SEO World

Rome wasn’t built in a day – and similarly (if on a somewhat smaller scale!), building up a successful blog doesn’t happen overnight. As with anything, it takes hard work, determination and commitment to get a blog on its feet, and even more to build up a readership through earning the trust and respect of your audience. Here are some top tips on how to build up a successful blog for your business.

In brief – why a blogging is good for business
The purpose of this post isn’t to extol the virtues of blogging, but to show you how to do it successfully. Nevertheless, I’d like to start with a brief summary of what the main advantages are, for the benefit of those who are new to the subject and to remind ourselves why it’s worth putting the effort in.

• SEO – a blog creates fresh new content for your site and allows you to target long-tail keywords with ease
• Brand – a blog gives your brand a voice with which to speak out on relevant issues and news
• Authority – a blog positions you as an industry authority
• Traffic – a blog brings relevant traffic to your site, and even if a visitor isn’t looking to buy immediately, they’re more likely to remember your site if they become a regular reader

Figure out what you want your blog to achieve and who its readers will be
Let’s start at the very beginning. If you don’t have a clear idea of what you want to achieve from blogging, your blog is not likely to achieve success. That’s because it’s important to understand who you’re writing for and what your goals are:  is your blog purely for SEO, to target long-tail keywords? If so, you’re probably missing a trick. Think about who you want your readers to be – whether they’re potential new clients or customers, other people in your industry, consumers, and so on. Your audience will dictate the whole tone, style and content of your blog, so set down your aims carefully before you do anything else.

Create your blog on your own domain
Not only does it look better and more consistent from a brand point of view, but keeping your blog on your own domain (as opposed to sticking it on an external site such as Blogger or WordPress.com) will bring maximum benefit to the rest of your site from an SEO perspective. Hosting your blog on your own site will ensure that your whole site will benefit from the extra visitors and incoming links generated from your blogging efforts, and you end up with a stronger site that will rank better for a broad range of keywords. Just a note – make sure your blog looks like the rest of your site – otherwise you risk confusing your readers.

Blog regularly
What you write about – and how you write about it – will depend heavily on your industry, your brand tone and many other factors. But  it’s important to blog regularly. I don’t mean that you should compromise quality over quantity, but a blog that hasn’t been updated for weeks or months doesn’t give a very good impression to visitors – it just looks a bit half-hearted and therefore a bit unprofessional. (Of course, it is very possible to go too far the other way and blog so often that you become annoying, or your readers can’t keep up with the sheer volume of posts you’re churning out. It’s about striking a balance.)

Don’t worry if you’re not sure what to write about – you can often repeat the same formulas (e.g. ‘Tip of the week’), and with a few one-offs thrown in, you’ve already got yourself a healthy number of posts.

Here are some ideas for blog post angles which we’ve found work well for business blogs

• Interviews with people who are involved in your industry
• Round-ups of and commentary on relevant news stories from the past week or month
• Write-ups of points and tips arising from industry conferences
• ‘Ultimate guide’ to a topic relevant to your business
• Advice for people wanting to build up a career in your industry

The importance of proofreading
I know I’m always banging on about this, but proper use of English matters. Poor grammar gives a poor impression of your site and it’s extremely unprofessional. Proofread all your posts and make sure that there are no silly errors, and furthermore, ensure that there’s no inappropriate language or anything overtly political or religious that could alienate some of your readers. Make sure that your spelling is appropriate to your audience – e.g. don’t use American spellings if you’re writing for a UK audience. Go easy on the slang, but remember that a blog is a more informal setting, so a friendly and approachable tone is appropriate.

Blog without agenda
Linking to other pages of your site is fine (and it’s good for SEO), but don’t do so in a salesy way. Of course you want your blog to tie in with what your business does, but cramming your blog with sales blurb completely defeats the object. You’ll build up a readership and earn trust much more easily if you blog for the benefit of your readers, not your own sales targets.

Get everyone involved
Try and encourage employees from different parts of your business to get involved in blogging, perhaps by offering an incentive or running a competition to see who can get the most number of views or comments on their post. Though some will be more interested in this idea than others, the fact remains that having a number of different employees contributing posts gives a good impression of your business, as it shows that the people who work for your business are interested and informed enough to want to speak out on topical issues and share advice.

