Setting Up Your Website on Google Webmaster Tools

If you haven’t already setup your site on Google Webmaster Tools, be sure to do it now! You will need a Google Account which you probably already have if you are using Google Analytics, Gmail, Feedburner, or any other Google service. All you need to do is go to your Google Webmaster Tools dashboard and add your site. To verify you are the owner, you will have to upload a simple HTML file to your root domain server or add a META tag to your site’s header (the latter is much simpler).

The other thing you will want to do is submit a sitemap under the Site Configuration menu on the left side once your site is verified. If you have a self-hosted WordPress site, you can easily create a sitemap using the Google XML Sitemaps plugin. Alternatively, you can use sites like XML-Sitemaps.com to generate one.

Valuable Information Provided by Google Webmaster Tools

Once your site is setup and pulling data, you can get the following information all in one place!

Sitelinks

Does your site have additional links in the search results?

You can’t fully control these, but you can at least remove unwanted options from your Site Configuration > Sitelinks.

Search Query Impressions vs. Clicks

Sure, Google Analytics tells you what search terms brought people to your site. But don’t you want to know more about those terms? Under Your Site on the Web > Search Queries, you can view the following.

You can see everything from your average position for a search term to how many impressions vs. how many clicks you receive for a particular term. You’ll see quickly when you’re ranking for terms that don’t make sense, and which terms you should go after as ranking higher will result in more targeted traffic.

Incoming Links to Your Site

Links to Your Site, also under Your Site on the Web will show you the top 1,000 domains linking to your site and how many pages from their site link to yours.

Keywords

Next under Your Site on the Web is Keywords. This section tells you what Google thinks your site is about.

If the keywords are not accurate, you may want to look at your on-site optimization and content to make sure you are targeting the right keywords.

Malware

Want to make sure your site is virus-free? Under Diagnostics > Malware, you (hopefully) will have an all clear message. Webmaster Tools will also alert the email address on file if there are any malicious programs setting up show on your website.

Crawl Errors

The last thing you want when someone clicks on a link to your site is for them to arrive to a 404 page not found error. While you may have a great 404 page, you want it to be discovered as few times as possible. Use the Diagnostics > Crawl Errors portion of Webmaster Tools and review your Not Found pages.

Is This Everything?

Not at all – there is a lot more valuable information about your website in Google Webmaster Tools – these are just the ones that are the most valuable. Be sure to add your site and discover more information to help you in optimize your site for the best performance in search and on the web!

Because I am someone who has a hard time working when things are a mess, here are some common areas I usually take care of to make sure that my life is as clutter-free as possible so I can be as efficient and productive as possible.

Your Physical Environment

First off, let’s start with your physical environment, aka everything you see around you.

Your Car

If you commute to an office space every day, then your car may be the first stop in the decluttering process. I don’t know about you, but being a resident of Arizona, I drink a lot of water, and sometimes those water bottles begin to pile up around my floorboards. And if you drive to work every day, you’re spending possibly an hour or more a day in a messy environment, that can have a subconscious impact on your productivity. So take about five minutes and take out the trash. You (and your car) will be happier because of it.

Your Office Space

Whether this is a room in your house, an actual office, or just your cubicle, you will want to make sure things are as neat and organized as possible, from the bookshelves (leadership books) around you to the top of the desk that your computer sits upon.

Sometimes it may not be obvious things that are making things seemed cluttered, but little things like the odd post notes cube sitting in front of books on a shelf or papers that haven’t been filed. The clearer and cleaner your space is, the more open it will feel.

Your Computer

There is one source of clutter on my computer that I absolutely cannot handle after a bit, even though I am the one that builds it up, and that is an over abundance of desktop icons.

Here is how to combat those so, when your programs are all minimized, only a few folders and your beautiful background image emerges.

Program Icons

One of the great things about Windows is the taskbar. I pin my most used programs to the taskbar and remove any desktop shortcuts to those programs. The rest of the programs that I use somewhat regularly, but not daily, I pin to the start menu.

