an introduction to seo - net effect · 2017-06-04 · 5 why keywords are your foundaon 90% of...

AN INTRODUCTION to

Search Engine Op8misa8on (SEO)For Travel Agents

By Steve Rushton : Co Founder

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Table of Contents

..................................................................................................................................Introduc8on 3

..............................................................................................Why Keywords Are Your Founda8on 5....................................................................................................................................................Primary Selection of Keywords 6

.............................................................................................................................................................Prioritisation of Keywords 6.................................................................................................................Generating the Initial Keyword Opportunity List 6

.........................................................................................................................Choosing Relevant Keyword Terms/Phrases 9........................................................................................................................................Assessing Keyword Competitiveness 9................................................................................................................................What You Need to Beat the Competition 10

.............................................................................................................................................................................................Relevance 11..........................................................................................................................................Additional Prioritization Variables 11

..........................................................................................................II. Mastering On‐Page SEO 13...........................................................................................................................Why On‐Page SEO is Typically Overlooked 13

.......................................................................................................................................On‐Page Optimization: The Old Way 14.....................................................................................................................................Obligatory Reference to the Long Tail 15

........................................................................................................................................................................Overlooking the Tail 15.....................................................................................................................................................................How Long Is the Tail? 17

.....................................................................................................................................On‐Page Optimization: The New Way 17....................................................................................................How Do You Find Those Related Keywords to Target? 18

...............................................................................................................................................................................Closing the Loop 18

..........................................................................................................III. Link Building Strategies 20............................................................................................................................................The Role of Inbound Links in SEO 20

.........................................................................................................Link Building with Head Terms vs. Long Tail Terms 20........................................................................................................................................................................................Head Terms 21

..............................................................................................................................................................Mid and Long Tail Terms 21.................................................................................................................................................................Tools for Link Research 21

...................................................................................................................................The Spectrum of Link Building Tactics 23.....................................................................................................................................................................Manual Link Building 23

...................................................................................................................................Mixture of Manual and Editorial Input 23.......................................................................................................................................................................Completely Editorial 24

.............................................................................................................................................................Link Building Techniques 24...............................................................................................................................................Content is King: Quality Content 24

...........................................................................................................................................................................................Directories 25............................................................................................................................................................................................................PR 25

............................................................................................................................................................................................Giveaways 25...................................................................................................................................................................................Guest Blogging 26

.........................................................................................................................................Use Your Community or Customers 26...............................................................................................................................................................................................Link Bait 26

............................................................................................Blogging on your Net Effect Website 28

.................................................................................Travel Blogs to read and get you started…… 31

SEO FOR TRAVEL AGENTS – NET EFFECT, ONLINE TRAVEL SOLUTIONS

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Introduc8on

Search engines have

become a core resource

for the Public to look up

informaJon

and find businesses. Search engines are now a larger source of business referrals than

the Yellow Pages and Thomson Local. Think of what you do outside your business. Do

you search Google, Yahoo or Bing for informaJon or the Yellow Pages?

As a travel agent or travel business you may have in the past used markeJng budgets

on newspaper and magazine adverJsing. While local PR events and offline adverJsing

and markeJng are sJll important you have to understand the behavior of your

potenJal customers to know how to

market to them. With 90% of people now

using the Internet as their primary travel

search tool, there has never been a beTer,

nor more important Jme to get online

effecJvely with your travel business.

The way to get found online is through

search engine op8miza8on (SEO). This

ebook serves as an introducJon and pracJcal guide to improve your SEO.

You can expect to gain a stronger understanding in all aspects of the SEO process.

SEO tacJcs include idenJfying keyword opportuniJes, acJng on those opportuniJes,

and conJnuing to improve your results over Jme.


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Net Effect know small tour operators who spend £10,000 + a month on SEO, so as

agents you clearly need to have a defined strategy to compete. Whatever you do liTle

will happen over night and its best not to expect enormous results in the first

commiTed 12 months

Three blog entries a week would be a great start, but MUST include at least two key

words or phases in each blog, with internal links back to your site. eg. A cruise of the

Caribbean is a deligh]ul experience, one which many consider a holiday of a lifeJme

and can be arranged thought “Name” Travel, your local travel agent in

County’ – with a link to a cruise holiday on your website.

Net Effect Travel Agent Websites have ALL been wriTen to be SEO friendly and

addiJonally have SEO keyword/phrase sobware that boosts your SEO built in.

