SEO Content and Social Media Marketing Blog

Breaking: Search Ad Market to Grow by $4 Billion in 2012, $15 Billion by 2016

alex.wall@gmail.com (Blog Author)74314 — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 08:00:00 EST

We know that you were promised an article on which social media metrics you can follow, but – keeping in line with our resolution to stay topical and current – we felt that it was of more value to you, our readers, to present you with this late-breaking story on search ad spending. We will continue our series on social media metrics next week.

2011 might have been the year of lofty ambitions, but 2012 is shaping up to be the year of ambitious moves. A new eMarketer report indicates that search marketing expenditures are expected to rise by as much as 27%, ballooning the market by more than $4 billion. That boosts search spending from $15.36 billion to $19.51 billion. By 2016, the market will be at $29.11 billion, although growth will have cooled.

To be clear, search ad spending is when brands or businesses pay to place online advertisements on search engine result pages (SERPs) by targeting certain search queries, or keywords. Arguably, Yahoo! was the first to introduce search advertising buy in 1996 when a client wanted a more effective way of targeting advertisements inside search results. Yahoo! obliged and placed ad banners at the top of the SERP for whenever users searched for “golf” in Yahoo!

The results were successful, and a few months later, Yahoo! promoted the service to all of its consumers. Nearly 15 years later, Yahoo! has only a small piece of the market it helped create, a consolation prize compared to the multi-billion dollar rewards Google and Microsoft’s Bing have raked in over the past few years.

The eMarketer study forecasts that Google will retain its coveted position as search revenue leader and that its market share will increase from 77.9% in 2012 to 79.8% in 2014.

The report also predicts a steady decline of Yahoo! and AOL’s total market share of American search ad revenues – according to the study, Yahoo!’s share will dip to just 3%; AOL’s already paltry slice will shrivel to just 0.6%.

This booming search ad market means that now is the best time to start investing more in organic SEO content marketing.

Wait – what?

One more time: now is the best time to invest in SEO marketing.

This rising investment in search ad means that SEO marketers should be prepared to leverage the increased emphasis on search marketing by integrating emerging trends into their content marketing strategies. Why?

Studies have emphasized that Web users are up to 6 times more likely to click on one of the first few organic results in for a search query than on one of the paid search placements. An eye-tracking study revealed that users skip right over paid ads and begin by scanning the top organic results.

Some of you might be wondering, “Well, then, explain what’s going on here. If users are more prone to select organic results, why is search ad booming?” Because so many people use search to find businesses that there are still rewards to be gleaned from using PPC marketing campaigns, and because PPC, quite frankly, is easier. It requires less finesse and less understanding of the ever-fluctuating algorithms that power Google’s search engines (in 2011, Google rolled out more than 500 changes to its algorithm, including the groundbreaking Panda updates).

For the savvy marketer though, an increase in the search ad market means increased opportunity for organic SEO content marketing.

With huge events like the 2012 Summer Olympics in Londonand the United States Presidential Election on the horizon, Web users will be turning to search engines to collect information, and SEO marketers should be prepared to incorporate these events into their campaigns to maximize return.

Take Advantage of the Market Boom with We Do Web Content

When your business is looking for quality, custom content for your website, newsletters, and social media marketing look no further than We Do Web Content. Having unique, organic web content is the leading way to increase search engine rankings and boost your Internet marketing. For affordable, quality content exclusive to YOUR website, blog and clients, contact us today! 1-888-521-3880.

Social Media ROI – Identifying the Metrics that Don't Matter

alex.wall@gmail.com (Blog Author)73843 — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 08:00:00 EST

Social media marketing has taken the business world by storm, but according to a study last year, 68% of companies cannot or do not know how to measure social media ROI (return on investment). This is how social media management ends up getting banished to the intern’s task sheet.

If you’re engaging in social media marketing simply because it’s all the rage, you’re probably not being effective. Next week, we’ll discuss the metrics that you can use to power your digital marketing success. But for now, here are the 3 social media metrics that you don’t need.

#1 – Klout Score

The idea behind the Klout score is a good one, no doubt. And it does indicate, at the very least, authority on a topic. But remember the example of @horse_ebooks – a spam account that randomly tweets snippets from the ebooks that it hawks (presumably about horses) that has gained a cult following on the Internet. The root of its Twitter popularity and a resultant Klout score of 74 was best summed up by Jon Hendren, writer at SomethingAwful.com:

“@Horse_ebooks is a Twitter bot designed and automated by apparently some Russian guy to sell worthless, horrible ebooks about horses. In order to avoid being detected as a spam bot, it occasionally posts a text snippet or two from one of its ebooks, chosen at random. I will never buy an ebook from it, but I will follow this Twitter account until I die or horses become extinct, whichever comes first.”

The tale of @horse_ebooks should drive this message home: just because something is popular on the internet doesn’t mean it can convert followers into customers or fans into clients.

#2 – Your Facebook Fans

In just a minute, we’re going to explain why the number of friends, fans, and followers you have doesn’t matter, period, but Facebook fan count deserves its own assessment because it’s the most commonly misconstrued marker of digital success. Facebook’s EdgeRank system is designed to only allow your well-branded messages to reach users who already engage with your Facebook page.

Instead, you should take a look at the “People Talking About This” metric. This number better reflects your social influence and what (if any) impact you have on your followers. As people engage with your brand, you’re more likely to appear on the feeds of “friends” of your fans, thus funneling new traffic to your page.

#3 – The Total Number of Friends, Fans, and Followers You Have

That’s right. That Facebook fan page you’ve been cultivating for months, or that Twitter feed you’ve been pouring hours into means next to nothing when compared to a healthy email marketing list. Banking on social platforms to drive the majority of your business is a principle known as digital sharecropping, and it’s dangerous.

The idea of digital sharecropping was outlined by Nicholas Carr in 2006, and can be boiled down to this: you don’t own the Web platforms that you’re building your digital bases on. If that platform changes its service or evolves in a direction that no longer drives your business the way you’re used to, you’re up a creek without a paddle.

You’re using the Facebook, Google+, Twitter, and LinkedIn platforms not just because they are popular, but because they’re currently and demonstrably successful channels of marketing and business success – granted. And these tools might be useful to you for a long time, but what happens to your business when Facebook becomes the next MySpace, or when the next craze in digital business, management, or marketing rolls into town?

This doesn’t mean that these platforms are bad for your business, and you should leverage them to your advantage to drive traffic to your website and to your opt-in email list. You control these assets. Even if your email account is hacked, you can export your mailing lists to other providers and keep a back-up copy on your hard drive – or even a hard copy on your desk, a printed list of your contacts. If your Web host goes under, you simply upload your backed-up copy of your website to another hosting provider, and re-direct the URL.

It’s OK to keep an eye on these numbers, but remember that when it comes right down to it, they don’t influence or measure the volume of your business or its projected growth. Invest your time in assets that will drive your business with demonstrable success, like an informative website, email list, or promotional ebook.

Build Up Assets That You Own with We Do Web Content

When your business is looking for quality, custom content for your website, newsletters, and social media marketing look no further than We Do Web Content. Having unique, organic Web content is the leading way to increase search engine rankings and boost your Internet marketing. For affordable, quality content exclusive to YOUR website, blog and clients, contact us today! 1-888-521-3880.

Inbound Marketing Resolutions for 2012

alex.wall@gmail.com (Blog Author)73363 — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 08:00:00 EST

The imprint of 2011 and of the progress we made last year is fresh in our minds, and while our team is hard at work fulfilling their own personal and professional resolutions, we wanted to give our readers some insight into what kind of resolutions for 2012 will keep their businesses at the top.

Resolution #1 - Make a Blogging Schedule and Stick to It

This one can’t be stressed enough. Blogging is your opportunity to speak directly to potential clients, and since they probably arrived at your site because they clicked on a link that drove them there, you have a few minutes of their undivided attention to demonstrate your expertise.

It’s vital, however, to stay consistent. Irregular posting will cost you readers. For instance, Searchcore releases a new post each week at the exact same time, so our readers know that they can count on a fresh article every Wednesday.

However, don’t schedule your posts so far out that you fail to report on late-breaking news. For instance, this post was meant to be last week’s Searchcore, but when Google released a new feature late last Tuesday, we felt an obligation to give our readership all the information we had on the changes and explain how it would affect their search experience and search marketing positions.

Finally, enable comments on your blog, and don’t be afraid of hard questions or even a little criticism. Respond to every person who leaves a comment, and be sure to thank them for their contribution.

Resolution #2 - Implement a Social Media Strategy

The explosion of social media marketing has given rise to a number of changes in the marketing industry, ranging from new metrics tools that measure social influence to the crop of "creative" job titles – some favorites; “Web Alchemist,” “Interactive Evangelist,” and “Brand Expansion Guru”.

You don’t need any of these "experts" to be the king (or queen) of your corner of the Web. All you need is a strategy.

For example, we syndicate our content, including blog posts just like this one, to more than 10 different social platforms. We do this automatically by way of an RSS feed-based bookmarker, although we affectionately refer to it as “the spinner” because of the streamlined way it spools out our content across the Web. Yes, it’s that good. There’s no lack of services that will do this for you, but a few noteworthy options are Onlywire and Buzzify It, but be warned – setting these syndicators up can take a nice chunk of time if you have several sites (or a ton of clients!)

For the heavy-hitters like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+, you’ll want to take the time to make organic posts – especially for Facebook. Don’t use any third-party applications to post to Facebook, however, because you’ll experience a 70% drop-off in engagement at best, and if users aren’t engaging your posts, others are even less likely to see those posts.

Finally, remember that comments are worth more than likes to EdgeRank, Facebook’s proprietary ranking system, so create content that will provoke responses. EdgeRank also gives a boost to video, photo, and link posts over standard status posts, so when you do post a text update, make sure it counts.

Resolution #3 – Optimize Your Website

Now is the time to take a step back, pull your Google Analytics reports, and evaluate whether or not your website is performing the way it needs to.

Some questions to ask yourself:

Is the site navigation easy to follow?
Are the design and colors appealing, and does the site look uncluttered?
Is your content optimized for search and are you implementing reliable SEO principles?
Do you have clear calls-to-action and boilerplate closers on each of your pages?
Do you have a phone number clearly posted on your website?
Can browsers easily access a library of your articles, or back-listings of your blog posts?
Do you have a lead generation form so that you can collect data on your hot prospects?

Remember, your website is a tool meant to help your business perform, and if it’s costing you more than it’s bringing in, chances are that you’re doing something wrong. That doesn’t mean your site can’t be salvaged and transformed into a robust, client-seducing powerhouse with a little bit of elbow grease and industry know-how.

Grow Your Business in 2012 with We Do Web Content

When your business is looking for quality, custom content for your website, newsletters, and social media marketing look no further than We Do Web Content. Having unique, organic web content is the leading way to increase search engine rankings and boost your Internet marketing. For affordable, quality content exclusive to YOUR website, blog and clients, contact us today! 1-888-521-3880.

Google Unveils "Search, plus Your World"

alex.wall@gmail.com (Blog Author)72907 — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 08:00:00 EST

Yesterday, Google released a new feature called “Search, plus Your World,” which integrates personalized features into Google’s standard search engine results pages (SERPs). These bespoke changes to the SERPs are ported from your Google+ page and the information that your Google+ connections have shared with you.

These changes will make it easier for users to find and access private data their friends have shared with them, which normally only appears in the chronological sequence of social layouts, and as a result, dated entries become buried and are often undiscoverable.

For the privacy-conscious, fear not: the new format’s SERPs are only visible to individual users, and you have to be signed in and using the English version of Google in order to see the personalized results. No one else will be able to see your personal results, and you can toggle the personal results off if you find the experience invasive.

Click to enlarge

As you can see, the new layout shows the traditional count of Web results, but adds “x personal results,” a clickable link that you can follow to isolate your personalized search results from the rest of the pack. Results that have been shared by people in your Circles will have that little blue stamp next to them that looks like a head and shoulders. Those that are standard Web results will show nothing new.

Google has been at the forefront of social search for the past few years, and Google Fellow Amit Singhal introduced the newest iteration of the enterprise.

The Search, plus Your World features highlighted by Singhal include:

Personal Results - will enable users to find information that is just for them, like Google+ photos and posts, including those that have only been shared specifically with you;
Profiles in Search - will allow users to have straightaway access to profiles you’re interested in or people you might be interested in, based on your activity; and
People and Page - will help users discover Google+ profiles and pages most closely related to the topic in which you’re searching, because, as Google puts it, “behind most every query is a community.”

Google has tirelessly reinforced the idea that “Google+ is Google” and the social service is a thread that has been woven into the fabric of virtually all of Google’s most popular and widespread services.

Granted, “Your World” is limited to the extent that only Google+ social data is integrated into your search engine results. Some early critics have responded that the integration is shallow because of that limitation, but Google told Search Engine Land’s Danny Sullivan that it would be willing to work with other networks that would provide it with “deep access to their data.”

Considering the relationship that already exists between Bing and Facebook – Bing SERPs show information on what your Facebook friends “like” when you search based on the data provided via this relationship – a collaborative effort between the two giants is a possibility, but we’re not betting the farm on it.

The change is being rolled out slowly over the next few days, so don’t panic if you haven’t spotted it yet. If you just can’t wait to get a glimpse of the new features, Google released this charming promotional video that sums them up nicely.

We’re ecstatic over this new feature for a few reasons: first, Search, plus Your World makes it easier for users to find information that has received votes of confidence from others who we already trust; second, it typifies the constant, rapid evolution of search that characterizes the industry; third, it proves our prediction from late October – that “the Internet is evolving towards a people-centric climate” – was right on the money.

Are You Ready to Leverage the Power of Google for Your Business?

When your business is looking for quality, optimized web content for your site, newsletters, and social media marketing look no further than We Do Web Content. Having unique, organic web content is the leading way to increase search engine rankings and boost your Internet marketing. For affordable, quality content exclusive to YOUR website, blog and clients, contact us today! 1-888-521-3880.

New Years Resolution #4 – Send Out More SEO Press Releases

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)72752 — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 08:00:00 EST

Special Series: New Years Resolutions for Your Content Marketing

January 9, 2012 – We hope that your business will be buzzing with great news and announcements of great things in 2012 – and SEO press releases are the way to get that news out to your clients!

If you’re revamping your marketing advertising strategy this year, make sure that press release optimization is a key point in your process. When your business has any newsworthy developments, such as a new office location, a special award or recognition, or a new face on your team – tell everyone.

You don’t need to go through the hassle of writing, editing and releasing these great stories on your own. Press release distribution services like those offered by We Do Web Content can handle all these matters for you – all you have to do is provide us with your latest news.

Hopefully you’re already taking some of our marketing advertising strategy tips to heart and have been working to grow your business. The more you grow, the more newsworthy events you’ll have that could become great SEO press releases. Remember that press release optimization is key to making these pieces of content really work for increasing your business’ outreach on the Internet.

We hope that you’ve enjoyed our New Years Resolution special and it’s got you geared up for a prosperous 2012! You can find help for your marketing advertising strategy from We Do Web Content with our press release distribution services and much more all year long!

Kick Off 2012 the Right Way – Get Fresh Content from WDWC!

With all the services offered by We Do Web Content for your marketing advertising strategy there’s no reason your business can’t generate great topics for SEO press releases. Our press release distribution services provide the proper content management methods that will take a newsworthy story from your office and transform it into a quality piece of Internet marketing content.

To help your business make the most out of press release optimization look no further than We Do Web Content! We offer affordable solutions for SEO content, electronic Newsletters, business articles, SEO press releases, social media marketing, eBook promotions, and even specialty content for lawyers. For affordable, quality content exclusive to YOUR business, contact us today! 1-888-521-3880.

4 Things to Consider When Seeking Professional Copywriting Services

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)72538 — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 08:00:00 EST

There are 4 main considerations to make when seeking professional copywriting services. Quality SEO copywriting services should focus on research, analysis, creation and editing of content. Each one of these components comes together in your content to produce the most effective marketing strategy for your business.

Research means finding out what topics interest your potential clients the most. What are they searching for? What questions do they have? What impresses them?

Analysis takes those topics and develops keywords to help get your content found on search engines.You know what your clients are looking for; now you need to figure out how and where they’re searching for it. This means optimizing for search engine relevance so you rank higher in results.

Creation is when we put it all together in the actual physical written piece. Writers use the research and analysis data to craft the text that’ll help rank you on the search engines and call your clients to act upon a method of contacting your business.

Editing is the final step your content goes through before it becomes a part of your Internet reputation. Before any content hits your website, blog or social media profiles, it should pass through at least one more set of eyes to make sure that it’s free of spelling and grammar errors and is readable by the average person.

If these 4 steps seem too difficult or time-consuming, remember that there are professional copywriting services like We Do Web Content to help fill these needs!

Professional SEO Copywriting Services from We Do Web Content

Professional copywriting is necessary when your company wants to make a good impression with your marketing content. Our SEO copywriting services help generate the quality, custom content that your business needs to increase the online marketing of your web page. Copywriting is a serious job – and we know how to handle it!

When your business is looking for quality, custom content for your website, newsletters and social media marketing, look no further than We Do Web Content. Having unique content for use in your Internet marketing is a great way to increase search engine rankings and boost your client outreach. For affordable, quality content exclusive to YOUR website, blog and newsletters, contact us today! 1-888-521-3880.

2012 New Years Resolution #3 – Redesign Your Monthly Electronic Newsletter

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)72632 — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 08:00:00 EST

Special Series: New Years Resolutions for Your Content Marketing

January 5, 2012 – If you already know how to start a newsletter and haven’t done so make that a priority for 2012!

We’re sure you’ve heard – a monthly electronic newsletter can be a great way to keep in touch with your clients, even if they haven’t needed your services for years. By keeping your list of clients informed of the latest news in your office or industry you keep your business’ name in the front of their mind.

The beginning of a new year is the time when many of us look to freshen up some aspects of our personal lives – and you should be thinking the same with your business! If your monthly electronic newsletter isn’t generating the buzz it used to, it’s time to consider using a newsletter content service like We Do Web Content!

Not all email newsletter services will give your business the same quality content and service that WDWC offers. We go through every aspect of developing an effective and engaging monthly electronic newsletter, from how to start a newsletter all the way through distributing it to your clients. Our team of writers and editors ensure that the content of your newsletter is relevant, timely, and makes your clients remember who to turn to when they have a need in your industry!

If your monthly electronic newsletter isn’t drawing in the client interaction you’re looking for, or you just want a fresh new look and a content boost for 2012, contact We Do Web Content!

Our Newsletter Content Service Can Help You with How to Start a Newsletter

We Do Web Content’s email newsletter services not only help clients develop the design of their newsletter, but also provides the quality, custom content to convert readers into clients. We know that figuring out how to start a newsletter is frustrating, and we can help provide the research and analysis of your industry to generate the articles that interest your clients the most!

To help your business make the most out of your monthly electronic newsletter look no further than We Do Web Content! We offer affordable solutions for SEO content, electronic Newsletters, business articles, SEO press releases, social media marketing, eBook promotions, and even specialty content for lawyers. For affordable, quality content exclusive to YOUR business, contact us today! 1-888-521-3880.

The WDWC 2012 New Years Resolutions!

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)72656 — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 08:00:00 EST

Special Series: New Years Resolutions for Your Content Marketing

January 6, 2012 – What better way to start off the New Year than by sharing our resolutions?

The We Do Web Content team has shared some of their own personal resolutions:

Alex Wall (AWall) says she’s setting a goal to run, walk, or crawl 1,000 miles in 2012.
Amanda is looking to tone up her muscles this year.
Lisa wants to travel to at least one new unique spot in Florida every month.
Sarah will be losing 10 pounds before her May 19^th wedding.
Tricia resolves to spend more time away from the computer – with afternoon walks, evenings spent reading – to work on her goal of overall better health.
Yvette & Alex Valencia will work together to curtail their sweet tooth (and Lisa promises to limit her baking of treats to help them avoid temptation!)

The WDWC office has an overall New Years Resolution to continue our outstanding service to our clients! We’re accomplishing this by keeping a watchful eye on the ever-changing content marketing methods like search engine rankings, social media profiles, local business listings, electronic newsletter campaigns, and the increasingly popular world of eBook marketing.

2012 is going to be a year of changes everywhere – politically, economically, and personally. It seems like local businesses have become more prominent lately with many “shop small” or “buy local” campaigns over the holidays. If you haven’t seen our latest blog series, we’ve suggested some New Years Resolutions for small businesses to grow their content marketing:

We have a 4^th and final resolution we’ll share on Monday that we hope can help your business gain new clients and succeed in 2012!

Kick Off 2012 the Right Way – Get Fresh Content from WDWC!

We Do Web Content’s content marketing team is ready for another year of developing quality content marketing plans for our clients – are you taking advantage of our great services? If not, make it your resolution to contact us and learn about how we can help make your business a star in your local community!

To help your business make the most out of your content and web presence look no further than We Do Web Content! We offer affordable solutions for SEO content, electronic Newsletters, business articles, SEO press releases, social media marketing, eBook promotions, and even specialty content for lawyers. For affordable, quality content exclusive to YOUR business, contact us today! 1-888-521-3880.

A Few Good Editors Make All the Difference in Copywriting

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)72537 — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 08:00:00 EST

In today’s world of content, we sometimes take for granted the squiggly underlines in Microsoft Word that alert us to spelling or grammar errors. Even as word processing dictionaries become smarter and start learning from their users, nothing can replace the trained eye and sharp mind of a good human editor.

When producing SEO content, you need to make sure that it’s attractive to your readers. Professional copywriting helps give your business an advantage because most SEO copywriting services include content optimization and editing. Even if your potential clients misspell a keyword in their search query, most search engines correct it for them – and if they’re making spelling errors, you certainly don’t want to do the same in your content!

Poorly written content is a sign that the business it comes from doesn’t make the effort to screen its end product. This often creates a poor reputation.

You should take pride in any content associated with your business and make sure it reflects positively on your professionalism. Poor content is often a sign of poor services – if you’re dedicated to what you do, then your content should be just as professional as your business conduct!

When you’re ready to enhance your online marketing with optimization of existing content or development of new SEO content, you should consider professional copywriting services. The SEO copywriting services of We Do Web Content have helped numerous businesses keep their reputation secure with error-free, clean content that’s relevant to their clients’ interests.

Professional SEO Copywriting Services from We Do Web Content

Professional copywriting is necessary when your company wants to make a good impression with your marketing content. Our SEO copywriting services help generate the quality, custom content that your business needs to increase the online marketing of your web page. Copywriting is a serious job – and we know how to handle it!

When your business is looking for quality, custom content for your website, newsletters and social media marketing, look no further than We Do Web Content. Having unique content for use in your Internet marketing is a great way to increase search engine rankings and boost your client outreach. For affordable, quality content exclusive to YOUR website, blog and newsletters, contact us today! 1-888-521-3880.

2012 New Years Resolution #2 – Increase Your Article Marketing

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)72513 — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 08:00:00 EST

Special Series: New Years Resolutions for Your Content Marketing

January 04, 2012 – There’s a difference between articles hosted on your own website and articles submitted to an online article directory or hub. Both are great methods for your article marketing, but they do have some distinct differences.

Business article marketing through article directories means you’ll benefit from web content writing services because the content cannot just be copied from existing articles on your website. If you haven’t started business article marketing, you should consider article services to provide fresh content to post to these directories.

You can easily generate new article topics without much effort just by looking at your existing article topics. There’s no penalty to your article marketing when duplicating topics – but duplicating content is still a big strike against you when you factor in the Google Panda penalties.

The Web content writing services of We Do Web Content can give you the fresh, custom content you need and do the work of submitting it to article services in one affordable package. We only work with the high-ranking, reputable article submission sites that are approved for searchability by Google Panda, which can help get your name ranked higher on search results!

The more unique, quality content that your name appears on, the better your article marketing and Internet reputation can become. If you haven’t started a business article marketing campaign yet, make that a goal for 2012 with the help of the article services and Web content writing services at We Do Web Content!

Enhance your Article Marketing Through Our Web Content Writing Services

We Do Web Content offers professional article services to help with the sometimes difficult task of business article marketing. Our business article marketing services takes the guesswork out of trying to decide where your article marketing is most effective while our Web content writing services provide the actual article content to enhance your business’ reputation.

To help your business make the most our of your article marketing look no further than We Do Web Content! We offer affordable solutions for SEO content, electronic Newsletters, business articles, SEO press releases, social media marketing, eBook promotions, and even specialty content for lawyers. For affordable, quality content exclusive to YOUR business, contact us today! 1-888-521-3880.

Search and Social Media Marketing Predictions for 2012

alex.wall@gmail.com (Blog Author)72515 — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 08:00:00 EST

The year 2012 is finally here. 2011 was a breakout year for Web marketing developments, and as the geography of the field has rapidly evolved, those who have taken greatest advantage of these new innovations have reaped the most rewards.