Files

I hate trying to find my downloads folder, so I end up downloading everything to my desktop. The key is to make sure you sort those files once you have opened them, unzipped them, or otherwise utlized them. I have one general folder that I call Stuff on my desktop that I can drag everything into. That way I have access to all of those files from my desktop, but don’t have to see them all when I minimize my programs. Within that folder, I have simple breakdowns of Images, PDFs, Word Docs, Excel Docs, etc. so it’s not just one big folder full of unending files.

Your Online Life

Last, but never least, there is the clutter in your online life. This includes, but is not limited to the following areas.

Your Inbox

I’m still surprised by the vast number of people who don’t setup filters or have subfolders / labels to sort their mail into. I only leave mail that still needs a response or action in my inbox. Everything else gets sorted so that when I open my inbox, I (hopefully) don’t have to scroll. Sometimes, making sure that my actionable emails are cleared up helps me actually take action on them instead of procrastinating and possibly forgetting to answer something important. The latter is a work in progress for me, but it is getting better.

Gmail is my email provider of choice thanks to the fact that you can place emails in multiple labels (folders) and filter them to skip your inbox and go straight to a label, mark them as read or unread, or go to your inbox and label them so you can easily archive them to their appropriate label after you’re done reading. Also, you don’t have to look at an unending list of labels thanks to the Show if Unread setting meaning they only pop into view when there is a new email filtered to them. That way you can see topics you might want to read about later without them clogging up your inbox.

Your RSS Reader

Another source of grief can be your RSS reader. I use Google Reader for my subscriptions, and for the longest time I just didn’t bother because I had thousands of unread posts.

But over the past weekend, I went through and cleaned up blogs that either hadn’t updated since 2010 or blogs that I just wasn’t interested in anymore. Now I have a manageable news source with a much less intimidating number of unread items.

Your Social Following

Are you following too many people on Twitter? Why not use a program like HootSuite that lets you view multiple streams of info at a time and organize your favorite Twitter users into categorized lists so you can just see updates from whom you choose. And if you keep seeing annoying updates from a certain “friend” on Facebook, but aren’t ready to unfriend them just yet, why not hide their posts from showing up, leaving room for updates you really care about?

Your Declutter Areas

And there you have it! When I’m feeling less than productive, these are the first areas I hit to make sure they are nice and organized for an environment conducive to good productivity. What do you do to make sure your operating at peak efficiency?

Photo Credit

Let Visitors Choose How to Follow!

Sure, you may specifically want Twitter followers, mailing list subscribers, or fans for your Facebook page. But those may not be the routes people want to go when following you.

When it comes to giving your visitors options, don’t try to force them to go one way or the other. Instead, give them a nice selection to choose from. This will ensure that you get the visitor to start coming back to your site or blog more often, and probably lead to them following in other ways as well.

What Options Do Visitors Want?

The following are the most common ways visitors like to continue engagement with you and your website. I would suggest adding these items (in text format, as social icons, or signup forms when applicable) in an easily accessible area site wide, such as the top of your sidebar, header or at the end of your content.

RSS – Some may think that subscribing to blogs via RSS using Google Reader or similar sites is going out of style, but it is still an important option to continue displaying on your blog. People such as myself organize everything in Google Reader, for example. Also, the feed link can be used for other applications, such as TwitterFeed, allowing your visitor to share your new posts with their followers via Twitter and Facebook.

Email (Blog Posts Only) – While you may be sharing your latest blog posts along with other items in your main mailing lists, some people may want to subscribe to your blog posts only when it comes to email. Hence, be sure to give them the option to do so and clearly mark it as blog posts only, that way they know they aren’t inadvertently signing up for the whole shebang. Feedburner, for example, will let you link to the email subscription form or place a text box to capture emails on your website.

Email (Your Mailing List) – For those who do want any and all updates you are willing to send, you should have a mailing list signup form not just as a popup, but as an always static form on your site. That way, whenever someone wants to signup, they will have the option.

Facebook Fan Page – If your visitors are all about Facebook, then they will naturally want to follow your fan page for the latest updates.

Twitter – Be sure to put your Twitter handle in an easy to find spot on your site. People who want to share your blog with others may want to do so with their Twitter following, and nothing is more frustrating than having to leave a site and have to search Google for your Twitter handle. Also be sure that your site uses the Twitter retweet button to share specific pages and content as well.

