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The internet’s biggest and updated exhaustive list of the best jobs for English majors and other humanities degrees (BA, MA, and PhD).After you finish this post, I also wrote an article about 5 emerging careers most humanities majors don’t know about and published a very helpful interview and article called, the Ultimate Guide to English Major Careers here.Finally, after struggling for two years, I share my advanced advice and practical steps in my eBook, which lays out a 18-week practical roadmap and shows you how to market your degree to employers.Let’s go through this long list of jobs. By the way, after you’re done this list I recommend my other post: 23 of the best jobs for History majors. It has more examples and all the jobs are relevant to English majors as well.It was April. My last month at graduate school. I was walking through the bright library searching for books to help me find a career with my English degrees (BA and MA in English). It seemed grim. Where do English majors end up after graduation? Teach? A proofreader? Teach?English BAs, MAs, and PhDs really end up in a bunch of different places. We struggle for a bit after graduation. We complain to each other. And then we disperse.The hard part, though, involves knowing where to begin. And to be honest, that day in the library when I discovered that English majors could do many different jobs, I was a little excited, even though I knew that my real dream job was being a professor.As this list of the best English major jobs will show, there is a real sense of freedom in doing an English degree. You can be so many things, work in so many industries, and find a rewarding career in an industry you may have never expected.Also, these jobs are not just for English majors–PhD’s in social sciences, history majors, and basically any humanities degree has a shot at these jobs.It’s a big list. Enjoy.Also, if you have a career to add or some advice for breaking into any of these industries, please leave a comment.Writing Jobs for English MajorsSearch Engine MarketingSearch engine marketing is a growing industry, which has attracted many English and humanities majors. It requires a combination of analytical ability and creativity, making English degrees often desired. As this industry is so young, you can’t learn this stuff in university, making it wide-open for motivated people with strong analytical skills.What do search engine marketers do? They help companies use digital channels to market their products. This includes online advertising, search engine optimization (SEO), and the use of web analytics to study how visitors interact with websites. You don’t need to be a programmer to work in search engine marketing. But, the thought of learning about the architecture of the web should excite you.How to break in? Start learning about the industry and then get an entry-level job in a search engine marketing agency. A great place to begin is to take the Google Certification Courses. Google offers certifications in all major areas of online marketing an after you are ‘Google Certified,’ employers will take you more seriously. This is inexpensive as well with each test only costing $50 and you can learn online for free.There are also a zillion blogs, books, and online courses to take. Read some!Direct Response CopywritingLots of English majors have become direct response copywriters. Fundraising letters, offers from cable and cell-phone companies, and other mail-based marketing are probably the work of some humanities major turned direct response copywriter.One of the most famous direct response copywriters, Michael Masterson, has a PhD in the humanities. He worked as a college professor before leaving the academic life to become a millionaire.I work in direct response, although in the digital marketing space. This industry requires an understanding of human psychology (why people buy), creativity, and the ability to use words in a way that inspires trust and an emotional connection between writer and reader.Direct response is a great path if you want to sell out like I did. Tons of writers, old humanities majors, and closet intellectuals are hiding out in the direct response industry.Digital CopywriterBanner ads, creative social media campaigns, blog posts, whitepapers, e-books, online strategies, landing pages, website copy, and viral promotion ideas–you’ll be writing all that fun stuff if you decide to work as a digital copywriter. Great job. Tons of humanities majors work as digital copywriters.How to break in? Write a funny, charming, intelligent letter to an agency and try to get an internship.B2B Content MarketingWith the rise of digital marketing, the need for content online has exploded. This is the age of the writer. B2B (business-to-business) sales involves long, complicated sales processes. People don’t just buy, for example, a $60,000 software suite for a corporation in an afternoon. They research different solutions online, check out reviews, and search for whitepapers. Content marketing responds to the age of Google and is one digital marketing channel that has grown in the past 10 years.There is a big demand for smart researchers and intelligent writers.Breaking into content marketing requires you to understand the basics of marketing and to have writing samples. Lost? My book, How to Find a Career with Your Humanities Degree in 126 Days, offers a complete program to help you break down a big career move like this into manageable, daily actions.News ReporterIt’s a myth that you need to take broadcasting or communications in college to get a job as a news reporter. Many humanities majors work at news stations. This industry values excellent writing abilities and a fast ability to analyze and produce quality work. You also need to be able to spot grammar slips and be able to write concisely. Research skills, of course, are needed as well.If you want to break into this industry you need to, at least, understand what content is news worthy and know the principles of journalism. Buy a few books. Most people break in as an intern. However, if you can demonstrate that you have the skills needed, then somebody will give you a chance.Technical WriterMany English majors become technical writers. Technical writing involves writing user manuals for consumer products, instruction manuals, and other technical, complex documents that products need. It is quite high-paying, although can involve a lot of contract work.Thomas Pynchon, the author of the famous novel Gravity’s Rainbow, worked as a technical writer, creating user manuals for a space rocket company.This industry is relatively hard to break into as most jobs advertised ask for a few years of experience (I guess nobody wants a rocket-ship manual written by an amateur).However, Rober Nagle, a humanities M.A. turned technical writer, offers some advice for getting around the ‘must have 5 years experience in technical writing’ dilemma. If this field interests you, head over to Robert Nagle’s very cool blog called IdiotProgrammer.com.JournalismIt’s also a myth that all journalists went to journalism school. Roy Peter Clark, for example, a very famous journalist, did a PhD in Medieval Culture before taking this industry by storm.However, before getting a job you need to understand the principles of journalism. And being a smart writer with interesting ideas for articles helps. Be sure to get some writing samples together.Public RelationsMany English majors end up in public relations. In the past decade, public relations has seen quite a bit of growth (compared to traditional advertising agencies) and even though the decline of traditional media has complicated things, private companies and governments will always need writers to help get their messages out to the public.What will you do in a PR firm? Junior staff will be given tasks such as writing news releases, pitch letters, crafting newsletters, finding content to send out on social media accounts, and writing web copy or brochures. As you move up the ranks, you will learn more about the strategic side of things. PR strategies are generally aimed at helping companies get PR coverage and using the media to shape the public’s perception of a company.Governments also hire PR writers to work in-house. Often called Press Secretaries, your job would be to keep the public informed about the activity of different governmental agencies, explain policy, and work on political campaigns.Do you need a degree in public relations to get a job in the industry? No. Many PR professionals come from various backgrounds. However, you should be a strong writer with a keen sense