Please see the Net Effect Blog for screencasts on using this SEO boosJng sobware or

contact us directly.

The standard site (www.agentdemo.co.uk) includes a Wordpress Blog and therefore

the ability for agents using this website soluJon to effecJvely follow all the

techniques in this ebook to compete effecJvely online.

Agents who have opted to have their enJre site built and hosted by NET EFFECT will

Have the addiJonal value of having ALL their pages opJmized for SEO and this will

greatly improve their chances of success in the compeJJve online world. The ability

to add landing pages opJmized for SEO has been proven to be a winning formula to

rank highly in search results.

This ebook will help you take ac#onable steps to aTract more high quality traffic from

search engines. We encourage you to apply these strategies to your own company

website.


http://www.agentdemo.co.uk

http://www.agentdemo.co.uk

http://www.net-effect.co.uk

http://www.net-effect.co.uk

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Why Keywords Are Your Founda8on

90% of travel research starts online – FACT. To do this, users type keywords into

sites like Google, YouTube or Bing. The engines then rank sites related to these

keywords based on relevance and authority.

Choosing the right keywords is o[en the difference between ge\ng found in search

and not ge\ng found. As a result, keyword research is the foundaJon of an effecJve

online markeJng strategy.

There are several variables that impact keyword selecJon. These variables can be

divided into two groupings ‐ primary selecJon variables and prioriJsaJon variables.


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Primary Selec8on of Keywords

It is important to understand what aspects of keywords make them important to your

travel business. The different variables or characterisJcs of a keyword help determine

whether the keywords are worth consideraJon in your SEO strategy. Only if keywords

pass the primary selecJon tests can they be subjected to the prioriJzaJon variable

tests. ConsideraJons for primary keyword selecJon are:

• Ensuring keyword terms/phrases have sufficient search volumes

• Ensuring the chosen keyword terms are relevant • Assessing levels of rela#ve compeJJon

If a search term doesn’t saJsfy the criterion of sufficient volume, then it is removed

from the list. Likewise, if it does not saJsfy the relevancy criterion, it should not be

considered.

Priori8sa8on of Keywords

Two things to consider when prioriJsing keywords are:

• CompeJJve advantage for your holidays/holiday/travel services

• Profitability of the services you provide associated with the keywords

Prior to entering the vejng process, a Keyword Opportunity List should be

generated.

Genera8ng the Ini8al Keyword Opportunity List

The first phase of creaJng the iniJal Keyword Opportunity List involves brainstorming

as many keyword ideas as possible.

a. LisJng brands and product/service names (e.g. travel agent, Caribbean

cruises, villas in Greece, kids clubs etc..)


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b. Brainstorming variaJons of product and brand related keywords

c. Talking to clients to determine what terms they use in search


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d. Studying compeJtors’ sites (agents and Operators)

e. Adding geographic variaJons (e.g. Clapham Travel Agents, Hampshire

Travel Agents)

f. Adding descripJve variaJons (e.g. Cruise expert travel agent)

g. Taking all the variaJons and entering them into the Google AdWords

Keyword Tool, which will suggest numerous other variaJons.

A successful Travel Blogger – Nomadic MaT, who

now makes his living out of Travel Blogging has this

to say…..

What do you think makes a great travel blogger

Good wri#ng and useful content, combined with a lot of hard work, dedica#on, and

persistence.

What's the cardinal sin of travel blogging?

Talking about yourself all the #me. The stories aren't for you, they are for your readers

– give them content that engages them and relates to them.

What advice would you give to someone who’s a bit shy about wri8ng about their

experiences?

Write about #ps and tricks that can be useful to everyone and then you can build an

audience, but don’t talk about yourself constantly.

What aspects of travel do you like wri8ng about the most?

I like wri#ng about the experience of the road. I don't like wri#ng about des#na#ons

so much as I enjoy discussing the ups, downs, and experience of day‐to‐day life on the

road like mee#ng people, romance, adjus#ng to new places, and learning new

languages.

Where’s good to look for blogging inspira8on?


http://www.adwords.google.com/select/keywordtoolExternal




http://nomadicmatt.com

http://nomadicmatt.com

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I get inspira#on from every conversa#on I have about travel and every place I go.

I look unique places to write about it, topics about life on the road, and photos.