Niche Networks – Depending on your niche, there may be other great sites for your visitors to follow you on as well. For example, on my new photo blog, I give people the option to follow my photography on Flickr. Niches or sites who rely heavily on video may want users to follow them on YouTube. If you’re not sure what networks your niche likes, visit other popular blogs that cover the same topics and see what options they give their visitors.

Who Does It Right?

Here are some good examples of sites that give their visitors lots of options to follow them.

• First of all, take a look at the sidebar here on Stay on Search, which offers the option for posts via RSS or email, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and a mailing list.
• Mashable has the full arsenal of options, including apps for Android, iPhone and iPad.
• TechCrunch makes their options super simple by including them in the menu bar in the header area, although the minimalist approach may be overlooked by visitors not accustom to looking for those icons.

How Do You Get Visitors to Follow You?

Do you give your visitors a variety of options to choose from when it comes to following you? Let us know in the comments what those are and what kind of response you see from it.

1. Follow your hero on all fronts.

This means finding every one of their public online properties and connecting to it. Blogs, Facebook pages, forums, etc. If they’re on it, you should be on it. Sounds a bit like cyber stalking, but trust me, it works. You will want to know what they are up to.

2. Interact with them on all fronts.

It’s not as meaningful to just be a fan or follower. You have to get into their day to day conversation.

• Comment on their blog regularly.
• Keep an eye on their Twitter activity, and if they ask a question or make a comment that you can genuinely respond to in a valuable way, do it.
• If they post something on their Facebook wall, like it AND comment on it.
• If they post a new video on YouTube, comment on it on YouTube. You’d be surprised how little traffic some big names get on their videos, unless they are in the entertainment business, so being one of the only ten comments will get you noticed.
• If they’re doing something that they are passionate about, such as supporting a charity, then give that a tweet to your followers.

3. Join a private club with them.

This one I have seen work wonders by being a member of the Third Tribe. Yes, finding that private club, forum, membership area, etc. will probably cost you, but if you can see potential benefits of collaborating with your hero, then do it. You will get access to them in a way that the general public doesn’t. Plus, when you contact them more privately (say, via email) you can always throw in the line about how you know them through that membership. It really does opens doors.

4. Learn from them.

This one is probably the most important thing you can do. While you’re doing all of this cyber stalking, you should pick up a thing or two from them and learn how they are such a big hit in their niche or industry. You might find ways to apply those to your own strategy which will help you grow as an authority in your niche or industry as well. And then if you move up to the same ranks as them, they will not be able to help but notice you. Mission accomplished!

What’s the Real Goal of This Exercise?

The end goal is #4. It’s not just about getting noticed, but learning from them. Don’t just emulate them to get notice – learn what you like about what they do as well as what you don’t like so you don’t incorporate the later items into your plan. And presto, you will develop and grow which, in the long run, will benefit your career, blog, or hobby!

Your Thoughts

What have you done to connect with someone who inspires you? Has that helped you develop in your own pursuits? Please share your experiences in the comments.

What kind of content can my business create?

And depending on the type of business and their industry, this can be a tricky question to answer.

What Content Needs to be Link Worthy

Whether you are creating video, infographics, top 10 lists, or even simply blog posts, your content needs to appeal to (almost) everyone in order to be determined link worthy. So your goal when creating content for any industry is to think of a topic that is interesting to most anyone and relates back to the business for which it is being created.

Video Example: Salesforce, Chatter, and the Superbowl

Chatter.com: Halftime Ad 1 with will.i.am

Not a lot of people are going to get all crazy about a business social networking platform, especially during the Superbowl. Salesforce pulled it off in their ad for Chatter by incorporating the Superbowl’s half time performers into their advertisement and making it entertaining.

Infographic Example: Funeral Insurance and Imaginative Burial Spots

Click here for the full version.

There are few topics more depressing than funeral insurance, so finding link worthy content would be next to impossible right? Wrong! This funeral insurance company’s infographic is original and thought provoking, but in a good way, sharing some strange (or exciting) ways to be memorialized.

What Do These Examples Have in Common?

