Hold the spam when promoting your website

Almost every day I delete links from companies that are putting useless comments on our blog like:

Hello, I love reading through your blog, I wanted to leave a little comment to support you and wish you a good continuation. Wish you best of luck for all your best efforts. web designing companies Delhi, website making company in Delhi

this is really nice. thank you for sharing.By Tallahassee web design on Do Outside Blogs Help Your Websites Search Engine ...

As you can see the post aren't necessarily negative but one thing is consistent between all these "Spam Comments". They all have key word rich hyper-links that link back to their respective websites (I've removed the links for this post)

The purpose of this blog post is two fold:

1. If your a spammer please stop posting stuff like this on our blog. We will delete it. We welcome comments that add value to the conversation but if we think that the goal of the comment is to get a back link to your site your comment will be marked as spam and deleted promptly.
   
2. I wanted to answer the question- Why do companies bother posting comments on blogs as a way to build back links? I can sum it up in one word: Backlinks.
   
   Backlinks are the links from other sites which link to your blog or webpage. The major search engines view back links to your site as a vote of editorial confidence and good quality links from other sites can help boost your rankings in the search engines especially if that link is from a site that has related content themes to your site.

So comment spam is a good thing right?-- Wrong-  let me leave you with this little warning from the Official Google Webmaster Blog:

FACT: Comment spammers are often trying to improve their site's organic search ranking by creating dubious inbound links to their site. Google has an understanding of the link graph of the web, and has algorithmic ways of discovering those alterations and tackling them. At best, a link spammer might spend hours doing spammy linkdrops which would count for little or nothing because Google is pretty good at devaluing these types of links. Think of all the more productive things one could do with that time and energy that would provide much more value for one's site in the long run.

Promote your site without comment spam

If you want to improve your site's visibility in the search results, spamming comments is definitely not the way to go. Instead, think about whether your site offers what people are looking for, such as useful information and tools.

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What to Post on Your Company's Social Media Pages

It seems like more and more we get clients that are joining the trend and having us put together social media pages for their companies. This is such a smart thing for them to do. The only problem is, once they're all set up and looking great, what in the world are they supposed to post? What follows is my (Aaron Manogue, Search Engine & Social Media Marketing Expert) response to a recent email that I received. Take a look and learn a few tips that will help you know what to post and how.

Hi Aaron,

Now that our LinkedIn page is set up, how do we make the most of our company profile?  Do we put a LinkedIn button on our website?  How often should we post company updates? Are there ‘best practices’ to get the most from our profile?

Thank you,

"Client"

This was my response to their email:

Dear "Client",
What I always try and tell people is to post to their social media pages on Thursday or Friday of each week, or at least every other week. This includes LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter if you have them all. You don’t have to make 3 different posts to each one, just post the same thing to them all because your followers on Twitter may not follow you on Facebook or YouTube and vice versa. The reason I tell companies to do this is because they can sit down and think about a recap of what was going on in the company that week. Posting a link to a new product you’re working on or simply talking about what’s going on in the company (new products, expansions, community service, etc.) is exactly what you should post. And remember to be personable and professional. Write it like you’re telling your good friend about the exciting stuff that’s going on at work. Sometimes that’s hard to do because work isn’t always exciting, :) but if you write it like you’re talking to a friend, while staying as professional as possible, makes it easier and more interesting to read.

I would definitely put a linkedin button on your site as well as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube if you have them. Make a transition from your site to your (social media) pages and back again as seamless as possible, is great for getting people to follow you on social media.

Important Items Highlighted:

1. Post every Thursday or Friday (This depends on your industry as well. If you're a restaurant with daily specials, post them each day)

2. Be professional and personable

3. Talk about what's going on inside the company (New products, company/individual awards or certifications, involvement in the community, etc.)

4. It doesn't always have to be strictly business. Wish your followers a Happy Holiday or weekend or just plain tell them to have a great day! Being personable and not just being all about business shows customers that your care about them outside of sales.

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Measuring Return on Investment on PPC

Everyone knows that using Google and Facebook advertising is a very effective way to get your products and services in front of your target market. Facebook is possibly the most targeted platform to advertise on because of the fact that 92% of the 800 million + users willingly submit personal data such as age, sex, race, etc. to it. Google is right on track with their advertising because of their in-depth program and years of experience. So given the fact that they are both very good forms of advertisement, which do you use? And how much do you spend each month? But most importantly, how do you figure out if you are getting a decent return on investment each month.

Here are some sample numbers that I'm using to make this a little bit easier. simply substitute your statistics to apply to you and your accounts:

Unique Visitors: April 1st - November 9th, 2011 = 19,815
Average Sale on the Site: $206.16
# of Sales on the Site (Given Date): = 622

# of Sales/Visitors= 3.1 % Conversion Rate

Google Pay-Per-Click ROI Calculation

Google PPC Clicks to the Site: 1290

Total Cost PPC Campaign: $1,290 @ $1/click

With 3.1% Site Conversion Rate: 38.7 Purcahses x $206.16 = $7,979.39 (Gross Sales) or $6,689.39 after cost of PPC

Let's assume you have a 40% Profit Margin = $4,013.63 net

Facebook PPC ROI Calculation:
Facebook PPC Clicks To The Site: 636
Total Cost PPC Campaign:  $750.48 @ $1.18/click
With 3.1% Site Conversion Rate: 19.7 Purchases x $206.16 = $4,061.359 (Gross Sales) = Net After PPC= $3,310.87
Lets assume you have a 40% Profit Margin= $1,324.34 Net

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