of detail (no typos! And front-page news is no place to mix up the details about your client’s company!) That said, practical experience in the industry helps and so internships and contract positions are a common way to break into PR.As one English major turned PR pro describes writing a news release: “I need to do what I did for every essay I wrote for an English class, [such as] figure out the main point, extract the important information and compile it into a coherent document,” she says.Also, don’t overlook temp agencies and temporary positions as you try to break into PR. “Temporary positions,” says an English major-turned Communications Coordinator, “can help students and recent graduates gain additional experience and try out positions in a variety of fields. The experience can help them obtain a full-time job.”And remember that PR is a very, very big field. Most colleges and universities, government agencies, medical institutions, and professional organizations have their own internal PR departments. There are a ton of jobs and opportunities for people who take the time to develop this skill-set.Other careers related: Public Relations Specialist; Public Relations Assistant.Corporate BloggerBig companies like IBM, Microsoft, Yahoo! and Dell often require corporate bloggers. In the past ten years, the need for content has exploded with the internet, making the demand for writers increase. These corporate blogs are used as ‘branding’ tools, offering free and helpful content to their customers.Even smaller corporations (for example, Mint: Money, Bill Pay, Credit Score & Investing) have company blogs and require a vast amount of content each day. Many English majors, of course, end up writing these corporate blogs.A corporate blogger plans content schedules, comes up with new ideas for articles and whitepapers, runs social media accounts, monitors traffic and feedback, and of course writes a lot of blog posts.To break into this job, you would benefit from having some experience writing for an audience (for example, a newspaper or magazine) and must be proficient in the basic blogging platforms and online writing techniques.However, there are junior positions out there (as writing a blog can be tedious and extra help is needed).An excellent way to break into the industry would be to email a fairly well-known blog and to volunteer your services as an editor or proofreader. Even massive blogs are often run by a handful of people and so it is relatively easy to get in touch with those in charge. Working for free for a few months will get you some experience and if the blog is fairly well-known it will be a nice resume item. They will most likely let you write a post as well–and then you have a published writing sample.While strong writing skills are required, don’t forget to learn about the basic principles of online writing. These can be learned quite quickly.Here is a short guide to online writing principles and blogging that I wrote. It covers essential tools online writers need to know, how to build an audience, and major mistakes to avoid when making the switch from traditional print writing to digital content.Nonacademic Research JobsMarketing ResearcherA former PhD in History that I interviewed on my blog left academia to become a market researcher. This industry is high-paying and involves detailed research as well as the ability to spot larger trends and come up with creative solutions to marketing problems.Typically, you’ll need to know statistics. History majors do well in marketing research as they are able to analyze data.So what do market researchers actually do? Market researchers run or develop studies to gauge how consumers think and act. Often psychology or social science PhDs can get jobs outside of academia as market researchers as they have been trained in statistics and research methodologies. As mentioned, history PhD’s can also find work as market researchers.Job growth is robust for those in this industry with advanced degrees, including PhDs. The average wage for a market researcher is $61,580 (as reported by national labor surveys in 2009.)You can read my interview with this History PhD turned market researcher here.Other careers similar to marketing researcher, which require similar skill-sets are: Market Research Analyst.Policy AnalystPhilosophy PhD’s and history majors often end up as policy analysts for governments. This job involves gathering and analyzing information to help plan, develop, and interpret new policies–both in the government and industry.Most policy analysts have advanced education and may hold a masters and doctorate degree. The typical degrees are in the social sciences, political sciences, history, economics, resource management and law.Here’s some advice about becoming a policy analyst:“Gain experience by working in the private or government sector where you will be constantly exposed to policy making. Working for a congressional or a senatorial official will also be an advantage as well as working for nonprofit organizations such as charitable institutions and other philanthropic organizations where company policies are very essential.”High Paying Jobs for English MajorsSalesForget about the image of the out-going sleazy sales person. Modern selling is about nuance and understatement. Even quiet people can become excellent sales people as they disarm buyers.After grad school I began dabbling into the industry. It really is a cool industry filled with bright, talented, interesting people. Plus, you can make a ton of money.Sales involves a continual analysis of psychology and it is a vast, complex subject. Listen to this podcast (the Advanced Selling Podcast)–to get a taste.Best of all, most innovative sales companies hire on attitude. You don’t need 10 years of experience for a smart manager to see some potential in you. Selling is a special art and from what I’ve read, most of the really successful sales gurus come from very diverse backgrounds.Sales requires excellent communication skills, analysis, sensitivity, and empathy–all skills that most bright English Majors have developed.Search Engine OptimizationSearch engine optimization is the technical process of helping search engines properly analyze and ‘rank’ web pages. It is a relatively new industry. And humanities majors can do very well in SEO as they have the ability to perform excellent research and to see larger patterns in data. SEO also requires content production and humanities majors can put their writing skills to work.SEO is also fast-changing and so there are no colleges that really offer a degree in it. Good news for you! Motivated, smart self-learners thrive in this space.LobbyistIn Milton’s Paradise Lost, Satan tempts Eve with a distinct set of classical rhetorical devices. Clearly, Satan is trained as a humanities major and also would make an excellent lobbyist.I have no idea what exactly lobbyists do or how to break into this industry. However, this job requires you to be articulate, intelligent, and cunning. If you are smart enough to become a lobbyist, you are smart enough to find a way to break into this industry.Money and power? An English major turned lobbyist is definitely a career endorsed by Sell Out Your Soul - A Career Guide for Lost Humanities Majors.Investor RelationsI never knew about this job until I did some work for a company that made software for the financial industry. In basic terms, large companies (such as Pepsi) have to keep up the public’s interest in their stock. For example, when the new hot startup has an IPO it will generate a lot of interest and people run to buy the stock. But after the buzz has died down, companies need to keep the market interested in buying and trading their stock.So what would you do? Basically, it’s a marketing job with a finance twist. You’d be managing the corporate message and story you are telling to press and investors. This involves talking to analysts, meeting with media and investors, and establishing policies for disclosure. You would also create presentations, write earnings releases and annual reports.Part of your job would also be informing the board of directors with intelligence about the company’s shareholder base. You would also present reports on how analysts and investors perceive the company’s strategy (for example, an old candy company might be perceived as out-of-touch with today’s teen so it’s time to launch a contest Mr. Wonka and drive up new interest in the company stock!).How to break into this job? This job is high paying and you’d likely earn a very comfortable wage as you progressed into senior roles. But you’ll need a strong analytical ability to do this job. Employers