The year brought us Google+, Siri on the Apple iPhone, the Internet cloud, the Panda updates, and widespread changes across every major search engine and social platform. With all of these new technologies at our fingertips, the only thing that remains uncertain is what changes and challenges the New Year will bring. With that in mind, here’s our forecast for search engine and social media marketing in 2012.

Prediction #1 - Search and Social Will Become Irreconcilably Intertwined

Bing took a bold step when it upped the ante on social signal integration in May 2011 and pooled data resources with Facebook. You may have noticed that when you search through Facebook, beneath your standard Facebook search results is a listing of Bing-powered Web results.

By the same turn, Bing began to incorporate social signals from Facebook, creating a more personalized search experience for its users. It’s important to point out, however, that this isn’t a seamless integration. You have to sign in to Bing and use your Facebook log-in credentials in order to see the effects.

This integration is similar to – and, in fact, nearly mirrors – Google’s integration of Google+ social signals and +1 indicators. By using likes, retweets, and +1s as votes of confidence, these search engines are pooling the collective intelligence of your trusted social connections to influence the search results that you find.

As social media plays an increasingly larger role in the search algorithm, social media marketing will become a necessary component of SEO, likely to the point that they will nearly be indistinguishable.

Prediction #2 - Customer Interaction as a Vital Marketing Strategy Component

In 2012, Facebook will reach 1 billion users, and social network profiles have become an extension of modern identity as much as, if not more, than our cars, cell phones, and homes. Social signals have become a part of search, Google has started to index Facebook comments, and Google+ has started to play a native role in search engine results pages.

If search and social are indeed wedded for life, the companies that will outperform will be those who find a way to manage customer relationships while balancing perceptions. This is a bigger task than a marketing department can handle alone, and calls employees and brand loyalists to influence consumer perceptions of brands, services, and products through the creation and sharing of organic Web content.

So what are savvy SEOs and inbound marketers to do? Stay engaged. It’s much easier to say than to put in to practice, we know, but in terms of staying power, long-term strategy will trump a viral YouTube video any day of the week, for not only brand recognition, but also for conversion.

Prediction #3 - Mobile Search and Social Will Grow Exponentially

Try though you might, you can’t keep hardware out of the picture – tablets have fundamentally changed the game of content consumption.

Studies have reported that as many as one-third of American adults use smartphones, a number that’s expected to grow. An entire generation of teenagers and adolescents are growing up using smartphones and tablets, so companies who optimize their strategies for mobile devices will benefit the most.

Online purchasing has been moving in an irrefutably mobile direction – Google has estimated that 44% of last-minute shopping searches originate on mobile devices. Click-through rates are already higher on mobile devices than they are for their personal computer corollaries, and location-based services like FourSquare, Gowalla, and Yelp continue to expand as they battle one another for geolocation supremacy.

Whatever changes 2012 has in store, the path to success will be one that integrates strategic search and social campaigns, and we expect that 2012 will also be the year of refined social ROI tools so that marketers can effectively and efficiently monitor multiple channels of interaction.

Grow Your Search and Social Presence with Us!

When your business is looking for quality, custom content for your website, newsletters, and social media marketing look no further than We Do Web Content. Having unique, organic web content is the leading way to increase search engine rankings and boost your Internet marketing. For affordable, quality content exclusive to YOUR website, blog and clients, contact us today! 1-888-521-3880.

2012 New Years Resolution #1 – Start Free eBook Marketing

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)72432 — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 08:00:00 EST

Special Series: New Years Resolutions for Your Content Marketing

January 3, 2012 – It’s a New Year and time to start gearing up your business’ content marketing to make this your most successful year yet! To celebrate the start of 2012, we’re sharing our top 4 New Years Resolutions that every business should make to improve their content marketing.

Our first resolution focuses on an often overlooked subject – how to write an eBook and sell it or give it away for free. eBook marketing can be easy when you have the right people helping provide your business with quality, custom content. You can have an eBook without writing it yourself when you work with the We Do Web Content team!

Even if you already have a free eBook marketing strategy in place or you have successfully sold an eBook, you may want to write on another topic or simply enhance how you promote your eBook. Some of the tips we offer clients on how to write an eBook and sell it include:

linking to your eBook order form on all of your article and blog closers;
creating special offers on your business profiles for ordering a copy of your eBook;
making your eBook a coupon available on local business directories or deals sites; and
writing effective SEO press releases to announce your new eBook.

If you’re looking to promote your eBook that you’ve already written you can also drive up the hype by releasing an updated version. You can create an updated eBook without writing by simply going back in and reviewing the content that may have changed since publishing. Add in some more recent statistics and cross-reference any laws you cite to make sure they’re still relevant and current.

Whether you’re looking to release your first eBook without writing it yourself, or you want to expand your library of titles with a new eBook, We Do Web Content can help!

Promote Your eBook with Free eBook Marketing Strategies

We Do Web Content offers professional eBook writing, editing, and marketing solutions that help promote your eBook AND your business in one shot! We can help you learn how to write an eBook and sell it as a free incentive to your clients, giving them a taste of the services your business offers and enticing them to learn more.

To help your business make the most of content marketing look no further than We Do Web Content! We offer affordable solutions for SEO content, electronic Newsletters, business articles, SEO press releases, social media marketing, eBook promotions, and even specialty content for lawyers. For affordable, quality content exclusive to YOUR business, contact us today! 1-888-521-3880.

How to Release Your SEO Press Releases Effectively

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)71859 — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 08:00:00 EST

If you’re only distributing your SEO press releases among your current client e-mail list and website, then you’re missing out on A LOT of Internet exposure! There are many ways to make press release optimization and distribution easier on your business – and We Do Web Content’s press release distribution services is one of them!

When we create a quality, custom press release for a client, we strive to get it in front of as many current and potential clients as possible. This means not only showing off your latest big news through your e-mail lists and website, but also through social media and press release services.

Press release services like PRWeb are extremely useful not only to get your content in front of as many eyes as possible, but also to do so in a legitimate and professional manner. With the Google Panda update crushing content left and right, it’s important to make sure your own content is being presented only through reputable channels.

At We Do Web Content, we make sure that the press releases we provide our clients are not only optimized for searchability, but also that they are only housed on legitimate, safe submission hubs and services. We can help take the work out of SEO press release marketing strategies!

Get Custom SEO Press Releases with Our Press Release Distribution Services

When your business has important news to share let SEO press releases help generate the hype! To use press releases as a successful part of your marketing advertising strategy you’ll want to seek the help of We Do Web Content’s press release distribution services. With press release optimization and quality content your business’ news may make front page ranking on search results!

When your business is looking for quality, custom content for your website, newsletters and social media marketing, look no further than We Do Web Content. Having unique content for use in your Internet marketing is a great way to increase search engine rankings and boost your client outreach. For affordable, quality content exclusive to YOUR website, blog and newsletters, contact us today! 1-888-521-3880.

eBook Marketing is Easy When You Know What Clients Want

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)71838 — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 08:00:00 EST

One of the things you should be considering when a marketing strategy involves that you promote your eBook is what type of information your book will be selling. It’s easy to go way out of scope with eBook content and once you get writing, it can be hard to stick to a 30-50 page limit.

One of the first steps we take at We Do Web Content when developing an eBook for our clients is to research the topics that are most relevant and interesting to their clients. Your eBook needs to not only be informative, but also relevant to potential clients’ interests. They’ll be more likely to fill out your contact form and learn about your services when your eBook engages them properly.

To generate good ideas for an eBook, start by considering the following things:

Who are the clients you want to reach?
What questions do they have about your industry or services?
Why would they need to consult or hire your company? and
How do they like to consume information?

When you’ve answered these questions you should have a pretty good idea of where to start with creating a free eBook promotion. But if this seems like a complex and daunting task (and it can be) remember that you have the option of working with a professional eBook content service like We Do Web Content!

Get your own eBook Without Writing from We Do Web Content

Tired of the old, stale marketing methods? Want to boost your business’s reputation while capturing client contacts AND increasing web traffic? We Do Web Content can show you how to write an eBook and sell it to increase your business outreach!

When your business is looking for quality, custom content for your free eBook marketing campaign, we’ve got you covered! The content marketing services at We Do Web Content covers everything: your website, newsletters, and social media marketing. Having unique content for use in your Internet marketing is a great way to increase search engine rankings and boost your client outreach. For affordable, quality content exclusive to YOUR business, contact us today! 1-888-521-3880.

Google Algorithm: Exploring the Gap Between Speaking and Searching

alex.wall@gmail.com (Blog Author)72201 — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 08:00:00 EST

As SEOs, we grapple with new (and not so new) questions about search engines on a daily basis. One of the most common quandaries we come across: “Why can’t I just ask Google a question?”

The answer, of course, is that you can, but you have to articulate your question in such a way that it makes sense to the search engine. In doing so, you can maximize the effectiveness of the algorithms powering the search. Simply put, this means using keywords when you type in your query. If I wanted to know whether or not it was raining in Dubai, for instance, I would type something along the lines of “weather Dubai,” rather than “Is it raining in Dubai?”

Natural Language Search – and Why It Works

The use of organic sentences, as opposed to strategic keywords, is called natural language search interfacing, and it’s by no means a new concept, but it hasn’t yet been adopted by any major search engines for mainstream use (although Bing introduced a natural language search interface for shopping and retail in March, 2011).

What difference does keyword search versus natural language search make? Well, when I input “weather Dubai,” I get the following:

However, if I type in “is it raining in Dubai,” then my top results are these:

The search engine is searching for instances of the word “raining” instead of picking up on the semantic clues that would indicate to a person (or, arguably, a natural language search interface) that I want to know whether or not it’s raining, (and so, would need to see the most current weather report, because that’s where the information would be).

Google Swims Against the Natural Language Search Current

Google has repeatedly shot down the idea of transitioning their interface towards one that is more based in natural language, but over time, they have reinforced a commitment to helping users find the information they’re looking for. In some instances, that information doesn’t manifest in the search algorithm, but is accomplished by processes that bring up widgets when words are structured in a specific fashion.

For instance, type in “Where is Hawaii” in the Google search bar and a Google Maps image pops up at the top of the SERP, showing you the islandof Hawaii. Type in “What is Hawaii” and you are instead shown a short, encyclopedic entry on Hawaiithat strongly resembles a dictionary listing. The search results beneath, however, do not directly address either question. Thus far, this is the closest Google has gotten to natural language search interfacing.

Peter Norvig, Google’s director of research, explained more about why Google has ignored natural language search in a 2007 interview for the MIT Technology Review. “Typing ‘What is the capital ofFrance?’ won’t get you better results than typing 'capital of France.’ But understanding how words go together is important,” he said.

To give some examples, Norvig explained that “New York” is different from “York,” but “Vegas” is the same as “Las Vegas” and “Jersey” could either mean “New Jersey” or something else entirely. “That’s a natural-language aspect that we’re focusing on. Most of what we do is at the word and phrase level; we’re not concentrating on the sentence,” Norvig said.

Natural Language Search Interfacing in the Future - Maybe

Despite Google’s stance, people prefer natural language searching over the use of keywords, and as people begin to interact with search in more diverse ways – 2011 heralded voice-search with Siri – natural language expression becomes more and more the norm of users.

According to a study on search query length, searches between 5 and 8 words increased by 10% between 2009 and 2010, while searches of 3 words or less were down by 2%. This suggests that users need to more thoroughly explain their queries, an inclination that makes sense as more and more services and data become accessible via the Web.

Google’s emphasis has always been on statistics. The leading minds at the ‘plex have insisted that a statistically-centered approach to search is preferable to a grammatically-centered one. Time will tell if they stand firm on this assertion.

As high technology becomes more of a consumer product, mobile devices have flooded the market, enabling fast access to the limitless knowledge bank of the Web. For most of these users, search is just a means to an end, so change to the dominant paradigm of input-keywords/read-drop-list-of-results is difficult to come by. Such a change would have to be usable and learnable by a massive, and massively diverse, population.

But aside from Bing’s venture into natural language search for retail, which will allow you to specify, for instance, that you want “cashmere sweaters under $100,” the competition hasn’t provided any reason for Google to adapt. It is possible that voice interfaces, like Siri, may force a change, but Google has already released its own Google Voice actions, which have enjoyed widespread appreciation by Android users, although it lacks the natural language interfacing that Apple fans have touted and embraced.

Based on the last year of algorithm changes, it’s reasonable to conclude that Google will not put much effort into natural language search developments until one of its competitors successfully implements it. Then, we can probably expect Google to swoop in, develop a $1 billion product, and leave everyone speechless. But for now, it seems as though they’d rather not.

Contact We Do Web Content

When your business is looking for quality, optimized web content for your site, newsletters, and social media marketing look no further than We Do Web Content. Having unique, organic web content is the leading way to increase search engine rankings and boost your Internet marketing. For affordable, quality content exclusive to YOUR website, blog and clients, contact us today! 1-888-521-3880.

Tracking the Success of Your Article Marketing Campaign

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)71654 — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 08:00:00 EST

One of the biggest tasks of testing out a new marketing idea like business article marketing is being able to track how successful it is for your business. This is where your Google Analytics come into play, as you’re going to want to see just how much additional traffic your offsite articles generate and from which article hubs.

First off, make sure that you’re doing all you can to link readers back to your own web content. One strategy We Do Web Content uses is to write business articles about the same topics we’ve already written for a client's website. We keep the offsite article short to attract readers to visit the business’ website for the full-detail article.

Along those lines, you’ll also want to review the article hub guidelines on external linking and business promotion. Some sites encourage link building back to your company website or blog, while others would rather you only advertise your own site on your personal profile. Your content will need to work with each case to satisfy the hub’s requirements and your own needs.

Once you’ve got a pathway for users to get back to your site established, give it a few weeks and review your analytics. Google Analytics make it easy to see which pages get the most hits and what keywords or search terms bring them in. But the most important thing here is which sites refer users to your page – if it’s an article hub where your content is housed, you’ve got some marketing campaign success!

Being a successful business owner means you probably don’t have the time to spend writing and submitting articles or checking to see how it’s boosting your web traffic. If you’re going to use business article marketing as a part of boosting your Internet outreach, let We Do Web Content help!

Enhance Your Article Marketing with We Do Web Content

Running your article marketing campaign on your own can be time-consuming and frustrating. Let We Do Web Content's web content writing services help your business run a successful business article marketing campaign!

When your business is looking for quality, custom content for your website, newsletters, and social media marketing look no further than We Do Web Content. Having unique content for use in your Internet marketing is a great way to increase search engine rankings and boost your client outreach. For affordable, quality content exclusive to YOUR website, blog and newsletters, contact us today! 1-888-521-3880.

Picking Newsworthy Topics to Create SEO Press Releases

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)71858 — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 08:00:00 EST

Even professionally written SEO press releases won’t be effective if the topics they cover are irrelevant to your clients. When running a press release marketing strategy, you not only need to have press release optimization in mind, but also content quality.

Readers aren’t interested in reading a press release about your intern’s new puppy – that’s just not relevant to their needs from your business (unless of course you run a kennel or vet office). Your clients are looking for really newsworthy topics that warrant a professional press release.

Some of the popular items that are great news stories for a press release include:

moving to or opening a new office location;
adding a new partner or associate;
offering new services or products;
special sales, promotions or events your clients can take advantage of;
major industry news that impacts your business’ service to your clients; and
any other relevant news that would somehow affect your clients’ interaction with your business or industry.

While your office may be generating the news, it takes some work to get the information out before your clients’ eyes. Proper press release marketing begins with quality written content and ends with distribution through trusted channels. At We Do Web Content, we handle all the details for you – from start to finish!

Get Custom SEO Press Releases with Our Press Release Distribution Services

When your business has important news to share let SEO press releases help generate the hype! To use press releases as a successful part of your marketing advertising strategy you’ll want to seek the help of We Do Web Content’s press release distribution services. With press release optimization and quality content your business’ news may make front page ranking on search results!

When your business is looking for quality, custom content for your website, newsletters and social media marketing, look no further than We Do Web Content. Having unique content for use in your Internet marketing is a great way to increase search engine rankings and boost your client outreach. For affordable, quality content exclusive to YOUR website, blog and newsletters, contact us today! 1-888-521-3880.

Business Article Marketing in 4 Basic Steps

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)71658 — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 08:00:00 EST

Business article marketing can be a complicated undertaking if you’re not familiar with the 4 steps of a successful campaign.

Step 1 – Determine your content. Not all topics lend themselves to becoming good business articles. Remember that you want to create content that both informs readers and encourages them to take action. The inform part is used to generate trust in your business and the action leads them back to your website to contact you and learn more.

Step 2 – Writing. The obvious step in your article marketing process, writing your content should be done with client conversion in mind. You want to give them a good amount of information, but not enough to resolve their need completely. At the end of your content, you need that call to action hook to entice them to go to your website to find out more.

Step 3 – Choosing your article hubs. This is where a bit of research is necessary. Thanks to Google Panda, several of the top article hubs were hit hard for duplicate content penalties, and it took several months of work to get the legitimate sites deemed safe again for search ranking. You’ll want to make sure your articles appear on only the most relevant, professional article submission sites or risk losing search result rankings.

Step 4 – Publish and link. Once you’ve decided where your latest article should be submitted, you need to make sure the content and format fits within that particular site's guidelines. This is also important when it comes to providing a way for readers to click through to your website. Some hubs allow for direct links to your site in your content, while others require that you only mention your own site in your profile. Pay attention to these rules –linking back to your site is critical for the marketing process!

By following these 4 steps, you should be generating quality articles that rank well on the search results by being housed on reputable article submission sites. As long as you’ve followed the advice on enticing readers back to your website, you should see an increase in your own web traffic and your client contacts!

Enhance Your Article Marketing with We Do Web Content

Running your article marketing campaign on your own can be time-consuming and frustrating. Let We Do Web Content's web content writing services help your business run a successful business article marketing campaign!

When your business is looking for quality, custom content for your website, newsletters, and social media marketing look no further than We Do Web Content. Having unique content for use in your Internet marketing is a great way to increase search engine rankings and boost your client outreach. For affordable, quality content exclusive to YOUR website, blog and newsletters, contact us today! 1-888-521-3880.

Promote your eBook in More Places than Just Your Website

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)71836 — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 08:00:00 EST

After we help you create an eBook without writing it, we will then promote your eBook. There are many options from which to choose when deciding how to go about this.

Most business owners will send an e-newsletter to their current client list with the offer, and maybe post a notice on their personal social media profiles. While this may get a few nibbles from current clients, it’s not going to do much for your business marketing strategy.

So what’s the answer?

Online offers! Your business should already be promoting itself on the popular local search directories and business review sites like:

YP.com;
Yelp; and
MerchantCircle.

Most of these profiles not only help your business be found when clients do a search for local goods or services, but they also let you offer special promotions – like your FREE eBook!

Marketing means getting your product in front of new and interested customers. When you create an offer for your free eBook on your local business profiles, the customers not only see your business location and information, they may also be persuaded to request a copy of your eBook. In doing so, you get to capture client contact information and follow up with them!

In many cases, online local search directories allow you to enhance your listing with your free offers, which can not only capture clients’ attention but also attract them to learn more about your business. A free eBook marketing campaign focused on that offer may help increase client contacts!

Get your own eBook Without Writing from We Do Web Content

Tired of the old, stale marketing methods? Want to boost your business’s reputation while capturing client contacts AND increasing web traffic? We Do Web Content can show you how to write an eBook and sell it to increase your business outreach!

When your business is looking for quality, custom content for your free eBook marketing campaign, we’ve got you covered! The content marketing services at We Do Web Content covers everything: your website, newsletters, and social media marketing. Having unique content for use in your Internet marketing is a great way to increase search engine rankings and boost your client outreach. For affordable, quality content exclusive to YOUR business, contact us today! 1-888-521-3880.

Google in 2011: An Analytical Retrospective in Search

alex.wall@gmail.com (Blog Author)71831 — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 08:00:00 EST

As both a business and a crucial Internet utility, Google has expanded in some tremendous ways in 2011. Not all of those changes have been welcomed by the Internet community, however. The much feared Panda updates and the heavily criticized keyword encryption move are still the source of some derision for the search giant.

In most ways we believe that when Google grows, the Internet benefits, as well as the billions of individuals and businesses who traffic it. We’d like to take a moment to look back on some of the biggest changes Google released in 2011 and recap how those changes have affected the Web, the way we search, and how we’re found.

The folks over at SEOmoz put together this wonderful infographic on the Google algorithm changes of 2011, and we’re going to explore some of the most important changes in some more depth.

February 23 – Google Panda’s First Update
The first Google Panda update (which, at the time, was known as the Google Farmer update) was devised to weed out low-quality sites, content farms, sites with too-thin content and too-heavy advertising, and scraper sites.

The first update impacted a staggering 12% of total search results and prompted a massive shift in focus for SEO Web content providers and Webmasters across the board, as organic and custom content finally got the credit it deserved as a crucial traffic driver. (But hey, you don’t have to tell us twice. At We Do Web Content, we have long been the evangelicals of organic Web content!)

March 30 – Launch of the +1 Button
This represented the first time a search engine had attempted to add a social component to search on a broad scale, although the term first started emerging in 2004. The +1 button allowed users to give their recommendation of a site to users who were connected to them, and search engine result pages (SERPs) began to reflect those changes.

Later on, the +1 data was integrated to users’ Google+ profile, and the button is now a hallmark on most pages. Unlike Facebook Likes or Twitter’s Re-Tweets, the +1 button is the only social ranking feature that has the potential to directly impact a final SERP for a user, and it’s also placed increased importance on Google+ circle expansion. The more people to whom you are connected, the more influential your +1 votes really are.

June 28 – Google+ Released by Invitation-Only
SEOmoz didn’t include this landmark on their infographic, but we couldn’t possibly write a 2011 wrap-up without including it. Google changed the game by introducing Google+ for individuals (and shortly after, for businesses), which has thus far been the only social network to viably compete with Facebook and its 800 million-strong user base.

Special Vice President of Social at Google, Vic Gundotra, has said that “Google will be a social layer over everything else, built into all of Google’s Web products,” so don’t expect this update to go the way of Google Buzz, which was phased out in 2011.

October 18 – Secure Socket Layer Encryption of Keyword Referrer Data
In one of the most controversial moves of the year, Google opted to encrypt the search queries of all logged-in users. They did this by re-directing all users who were logged in to https://google.com, the secure socket layer version of the site. This had the effect of removing valuable query data from site analytics, replacing the keywords that users had typed into the search fields that led them to a website. Matt Cutts of Google initially promised that the impact would be small, and that only single-digit losses in data would be sustained, but some sites have reported more than 30% data loss since the change was fully implemented.

Although Google claimed that the privacy of their users was their primary motivation, this valuable data was not extracted from the analytics of AdWords customers, meaning that the data was taken away from all but people who were willing to pay for it. This prompted many to accuse Google of violating its unofficial motto: “Don’t be evil.”

November 3 – Google’s Freshness Update
Google released the Freshness update in an effort to make search results more responsive to the search’s need for fresh content. For example, if you’re looking for a summary of the Civil War, the “freshness” of an article may be of little importance, since it’s an event fixed firmly in the past. But if you’re looking for information on a topic or subject that’s currently evolving, you are probably looking for the latest developments, not last week’s news. As well-respected Googler Amit Singhal explained, “Different searches have different freshness needs.”

The Google Freshness update indexes the freshness of documents by inception, amount of change to the site since its inception, the rate of change, the rate of new links, and user behavior on the site. This was the first major change of its kind from any of the dominant search engines, and it’s no surprise that it was pioneered by Google.

In conclusion, it’s been a big year, but we expect that 2012 will be even bigger, both for Google and for the millions who use search every day. As we evolve towards a Web that balances raw data processing power against intricate social cues, we inch closer to a new age of information access, one that is streamlined, seamless, and even enjoyable. We don’t know if Google will always be the herald of a dawning digital age, but as for 2012, the ‘plex has it in the bag.

(click to enlarge) This image was originally posted at SEOmoz and is re-used with permission.

Are You Ready to Be Found on Google in 2012?

When your business is looking for quality, custom content for your Website, newsletters, and social media marketing look no further than We Do Web Content. Having unique, organic Web content is the leading way to increase search engine rankings and boost your Internet marketing. For affordable, quality content exclusive to YOUR Website, blog and clients, contact us today! 1-888-521-3880.

Winter 2012 Holiday Recipes: Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)71320 — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 08:00:00 EST

On December 12, our sales manager Alex Valencia celebrated his birthday. As the birthday boy, he was given the honor of choosing that week’s Treat Tuesday. At his request, we spent that afternoon torching sugar! This is a slightly tweaked recipe from Emeril Lagasse and really stands out with the use of a whole vanilla bean.

