What Color Is Your Citationbait?

This article when make more sense if you start by reading Citationbait Your New Friend? first.

You have all likely heard of white and black hat SEO previously and most discussions likely involved link building. Well, now with Google Places search we are no longer focusing so much on link building. No, the discussions now center around acquiring citations. Thus the concept of citationbait.

Citations are Google Places equivalent to backlinks. They are after all,  activities on other websites that can influence your Google Places search rankings. In link building we often talk about linkbait or methods that we can use to attract backlinks. The more useful backlinks the better or the theory goes. Linkbait is simply any effort to attract backlinks.

Now, for any of you who have been around SEO at all you likely have already heard of White and Black Hat SEO. Well, it also exists with Google Places SEO. When we are discussing citations we need to be discussing what are white hat methods and what are black hat. In other words what is an acceptable practice and what is not.

But before I go any further I should review what is a citation. They can come from several sources. Citations can include mentions on blogs or listing on local business directory sites. They may also include reviews from sites like Yelp, reviews from local directory sites, and reviews placed directly into your Places account. You should keep in mind that negative reviews can hurt your listing. So what we want from our Citationbait efforts are positive reviews.

Citationbait is simply the act or process of gaining positive citations for your Google Places business listing. The more positive citations that you acquire the more likely that your listing will rank higher in the Places Search results. Its all about obtaining attention of those who are motivated to assist your business. And this all is made much easier if you have meet or exceeded your customers expectations.

The cornerstone of any successful citationbait program begins with meeting the needs, wants, and desires of your customers. If you do this then acquiring citations should be like a leisurely walk in the park. Often all it takes to acquire a positive citation is you being motivated enough to ask for a positive review. It can be that simple.

We then must ask, what then is an acceptable citationbait process and what is not. I think that it is safe to say that paid and fake reviews are consider black hat and not a good strategy. Of course determining what is fake or paid can be a challenge for Google. That is why I believe that Google created its  Hotpot review service. I personally believe its real purpose is to prevent review spam.

Now, that part was easy. So let’s consider some more possibilities. Is it acceptable to ask for reviews from your suppliers? What about asking your friends or family to write you some reviews?

I suggested in an earlier post, Citationbait Your New Friend?, that you might simply want to start by asking your customers for reviews. You could do this in person or from your newsletter if you use one. I also suggested that you place a sign in your place of business asking for reviews. But these suggestions only will work if you have a loyal customer base.

You could set-up a citationbait program that only generates negative responses and that would definitely backfire on you. So if you are considering a citationbait program be aware this is best reserved for those companies with a loyal customer base.

I previously suggested creating a discount coupon flyer that also includes a request a positive review? I personally really like this approach. It allows you to ask for a favor (the positive review) while you are providing a saving with your discount coupon. But the bottom line here is that you have to be able to produce a satisfied customer.

If you don’t provide great service Google is likely to punish your business in the Places Search results. Quality customer service is more important than ever.

What say you?

Thanks,

Urban
I provide Local SEO Tucson Google Places SEO Phoenix Mesa Glendale Scottsdale , Google Places SEO Tucson Phoenix Scottsdale Glendale Mesa Yuma, and SEO Tucson Google Places Chandler Tempe Flagstaff Apache Junction from our Tucson, Arizona location.

Citationbait Your New Friend?

I think that it’s time that we all have a discussion about Citationbait. Citationbait is just like linkbait but its affects your Google Places listing rather than your organic ranking. Linkbait, as you may well have discovered is just about anything that you can do to attracting attention and backlinks for your website. It includes contests, giveaway’s, and just about any type of self promotions that you can conjure up.

A good linkbait program can often help you acquire hundreds if not thousands of links back to your website. The problem with linkbait is that it is effective if your website has a blog. However, if your website lacks a blog it is much more difficult to set up an effective linkbait program. It’s not impossible just difficult.

I have attempted four linkbait efforts in the past two have been successful and two have not. But if you are a local business you are likely less concerned about about links and the organic side of the Google search results. Your main focus is likely on improving your Places business listing. To accomplish this you will need to acquire citations. Thus the need for citationbait.

First, you will need to understand a few thing before I proceed. The citations that I am referring too here have the ability to impact a business’s Places listing in the Google Places search rankings. These citations may appear as reviews placed on other websites about your business. They may also include reviews completed in your Places listing. Citations may be mentions on other sites such as local directories, blogs, or from information and referral sites.