will also want some financial knowledge. In my experience, though, it’s a myth that all English Majors are bad at math (I’ve met some technical ones), so if that’s you begin with a Google Search: How to get into Investor Relations.You can also find these people really easy as investor relations departments list their emails on company websites. So, you might email an investor relations professional, explain your situation and background, and ask for some tips to break into the industry.Inside SalesLarge corporations often have complicated sales cycles. This means that selling isn’t as easy as ‘pitching a new client’ and involve complicated processes and structures. There are sales people who travel and give presentations to potential new clients. And then there are inside sales people. These sales people prepare quotes, find supporting documentation, and execute sales campaigns.Strong communication skills, social intelligence, and knowledge of ‘job-specific’ office software (like Excel) is needed. Break into this industry through a temp agency. Some people begin in an administrative position and then move up in the company.Stock BrokerI don’t know exactly how you might get a job on Wall Street. But I do know that humanities majors have become stockbrokers. As one PhD in English who now works on Wall Street put it, “making the switch from analyzing literature to analyzing stock was easy. They both involve analyzing fiction.”eCommerce AnalystOnline marketing requires analysis. Over the past decade, tracking technology has really evolved and most complex marketing campaigns will test, track, and measure just about every dollar they spend online. Humanities majors can find work as eCommerce analysts.In this job, you will be tasked with figuring out why certain campaigns are working, why people aren’t buying from a client’s website, and how to help online marketing budgets bring back more profit. Flint McGlaughlin has a PhD in philosophy and is a world-known eCommerce analyst.This job requires intimate knowledge analytic and tracking software. You will also need to understand the principles of online conversion (which can be learned by reading the millions of blogs dedicated to the topic).This is a fast-paced industry and many analysts come from various educational backgrounds. Hard-core analysts will need mathematical ability and knowledge of statistics. But if the thought of digging into a spreadsheet excites you, maybe this job is for you.Pick up a web analytics guide from O’Reilly, a publishing company respected in the space.Marketing Jobs for English MajorsSocial Media ManagerSocial media is here to stay. Governments, sports teams, brands, and companies need people to run their social media programs, develop strategies, and come up with ways of engaging customers, citizens, and fans. As humanities majors have strong communication skills, many of us end up in these types of jobs.How to break in? First, you need to know something about social media. So read some blogs and books, play with the tools, and learn about the strategic side of social media and how it fits into marketing.Bonus! Social media is new. Better yet, many companies still hire interns and entry-level hires to manage their social media programs. This is stupid on the side of companies, but a great opportunity for new grads to break into the communication sector via new online channels.Plus, governments and universities are typically slow moving and have little expertise in social media. So take advantage of this opportunity.Brand StrategistBrand strategists typically work in marketing agencies, helping to guide big brands forward in their markets. MBA’s are favored in this job; however, experience, talent, and strategic brilliance rule the marketing industry.How to break in? Work your way up.Brand ManagerLarge companies hire ‘brand managers,’ which are essentially creative people with communication skills. The job involves overseeing the promotion and development of different brand products. This is a fun, creative role and involves strategic thinking and marketing talent.You need to have an understanding of marketing to be a brand manager. However, many English Majors have found jobs working for big brands.Government Jobs for English MajorsCommunications OfficerGovernments require in-house writers and communication specialists to do things like write press releases, develop key messaging, and write speeches for government officials. I know one writer, a published author, who works as a Communications Officer. He has a BA in English and seems to earn a comfortable middle-class wage.Look for temporary positions in your local government as these are a great way to start moving up in the government. Great pay and government connections–what more could you want?Editing Jobs For English MajorsEditorYes, English majors can be editors. If helping to create a best-selling book appeals to you then editing might be a good choice. There is also a lot of editing work in education. Luckily, in editing, university degrees are required. Here is an interview on my blog with a former Amazon.com Music Editor. It covers all you need to know about getting that first editing job.Freelance EditorThis is an easy fit for English majors. Want to break into freelance editing? You, sir, are in luck. I have an interview about getting freelance editing jobs right here.PublishingYep. English majors can work in publishing. In fact, creativity, and attention to detail are highly desired skills in publishing and English majors find work in this industry every year.Getting your foot in the door? There are about a zillion articles online about breaking into publishing. Here’s one about how to break into publishing.Communication JobsNon-Profit Communication DepartmentsNon-profits require communication specialists and many English majors build careers working for non-profits. And yes, you will be paid. Positions vary by the size of the organization. For example, large non-profits like the American Cancer Society or World Wildlife Federation are basically giant corporations with million-dollar operating budgets. There are different roles and divisions within them.Smaller non-profits require communication help with press strategies, fundraising, donor retention, and enlisting the help of volunteers.In my book, I list non-profits as an excellent way to gain that essential first few months of work experience. This is because most non-profits are under-funded and under-staffed, making them easy places to get your first resume item.Grant and Proposal WriterGrants and proposals are an essential part of winning new business and keeping money flowing through the door for most companies and non-profits. Humanities BAs, MAs, and PhDs in English have strong research skills, an aptitude for analysis, and the stomach for digging through dense content, making grant and proposal writing an easy fit.While vast sums of money are usually at stake, most positions prefer some experience. However, graduate students in English have usually written and won grants during the course of their degree and so you should leverage this. Also, smaller non-profits will gladly let you write a grant or two for them, which can help land larger jobs.Even if you do not remain in this job for your entire career, the ability to win new business and money is always a valuable and highly employable skill.Corporate Communications Manager/DirectorAs the manager or director of corporate communications, your job would be to oversee teams that write newsletters, email campaigns, reports, press releases, articles, web content, and other communication pieces. In recent years, having a basic understanding of how search engines work is also often necessary as digital content is spread by search engines and people. Expect high salaries (above $100,000 according to Spring Associates, Inc). And to break in? You’ll need to work your way up. Start with an internship or entry-level job in a communications department. This can be a great job for an English PhD, although advanced degrees are not necessary.In-house Marketing DepartmentMost successful companies have some sort of in-house marketing department. While typically TV ads and large campaigns are sent to ad agencies, the in-house marketing department also helps to plan and execute the company’s marketing and communication strategy.These jobs are pretty cushy, I hear. You don’t have the constant deadlines found in traditional ad agencies and the work is steady. Tasks include writing press releases, coming up with ideas to get the company press coverage, writing brochures and whitepapers, planning and executing ideas to generate leads and