Vanilla Bean Crème Brulee

2 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
7 egg yolks
1 whole vanilla bean, split and scraped
½ cup of white sugar
½ tsp. vanilla powder (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a large sauce pan combine cream, milk and all parts of vanilla bean and simmer until steaming but not boiling. Stir frequently to prevent from burning. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla powder, and set aside.

Once cream mixture is off the heat, beat the egg yolks and sugar together until pale yellow in color. Using a fine mesh metal strainer, slowly pour a small amount of the hot cream mixture into the egg yolks, stirring frequently to prevent them from cooking. Continue adding small amounts of cream until the yolks are lukewarm and you can add the rest of the mix.

Stir well to combine and pour into 6 baking cups or ramekins. Places the ramekins in a 13x9 baking pan and pour enough hot water into the pan to come halfway up the ramekins. Place in the oven and bake for 40-45 minutes until the tops are golden.

Remove from oven and allow to cool until ramekins are safe to handle. Remove ramekins from water and cool completely before placing in refrigerator for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.

When serving, sprinkle each ramekin with 1-2 tablespoons of sugar, evenly distributing it across the surface. Using a kitchen torch, broil the sugar until it bubbles and turns amber; it will harden as it cools. If you do not have a torch, 2-4 minutes under your oven broiler will also caramelize the top (just be careful to watch that it doesn’t burn).

Notes on Vanillas

If you’re looking for a great deal on real, amazing vanilla beans, the one used in this recipe was purchased on Amazon from JR Mushrooms & Specialties. At less than $1 per bean these were an amazing deal and the quality was superb! Lisa purchased a bag almost 2 years ago and they are still moist!

The vanilla powder can be a tough find. It’s very useful for giving a little extra vanilla kick to recipes you don’t want to add extra liquid extract to. Can also be used as a garnish dusting on finished items. You can find it from Nielsen-Massey Vanillas but be warned – it cakes very quickly in humid climates (likeSouth Florida…).

WDWC Learns the Importance of Blog Feedback

klavan824@hotmail.com (Blog Author)71641 — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 08:00:00 EST

December 14, 2011 – A few weeks back as the holiday gifting season began to ramp up, we released our Top 5 Holiday Gifts for Lawyers 2011 Edition blog after the success of previous years. This year was no exception, and our Google Analytics prove it!

Last year’s blog ranked as our 14th most popular page this month, and the 2011 edition is close behind with rank #16. Not only was this a huge jump for a piece of content that’s only been live for 2 1/2 weeks, but it also garnered response from a company we mentioned AND another company with a similar product we featured looking for a little blog love (which we are happy to provide!)

First up, we received a nice Facebook message from the head of the Approach the Bench Chess Set, thanking us for the mention in our gift guide. We replied back and told them we were glad to showcase off a great small business like theirs and wished them luck in the future.

Their promptness in monitoring their analytics showed them that our page was referring page hits to theirs – and because they took the initiative to investigate who we are and then thank us, they get another mention today! Check out their chess set for lawyers – it’s truly beautiful!

Our second interaction came in the form of a contact request through our website. This was from a company called Professional Games Inc. that publishes LAWSUIT! The Board Game. They asked that if we do another holiday gift guide, if we wouldn’t mind mentioning their game as a gift idea. We checked out their website and it’s totally worth a mention!

Not only is their website well themed, but we also have to give them props for creating a great social interaction environment. They’ve got their Facebook page button, a blog, and their contact page all conveniently nested in game-related graphics.

We also commend them on taking the initiative to give us a shout to ask for a link to their product – there’s no shame in asking like-minded websites and blogs to share your content (provided you share back!).

The game itself seems to be an awesome gift for lawyers with families of school-age children. It’s appropriate for ages 8+ and adults, too, and looks like it could be a great way to teach your kids about your profession, or have a good laugh with your law school buddies.

The takeaway from all this blog feedback love is that when your own blog gets any sort of mention, comments, or discussion – jump on it! Don’t leave commentary hanging, even if they just say “great post” – give them a short “thanks for reading” to let them know that you value user feedback and interaction.

Even responses to criticism or bad press are a necessary task that any good website needs to follow through on. While you don’t want to be nasty in your reply, you do want to take this opportunity to defend yourself or remedy a problem. Do be cautious in how far the discussion goes – if it gets too personal or heated you may want to take it to a more private channel such as email.

We Do Web Content wishes you and your website, blog, and social media pages a comment-filled holiday season!

Enhance Your Content’s Marketing Outreach with We Do Web Content!

When your business is looking for quality, custom content for your website, newsletters, and social media marketing look no further than We Do Web Content. Having unique content on your website is a great way to increase search engine rankings and boost your Internet marketing. For affordable, quality content exclusive to YOUR website, blog and clients, contact us today! 1-888-521-3880.

The SEO Impact of NewTwitter

alex.wall@gmail.com (Blog Author)71286 — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 08:00:00 EST

Twitter has a new face, and the webosphere has been abuzz with the news since it broke last week.

The new Twitter claims to be new-user-friendly by providing a tighter, more controlled, and more intuitive interface. Following close on the heels of Google+, Twitter has also implemented the ability for companies to launch customized brand pages, complete with embedded multimedia.

The #LetsFly redesign (Twitter’s codename for the project) gives companies a better opportunity for effective branding, making a business’s Twitter page a true extension of discourse and engagement. These sleek new design changes make Twitter.com a more attractive Web destination, as many charged that previous Web interfaces for Twitter were enough of an impediment that third party dashboards have become a must for most companies with an eye on social engagement.

When asked how Twitter would stand out in the social networking field, Twitter CEO Dick Costolo responded, “We will offer simplicity in a world of complexity.” If Costolo and Twitter make good on this promise and streamline the navigation through its jargon-filled, hash-tagged conversations, Twitter houses exponentially more traffic potential than previously suggested.

Structural Changes and What They Mean for Users

Users have responded positively to the featured video component that #NewTwitter introduces, which may help grow the already staggering amount of video footage that has been uploaded to the Web in recent years.

YouTube alone claims that more than 48 hours of video are uploaded every minute, which means an incredible 8 years worth of footage is uploaded to YouTube each day and that more than 500 tweets per minute include a YouTube link.

Twitter has poised itself to take advantage of this wealth of YouTube virality by giving it a natural home in the Twitter architecture. With changes geared at making conversations easer to follow, we expect to see a marginally increased social ROI and content traffic for companies that aggressively take advantage of the available branded resources Twitter offers.

The rollout of embeddable tweets means that a user can, in one click, place a tweet on his or her website, porting to any destination on the Web. With this all-important functionality, readers can click on links and #hashtags as well as follow, retweet, favorite, and reply directly from the embedded tweet.

So far, the changes seem to be well received. A recent poll of Mashable readers found that 41% of respondents “love” the new changes, citing ease of use and sleek design as key opinion drivers.

Twitter SEO Tactics You Can Still Count On

Even though this seems like a cosmic shift in the Twitterverse, some basic laws still prevail for SEOs keen to glean as much traction as possible from the brevity of tweets.

Write tweets that are keyword-rich. Use buzz words, and always try to start your tweet with the primary keyword you are targeting;
Remember the importance of a tweet’s lead-in. The first 42 characters of a tweet are what’s indexed in Google’s title tag, so make them count.
Spread the link love. Take advantage of #NewTwitter’s media embedding options. Remember to use a link shortener to control your character usage and to track the performance of your links. Bit.ly and TinyURL are two of many that provide this effective, free service.
Optimize your Twitter bio. You get an extra 20 characters in your bio, so try to use all 160 to convey the focus of your brand.

Do you have any other tips? Please feel free to leave them in the comments section below.

So, Just How Important is Brand Engagement on Twitter?

According to Entrepreneur.com, only 53.6% of the 10,000 largest websites have at least one social plug-in or link to one of the 4 major social platforms – Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn. It’s not indicated how the firm that conducted the study, BrightEdge Technologies, defined “largest.” A Facebook display icon or plug-in is present on approximately 50.3% of those largest sites, with Twitter following behind in second place at a respectable 42.5%.

The same study found that websites that display a Twitter share button are linked to nearly 7x more often than sites that do not have Tweet buttons embedded. Websites that featured a Twitter share button were mentioned 27 times on average in user tweets, while those that do not have feature buttons are mentioned only 4 times on average in user tweets.

As with any strategy, it’s important to keep context in mind. Twitter is an important part of an inbound marketing strategy, but it’s not the only channel you should be paying attention to – nor is it, according to the numbers, the most important. The SEOMoz team ran an analysis on the impact of actionable social media features – likes, tweets, shares, and so on. The correlation of page rankings matched up the closest with total Facebook shares, followed by the sum of Facebook shares, comments, and likes. Twitter lingered in the bottom half of the data set, promising only a .15 or slightly better correlation between top ranking pages and a high volume of tweets to a specific URL.

Image courtesy of SEOMoz

However, this data was aggregated from #OldTwitter, and time will tell whether the Twitter changes have been substantial enough to keep the social media giants in a neck and neck race, constantly attempting to outgun and outperform competitors. And if #NewTwitter turns out to be less than impressive in the long, run, well, nothing says it better than this freshly embedded tweet:

Will Your Company Generate Buzz on the New Twitter?

When your business is looking for quality, custom content for your website, newsletters, and social media marketing look no further than We Do Web Content. Having unique, organic web content is the leading way to increase search engine rankings and boost your Internet marketing. For affordable, quality content exclusive to YOUR website, blog and clients, contact us today! 1-888-521-3880.

Winter 2012 Holiday Recipes: Chewy Raspberry Almond Bars

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)71005 — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 08:00:00 EST

This recipe comes from Betty Crocker and sounded too good to pass up. Lisa baked these according to their directions and they came out fantastic! The success of this Treat Tuesday offering led her to share some tips at the end of this blog for how to adapt this recipe to other flavor combinations.

Yesterday was our sales manager, Alex Valencia’s birthday and that means next week’s Treat Tuesday feature will be his birthday treat of choice! What will he pick? You’ll have to come back next week to find out!

Chewy Raspberry Almond Bars

1 1/2 c. quick-cook oatmeal
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 c. packed light brown sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 c. cold butter
1 beaten egg
3/4 c. seedless red raspberry jam
1 c. (6 oz) fresh raspberries
1/2 c. sliced almonds

Preheat oven to 375°F and spray an 8- or 9-inch square baking pan with non-stick or baking spray.

In a large bowl, combine oatmeal, flour, brown sugar and salt until mixed. Cut in the cold butter with a pastry cutter, or pulse in a food processor until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Set aside 1 cup of the mixture for topping, mix the beaten egg into the remainder until moistened.

Press the mixture firmly into the bottom of the pan and spread the jam evenly over the top. Sprinkle the fresh raspberries on top of the jam, gently crumbling if need be. Cover with the reserved cup of oatmeal topping and sliced almonds.

Bake for 30-45 minutes or until top is golden brown. Cool completely before slicing into squares. Makes about 16 bars.

Ideas to Mix Things Up

Try experimenting with some other flavors besides raspberry and almond. Some of Lisa’s suggestions for substituting include:

orange marmalade with fresh cranberries and walnuts;
peach preserves with pecans; or
strawberry or grape jelly and chopped peanuts (PB&J!).

Really, any combination of fruit and nuts will work here as long as you like those flavor pairings! Just be careful if using dried fruits – they can sometimes harden. Also, don’t be afraid to toss in some mini chocolate chips to the topping or drizzle some chocolate after baking for an extra sweet surprise!

The Internet is Atwitter with New Twitter News and Features

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)70948 — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 08:00:00 EST

December 12, 2011 – It seems all the news has been Facebook and Google+ lately, which leaves our tweeting crowd feeling lonely - until now!

On December 8, Twitter rolled out a preview of their new site design, appropriately enough during an event held at their new art-deco future headquarters in San Francisco. The new design gears to allow enhancements to profile pages to rival those of Facebook and Google+.

They're also focusing on mobile, which is becoming more and more popular as smartphones become the norm for cellular communications and tablet devices are showing up in the hands of many on-the-go media consumers. Twitter knows mobile is the way, and they've developed a new advertisement on their mobile platform, as well as moving around promoted trends and accounts to the left side of your Twitter stream.

The big news for companies from the tweet-verse is that 21 major brands will be upgrading to special branded pages. Bing, Nike, Dell, American Express, Coke, McDonalds, and many other major names will be getting new features to play with. An enriched media experience, imbedded video for TV ads, and continuous promoted tweets at the tops of their pages are just a sample of the perks of being a big name in the Twitter game.

Twitter's crew said they'll be adding more companies throughout 2012 as they watch the success of the branded pages. They're looking to offer it to a wider audience of brands - and we hope eventually to small business owners!

With the site redesign, one of the big features we're excited for at We Do Web Content is the ability to embed a tweet on another website. This creates a solid way to promote your twitter stream, especially when your embedded tweet is a highly relevant link to some of your content. It promotes backlinks to your content and new Twitter followers all in one "Embed this tweet" step!

Probably the best news of all about the new embed feature is that it allows users to interact with your Twitter stream without leaving your page. This increases time spent on your business' website while still encouraging Twitter interaction. The new feature lets users follow, comment, retweet or favorite your featured tweet all in one area on your website!

With all of Twitter's new goodies rolling out for the holiday season, it can be tough keeping on top of it all. At We Do Web Content we help businesses capitalize on the power of social media marketing without having to learn the ropes themselves! We can create a custom Twitter campaign for your business to promote your website content and offers in the most eye-catching ways possible.

When your business is looking for quality, custom content for your website, newsletters, and social media marketing look no further than We Do Web Content. Having unique content on your website is a great way to increase search engine rankings and boost your Internet marketing. For affordable, quality content exclusive to YOUR website, blog and clients, contact us today! 1-888-521-3880.

Newsletter Tips: Planning a Year of Monthly Newsletter Content

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)70517 — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 08:00:00 EST

While you don’t necessarily want to write all your articles for your newsletters at once, you can plan out a general idea of what kind of content to feature each month. Remember that since you’re sending monthly, you can take advantage of the seasons to produce relevant, interesting content for your clients!

Nearly every business is impacted by the seasons in some way, and we’re not just talking winter, spring, summer and fall. There are other seasons to be aware of like:

the holiday shopping season;
hurricane season;
tourist season; and
hunting season.

Your local area probably has a variety of special times during the year that can lend themselves to generating great newsletter content ideas. Don’t let these content opportunities slip away!

One of our favorite examples of planning out a year in newsletter content is to take a look at the business of a personal injury attorney. Law firms with offices in the Midwest have a great way to look at seasonal content based on recreational activities in their area.

You can structure your newsletter topics around the dangers of ATV accidents during the summer and fall months, while focusing on tips for winter weather safety during the chillier months.

No matter where you’re located or what your business is, We Do Web Content can develop a newsletter marketing strategy that’s right for you! It’s important to stay connected to your clients, and a monthly electronic newsletter full of informative, relevant content is one of the best ways to do so!

Newsletter Content Service with We Do Web Content

When your business is looking for quality, custom content for your website, newsletters, and social media marketing look no further than We Do Web Content. Having unique content for use in your Internet marketing is a great way to increase search engine rankings and boost your client outreach. For affordable, quality content exclusive to YOUR website, blog and newsletters, contact us today! 1-888-521-3880.

Google Banking on Content Consumption, has Eye on Display Advertising

alex.wall@gmail.com (Blog Author)70655 — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 08:00:00 EST

The Searchcore blog series doesn’t normally cover current events items, but when we come across a news piece that addresses deep rumblings in the Web, we make an exception in the interests of our readers, and such a news piece has produced itself.

This week, Google has plenty of reason to celebrate after the United States Department of Justice cleared the $400 million acquisition of Admeld, a New York-based display advertising company that helps publishers maximize the strength of their advertising space.

So, what exactly does this company do? I’ll let Admeld explain it themselves in this admittedly adorable video they put together detailing some of their methods and processes.

How Will Admeld Change Google’s Existing Services?

If you use an existing Google service to manage your online ad campaigns, don’t expect any big changes in your advertisement management… yet. Google intends to add Admeld to its “stack” of ad technology properties and acquisitions that it uses to enhance their display advertising network and the DoubleClick ad exchange. Admeld, however, will also work with other advertising exchanges operated by competitors Microsoft and Yahoo.

In an AdAge interview with Google’s Vice President of Display Advertising, Neal Mohan, Mohan described the acquisition as a move that would further assist digital media growth, enabling publishers to maximize their advertising opportunities and revenue.

In a blog post announcing the DOJ’s approval of the acquisition, Google summed up its goals in the Admeld acquisition:

To give publishers more control over their advertisement space;
To offer more customizable, flexible options to manage and sell that space;
To provide publishers with superior analytics and metrics (“insights”) on their ad performance; and
To simplify and integrate ad network management across multiple platforms and devices.

Although Admeld will operate separately from DoubleClick, the post promised that, “over time, there are opportunities to bring the best of both businesses together in a variety of ways and to develop entirely new solutions.”

This move represents yet another step Google has taken towards positioning itself at the helm of digital content consumption. Google already overpowers online advertising competitors, managing about 44.1% of global online ad space, up from 41.9% in 2009. Despite that, Google commands only 9.3% of online display spending, trailing Facebook (16%) and Yahoo (13%).

As more content becomes available online and as users consume more content, the bigger the opportunities for online advertisers become, and the spoils will go to those who take advantage of the most effective tools – tools which, through this acquisition and a slew of others, are now predominantly properties of Google.

What you can conclude from this move is that Google is investing in and banking on the increased consumption of digital content. The $400 million bill the search giant will be footing in exchange for the Admeld acquisition will be a drop in the bucket compared to the increased revenue to be had as the result of future growth of online content consumption, affirming the close relationship between search engine and content marketing.

Ready to Step Up YOUR Efforts in the Online Marketing Game?

When your business is looking for quality, optimized web content for your site, newsletters, and social media marketing look no further than We Do Web Content. Having unique, organic web content is the leading way to increase search engine rankings and boost your Internet marketing. For affordable, quality content exclusive to YOUR website, blog and clients, contact us today! 1-888-521-3880.

Winter 2012 Holiday Recipes: Chocolate-Sesame Snowballs

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)70486 — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 08:00:00 EST

We thought the sesame seeds on the outside of these cookies made them look like snowballs, but depending on how well they’re coated you may wind up with the dreaded muddy snowballs! No matter how they turn out looking, the taste is amazing! Tahini paste and semi-sweet chocolate give them a slightly salty-sweet flavor and they stay soft and moist for days when kept in a sealed container.

Chocolate-Sesame Snowballs

8 oz. semi-sweet baking chocolate squares
2 Tbsp. butter
3 Tbsp. tahini paste
1 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs
3/4 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 c. sesame seeds

Melt chocolate and butter until smooth, remove from heat and stir in tahini, set aside.

Mix flour, salt and baking powder in small bowl. In large bowl beat eggs until frothy. Add brown sugar and vanilla, beat until well combined and light in color.

Beat in chocolate mixture until incorporated, then add flour mixture slowly, mixing just until combined.

Cover dough and freeze about 2-3 hours, sometimes overnight, until firm enough to roll. (time will depend on how loose the tahini paste is)

Preheat oven to 350. Roll dough into 1” balls and coat in sesame seeds.

Place 2 inches apart on cookie sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes or until puffed and set on bottom. Let cool on pan for 5 minutes and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Store in an airtight container for maximum freshness. Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

Note: Tahini paste is made of ground sesame seeds, similar to peanut butter, and is quite salty. It can typically be found in the international aisle of most major grocery stores. If you’re having trouble finding it, it’s available through Amazon.com and many other gourmet online retailers.

Newsletter Tips: Starting a Newsletter That Won't Bore Your Clients

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)70516 — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 08:00:00 EST

As you’re developing your new publication you’ll be thinking about catchy newsletter names and newsletter titles, but probably not be too concerned with newsletter topics. The content of your newsletter is the most important feature because it’s the exact stuff that keeps clients reading and wanting more!

The articles for newsletters need to fit the image you want to promote for your business. If you want to stay professional and focused on your industry and services, you’ll want to include content about the latest industry news, important business-related office news, and very little personal content.

This strategy works best if your clients are mostly other professionals and more business-minded. If your target clients are more of the general public that aren’t so much concerned with the inner workings of your business, you’ll want to lighten the content up a bit.

For more light-hearted newsletter topics, look to interesting popular news stories related to your industry and give a bit of your own opinion on them. Just be careful not to get TOO opinionated or risk alienating clients! Community articles for newsletters are also great because it shows your connection to the local area.

Don’t forget that your own office can generate great content! Personal stories like your secretary’s new baby, your company-sponsored youth sports team winning a game, or pictures from your holiday party are all great light types of content that can break up more serious articles.

The newsletter tips we share with clients focus on finding that balance between professional and personal content that both informs and intrigues clients. No one wants to read a newsletter that doesn’t keep their interest, and your content needs to follow the interests of your clients. We Do Web Content can help you find the right mix of content to keep you connected to your clients with a monthly newsletter!

Newsletter Content Service with We Do Web Content

When your business is looking for quality, custom content for your website, newsletters, and social media marketing look no further than We Do Web Content. Having unique content for use in your Internet marketing is a great way to increase search engine rankings and boost your client outreach. For affordable, quality content exclusive to YOUR website, blog and newsletters, contact us today! 1-888-521-3880.

Debunking the Top 3 Myths of Social Media Marketing

alex.wall@gmail.com (Blog Author)70217 — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 08:00:00 EST

Social media marketing is booming, but that’s not necessarily a good thing for small businesses trying to break into the field and grow their business. One of the pitfalls of social media’s newfound popularity is that the webosphere has become inundated with self-appointed experts, many of whom have very little understanding of business marketing in a broader sense. As a result, we’re sometimes left with conflicting directives on how to best pursue social media marketing, and as many as 68% of companies don’t know how or if social media is paying off.

There’s also no lack of misunderstanding about what the goals of social media marketing should be, how those goals can be measured, and how you should be using social media for your business. We’ve rounded up the top 3 social media myths in an attempt to debunk these revenue-cramping fallacies so that you can not only use social media effectively, but have a comprehensive understanding as to why you’re doing what you're doing.

Myth #1: Social media outreach is all about joining the conversation.

It’s not. It’s time to draw the line between social media and social media marketing. When you check Facebook to communicate with your friends and family, or vent about your blind date frustrations on Twitter, or post links to articles you enjoy on Google+, you’re using social media. However, when you channel energy and resources through those same mediums for business purposes, we’re talking about social media marketing, and your goal should be either to raise the visibility of your company, generate leads, or make sales.

Does being a part of the conversation enable this? In part, yes. Social media platforms enable business-to-consumer interactivity, which can have a great impact on brand loyalty, a variable that shouldn’t be understated. But if you get lost in the “fun” of social media and fail to link your actions back to a measurable goal, you’re going to lose opportunities to increase your revenue.

When you create social media profiles for your brand or business, remember to use best SEO practices to optimize them. Social might be popular, but search results are the No. 1 generator of Web traffic, and without those SEO techniques, the odds of being found are significantly diminished.

Myth #2: Social media ROI cannot be measured.

It absolutely can! We’re not talking about the number of likes, followers, fans, RTs, or @replies you get. Before we get into the real business of social media marketing, it’s important to note that these values rarely matter in a quantitative sense.

Too often, companies are looking to “go viral” and are measuring their social media efficacy by the number of fans they have or the number of responses they receive to social media communiqués. While these are a decent enough measurement of who’s listening, it doesn’t track the impact of what those users are listening to. Last month, social media blogger Kristi Hines posted a great blog about how to measure goal conversion with Google Analytics, which is what we use here at We Do Web Content.

There are other tools out there that track social media analytics for you, but using Google Analytics allows you to bring it together with your Web traffic metrics so that you can see the overall impact social media marketing has inside the context of your overall marketing strategies. Remember: social media is one part of your marketing strategy, so you should ensure that you have a clear image of what role it plays in your broader campaign objectives.

If you’re having trouble establishing goals, here are some questions to get you started:

Who’s handling your social media – and to what end?
Is it being used for customer service or for sales?
Is it being used to direct consumers or to glean information from them?

The potential uses of social media are expansive, and in this post at SearchEngineLand, Ciaran Norris lists 5 wildly creative uses of social marketing. Whatever your intentions are, one thing is certain – if you don’t have established goals, you won’t be able to measure them.

Myth #3: Social media is everything – if you can “go viral” then you’ll have a hit and won’t need to worry about a website or anything else.

Not quite (by that, we mean, not at all). Social media can augment a traditional website, but one of the most viral uses of social networks is to share content with other users.

A social media profile is only as powerful as the content behind it. If you’re constantly re-sharing other websites’ content or retweeting other people’s links, what reason do users have to treat you as an authority? None. If you don’t provide original, worthwhile, and organic Web content, your social media profile will be nothing more than a glorified RSS aggregator.