Capitalise on trending topics
Keep an eye on Google Insights and Twitter trending topics to find hot topics relevant to your industry. The interest is already there, and in a wider group of people than your regular audience, so be on the ball and get ready to blog when you see a topic relevant to you that seems to be generating a lot of attention. Google loves fresh results, so you’re more likely to rank highly for up-to-the-minute blogging about a trending topic.

Knowing what time to blog
The time of day and week you blog can affect how many visitors it receives. Fridays, for example, tend to be quieter, and a post released around lunchtime will likely do better than one released at 5pm when everyone’s going home. Take a look at the Analytics for your site and figure out when your busiest periods are. You can also extend this analysis to your social media; if you’re tweeting about your blog posts and you know that some of your target audience is located in a different time zone, consider sending out a different tweet (to avoid repetition) at the peak time for that audience.

Encourage and reply to comments
Invite your readers to comment on your posts and get some discussion going. Reply personally to people who comment on your blog and ensure that you are quick to approve comments.

Promote your blog
Finally, there’s no point sticking a small link to your blog on your homepage and leaving it at that – you have to tell people about it! Direct customers and clients to your blog by mentioning it in your mailouts, encouraging visits from your social media (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn) and even mentioning it in your offline marketing material. You can also submit your blog to blog aggregator sites such as Alltop to bring in extra visitors at the same time as building links to the blog.

Do you have any tips to share for business blogging success? Let us know in the comments section or on Twitter – @RachelsWritings.

Image credit – Mexicanwave on Flickr.

© SEOptimise – Download our free business guide to blogging whitepaper and sign-up for the SEOptimise monthly newsletter. How to create a successful business blog

Related posts:

1. How to Create a Friendlier Forum
2. Using Social Media to Create Topical Content Around Trends
3. To blog comment or not to blog comment? 65% say YES to blog commenting!

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SEOptimise » blog

The best businesses have loyal customers who buy from them time and time again. Take a look at Apple. Apple customers are among the most loyal in the world. They line up every time Apple releases a new product. They put Apple bumper stickers on their cars. They show off their Apple gadgets to anyone who will listen. Wouldn’t you love to have loyal customers like that?

Growing a loyal customer base requires work, but it’s worth it. After all, it’s far more profitable for you to keep customers than to try to attract new ones.

Here are some things you can do to build a more loyal customer base.

• Build relationships with your customers—Stop thinking in terms of sales and start thinking in terms of relationships. Your sales philosophy needs to focus on relationship building. Your business can’t lose that personal touch. Take time to get to really know your clients, and keep in touch with them to make sure their needs are always being met.
• Position yourself as the expert in your niche—When customers trust you and view you as an expert, they’ll turn to you every time they need the services or products you offer. No matter what your niche, you need to be seen as an expert. If you sell bicycles, learn everything there is to know about bicycles and share that knowledge with your customers.
• Always deliver on your promises—Relationships are built on trust. If you routinely fail to live up to your promises, you’ll lose the trust of your customers, and the relationship will be damaged, usually beyond repair. It’s pretty simple. If you say you’re going to do something, do it.
• Give great service after the sale—Don’t ignore your customers after they’ve given you their money. Demonstrate your commitment to their satisfaction by providing them with great service after the sale. Follow up with them to make sure they’re happy with their purchase. If they contact you needing help after the sale, be quick to respond.
• Ask for feedback (and use it!)—Do you really know what your customers want? A lot of businesses think they know, but they’re usually wrong because they don’t actually listen to their customers. Always encourage your customers to provide you with honest feedback, and use that feedback to improve your offerings.

What’s your approach for building a loyal customer base? Share your tips by commenting below.

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SEO Hosting Blog

Every company would like to have the perfect online marketing (marketing online) team.  A team comprised of visionary, dedicated, motivated and driven employees.  The challenges come when trying to balance and mold the right qualities, skills and personalities into a team that is able to consistently move the needle in the right direction while also creating a fun and successful environment and company.  A common misconception I see among companies who manage their own organic search is that simply hiring an intern or a link builder as an SEO professional will suffice when looking to build their online brand or to rank higher in the search engines.  Ranking at the top of the search engines is more competitive than ever with no signs of slowing.  Companies are spending tens of thousands of dollars to ensure they own the top spots for relevant search terms.  Ensuring that your company is a player is more important than ever.  To address this I want to talk about positions in the SEO field that are ever important to grow a company.

