Search Engine Optimization 101: What is SEO?

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If there were ever a buzzword in the business world, it would be "SEO."

Business owners desperately want it; marketers promise they can deliver it. Most business owners with whom I have discussed SEO have a partial knowledge (or sometimes inaccurate knowledge) of what SEO really entails and how it can help grow a business. I would like to make a disclaimer that this is obviously not true of every business owner. Sometimes, it is just a little difficult to find time to study an entirely new and frankly quite vague concept when running a business.

Which leads me to my next point: the marketing professionals with whom I have discussed SEO all seem to have a different definition and approach to getting results. I'm all for variety in how to reach a goal, but sometimes muddy waters hinder results.

As with all of life's great mysteries, the best possible solution is to go straight to the horse's mouth: GOOGLE. This is going to be a two-part blog series explaining SEO and how to use it to grow your business. This first post is a brief overview of SEO; the second will dive deeper into techniques to grow your business.

SEO simply stands for Search Engine Optimization and is a series of keywords, metadescriptions, and metatags within a website that helps boost a site's ranking in various search results. In its simplest form, SEO helps the search engines partner the searcher with the most appropriate website. For example, if you were to search for custom bracelets in Tampa, you probably would not want to get a search engine list back of horseback riding lessons in Miami. Those results would have nothing to do with your search.

So, how do you make sure that your website is showing as a result for relevant searches? Simple (ish). Make sure that the "behind the scenes" view of your website has appropriate keywords for your website content. Again, the website that sells custom bracelets in Tampa would likely have keywords like: bracelets, Tampa, Florida, custom, etc. It would be a good idea for that website to also list the types of materials used in their bracelets, i.e. leather, gold, etc. to answer more specific searches.

The search engine (Google, for example) matches the words in the search to the keywords in the website to find the most accurate match. However, SEO does not end there. The content on your website must match your keywords. For example, you can't have a website all about baseball, with keywords all about swimming and fishing. The search engine would see that your content and keywords do not match, and your website would be marked as spam (which is basically a death sentence to your site).

There is a magic ratio between number of words in your content and number of keywords in your content. ASK ME MORE. Insert more or less keywords in your content than this magic ratio and your website will be negatively affected.

Now, I know that was a whirlwind of explanation (or maybe lackthereof), but really I did my best to explain the breadth of SEO in a minute blog post. The following post will discuss how to pick keywords to both match your industry and the search tendencies of your ideal client demographic.

The "Farming" Facebook Can't Control

Anyone who has a Facebook business page might have noticed some recent changes in the way Facebook measures its advertisement campaigns. When you have a business page, you have the option of "promoting" your page to a specific client demographic to increase the "likes" on your page. You can set a limit to how much money you want to spend per day and restrict the location to which your page is advertised.

Sounds great, right?

Well, it was a great way to advertise and get your business name out in the social media community- until the cropping up of "Like Farms." A "Like Farm" is a company in a developing county (usually Indonesia, Nepal, Bangladesh, etc.) that pays its employees $1.00 per 1,000 likes clicked on Facebook. So, when you are approached by a marketing company that can promise X amount of "likes" to your business page in a month, please know that they are outsourcing to these "Like Farms."

Now, Facebook started cracking down on these business pages using "Like Farms" to increase their visibility; over 85,000 company pages have been deleted by Facebook so far for this action (so be warned).

In order to stay in business and become undetected by Facebook, the employees at these "Like Farms" starting "liking" everything. This way, Facebook cannot tell if it's someone who is paid to like a certain page, or if the profile just happens to "like" everything advertised on Facebook. These employees watered down the "likes" to remain undetected.

Why is this relevant if you want to advertise through Facebook?

So, let's say you set a budget per day to advertise your page through Facebook. You might get some legitimate response from people interested in your business, but based on studies conducted, about 80% of the "likes" will be from employees of the "Like Farms" in developing countries. If you own a little boutique in Tampa, FL, a "like" in Indonesia is not going to benefit your business.

More adversely still, your posts and campaigns will be negatively affected by these fakes "likes." Facebook measures post engagement very simply:

If you post something, Facebook will send it to a handful of your followers. If they interact with it, Facebook thinks, "Ah. This must be a good post." So, it sends it out to another handful of your followers, and so on. This is how Facebook measures engagement for your page. You must maintain a certain percentage of engagement for Facebook to keep your profile.