Despite the boom in social media marketing, content marketing is still king, and search results remain the No. 1 traffic driving factor in Internet marketing. Social media profiles are a conduit through which you should be sharing and highlighting your powerful content. Search and social are an exponentially powerful combination, and to ignore one for the sake of the other is a fatal error, no matter what way you dice it.

The takeaway for today:

establish goals and track them in your analytics
optimize your profiles with best SEO practices; and
distribute your organic Web content via your social networking profiles.

Contact We Do Web Content

When your business is looking for quality, custom content for your website, newsletters, and social media marketing look no further than We Do Web Content. Having unique, organic web content is the leading way to increase search engine rankings and boost your Internet marketing. For affordable, quality content exclusive to YOUR website, blog and clients, contact us today! 1-888-521-3880.

Watch for Duplicate Content when Optimizing Web Content for Google Panda

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)69766 — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 08:00:00 EST

Blog Series: Revisiting Your Google Panda Web Content Optimization

November 26, 2011 – Today’s topic on Web optimization for Google Panda tackles a long-standing problem in content marketing: duplicate content.

This week in our Searchcore blog we discussed how Google looks at duplicate and syndicated content. Today we're sharing some tips on how to check if you’re suffering from this issue and our suggested fixes.

First, as you begin Web content optimization you need to review your website entries for duplicate content. Have you ever tried to post an article or blog entry, only to sit there for what seems like an eternity as the progress bar chugs along? You may mash the “submit” button a few times in frustration until it finally uploads successfully.

When you do this, there’s a chance that you could be posting multiple instances of a content entry. This creates unintended duplicate content, which Google Panda may notice and in turn penalize your website. As you review your website for Web optimization and Panda appeasement, check that there are no duplicate entries in your content management system and delete any that you find.

The other thing you need to think about is where your content is syndicated. Syndicated content IS allowed in Web content optimization for Google Panda. At the basic level, your content is housed on your own website or blog, which is where all of your linking should take place so you’re driving traffic to your home base.

When you also submit your content to reputable websites such as PR Newswire, or About.com you should make sure that you include some sort of disclaimer attributing the content to your own site. Some article submission sites don’t allow this, but they may have already been cleared by Google or have another method of attribution in their process.

At We Do Web Content we take care when posting our quality, custom content to our clients’ sites and check that no duplication is taking place. Part of our article marketing services involves vetting out the most reputable, high-ranking article submission sites so our clients’ content is circulated in the safest methods possible.

We hope you’ve learned a bit more about optimizing Web content to cooperate with the new rules of Google Panda. Remember that the team at We Do Web Content is always here to help your business stay on top of the search engine scene, not only with quality, relevant content but also with Internet marketing strategies and social media outreach!

Get Your Web Content Optimized for the Panda!

When your business is looking for quality, custom content for your website, newsletters, and social media marketing look no further than We Do Web Content. Having unique content on your website is a great way to increase search engine rankings and boost your Internet marketing. For affordable, quality content exclusive to YOUR website, blog and clients, contact us today! 1-888-521-3880.

Top 5 Holiday Gifts for Lawyers 2011 Edition

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)69565 — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 08:00:00 EST

November 25, 2011 – Last year’s Top 5 Holiday Gifts for Lawyers guide showcased some great stocking stuffers, and We Do Web Content decided to update it for 2011!

Our top 5 2011 holiday picks

Great Gift #1 – iTunes Gift Cards. Last year’s #1 gift was the iPad, and at this point a good deal of the population owns some sort of iDevice – all of which can benefit from a little iTunes cash. The great thing about iTunes gift cards is that they’re available almost everywhere, from grocery stores to Walmart. You can easily grab one at the checkout, and they come in all the major denominations.

When you give an iTunes gift card the balance can be applied to an iTunes Store account, giving the special lawyer on your list the ability to buy more apps, music, TV shows, movies, ringtones, and publications. Prices can range from $0.99 for a single song or small app, all the way to hundreds for some of the meatier applications, allowing you to come in at budget while giving the recipient a bit of leeway.

Great Gift #2 – Home Services. Many of the We Do Web Content clients are attorneys and law firms, and we’ve come to realize that they’re some of the busiest people we know! Giving a service session can free up some time otherwise spent doing housework and let your lawyer enjoy some R&R.

There are many professional companies in your local area that specialize in house cleaning, meal preparation, pet care, landscaping, and much more. The link above goes to ServiceMagic, a great referral service that screens its professionals before recommending them to users. It’s all free, so you can send a request for whatever service you’re seeking and set up a surprise catered dinner, or a full house cleaning!

Great Gift #3 – The Amazon Kindle Fire. No holiday gift guide would be complete without a gadget! The Kindle is quite relevant to the legal profession, especially if you’ve ever seen the library at some law firms; those books and collections can be immense. While not all publications are available in digital format, the Kindle Fire does more than just let you read on the go – it lets you surf the Web, download movies, use apps, and play games.

Sure, the Kindle Fire is pricier than the regular version, but some gadget gurus are hinting that it may eventually rival the iPad in terms of features and popularity.

Great Gift #4 – Approach the Bench Chess Set. At $595, this elegant chess set isn’t the thriftiest option on our holiday gift list, but if you’ve got room to splurge this would be a great addition to your lawyer’s office (and as you probably know, they spend a LOT of time in there!). These are custom-made chess boards and pieces crafted from high-quality materials like cold cast bronze and travertine tile.

Customize your order with the colors of your lawyer’s alma mater, include a personalized bronze plaque, and many more features. The boards are also unique in that they are “stepped” to resemble a jury box and bench, just like a real courtroom!

Great Gift #5 – The Billable Hour Watch. Looking for a tongue-in-cheek gift to wish your favorite attorney a happy holiday? While some lawyers work on contingency fees, most of us are familiar with the concept of the “billable hour.” If your attorney operates on the billable hour structure – family law, criminal defense, estate planning, etc. – give them a stylish way to track their time!

The Billable Hour Company actually has quite a few unique lawyer gifts that are both functional and relevant. They also have nice desk clocks in the same style, as well as several other product lines all related to the legal profession.

While these were our personal picks, we also found a great comprehensive website, For Counsel, that has a huge selection of lawyer-related gifts for any occasion.

We hope this gift guide will help you show your appreciation to the attorney in your life! Happy Holidays from We Do Web Content!

Give the Gift of Great Web Content!

Want to help your lawyer get ahead in the marketplace? Give the gift of custom content for his or her website, newsletters, or social media marketing courtesy of We Do Web Content. Having unique content on a website is a great way to increase search engine rankings and boost your Internet marketing. For affordable, quality content packages contact us today! 1-888-521-3880.

Thanksgiving 2012 Holiday Recipes: Twice Baked Potato Skins

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)69435 — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 08:00:00 EST

Holiday Recipes - November 24: Twice-Baked Potato Skins

It's not uncommon to find yourself overloaded with baking potatoes around this time of year. Many stores sell big bulk bags ranging from 5 pounds to upwards of 20 pounds in size - that's a lot of spuds!

No more predictable potatoes!

While there's always the traditional mashed potato, you can also create these twice-baked potato skins to either serve as part of a meal, or as appetizers. They can be customized for a variety of tastes, and you can always make them healthier by buying low- or non-fat dairy additives.

Prepare Your Potatoes

Prepping the potatoes is simple. Scrub them clean, prick them a few times with a fork to let the steam out, and sprinkle on a little salt. Bake them in the oven at 400° for about 45 minutes. To test if they're done, pierce the biggest of the batch with a fork - if it slides in and out easily, it's ready!

Remove the potatoes and allow them to cool until easily handled. Slice each one lengthwise so you have two halves. Using a spoon (grapefruit spoons work very well), scoop out the middle of each half, leaving about ¼" of the flesh around the edges. Place the scooped flesh into a bowl and set aside.

Mixing Up the Middles

Here's where you get to be creative - you're essentially making jazzed-up mashed potatoes at this stage and you can flavor them in several ways. If you want to keep things simple, all you need to do is add a little butter, milk, salt, and pepper and mix until creamy. If you want to just add some simple flavor, garlic and onion powder, or even an all-purpose seasoning will do.

Now to get really creative, start adding in some real "stuff" like:

bacon bits;
cheese;
herbs and sour cream;
salsa; or
chili.

One tasty shortcut you can do is add a few spoonfuls of a flavored cream cheese or cheese spread (whipped works best). Remember if the mixture gets too thick you can thin it out with milk.

Putting the "Twice" in Twice Baked

While you're perfecting your middle mix, pop the scooped skins under the broiler at 450° for about 4-5 minutes (keep an eye on them so they don't burn!). After getting your potato middle mixture just right it's time to stuff. If you want to go ultra-cheese, place a bit of shredded cheese in the potato half first, then fill the rest with your middle mix. You can just put the mix straight into the skin, too, it's all about how cheesy you want to get!

You can leave them plain as-is (especially if you already mixed cheese into the middle mix) or you can top with more shredded cheese. Stick the filled skins back under the broiler for another 3-4 minutes or until the cheese is golden brown.

These can be served just as is, or try mixing in some chives, garlic powder, and pepper with sour cream to top your skins. If you used smaller potatoes, these are perfect little appetizers, and if you had big bakers they're great as a side dish!

Focus on Relevance When Optimizing Web Content for Google Panda

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)69440 — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 08:00:00 EST

Blog Series: Revisiting Your Google Panda Web Content Optimization

November 24, 2011 - The core of Google Panda's assessment of a website is the metrics - how users are interacting with the site. While the Panda algorithm and its counterpart, Googlebot, aren't humans, they know that they're trying to appeal to humans, and therefore put a lot of stock into how users interact with your page.

There are 5 main metrics that Google Panda measures to determine how user-friendly and engaging a website is:

amount of time spent on the site;
bounce rate;
number of pages per visit;
page response times; and
conversion rates.

While you don't need to know the individual meanings of each one of these metrics, what you do need to know is that they're all controlled by one key factor: content quality.

When optimizing web content on your existing site you need to make sure that your older pieces are still relevant to today's user. An article written about 2008 traffic statistics isn't going to be very relevant to a current user, and it definitely won't be helping you rank higher on the search results.

During the Web optimization process you need to go back in and give your existing content a quality check, both for relevance and time sensitivity. While there are plenty of topics that are "evergreen" and always relevant to your business, there are many cases where something that was hot news 3 years ago is just gathering dust on your virtual article library.

When We Do Web Content takes on a Web optimization project to review existing content for Google Panda standards, we look at the article from the ground up. The first focus is the topic, and if it's not relevant today it won't be increasing your user-friendliness, which can lead to a drop in those critical metrics.

In many cases, old articles ARE salvageable, sometimes by adding some fresh keywords, or even just updating outdated statistics. Optimizing Web content doesn't have to be a huge chore when you know what articles are worth keeping and which need to be dropped from your website.

Special Bonus: Happy Holidays - Celebrate With Holiday Recipes

It's Thanksgiving Day and you're most likely consuming mountains of mashed potatoes this afternoon/evening. But what do you do when you have leftover spuds, or are just sick of leftovers? Today's Twice Baked Potato Skin recipe gives you an opportunity to make appetizers or a side dish that will put new life into plain old baking potatoes!

Get Your Web Content Optimized for the Panda!

This page sure is relevant to my interests!

Duplicated vs. Syndicated Web Content After Google Panda

alex.wall@gmail.com (Blog Author)69560 — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 08:00:00 EST

The Internet never sleeps, and like anything over-active and dynamic, the state of the Web is always changing. As such, those of us who work in Internet-related fields are subject to constant changes in our environment.

While this has the benefit of making SEOs and Web content managers some of the most agile around, the constant state of flux can lend itself to confusion. That brings us to today's topic, which is how duplicate content and syndicated content are treated in a post-Panda environment.

Understanding Duplicate and Syndicate Content

First thing's first: duplicate content is defined as the whole or partial replica of an original article, blog post, or other substantive piece of written content. Duplicate content is generally the result of one of two things – either the malicious efforts of a scraper site that copies content from legitimate sources, or a technical error. (It’s surprisingly easy to accidentally post an article twice or produce two pages of significantly similar content.)

It was once the case that duplicate content would only work against the piece of content in question. After Google Panda, however, the cost of duplicate content has become much heavier, and the impact can damage the ranking of non-duplicate pages on your site.

On the other hand, syndicated content is content that has been distributed for re-posting to other sites or outlets (with the permission of the author or owner of the content). For instance, this blog, Searchcore, is syndicated to the Business 2 Community blog. This content syndication reproduces original content on a different website.

High-quality content, such as news articles and press releases, are expected to be syndicated to a number of other sites. As a result, Google Panda knows how to differentiate between syndicated and duplicate content, although there are some practices you should follow to make sure that the Panda doesn’t get confused and to ensure that your original content is ranking.

Best Practices for Content Syndication

If you are syndicating your content to another site, there are a few simple steps you should be taking so that your original content won’t be accidentally filtered out of search results, as can sometimes be the case with syndicated content.

About syndicated content, Google has said:

“If you syndicate your content on other sites, Google will always show the version we think is most appropriate for users in each given search, which may or may not be the version you’d prefer.”

To tip the scales in your favor, implement the following best practices when you syndicate your content.

Link back to the source. This can be as simple as adding a one-line disclaimer that indicates the blog has been re-posted with permission, and providing a link that navigates users back to the original article.
Use cross-domain canonical tags. These tags allow you to specify the canonical (read: primary) version of a page.
If you are able, use no-index meta tags on the syndicated content page. This will prevent search engines from indexing that version of the content. Webmasters may be reluctant to comply with this goal.
Use Google’s syndication-source tags. About a year ago, Google quietly rolled out a set of experimental tags for syndicate content publishers. Their impact has not been 100% confirmed, but considering the rise of syndication sites, they will likely be something to watch out for in the future.

These simple steps help Google Panda differentiate between a syndicated piece of content and duplicate content that has been erroneously posted or maliciously scraped from an authentic source. It’s great when you have the opportunity to syndicate your material to other outlets, but it’s preferable to have your original source article ranking first.

Contact We Do Web Content

When your business is looking for quality, optimized web content for your site, newsletters, and social media marketing look no further than We Do Web Content. Having unique, organic web content is the leading way to increase search engine rankings and boost your Internet marketing. For affordable, quality content exclusive to YOUR website, blog and clients, contact us today! 1-888-521-3880.

Thanksgiving 2012 Holiday Recipes: Spinach Dip

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)69425 — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 08:00:00 EST

Holiday Recipes - November 22: Spinach Dip

Appetizers are either ultra popular or a bad idea for the holidays, depending on your level of indulgence. Many holiday parties are focused on just little nibbles, which is where recipes like this spinach dip will shine. However, if you're planning a big feast, you may not want to offer pre-meal nibblies - they may fill up on those and leave you with a buffet of leftovers!

You can't see it, but there's a festive tray under those pita chips!

This is a super versatile spinach dip recipe, which can be prepared a day or two in advance and brought out for multiple occasions. It's perfect if your home has high holiday traffic but not all at once, and also adapts very well to specific food tastes.

The Basic Recipe

1/3 c. sour cream
1/3 c. whipped cream cheese
1/3 c. mayonnaise
½ c. grated parmesan cheese
½ packet instant vegetable soup mix
1 tsp. cracked black pepper
1 tsp. garlic powder
16 oz. chopped, frozen spinach

Thaw the spinach and squeeze out excess water (cheesecloth works very well). Mix together all ingredients except the soup mix. Using a small strainer, separate the powdered soup mix from the dehydrated vegetables, add powdered mix to bowl and discard vegetables. Stir until well combined.

Add-ins

If you're looking to bulk up your dip with more flavors, a jar of quartered, marinated artichoke hearts is a delicious addition. Just make sure they're drained out of the oil. You may want to add a little bit of the oil to loosen up the dip, or increase the mayo to ½ cup if the dip is too thick.

Chopped olives, especially a medley of Greek-style olives, is a wonderful addition. Look for a jar of olive tapenade to cut down on the prep-work and still enjoy a bit more salty flavor. Capers will do the same thing, just drain them before adding.

If you're feeling crabby, some imitation crab meat flakes can turn this into a seafood spinach dip! Just be careful to keep it either well chilled or warm, and discard any uneaten portion if it's been sitting out.

Hot or Cold?

This dip is excellent cold, especially when chilled overnight and served right out of the fridge or room temperature. It can also be spread into a casserole dish and baked at 350° for 15-20 minutes. If you're serving hot spinach dip, topping with shredded cheese and hitting it under the broiler before serving not only adds to the flavor, but also looks amazing!

What to Dip

We ate our dip with crunchy plain flavored pita chips and it was fantastic. You can also try pretzel thins, tortilla chips, or even just plain kettle chips. If you're feeling fancy, take a skinny loaf of French or Italian bread and slice into ¼" thick slices to toast into crostini. Of course, you can always use this as a veggie dip too, with sticks of carrots and bell peppers, celery stalks, and broccoli or cauliflower flourettes.

Back to Basics: Spelling and Grammar Web Optimization for Panda

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)69427 — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 08:00:00 EST

Blog Series: Revisiting Your Google Panda Web Content Optimization

November 22, 2011 - If you're ready to go back and start optimizing your Web content to be Google Panda compliant, you should start at the basic level of quality content - spelling and grammar.

It may seem like common sense that quality Web content is well written and grammatically correct, but you'd be amazed at the little tiny typos that can slip through the cracks. While Google claims it doesn't directly penalize sites for poor spelling, their search quality guru, Matt Cutts, does say that it could be used as a signal of poor quality content. He even discusses the topic in one of his famous YouTube blogs.

Think about it this way: quality content that's gone through Web optimization is typically written at a middle to high school grade level, meaning it should have the proper spelling, punctuation, and grammar that would make your 9^th grade English teacher proud.

When Web content is written at a high quality level it should be error-free. Because Google DOES rank for quality of content, making sure your older Web content is correct in both spelling and grammar is a great way of optimizing Web content for Google Panda. All in all, you're looking to build your page's reputation, and when your content reads on a more professionally written level - in other words, not plagued by typos and bad grammar - you'll be seen as a more relevant search result!

Even great writers can make a typo here and there, and Microsoft Word won't catch it all. That's why it's vital to have a real, live human doing the heavy lifting on your behalf.

At We Do Web Content, our dedication to proper spelling and grammar starts at the very beginning of our Web content production process. We carefully screen our pool of talented writers, hiring only those proven to produce top quality content.

Once written, every piece of content goes through at least two sets of eyes - sometimes even four! Our editors are trained not only in Web optimization, but in grammar and punctuation standards as well. Our team is vigilant in its quest to keep our clients' Web content free of errors.

When you work with WDWC in optimizing Web content for your site in order to rank better with Google Panda, you can rest assured that you'll get a product that hits all the right marks!

Special Bonus: Happy Holidays - Celebrate With Holiday Recipes

The recipes we're sharing here are tested by the WDWC office staff! Today during our weekly status meeting, we noshed on this delicious spinach dip recipe which can be served hot or cold and jazzed up in many different ways!

Get Your Web Content Optimized for the Panda!

Thanksgiving 2012 Holiday Recipes: Pumpkin Spice Muffins

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)69363 — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 08:00:00 EST

November 21: Pumpkin Spice Muffins

In a tasty victorian tin!

Our resident amateur chef, Lisa, often tries out new recipes on the We Do Web Content office, and this was a request from co-founder, Yvette, for something pumpkin. Her recipe was adapted from A Cozy Kitchen and she's sharing 2 versions of this spicy holiday pastry!

Basic Muffin Batter

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 ¼ cup canned solid-pack pumpkin
⅓ cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 ¼ cups of sugar
⅛ tsp each of ground ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and allspice (or 1 tsp. Pumpkin Pie spice)
½ tsp cinnamon

Place muffin liners inside the muffin cups. Preheat oven to 350F.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a small bowl.

Mix pumpkin puree, oil, eggs, spices, and sugar in a large bowl until smooth, then mix in flour mixture until just combined.

Version 1 - Crumb Topping

¼ cup quick-cook oatmeal
¼ cup brown sugar
⅛ tsp of ground ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and allspice (or 1 tsp. Pumpkin Pie spice)
1 tsp cinnamon

Stir together ingredients for the crumb topping, use your fingers to break up any lumps of brown sugar.

Divide batter among muffin cups (each should be about 3/4 full), then sprinkle tops with crumb mixture. Bake until puffed and a toothpick or wood skewer inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes.

Cool in pan on a rack 5 minutes, then transfer muffins from pan to rack and cool to warm or room temperature.

Version 2 - Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1-3 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Milk

Using an electric mixer, cream together softened cream cheese, vanilla and 1c powdered sugar until smooth. Continue to add powdered sugar until desired sweetness is achieved. If frosting becomes too thick, add a small amount of milk to thin it out.

Divide batter among muffin cups (each should be about 3/4 full), bake until puffed and a toothpick or wood skewer inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes.

Cool in pan on a rack 5 minutes, then transfer muffins from pan to rack and cool to warm or room temperature. Spread cream cheese frosting on top and decorate with festive sprinkles.

Looking Back and Optimizing Your Web Content for Google Panda

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)69365 — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 08:00:00 EST

Blog Series: Revisiting Your Google Panda Content Optimization

November 21, 2011 - It's been more than a month since the last major Google Panda algorithm update, and we think it's a good time to take advantage of this lull to make sure your Web content is optimized to its greatest capacity.

Ever since Google Panda was released, SEO specialists and Web content providers have scrambled to keep up with the rapid evolution of their algorithms. As new aspects of content were "dinged" such as spelling and grammar, duplicate content, and even how your content reads on your site, we've all had to play catch-up to get The Panda to like us.

Now that we have some time to really dig in and investigate what exactly Google Panda is looking at, it's time we go in and make sure our optimized Web content is abiding by the new quality parameters. Want to know if your site is on the right track? Stay tuned! This week we'll be looking at the core aspects of optimizing your web content to be "Panda pleasing."

While the bulk of our services at We Do Web Content revolve around producing fresh, quality, Panda-friendly content, we also offer optimization of existing content! If your business' website is still struggling to make a good impression with Google Panda, you'll want to talk to us about how we can optimize your existing content and start generating new, custom content.

Special Bonus: Happy Holidays - Celebrate With Holiday Recipes

Since it's Thanksgiving week, and we love food, we'll be sharing some delicious holiday recipes to try out this weekend! Today's first recipe - Pumpkin Spice Muffins - is one that graced the We Do Web Content offices last week, and will be featured at the Thanksgiving feast of co-founder Yvette Valencia.

Get Your Web Content Optimized for the Panda!

Fun Friday: Android Weddings, G+1, and Thanksgiving Flowcharts

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)69210 — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 08:00:00 EST

November 18, 2011 - It's the last Fun Friday before the Thanksgiving weekend. Next week, not only will we be running a blog series on further optimization for Google Panda, but we'll be accompanying each article with a tasty holiday recipe!

If you're struggling on what to bring to dinner this Thanksgiving holiday, we found this great, helpful flowchart from CHOW that gives a bit of a tongue-in-cheek look at some of the scenarios you may run in to next weekend. (Note: tiny bit of strong language in the article).

One of the related articles caught our eye, and we promise no one in the office will attempt this, but someone has stuffed a turkey with Twinkie-stuffing, and the results seem to have been as disgusting as one may imagine. Please don't make any culinary catastrophes like this in your own home!

Those first two links may or may not have made you hungry, and if you are thinking cake now, check out not only an Android themed wedding cake, but a whole Android themed wedding! Yes, one nerdy couple tied the knot with an Android-costumed ring bearer, had Android-green accented bridal garb, and even the officiator stood at an Android-shaped podium. The couple may be in it "til death do us part" - wonder if they're going to be that loyal about their OS?

And the wacky Internet sightings just keep coming from SEO Round Table with their discovery of a real life Google +1 button. Besides sounding tasty in general, we would order from Toasty Melts just on the principle of this being an awesome marketing concept!

One final cool marketing tidbit to share, and it's a personal tale from the office. One of our in-house writers and social media outreach coordinator, Alex Wall, had the unfortunate experience of one of our resident peacocks soiling her car window. She lamented this fact on her Facebook status, and within moments she saw a targeted ad from a local car wash. Just goes to show you that social media often knows what you need before you do!

Your Clients' Content Can Build Your Own Content

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)69060 — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 08:00:00 EST

November 17, 2011 - Yesterday we discussed the gray area of "newsjacking," which can be a boon or a blemish to your blog content depending on how you use it.

Today we're going to delve a bit more into targeting your content to your clients, since that's a big factor in making newsjacking work for your content.

When you're sharing content beyond your actual business' news, you need to first be aware of what kind of content interests your client. While there have been numerous large-scale, professional studies performed to obtain this kind of information, you can perform this analysis yourself with your existing social media connections!