I get inspira#on and I write them down. I recently got a good idea talking to a friend

about going back to places.

The key element is keeping content fresh. With Google now indexing social media

sites this also means incorporaJng your Social Media TwiTer and Facebook into your

online markeJng acJviJes.

We have included a list at the end of this paper of Travel Blogs that you might like to

follow to gain inspiraJon.

Choosing Relevant Keyword Terms/Phrases

Once all keyword possibiliJes with sufficient search volumes are selected,

keywords must then be filtered for relevancy. You don’t just want to pull in

traffic; you want to ensure that your traffic is of high quality. Quality traffic

helps you convert your visitors into customers at a higher rate.

Assessing Keyword Compe88veness

People have a tendency to emphasize traffic over relevance. You need to make

sure the search terms you’re targeJng have sufficient traffic, but oben you don’t

want them to have too much either. More traffic usually correlates with high

compeJJon (as depicted by the bars in the screen shot above).

When picking keywords to target, you clearly need to choose your baTles wisely. So

how do you do that?

There are several free tools for assessing keyword compeJJveness. One example

is the SEO Chat Keyword Difficulty Check Tool. The higher the score the keyword gets,


http://www.seochat.com/seo-tools/keyword-difficulty

http://www.seochat.com/seo-tools/keyword-difficulty

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the more compeJJve the term, and the more difficult it is to rank for. Generally

speaking, terms with a difficulty score over 60 will require much more than just on‐

page opJmizaJon if you want to rank on the first page of search results.

What You Need to Beat the Compe88on

Aber picking your arena, you need to figure out how to beat the compeJJon in that

arena. The way to do this is for your site to gain authority and relevance forthose

terms.

Authority

Authority is assessed by understanding the link profile of your site versus those other

sites ranking for the keywords you are targeJng. External links from other sites are

the single most powerful ranking tool amongst the major search engines of today. The

three most important elements of these linking factors are:

• Number of links to a website (more is beTer)

• Number of links to the specific page one hopes will rank for the term in

quesJon (again, more is typically beTer than less)

• The anchor text of links to the specific page (see the upcoming link building

chapter for more on this)

Links are the biggest factor in gaining authority and search engine rankings

As a rule of thumb, one’s site could compete for rankings (in the short term) with

other sites with similar link profiles. Tackling sites with more powerful link profiles

requires Jme and dedicaJon. The bigger the gap, the more Jme, effort and budget is

needed. When a large gap exists between two compeJng sites in the number of

inbound links, it is very difficult for the site with less links to make‐up ground and

compete for keyword opportuniJes.


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Relevance

Relevance, on the other hand, means looking to see if the other sites are specifically

trying to rank for the term(s) in quesJon. On‐page relevancy can be quickly assessed

by looking at simple elements.

• Keyword match in the Jtle of a page

• Keyword match in a site's internal navigaJon

• Keyword match in the domain name

By considering both authority and relevancy, it’s a relaJvely simple process to

determine opportuniJes. If rankings for a given keyword term are dominated by

much more powerful sites obviously targeJng the term with their on‐page factors,

then it’s likely best to look for another keyword opportunity. If, on the other hand,

those same sites are powerful yet aren’t specifically targeJng the term

(or visa versa), then potenJal does exist.

At the end of this process, you should have a list of keywords that have been veTed.

Now, it becomes a process of prioriJzing all the remaining keywords. While the same

primary assessment variables can sJll be uJlised to determine prioriJes, secondary

assessment variables now can also be considered.

Addi8onal Priori8za8on Variables

1. Compe88ve advantage – Does your Travel Agency have a disJnct compeJJve

advantage (in terms of price, advice, experJse) that can be leveraged to increase the

likelihood of sales?

2. Ability to scale or fulfill – Is inventory or ability to fulfill limited (i.e. limited villa

holidays in the summer months)? If so, other products and services with more

potenJal might be a beTer priority.


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3. Profitability – How profitable is a product or service? More profitable items are

oben more desirable to promote.

4. Life8me value of item client – If the sale of a given holiday is made, the current

value of the holiday is not the only consideraJon. One should also take into account

the average lifeJme value of the client of the holiday in quesJon.

Oben, the keyword terms with relaJvely high search volumes and low compeJJon

are the best opportuniJes. Of course, relevance must be factored into this equaJon

as well.