Both can be appealing to a wider audience than just those interested in business social networking or insurance. That is the key to success when it comes to link worthy content – making sure that your content will be interesting to more than just your target audience.

Why? Because if your content is getting links and high visibility, chances are that people in your target audience will eventually come across it (whether immediately or down the road) and be impressed by the creative ways that your business has found to reach its market. And that kind of first impression is bound to lead to conversions!

Your Best Content Examples

Now it’s your turn! What have been your best finds when it comes to businesses creating amazing content for a possibly “difficult” niche or industry?

February 24, 2011

• Finding More High-Quality Sites in Search (Google Blog)
• Google Forecloses On Content Farms With “Farmer” Algorithm Update (Search Engine Land)

February 25, 2011

• More Google Algorithm Changes: the Farmer Update (Search News Central)
• Hard Data From The Farmer Update (Abbamont)
• Google Breaks Up With Content Farms (Adotas)
• Google Clamps Down on Content Factories (Wired)
• Websites to Google: ‘You’re Killing Our Business!’ (CNN)

February 26, 2011

• Google Farmer Update: The 300+ Sites Affected (Google Spreadsheet)
• Number Crunchers: Who Lost In Google’s “Farmer” Algorithm Change? (Search Engine Land)
• Google Kills eHow Competitors, eHow Rankings Up (SEO Book)
• Google Revamps to Fight Cheaters (Wall Street Journal)
• Google Farmer Update: Quest for Quality (Sistrix)

February 27, 2011

• Google Farmer Update Slaps Google Shopping and Google Maps Competitors (Growmap)

February 28, 2011

• Google Farmer Update – Self Diagnostic Kit (Andy Beard)
• Whoa, Google’s Farmer Update Helped EHow? (Adotas)
• Google Farmer Update Support Groups (Search Engine Roundtable)
• Google’s “Farmer Update” At Search Engine Land’s SMX West Conference (Search Engine Land)
• My Thoughts on the Newest Google Algorithm Update [w/ Results] (Stay on Search)

March 1, 2011

• The Role Manual Reviews Played in The Farmer Algo Update (Make Money Online)
• The Farmer Update Harmed Codependent Site Owners (Search Engine Journal)
• Google: We’re Working to Help Good Sites Caught by Spam Cleanup (Wired)

March 2, 2011

• Google Trying To Minimize Collateral Damage From “Farmer” Update (Search Engine Land)
• Google’s Best Weapon – Fear by Example (Make Money Online)
• Google: We’ve Made No “Significant” Changes To The Farmer Update (Search Engine Land)
• How Did The Top Local Sites Do In Google’s Farmer Update? (Local SEO Guide)
• Is Article Marketing Still Effective After the Google Farmer Update? (Stay on Search)
• More Farmer Update Winners, Losers: Wikihow, Blippr & Yahoo Answers (Search Engine Land)
• Really Google? Penalizing Good Sites To Get Some Bad Ones (Search Engine Watch)

March 3, 2011

• TED 2011: The ‘Panda’ That Hates Farms: A Q&A With Google’s Top Search Engineers (Wired)
• Google’s “Farmer” Update Confirms my Article Marketing Theories (Internet Marketing)
• Google’s Farmer Update: Analysis of Winners vs. Losers (SEOmoz)
• Where, Why, When & How To Benefit From Google’s Farmer Update (Search Engine Land)
• Google Speaks More About The Farmer Update, AKA Panda Update (Search Engine Land)
• Google “Farmer” Update – Before and After (David Naylor)
• Was Google Too Hasty with the Farmer Update? SEO’s Discuss Good & Bad (Search Engine Roundtable)
• Google Accidentally Label Your Site As A Content Farm? Get Help Here (Search Engine Roundtable)

March 4, 2011

• What’s Your Name? Farmer Or Panda? (Search Engine Roundtable)
• Why Google’s Panda Algorithm Update Dropped Sites (Search Engine Watch)
• PPC Data On “Farmer” Shows Traffic Quality Improvement (Search Engine Land)
• Google to Save the Innocents Hit by “Farmer Update” (Search Engine Journal)
• Google’s Farmer Update Plants User Behavior Seeds (Search Engine Land)
• Google “Panda” Algorithm Update – What’s Known & What’s Possible (Web Pro News)
• Google Farmer/Panda Update (Video from Search Engine Roundtable)

