the top organic Google search results. So we redesigned our blogging strategy and the blogging strategies of many of our clients. Conventional wisdom had us writing blogs that were around 300 or 350 words long—short, easily-digestible, quick reads on various topics that were relevant to customers. We thought that this length, which could be read in about five minutes, was the right length. Then we did a little research. The best length for a blog post is actually double or triple what we had been writing. For a blog post to turn up in the top, organic Google or Bing search results, it needs to have between 700 and 1,000 words. Are your blog posts in that range? If not, that could be one reason why you’re not seeing the results you want from blogging. Since we started posting longer blogs, we’ve seen a lot more traffic on our site and our blogs are showing up higher in Google search. Inspired by this, we looked into how long the content should be on webpages and found out that we were coming up a little short there, too. Well, more than a little. Chances are you are as well. Check your website and approximate how much content is on each of your pages—100 words, 500 words, 1,000 words? Guess how much content you should have on each webpage for those pages to show up in the top, organic Google and Bing search results? Between 2,000 and 2,500 words. Your immediate reaction to that statistic might be to go post a bunch of random content on your website to increase the word count, but please, please resist that urge. Part of why Google likes content-rich sites is because people like content rich sites. And people show Google that they like content rich sites by linking to them—on social media, in other blogs, all over the place. So if you have a webpage that has 2,300 words of content, but 2,000 of those words are meaningless gibberish, then no one will link to your site and Google won’t prioritize it, even though it’s the right length. Same thing goes with blog posts. There’s no use in slapping up an 800-word blog post if 450 of the words are meaningless nonsense. Nobody will read it or link to it, Google will be able to tell that it’s not quality content and they won’t prioritize it in search rankings. Being high in Google search rankings is important. It is the most used search engine in the United States and in the world with 1.17 billion users. Those 1.17 billion users log over 3.5 billion searches each day. This might seem a little overwhelming (because it is) but the important thing to get out of it is this: most of your customers and potential customers are using Google search to find things—especially local goods and services. The higher your website and blog posts rank in Google search results, the more likely that customers searching for your or searching for a business with your expertise will be able to find you. When someone searches “dog groomer in Oklahoma City” they aren’t going to look through 75 pages of search results. They’re going to click on one of the top links that comes up. So if you want to be one of the top results to come up when someone searches “your business” in “your city,” it’s time to start prioritizing both the quality and the quantity of your content. If you need any help keeping up with your blogging requirements or updating your content, call the content creation experts at Skynet Solutions. We can write interesting, fresh content for any industry or business, as well as handling your social media and other marketing needs. Whether you’re targeting specific customers or just want to get the word out about your new business, we can handle it. We also have a talented development team who can build you anything from a basic website to custom software. With our diverse range of skills and experience, we are sure to have the tools you need to make 2016 your business’s best year yet. You can fill out our online contact form on our website. You can also connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+and LinkedIn!

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Marketing

Google Deleting Unverified Business Listings

Google My Business

Right now you’re probably asking yourself, “do I have a Google My Business listing?” Or even more likely, you’re asking yourself, “what is a Google My Business listing?” If you know the answers to both those questions, kudos. But for those who don’t, we’ll explain. The answer to the first question is probably yes, even if you have no idea what a Google My Business page is. Essentially, it is one business page that allows you to manage how all the information about your business appears on Google. That includes Google Maps, Google+ and good, old-fashioned Google search. Customers looking for your business will be able to find everything from pictures and reviews to hours and driving directions to your business on your Google My Business page. If you’ve ever created a Gmail or Google+ account for your business, chances are you have a Google My Business account. And customers are seeing it when they search for your business or search for local businesses like yours. This is a great, free resource for local business owners to make sure their customers have easy access to all their relevant business information.  Sounds good, right? Two small problems here. One, if you didn’t even know you have a Google My Business account, you’re not managing it. That means the information on your page is probably out of date and may not be correct anymore. Two, Google is shutting down Google My Business pages that have not been verified. So even if you do have best, most frequently updated page out there, if it’s not verified it could be gone with little to no warning. They are also going to “unverify” pages that are inactive. And then they will delete the unverified pages. Google says this is part of their effort to provide their uses with only the highest quality, most reliable content available. And since a majority of customers rely on Google as their search engine of choice, you want to make sure you perform as well on Google as you possibly can. One of the best ways to keep your Google My Business page active and with a fresh supply of content is to keep on top of managing your Google+ page. Google+ might not seem like the most appealing social media platform to dedicate your time to—we know it’s not as fun as Instagram or Pinterest and that not as many people use it as Twitter or Facebook—it is important. It increases your rankings in Google search, which is still by far the most popular search engine in the world. Your customers are going to be searching for you with Google—and prospective customers are more likely to stumble across you in a Google search than any other way. You need to make sure you can be found quickly and easily and that all the information that comes up is completely accurate. Nothing frustrates a customer more than finding out the hard way that the address or hours listed on a business’ page are incorrect. Or even worse, not being able to find information online about a business they want to use. We discuss all of this and much more at the GYBO events we host with our partners at REI Oklahoma. We’ve been travelling all around Oklahoma hosting these events to help local business owners like you better understand things like map listings, search rankings, analytics and how all of these can affect your business. We’ll also discuss how to ensure your Google My Business listing is verified and doesn’t get deleted. We are hosting more of these GYBO events in the coming months, so keep an eye out for more information! You can check the events section of REI Oklahoma’s websitefor dates, times, locations and registration information, as well as other event information like topics covered and important statistics about why your business should be online. In the meantime, you can always call the experts at Skynet Solutions for help with your business listing, website development, marketing or anything else you need to help make your business succeed. With our diverse range of skills and experience, we are sure to have the tools you need to make 2016 your business’s best year yet. You can fill out our online contact formon our website. You can also connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+and LinkedIn!

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