What makes citations unique is that they do not require a backlink to be effective. It doesn’t hurt your listing but a url is not required. It definitely helps if the citation includes the businesses name, address, and phone number. This information usually will not appear in a review. But it is usually available in the business listing where a review can be placed.

Here are some basic ideas as we explore what works and what doesn’t work.

Your customers are the first place to start. And the easiest citationbait that I can think of its a no brainer. Simply ask your customers who like your business and who have had a positive experience to provide you with a review. Yes, this is more common sense than citationbait but you have to start somewhere.

You might also want to place a sign in your place of business that asks for a review. I would even create a flyer that explains the need for citations. Then I would place them somewhere next to your sign. I would even go a step further and create a discount coupon flyer. On that coupon I would also ask for a positive review and provide several sites where they can leave reviews. I would then provide this to every customer as they check out.

Now, this kind of thing only should be used if people really like your business. The reason for this is simple. Google tweaked its algorithm in December of 2010 so that negative reviews can hurt your rankings. Previously, all reviews were treated as a positive.

I am going to mention some other options that will be covered in a following post What Color Is Your Citationbait? You could ask friends, family, and business associates to write you a review. You could also write your own or pay for reviews. Yes, there is a white hat – black world when it comes to citations and citationbait.

The review part of gathering and acquiring citations is just like backlinks. It is also the area where there is the greatest potential for gaming the system. Google has already rolled out the Hotpot review service as an attempt to control fake reviews both good or bad.

Another source of citations and possibly citationbait is the local business directories or IYP’s. You will want to list your business on as many local directory sites as possible. However, I would not recommend using paid sites as there are way too many free ones available.

The citationbait part is this. If your listing is in a local directory and someone’s discovers they might leave a review. Google might also show your local directory listing under section more about this place in your Places account.

Another area where there is potential place to acquire citations is from blogs. Although I have not seen many blog citations it is possible. The post would need to include your business name, location, and telephone number for this to be effective. The businesses name should also appear in the posts title and page title for best results. However, you will have no control over this unless you are writing about another company.

I really hope this sparks a lively discussion as we all try to figure out how to acquire citations safely. If you have an interesting idea please share it with us.

I will be following up this post up with one titled What Color Is Your Citationbait?

What say you?

Thanks,

Urban

I provide Local SEO Tucson Google Places SEO Phoenix Mesa Glendale Tempe , Google Places SEO Tucson Phoenix Scottsdale Mesa Flagstaff Glendale , and SEO Tucson Google Places Chandler Tempe Flagstaff Yuma from our Tucson, Arizona location.

My Video Marketing Adventure V4

Earlier this year I entered a business agreement to provide SEO related training videos. In the process I became involved with a soon to be launched program that offers a one stop DIY website building and marketing tools. The problem was that this SEO guy had never created a video before this. I was given the opportunity based on my SEO skills and personality.

I had always wanted to create videos but I had to get over some big time fears to do so. One of the reasons that I never wanted to do videos is that I could not stand the sound of my recorded voice. I had been a disc jokey starting at age 13 but I never liked how my voice sounded recorded. I suppose I could have just made slide shows without audio, but the fact was I just never got around to it. I had real issues with failure.

But now, I was going to be paid to provide these training videos. Money is a great motivator indeed. Then a strange thing occurred as I began doing the recording I actually began to enjoy hearing my own voice. It had been about 25 years since I had last done commercial radio. Over the years my voice became way less squeaky and much deeper. It was refreshing to overcome this hang-up of mine.

Then after doing 20 training videos I decided that it was time to learn about video marketing. I still have a lot to learn but I work on this almost everyday. Along the way I discovered a program call TubeToolbox that automates many of the YouTube activities without breaking YouTube’s TOS. It’s free version allows me to make 5 friend requests per day. Now, one of the first things that I do everyday is fire up the toolbox.

It also has a feature that allows you to also automatically subscribe to a users channel when making a friends request. I didn’t appreciate this feature until recently. I had just launched a new video, Local SEO – Why Isn’t Your Website Ranking # 1 – Part 2 – SEO Explained. It is part of a five part DIY SEO training series geared towards the local websites owners. My plan was to use YouTube’s email to promoted it as well as other video sites.