March 5, 2011

• Analysing the Google Panda / Content Farmer update Comments Feed (Blogstorm)
• Your Site’s Traffic Has Plummeted Since Google’s Farmer/Panda Update. Now What? (Search Engine Land)

March 6, 2011

• Recent Google Changes – Were You Affected? (Affiliate Blog Online)

March 7, 2011

• Google Farmer Update Strategy (MichelleMacPhearson)
• Hot At Sphinn: Google’s Farmer Update, How It Should’ve Worked & SEO Help For Affected Sites (Search Engine Land)
• How To Fill the Farmer (Panda) Update Void (Vertical Measures)
• I’m Hit! Get Your Google Rankings Back After Farmer/Panda (Search Engine Roundtable)
• Farmer Update Rogue’s Gallery (Local SEO Guide)

March 8, 2011

• Google Panda Update: Say Goodbye to Low-Quality Link Building (Search Engine Watch)
• Google Panda Update: Lack of Consistency on Quality? (Web Pro News)
• Google’s Code Change Shifts Billions from Losers to Winners (CNN)

March 9, 2011

• The Farmer/Panda Update: New Information From Google (Search Engine Land)

Your Thoughts on the Latest Google Update

Please share your thoughts on the latest Google algorithmic change – if it has affected you, how you can get your rankings back, and any other resources you would like to share in the comments below.

So the question is – is article marketing still effective?

The answer is – it depends.

Your Goals for Article Marketing

Why do you place articles on article networks? The following are common reasons why people post articles, and whether or not these have been affected by the latest algorithmic change.

1. You post articles to gain backlinks.

If you’re sole motivation is building backlinks, then the real problem wouldn’t be a drop in keyword rankings for your favorite article network. The problem would be if those articles have been de-indexed by Google. For the most part, it looks like it’s just a rankings issue, not an indexing issue, but if the articles you have placed your link on have been de-indexed, then those links are meaningless.

The other thing you have to consider is whether Google values those articles as much since they have marked the overall site as a content farm. One can assume that links on those sites, even if they are indexed, are worth even less than before.

2. You post articles to get traffic.

If you’re posting articles to build traffic to your website, then you might be in trouble. Because if your articles have migrated from page one to page ten, then your search engine visitors are going to drop off pretty dramatically. And if no one is visiting your articles, then they’re not going to be clicking on your links either.

3. You post articles to build authority in your niche.

This one is a bit iffy, but again, if search engines are putting your articles in the results, it’s going to be hard to reach a wider audience with your content. Of course, if you are targeting people who regularly visit the article sites themselves, then you’re probably ok so long as you are a featured member on the site’s homepage and do well in that site’s own search results for a particular topic.

So What Can You Do to Combat the Loss of Search Traffic?

If the results you want from article sites require you to receive a steady flow of traffic, then you have two options. The first is that you can lean away from article marketing and start focusing your efforts on writing articles as blog posts for your own website or as guest posts for other blog sites.

The second is you can working toward gaining traffic from other sources beyond search engines, such as blog commenting, social networks, social bookmarking, and answers sites.

Promoting Your Articles Like a Blog Post

The key is to have a mindset of promoting your articles like a blogger would promote their blog posts.

It doesn’t work so well if you are spinning out crap which is the reason why article networks have been dinged in the first place. But if you are writing quality content, then you should be able to promote that content with people interested in your niche or industry.

So if you want to keep marketing via article networks, then get ready to change your promotion style. Focus less on SEOing your content, and learn more about promoting it!

Why not learn from the experts? Let’s look at how you can analyze the strategy of Internet marketing experts who are successful at email marketing.

1. Create a New Email Address

You don’t have to do this one, but I would highly suggest it if you would like to keep your primary email address free of lots of incoming email. Also, I would recommend using Gmail for this experiment as it has a great organization and search system which might come in handy. If you’re already using Gmail and don’t mind sending lots of email in its direction, move on to the next section.