sales, working on product launches, and other marketing-related tasks.To break in? Look for temporary positions to start. Or start in an administrative role and then apply internally. Don’t overlook temp agencies as they often will help you get your foot in the door.Creative Jobs For English MajorsAdvertising CreativeHumanities majors find jobs in advertising every year. Creative advertising involves writing 30-second commercial scripts, taglines, copy for print ads, coming up with ideas for product launches, and other creative ways to market products.And you don’t need to go to ad school to become an advertising creative. All that matters in this industry is the ability to come up with strong ideas.How to get your first job in advertising? Read some books. Develop some samples. And be ready to show an agency some cool ideas. You can read about how I broke into advertising, as well as other career advice, in my e-book, How to Find a Career With Your Humanities Degree in 126 Days.Event PlannerNot planning birthday parties for the drunken wives of the Beverly Hills, but working on high-profile events such as product launches or political campaigns. This job requires communication, social intelligence, attention to detail, and strong creative abilities. Event planning is big business and always requires smart, new talent.To break into this industry? You will have to work from the ground-up. Actually, I have no idea. But send some emails to prominent companies and find out. Industries like this typically hire more on personality than the subject you studied in school. So if it sounds like fun to you, then go for it.Television, radio, Hollywood writerIf you are an English major, then you probably deep down want to be a writer. Many English majors end up writing Hollywood scripts, working in broadcast, or working at radio stations.How to break in? Be a good writer and have great writing samples. As Stephen King says, “If you lift weights 15 minutes a day, you are going to get muscles. If you write 15 minutes a day, you are going to become a good writer.” So write.Boutique AgencyBoutique agencies are small companies that typically do world-class work for big brands. They often have a specialist product. These can be branding agencies, graphic design agencies, viral marketing agencies, or PR firms. They are creative places with bright people working there.Thunderdog, for example, is a L.A. agency that creates street-art inspired designs and products for brands like Pepsi and Puma. They also sell their own limited edition books and toys. Or, The Story of IWearYourShirt and How I Made $1,000,000 Wearing T-Shirts is a social media advertising company that uses viral tactics to gain publicity for product launches. LaunchRock is a small marketing agency that helps tech start-ups with their pre-launch hype.Boutique agencies are cool. They hire for skill–not for the degree you have. So while your English degree can help you get the job, these places are more looking for creativity, technical skill in the area they work in, and the right attitude to fit their unique culture.To get a job at a boutique agency, simply write an email and sell yourself to the boss. Make sure you research their agency, though. And make sure that you have the skills that they are looking for.My practical 18-week roadmap to finding a career with your humanities degree. You’ll learn how to market your humanities degree and avoid common mistakes.Universities do not properly educate their grads about how to land that job outside of academy with a humanities degree.That’s why I wrote my ebook How to Find a Career With Your Humanities in 126 Days. This is not a traditional career guide–it is one of the most practical, step-by-step guides to moving from ‘liberal arts career limbo’ into a weekly course of action.Over the course of 18 weeks (126 Days), the ebook takes you through the necessary lessons, shows you what to avoid, and teaches you how to turn your humanities degree into a profitable skill-set.You’ll learn:How to market your humanities degree outside of academiaCover letter advice for grads with no work experienceWeekly actions to accelerate your career searchResume advice, and cover letter templates.

The Ultimate Guide to Startup Marketing:Starting a business is exhilarating. Unfortunately, the “build it and they will come” theory doesn’t hold much weight and those overnight success stories you hear about are often the result of behind the scenes years of hard work. Simply put, startup marketing is a unique challenge often times because of the limited resources, whether it’s time, money or talent.You have to be sure every effort, no matter how small, is well-planned and flawlessly executed. And to make it even more difficult, the traditional marketing strategies don’t always work.Startup marketing is a whole different science. How so? The secret is properly combining the right channels: Content Marketing and PR.So, starting from the beginning, here’s the complete Startup Marketing Manual.FoundationThe Startup FoundationBefore you start laying bricks, you need a solid foundation. A successful startup marketing strategy follows that same principle. Before you jump into marketing your startup, make sure you have the following bases covered.1. Choosing a MarketIt’s easy for startup founders to believe the whole world will love their products. After all, founders eat, sleep and breathe their products. The reality is that only a small portion of the population is interested in your product.If you try to market your startup to everyone, you waste both time and money. The key is to identify a niche target market and go after market share aggressively.How do you choose a market? There are four main factors to consider:Market Size – Are you targeting a regional demographic? Male? Children? Know exactly how many potential customers are in your target market.Market Wealth – Does this market have the money to spend on your product?Market Competition – Is the market saturated? As in, are their many competitors?Value Proposition – Is your value proposition unique enough to cut thru the noise?2. Defining KeywordsWith a clearly defined market, you can begin building a keyword list. You’ll use the keyword list primarily for blogging, social media and your main marketing site. Essentially, you want to build a list of words or phrases that are highly relevant to your brand. Ask yourself this: What would someone type into Google to find your startup’s website?Start with a core keyword list. This is a list of three to five keywords that completely summarize what your startup does. For example, Onboardly’s core keyword list is: customer acquisition, content marketing and startup PR. Your core keyword list should be based on your value proposition. What is it that you’re offering customers?Tip: Your core keywords make excellent blog categories.Now you’ll want to expand your core keyword list to include secondary keywords. Secondary keywords are more specific. Take “content marketing”, the core keyword from earlier, for example. Secondary keywords might include: corporate blogging, blogging best practices, email marketing how to, etc.Use free tools to find the keywords already sending traffic to your website. Then run your core keywords through Google’s Keyword Tool and Uber Suggest. The best keywords found through those tools will be identified by low competition and high traffic. In other words, a lot of people are searching for them, but few results are displayed.3. Defining SuccessSuccess is different for every startup. Maybe success is 500 new signups per month for Startup A while Startup B thinks success is $50,000 in revenue per month. Whatever your idea of success may be, define it early and define it rigidly. Write it down or send it to the entire team. Just make sure everyone you’re working with knows your definition of success and is prepared to work towards it.Be sure to stay consistent. It doesn’t matter if you’re defining success by signups, revenue, profit or anything else you can think of. What does matter is that it’s tied to real growth (no vanity successes) and that it’s measured the same way each month. For example, don’t define success as 500 new signups one month and then $50,000 in revenue the next. Pick one definition and commit to it.4. Setting Core MetricsJust as you shouldn’t indulge vanity success, you shouldn’t indulge vanity metrics. Eric Ries refers to working with vanity metrics as “playing in success theatre”. While vanity metrics are appealing, if only to your ego, they are useless. They are not tied to real growth, meaning you won’t know if your startup is a roaring success or total flop until it’s far too late.Be sure your core metrics are accurately measurable and specific. For example, let’s assume you’ve defined success as 500 new signups per month. You might measure the conversion rate of three calls to sign up. The idea is to have a few highly valuable metrics based on actions taken throughout the customer acquisition funnel (e.g. signups, newsletter subscriptions, eBook downloads). Don’t try to measure everything. Focus on the key indicators of success.Tip: Record baseline metrics right away so you can easily determine your growth.5. Estimating a Conversion RateThe next step is to assign conversion rates and values. Consider newsletter signups, for example. 