It was then that I discovered that your email contacts automatically include all of your channel subscribers, friends, and those whose channel that you follow. I had though that my contacts would be limited to friends and subscribers. I was wrong as it also included those whose channel I had subscribed too. So I now had a database of over 600 users that I could promote the video too. These people had been selected as they indicated an interest in local marketing.

Well, I posted my latest video about 6 days ago and today I had discovered that it is ranking # 1 for the search query “Local SEO.” Yes, I gave up a very loud hoot and holler when I saw this. The thrill was huge that’s for sure. My four videos are currently ranking #1, # 9, # 11, and # 12.

Here is what makes this victory so sweet for me. The video that was ranking # 1 was produced by another Tucson based internet marketer. My goal from the very beginning was to out rank his video. It was a very poorly produced video but it had been on YouTube for over a year. So he had a huge advantage over mine. This might mean little to you but for me this accomplishment has made my day, week, and likely month.

My competitors video has had 633 views in the past year. My video ha seen 100 views in 6 days. Not only that it has received a few votes and comments. These votes and comments have a huge impact on YouTube rankings or so I have been told. I really went all out to promote this video over a three day period. I uploaded it onto about 70 websites. Yes, it is a time consuming process but for now it is worth it to me.

Now, I know that the numbers that I am talking about are extremely small for YouTube in general. However, in this niche they are awesome. The really cool part about all of this is that is that I really enjoy making these videos. I am freely giving away knowledge that I charge others for. I eventually plan on improving on these videos and roll them into my DIY SEO offering as a paid program.

I have offered DIY training on a one on one basis for clients here in Tucson. That program usually included 3 separate training sessions. It will be great to automate the process so that clients can access the training on their schedules. Plus, I have a teaching background and video allows me to share of knowledge in a teaching environment.

I still am on this huge learning curve and their is lots yet to learn. This month my goal is to learn how to add  background music to my videos. This will give them a much more polished presentation.

I don’t have enough words to describe about how I feel about this accomplishment. It’s an absolutely tremendous feeling to overcome your fears, to set a goal, and then to be able to accomplish it.

I provide Local SEO Tucson Google Places SEO Phoenix Scottsdale Glendale Mesa , Google Places SEO Phoenix Tucson Scottsdale Glendale Mesa Flagstaff, and SEO Tucson Google Places Chandler Tempe Apache Junction Yuma from our Tucson, Arizona location.

The Basics Of Link Building Explained Part 1

First, I should explain that in internet terms links and backlinks are interchangeable. While their are some differences it is safe to assume that we are discussing the same thing. Whether you like it or not Google is the 800 pound gorilla of the internet, internet marketing, advertising, and search engines. Yes, we all think of Google as a search engine company and it is that and much more.

Depending on what source that you chose for your information about search statistics, Google has about 70 % of the total search engine market in the US. Especially if you include AOL into the mix. AOL gets its search results from Google. Its world wide reach is absolutely incredible.

Google uses this dominance to generate text ad sales as that’s how it really makes its money. Google basically created a better mouse trap (search engine) when the internet was in its infancy. It created an algorithm that is primarily based what are known as links or backlinks. What this means is that the backbone of Google’s search engine is based on the inter connectivity of websites linking to each other.

Google actually provides a score for each web page that it indexes. This rating system is called Page Rank or PR. The higher a pages PR, the more valuable that link becomes, and the greater influence that link will have in its search rankings. Google is the only major search engine that makes available its rating system.

How your website eventually ranks in the search results has a lot to do with backlinks especially in competitive markets. It isn’t a matter of how many links that a site has pointing to your website. No,  it is more about the quality of those links. Our site competes in several markets where our competitors have many times the links that we do.

Yet, we often outrank these competitors. Many of those links where built using methods that have become obsolete so these links are likely useless. The truly smart internet marketers focus on quality and not quantity. You can’t get many quality links using spam methods.

I like to explain links this way. Let’s say that there is a cancer researcher here in Tucson who published a review of his research online. In that document that researcher mentions another similar article by a researcher at UCLA. The Tucson researcher provides a link to that second researcher’s website in California. This link is known as a backlink. The idea was to give importance to related information. This is how Google was able to grow so rapidly. Google’s link based algorithm produced better and more accurate search results.