Start paying attention to the type of content your current clients share on their Facebook and Twitter streams. If they're focused on linking to local news stories about concerns in your community, you may want to start paying attention to these kinds of news pieces, too. If there are a lot of sports fans among your clientele, it may be time to start posting your opinions about the latest games.

Who's sharing what amongst your fans?

There are some topics that are generally safe to comment on, as long as you don't get too overzealous in your opinions. Positive news like local sports scores, community improvements, residential news, and the like all help build a community connection and show you're involved in the betterment of your area.

Another great way to utilize your Facebook fans is to feature them! You're probably friends with some other local business owners, maybe even some of your city authorities. If they've got an interesting story going on with their Facebook page (like an article they wrote or were featured in), why not share it? It's a great relationship builder and adds some fresh content to your page!

You can make a celebrity out of your fans, too, and that's a topic for discussion later. For now, we'll leave you with an update on our Fan Can Contest, which resulted in a whopping 104 new fans - welcome to our page! This means we'll be gathering 103 canned goods this weekend to bring over to the Million Meals Committee next week, just in time for Thanksgiving!

Thanks to all our current fans and new faces for inspiring us to donate to our local food bank - remember that you can do so in your community, too, and make it a happy and food-filled holiday for a needy family!

The Science of Sharing – Social Consumer Profiles and Your Brand

alex.wall@gmail.com (Blog Author)69047 — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 08:00:00 EST

This week, we're going to be taking an in-depth look at some recent research conducted by Beyond, M Booth, and Lexis that followed the social consumption and sharing habits of 3,000 US and UK participants.

The participants were prompted to respond to a number of questions about two products or services they had recently researched online, and the findings offer valuable insight into the habits and profile of an emerging figure in marketing: the social consumer.

High Sharers and Low Sharers - and Who You Need the Most

According to the report, there are two types of consumers who engage products over social media channels, differentiated by the quantity of content they create and share. These are the "high sharers" and the "low sharers," and they react to products and brands differently, but sometimes predictably, according to which "sharing" category they are in.

It was found that high sharers:

tend to be young;
are 3x as likely to recommend products;
have a strong sense of brand loyalty;
own multiple Internet devices;
research low involvement products; and
constitute 20% of total consumers online.

On the other hand, low sharers:

tend to be older;
are more likely to research high involvement products;
are more likely to purchase a researched product; and
are less loyal to brands and more concerned with product quality.

High sharers are of particular value to marketers and form a de facto foot soldier force for brands, carrying their message and distributing it to others. These sharers are also 3x as likely to review a product, which is one of the leading factors driving conversion of researched, high involvement products. So, high sharers are important to companies because they act as brand advocates and generate more trust and interest in those brands.

The study also determined that the high sharing population is more likely to make a purchase from a brand that has a modern image, an important detail to keep in mind for marketing groups that want to target this demographic.

How Much Do We Talk About Our "Stuff" On the Web?

Of the participants surveyed, the following additional findings were made:

53% of participants who had researched a product online had interacted with a brand via Facebook;
40% had liked a product on Facebook;
20% used Facebook to research products at least once a week;
42% made some kind of social or online post about a product or brand; and
33% wrote a review of a product online.

People are Researching Brands and Products - But Where?

If you're asking yourself how you can best influence these high sharing groups and other social consumers, don't worry - the study covered that, too. Across the board and among all groups, organic and paid search channels reigned as the most influential resources for those researching brands and products. "Owned" channels, such as websites and social media profiles, and "earned" channels, like rating sites, news articles, and word-of-mouth feedback, were found to be mostly neck and neck for secondary influence.

It comes as no surprise to savvy SEO-ers, but despite all, search results are still considered the most influential online source for brand interactivity, followed by a brand's website, review sites, news clips, and online advertisements. Least influential in the decision-making process are Facebook comments, blog posts, Wikipedia, Foursquare, and - surprisingly - Twitter.

What we can conclude from this is that while brand interaction is certainly a social business, it's still dominated by the regular players: search results and organic web presence.

Infographic courtesy of Bynd.com (click to enlarge)

Contact We Do Web Content

The Pros and Cons of Newsjacking for Your Web Content

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)68937 — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 08:00:00 EST

November 15, 2011 - "Newsjacking" - it sounds like a new age crime, right? Well, it's not a crime, but it is a gray area of content marketing and today, we're going to weigh in on the topic.

The term "newsjacking" refers to posting content related to a current event in the effort to ride the hype of the topic while somehow tying the topic to your business. For example, the recent divorce of Kim Kardashian is a great opportunity for a divorce attorney to give their two cents on the story while reminding readers that anyone undergoing a divorce may need the help of an attorney.

Essentially, newsjacking creates artificial hype for your content topics and it can be a great way to draw traffic to your site. You know how "name dropping" in your content can stir up reader interest? Using current event topics can produce the same effect.

You must be extremely careful when writing content that relates to current events. A few points that should be made clear:

ALWAYS cite the original article source. You probably didn't get the story of Kim Kardashian's divorce from the celebrity herself, so you can't talk about the event without giving a shout out to your resource.
Try to keep your opinions neutral. While controversy may be good for some businesses, you may also be alienating readers if you choose one side of an issue too strongly. Remember the client audience you're trying to reach!
Remember you're representing your business. Don't write about anything that may connect your business to a negative stance on current events. Again, remember your client audience and write to curry their favor - not scare them off.

A special point to keep in mind for our law firm friends - NEVER give your legal opinion on a current event! This is an especially dangerous area when you're discussing legal proceedings that you aren't directly involved with. Never say things like "If I were their attorney, I would..." or "Their attorney should have..." because you're attempting to give legal advice on a case you have no knowledge of outside of media reports.

If you're still intrigued by the idea of using current event topics as a way to draw additional traffic to your blog or social media sites, we can help! At We Do Web Content we often include safe current event stories in our clients' Internet marketing strategy as a way to make a local connection and show that they're up to date on the latest news.

Pay attention to what news you discuss and what you say about it!

Read This Blog before Running a Facebook Contest!

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)68838 — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 08:00:00 EST

November 14, 2011 - Sadly, we had to close our Pandamonium Photo Contest early and without a winner, because we learned some new information about Facebook contests.

As you may know, we've been running a contest since mid-October where we asked our fans to submit a photo that included a paper cutout of our mascot, Browser. Once the photo was posted to our wall, the fan whose photo got the most "likes" would win an iPod Touch. Sounds simple enough, right?

Wrong. We were notified of their policies on contests by a business acquaintance and it turns out that entry to a contest by requiring the uploading of a photo on our wall is in violation of their terms. You can read the full promotion guidelines yourself, but that part alone told us we needed to cancel the contest.

"Well, there goes my time in the spotlight..."

However, we do have some good news! The "fan can" promotion part which ends tomorrow has gained tremendous response and netted us almost 100 new likes in a mere month! Thanks to all the new fans, we'll be donating at least 100 canned goods to the Million Meals Committee!

While we can't continue our photo contest, we're still glad to have gained all those new fans and be able to help out a local food bank in the process. We hope our donation helps many South Florida families get a holiday meal, and that our new fans will enjoy the great content that only We Do Web Content can provide!

Fun Friday: Happy Veterans Day and 11-11-11!

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)68684 — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 08:00:00 EST

November 11, 2011 - It's a very special Fun Friday today for several reasons!

First, Happy Veterans Day! It seems that all the holidays are falling on Fridays lately, and Veterans Day is special among the national holidays in that it is 1 of the 5 where the date never changes.

In 1971, the Uniform Monday Holiday Act changed the holiday to fall on a Monday to allow for the 3-day weekend like other holidays (Labor Day, Memorial Day, etc). Many lawmakers and their constituents fought this change, because of the significance of November 11 as Armistice Day, and the date was changed back in 1978.

Ever since, Veterans Day has been a day to honor the nearly 25 million veterans who have served in the military to protect our great country. At We Do Web Content, we love to support local efforts that better our community and would like to spread the word about a great charity event benefitting a South Florida non-profit that provides support to disabled veterans.

Care for Disabled Veterans is hosting a veterans' appreciation dinner at 6 tonight followed by a charity poker tournament on Saturday night. While registration for tonight's dinner is closed, you can still register for the poker tournament at the door starting at 4 p.m. Saturday.

Check out their event page for more details and come out to support Care for Disabled Veterans!

Also on today's special events is the fact that the date is 11/11/11! MSNBC has a spiffy little writeup about the history and myths around 11/11/11 which covers everything from the 11:11 time phenomenon (which many of us have experienced at WDWC!) all the way through the new horror film focused on the date.

One of the lesser known events of 11/11 is National Pocky Day! Pocky is a delicious Japanese cookie snack that comes in long sticks, which happen to look like the number 1...line up 4 of them and you get 11/11, and this year you can line up 6 to spell out the date! According to Japan Today, the day was made popular in 1999 when Ezaki Glico Co., the company that created Pocky (and it's savory cousin, Pretz), declared 11/11 as "Pocky & Pretz Day" in Japan.Many fans of Japan-related things (anime in particular) in the States celebrate the holiday, too. Pocky can be found at many international food stores, Asian grocery stores, and it has even been spotted in national retailers like Walmart and FYE!

Our Content Manager and resident Spinal Tap nerd/fan Tricia also wants to remind everyone that today is Nigel Tufnel Day, in honor of the faux British rocker's declaration that Tap's amplifiers "go to 11." Billboard is celebrating Nigel Tufnel Day with a nod to the 11 Loudest Moments in Music, but you can also mark the occasion by watching the classic 1984 Christopher Guest/Rob Reiner mockumentary.

To close out Fun Friday we would like to remind you that our Panda-monium Photo Contest is still running and there's still 4 days to get your friends to "like" our Facebook page and do a bit of good! Remember that every new like up until November 15 will donate a can to the Million Meals Committee - one of our local food banks - in time for Thanksgiving! Here's a little reminder of how to participate in the photo contest - it's Browser in one of the happiest places on Earth!

Earlier in the week Browser toured the globe in Epcot but was too busy eating at the Food & Wine Festival to take pictures!

Diversify Your Blog Content with Interviews

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)68502 — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 08:00:00 EST

November 10, 2011 - Writing about the same topics on your blog day in and day out can be a chore - and your readers will get tired of the same old content. So what's a blogger to do?

When you're blogging for your business it's a good idea to throw in a new feature here and there. Conducting interviews with other contributors is a great way to not only freshen up your content, but also add a new face to your team.

Interviews can be fun and informative!

You don't need to know a national celebrity to have an interesting interviewee. There are tons of individuals in your professional and personal networks that could make great potential subjects to feature in a blog post.

Choose someone who is relevant to your business - it could be a fellow professional, a client, or someone connected to your industry. Think about what your clients like to hear about in your normal blog posts and generate your interview questions to focus on those topics. It'll be a breath of fresh air to hear these answers from someone new!

You can also go completely off-topic and interview someone interesting that has nothing to do with your industry. How about chatting with your city commissioner about the new green initiative going on downtown? Is there an amazing non-profit organization near your office that's helping improve your community? Give them a little love through an interview and they may do the same for your business!

Keeping your blog content fresh and interesting is a great way to generate new readers. At We Do Web Content we focus on content that's not only informative and useful for attracting potential clients, but also content that's interesting and catches the attention of the social media sharing sites.

Google+ Pages Will Change (Almost) Everything about Brand Communication

alex.wall@gmail.com (Blog Author)68454 — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 08:00:00 EST

Google finally unveiled its Google+ business pages this week, much to the chagrin of Facebook and social media managers who thought they had all their bases covered.

Experts are tussling over whether it's all hype or if you should be creating a Google+ page for your company right now. For my money, I say full steam ahead. Facebook may be at the center of the social world, but Google is positioned firmly at the center of the business world.

Google+ brand pages will become a more important destination for business interaction than the current Facebook fan pages for a number of reasons, not least the fact that Google is already a destination for information discovery, whereas Facebook is a social destination.

Google is an Information Destination

Facebook is a low-ranking domain when it comes to search, not because it isn't replete with brand information, but because - as mentioned before - Facebook is still considered a social destination for users. People typically don't go to Facebook to find information or to collect data; they go to a search engine, and 80% of the time or more, that search engine is Google.

Google has the ability to leverage this - if Google+ brand pages are indexed by the crawlers (as I suspect they will be), users seeking information through search will be quick to find a relevant company's Google+ brand page. In this way, Google+ could make itself the first stop for brand communication, a powerful edge over Facebook, which usually relies on advertisements or existing brand loyalists to evangelize their message.

Let's not forget the Google+ Direct Connect feature, already one of my favorites. By typing +Brand Name into the Google Search bar, you are sent directly to that business's Google+ page. This is more than a clever feature; this is a game changer that ups the social business ante on every other social networking platform.

Google Already Has the Analytics

Facebook Insights offers some impressive feedback of page activities, demographics, and post feedbacks, and I am not here to tell you that you should stop monitoring your Insights on your Facebook pages.

However, much of that information, particularly pertaining to demographic and interaction data, has been exclusively available to Facebook. With the release of Google+ brand pages, I suspect that very soon we will be seeing an integration of this kind of data from Google+ with the pre-existing Google Analytics.

Advertisers will be able to take advantage of this aggregated data to optimize media placements and expenditures, to boot. So although Facebook does a great job of breaking down user interaction with its Insights feedback, Google+ brand page metrics will be practicably applicable in a single location, in concert with one of the most powerful web analytics tools already on the market - Google Analytics.

Pamela Parker has a great write-up at Search Engine Land on how this switch will impact AdWords, so I'm not going to repeat her points, but suffice to say Google has tied this brand page rollout to a number of other changes of which savvy companies can take advantage.

Facebook is a Website; Google is a Network

While Facebook offers many of the same utilities as Google, they are all particular to the Facebook website. Facebook places, fan pages - those are only accessible once you are already in Facebook. Google products, however, can function standalone, which differentiates them tremendously from Facebook's comparable "features."

What's more, Facebook is not only just a website, but it's also been irritating its user base. Professionally, yes, I use social media platforms on a daily basis, but as a user, I have completely lost touch with the focus of Facebook. Logging in induces anxiety and connection oversharing leads to oversaturation, which leads to disinterest. I don't peruse Facebook, so it's unlikely that I will come across many (or any) of the advertisements or pieces of news information that have been algorithmically targeted at me.

Google has an opportunity to provide a product that is both necessary and interesting. Facebook's ambitious attempt to fundamentally change the user experience has rendered something that is, quite frankly, not working for users the way it was intended by the creators.

This isn't news to Google. A few months ago, Vic Gundotra, Google's SVP of Social, cited a consumer survey that indicated customer satisfaction with Facebook was hardly higher than that of the IRS. "People are barely tolerant of the Facebook they have," said Gundotra.

So, is Google+ a Facebook killer now? No, certainly not. For better or for worse, we are in it for the long haul with Facebook and it's not going anywhere. However, Google+ brings something to the table that Facebook didn't have, that Facebook will never have: the rest of Google.

Contact We Do Web Content

Google+ Pages; Like Facebook, But Not

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)68352 — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 08:00:00 EST

November 8, 2011 - Thanks to the Panda-shaped cloud dominating the Google-related newsfeed, it's been a while since we looked at Google+. Yes, Google's social media product is still alive and kicking, and continuing to listen to users by adding a long sought-after feature: pages.

When Google+ was first released on a trial basis, businesses were clamoring to grab an account and establish a business page. Google, in turn, told companies to relax and wait patiently so the company could ensure the business listing platform was in top shape.

Unlike Facebook-which has been an evolutionary process with trial and error-Google+ ensured businesses will get the correct account listing from the get-go. To do this, they disallowed business accounts as personal pages until they rolled out the new Google+ Pages option. Facebook had to learn as it grew, which meant an early-adopter business may have gone through various stages of Facebook presence.

Here's a basic example of how Facebook Pages came to be:

When all you could do was create personal pages, many businesses rigged them to represent their company rather than an individual.
When Facebook Groups were released, businesses started creating groups to allow users to join up with them.
Facebook realized that they needed to create a way for businesses to have a presence without pretending to be an individual, so they created Facebook Pages.
Facebook began to verify real pages for celebrities and famous brands after too many imposters claimed listings.
To allow multiple users to administer a business presence, Facebook allowed admin privleges to be shared among several users and transferred.
Finally, Facebook rolled out custom page URLs and the rest is history in the making...

So here we are with Google+ Pages, and they're very similar to Facebook Pages, including the look:

Of course, we've snagged our Google+ Page already!

On a side note, Facebook has a Google+ page. Although since Google has a page on Facebook it's not too shocking.

Since Google products for business marketing have proven to be highly successful, We Do Web Content is working diligently to learn all the tricks and gear up to develop this new platform for our clients! If you're interested in learning more, tomorrow's Searchcore blog is all about Google+ Pages!

Chatting About Photo Contests

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)68274 — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 08:00:00 EST

November 7, 2011 - We launched our Photo Contest on October 18 and phase 1 of gaining new "likes" to the We Do Web Content Facebook page has already generated 42 new fans - welcome!

The goal we had in mind was two-fold with this contest. First we wanted to connect to more potential clients through getting more users to "like" our page. Second, we wanted to increase our brand awareness. Each component of our contest was designed to meet those two goals.

Part 1 - Canned food donation incentive. For those not really interested in the actual prize-winning contest portion, we still wanted to offer an incentive for spreading the word. That reward is a donation of a canned good to a local food bank.

Part 2 - Friend support incentive. For fans who DO want to participate in the photo contest, we added the requirement that the winning photo must have the most "likes." This is easier to do when you have your friends all like our page and then your photo!

Part 3 - Prize incentive. We wouldn't expect people to willingly print out a Browser cutout and tote him around for photo ops without the chance to win something in return. Therefore, we're offering up an iPod Touch to those who help spread one of our office icons around the Internet!

We're not the only business that has held a mascot photo contest! National companies like Sweet Tomatoes have run promotions where diners are encouraged to submit photos of their mascot Sweetie in interesting places for a chance to win gift cards.

You can even see this happening locally, like at one of my favorite seafood restaurants on Florida's Space Coast, Dixie Crossroads. While they're not running a contest right now, they're bringing their mascot, Mr. Rock, to different places via traveling associates. He was in China several weeks ago and was recently spotted at a tea plantation.

I recently spent a week working remotely in Orlando and brought Browser to a few fun places. Here he is enjoying a delicious hibachi dinner at Kobe Japanese Steakhouse on International Drive:

Don't worry, he didn't get burned by the onion volcano!

Keep an eye on our Facebook page this week to see where else Browser went! And don't forget, our Photo Contest continues through December 15!

Fun Friday: Facebook is Now an Energy Drink

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)68132 — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 08:00:00 EST

November 4, 2011 - Late nights spent at your computer picking through your newsfeed for the latest updates from your friends and fan pages can be tiring. Why not grab an energy boost from your favorite social media platform?

This may sound crazy, and that's why it's a Fun Friday feature story - Facebook is now available in energy drink form.

"Facedrink" doesn't sound very appealing...

We didn't believe it either, but close examination of the "Facedrink" product listing we found on Amazon looks real. There are even a few customer reviews, though they aren't especially positive. Personally, I don't drink energy drinks, and all of those I've tried haven't impressed me with flavor, so I can see where the reviewers are coming from.

Whether it's a hoax or just a company trying to cash in on the popularity of the social media king, it's still an amusing concept. We see things like this all the time where a well-known brand identity is used to sell unrelated products and energy drinks are no exception. You can find a variety of TV, game, and celebrity-related energy drinks sold at novelty stores like Spencer Gifts.

If the product is actually from the team behind Facebook, it's definitely a clever marketing concept to put your logo or name on an unrelated product. On the one hand, you could reach a whole new potential client market (assuming there are any people left who haven't heard of Facebook). On the other, you need to be careful of exactly WHAT you connect your reputation to. And of course, there's the whole issue of rather blatant copyright infringement if this novelty item isn't officially connected with the social media brand. (Our guess: once Facebook catches wind of the liquid refreshment, it will go bye-bye, or come under its wing.)

Before you go out on a limb with uncommon marketing tactics like these - or potentially illegal/unethical actions in the case of stealing another company's image/brand - consider a much easier and less risky approach. Web content is an excellent way to reach new clients when you use social media to expand your networking, and We Do Web Content has your needs covered!

Older Americans Joining Social Networking Sites in Droves

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)67982 — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 08:00:00 EST

November 1, 2011 - If anyone ever tells you that social media is for teenagers, you can point them to data from Pew Internet that says otherwise.

This summer, a report from Pew Internet & American Life Project revealed that 65% of adults with Internet access use social networking sites on a regular basis. This is a continuing increase over several years, and a 4% jump from 2010.

What started as a college-only platform is all ages now.

This year's report shows that the growth among young adult users didn't really increase much, but the "boomers" are jumping on the social media bandwagon at a steady rate.

What does this mean to your business? If you're in the market to seek mature clients, you're going to need to consider social media as a marketing method. We're guessing that the increase in adult users above the age of 50 is due to that group nearing retirement age.

After a lifetime of working, it's time to kick back, relax, and start consuming all that Internet that's been built over the last 30 or so years! Many retirees make their first purchase a new desktop or laptop so they can stay in touch with friends, see pics of the grandkids, and now connect to their favorite businesses on Facebook!

How to Leverage Local Search Marketing for Small Businesses

alex.wall@gmail.com (Blog Author)68007 — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 08:00:00 EST

We asked readers to vote on our Facebook page for the name of this new blog series. Well, the people have spoken. This blog series will be titled Searchcore - a quaint portmanteau of search and hardcore. Thanks go out to Lisa, who writes our daily blog, for spreading the word about our naming contest.

This week's topic is all about local search marketing, and we're going to be tackling the two biggest questions about local search:

How can businesses leverage local search?
How can analysts and marketers track local search performance?

With the advent of Google Places, geolocation-based sharing, and a surge of growth in the mobile Internet sector, local search marketing is booming, and if you haven't taken the plunge into local search marketing for your location based service (LBS), you could be missing out on a sizable chunk of browsers.

What is Local Search Marketing?

Local search marketing isn't one single action, nor is it relegated to any department - it's the intentional and sustained effort to push optimized web content, business listings, and social media profiles to bring in local search traffic.

"But, Alex," you're thinking. "What is local search traffic?"

A local search is performed online in order to ascertain information from the internet with the intention of ultimately making an offline transaction from a business or service in a certain geographical area.

Local search marketing is vital for location based services because users are beginning to figure out that when you type "accident attorney" into the Google search bar, the results you receive may not necessarily be helpful to you. Why? Because if you were just in a car accident and you need an attorney, you don't need just any accident attorney - you need one who provides services in your area.

The goal of local search marketing practices is to get those browsers who are seeking geographically-specific services to the solicitors who provide them.

Leverage the Power of Local Search Marketing for Your Business

Local search marketing is a high-octane fusion of geographically optimized web content and social media profiles, registering your company with business directories that cater to locally-based search, and claiming your listings at major search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing.

To ramp up the potency of your local search marketing efforts, be sure you do each of the following:

Claim your listings and put a focus on data integrity. What I mean by that is don't allow any of your business registry listings to fall into disrepair by becoming outdated. Ensure that any contact information provided in your listings is up to date and accurate. Google, Yahoo, and Bing are great places to start. You might also consider Yelp, Citysearch, Kudzu, and the Yellow Pages online directory.
Track the performance of your local search efforts. Be sure to take your site's temperature and establish a baseline before you begin any new marketing efforts, local search or otherwise.
Encourage happy clients to leave reviews on your listings. We're used to seeing customer reviews on websites, but skeptical shoppers know those could be manufactured. A review on Yelp, Google Places, Facebook, or any other social search engine establishes trust - not only in your brand, but in the authenticity of the review itself.

Tracking Local Search Marketing Performance Metrics

In my mind, there's no need to fix something that isn't broken, so don't worry that you'll have to switch analytics platforms to incorporate tracking your local search marketing. Google Analytics, among others, incorporates local search traffic metrics right alongside the rest of your web analytics, and Blast has a great post about how to do that.

In addition, HootSuite and other familiar social media tools are beginning to realize the full potential of local search campaigns. HootSuite recently acquired Geotoko, a metrics service that not only runs but tracks location-based campaigns across platforms such as Facebook, Foursquare, Twitter, and Gowalla.

What service you choose to track your analytics is up to you, but ensure that you establish clear objectives and track those objectives through your traffic volume analysis.

I'm going to leave you with the only infographic you will ever need to remind you of the true value of effective local search marketing, created by MDG Advertising.

Click to view full graphic

Contact We Do Web Content

Don't Be Spooked by Black Hat SEO this Halloween

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)67845 — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 08:00:00 EST

October 31, 2011 - Happy Halloween! Has anyone guessed what Browser is for Halloween?

Pretty scary, huh?