100 new newsletter signups per month could be incredible growth if your conversion rate is 20%. That is, if 20% of your newsletter subscribers become paying customers. If your conversion rate is closer to 1%, those 100 newsletter signups might be insignificant.Estimate (based on historical data) your lead conversion rate. Now do the same to estimate the lifetime value of a customer. If you know how many of your leads convert and how much those conversions generate for your startup, you can assign values to goal completions like newsletter signups. $2,500 per month from your newsletter is a lot more indicative of success than 100 new newsletter signups.6. Setting a BudgetAt the end of the day, it all comes down to the money. How much can you afford to spend on your startup marketing strategy? Remember that while inbound marketing leads cost 61% less than outbound marketing leads, they are not free. Set a budget early in the game and accept that limitation.“57% of startup marketing managers are not basing their marketing budgets on any ROI analysis.”More importantly, carefully plan how you intend to divide that budget. Maybe your blog has been your most powerful tool to date and you want to invest 40% of the budget on it. Or maybe you want to spend 35% of the budget to develop a new eBook or online course. Just be sure you have the logistics settled before you start spending (or you might just lose your hat).Social MediaSocial media is one of the most popular ways to promote your content and reach influencers. Since a great content promotion plan brings potential customers to your website and influencing the influencer can generate thousands of new leads, social media is invaluable to startups. Of course, there are a few tricks to get the most out of it.1. Choosing the Right Social Media NetworksStartups tend to choose the social media networks they engage on without much strategy. The two most common mistakes are trying to master every network and trying to master certain networks just because the competition is doing it. If all of your competitors are on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, you should be too, right? Maybe, but maybe not.Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Reddit, Pinterest and now Instagram, are some of the most popular social networks today. All of them can be great content promotion and community building tools, but they all have unique characteristics. Facebook, for example, is typically powered by your existing customers who enjoy visual posts like pictures and video. Twitter, on the other hand, is often powered by potential customers who respond well to links (e.g. blog links).Each social network ‘works’ differently, as in, how the community takes, interprets and digests your sharing and content varies. Reddit is often referred to as a very guarded network and detests spammers. Unlike twitter, here you can’t just schedule various messages every day. The content you share in Reddit has to be specific and unique to the categories you choose. Reddit, like other networks, requires a slower approach. You can’t just jump on, run some ads and expect people to upvote all your content. Be mindful of the network and community you are trying to reach, it may not be in the social space you first thought.Tip: Consider the demographic of the social network itself. Take Tumblr, for example. Tumblr caters to a young, laid-back audience that loves sharing inspiring quotes and funny pictures. If you’re targeting this audience, don’t spend your time on LinkedIn.2. Defining the Best Times to PostThe idea that there is a perfect time to post a tweet or Facebook update is a myth. If you’re targeting teenagers, mornings and nights might be the best times to post during the school year. During the summer? That’s a whole other story. There simply is no universal “perfect time to post”. There are, however, some best practices (according to Dan Zarella).Facebook:Saturdays are best.12 p.m. EST is the best time to share.0.5 posts per day is the best frequency.Twitter:5 p.m. EST is the best time to get a retweet.1 to 4 link tweets per hour is the best frequency.Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays are best.6 a.m. EST, 12 p.m. EST and 6 p.m. EST are the best times to tweet in terms of clicks.3. Using a Keyword ListNow it’s time to put that keyword list you created earlier to good use. When it comes to social media, you’ll use your keyword list to maximize your engagement efforts. If you’re marketing an online shopping club for families like MarilynJean, you’ll want to ensure you’re having family and shopping focused discussions on social media.The easiest way to do this is to use a social networking management tool like HootSuite. That way you can setup search streams of your core keywords. Using MarilynJean as an example, one of their streams might be for the keyword “online shopping club”. They’ll be able to monitor all of the conversations happening around that keyword and join in. More importantly, MarilynJean will solidify a reputation in the space.Tip: Use your keyword list to help target any online ads you may be running.4. Creating and Using an Influencer ListAs mentioned above, one of the best marketing techniques online is to influence the influencer. It will take a long time for your startup to develop a highly influential relationship with thousands of people. Instead, focus on connecting with the people who already have that influence.“78% of social media users said posts by brands influenced their purchase behavior moderately or highly.”For example, MarilynJean might look to connect with a famous celebrity mother via Twitter. If that mom loves what they’re doing for families and tweets about them to thousands (if not millions) of loyal followers, MarilynJean will see a huge surge in both followers and traffic.Tip: Journalists and community leaders are great influencers as well. Don’t limit yourself to celebrities, who can be very tricky to connect with.Build your influencer list with a bit of market research. Start by finding popular blogs in the space. Who writes for those blogs? Who owns them? Search for your core keywords on Twitter. Who appears in the results? Who are they following?Remember that a high follower count is not always a good indication of influence. Look for how engaged their followers are and their follower to following ratio.5. Setting Up a BlogSetting up a blog can be quite simple. It’s a matter of downloading the software, uploading it to your server and following the setup instructions. WordPress, for example, is free and offers many amazing plugins. One for example, is Yoast SEO. Start by installing Yoast, a SEO plugin that will help Google and other search engines locate and rank your content. (Other great plugins include Akismet, Calendar, and featured posts) Then, setup the basics like blog categories and tags.Once the back-end of your blog is ready to go, think about the curb appeal. How does your design look? Ask a professional designer to help you design your blog or give it a small revamp. Then invite ten friends to check out the design and offer feedback. You’ll get a feel for the aesthetic appeal. Remember, design is important as it relates to user experience, but it shouldn’t be all consuming. Your blog is about publishing really great content, at the right time to the right people. Your design should simply enhance that experience.Be sure your design is also functional. Ask yourself these questions:If I stand back and squint my eyes, does my call to action still pop?Do I have search functionality?Do I have social media information and sharing functions (e.g. Twitter feed, Facebook plugin)?Do I have a blog subscription and RSS feed option?Do I have featured images on my blog’s homepage?Do I have social sharing buttons on each blog post?Note: While WordPress is not the only blogging platform, it is one of the most widely used.Startup PRPR remains a mystery in many startup circles:When’s the right time to tell