2. Find Some Known Email Marketers

This part is relatively easy. Chances are, if you frequent blogs as much as I do, you have come across the bloggers that are well known in the making money online and online marketing industry. Some blogs to get you started include:

• Zac Johnson
• Chris Guthrie
• Yaro Starak
• Pat Flynn
• David Risley
• John Chow
• Gideon Shalwick
• Katie Freiling
• Jeremy Shoemaker
• Jonathan Volk

3. Create a Email Marketing Analysis Spreadsheet

Next, you need to create a spreadsheet. Everyone likes to organize their data in specific ways, and if you prefer another, that is fine. But if you have a Google Account or created one in the first step, then you have access to Google Documents which allows you to create spreadsheets (in the event that you don’t have Microsoft Excel or another office program).

4. Determine How These Sites Entice You to Subscribe

Here’s where we start our analysis. Look at these sites. How do they encourage sign ups? Do they use:

• Popups? If so, do they use Popup Domination (see example popup designs in this review of the plugin), pop unders (pop ups that appear in the bottom of the screen for a mailing list signup), or other technologies. Generally if it’s a plugin, then there will be a credit / affiliate link to the product somewhere nearby.
• Opt-in Forms? Look at alternative opt-in form placement, such as in the sidebar, at the top or bottom of blog posts, in the header or footer of the blog posts, or other areas.
• Free products? Are they giving away a free report, ebook, auto-responder course, or other valuable content?

These are all things you want to note in your spreadsheet, along with any other details you find may lead to possible list building inspiration.

5. Document What Happens When You Subscribe

This is the part that you might want that new email address for. I want you to subscribe to the email marketing pros that you are analyzing and then take a look at their list from the subscriber’s point of view. The first things to note include:

• Do you get a customized confirmation message or page?
• What do you get in your first email? Is it a simple thank you, contact information, free product, first part of an autoresponder course, etc.

Be sure to note the things that stand out to you. Jot down the things you like and things you dislike – especially things that make you want to unsubscribe immediately.

6. Note What Are They Selling and How

Most sites that do mailing lists are trying to sell you something, whether it is their own product or affiliate products. Take a look at what they are selling to you through their mailing list and how they promoting it. Some marketers start with their product or affiliate product links in the free product you are getting with your subscription, usually in the form of helpful “recommendations” built into helpful tips.

7. Record Email Frequency and Promotions vs. Valuable Content

Not to say that promotions are not valuable, or that valuable content can’t have promotions for something to buy, but keep track of the frequency you receive emails from the mailing list, after the email(s) including your free subscription gift or course. Also, you will want to keep track of the ratio of emails that are sent purely to be informational or purely to promote something they are selling.

What’s Next?

So what do you do with all of your analysis? Apply it, of course, to your own strategy. On a whole, after taking a look at all of these things, you will begin to get a feel of what is popular, what you are comfortable with, and what is successful and will be able to begin to apply these elements to your own list building and email marketing strategy.

Your Thoughts on Email Marketing Research

Have you ever conducted research to learn how your colleagues or competitors are implementing their email marketing campaign? What other suggestions do you have on what to look for and how to apply it to your own plan for success?

Posts with the Most Traffic

First of all, let’s start with the posts that brought in the most traffic in 2010, with information provided by Google Analytics.

100 Marketers You Must Follow on Twitter

Although there is murmur that lists may be going out of style, this post just proves that is just a nasty rumor. Lists are awesome, especially ones that bring together the best experts in online marketing, all in one place! If your New Year’s resolutions include becoming better at social media, SEO, blogging, or other aspects of Internet marketing, this post should be your first stop.

Top 25 Social Media Keyword Search Tools and Engines

Need to do a little research to learn more about your niche or industry? Go beyond Google and find out what people are really talking about and sharing with the top 25 blog, forum, and social media search engines plus keyword tools. The best part is they are all free!

8 Greyhat Tactics SEO’s Are Using – Use At Your Own Discretion

No matter how much everyone in the SEO world would like to believe (or at least portray) that everything is moving towards an Internet where only the whitehat practices will prevail at the top of the rankings, it just isn’t so, and there is proof out there that you have to get your hands a little dirty to rank well in some niches. These eight tactics are on that borderline of being a little too naughty to admit to, but let’s face it – they’re working. Use at your own risk!