SEO Director

A director may be one of the most important hiring decisions as far as online marketing (marketing online) personnel goes.  A talented SEO director can make or break an SEO strategy.  This individual is ultimately responsible for measuring and growing online marketing (marketing online) metrics.  Finding someone who has vision and is well-rounded is critical.  Look for a director who has experience in research, analytics and actually reports on metrics.  Experience writing and implementing SEO strategy along with other online verticals such as conversion optimization, paid search and lead generation are just a few skills you want to add to your check list.

SEO Specialist

A search engine optimization specialist is going to be your Director’s right-hand man.  Look for someone with a history in quality link building (posicionamiento web).  A good SEO specialist will have examples of past work success and will be able to give guidance when building a solid link building (posicionamiento web) portfolio.  Someone with experience in customer relations or engaging in customer interaction will be important, especially in today’s online environment where social media is large part of any successful online marketing (marketing online) strategy.

Link Builder

A good link builder is worth their weight in gold.  Anyone can find links to sites with low page rank or domain authority.  A solid link builder will understand quality link building (posicionamiento web) and how to build a link portfolio that looks natural to the search engines.  They should not be satisfied with just link building (posicionamiento web) but link maintenance as well so that overall link quantity continues to rise year after year.  It is important to find someone with networking skills that will build relationships which will convert into .edu, .gov and other high value links.

Content and Copywriter

We have all heard that “content is king”.  While this remains true, that content must be unique and engaging.  Consumers are demanding a better surfing experience and the search engines are continuously updating their algorithms to look for content that is truly written around what searchers want to see.  A good copywriter can write onsite content, informative press releases, occasional industry blogging, and engage in social media updates.  Each of these tactics will only become more important as your online presence grows.  Critical skills also include someone is who is great at research, and can write quickly while remaining articulate and creative.

Outsourcing

As a final part of your SEO team consider hiring experts in the respective field.  Having someone analyze your strategy and link portfolio with fresh eyes, one who knows what to look for, will give you an advantage over your competition.  Keep in mind that there are many options for SEO agencies and consultants.  Look for an agency, like SEO.com, that rank for related search terms in the SEO industry, can provide good case studies of past successes, and can map how they are going to show you success metrics for your campaign.  An agency will typically have all of the above resources at your disposal, as well as tools and the capability to efficiently build links to your site that would otherwise be outside of your reach.

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SEO.com

If you guest post as much as I do, you are (1) probably guest blogging too much and (2) already losing track of what, where and when.

My guest posts are usually the best of what I can. It’s unfair to this blog readers if I am not sharing my best articles with them. Besides, sharing your guest posts on your own blog gives you much more:

• Link to your guest posts to give more exposure to them;
• Share your guest posts with your loyal community and readers;
• Create your guest posting portfolio for your clients and partners to check.

At MyBlogGuest.com one of our PRO features allows our users to automatically share all their guest posts via a customized widget (you can see the sample here in the right sidebar).

Besides, one of my old posts shares two more wicked ways to share your guest post on your blog.

This post adds to the above tips: let’s try to create a master feed of my main guest accounts and publicize the feed here!

1. Create a Feed Where You Don’t Have One

Some of the blogs I contribute to have no separate RSS feed for the author page. For those pages I have to create an RSS feed.

There are quite a few tools that can do that, but the one that has proved to be the most effective is Feed43

It requires no registration but it did require some considerable brain effort from my part. I don’t pretend to be too tech-savvy, nor am I too stupid, but I spent like 40 minutes trying to figure it out. I was quite happy with the result though!

RSS feed for the author pages should be no-brainer: the page consists of links to your articles – all those links have the same HTML markup, so all you need to so is to learn to extract that repetitive markup and turn it into the RSS feed.

Note: While creating your own author feeds is a good way out, it’s not the best option (most of your self-created feeds will lack “date” parameter). So whenever you can, use original author RSS feeds. In many cases, you can find your author RSS feed here: http://www.blogdomain.com/author/author-name/feed/

Also, “Fetch Feed” module inside Yahoo! Pipes will help you find an RSS feed where you lack one. Here’s Kristi’s guide on using the module.