people about your startup? Is there value in getting early coverage on industry blogs? What message is going to resonate with writers? How can you maximize the press coverage you do get and translate it into sales? Should I hire a PR firm to help me out?The good news is it doesn’t need to be such a mystery. Fundamentally, it all boils down to this:What to say.When to say it.Who to say it to.1. Craft Meaningful Positioning StatementsMuch like a great elevator pitch should lie in the mind of any entrepreneur, a series of engaging positioning statements is vital. And while constructing two sentences may seem easy, crafting effective statements is quite the challenge.Start by identifying what the product is and how it will affect others. Think of the product as the solution created to solve a worldwide problem. This is an important measure to remember when marketing and selling the product. Don’t think of it as selling a product. Think of it as solving a problem. Lastly, who will care about your product?What is your product?How will it affect others?Who will care?Positioning statements combine these three key factors into two sentences that are used to market the product and pitch it to the media. To ensure success, it is important that these statements not only articulate what the product is capable of, but that they clearly describe its value proposition as well.2. Define Your Startup Sensitivities“Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.” – Sun-tzuBy identifying competitors’ strengths and weaknesses, one can better understand how to market one’s product as better. Why is their solution to the universal problem their product solves better than those before it?Be creative. Use spreadsheets, visual imagery or lists. Harness all of the information available on the product and its competitors, and study it. Look at each closely and determine strengths and weaknesses. If there are others who have an edge, then look at an angle where they are lacking.Creating “the next social network for penguins” might be your ultimate passion, but be conscious of the fact that you’ve got a remarkably short span of time to engage writers when pitching them. Focus on the one (or two) strongest aspects of your value proposition (what your customers love about you most) and lean heavily on those hooks to gauge media interest.3. Identifying the Right Writers for a Media ListThe importance of identifying who will care about the product is not only relevant in terms of crafting positioning statements, but in identifying the right writers for a media list as well. Any media outlet employs a number of qualified writers capable of telling the story, but you should be careful to pitch only writers who will be the best fit for your product. Though time-consuming, this simple step should never be overlooked.Determine key media outlets of interest then search for stories with similar themes or relevance to your own. Look at the writers who’ve covered those stories.Always pitch the right writer for your story. For example, if your product is exclusively for iPhone, don’t pitch a journalist who only reports on Android products.“Build your network before you need them.” ~ Jeremiah Owyang, Partner and Industry Analyst at Altimeter GroupOnce you have identified the writers to connect with, utilize social media to engage with them. Build relationships and ask of nothing. Set up private Twitter lists of the writers of interest, and actively respond to them and retweet their posts. Make friends with them!Relationships with writers are not always easy to build, but the effort to achieve them can mean great story coverage and the opportunity to be covered again in the future. Even if you are not in a position to leverage journalists or writers, you should still be connecting and making those relationships. In due time, they will always benefit you and your startup.4. Creating a Press KitThe key to a successful media launch is rooted deep within a killer media kit. Begin by identifying the items needed:Media AdvisoryLogos & ScreenshotsFounder Bios & PhotosA media advisory should include all major points that are important to the product, the company and its success. It should include how the product is changing the world and why it is important. More importantly, it should be written and directed towards who will care. The “pitch” should be included in the headline and/or the first paragraph of the release. This is an excellent opportunity to use your positioning statements from earlier.Include brief and necessary background information on the company and its founders. Enough to offer a taste of the team behind the product. By offering quick stats at the end of the media advisory, writers are given a brief snapshot of the company.Include:Company NameWebsiteTwitter Handle(s)CEO & Co-FoundersLaunch Date (if applicable)Fees (if applicable)Be conscious of time restrictions or sensitivities. Is there an embargo present or a set launch date and time?Remember, most writers will merely skim a media advisory. By ensuring that a media advisory is tight and effective, you’ll increase the chances of story coverage.Always offer the media options to use as supplementary visuals to accompany the story. Include company logo(s) and relevant screenshots of the product. Anything that offers a glimpse of features and capabilities is appreciated.Provide a brief biography of each founder and respective photos. What is the driving force behind the company and how have their beliefs shaped it to become the success it is now? Include any tidbits of information that writers could use.An important takeaway is that your press kit can be your ultimate weapon in securing great coverage. We recommend using a personalized Dropbox folder or Google Drive for each journalist you approach so that you can easily share by inviting them to the folder. It’ll also confirm when they join or view the folder – confirming interest – and hopefully that a story is about to be written.5. Reaching Out to JournalistsEngagement with journalists prior to reaching out is key. When interacting with writers beforehand, you should request to send information on a story that may interest them. As previously mentioned, by building a relationship first, this request doesn’t come off as insincere. Writers may still decline, but by continuing to build on the relationship created, you could potentially convince them to accept in the future.content creationWith a blog setup and your PR in full swing, it’s time to kick content creation into high-gear. Managing a blog and other forms of content can seem daunting, especially to not-so-great writers. Fortunately, four little steps will give startups the information they need to get serious.1. Creating a Topic ListYou’ve got a good looking blog designed and a great content promotion strategy, but something’s missing. Oh right! The content.Before you dive right in and start writing, create a topic list. The perfect topic list is based on your core keywords for SEO purposes. Using your core keywords on your blog builds your startup’s credibility with search engines. Start by brainstorming ten topic ideas around each of your core keywords. Where possible, use your keywords in the titles, but not where it feels unnatural.With between thirty and fifty topics, you can start thinking about writing. But first, put all of these ideas into a calendar. When will each be published? Who will write them? Are any of them in progress? A blog calendar helps you track your topics from conception to completion. Gantt charts are often shrugged off, but for the purpose of properly managing an editorial schedule, they are extremely helpful. Check out the multitude of templates and spreadsheets available for free online like: 90-day calendar, a Google Doc template, or these free guides from Bob Angus.Tip: Be sure to add descriptions to your topic ideas. You might not remember your main points when you go to write the post three months from now.2. Knowing What Types of Content to PublishThere are four main types of content to be published (excluding blog content). Like social networks, each one has unique advantages and disadvantages. Consider your options carefully, always keeping your target market in mind. And remember: don’t try to do a little bit of everything right away.eBook/Guides: Information products are huge. Offer a free eBook in exchange for a name and email address. Just like that, you have a new lead. You know they’re interested in your product because they were interested in the eBook and now you have their contact information. Now, follow up. Ask their opinion of the eBook and open the door for conversation.