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II. Mastering On‐Page SEO

Why On‐Page SEO is Typically Overlooked

On‐page opJmizaJon is a criJcal but oben overlooked aspect of SEO. The problem

with doing only on‐page opJmisaJon is that there is a glass ceiling to it. Search

engines rank websites according to their authority and relevance to the search terms

as well as their authority on the web.


All Net Effect

Sites are hosted

on .co.uk veriaied

domains and

written in Google

friendly

‘Wordpress’

Key Elements for your Blogging

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On‐page opJmizaJon creates relevance, while building inbound links generates

authority.

Even though off‐page opJmizaJon offers more SEO benefits, on‐page opJmizaJon

is really the first step to SEO improvement. Off‐page SEO is about building inbound

links from relevant websites. But how can search engines deem your pages relevant

to your keywords if you have not even made it clear to them what your page is

about?

On‐page opJmizaJon is basically about two things:• Picking the best keywords around which to base each of your pages

• Making it as clear as possible to search engines that your page is relevant to

those keywords

On‐Page Op8miza8on: The Old Way

When I first got into SEO, many people

took a fairly mechanical approach to on‐

page opJmizaJon because it was what

worked back then.

Hundreds of tools liTered the web that allowed you to measure the keyword density

of a page. Some of them taught that more was beTer. As a result, webmasters would

crank out keyword‐stuffed text that was not interesJng and was brutal to read.

How did you opJmize your page content back then? Stuff your keywords everywhere:

• The URL

• The page Jtle

• The meta descripJon tag

• The on‐page H1 heading

• Aggressively throughout the page content

Web copy on SEO’ed sites was dense, and it looked the part to end‐users!


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In 2003, Google responded to this rise in user‐unfriendliness. Google got much beTer

at looking at what it considered natural language usage paTerns. At that point, old

“opJmizaJon” strategies ended up gejng pages filtered out of the search results for

some of the keywords they were targeJng.

Worse yet, when some people were making their copy more keyword dense, they

would strip out important keyword variaJons, so the page wouldn’t rank as well for

the related supporJng keywords.

Obligatory Reference to the Long Tail

Chris Anderson wrote a popular book enJtled The Long Tail: Why the Future of

Business is Selling Less of More. The long tail describes how many marketplaces work

in terms of staJsJcal distribuJon.

In the previous chapter, we looked at keyword

opportuniJes. The Long Tail is another way of

looking at keyword compeJJveness.

There are a few keywords with high search

volume and traffic. At the same Jme, these are

the more compeJJve keywords that are hard to

rank for. Fortunately, there is a whole ocean of

barely explored long tail keywords that have liTle

traffic but for which you have a beTer chance of

ranking.

Overlooking the Tail

When deciding which keywords to target, many webmasters focus on the big money/

trophy keyword phrases. As menJoned previously, these are the hardest ones to rank

for. Many of these trophy keywords actually seem more important than they are

when you look at the revenues they drive.


http://net-effect.co.uk/net-effect-bookshop/




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Sure, many people who want SEO services will search terms like ‘search engine

opJmizaJon’ or ‘SEO.’ But many webmasters underesJmate the value of the keyword

tail. For every person searching on a keyword like ‘SEO,’ there are likely

10 or more people searching for less common keywords such as:

• How do I rank beTer in Google? • Improve Google placement

• Rank beTer in search engines

• Search engine ranking

These are oben not the words that industry insiders use to describe their own

business. But keywords are not about them – they are the words that their customers

type into search engines.

Most search terms have many variaJons. If you are only focused on the most well

known version, then you are up against the sJffest compeJJon (as the most popular

keywords are typically the most compeJJve) while you are leaving money on the tail

(by neglecJng other keywords).


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How Long Is the Tail?

Describing the mechanism of how the market works is nowhere near as powerful as

raw numbers. In 2007, Google’s Udi Manber stated that only 20% to 25% of the

search queries Google sees each day are unique.

On‐Page Op8miza8on: The New Way

Rather than repeaJng the same word over and over again, you should use a

diverse set of related keywords to help you rank for a variety of long tail keywords.

Most long tail keywords end up being variaJons of the core keywords along

with a common keyword modifier.