In case neither of the above works, you’ll have to create a feed for your author page. To make your life easier, here’s what I did at Feed43 to create RSS feeds for my author page at MakeUseOf. All you need to do is to replicate these steps while adapting them to the HTML markup of your own author page:

Step 1: Specify your direct author page URL.

For me that’s:

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/author/annsmarty/

Step 2: Identify the repetitive code:

Obviously, in my RSS feed I want:

• My article title
• My article direct link.

Looking at the source code of my MUO author page, I see that both the link and the title are wrapped up with <h2 class=”entry-title”> code:

Step 3: Define extraction rules at Feed43:

In this step we point the tool to the repeatable HTML patterns to extract the info we want to be present in our RSS feed.

All text you want to be extracted to the RSS feed should be substituted with {%} variable, see:

Step 4: Identify which parts exactly you want to make it to the feed

If you have done everything right in the above step, you should see the following:

Obviously, we need the following elements in our RSS feed:

• {%1} (direct link to the post)
• {%2} (the post title)

That’s what we specify to the tool:

Now preview:

And get the link to the RSS feed:

Note: the feed will be updated every 6 hours and there will be “– Delivered by Feed43 service” as long as you are using the free version. If you try to use the feed and love the service, you may want to upgrade (that’s what I did eventually).

2. Combine All Your RSS Feeds in One

OK, now take a deep breath. The hardest part is passed. Now to the easier step: combine all your author feeds in one master feed.

There have always been quite a few RSS feed mergers. Unfortunately most of them are unreliable or even discontinued due to massive use.

Yahoo! Pipes is still the most reliable one. I do hope Yahoo! will keep it alive!

So to merge all our author feeds, let’s do the following:

Step 1: Sign in to Yahoo! and click “Create a Pipe”

Step 2: Add “Fetch Feed” module to your dashboard and add all your author feeds in it:

Step 3: Connect it to “Pipe Output” module and click “Save”.

Step 5: (Optional) Sort the updates by date

If you want to just aggregate your guest articles, you may miss that step. However if you want to share this combined feed to let your readers keep track of your articles elsewhere, it is essential to sort all the updates by date.

For that click “Operations” section in the left-side panel and add “Sort” module. Put it in-between your feeds and the output feed and elect sort by “item.pubDate”:

Note: Why this step is “optional” while still being quite important is simple: if most of your feeds are “self-created”, most of them will lack the “date” and the filter will move them up or down.

Step 6: (Optional) Truncate most active feeds

In some places I blog (or used to blog) weekly, so they started dominating my author master feed. I used “Truncate” module + “Union” module to cut some of my most active feeds, then unite them and offer my dear followers some variety:

Step 7: Click “Run Feed” and grab your feed URL (HERE’S MY PIPE – feel free to clone it and create your own):

Note: This WordPress plugin seems to also combine various feeds and even publicize them on your blog automatically as round-ups. Feel free to try it if you only want to use your Master feed for your blog.

3. Import Your Feed into a Page

Update: eventually I ended up with the PRO features of this tool to publicize my feed. But you can use the tips below which are free:

Create a page which will be automatically updated whenever you have a new post published.

Don’t worry, our tutorial is getting easier step by step

Step 1: Install RSS Just Better WordPress plugin.

Step 2: Create a separate page where you want to aggregate all your guest articles and contributions and use the following code to embed your feed:


Feed URL not provided. This shortcode does require an attribute as feed = 'http://your-rss-or-atom-feed'. Please, enter one.

Where:

• RSSjb feed=”YOUR MASTER RSS FEED LINK”
• list=”ul” (for the bullet-style list)
• target=”_blank” (to open links to my guest posts in a new window)
• pubauthor=”false” (to remove the plugin credit link; I am crediting it in this post)

Note: I had to edit the plugin source code as well as it seemed to force the 5-post-from-feed limit. I edited this part:

The Result?

***Here’s my page listing all pages where I guest post and featuring a self-updating list of links to my contributions***.