“Information products have the best margins. If you can get them into a subscription, then you’ll have monthly reoccurring revenue.” ~ Dan Martell, Founder of ClarityWebinar: Hearing your voice and engaging with you live gives your customers (and potential customers) a sense of ease. Webinars capitalize on this! Cross promote your webinar on your blog. Also, have someone on your team live tweet during the webinar using a custom #hashtag. At the end of the webinar, after providing real value to the attendees, post your contact information. It’s a simple, interactive way to generate new leads.Newsletter: Email marketing is far from dead, despite what you might have read. Make subscribing to your newsletter quick and easy. Don’t go overboard with your email blasts though because if you overuse the connection, you’ll lose it. For the same reason, you’ll want to ensure every newsletter offers real value and is not just an excuse to push a new product. Try offering a discount, a promotion, industry news, or a contest – whatever!Video: If a picture is worth a thousand words, imagine how much a video is worth. Keep it simple by having an explainer video created or by shooting an introduction video. Put the video on your startup’s homepage and/or blog. You might be camera shy, but statistics show that most people would rather watch than read.3. Guest BloggingGuest blogging is vital for startups. First of all, guest posting on a popular blog is a great way to build your reputation in the space. Second, having someone influential guest blog on your startup’s blog is an easy way to drive traffic.Start by looking for outgoing guest blogging opportunities on the top blogs that are writing for your target market. Most blogs will accept guest posts openly, so look for a writers’ page or contributors’ page. If you’re having trouble, track down the blog owner or editor on social media. Ask to email him a first draft of your blog post idea. Just make sure it’s high-quality and 100% original.Once you’ve built a reputation, it will be easier to find influencers willing to contribute to your startup’s blog. Create a writers’ page of your own or reach out to select influencers individually via social media or email. When the guest post is published, be sure to ping the contributor so she can promote the post to her whole network.4. Capturing EmailsEmail subscription has been mentioned a few times already. Capturing emails can be divided into three categories: email submits, newsletter subscriptions and blog subscriptions. Email submits could come from eBook downloads or similar offers. Newsletter subscriptions are just that: people interested in reading regular updates and content from your startup. Blog subscriptions are straightforward as well.Email submits and newsletter subscriptions are best managed by tools like MailChimp, which allows you to easily send well-designed custom emails to leads. Blog subscriptions, on the other hand, are best managed by tools like Feedburner, which allows you to automatically notify leads when you published new blog content.Test and IterateBy now, your marketing strategy is in full motion. Of course, no one gets it perfect on the first try and there’s always room for improvement. That’s where testing and iteration comes into play. Remember back to the core metrics and definition of success from earlier. Keep those two things in mind here.1. Setting Up Analytics ToolsThe key to measuring success is a great analytics tool. If you need a no-frills solution, check out Google Analytics. It’ll give you the basics and, over time, you will learn to master the somewhat complicated behind-the-scenes mechanics of it. If you want something more user-friendly and advanced, tools like KISSmetrics are always available.Your experience setting up your analytics tool will be different depending on the solution you choose. However, all analytics tools will have you insert a snippet of code on your webpages, which allows them to track visits and events. Be sure to look for analytics tools that are committed to preserving fast load times, like Measurely. Some codes leave visitors waiting for the website to load, which can increase bounce rate dramatically.2. Measuring Against BenchmarksEarlier, you recorded your baseline metrics, which you’ll use as benchmarks going forward. Ideally, you’re measuring week over week and month over month growth. If you make the mistake of waiting for solely month over month data, you could be too late. Each week, compare your core metrics to the week before. Some give and take is normal. Each month, do the same. Here, you should look for consistent growth.“If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” ~Peter Drucker, Management ConsultantWhen you see significant growth or decline, be sure to attribute it to some event(s). For example, a tweet that went viral or a newsletter that was a huge disaster. Isolate what you did differently and either replicate it or avoid it going forward. Don’t just measure your data – act on it!3. Brainstorming Creative New IdeasWhile tweaking what you’re already doing is great, coming up with brand new ideas is even better. It’s not enough to only iterate and optimize what you’ve been doing. The most successful startups are always trying creative new things. Maybe a social contest, a funny video, a new online course, a clever PR angle – the list is endless.Many of your new and innovative ideas can easily fail, but the few that succeed will be well worth it. Never get complacent! As a startup, the name of the game is agility, flexibility and thinking forward.Best PracticesWhat are the industry experts saying? What are the top startups doing? Here are three startup marketing best practices.1. Sell the SolutionToo many startups focus on the problem instead of the solution. It makes sense, of course. Founders design a solution for the problem, which makes the problem a founder’s first love. Unfortunately, it’s the solution that appeals to potential customers. Realistically, there are hundreds of products that could solve the problem of, for example, low productivity. What makes your solution the perfect choice?2. Have a Compelling StoryStorytelling is a powerful sales tool. Just ask Seth Godin! If you have a compelling story, use it. How did you come up with your solution? Did you struggle in the beginning? Are you still struggling? Use your story to differentiate yourself from the competition. Startup marketing is all about the customer and establishing an authentic relationship. Having a relatable story to tell is a fast-track.3. Use All Your ResourcesYour team is arguably one of your biggest marketing tools. Their passion for what your startup is doing is called evangelism. Use it to your advantage. Send them out into the world excited to tell your startup’s story to anyone they meet. But don’t stop there. Ride the buzz from a trending topic by writing a blog post on it or creating a video about it. Run a contest around a major holiday to drum up some hype. Be sure you’re not overlooking any marketing resources, big or small.Conclusion:Startup marketing is a complex science. Some great ideas have failed due to a lack of media attention and customer awareness. Others have gone under thanks to a poor strategy. Still, other great ideas have spiraled to billion dollar fame! Well, founders everywhere can stop searching for that elusive secret to startup marketing success. It’s simply the sweet spot between content marketing and PR.