Rather than making a repeJJve page Jtle which is like…

Caribbean Cruises, Caribbean Cruises Jps, Caribbean Cruises holiday

…you can use a page Jtle that includes variaJon in it, like…

Caribbean Cruises holiday: Tips on How to book a Caribbean Cruise

Just like you would use relevant modifiers in the page Jtle, you also want to work

in relevant keyword modifiers and alternate forms throughout the page text. This

is one area where keyword density analysis tools can be helpful. You may also

want to find common related keywords in compeJng pages that you may have

forgoTen to target. Including such keywords once or twice on your page is sufficient.

The key is to make it sound natural while covering a variety of keyword opJons.

One of the ways to write naturally is to ignore the concept of SEO unJl aber you

have the first drab version of your page. From there, you can go back into the

page, add some variaJon and cover addiJonal keyword ideas.


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Four common points of variaJon are:

• Singular vs. plural

• Alternate word order

• Synonyms and acronyms

• Keyword modifiers

How Do You Find Those Related Keywords to Target?

VariaJon is good, but where do I start? TradiJonal keyword research tools should

help you, but it also turns out that the search results themselves are a ferJle ground.

• When you begin to type a keyword into a Google search box on the Google

homepage, Google will try to auto‐complete your search query. • They use aggregate search volume to power this, which tells you two things

about the keywords they are recommending: o Those are keywords other people searched for in the past,

o Those are the keywords Google is recommending new searchers to

search for, helping to drive traffic to them

• When you look at the top ranked lisJngs in the search results, many of those

websites will also include related keyword modifiers in their page Jtles. Clicking

through to some of the beTer pages will also show you related keywords and

concepts they are targeJng in their page copy.

• Almost all major search engines offer a related searches feature on their search

results pages. Look through those for addiJonal keyword ideas.

Closing the Loop

The above process is driven from aggregate user data. However, one of the most

important lessons in SEO is that no data source is as useful as your own web

analy8cs.

Make sure you are tracking traffic and conversion data from day one. Net Effect have

installed the latest SEO soPware for your Blogs and websites and set up Google


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Analy#cs for you. Through your analyJcs data, you will uncover many ranking

‘accidents’ or alternate keyword ideas you may not have thought to target. If you are

doing parJcularly well in a certain area, consider making more pages targeJng related

variaJons of those keywords.

Since conversion and user experience are also important, make sure your content

is easy to read. Use generous formajng to break up the content with:

• Short paragraphs

• Bulleted or numbered lists (where relevant)

• Relevant headers and sub‐headers throughout (to make scanning easier)

• Conversion‐focused links within the content area of the page


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III. Link Building Strategies

The Role of Inbound Links in SEO

While on‐page opJmizaJon is a good first step, you will ulJmately get much more

leverage by having links from other sites to yours. Inbound links used to just be a

source of referral traffic. Now, they influence your search engine rankings as well.

Google was the first search engine to use links as a significant ranking factor. They

viewed a link from one site to another as a ‘vote’ for the target site. The more votes

you have, the more authoritaJve your site is considered.

Specifically, there are two main benefits gained through each link:

1. BeTer SEO authority of the linked‐to page and increase in authority of

the site as a whole

2. More relevancy of the page for the keywords that are used in the link’s

anchor text

Anchor text is the clickable text of a link. To give an example, let’s say a page was

linked to in the following ways:

“ Angela’s Travel Agency”

“Caribbean Cruises from Angela’s Travel Agency”

The second link (oben referred to as an ‘anchor text rich’ or an ‘anchor text

specific’ link) is more likely to help Angela’s Agency rank for the keyword

phrase ‘caribbean cruises.’

Link Building with Head Terms vs. Long Tail Terms

In the previous secJon, you learned how to idenJfy the search terms that your site

would benefit from targeJng. Slightly different link building tacJcs may be required,


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depending on the compeJJveness of a keyword.

Head Terms

Ranking for highly compeJJve head terms typically requires a

more diverse

source of links poinJng to the appropriate page that targets the

term. The

links will need to use the corresponding keyword as the anchor

text as oben

as possible.

Mid and Long Tail Terms

Pages that target less compeJJve mid‐to‐long tail terms don’t typically require as

many external links. Instead, sites can rank for these terms by gaining authority

through strong, trusted links, oben to the front page of the site. Solid informaJon

architecture and good on‐page keyword targeJng will then provide the relevancy

signals needed to rank for these terms.

Most of the link building tacJcs discussed later in this chapter can be used either to

target specific head terms or simply to build the authority of the site, depending on

your specific needs.