What are your thoughts?

cc licensed ( BY SD ) flickr photo shared by Open Kitchen España

Related posts:

1. Searching Google… by Author! It is amazing how many new things we may discover…
2. Where I Contribute and Guest Post I guest post at and contribute to quite a few…
3. How to Create a Useful Twitter Retweet Bot Twitter can be used in various, almost countless ways. In…

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

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SEO Consulting Blog – Seo Smarty

class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-2316" title="link-chain" src="http://www.highervisibility.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/link-chain.jpg?9d7bd4" alt="" width="615" height="230" />

Internet marketers across the world know how important it is for website and blogs to have incoming links from high ranking, authoritative websites and blogs. The key to success with any link building (posicionamiento web) campaign is to create as natural a link profile as possible. In order to do this, there are items you should do and items that you should avoid doing…let’s get into it.

Build but Don’t Overload: When building links back to your site, you want to try and build as many relevant, authoritative links as possible. However, a caveat to that is that it’s important not overwhelm the search engines with thousands of new links overnight. This is a time consuming task and it’s better to have a consistent, gradual growth instead of huge spikes.

Alter IP’s: Ideally you will want all of your links coming from separate C-Class IP Addresses. If you have a lot of your links coming from the same IP Address, even though they might be on separate URL’s, those links might be discounted because Google will assume there is an association between the sites.

Varying Anchor Text: To get the most benefit from your link building (posicionamiento web), it is important to make sure you incorporate your website’s main keywords in the anchor text linking back to you. However, if you have all of your backlinks with the same anchor text is a huge red flag. You will want to incorporate varying anchor text so they appear as natural as possible. For example: (main keyword, website name, click here, site, etc.).

Quality Over Quantity: Most Internet marketers operate under the misconception that the quantity of inbound links is more important than the quality of inbound links. While it is important to have many incoming links, the quality of incoming links is more important than quantity.

Relevancy is King: It is extremely important to acquire links from websites that have some relevance to you. If there is no relevance, the power of that link pointing back to you is discounted. Be sure to make your links are coming from sources that relate to your area of business.

Follow & No Follow Links: There is a large misconception out there that no follow links carry no SEO benefit. This couldn’t be further from the truth. While they may not carry as much weight as a do follow link they still are worth acquiring. In addition, what is the likelihood that a website has all do follow links? Not very. It is definitely more natural to have both.

By paying close to your link building (posicionamiento web) strategies and following the tips outlined above, you will be engaging in link building (posicionamiento web) practices that will help boost your websites’ and blogs’ search engine rank by creating a natural link profile.

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HigherVisibility

For the record, I’ve never bought into the theory that you have to post fresh content on a daily basis to be a successful blogger. Quality always trumps quantity, but there is something to be said for updating your blog on a daily basis. You’ll see more traffic, engage your readers more often, and be more relevant as you cover the latest topics.

So, if you’re really serious about providing your readers with great content every day, here are some tips to help you do it.

• Find a theme for each day of the week—Daily themes can help you easily generate post ideas for each day of the week, and the themes will train readers on what type of content to expect each day. For instance, every Friday, you could do a roundup post counting down the most interesting blog posts and news articles from around the web related to your niche.
• Become a voracious reader—Blogging 5 times a week (Mon-Fri) 52 weeks a year means you’re going to eventually have a hard time coming up with fresh ideas for your blog. That’s where being a good reader will help. Follow other blogs in your field. Keep up with the news. Read industry-related books. The more you read, the easier the ideas will come.
• Accept guest posts—You’ll probably have a hard time keeping up with writing on your blog every single day. Even the hardest working among us needs a break now and then. By allowing others to submit guest posts to your blog, you get fresh content without having to write it yourself.
• Write from your heart—When you write from the heart, you’ll find it’s much easier to blog. The words just seem to flow out. Stop trying to be so logical, and just write about what you’re feeling. Let your voice shine through. Write about your personal experiences and share your real, unfiltered opinions. This type of content will resonate better with your readers anyway.
• Add new life to old posts—Go back through your blog. Are there any old posts that could use some updating? Chances are, you’ll be able to recycle old posts in some form or fashion, saving you time and energy as you provide daily content.

Do you post content daily on your blog? Why or why not?

Share your thoughts by leaving a comment below. 

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SEO Hosting Blog

You’re trying to convince your boss to transition away from old school print media, but old habits die hard. What do you do to boost website traffic, convert more leads, and grow your social media presence using direct mail and flyers? Get a QR code on those print materials!

Although QR codes (quick response barcodes) are no longer brand spankin’ new to the marketing scene, they have become more widely utilized, and the barrier to entry is lower than many marketers might think. Not only that, there’s a multitude of creative uses for QR codes that help engage others with your brand and bridge the gap between outbound and inbound marketing. So here’s how you can get started with your first foray into creating QR codes that will bring your print media into an inbound marketing world.