He's Black Hat SEO! We thought it's only appropriate that our Google Panda dresses up as the arch nemesis he's been created to slay. The Google Panda updates continue to roll out and crush the ugly world of Black Hat SEO, making Internet content cleaner and of better quality!

If you're not familiar with the term "black hat," in a nutshell, Black Hat SEO is:

keyword stuffing;
hidden keywords;
irrelevant keywords;
lackluster content; and
gateway pages (those with nothing but keywords and a button to the real website).

Black Hat SEO really became popular in the '90s and early 2000s when the concept of Internet search ranking for business became extremely popular. When eCommerce became the mainstay of economic growth, websites were doing all they could to drive traffic to their sites - including these unscrupulous SEO tactics.

Luckily, Google and other search engines have continued to take notice of these unfair practices and launched algorithm programs like Panda to counteract the Black Hat SEO tactics. The more evolved Panda becomes, the cleaner and more relevant our search results will become!

It's not just the search engine's job to counter Black Hat SEO practices. Content providers can do their part by making sure the content they're creating and distributing is clean, relevant, and high quality.

When you work with a seasoned content company like We Do Web Content that knows its Panda, you'll get content that reads naturally, uses relevant and high function keywords, and converts readers to clients. There's no reason to try to "game" the search engine results with Black Hat SEO when your content is good enough to drive up your website traffic!

At WDWC we don't just write content and pop it up on your website, we also offer social media marketing services and content distribution as well. Because, hey, what's great content worth if no one is sharing it?

Fun Friday: Halloween Holiday 2011 Edition!

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)67714 — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 08:00:00 EST

October 28, 2011 - Halloween is right around the corner, and since we've got one Fun Friday blog left before Monday's festivities, it's only natural we see how the Internet is connecting SEO and the spookiest day of the year!

While searching for our Fun Friday content, one of the top hits we got was a slightly dated but still interesting website, SEO Halloween Costumes. It was a contest back in 2008 for SEO-related costumes, and from what we can see in the gallery, most people just didn't get it. Makes us wonder if they did it again this year, if - like normal SEO - more people are understanding the concept!

We found one SEO software company that actually dressed up their product! Yep, SEO PowerSuite got special Halloween graphics recently, and they're running a contest with the games they included in the update. Pretty neat promotion!

Here's another example of how the wonders of the Internet continue to make our lives easier. Don't want to go through the mess and work of carving a pumpkin this year? Check out the Virtual Jack-o-Lantern where you can skip all the pumpkin goop and trips to the ER by carving a virtual pumpkin!

Anyone carving an SEO pumpkin this year? (image from Distilled)

You've only got 2 more days to decide on a costume, and if you're running low on ideas we've got a few SEO costumes to whip up:

Internet Explorer - don your best Indiana Jones-esque jungle gear, grab a fedora and carry around some explorer tools (magnifying glass, binoculars, map, etc.).
SPAM - A simple blue T-shirt with an iron-on transfer of the SPAM logo will send people screaming from the horror of clogged inboxes!
Search Engine Spider - Black shirt and pants, plus 4 extra "legs"; just remind everyone that you're a good kind of spider because you help search engines determine their website's keyword relevancy!
Google Panda -Black and white clothing with panda markings, and try on a cute panda beanie hat to complete the look.
Firefox - An orange and white ensemble complete with tail, ears, and fake flames, one of the better browsers out there!

Check back Monday to see what our very own Google Panda, Browser, decided to be for Halloween!

Friendly Blog Competition Can Be Great Marketing!

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)67658 — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 08:00:00 EST

October 27, 2011 - I've got a rival! Well, not really, but things are definitely being shaken up here in the We Do Web Content offices.

One of our newest employees, Alex Wall, has brought her great knowledge of SEO and search engine marketing to our ranks, which has resulted in a new blog series. Every Wednesday, get a professional glimpse at what's shaking in the world of search engines.

Alex's first blog is up - a must-read about Google encryption and what it means for SEO and social media - but her special series needs a name! Please head over to our Facebook page to cast your vote for the series name, or submit an idea of your own. Next Wednesday we'll debut her 2^nd post with the new name.

Back to the topic at hand, what I just did up there was promote a (somewhat) rival blogger in my own blog. Why? Because sharing isn't just about getting your content circulated, it's about establishing connections to other related professionals and businesses. I know Alex reads my blogs, just as I read hers, so hopefully she'll follow Internet etiquette and give my posts a little love, too!

They're not rival blogs, they're resources!

For your own blog, don't be afraid to link to others' content - giving credit, of course - when making a point. Remember that you can't be considered a knowledgeable source if you're the only one writing about that information. Having others in your industry who agree on the same points and topics means that there's more clout to your content!

Does the Google Referral Encryption Really Matter? A Forecast for SEO, Search, and Social

alex.wall@gmail.com (Blog Author)67550 — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 08:00:00 EST

Last Tuesday, Google announced a change that has the SEO and web content community up in arms: users who are signed in to Google will be routed through the secure socket layer (SSL) version of Google. As a result, the referrer data that lets you know what keywords users typed in to their search query will no longer be available in your analytics.

Google has responded to outcries from the SEO community by insisting that this change has been made for the sake of user privacy, an explanation that has fallen short due to the embedded double standard of the change: you can see the referrer data if you are an advertiser who uses Google's pay-per-click (PPC) service.

What Does This Change?

Analytics will continue to show that the click came from Google and that it was an organic click, but the query string will no longer be visible - instead of seeing the keywords, you'll see (not provided) in your analytics. Below is a screenshot of the rise in (not provided) referral queries at SEOmoz.

This could decrease the value of efforts made by search and content professionals to create SEO web content. If we're unable to see what search queries directed visitors to our sites, it's difficult to rate the effectiveness of an SEO campaign or the conversion rate of organic web content.

For instance, at We Do Web Content, we build bespoke keyword campaigns for each of our clients and monitor the performance of those keywords as part of our web content services. Being able to identify the keywords that are performing well and bringing our clients traffic is an important step in the process, so it's unsettling at best that Google is taking away some of this important, specific data - data that helps us ensure our clients' content is getting to the people who are looking for it.

Matt Cutts, head of Google's Webspam team, has estimated that the impact will be in the single digits, and as webmasters leak data from their sites' analytics, that projection has by and large been accurate; SEOmoz reported a 2.2% change. So far...

The Argument for Privacy

Google's singular reasoning for the switch, as far as they have indicated, boils down to a more secure search experience for consumers.

There is some force to that argument; HTTP session hijacking and packet-sniffing over unsecured Wi-Fi connections is becoming more prolific and more problematic. Last year at ToorCon, an information security conference in San Diego, software developer Eric Butler released Firesheep in an attempt to highlight the failure of large websites to move towards end-to-end SSL encryption.

Simply put, Firesheep - and Droidsheep, an Android-based mobile corollary - allows anyone connected to an open wireless network to "capture" data from other users who are visiting insecure websites. This could not only expose what websites the users visited, but allow the sniffer to take over user accounts.

All told, those privacy concerns are very real, and Google has repeated ad nauseum that this move is to keep in line with the Electronic Frontier Foundation's HTTPS Everywhere initiative. But why block the referrer data? Do browsers really care that websites know what keywords they used to find their pages? Why herald user privacy if you're still selling it to paying customers?

While no one is arguing that secure search is an ignoble cause, the SEO community has railed against the implicit double standard that allows Google to hide this data from consumers who don't pay for it as AdWords customers, completely shutting out third party retargeting services and other ad networks. In doing so, Google claims that search query data belongs to them and that they may sell it if they please. And we just have to deal with it.

A Forecast of the Referrer Encryption as Google Goes Social

While Google stands by its "single-digit impact" projection, other stirrings in the ‘plex could see that figure rise over time. As the web becomes more social, Google has been repositioning itself accordingly.

Last week, Google co-founder Sergey Brin and SVP of social business Vic Gundotra announced that Google Apps will be integrated to Google+; previously, only personal Gmail accounts could subscribe to a Google+ identity.

"We're transforming Google itself into a social destination," said Gundotra, one of the architects of the plan to create a social context for all of Google's web products.

Recent rollouts to Google Reader shed features like internal friending and sharing and re-introduced those utilities exclusively through Google+, and Blogger is going in the same direction. Google Music Beta promises yet another music-sharing service, targeting Facebook and Apple's recent efforts in the same sphere.

While some social products, such as Wave and Buzz, are being phased out, others are on the way. Steven Levy's article informative and in-depth article on the summer Google+ launch revealed that Google has "well over 100 [social product] launches on its calendar."

Granted, it's easy to scoff at some of Google's less-refined social attempts, but the Internet is evolving towards a people-centric climate, as opposed to the information-centric atmosphere that gave rise to Google and other search engine powerhouses. According to Gundotra, the search giant now is reacting to that transition by seeking to "make Google+ a social layer on top of everything Google offers."

In fact, social is so crucial to Google's future that when Larry Page took up the mantle of CEO at Google, he hard-wired the success of social products into Google's mainframe, going so far as to tether 25% of every Google employee's annual bonus to the success of its social products.

Are we starting to see the big picture?

Encrypted Referrer Data + Google's Social Expansion = the Perfect Storm

One of the brilliant Facebook successes was the widespread application of its API that allowed users to sign in with other services, "like" content even when they weren't on Facebook, and share content without going back to the site itself. In this way, Facebook made it more convenient and advantageous for users to stay logged in throughout the day. The Google+ API was unveiled a little more a month ago for publicly shared data only, so we should start seeing more extensive use of that in the next few months.

Similarly, the impact of mobile users who utilize Gmail or Google+ on their phone cannot be overstated. As more people use their phones to search and browse, we can expect to see that a substantial percentage of queries affected by the encryption will be those coming from mobile users.

In the same turn, the trajectory of Google's social products indicates that more and more users are going to be "logged-in" to Google's "social layer" - and that means more and more users will be forcibly funneled to Google's SSL version.

As Google goes social, the number of (not provided) entries in web analytics is bound to increase, long after the SEO community has accepted the change as par for the course.

So while webmasters and SEO-ers may be seeing only single-digit impacts right now, it's important to be mindful of why those numbers are currently so low and ask ourselves whether or not those figures will increase. My prediction is yes, absolutely. How much? Well, I'm not going to risk opining on that figure, but SEO-ers and web content services providers should carefully monitor the impact of the switch in their analytics.

As social becomes the norm, more and more users will be logged-in, providing valuable data to only those who pay for it. In the meanwhile, we encourage you to monitor the percentage of search referrals that are affected by this switch to prepare yourself if Google implements this change on a broader scale or how the increase of logged-in users over time is going to impact your data.

Baking Up Some Tasty Content

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)67525 — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 08:00:00 EST

October 26, 2011 - Anyone who has been to an independent bakery or watched TV shows like Ace of Cakes knows that running your own pastry palace is time-consuming but worth the effort. The same can be said for creating and marketing content on the Internet to promote your business.

As with any bakery, you need to have a menu of great recipes. Through trial and error, you can learn what sells and what goes stale at the end of the day. Your content is just like that - you need to decide if your clients are more interested in long, informative articles or if they'd rather read (and share) a short, quirky blog post. Watch and see what gets more comments/shares/likes on your website and social media to figure out your best "menu" offerings.

Think of your article library as your bakery display case!

Once you're up and running with some sweet and savory selections, it's time to draw in clients. Bakeries have the luxury of sight and smell to entice passers by. On the Internet, you need to focus on your meta descriptions and social media posts to attract clients to your content.

Many bakeries give away free samples on the counter to test a new recipe, promote a slow seller, or showcase a specialty. You can do this with your content as well! At We Do Web Content we use a concept called "spotlight blogging" where we use short blogs to lead readers into a longer, more informative article. The blogs are often condensed versions or the article to "whet their appetite" or information that was important to the topic but just didn't make it into the actual article. This gives them a taste of what your main content menu has to offer!

Finally, any small business is going to have trouble getting clients if they can't be found. A brick and mortar bakery can use flashy signs and building décor to show off their location, and if they're smart, they'll create local business listings on search sites like Yelp, MerchantCircle, YellowPages, and Google Places. If your business has an office, you can use these to your advantage, too.

As for getting your actual content found, that's where you need to get social! Link sharing is super important to reaching out to clients and being seen. Use your own social media profiles to spread your latest content offering, but also make sure you're sharing any great finds written by others - hopefully they'll reciprocate!

We'll end this blog with a delicious fall recipe just in time for your Halloween party! Because what's an article about bakeries without a cookie at the end?

White Chocolate Pumpkin Spice Cookies (the same ones Browser was eating the other day!)

This recipe comes to you from the Tasty Kitchen blog, one of my favorite places for new recipes. I made these for the office and they got rave reviews. Nice and moist, spicy and sweet - perfect blend of fall flavors.

Internet Etiquette for Link Sharing on Social Media

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)67488 — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 08:00:00 EST

October 25, 2011 - Those who cling to the social niceties of the world often speculate how etiquette maven Emily Post would operate if she were to engage in social media (in fact, the Emily Post Etipedia offers plenty of tips on social networking, in case you want to see how her progeny tackle the topic). We'd like to think Ms. Post would have a thing or two to say about sharing, or rather, how you go about link sharing on social media profiles.

Emily Post's advice is still relevant!

There's a near infinite amount of content floating around the World Wide Web, but only a small portion of it is really shared. Sharing makes the content marketing world go 'round, but it's important to be responsible about the links you post.

One general rule of thumb: any time you reference another source's work, throw them some credit! With social media this goes beyond a simple "works cited" style of credit. Because social media is "social" you want to specifically link to whomever you found the content from and give them a little friendly mention in your post content.

On Twitter, this is known as a "re-tweet" where you basically re-post a tweet sent by another user. Most Twitter clients, including the actual Twitter website, have an automatic re-tweet function built in - so there's no excuse not to use it!

For Facebook, there's the share link, which allows you to share posts from other friends and pages on your own wall. This is also pretty automatic and attributes the content to the original poster (you'll see "We Do Web Content shared a link from Browser" on the post or some similar notice).

These attributions are automatic making it super easy to follow Internet etiquette! Avoid copying and pasting content links and adding your own message without giving a shout out to the person who tipped you off. This helps you to build solid online relationships and foster the social media love.

Don't Forget Time Zones Still Exist on the Internet

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)67360 — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 08:00:00 EST

October 24, 2011 - This morning we were discussing potential meeting times for a consultation with a client. They said that a web conference around 11AM would work, otherwise they'd have to put us off until 1PM that afternoon. We were all ready to accept either time when it occurred to us, they were on the west coast - did they mean their time zone or ours?

If you're marketing nationally, this can make a BIG difference when you're scheduling your next Facebook post or tweet. If you're on the east coast, you're going to want to maximize your exposure by posting later in the morning due to the 3 hours time difference as you head west. West coast businesses need to work earlier or risk posting when potential east coast clients are heading to bed.

Time still exists on the Internet!

Whether you're looking to expand your social media reach locally or nationally you first need to figure out the best time to post. If your target client market is generally the 9-5 job type, they're most likely checking their social media either first thing in the morning before work or later in the evening. If your clients are business types, they may be checking at work, too, mid-morning or before leaving.

After a little research, just remember to add or subtract an hour or three before posting if you're going to target a specific time zone. The Internet may have connected us to the other side of the continent instantly, but it can't escape the time zones!

When your business is looking for quality, custom content for your website, newsletters, and social media marketing look no further than We Do Web Content. Having unique content on your website is a great way to increase search engine rankings and boost your Internet marketing. For affordable, quality content exclusive to YOUR website, blog and clients, contact us today! 1-888-521-3880.

Fun Friday: MC Hammer Search Engines & Bear News

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)67246 — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 08:00:00 EST

October 21, 2011 - We've got a ton of crazy internet, legal and office news to share on this Fun Friday!

In wacky Internet news, we have MC Hammer making a comeback - as a search engine. Yes, the "Can't Touch This" super star rap artist of the 90s has hung up his Hammer pants in exchange for khakis and a polo as he joins the world of search engine gurus. His new venture, WireDoo, promises a "deep search" experience that focuses on connecting keywords to related topics in what he calls "relationship search"

Is this going to give Google a run for its money? Probably not, but it'll be interesting to see how it works once it gets out of pre-beta phase (which we're pretty sure is called alpha phase).

For a bit of legal news, we'd just like to say hi to one of our newest Twitter followers, vititoelaw. You may know them as Masry & Vititoe - the law firm portrayed in the Erin Brokovich movie. Pretty cool that one @ mention to @stephenfairley on Twitter generated us a super-famous follower! Just goes to show you the power of the tweet!

A new Fun Friday category debuts today - Bear News! Since Browser's becoming a celebrity around our office, we're always looking for cute bear stories in the news, and we've got 2 for you this week. First, in Alaska you can pick up some fresh produce if you can manage to work around the black bear cub prowling the crisper aisle.

Back on the mainland, Tennessee has a bear problem of their own, only this one isn't as health conscious. A bear wandered in to the Ole Smoky Candy Kitchen in Gatlinburg and helped himself to pecan logs and caramel apples, maybe as a pre-Halloween treat.

We'll cap off the Bear News this week with some office bear news of our own! Browser's already generating plenty of fame as the face of our Panda-Monium Photo Contest, and now he's set up his own Facebook page to stay connected to all his fans! Follow Browser to see what he's up to in the office today, and maybe he'll share some great search engine tips!

I'll share search tips, but not my cookies!

The Full Deal on our Panda-Monium Photo Contest

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)67169 — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 08:00:00 EST

November 17, 2011 - UPDATE

We were made aware of recent changes to Facebook's contest/sweepstakes policies and found out that our photo contest has been rendered void. However, we did continue the canned food drive for "likes" contest and ended with 104 new fans and a generous donation to the Million Meals Committee just in time for Thanksgiving!

You can read the full details about why the photo contest was ended in our November 14th blog post. Thanks to everyone who supported the canned food drive!

October 20, 2011 - Whew, it's been a crazy few days - Browser has been "browsing" the office, making productivity a bit difficult when you have a cuddly panda friend lurking around your desk.

We officially launched our Panda-Monium Photo Contest on Tuesday after a slight delay with the legalese in the official contest rules. But now that it's all straightened out, we want to get you pumped up for participation!

There's actually 2 aspects of the contest: a canned food donation drive and a prize-earning opportunity. As with our last promotion with the Back to School Backpack Drive, we want to give something to the community to celebrate our new "likes". Since it's the holiday season, and that means FOOD, we're donating a canned good to the Million Meals Committee for each new "like" we gain between the contest start and November 15^th. We started with 533, so let's grow that number and feed some families!

There's another reason you're going to want to promote our page to your Facebook friends. Our actual contest is a photo contest, where your snapshot of Browser (in cutout form), could win you a brand new 8GB iPod Touch! You'll increase your chances of winning by having your friends "like" our page, because that will give them access to "like" your photo entry!

Take Browser somewhere unique and win an iPod Touch!

Just visit our Facebook page and click on the Photo Contest tab on the left sidebar to access the information. Of course, no contest is complete without official rules, and they're all there in their lawyery-goodness to protect us from any panda-shenanigans.

While you're toting Browser around during your holiday travels, looking for the perfect photo-op, we'll be keeping you updated on his daily office wanderings!

Our Next Facebook Fan Contest is Coming!

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)66925 — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 08:00:00 EST

October 17, 2011 - We forgot about all the legal mumbo-jumbo involved with running a contest that could result in you winning an iPod Touch!

Oops, we may have said too much already! Ok, we'll give you a few hints while our legal team irons out the official rules on our next contest.

It stars our very own Browser!
He had to have some glamour shots taken for this contest.
You'll need a printer, a camera, and some creativity to participate!

One cool thing we CAN talk about is our bonus contest! Starting now, even before the official contest announcement, any new "likes" the We Do Web Content Facebook page gains between 5PM today and 5PM November 15^th will generate a canned food donation to the Broward County Million Meals Committee!

Clicking "like" for cans!

Yep, you heard that right, for every new fan we gain between now and November 15^th we'll donate a can of food to their ongoing campaign to help feed needy families in South Florida.

Start spreading the word to "like" We Do Web Content - get friends to join, because not only will they generate another can for us to donate, but they can also help give you an edge in our upcoming contest!

Fun Friday: Sharks on a Golf Course and Panda-monium!

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)66800 — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 08:00:00 EST

October 14, 2011 - A typical Fun Friday blog begins with me shouting out "ok, what's weird or cool on the Internet this week?" and Alex W linked me to a story too odd not to pass up. Once discussed and confirmed as a FF piece, there was then the challenge to keep it clean, because there's obviously a joke or two to be had about balls when you're taking golf courses infested with sharks.

Yes, a Sydney, Australia golf course has a bull shark problem in their lakes, giving the term "water hazard" a whole new meaning. We'd suggest that you request a do-over if you land one in the pond, because there's no way you can play it as it lies when a bull shark fin is seen poking out of the water.

This has been an interesting month for Apple, between the announcement of the iPhone 4S and iOS5, and then the sudden loss of co-founder Steve Jobs, the iconic fruit logo has been on the thumbnails of blogs and social media posts everywhere. You may have seen a recent trend using one particular graphic - a silhouette of Steve Jobs appearing as the "bite" out of the Apple logo.

This design was created by a university student in Hong Kong and has become the face of Steve Jobs tributes across the Internet. Unfortunately, no awesome digital design can go uncontested for too long, and Jonathan Mak is now facing scrutiny for supposedly copying the idea from another similar design.

The contested design, created in August as a tribute to Steve Jobs when he stepped down as CEO, was made by Chris Thornley, a British graphic designer. There's a lot of back and forth on whether Mak's design was just coincidence, as he claims to have never seen Thornley's work, or if he was copying, but does it really matter? The world still lost Steve Jobs, and I think it's a pretty cool tribute icon to him.

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for...our Google Panda's name is....

Browser!

With the entirety of the votes going to "Browser" our panda now has a name to be called by. Come back Monday when we release the details of why getting the fuzzy guy named was so important as we reveal our next Facebook contest!

How to Beef Up Your Brainstorming Sessions at Work

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)66714 — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 08:00:00 EST

October 13, 2011 - Earlier this week we were all revved up for a fun brainstorming session on our next Facebook contest. Aside from generating some great ideas, which you'll learn about in the coming days, I also learned a bit from our boss, Yvette, about what she does to prepare for these sort of collaborations.

It was just a casual comment while walking in the common area, but I heard her say to one of my co-workers:

"You know, one of the ways I prepare for a brainstorming session is to look at how other companies have handled similar projects and whether or not they were successful. (Seeing the good, bad, and the ugly will really help you define your path because you'll have a much better sense of what you like and don't like.) Then, I choose the ideas I know we'll be able to scale to fit our budget and/or resources. I'll even keep notes on the things I really liked, but maybe can't swing for the project at that particular time for whatever reason. This way I can easily revisit these ideas when we aren't limited in any way."

In other words, she was supporting the notions of "follow the leader" and "learn from other's mistakes". And hey, these aren't bad things to do! While certainly, smaller businesses like ours can't do million T-shirt giveaways or a fan contest to win a new car, we can take those ideas and apply them on a smaller scale.

So before you head into the next brainstorming session at your office, think about what question you're going to be tackling. If you're generating ideas for a logo redesign, take a look at how some of your top competitors have handled that in the past. Or even go for the big guys like Starbucks to see how they faired when they removed their name from around their iconic mermaid.

When you've got a good grasp on what's worked for others, it's time to apply this to your own business. Think about scaling things down to your level. If you're offering a prize, think locally - gift certificates to a restaurant in the neighborhood or tickets to the next local sports game. You may be able to do a trade-off with another business - offer an incentive from your business in exchange for one from theirs to use as a giveaway!

Don't forget that we're still running one more day of voting tomorrow for the name of our plush Google Panda pal! This may be a hint at what's coming up next for Facebook contests...

Where's the Beef?

It Doesn't Take a Genius to Create and Market Appealing Content

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)66407 — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 08:00:00 EST

October 10, 2011 - Happy Columbus Day! Let's "discover" some tips to creating appealing content, shall we?

First thing's first, remember the medium you're writing for. Is this a personal blog where you give your two cents on the latest topics in your industry? Or is this a longer, informative article designed to give your readers just enough information to whet their appetite and make them seek you out for more?

Help your readers "discover" new content!

Once you know your content's venue you need to create it based on how your clients will react. Studies have shown that the more flowery, descriptive content that generally plays to a higher reading level is shared less than content that's written in plain and simple terms.

In other words, don't pepper your paper with pithy prose and prolong proper reader placation. In other-other words...write for the masses, keep your words simple, and don't try to get too "cute" like we just did there - readers want informative content, not a literary masterpiece.

Because your content is being created for an Internet medium, whether it be a blog, a website, or email, this means that it's entered the fast-paced digital world. With tablets and smartphones making content consumption on-the-go much more common, you need to cut to the chase and get your point across before your readers get bored.