Tools for Link Research

It’s oben useful to know about the links your site currently has. This informaJon can

help you make decisions regarding whether to aim for more links that will build site

authority or to focus on deep links with specific anchor text.

Researching your compeJtors’ links can also be valuable, parJcularly in idenJfying

link opportuniJes or niches that could also be useful to your link building campaign.


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Look for the links that compeJtors such as online travel agents and tour operators

use.

Open Site Explorer ‐ hRp://www.opensiteexplorer.org/

This tool provides informaJon about the top 1,000 links to a site. These can be

filtered to exclude links that do not pass value. AddiJonal informaJon about each link

includes the anchor text used and the authority of each linking page.

The Open Site Explorer tool also includes reports that showcase the most popular

pages on the site, the most common anchor text used to link to a page or site and

other informaJon about the strength of the page.


http://www.opensiteexplorer.org/

http://www.opensiteexplorer.org/

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The Spectrum of Link Building Tac8cs

Before looking at some parJcular link building tacJcs, it’s worth considering how

creaJng each link can require a different mix of input from the link builder and from

the editor of the linking site. Different link building tacJcs require a different mix of

manual input on the part of the link builder and editorial decisions on the part of

the site from which the link is gained. Link building tacJcs can be divided into those

that are:

• Completely manual

• A combinaJon of manual input and editorial decisions • Completely editorial

Manual Link Building

At the top of this spectrum are tacJcs that require input from no one but the link

builder. These could include leaving links in the ‘comments’ secJon of other sites,

adding links to social networking profiles or submijng a site to online

directories that accept every submission.

Clearly, these can be easy ways to increase the number of links to a site. Since these

links are so easy to obtain, they offer liTle to no value.

Mixture of Manual and Editorial Input

The center of this spectrum is where a lot of link building Jme and effort can (and

typically does) get spent. In many cases, it involves building relaJonships with sites

and individuals who may link to you, or contacJng site editors to tell them about

parJcular content your site has and encouraging them to link to it.


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Completely Editorial

The boTom of this spectrum covers situaJons where a link was given unprompted.

When a site has parJcularly high‐quality content or provides useful or unique

resources on a parJcular topic, people are more likely to link to it without needing to

be asked or invited.

Link Building Techniques

Now that you know why link building is important and understand its different types,

let’s look at some specific tacJcs that have been proven successful. This is by no

means an exhausJve list of techniques that are used, but it should help you get

started on building links to your site and hopefully inspire you to think of ways that

your site can conJnue to aTract links in the future.

Content is King: Quality Content

The purest and most fundamental form of link building is to simply create a

compelling reason for people to talk about your website (or business, or

organizaJon), and then let them share it with others by linking to it. Think about your

niche, and idenJfy some sites from which you’d like to aTract links. Then you can

create content that would be relevant to their audience as well as yours. You can

openly state that others should feel free to share your content as long as they link

back to your site.

Examples of quality, viral content that could aTract links include:

• A Travel Agent page explaining how to see the best sights in Venice • A Travel Agent Page that showed clients images from their holidays in certain

desJnaJons

• A Travel Agents ‘Top Travel Tips’ page in response to quesJons from the public

A blog is an ideal place to publish such content. It encourages you to conJnue


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producing quality content and gives incenJves for others to come back to your site

and share your content.

Directories

The technique of submijng to relevant directories has been maligned in recent

years, typically because of the low quality of many directory sites. Search for sites in

your niche or your local area that maintain some kind of directory or recommended

website list. You can begin by looking at professional organizaJons and trusted local

sites or searching online for terms such as ‘furniture repair directory.’ In general, it’s

good to target sites that have a reasonably high Page Rank and don’t contain ‘spam’

lisJngs.

PR

TradiJonal PR pracJJoners and adverJsers will recognize that contacJng publishers

(typically journalists) to ‘pitch’ a story has online parallels – you can contact a website

owner or blogger to introduce them to your organizaJon, your products, or any non‐

commercial content you’ve created. Use search engines to find relevant sites to

contact, or use directories such as Blogged and Blogflux to find blogs in a parJcular

niche. When contacJng people by email, be as genuine as possible and don’t give the

‘hard sell.’ Explain why you chose to contact them (perhaps because they’re very

relevant or have wriTen about or linked to similar content in the past). Invite them to

take a look at your site, or point them to a parJcular page.

Giveaways

CompeJJons and prize draws are specific link building tacJcs that oben work well.

