Do you long to be an SEO Ninja?
I know I do -- well, I did in the past anyway.
Back in 2009 while I was running my own car shipping business, I depended nearly 100% on being found in Google searches.
My livelihood depended on search traffic.
So I dove in & learned a ton about SEO & what it takes to get on page 1 on Google.
And to my surprise, I was able to pull it off with multiple keywords -- which made my business skyrocket!
But...
Then in late 2010, Google made some changes. My high ranking sites got knocked down to page 2 or 3 -- where basically no one looks.
My business suffered almost immediately. I was no longer getting the free organic traffic I was getting before -- so I either had to re-learn everything or give up.
I tell you all of this to assure you that you're not alone in your frustrations with SEO. It's much harder today to get ranked than it was in 2009 for sure.
Recently I was looking for some good resources to help me re-learn SEO tactics.
I came across 15 superb articles that have helped me grasp what works today & I think know they will help you too.
15 Must Read SEO Resources
Dig through each of these articles & find at least 1 nugget you can apply to your business.
The Advanced Guide to Content Marketing
via Quick Sprout
Neil Patel is probably the only resource you need if you want to to learn how to market online -- you'll see a few blogs from him in this post. He has put together a guide to teach everything you need to know about content marketing. It will blow your face off!
7 Tactics to Make Your Content Marketing Search-Friendly
via Heidi Cohen
When you write a blogpost, you should always write with the reader in mind for sure. But you also need to be conscious of how people will/can find your content in a Google search. Find out 7 tactics to make your content easy to find in this post.
5 Reasons Why Long Content and Blog Posts are Once Again the Future of Content Marketing
via The Sales Lion
Lots of debate has gone on about how long or short your blog posts should be. Marcus Sheridan gives us 5 reasons your blog posts should be long -- and how it will pay off for your business.
9 SEO Tools for Blogging
via Razor Social
Kristi Hines offers up 9 great tools to help you get the most out of your blog posts. Just writing a blog isn't a enough -- you need to use some tools to help you go to the next level of marketing.
How To Build a Content Marketing Strategy
via Moz
If you haven't noticed, we're focusing a lot on content marketing lately. It's the centerpiece of SEO these days. Moz (formerly SEOmoz) is the premiere source for all things SEO. The purpose of this post is to help you develop a framework on how to start building a content marketing strategy for your site or your client's site.
How to Effectively Build an SEO Campaign From the Ground Up
via Quick Sprout
Everyone should read this post when starting a new website! Neil Patel gives us some tips on how he'd start a new website & have SEO in mind.
4 Powerful Local SEO and Content Marketing Strategies No One is Talking About
via The Sales Lion
SEO isn't just important for online marketers. It's also important if you run a local brick & mortar business. Marcus Sheridan has become an online marketing guru by way of what he was able to accomplish with his offline pool supply business. He gives us 4 ideas that every local business can apply.
Syncing Your Google Plus and +Local Pages: Plusses and Minuses
via David Mihn
Google+ is imperative for successful local marketing today. In this post, David walks you through how to sync your Google+ page & Local pages so that you can get found easier!
How to Create a Site Structure Google Will Love
via WordTracker
A well planned site structure improves your chances of ranking well in Google's results. In this post by Word Tracker, you'll learn how to set up your site’s structure - so search engines find your best & most profitable content & your site's visitors have a great experience.
On Page SEO Plugin Domination
via Traffic Generation Cafe
I'll admit I'm a plugin freak! In fact, I have some sites that have over 100 plugins running -- which is not good for your servers, trust me! This article goes into great detail about some plugins you should install on your blog. But in addition to that, it breaks down some basic functions like H1 tags, meta data, tags, etc.
How to Move Your Blog Post Up in Search Results
via Razor Social
As I eluded to earlier, getting on page 1 is the most important thing you need to do if you expect people to find you via Google searches. Because no one looks at page 2! In this post, Ian Cleary schools you on some ways to move your blog to page 1. These are tactics you probably haven't thought about.
Link Building
Link building used to be the main method used by marketers to get on page 1 of Google. Well, a lot has changed over the years -- but link building is still very important. The next few posts will discuss how link building should fit into your strategy today.
11 Creative Ways to Build Links
via Quick Sprout
Neil Patel offers 11 creative ways to build links that don't require you to wear a black hat or be a spammer!
4 Outside-the-Box Link Building Tactics
via Point Blank SEO
As with some of the tips Neil provided, this blog by Brian Dean offers some great link building tips. Link building isn't dead & these 4 tactics should help you build some solid links so your site shows up in search results more often.
33 Link Building Questions Answered
via Moz
We're going back to Moz here for some tips on building links & helping us with SEO. Moz takes 33 questions from their users about link building & offers some solid answers. These are questions you're probably thinking about right now -- but don't have anyone around to answer them. Now you do!
How to Get Out of the Google Penalty Box
via Quick Sprout
Ok... So you got thrown into the Google "Penalty Box" for doing some "black" hat type methods. Sometimes people do this without ill intentions & end up getting penalized. Neil is going to show you in this blog post how to get your site out of the penalty box & back on page 1 of Google.
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