4 Steps to Create a QR Code

1. Find a QR Code Generator

There are many out there, but the key is finding the right one for your needs. Some things to look for when choosing a QR code generator are whether you can track and analyze performance, if it allows you to design a code that is unique to your brand, and if it is compatible with common QR code readers. Although there are many other options out there, here are three to consider checking out.

Kaywa: With Kawya you can customize your design for free, and the paid version allows you to track performance. The codes can link to a web page, text, phone numbers, or SMS.

GOQR.me: Also free with an option for paid premium service, this generator allows you to “read” to text, URL, phone number, SMS, or vCard. Read on for an example of linking to a vCard, which allows people to save your contact information easily and immediately when “reading” the QR code.

Microsoft Tag: The cool thing about Microsoft Tag versus many other generators is the ability to have a color QR code rather than just black and white. It’s also free for all services, including limited analysis of people viewing and going to the tagged item.

2. Create, Design, and Link It Up

The fun part of creating QR codes is customizing the design of the codes to your brand. Want your code to look like your logo? Go for it. Want it to reflect your website’s design scheme? No problem.

But after that’s said and done, the most important thing to consider is your end goal. What do you want to accomplish when someone actually uses your QR code? If you’re at an event, for example, you might want to distribute business cards with a code on them that automatically links to your vCard so it’s easy to save your contact information. On the other hand, you may be gunning for more leads, so perhaps you should link to a landing page on your website to download the awesome presentation you just gave. Keep your end goal in mind when creating QR codes, and just like any call-to-action, make it worthwhile for the scanner.

3. Test It

In all the excitement of creating your first QR code, don’t forget to check to see if the QR code “reads” correctly, and be sure to try more than just one reader. A good place to start is the free tool Google Goggles, which takes a picture and then tells you what link or item it “reads to.” Another great free tool is QR Code Reader, which automatically takes you to whatever it “reads.” Both are easy to use and available for multiple smartphones.

4. Track and Analyze

Just like any marketing campaign, track and analyze how much traffic comes from each specific code. Are people scanning your code but not redeeming their offer once they get to your landing page? Or are they not even compelled enough to scan your QR code? Knowing this will help you troubleshoot and adjust your poorly performing QR codes to more closely mirror those that work well.

QR codes are a low cost way of engaging your audience across multiple mediums. If you didn’t jump on the QR code bandwagon when they first hit the scene, that’s okay! Start brainstorming creative ways to use this hip new tool to give (and gather) information, drive traffic to your website, get more leads, and potentially engage a whole new audience.

Have you used a QR code for your company? Share the creative ways you’ve used QR codes, and what results you’ve seen!

Image credit: ell brown

Connect with HubSpot:

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HubSpot’s Inbound Internet Marketing Blog

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Has your brand ever considered setting up a forum on its website for visitors?

The benefits to a brand of a successful online community can be considerable. It builds visitor loyalty, helps generate inbound links and can let you rank for really niche and long-tail keywords and phrases. If it’s successful, a forum can work wonders for a website – but this success depends on it becoming a sociable and useful space. And, among other things, that means no trolls!

So how does one achieve that? Building a successful forum is far from easy. It takes time, investment and enthusiasm. If you’re considering creating one for your visitors, there are things you can do to make it a pleasant online environment – it won’t become a success if it’s antisocial or slanderous.

Here are my golden rules for helping your brand’s forum become a genuinely sociable place.

Set out a specific moderation policy
Although there are many benefits to a forum, there are also real dangers. The main one is that the content is beyond your control, putting you at risk of hosting slander or even negative comments about your brand.

On the other hand, you risk alienating visitors by excessively heavy-handed, biased or inconsistent moderation.

That is why it is so essential to establish a policy on moderating your forum and to stick to it. If you crack down hard on someone insulting your brand but ignore personal attacks on someone else, visitors will question your integrity.

Remember, the way a forum is moderated will set the tone. Make sure you only impose rules that you’d be happy following if the forum was on someone else’s website.

Ensure everyone’s read the rules
Invite everyone to read the moderation rules you’ll be using and post regular reminders. There are plenty of examples available on existing forums, so don’t worry about taking some inspiration from those.