Don't forget to do a little personal promotion in your content as well. Some "experts" say that referring to yourself as the "guru" of your field is bad, but readers zero in on titles like "official" "expert" "founder" "guru" and "author". Just remember to be truthful about your credentials, and if you're an attorney, make sure none of that sort of language is prohibited for use in legal marketing by your state bar.

It may sound silly, but it's been shown that just adding "please retweet" or "share with your friends" can actually increase traffic to content posted to social media! Most readers consume content and forget about it, but those little reminders really do help make a difference in sharing rates!

Fun Friday: Twitter Trending of Steve Jobs and Smart Cars

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)66309 — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 08:00:00 EST

October 7, 2011 - We do have to start this Fun Friday off on a sad but interesting note regarding the recent passing of co-founder and former CEO of Apple, Steve Jobs.

Mr. Jobs left us on Wednesday after 56 years of visionary excellence and innovation that's changed the world of technology over the past decades. He leaves behind a great legacy, so it's not surprising that his death has become the most rapidly tweeted topic, according to new figures from Twitter.

The previous record-holding event was the MTV Video Music Awards where singer Beyonce revealed she was pregnant during her performance. That event generated 8,868 tweets per second, but the news of Mr. Jobs' passing surpassed that figure to reach the 10,000 tps mark.

Celebrity news isn't the only thing that generates a buzz on Twitter - other tweetable events this year included:

Japan's victory over the US in women's soccer World Cup - 7,196 tps
March's earthquake in Japan - 5,530 tps
Osama bin Laden's death - +5,000 tps
Prince William & Kate Middleton's Wedding - 3,966

Just remember, Twitter claims in 2010 the average daily tweets per second were 600 - that means these were really hot topics! (statistics provided by Sydney Morning Herald)

And now for some fun! Has your car ever told you to get coffee? We saw this image on a newsfeed and just had to find out what was up:

A "Check Coffee" light?

Apparently some of the artificial intelligence in cars today is so advanced that it can detect changes in your driving habits and make the suggestion that you stop for a rest or some caffeine. You can read all about it on the AOL news feature. Now if only they'd have an espresso machine mounted in my center console...

Your Customers Want a Direct Response From YOU on Twitter!

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)66158 — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 08:00:00 EST

October 6, 2011 - One of the beautiful things about Twitter is that it's instant. You tweet, it goes out, and you're set! This has allowed for great changes in the way we exchange information, from live tweet-streams at important events (like Tuesday's Apple iPhone announcement) to celebrity gossip - it's all on Twitter.

As a business owner, you need to keep up with your Twitter interactions to see what customers are saying about your products or services. If a client tweets a complaint about your company, you need to respond ASAP. In fact, there are studies to back up this principle.

Don't ignore client tweet interaction!

Maritz Research reviewed the client-company interactions of frequent Twitter users 18 years and older. These users issued a customer complaint to a company and at least half of those users said they expected a response from the company. Unfortunately, only about 33% of the total users ever received a follow-up.

Of those that DID get a response, 83% said they loved that the company acknowledged their complaint personally, and 75% were satisfied to some degree with the response.

Age matters when it comes to Twitter response expectations. It seems that more than 90% of the older Twitter users (meaning those older than 45 years) would be very pleased if they were given a direct response by a company in regards to a tweeted complaint. The younger generation seemed a bit indifferent as to whether or not they got a response, with only about 80% saying they'd be impressed.

Gender plays a role as well - women are more likely to both tweet complaints and expect their tweets to be responded to. And what about the 66% of complaint tweets that went unanswered in the study? Roughly 86% of these users said that they would have appreciated some sort of follow up from the company.

So what can you as a business owner do about this? If you're not already offering customer support on Twitter, now's the time to start! Here are 4 pointers for business owners using Twitter:

Keep a regular schedule to check your Twitter stream to see what's being said about and to your company.
Don't let direct tweets or mentions go unanswered for too long.
Post engaging content to increase sharing and re-tweets.
Don't bury your complaints - even "bad" press is good press if you resolve the matter in a positive way!

Facebook's Timeline Delay and Apple's Latest iPhone

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)66156 — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 08:00:00 EST

October 5, 2011 - Well, October 3 has come and gone and where's my Facebook timeline? OK, I actually have it because I opted in for the developer mode version, but I'm not using it much because it just doesn't feel finished.

So is that the reason for the release delay? Nope, like every big thing with Facebook, there's a lawsuit involved. This time, the launch was delayed to October 6 (they say) because a small Chicago company, Timelines.com, filed a patent lawsuit against the social media giant. Their claim is that the Timeline feature threatens its business. The company incidentally owns the trademarks to "Timelines" "Timelines.com" and "Timelines&design"

A request for a temporary restraining order against Facebook was rejected by the court, however after yesterday's meeting between Sam Lessin (product manager of Facebook) and Timeline.com's representative; we're waiting to see how the injunction request goes. Meanwhile, there's no solid release date until all these legal shenanigans get ironed out, so you've still got time to try and adjust to the new newsfeed before you get pushed into the Timeline profile as well.

Enough about Facebook, let's move on to what really stole the Internet show yesterday - Apple's iPhone announcement...or not-announcement as some put it. Everyone was expecting the iPhone 5 and what they got was a slew of new iPods, iOS5, and the iPhone 4S.

Just like the iPhone 3GS, the iPhone 4S is a beefed up but comparable version of the previous generation. It's got a better camera, faster processor, better display, and the best functionality with iOS5. One of the coolest features? Siri, the voice-concierge feature that lets you tell your phone what you want it to do. Might help curtail texting and driving?

So to wrap things up, we're still waiting for the public launch of Timeline to see how this will impact marketing on Facebook. As for the latest from Apple, this only stresses the importance of mobile presence when you want your business to be searchable to clients on the go. Next week we'll have features on easy ways to get your business on smartphones without needing an app!

Never a quiet day on the Internet...

The 2 Sides to Your Company's Social Networking Policy

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)66014 — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 08:00:00 EST

October 4, 2011 - Now we're getting to the point where you really need to be on your toes: governing your employees' use of their personal social networking accounts.

There are 2 main issues to consider when drafting up a plan for regulating non-work related use of social networking sites by your employees:

1. You should address when it is appropriate to use social networking sites during working hours or on a company computer.
2. You should also address what is and isn't appropriate to discuss on their personal profiles without violating labor laws.

The following questions may help you determine your company's exact rules for when and where employees can engage in social networking:

When would using social networking sites decrease productivity?
When would accessing social networking sites be appropriate?
When would the use of social networking sites create a hazard?

You want to make sure that if an employee is checking their Facebook newsfeed that it's being done during an appropriate time, such as during their lunch break. Some companies are lax about time restrictions, and have a general "as long as we're not busy, have at it" policy, while others restrict personal contact time to appropriate break periods.

When is it time to tell your employees to log off Facebook?

Social networking during working hours can present two types of hazards: 1) electronic; and 2) physical. There have been many cases of malicious software or viruses infecting computers through social networking links. Also, an employee who is distracted by checking their Facebook on their smartphone could be causing physical hazards by neglecting to monitor their surroundings.

The next part of your company's social networking policy should focus on what your employees are saying on their personal profiles. As the employer, it's easy to get yourself into legal hot water here, so it's best to draft this part of your policy with the help of an employment attorney.

Some states have strict laws about whether or not an employer can read their employees' personal social networking profiles. There is a belief that anything made public is intended for general reading, and therefore, if an employee's Facebook profile is not secured, it is fair game. However, this may not be true in all cases, and you should definitely consult with an attorney before making any employment decisions due to a conflict of information shared on a personal profile.

One thing you definitely should make clear in your company's social networking policy is that disclosing some forms of information might be strictly prohibited such as:

trade secrets;
proprietary information;
financial information; and
client identity.

In most cases, when an employee signs their employment contract, you will have a non-disclosure statement already worked in. Even so, there's no reason you shouldn't reinforce it here, as it may not always be apparent that a tweet about the new product your company is working on may be violating disclosure agreements.

In the end, your company's social networking policy should be mindful of these important issues:

When is it appropriate to use social media at work?
What is appropriate to discuss work-related activity/issues on a personal social media profile?
How can employers monitor employee personal social media use?

For a great example of a generic social networking policy, check out the Texas Workforce Commission's template. Entrepreneur also features a great article on the consequences of not having a well-structured social networking policy.

And that's the end of our informative series on social networking in the workplace! We'll return tomorrow with the fun stuff - making social media marketing work for YOUR business!

The Essentials of a Professional Social Media Use Policy

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)65942 — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 08:00:00 EST

October 3, 2011 - Whether or not you already have a social media policy in place for your company, now is the time to review your business's needs and revisit or draft your rules for social networking and employee conduct.

There are many things to consider when drafting a social media policy and two types of use policies: personal and professional. We'll focus on the professional side for now, as we found two great "top 10" lists for drafting your own professional social media use policy.

These tips are most important for businesses whose employees maintain social media accounts in the business's name, or individual professional accounts as employees of those businesses. (Hint: you can use individual accounts to provide excellent customer support on a personal level!)

From these two lists, we extracted 5 guidelines your employees should follow when socializing on behalf of your business:

Be Honest - don't hide who you work for, always state your company, position, and real name.
Review your post before sending it - make sure you're posting on the correct profile, but most of all make sure the post makes sense, is grammatically correct, and is not misleading or unintentionally inappropriate.
Be courteous and use common sense - remember you are interacting with clients and customers and your actions represent your business.
Know your boundaries - only work within your level of authority, if a discussion goes beyond the scope of your role in the company, bring it to the attention of the appropriate person to handle the situation.
Remember who you are - everything you post on a social network under your company identity will reflect on the company itself.

The purpose of a professional social media policy is to make sure that your business is taking advantage of the great marketing and customer relations that social media has to offer without risking embarrassment or legal trouble by an employee's misconduct. Whether you only have one social media manager handling all accounts for your business, or if each employee has their own professional account, with a solid policy in place, you can help curtail any issues that may arise.

If you're interested in reading the full versions of the top 10 lists we found, visit Mashable.com's 10 "must-haves" when creating a policy for your company. They are one of our go-to sites for solid information on Internet marketing. You can read the other list on Shift Communications' website where they provide these guidelines and policy template.

When dealing with these aspects of social media, you have to be careful that the policy isn't written too vaguely, but that it also isn't too restrictive. You could end up either confusing your employees or losing out on valuable interaction with clients.

Tomorrow we'll touch on the personal social media use plan, which is a whole different ball game!

A Legal Look at Social Media Privacy in the Workplace

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)65817 — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 08:00:00 EST

September 30, 2011 - The end of the week is usually filled with news on the latest features and changes to our favorite social media platforms. You'd think Facebook's Timeline would be taking center stage with its impending Monday release, but we've got a new more serious concern on our radar.

A recent meeting of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) generated a report focused on employers' social media policies. The report included 14 specific instances of both acceptable and unacceptable cases where social media policies were the focus of employment-related litigation.

What's your policy?

Whether or not your company has a social media policy, this is some food for thought when it comes to dealing with employee conduct on Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks. These cases focused more on what was said and how, rather than limiting employee access to social media in the workplace.

The gist of the NLRB's position on social media conduct is that for an employer to use social media evidence as a basis for employee termination or reprimand, they must first determine the true nature of the content and how it was transmitted.

The content is the actual statements being distributed by the employee. Social media activity is considered "protected" if it's a statement about wages, hours or working conditions. The other key element is whether the content is "concerted" meaning the statements were engaged in with or on the authority of other employees.

In plain English - employees can discuss concerns about wages, hours or working conditions with other employees on social media, so long as it's not a personal attack, malicious or untrue.

The method of transmission doesn't necessarily mean the social network you're posting to, it means whom you are directing the message to. If you're sending a private message to other employees only or to the company on behalf of yourself and other employees, it's acceptable. Posting on your public Facebook wall about how your boss gets on your nerves because he likes to talk about his awesome golf game is not necessarily protected content.

You can access the full report at the National Labor Relations Board and read detailed reviews of cases that may concern your own business at some point in time. If your business doesn't already have a social media policy, you may want to consider developing one in light of this report. On Monday we'll have more information for you on finding the right policies for your business' social media rules.

Length Matters! Longer Tweets Mean More Clicks

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)65757 — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 08:00:00 EST

September 29, 2011 - When composing your next tweet, you should make sure you're making the best use of your character count!

When Twitter hit the social media stage a very restrictive 140-character limit came with it, causing headaches to long-winded marketers. Suddenly, new message-shortening slang and services began to arise, with link shrinkers like bit.ly becoming a necessity for tweeting links to websites.

Twitter has come a long way from being a text message-based service.

Today, Twitter is one of the social media giants many businesses use to keep their clients engaged in their latest news and offers. Food trucks tweet their daily locations, restaurants let their followers know happy hour begins in 2 hours, and hardware stores announce their latest deal on house paint.

Some new data from a research study on Twitter message length has shown that while Twitter may be a short-form platform, you still need to make use of as much of those 140 characters as you can. The research shows, the longer your tweet, the more likely followers are to click on the link you're promoting.

Tweets of 20 characters generally got about a 6% click-through rate (CTR), while tweets nearing the 130 mark saw a nearly 16% CTR.

This shows that followers are looking for a little more than "Read my blog: http://bit.ly/n0TujD" in your marketing tweets. The recent marketing research data suggests that putting a little more effort into your tweets can generate more clicking through on your links!

Share Your Content on Social Media, Increase Blog Traffic!

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)65667 — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 08:00:00 EST

September 28, 2011 - Want to increase your blog traffic without gimmicks or paying for clicks? Share your content!

Sharing is caring!

A popular SEO company recently conducted a study of 5,000 of their customers who published regular content to a blog. They found that the bloggers who shared their latest entry via Facebook and Twitter increased pageviews by 160%!

Twitter-only shares produced a 63% pageview increase, while Facebook-only shares produced a 117% increase over those who just posted their blogs and called it a day. The other benefit to social media sharing is that you'll generate more inbound links to your content! Sharing on both Twitter and Facebook increased inbound linking 149% over those who don't share.

But the benefits keep coming! How about MORE interaction with your content? Sharing increased the number of comments on blog posts by 55% for those who dual-posted. Comments are one of the best ways to tell that your content is really being read and digested by your potential clients and current fans.

Of course, the success of social media sharing still rests on a key factor: quality content. Even if you're sharing it on your Facebook business page or Twitter account, if your blog content isn't worth reading, it's not going to do you much good for reaching out to clients.

We Do Web Content can help you avoid this problem. Not only do we provide our clients quality, customized content for their blog, websites, newsletters, and more, but we also help with your social media marketing outreach. We'll write your content, post it to your sites, and get it out to your fans in a complete Internet marketing package that's both cost effective and successful!

Facebook Still King of Time Consumption on the Internet

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)65556 — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 08:00:00 EST

September 27, 2011 - Recent data shows that from 2007 to present day Facebook saw a 700% increase in its ranking as time spent online by consumers. In the 3^rd quarter of 2007 Facebook use only accounted for about 2% of time spent online. Currently it's up to about 16%, ranking nearly 4% higher than the entire collective of Google sites!

How many minutes or hours do you spend Facebooking?

Now with Facebook's new lineup of changes, including Timeline and the integration of Spotify and Netflix, it's pretty obvious that time spent on this social media giant is only going to increase. But how do you really identify what "time spent on Facebook" is?

If you're actively reading through your news feed and posting or commenting on content, you're definitely spending time on Facebook. But if you're actually in your Spotify account and it auto-posts the new artist you're listening to, does that count as time spent on Facebook as well?

You can't always trust the numbers when it comes to determining whether or not a social media platform is successful in business marketing. What you CAN do is talk to social media management companies who know how the game is played.

At We Do Web Content we provide social media content and management services to our clients so they're always on the right platforms at the right time. Big changes in the way things work for the marketing world are the norm when it comes to social media, and we strive to keep our clients on top of the game.

My 5 Minutes with Facebook Timeline

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)65424 — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 08:00:00 EST

September 26, 2011 - I'm impatient when it comes to waiting to try new features, and when I heard that I could get my hands dirty in Facebook's Timeline earlier than the general release, I had to do it.

Unfortunately, I had a busy weekend and didn't get to set it up and really play with it as planned, so I had to wait until I got into the office this morning to get things rolling. As I poked around, I realized this could be a HUGE distraction, and I have content to write! That being said, I've decided to give you an impression of what the first 5 minutes of your Timeline experience may feel like.

The current view of Timeline in developer mode.

At first glance it has similarities to a LinkedIn profile with the little personal bio/resume synopsis under your photo in the upper left. For those of you who love customizing, you can change your profile pic here, and also add a "cover" (mine is our awesome WDWC sign that's on the wall behind my desk).

Facebook auto-populates your Timeline based on the content you've already published. It's not a left-to-right progression like most timelines, but a top-to-bottom...as you scroll you see all the posts that you've made in the past days, weeks and month. Then there's an option to expand into next month to see what you did in the past.

There are links everywhere to add entries to the Timeline, so you can go back and retroactively mark an important event that you failed to mention. If you're really super serious about getting all the main milestones of your life pre-Facebook on there, you could potentially spend days going back and adding entries.

So, what does this really mean for using Facebook? It's definitely a switch to a personal format rather than a friend-watcher like the current news feed update made it to be. Right now, you have to click the "Home" link to get back to your news feed to see what your friends are up to - Timeline is all about what you're doing.

It's social in a new sense - your Timeline is a way for people to see your life story as told by Facebook (and expanded on by you). Will Timeline work for business pages? We've yet to see, but when it rolls out publically on October 3(the date according to the developer app) we'll keep our brains set to marketing!

Facebook's Timeline: Dawning of a New Era or Jumping the Shark?

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)65301 — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 08:00:00 EST

September 23, 2011 - Yesterday's f8 developers conference announced what many of us had already heard - Facebook is rolling out yet another drastic change.

Your life, according to Facebook.

"Timeline" is exactly as it sounds, a linear progression of your life on the Internet. It will begin filling in your story through the posts and content you've already made to Facebook. Then you can go into pre-Facebook years (if you remember there was such a time that Facebook didn't exist) and add in your own milestones, photos, and more.

This latest change is in cooperation with Facebook's ever growing campaign to integrate itself into every aspect of our lives. Their focus is to nurture the personal connections Facebook allows us to make, rather than being just a bunch of social game requests and chain wall posts.

The problem many users are seeing with this new direction they're taking is that maybe too much is too much when it comes to sharing your personal life story. While some people are an open (face)book, many of us would rather just use Facebook to keep in touch with friends and businesses/brands we like to know about.

Privacy has always been a big issue with Facebook and Timeline will no doubt add to those worries. It's going to be a rocky couple of weeks as developers, marketing professionals, and social media gurus figure out how this new feature works.

At We Do Web Content we'll be taking advantage of the developer access to gain early admission to the Timeline ride - and we'll let you know how it is! From a marketing standpoint this could mean great things. Just off the top of our heads, we're imagining:

Building an informative timeline full of relevant posts, milestones, and events in your business' history.
Using the social tools like music with Spotify and other "fun" apps to give your business a more human appeal.
Developing more personal relationships with your clients by showcasing business events on your timeline that they may find relevant.

Once we get our hands dirty in the Timeline feature, we'll be sure to share our thoughts and ideas on how this change will improve our social media marketing services to you!

Facebook's Subscribing us to More Marketing Opportunity!

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)65085 — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 08:00:00 EST

September 20, 2011 - There's never a dull moment with Facebook! The social network behemoth has been rolling out even more new features in the past week from improvements to lists to the subscribe feature.

Subscribe is the latest new shiny object that Mark Zuckerberg is dangling before users and is of specific importance to law firms. Many firms struggle to have a professional page for their business, but still keep followers connected on a personal level. Unfortunately, unless you're using your personal profile to directly contact fans, this has been difficult to achieve through a business page.

Now if you turn on the "allow subscribers" feature your page's fans can follow your public updates without having to allow them access to your whole profile. This will allow you to share thoughts and links that you feel are relevant to your subscribers without worrying they'll also see your post about how you feel about Heidi Klum's latest dismissal on "Project Runway."

You're the next virtual newsstand sensation!

Of course, this still means that you have to be aware of how you're designating a post before you submit it. If it's marked public that means it goes out to everyone, so make extra certain it's a quality post!

If your law firm has multiple partners all administering a page, Subscribe allows them all to have a more personal voice. This is especially useful when you have attorneys handling certain case types or practice areas, as it lets their expertise shine as an individual without having to disclose too much to clients about their personal Facebook activity.

If all this sounds a little confusing and involved, don't worry. Marketers are just exploring the potential the Subscribe feature has in the world of social media marketing, and there's sure to be new tricks to learn! At We Do Web Content, we're all about the social media tricks and we can help you take advantage of the latest features on the top sites!

Your Social Media Links Have an Expiration Date

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)64974 — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 08:00:00 EST

September 19, 2011 - Did you ever imagine that your tweets have a life span? They do! Every link and update shared through social media has a few short hours before it gets lost in a sea of content and depending on your platform this can have drastic effects on your article marketing.

Great content is worthless if people aren't finding it, and social media has been helping get content in the hands of eager clients for a few years now. However, as more businesses jump on the social media bandwagon, this means more competition for the spotlight on your feed pages.

The URL shortening service bit.ly recently studied the "half-life" of links generated through their service and shared on social media platforms. The half-life is considered to be the time it takes for a link to generate half of the total amount of clicks it receives after reaching its peak. They found the following average durations for the main 4 social networking tools:

2.8 hours for Twitter;
3.2 hours for Facebook;
3.4 hours for direct contacts (instant messages, email, texts, etc.); and
7.4 hours for YouTube.

In a nutshell, this means that every time you link to an article, blog or website on your social media profiles, they will eventually fade off into the sunset. This is both a good and a bad thing!

It's good in a way because this prevents content from getting stale. If you've got a library of engaging, relevant content from We Do Web Content there's always something new you can pick off the shelf to share with your clients!

The downside is that these great articles serve their purpose and then wander off to die...or at least their links do! To make sure that the content we generate for your business reaches its full potential we maximize the permanent locations of your articles so they reach more readers. WDWC provides article marketing services to get your name and your content a permanent home on several respected article submission hubs.

Don't let your tweets expire!

It's a Newsy Fun Friday! Facebook Changes, Google Fun!

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)64853 — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 08:00:00 EST

September 16, 2011 - There's just so much news to share on the Internet this week, it's time for some links!

Linking makes the world go 'round!

First up, we haven't mentioned the Google Doodle lately, and today just so happens to be Albert Szent-Gyorgyi's birthday. Don't have a clue who he is or why his representative doodle looks like the front of an orange juice bottle? Click the Doodle and learn more! (remember, you have to be logged out of your custom iGoogle view to see the doodle, or at least perform a search).

Continuing with Google, we found a nifty little time-waster called A Google a Day. Test your web search skills by tracking down the answer to the daily trivia question. There's a timer, hints, and when you succeed, you can use their social media features to brag about it on your Twitter!

Enough with Google news, because Facebook's been even busier! Have you noticed all the new features they've added lately? Now you've got the option to organize your friends into lists, which creates a newsfeed for just those updates. For those of you with hundreds of friends or follow every brand page ever, this can really help you organize your news feed!

The thing we noticed this morning that has us even more excited from a marketing standpoint is the new feature of showing when and how your posts are shared. After you post to your business page, if anyone re-posts that update, you can see exactly who it was and what they said about your post! Great way to track how effectively your social media marketing is working (and if it isn't, give us a call!)

To round up our Facebook news for the week, did you know part of Germany has banned businesses from using Facebook and their "like" button? It's true! Businesses located in the Schleswig-Holstein state must deactivate their business page and remove all "like" buttons from their websites by the end of the month.

Basically, the German government is trying to prevent companies from shifting the blame for data privacy violations onto another party. Imagine what the social media marketing scene would look like here in the U.S. if we had a similar dilemma - yikes!

And there's your Internet news bits for the week! We'll be back Monday with more great We Do Web Content...content!

Getting your eBooks in the Hands of Potential Clients

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)64771 — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 08:00:00 EST

Blog Series: The Wonderful World of eBooks

September 15, 2011 - If you've been following along with us we've gone from topic selection to content creation. You've now got a great eBook ready to wow your potential clients and show them you mean business. But how do you get your latest bestseller into their hands?

With so many eBooks out there, make sure yours is accessible!

The beauty of eBooks is that you don't need to rely on expensive publishing companies to create a printed run (although it IS an option!). All you need is a well-developed PDF conversion and a simple request form on your website!

Preparing your eBook for digital distribution involves 2 main things: formatting and optimization. Creating a PDF isn't too difficult, but you need to make sure that your finished product looks good. Don't leave pages with tiny chunks of text and huge blank spots, and make sure all your margins are nice and uniform. Remember, even if it's not a printed book it should still look like one.

