Here’s a new pic we took in our office. What do you think?

Many small businesses, and even big businesses, think that they are “social” just because they have a Facebook page or a Twitter account. But that is not true. Many companies do not understand how to interact with their customers through social media platforms. According to research by Gartner, ecommerce sales via social media are expected to reach 50%, or $30 Billion, in the year 2015. That’s just two years away!

Contests are great for social media. They are engaging, fun, useful, and if done right, profitable. Keeping your fans engaged after the contest is over is crucial. So below are some tips and ideas on how to run a successful social media contest.

For Pinterest:

1. “Pin it to win it” - have people pin or repin images in order to win a prize or giveaway
2. Photo contest - where followers have to pin an image around a theme
3. Likes and repins - where users create a board under certain guidelines and the winner is the person with the most likes or repins

For Twitter:

1. Sweepstakes contests - where you tweet or retweet something to enter a giveaway
2. Retweet to win - randomly choose someone that retweets you for a chance to win a prize

Note: Be sure to utilize hashtags on Twitter, and Pinterest too - they can help with tracking.

For Facebook:

1. Photo or video contests - posting and sharing photos for likes and comments…having fans submit their own is even better
2. Polls and quizzes - where users answer the question and leave comments
3. Sweepstakes - use an app like WildFireApp to run a fun contest on Facebook

Note: Be aware of the rules on each social network. Also, be transparent with your own rules for your contest. 

These are just a few ideas for running successful social media contests. Promoting your contest is very important. Stay tuned for a post on that and a future post on how to engage your fans after the contest is over! And good luck!

We’ve compared the social media profiles of Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. Do you think this data can predict the outcome of the 2012 presidential election?

Wallaroo Post – Staying up on Google Algorithm Updates

If you work in the SEO/digital marketing realm you know how important it is to stay up-to-date on industry trends. Google updates their search algorithm on average between 500 and 600 times a year. With all of these changes, it can be difficult to stay informed. Where can you go to find out what’s current? The places below are great places to go to make sure you don’t miss anything.

• insidesearch.blogspot.com - The official Google Search blog contains not only search algorithm updates but also insights into new search products and technology being developed on by one of the most dynamic tech companies in existence. 
• www.mattcutts.com/blog - Matt Cutts is a Google software engineer that is head of the Webspam team. He runs a regular, personal blog focused on webspam, Google Search, and SEO. 
• www.seomoz.org - Seomoz is one of the leading sites on SEO. They offer many tools to help SEO mangers monitor and track SEO and social media. In addition, they also have a page linked to their site entitled Google Algorithm Change History that is devoted to listing the major search algorithm updates that Google makes. 
• www.wallaroomedia.com – Wallaroo Media is an up-and-coming SEO company headquartered in Provo, Utah that runs a blog dedicated to helping people stay current on changing search trends, including Google Algorithm updates. 

Here’s a cute pic of our CEO Brandon Doyle riding a wallaroo on a merry-go-round at a zoo :)

We think that a wallaroo is one of the cutest animals on the planet. Look at these beautiful things as they run across the beach!

Impression (page view or hit) - This is the more commonly used term replacing “hit” as seen above.  An impression is a single view of a webpage.

Inbound link (inlink, incoming link) - The more inbound links a page has from related pages, the more trust and authority a page will have.

Index (as a noun) - A list of web pages and related content that is recognized and used by search engines.

Index (as a verb) - To place a webpage on an index.

Indexed pages - Pages on a website which are listed on an index.

Inlink - Another term for inbound link (see above).



Keyword - Key phrase - A word or phrase that a browsing user types into a search engine when looking for a product, service, or other information.

Keyword cannibalization - The overuse of a single keyword on multiple web pages of the same site. This makes determining which pages are more relevant than others on a website.

Keyword density - The amount of words on a web page that are the same as a used keyword. If the keyword density is at an extremely high level, the page might be penalized.  

Keyword research - The process of choosing which keywords are most effective and appropriate for targeting.

Keyword spam - Abnormal keyword density (see keyword density above).

Keyword stuffing - Another term for keyword spam seen above.

Our latest installment of the SEO Glossary - E’s, F’s, and G’s!

e-commerce site - A site used for retail sales.

Feed - Content delivered to users through websites or news programs.

FFA - (Free For All) A site that is used for outgoing links. Using FFAs for SEO purposes is not a good idea. These sites are seen as useless for human users and are often penalized or ignored by search engines.

Frames - A design where two or more outlines or docs appear on the same page, each with its own frame. Spiders often fail to navigate frames. For this reason, frames are discouraged in SEO practices.

Gateway Page - A web page that directs traffic from itself to another site.  This can be effective if there is quality, relevant content.

Gizmo - (gadget, widget) Tiny tools used to increase functionality and display important technical information. Gizmos can be good for link-baiting.

Google bomb - The act of trying to change Google search results for humor. Google bombs are planted by a combined effort.

Google bowling - Purposely attempting to harm or lower a sites ranking by sending over bad links. This may or may not work.

Google dance - A time of uncertainty when there is a change SERPs. This is brought on by a an update or changing of the Google database or algorithm. Panda and Penguin were cause for a Google dance.

Google juice  - Authority (juice) that comes from Google to a page or site and then becomes part of outgoing links to other pages. Googlebot Google’s spider program

GYM - Google - Yahoo - Microsoft, the three largest search engines.

BIG NEWS! Google just announced a few days ago that Google Plus Local will be taking over Google Places. Google Places has long been the focus of local search engine optimization. Google is clearly making a strong push towards their Plus platform. If you run a local business, it is now imperative that you have and maintain a Google Plus Local account for your location. This will undoubtedly help in the future as Google continues to favors its own products more and more.