That’s the easy explanation. Along with creating this link based algorithm Google created a few other features that play a pivotal role is whether a website eventually ranks well or not in its search results. Google created Page Rank (PR.) Page Rank begets something called link juice. This juice or authority can be passed from one website to another via backlinks.

Page Rank is where Google provides a score to each and every page in its index. The scores go from N/A to 10 with 10 being the highest score. There are not many 10’s available. PR is based on hundreds of factors that are mostly kept as company secrets. Some of these factors can only be discerned by pouring over patent applications or from info provided from Google. One thing that was surfaced over the years is that PR is tied to how many links or backlinks that a web page has pointing to it, the quality of those links, and their age.

When this became public knowledge Google had a big problem on its hands. The general public could now take advantage of this information to manipulate the search engine to gain higher search placement for their web pages.

This was a spammers dream come true. This occurred about the time blogs were exploding on the scene with thousands of new blogs being created daily. Many of these blogs were abandoned within their first year. Although the owner was no longer active many of these blogs could be exploited for gaining backlinks through the comments section.

It is important to realize that the internet was now becoming a toddler, a toddler that lacked adequate spam filters. So people were manually placing spam backlinks or using automated bots to accomplish the same goal. They wanted as many backlinks as possible from wherever they could get them. The thinking was any link is a vote for your website and back then this appeared to be true. This lead to an explosion of products and services to fill this demand

If you are confused by now you should be. Understanding backlinks can be a daunting task. It is safe to say that if your competitor and your website are equally optimized the site with more and better links will rank higher. It is really is that simple. How important backlinks are in the total picture is open to debate but it is safe to say that they play a huge role. The more competitive a search query is the more import the role of links will be.

This is a multiple part series that will be continued…

I provide Local SEO Tucson Google Places SEO Phoenix Scottsdale Glendale Mesa , Google Places SEO Phoenix Tucson Scottsdale Glendale Mesa Flagstaff, and SEO Tucson Google Places Chandler Tempe Apache Junction Yuma from our Tucson, Arizona location.

This is a DIY video about Local SEO.

The video can be found here You can find this video at Local SEO Training on YouTube

I provide Local SEO Tucson Google Places SEO Phoenix Scottsdale Glendale Mesa , Google Places SEO Phoenix Tucson Scottsdale Glendale Mesa Flagstaff, and SEO Tucson Google Places Chandler Tempe Apache Junction Yuma from our Tucson, Arizona location.

This video shows how the local website owner can use social media to crush the competition.

The video can be found here Local SEO Services videos on YouTube

I provide Local SEO Tucson Google Places SEO Phoenix Scottsdale Glendale Mesa , Google Places SEO Phoenix Tucson Scottsdale Glendale Mesa Flagstaff, and SEO Tucson Google Places Chandler Tempe Apache Junction Yuma from our Tucson, Arizona location.

This is the second in a series of videos that offers DIY SEO training.

The video can be found here Go here for more Local SEO Training on YouTube

I provide Local SEO Tucson Google Places SEO Phoenix Mesa Glendale Tempe , Google Places SEO Tucson Phoenix Scottsdale Mesa Flagstaff Glendale , and SEO Tucson Google Places Chandler Tempe Flagstaff Yuma from our Tucson, Arizona location.

This is the first in a series of DIY SEO videos.

The video can be found here Local SEO – Tucson SEO on YouTube

I provide Local SEO Tucson Google Places SEO Phoenix Mesa Glendale Tempe , Google Places SEO Tucson Phoenix Scottsdale Mesa Flagstaff Glendale , and SEO Tucson Google Places Chandler Tempe Flagstaff Yuma from our Tucson, Arizona location.

This is a YouTube video. The video can be found here Local SEO – Tucson SEO on YouTube

I provide Local SEO Tucson Google Places SEO Phoenix Mesa Glendale Tempe , Google Places SEO Tucson Phoenix Scottsdale Mesa Flagstaff Glendale , and SEO Tucson Google Places Chandler Tempe Flagstaff Yuma from our Tucson, Arizona location.

I provide Local SEO Tucson Google Places SEO Phoenix Mesa Glendale Tempe , Google Places SEO Tucson Phoenix Scottsdale Mesa Flagstaff Glendale , and SEO Tucson Google Places Chandler Tempe Flagstaff Yuma from our Tucson, Arizona location.