If the majority of your "likes" are from "Like Farms" that have infiltrated Facebook advertising, then they will most likely not be engaging with your post, which limits the number of followers to which Facebook will send your post. The cycle continues until your page shows no interaction and Facebook begins to question its validity.

This post has illustrated an exaggerated scenario, but one that is easily reproduced based on current statistics with Facebook advertisement. Facebook can still be used to grow your business, but it has to be done through very specific campaigns and very closely managed to prevent fraudulent "likes."

If you are interested in learning how to do this, or if you want to know how to grow your business through other means, please give me a call at (813) 629-1561 or email at info@rhetoricrefined.com. You can also visit www.rhetoricrefined.com for more information.

The Appeal of "Puppy Love": an in-depth analysis of why that Budweiser commercial is so darn cute!

I am going to make the assumption that everyone has seen the Budweiser Super Bowl commercial, "Puppy Love." If you have not seen it, please do yourself a favor and view the video here.

The most fascinating aspect of the Budweiser commercial (in my opinion) is not the adorable puppy or the heartwarming story of friendship, but instead it is the widely adored reaction that it received from almost every viewer. Social media is on fire with applause about this one commercial - this commercial that did not feature any celebrities or offer any humor, like most memorable commercials possess.

This commercial did not even include dialogue.

After careful analysis, I have discovered why this "Puppy Love" has so many fans swooning over it. Here is why Budweiser's non-verbal rhetoric stole the hearts of America.

First of all, let's talk about timing. The most important aspect of advertising is timing. Obviously, a commercial during the Super Bowl is optimal advertising time. On a more accessible scale, though, timing is the key to great advertisement. For example, studies show that people are most active on social media sites between 8:00 AM - 10:00 AM (sorry employers!) and 8:00 PM - 11:30 PM. Therefore, if you plan to launch a site or blog post (ahem) during the week, this is the optimal time to reach the most visitors. The same goes for press releases and other marketing platforms. The Sunday paper receives more viewers than the Tuesday paper. Study the general population's tendencies and use them to your marketing advantage.

Secondly, know your audience. This expression is often thrown around when someone tells a terrible joke, but there is often very applicable truth to the saying. Look at the values that Budweiser displayed in the "Puppy Love" commercial: brotherhood, freedom, non-conformity. Now think about the Super Bowl. This has to be the most "American" (stereotypically) day of the year. People are celebrating our country's own sport, chowing down on hotdogs and chips, and drinking beer like it's its own sport. Famous singers are brought in to dazzle the crowd with a plethora of American anthems. And, regardless of what team you are cheering for, there is a sense of overall camaraderie amongst the fans.

So, in the midst of the most "American" day of the year, it's pretty genius that Budweiser drenches its commercial in all things American. American history is drenched in brotherhood - United we stand, Divided we fall. This great American bond is symbolized through the relationship between the puppy and the horse. No matter what trials life brought, they found their way back to each other. Which then leads us to freedom - the most American value of them all. The puppy escapes his confines time and again to reach his desired destination. Nothing can hold him back from his dreams. The puppy desires to be one with the horses; nonconformity at its finest. He can be anything he sets his mind to. Hello, America.

When creating an advertisement, it is important to know the demographic that you are reaching. Know the breakdown of male vs. female. Research the age groups, income levels, health problems, etc. Know what you are selling and to whom. Most people in this world care about one thing above all: what's in it for me? The only way to convince someone to buy your product is to convince them of why they need it. Know your audience so you can make a case for your business.

The final reason why the Budweiser commercial is so universally loved is just that - it is universal. There are no words spoken in the commercial, which makes it relatable. It doesn't target just dog owners or just horse owners. It targets anyone who likes puppies or horses, anyone who values friendship, and basically anyone who has a soul. While it is important to know the general demographic of the audience your advertisement is reaching, it is also important to give your campaign a sense of universality. Don't exclude people from your advertisement, because you never know who will read what you have to say.

Ready to start implementing these strategies into your marketing campaigns? Convinced that now is the time to grow your business? Contact Rhetoric Refined at info@rhetoricrefined.com or view the packages offered at www.rhetoricrefined.com

3... 2... 1... BLAST OFF!

I cannot explain how excited I am to present Rhetoric Refined. We are going to revolutionize the way small businesses market by offering services that help grow businesses without breaking the bank.

Check out www.rhetoricrefined.com to learn more about the services offered.