Some of these rules will be obvious – no personal attacks, no spam, no commercial links, for example. However, it’s also worth getting your brand’s legal adviser to take a look at your first draft. These rules are to protect you from legal threats as well as to make your forum a more pleasant place to post.

Ensure that everyone who posts on your forum has been invited to read the rules as part of their sign-up process and then make sure you enforce them consistently.

Reward positive behaviour
You want members to stick around and help one another, even after they have got whatever it is they originally wanted from the forum.

A successful forum is usually based around a core few individuals who support other visitors and provide help, advice or conversation to new members. You need to encourage that kind of core in order to give your online community a backbone.

One way to do that is to reward positive behaviour, for example, people who respond to questions. One way to do that is to give people points for useful replies – inviting other community members to score posts and award points.

By earning points, members could earn additional privileges, such as a greater selection of avatars or more freedom than other members, perhaps to post links or create polls. You should show you value members who are trustworthy and who enhance the community.

Enlist the community
While it’s a good idea for any brand-affiliated forum to moderate the comments being made on its pages, it increases the forum’s integrity if the users themselves are involved in policing it.

This can be done in a number of ways. For example, you can give members the power to flag up posts for moderation – perhaps with a clause that enough votes automatically remove the post. You could also give trustworthy members the power to moderate other visitors. A self-policed community is less likely to be accused of having a corporate bias.

This can also free up some of your time, as moderating a forum can be an endless task. But it’s a good idea to retain top level control. For example, perhaps don’t allow your community moderators to ban other members without your approval.

Don’t allow anonymous posts
Some people may disagree, but I think that the most successful and friendly forums are the ones that require you to register with a valid email address.

Anonymous comments invite trouble, as individuals can respond and comment without any real thought. Yes, requiring visitors to register can take some time and yes, that will put some people off.

However, by demanding visitors invest a few moments supplying an email address before they can participate, you deter them from making snide or flippant comments off the cuff.

This reduces the risk of the forum becoming a hotbed of spam and slander. It also gives you an opportunity to invite them to sign up their email address to a newsletter or marketing email. Don’t automatically enrol them, though, as this could affect their loyalty. As Rand Fishkin advised at SearchLove 2011, keep the self-serving stuff to an absolute minimum and ensure your online community meets the needs of your target audience first and foremost – the rest will take care of itself.

*Image credit: Kicki on Flickr.

© SEOptimise – Download our free business guide to blogging whitepaper and sign-up for the SEOptimise monthly newsletter. How to Create a Friendlier Forum

Related posts:

1. Google+ is the Greatest Discussion Forum in Human History
2. Using Social Media to Create Topical Content Around Trends
3. How to Get Links by Creating Content People Actually Want to Link To

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SEOptimise » blog

With the holidays just about here (can you believe it?), content creation is getting more and more difficult. With everything your marketing team needs to get done, it seems like there is no time left in the day to produce valuable content. To top it off, your team members are going on vacation, and the sales organization is more pressured than ever. What to do?

The easiest, and often smartest, solution is to repackage already existing content. What do we mean by that? All that repackaging content means is taking something you’ve already produced and either putting a different spin on it, changing its format, adding new content, or updating existing content to bring additional value. Let’s look at an example! 

This week marks a year since David Meerman Scott became Marketer-in-Residence at HubSpot. David has been actively contributing his expertise to the HubSpot marketing team and constantly helps us think of new content ideas. We’ve gone a long way in our collaboration efforts mostly thanks to repackaging content. Here’s how we did it, and how you can do it, too.

1. Turn Videos Into Blog Posts

The Weekly Marketing Cast is a weekly video podcast between David and HubSpot, which now has more than 50 episodes! Each episode has also been featured on our blog with specific examples and takeaways for marketers. By adding text-based content to the video, we ensured that this asset will also rank well in search engines when people look for similar types of content.

2. Turn Videos Into Ebooks

We also repackaged the episodes from the Weekly Marketing Cast into an ebook! “The Ultimate How-to Marketing Guide” became is an accumulation of the insights David shared in the video podcast. What is more, this ebook is essentially a multimedia experience, because it not only contains traditional text, but it also includes screenshots of the videos and links to where to find them online.