Optimization is the key to maximize usability for your readers. An advantage of eBooks is that you can actually link to other parts of the book using hyperlinks, and you can even link to websites. At the very least, your table of contents should be optimized to allow a reader to click a section and jump right to it. Optimizing specifically for tablets and eReaders like the iPad or Kindle is also another new wave of eBook usability enhancements that you should consider.

If all this sounds complicated, we can help! We Do Web Content doesn't just provide the meat of your eBook by ghostwriting custom, quality content, we also handle all the editing, formatting, and processing to make your eBook ready for the digital bookshelf. We can also help you with marketing the book to your potential clients through your website, social media, email campaigns, newsletters and press releases. You're going to want to tell EVERYONE about your new life as a published author!

Your eBook Content is the Key to Marketing Success

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)64682 — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 08:00:00 EST

Blog Series: The Wonderful World of eBooks

September 14, 2011 - So you've picked a topic and now you're ready to write. Most people aren't born writers, and that's why so many business owners never think they could be a published author. The truth is, if you've picked the right topic you've already got the content in your head - all you need is to get it on paper (or computer)!

You've got some pages to fill - but how?

There are many ways to get the content from your brain to an editable format. Of course, you can write it yourself if you feel up to the challenge. Dictation is another choice, either in person or digitally. Perhaps one of the best solutions is to work with a ghostwriter like We Do Web Content who can not only extract your knowledge but also write it in a professional format.

No matter how the content goes from your head to the PC, you need to remember why you're writing an eBook in the first place. If you chose a good, informative topic with enough content to make a book but not too much technical stuff to bore or confuse your readers, you're on the right track.

The goal of your eBook is to offer valuable information to your clients without "giving away the farm" - in other words, educate them to the point that they realize they need your professional help. You won't be giving them everything they need to "solve the problem," but showing them that you have the expertise to help them!

eBook marketing is all about giving just enough quality content to establish yourself as a trustworthy professional in your field. Once a client has seen that you're well versed in your topic, they'll have more confidence in not only your abilities, but also in their own knowledge. If a client understands their situation better, they're more apt to know when they need to contact a professional for help.

What makes a good eBook topic?

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)64618 — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 08:00:00 EST

Blog Series: The Wonderful World of eBooks

September 13, 2011 - Before you begin writing your eBook you need to choose a topic. Not all topics will lend themselves to having an entire eBook dedicated to them, so you'll need to assess what kind of information you're interested in giving out.

Informative eBooks are extremely popular because they allow clients to get a lot of their answers about your industry ahead of time. The more they can learn on their own, the better educated they are when they come to seek your professional help. Therefore, it's important to pay attention to the common misconceptions and questions your new clients come in with.

Narrow down your topics early and stick to just one or two for your first eBook campaign.

You may also want to consider an eBook with several sub-topics under a core idea. For instance, a personal injury attorney may offer their clients an eBook they wrote on the 10 biggest mistakes a victim can make after they've been injured in a car accident. Topics like this are attractive to new clients, because it gives them something to review and compare to their situation. An injured victim may realize they're guilty of these mistakes and know they should seek your help to avoid more damage.

It's important to choose topics that appeal to the level of knowledge your clients need. This means avoiding technical jargon about your industry and giving just enough information to wet your client's whistle. Here's a few examples of good and bad topic choices:

Bad topic: Filing a Claim of Premises Liability against a Government Entity
Why it's bad: Most clients know premises liability as "slip and fall" accidents, and only talking about filing a claim against a government entity isn't an expansive enough topic to create a whole book about.

Good topic: The Timeline of Your Personal Injury Claim
Why it's good: Clients like to know what to expect through the personal injury claim process, and as long as you keep your content general it should easily fill a 20-30 page eBook without getting too involved.

Making topic choices can be difficult and hinder your eBook process later on. If your topic turns out to be too complex or doesn't have enough bulk to create enough content, you may be wasting valuable time! We Do Web Content can remove that risk by reviewing your business services and developing several topic choices that best market your business and show off your expertise.

The 4 Ws and H of eBooks

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)64508 — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 08:00:00 EST

Blog Series: The Wonderful World of eBook Marketing

September 12, 2011 - Many of us think that writing an entire book is impossible - we're not writers, and there's just not enough hours in a day. Then along came the eBook, and with it came a much easier format for writing and method of publishing and distributing. This means that today anyone can be a published author!

eBooks are a great marketing tool, they can be on any topic relevant to your business and there's no real constraints on length. You don't need to find a big publishing company, and there are plenty of resources out there to help business owners compose, edit, and publish their eBooks.

Books have entered the digital age with PDFs, tablets and eReaders

At We Do Web Content we offer eBook services from content creation to editing and distribution. We can handle your entire eBook campaign from topic development all the way through publishing! We love eBooks, and this week's focus is all on them, so let's get started with the basics: the 4 Ws and H of eBooks!

What are eBooks? An eBook is basically a guide to an important topic in your business. For a personal injury attorney, it may be a guide for how to deal with insurance companies. For a financial advisor, it may be a book explaining the different investment strategies a client can use to prepare for retirement.

Who reads your eBooks? Your potential clients! By offering a free eBook on your website, in your newsletter, through Facebook and on your local search profiles, you show potential clients that your business is so good at what it does that you have knowledge to spare!

When do you need an eBook? After years in your industry, you know the common questions and issues your clients face. Instead of answering them day in and day out, an eBook can give them all this information in one easy package! If you want to boost your credibility and draw in new clients, an eBook is the way to go.

Where do you get help writing an eBook? At We Do Web Content, of course! We can do it all: develop relevant topics, write your content, proofread and edit the copy, prepare the book for digital distribution, and market your new eBook to your clients.

How do you get started? Think about what sort of industry-specific information your clients may wish they'd had before contacting your business. Many of these simple questions and concerns can be explored as eBooks. Depending on your needs, you can come to We Do Web Content any time for help with your eBook. Whether you've got a topic in mind, or have no clue where to start, we're here to help!

Keep coming back all week as we explore more about the wonderful world of eBooks.

Event Marketing Examples from the GLM Convention Floor

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)64242 — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 08:00:00 EST

September 8, 2011 - Things may be getting ready to wrap up at the GLM Rescue Mission in New Jersey, but we're still pumped for all the great marketing ideas swirling around the room!

Topics today have touched on practically anywhere your marketing reach can take you - from social media to newsletters and even more ways to make use of YouTube. If you haven't been following the #glmrescuemission hash tag, fire up your browser and catch up on the day's top tips!

One of the topics that's often ignored by businesses as a marketing opportunity is event marketing. Right now, We Do Web Content is doing just that as we network with attorneys and marketers from our snazzy table:

Our table features the latest in Google Panda technology - fortunes!

It just so happens that a new report on the impact of event marketing landed in our inbox today, and some of the numbers may be surprising:

The average company spends less than 20% of its budget on event marketing.
E-mail campaigns are still the most widely used method of event marketing.
47% of companies still SNAIL MAIL their event invites!
40% of companies have joined the digital age and promote their events through social media.
Only 1/3 of companies are making use of press releases to market events.

There's so much untapped potential in event marketing, and any business can do it! You don't need to put on a huge day-long conference like our friends at Great Legal Marketing do from time to time. You can learn from small local businesses, too, with a great event marketing campaign.

If you're looking for the best type of content and venues to publish the information on your business' next event, let We Do Web Content help! Our press release, newsletter, social media and e-mail campaign services will help spread the word to your clients and help make your event a well-attended success!

WDWC is off to New Jersey for a GLM Rescue Mission!

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)64040 — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 08:00:00 EST

September 6, 2011 - It's been super busy here at the We Do Web Content headquarters as we gear up for the Great Legal Marketing "No Smart Lawyer Left Behind" one-day rescue mission. Attorney and legal marketing guru Ben Glass is putting on another great day-long conference to teach lawyers about the importance of marketing their law firms.

We're big fans of Ben and his team, so we're excited to attend and meet up with them once more to pick their brains on the latest trends and successes in the world of legal marketing. Last year had an amazing turnout in Chicago, despite the freezing temps, and this year's conference looks to be no different as it's already sold out!

WDWC Co-founder Yvette Valencia and Sales Manager Alex Valencia will be attending not only to hear Great Legal Marketing's latest information on the legal marketing industry, but also to provide attorneys like YOU with professional content services.

These past weeks we've been developing our own business marketing materials to showcase at the conference. Infographics, booth displays, flyers, and giveaways are all part of the plan when it comes to making your presence known at these conferences - and WDWC is no stranger to these marketing tactics!

A mysterious box containing some sort of promotional item - you'll have to wait and see later this week!

If you're attending the GLM conference, be sure to drop by our booth and learn how custom, quality content can benefit your law firm marketing with little effort on your part. Increased client contacts, better web traffic, and superb social media standings are all benefits of working with WDWC.

Tales of Social Media: Don't Facebook Friend a Defendant

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)63747 — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 08:00:00 EST

September 1, 2011 - Normally we'd reserve this story for a Fun Friday blog, but it's got a great message about the impact social media has on today's society, so we're running with it today!

A recent article in the Texas Star-Telegram newspaper reported a Fort Worth juror who found himself on the other side of the courtroom after a Facebook faux pas.

Jonathan Hudson was a juror on a civil trial in July. There was nothing abnormal about the case - but Hudson's actions made this story newsworthy after he tried to "friend" the defendant on Facebook. To make matters even more complicated, he also discussed details of the case on his profile - a big no-no when you're on jury duty.

Facebook is becoming more common in trials as evidence, too.

As a juror in Tarrant County (and pretty much every other district court in the U.S.) you are prohibited from discussing details of the trial you are on. This means no posts about it on Facebook, no tweets from the jury box, and no Foursquare check-ins saying "Let's just find this guy guilty so I can get out for happy hour."

Hudson plead guilty to 4 counts of contempt of court for his Facebook behaviors, earning him 2 days of community service performing chores assigned to him by the jury bailiff later this month. The Tarrant County district attorney's office said they've never seen a juror attempt to use social media to contact someone in the case they're involved with.

According to the records, Hudson was 1 of 12 jurors hearing the case of Courtney Downing who was involved in a 2008 car wreck. Hudson attempted to connect with Downing via Facebook on July 18 after court had recessed for the day. The next morning after the activity was reported, he was dismissed and the trial went on with 11 jurors.

This story just goes to show you that you never know who is watching your social media conduct. There are many ways that social media use can land your clients in hot water, especially in divorce or personal injury cases. But remember that with the bad there is also good - especially if you have We Do Web Content providing quality content to your social media profiles and managing your local search connections!

Hurricane Irene Teaches Lessons about Keeping in Contact with Social Media

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)63447 — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 08:00:00 EST

August 29, 2011 - Since the dawn of social media, users have been finding new and innovative ways to work it into our everyday lives. In times of natural disasters, like Hurricane Irene which recently struck the eastern U.S., it has been used to alert family and friends that their loved ones are okay.

Social media isn't just about posting fun videos and updating friends on your new kitten's latest antics - it's about sharing important content. In recent years, we've seen social media used for serious business, including presidential inaugurations, play-by-plays for sporting events, and locating loved ones in times of crisis.

As evidenced recently by Hurricane Irene (not to mention that earthquake last week in Virginia), social media is now one of the fastest ways to get important news out to millions of people at once. The Weather Channel's new social campaign integrated their Twitter and Facebook accounts to make sure the latest storm news was easily available. Many local governments used their social networking powers to update residents of the latest evacuation procedures and emergency information.

Social media is making emergency management more efficient

Your business relies on efficient, quick communication to connect with your current clients and attract new ones. Social media has taken the place of traditional marketing such as Yellow Pages, TV, and print ads. This is a very good thing, considering today's society is a more instant gratification generation.

So are you getting the most out of your social media marketing? If you're not spending at least a little time at both ends of your day to monitor your profiles, chances are you're missing out on that "social" aspect! At We Do Web Content we know that this can be time consuming - that's why we offer our clients social media content services on top of their regular SEO website content.

Fun Friday: The Back to School Contest Results!

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)63193 — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 08:00:00 EST

August 26, 2011 - A month ago yesterday we began a marketing campaign to gain new fans on our Facebook page. All a user had to do was "like" our page and for every 50 new fans, we purchased a backpack and loaded it up with school supplies.

This came about when we found a news story about a local firefighter collecting donations of supplies for our Kids in Distress foster care program. It was a win-win situation: we got more fans (and therefore more Facebook exposure, as we discussed in this week's blog series) and we got to help some kids have a great return to school this year!

Our grand total as of August 25^th was 527 "likes" which was just short of doubling our fanbase in a month! Even though that number technically equated to 5 backpacks, we had already pre-celebrated the campaign's success and purchased 7 total (we couldn't pass up a little pizzaz with a Cars and Disney Princess themed backpack), So this past week, Co-founder Yvette and Sales Manager Alex headed over to the local fire station to drop off our donations:

Alex should've been holding the Disney Princess one, don't you think?

3 on top and there's 4 more below in the box! A great collection of supplies!

The Fort Lauderdale Fire & Rescue would like to thank all of We Do Web Content's fans, old and new, for making this happen. And of course, we appreciate it as well! Remember that a fan isn't just worthy as a direct contact, they're worth as many friends as they have that get exposed to your business' great content!

Share the articles and links that you find interesting when a business page posts - it helps them gain more exposure and boost your local economy!

Search engines will be scrambling to showcase your website, newsletters, and blogs when you boost your Internet marketing with We Do Web Content! Having unique content on your website is a great way to increase search rankings and reach those new clients through better online exposure. For affordable, quality content exclusive to YOUR website, contact us today! 1-888-521-3880.

4 Degrees of Facebook Advertising through Likes

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)62897 — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 08:00:00 EST

Blog Series: The Awesome Power of Facebook's Like

August 25, 2011 - Facebook for businesses is all about connecting to your clients through engaging content and marketing strategy. How you go about this marketing can be done in several different ways, both free and paid. We'll give you a brief overlook of the 4 main content-based marketing methods: organic content, the fan effect, sponsored stories, and social enhanced ads.

Organic content is the content you take the time to post to your fan page. It can be articles from your own website, your latest blog entry, or even an interesting news story you think your fans will enjoy. This is completely free and the simplest way to start interacting with your fanbase without needing to know much about how Facebook works.

The fan effect goes hand in hand with your organic content. It's the residual marketing effect that occurs when a fan of yours shares your content among their friends. This helps expand your marketing reach beyond the number of your fans, as it expands to their friends as well when someone likes a post of yours or posts your article links to their news feed.

Sponsored stories are a Facebook marketing tool that will cost you a little money, but can be fruitful if you're sharing the right content. With sponsored stories, you control what content is highlighted to your fans and friends of fans. It's no longer a matter of chance if your content is shared to friends of fans or not - you pay for that feature.

Social enhanced ads are just like normal paid Facebook ads, but with an added social element. Instead of just an ad for your business page with information directly from you, the enhanced ad will contain many different social aspects such as a list of a user's friends who also like your business page. An event will show all of the user's friends who are attending, and so on.

As you can see, there are both free and paid methods of marketing with content that can be a great boost to your Facebook reach! It's not called "social media" for nothing - you need to drive up interaction with your content, whether you're using the free power of your fan base or if you're tossing a little cash into Facebook's pocket to get your name really out there.

We Do Web Content relies on the free methods of social media marketing first, because we know that with quality content you don't really need to rely on paid advertising! Of course, if you're really interested in paid advertising, we're happy to help with setting that up too, because we want you to achieve your maximum marketing potential!

Search engines will be scrambling to showcase your website, newsletters, and blogs when you boost your Internet marketing with We Do Web Content! Having unique content on your website is a great way to increase search rankings and reach those new clients through better online exposure. For affordable, quality content exclusive to YOUR website, contact us today! 1-888-521-3880.

How "Friend of Fan"-friendly Content is Made

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)62896 — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 08:00:00 EST

Blog Series: The Awesome Power of Facebook's Like

August 24, 2011 - Yesterday we told you that content like the kind you get through professional companies like We Do Web Content is what you need to convert friends of fans into fans (and potential clients!). What exactly does WDWC do to produce such fine quality content?

We start by becoming familiar with your business and your current client base. How are things going for you? Are you getting the new customers you want? Is your existing client base a source of new business or just past clients that are good for referrals? Is there a client type you don't have now that you want more of?

Through our website analytics, interviews, and SEO keyword research we figure out the answers to these questions and more. Then we develop a strategic content plan for your approval that helps reach your goals as quickly and efficiently as possible.

The posting of content generated during the initial few months of your business' partnership with WDWC is exciting! You get fresh, new content posted to your website, blogs and social media which gives your current fans something enticing to read. For businesses that have never used a Facebook page or those that haven't taken advantage of it for content marketing, this is going to be a shiny new toy for your fans to engage with!

The more we impress your fans, the more they'll be apt to share your content and talk about it with their friends. That's where the connection from fan to friend of fan comes in - the goal is to get the friends hyped up about your new content, too, and get them to "like" your page as well. The more the merrier, because now you've got a new fan and can reach all of their friends at once when Facebook posts out the "(new fan) likes (your business page)" notification!

Looking Beyond Your Fans: Friends of Fans

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)62788 — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 08:00:00 EST

Blog Series: The Awesome Power of Facebook's Like

August 23, 2011 - Having millions of fans can be worthless to a business' marketing strategy if you don't know how to use the various layers of your following.

A misconception about social media marketing is that only your direct fans matter. For years marketing analysts have tried to wrap their head around placing a value on a fan, and there's still no definitive answer. This is because the social media marketing is forever changing and evolving as Facebook adds new features and users find new ways to use these features.

A few years ago Facebook began promoting a user's interaction with business pages in small but increasingly significant ways. It started with the "_____ likes (page name)" mentions on your news feed, and evolved into sponsored stories and social ads. The important thing that happened here was that suddenly our interactions with a business page were apparent to all our friends.

Each individual fan suddenly wasn't worth a single point, they were a potential pool of an average of 130 individual exposures. How does 1 turn into 130? It's easy, a fan is now not only worth their own amount but they're also worth how many potential fans they're connected to as friends.

Remember that fan interaction with your page potentially reaches all of their friends, who may or may not be fans of your page as well. If they are fans, any interaction their fan friend has with your page will serve as a reminder of their liking that page, too, and can encourage them to interact again. If they're not fans, when they see their fan friend doing something with your page they may be intrigued enough to investigate themselves.

How do you intrigue friends of fans? CONTENT! Your fans share your content when it's relevant, entertaining or engaging. They like new information, offers, coupons, freebies, humor, entertainment - basically, posts of substance. Some of the highest fan interactions come from engaging content that talks with the fans, not at them.

At We Do Web Content we focus on creating not only relevant, informative articles and blogs, but also content that is written to be sharable, and "likeable" through social media. Content like ours not only helps reinforce your Internet marketing strategy but also helps build a great reputation for your business!

Discover Your Own Free Marketing Team

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)62787 — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 08:00:00 EST

Blog Series: The Awesome Power of Facebook's Like

August 22, 2011 - Have you ever wanted your own personal marketing team? If your business has a Facebook fan page, you've already got one!

Fans of your Facebook business page act like your own viral marketing team without even knowing it. The best part is, they're relatively free! You don't have to pay for them, and they do the work without being asked...it's a marketer's dream. Basically, it all boils down to the fact that the interactions between your fans and your business page acts like a widespread announcement on a PA system. Anything your fans do with your page can be seen by all their friends.

A few weeks ago we talked about the importance of building a social media fanbase, and how obtaining new fans can be critical to your Internet marketing projects. We even shared our own tips for gaining new fans through our Back to School contest (which ends in 3 days - keep fanning and we'll donate another backpack!).

If you took our advice and put those tips to work you should have a nice following of new fans, and it's time to put them to work. Of course, getting fans to become a marketing powerhouse for you for free is going to involve some investment of time and resources of your own. That's where We Do Web Content is there to help.

Our social media marketing service helps businesses establish and build a social media following through custom Facebook pages, networking strategies, and content aggregation. After we help grow your fan base, we teach you how to harness their marketing power and reach beyond your first level of fans.

This week we'll be discussing the power of a "like" to your page, and explore the layer of potential clients that lies beyond your first-level fans: friends of fans. You'll soon learn that while your direct fans are important, it's the reach they extend to potential fans (their friends) that determines their true worth.

Putting it Together: How WDWC is Using Fetch as Googlebot

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)62272 — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 08:00:00 EST

August 18, 2011 - Whether it's existing content in need of some TLSEO (that's tender loving SEO) or the new content we produce for your website, it's all about keywords. We conduct extensive research to find out what search queries (aka "keywords") your web pages are currently being listed for and which new keywords are ideal to enhance your page position. These keywords are then put to use in all of the new or updated content we produce and submitted to the Fetch as Googlebot system for indexing.

For our clients who are taking advantage of our SEO content writing & editing services to optimize their old, bad, or ugly content, this is an EXCELLENT opportunity. To truly optimize your existing content you're going to need to do more than stick some keywords in - at We Do Web Content we give you the full service!

After the keywords are identified we review your existing content and compare analytics to see what's performing well and what could use some help. We keep the best and weed out the rest. Your golden articles, the ones that give the best information and generally perform well, are beefed up with some fresh keywords and content. Meanwhile, poor performing content is either removed or reworked into relevant, useful articles.

We also look for things like outdated statistics, old news articles, and other previously relevant content that doesn't quite work today. In most cases, these articles are started anew with more current, relevant information to give your clients the best resources possible.

Once we've done keyword optimization and rewritten your landing pages and old articles we can use the Fetch as Googlebot feature to immediately notify Google that you've got fresh, quality content ready to index!

If you're ready to learn more about how We Do Web Content can benefit your Internet marketing, or if you're already sold on the awesome power of Google, give us a call. We can help you and Google become the best of friends!

Make Google Fetch: What to Look for in Content Updates

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)62271 — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 08:00:00 EST

August 17, 2011 - Don't forget that while you're creating content for indexing by Fetch as Googlebot that you're still going to have to appease Google Panda, too. What does this mean? Keywords, content, and cleaning!

Keywords are still super important to both catching the attention of Google Panda and impressing Fetch as Googlebot. Panda looks that you're hitting that keyword density without stuffing your content, and Googlebot makes sure your keywords are relevant to the search topics you want to rank for.

Do your keyword homework before creating or editing content on your websites. Learn what's ranking for your target topics and pick a variety of keyword types. In come cases, generic keywords with high search volume can help out with geo-specific ranking (an easy example is adding your city name before "injury attorney" if you're a personal injury lawyer). You'll still want to focus on long-tail keywords like "serious car accident in Boston" to grab those unique searches that have little competition (and high chances of ranking!).

When putting your keywords to use, remember that keyword stuffing is still a big no-no when it comes to playing nice with Google Panda. Overuse of a keyword will make your content not only read poorly to clients, but also diminish your reputation with Google as well. And don't think you can just stick a few new keywords into old content to impress Fetch as Googlebot - reviving old content is much more complex than that.

Because refreshing old content with keywords is a bit more involved than just plugging in some new words, we're dedicating a whole blog to explaining the process. Tomorrow we'll discuss how We Do Web Content goes about using Fetch as Googlebot for our clients' existing content. See you tomorrow!

How Are You Going to Use Fetch as Googlebot?

lisa@wedowebcontent.com (Blog Author)62270 — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 08:00:00 EST

August 16, 2011 - It doesn't matter if your website is still in the works, just getting started with a little content, or is packed with existing articles, there's no time like the present to begin your friendship with Google. You do this by featuring the kind of quality, unique content that We Do Web Content provides. If your website is ranking poorly, it's high time you gave your content a makeover! Basically, if you have the desire to rank higher on Google, you're going to want to make the most of Fetch as Googlebot.

If your website is still a work in progress you're in a prime spot to start your Internet presence on a good note. If you establish good content practices from the get-go you'll find it much easier to keep on top of things as Google continues to change and update its Panda algorithms. A few good content tips include:

identifying target keywords early and using them consistently;
performing new keyword research every few months;
watching what content is performing well in searches and learning what's working for your website; and
constantly adding fresh, relevant content!

If your website only has a little content so far you can still jump in while the party's just getting started! Continue with your content schedule and make sure that you're adding new content on a regular basis. Learn what keywords are already ranking for you and consider adding some additional ones to boost your exposure.

If your website has been around for a while it's time to rejuvenate some of that old content! Analyze your current search rankings and analytics to see what content is performing well and what's sitting dead. Learn from the good content and use that as a template for reviving the bad content. Content re-writes shouldn't be just keyword stuffing, they should be true refreshes of your existing topics with newly written copy.

As you can see, anyone can benefit from a little content TLC and be ready to entice Googlebot. You wouldn't want to be introduced to your new Googlebot friend with stale, poor quality content, would you? Avoid this problem by letting We Do Web Content help you with all your Fetch as Googlebot work!