Twitter Analytics Tools

Want to know more about whether your Twitter strategy (or your competitors) is successful? Try out these 13 tools to measure influence, engagement, follower count, keywords, and more statistics about a particular Twitter user or trends on Twitter.

9 Professional Social Media Monitoring Tools

Need some more in-depth knowledge about your social media campaign? Go beyond the free tools with these nine premium tools that will put everything you need to know about your social networking strategy all in one place.

The Ultimate Guide to Social Bookmarking Content: Digg

Granted, Digg has changed quite a bit since this post was written, but this post stays timeless as it shows what types of content and topics fair well among Diggers. A good guide to know whether your niche or industry belongs and will reap the benefits of taking advantage of Digg.

How to Craft the Perfect Meta Tags

This post is simple, yet tells you everything you need to know about creating the best meta title and description for your website content. Want to know more? Get in-depth information about meta descriptions in this two part series: part one and part two.

7 Social Bookmarking Tools You Should Know About

Make your social bookmarking tasks much simpler with these seven tools and services that allow you to easily share across more than one social network or bookmarking site.

The Importance of Building a Natural Link Profile

Even though we did mention greyhat techniques, it is still important to remember to continue to build natural links as well. This post will remind you why as well as how to do so.

How to Find the Most Influential People on Twitter in Your Niche

Looking to build a large number of followers not only to boost your numbers, but to also hopefully boost your engagement as well? Learn how to find the most influential people in your niche to network with the thought leaders in your industry.

Posts with the Most Engagement

Sometimes, the posts that get the most traffic are not always the ones that get the most response. The following are posts that didn’t make the top 10 in traffic, but did make the highest in level of engagement between social sharing and comments, as determined by PostRank.

Get More Followers with the Official Retweet Button

I must admit, I was a die hard fan of the Tweetmeme button until I realized the additional feature that you can implement with Twitter’s official button. After someone tweets your post, you can recommend yourself and one other Twitter account to follow to the person who just tweeted. It’s a fantastic way to grow your following, as well as the following of guest posters, your company, or other partners.

5 Important Elements of a Sales Landing Page

If you are building landing pages, but not seeing a high level of success, then you might want to ensure that you have these five elements incorporated into them to increase your likelihood of conversions.

Tips for B2B Search Engine Marketing

Marketing to other businesses can be a bit different from marketing directly to consumers. Here are some great tips on making your B2B search marketing successful.

Appropriate Web Design to Maximize Conversions

Whether you have customized landing pages, a simple website, or a blog, chances are you are trying to convert your visitors into something, whether it is buying a product or simply subscribing to a RSS feed. Here are seven elements of your web page design you should experiment with to find the right combination to increase your conversions.

StayOnSearch Free Internet Marketing Course Launches Today

In case you missed it, and are looking to improve your Internet marketing skills, this is a great free ten week course where you will receive valuable information on everything you need to know to be successful in online marketing via social networks, link building, PPC, local search marketing, and more.

Your Favorites

Did your favorite Stay on Search post make the cut for top traffic and top engagement? If not, please share your favorite in the comments, and be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss out on all of the great new content coming in 2011!

Thumbnail Photo Credit

Here’s what you need to do to change it so that people will go to the right pages for the right listings on your profile.

First of all, make sure a fan page exists for your company, blog, or other organization you want to list and that you have fanned it by clicking the “Like” button. If there isn’t one, you might want to consider the benefits of creating one. Even if you just work on your own as a motivational or business speaker, you could get great results from a customized fan page.

Next, go to Edit Profile, and go to the Education and Work section. Delete your employer(s) and re-add them. You should then see the fan page’s logo / profile pic next to the information. Note that it may not come up in the dropdown like when you tag pages in a status update, but it usually works if you just hit enter.

This should, in turn, put the link to the top employer you listed at the top of your new profile layout. Anyone who clicks on it will be taken to the official fan page.

Note that if you don’t want to list your company, you can easily just list your blog as a company that you work for, with that top link going to your blog’s fan page instead.

Also, here’s a video guide by Tia Singh of Your Life Your Way who walks you through the process. Enjoy!