3. Turn Ebooks into Webinars

We also talked to David about some of the most amazing marketing case studies he has come across. We added a few more of our favorite marketing stories and came up with a new ebook, “11 Examples of Online Marketing Success.” Then we took this ebook and used it as the basis of a webinar. Now this webinar is archived, and it keeps bringing us new leads and customers over time.

4. Turn Blog Posts Into a Game

With David’s help, we even created a video debate on the topic of whether marketers should put their content behind forms. We published the video debate as a blog post, and we also wanted to invite people to participate in the discussion…so we gave them an incentive! Five random commenters were selected to win David’s book, “Real-Time Marketing & PR.” This turned the post into a game, with its own Twitter hashtag and huge participation from the community. We got more than 50 comments on that blog post!

5. Turn Comments Into Content 

Since we received that many comments and they were all very thought-provoking, we decided to compile them and offer them as an ongoing resource. The comments offer true value because they express diverse opinions on a very heatedly debated topic. So we added them to the transcript of the video! In this way, we delighted our community by celebrating their participation and extended the live of the hashtag we were using. 

Smart marketers are repackaging content all the time to streamline their content creation process and squeeze more marketing juice from their efforts. In what ways can you repackage some of your existing content?

Photo credit: the second fiddle

Connect with HubSpot:

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HubSpot’s Inbound Internet Marketing Blog

It was a summer night, the Distilled NYC crew had just finished up a round of ping-pong and we were sitting down to dinner at a local Thai restaurant when John exclaimed , “Guys, I just got a Google+ invite! “ Mayhem ensued and dinner was lost. That my friends, is how Google+ was born…or, something like that.

Since Google+ was released there have been countless articles about whether Google created the next social network . Although the jury is still out (I’m not completely sold, but that could be because I’m stubborn), from a business perspective, Google+ Pages offers another way to reach your audience as well as get your brand recognized.

But we all know this. It would be silly not to try all means possible to connect with people and possibly help your brand in the SERPs. All you have to do is create a page, post something on your profile, and put people in circles, right? WRONG. Like other forms of social media, there are good ways to create a Google+ Page, and of course there are those all too easy, bad ways to create one.

Alas, I’m here to hopefully spark some creative ideas within you on how you can creatively engage and get your Page noticed.

1) Share Information & Encourage Comments and Shares

Like Twitter and Facebook, you don’t want to create a page and then leave it to its own devices. It takes time and effort my friends. If you’re creating great content for your site through blog posts etc. share it on your Page!! You do not want to create a page and then fall into a black hole. Encourage people to comment and share the post within their own circles, which will broaden your reach.

2) Create Exclusive Content for Google+

Our friends over at SEOmoz are always doing a great job with engaging in the community and finding new ways to do so. Their Google+ Page is no different! If you’re an avid SEOmoz follower you know they create videos every Friday, known as “Whiteboard Fridays”. They have taken this concept and created “Whiteboard+”. GENIUS! Not only are they creating content, but they are creating content exclusively for Google+. This encourages people to come back to their page.

3) Photos

Add photos! Simple as that. Adding photos can put a face to a brand or can seamlessly integrate existing campaigns. Consumer brands tend to have ever evolving ad campaigns so you can archive photos through albums. Also, encouraging people to upload and tag their own photos through contests will spark user engagement and create a killer photo library!

4) Start hangouts

Whether it’s to do a Q&A with someone in the industry or bringing your celeb sponsor to chat with fans, you can start hangouts to engage people in your circles. This feature can not only build you customer base, but can also be used to gain feedback. Free and unbiased opinions that can help your business – DO IT!

5) Have an “About” page with Contact Information

Having an “about” page with contact information is good form. If people want to contact you, don’t make them scour your page, or gasp search online. Be upfront and make sure that your contact details are correct.

6) Start a Conversation

It sounds simple and it is. Start a conversation. Write a brief post about some recent news within your industry and get a conversation going. With a little amount of effort and time, you’ll have people commenting and again, have another way to engage your community.

Moving Forward

So, get out there! Be creative and don’t be afraid to engage with your community. Oh and don’t forget to add Distilled to your circle!

Julianne Staino is an SEO Analyst at Distilled NYC. She loves learning new SEO techniques and creative approaches to link building (posicionamiento web).

Follow @JulianneStaino

Julianne Staino

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distilled