You can give away a substanJal prize on your site and receive links to the compeJJon

page, or you might consider giving smaller prizes to a variety of publishers and lejng

them run compeJJons on their own sites in return for a link back to you.


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Guest Blogging

If you have parJcular experJse or insight in your niche, many sites may be interested

in having you create content for them. They get the benefit of having some useful

content on their site, and you can be credited with one or more links back to your

site. AddiJonal benefits of guest posJng are that you may get exposure to a new

audience, and you may have beTer control over the anchor text used in your links. To

begin guest blogging, try talking directly to other site owners who you know and who

may be interested in having you create content for them. AlternaJvely, you can

search online using specific terms. For example, a telescope manufacturer might

search for opportuniJes using ‘astronomy blog.’

Use Your Community or Customers

The people who already interact with or have purchased from your site may be a

useful

source of links. Perhaps consider the following:

• Ask your exisJng, saJsfied customers to promote you. Email them to invite any

that have a blog or website to help you by reviewing or linking to you. You

might include the HTML code for the link in the email, so they can simply copy‐

and‐paste the snippet into their site.

• Many community sites create badges or buTons for members to place on their

own sites. This allows users to show their allegiance, while also linking back to you.

Link Bait

Defining this term as ‘content designed to aTract links’ makes it sound a lot like

anything else described here. In fact, the term is typically reserved for content that is

also highly shareable. Such content oben reaches success by being shared widely


27

throughout social media sites first before being linked to by bloggers and other site

owners. Examples could include a clever informaJon visualizaJon, creaJve videos,

useful resources, breaking news, quizzes or amusing cartoons. Link bait doesn’t

necessarily need to be ‘flashy’ as long as it is creaJve: a well wriTen ‘Top 10’ list or a

simple piece of controversial content could get 15 minutes of fame as the web’s

‘hoTest thing’ and get many links from a variety of sources.


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Blogging on your Net Effect Website

The Important thing is to start! Only by experimenJng will you get beTer at wriJng,

beTer at copy, beTer at engaging your customers and beTer at furthering your SEO

efforts. Don’t be afraid and it doesn’t maTer if you don’t get it all done

immediately. You can go back and amend blogs, resubmit for SEO, leave in drab

format ‐ whatever.

For those of you who are new to SEO this paper will need to have been read a

number of Jmes to fully get to grips with it. However, in the meanJme Net Effect

have made life as simple as can be in the CMS to your website.

When you go to post a blog its best to try and write it without and SEO in mind (as

menJoned earlier in this ebook. When you have wriTen the piece and are happy with

it then start to engage in the SEO work.

Below is a blog extract in the CMS. Note that in the top right of the screen you will

see a buTon enJtled ‘Just Write’:


screen shown in ‘just write’ form

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Clicking the buTon will give a full screen showing of your blog (its just easier to write

this way). At the end of wriJng your blog you can click:

... and you will get this screen back again

Below the Blog wriJng (above) is a box as shown below. This is for you to start on all your SEO

efforts.


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This is where you can start to amend your blog for SEO purposes. If you focus on the keywords you

are using you will get clear steers from the sobware how you are succeeding with your SEO efforts.

Note ‐ the clever part of this sobware is that you can amend the SEO Title and Meta DescripJon and

see a copy of what you have wriTen and what will be shown in any Google searches. (Snippet

Preview)

Clicking on page analysis (second Tab) will get you a detailed review and give steers such as

‘keyword density’ etc. Try to follow the advice on the page to maximise your SEO chances for your

blog piece.

... and ainally ‘Publish’ your blog.


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Travel Blogs to read and get you started……

Check out the following link:

hTp://www.ytravelblog.com/36‐travel‐blogs‐to‐follow‐and‐the‐benefits/

This lists a number of Travel Blogs and while they may not be the style or exact

content that you would use, they are a good start to see what sort of Travel

Blogs People write.

yTravelblog.com also have over 5000 people following their twiTer stream. Follow

their ‘lists’ to get inspiraJon from Bloggers and Tweeters on things to talk about in

travel


http://www.ytravelblog.com/36-travel-blogs-to-follow-and-the-benefits/

http://www.ytravelblog.com/36-travel-blogs-to-follow-and-the-benefits/

an introduction to seo - net effect · 2017-06-04 · 5 why keywords are your foundaon 90% of...

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