If it isn’t in this post it probably doesn’t matter enjoy!Most epic Guide on how to create backlinks to improve SEO in 2017Word count: 13,433 Reading Level: College Grad Reading time: 48.51 Mins[Last Update:22-June-2017] Now with more Whitehat, Blackhat strategy and infused hopsWhat follows is a very detailed guide covering; The different types of backlinks and how best to create backs to improve SEO for your website.Search engines, such as; Google, Google Mobile, Bing and Yahoo have been tightening their policies around Search Engine Optimisation marketing techniques to game a website's rankings. As a result, some old school tricks now can produce very negative results and what was average, but effective can also affect your rankings negatively.One universally website ranking factor is backlinks. MOZ and many others, including mebsites.com have tested and found backlinks and the creation of backlinks to be one of the most effective means to improve your website's search ranking.Factors affecting the effectiveness of backlinks in search engines are the quality and source of the backlink, such as; Domain quality (Domain authority) of the website you are linked to, the keyword anchor used, Whether they are following or no follow links, the number of the backlinks and ultimately the amount of traffic coming from those backlinks in relation to other rankings in Google. We believe backlinking is still one of the strongest factors for improving rank that can be manipulated by a search engine optimisation specialist. It is also a bit of a forgotten or rarely practised art by most SEO companies.Back in ye Olde times on the internets, link sharing between friendly webmasters was all the rage and somewhat effective. In the search engine algorithms of 2017, the ye olde link share in the footer is seldom effective and 100% negatively perceived practice by good SEO professionals. Additionally, visually it is very spammy from a users point of view. Therefore, when we refer to creating or adding backlinks we are not referring to this dated practice or anything similar to this nudge wink wink practice.Image: Monty Python, Nudge nudge wink wink sketchThese days SEO professionals need to build or better still earn quality backlinks to the target website and quality really does count more than ever before, since the addition of Googles new penguin 4.0 Algorithm. Since it is better to earn than to manipulate for a backlink, it becomes more important to 10x all your content. By 10x we refer to a term used by Rand Fishkin, from MOZ. Rand says and we agree, it is not enough to just publish good content. It is also not good enough to publish great content. Rand states you need to publish content that is substantially better than anything else out there and he does a great job of explaining why so I will let you watch his video to learn why. For continuity of reading I'll say most websites great content will come via informational; Webpages, images, blogs, videos and whitepapers. I will also add while it is good to have beautiful web pages the value on the page is the actual content on it. A pretty page might hold someone's attention for a few seconds, but great content will hold their attention for minutes or even hours and that is what you want.Note: Before you freak out about creating Great or 10x content, understand it is still a relative term in this context. Because your content greatness requirement is measured from the top performers in the search ranking hierarchy now. You don't need to create a literary or Oscar winning piece of content. It just should be much better than others in your space.So step one should always be to create and have great content first. However, just keep in mind if you are a small business, I do also suggest just doing it first to get in the habit, even if the first pieces of content are shockers (you can always take them down later). Subsequently, you should look to improve each piece of content you create. At mebsites.com we strive to always produce a better than last piece content each time we publish.The key is to attract others to link to your website because the content is great and relevant. Opposed to requesting them for a straight-out link share (which we already said sux). Furthermore, even if you use some of the white hat SEO tricks or even blackhat it will be for nothing if the world's greatest backlink takes users to irrelevant or poor content and they bounce. Objectively, you are just fooling yourself and will actually do yourself a disservice. Google is measuring user time on page and engagement so even if you get the ranking with poor content you will struggle to keep it.There are several critical aspects to be considered when trying to procure quality backlinks to your website to improve its search rank in relation to relevant/trending search terms.So step one, is create great content on your web pages. Spend the time that you likely didn't when your site was made to do it right. Step two, before you jump in and shotgun some backlinks is to make sure you can measure where you are ranking currently and be set up to accurately measure your improvements. Let me make this clear searching for your own website in Google is not an accurate form of measuring your ranking! Neither is searching for it on your mate's computer. There are tracking and relevance variables, which affect the rankings uniquely for each user, depending on previous searches, time of day and trends e.g. Google etc spies on you and then manipulates results to be the most personal relevant result for you. You need proper big kid software to create a baseline of where you are at and the improvements you are making. If possible it is a great idea to include your competitors in your measurements.1) To create backlinks effective you need to measure your search ranking accurately.1) Some form of user analytics. Google Analytics is fine and free and just needs a small tracking code or code snippet added to your web pages to work.2) Register with Google, Bing webmaster tools3) Quality SEO tracking software; I recommend SEOprofiler as it has really comprehensive tools. Like other SEO tracking tools, it is also bloody expensive for the small operator. However, we do offer live and monthly SEO reports for $9.95. Lipperhey also does a nice free report, however, we have found it updates very poorly. MOZ tools I personally think are very lacking compared to others. Ahrefs is great but expensive for most small operators.Let us get into the nuts and bolts of backlinking2) Laying a great foundation before you create your backlinksJust like a grand building, strong website rankings are created with a good foundation. A good foundation of quality backlinks from multiple sources.Generally, having a bulk load of mediocre backlinks to your site doesn’t do the job anymore, this did still work a couple of years ago until domain quality and relevance became factors (Note: If your competition is very weak it will still work). With other websites and blogs vying for top ranking on SERP’s, Google has started measuring more than 200+ signals to determine the quality and the relevance of your backlink before it will rank it. So your website must be technically sound, such as; Mobile friendly, tag correctly, readable, suitable performance and the meta details accurate to the content held within. Furthermore once ranked, Google will continue to monitor the backlink for relevance/quality for various search terms. For example if you temporarily rank highly for the search term 'bag sales', but the bounce rate for your page is very high above 70% your ranking for that search term will very quickly fade (refer What is Penguin 4.0). This is why it is imperative to put most of your time and effort to develop a technically optimised website with sound content to start with. Setting the foundation for building a top-notch backlink profile is all about the factors listed below:A technically optimised websiteImpeccable website architectureHigh content relevance to search termsFrequent, fresh content updates3) Hunt down technical website errors before you link to remove obstacles:A website with technical errors can easily earn a place in the bad books of the visitors and search engines alike. Once the search engine picks up technical errors within the website, it minimises the organic traffic to it. This is why it is highly recommended to have a detailed plan prior to developing a website, rather than winging the whole process. Invest ample amounts of time and effort in the development of your website, hiring a web developer who has a good understanding of SEO can be a good investment, half-assing it will only come back to haunt you later. There are no free lunches on the internets, often that cheap website template and website hosting will cost you in ranking and traffic a 100 fold more than doing it right would have cost. Here is a checklist of major technical errors that you should keep an eye out for when developing a website.Ensure proper use of 301 and 302 redirects and use optimised 404 pages to encourage user retentionCheck for HTML and XML sitemaps; ensure that these sitemaps compensate for any poor site architectureEncrypt the site traffic with an SSL certificate and it is a must the site has a payment gateway.Check for errors in Google Search Console and your SEO tracking software.Enable server compression transfer and browser caching. Consider a CDN service like Cloudflare - The Web Performance & Security Company | Cloudflare to help with server load at peak times and serving to a wider audience.Optimise all images via lossless compression technique (we love Kraken.io Image Optimizer for this)Use a reliable and fast hosting service, physically local to your market is best to reduce ping.You must use a responsive frontend framework for your website. Otherwise, you will fail Googles mobile responsiveness test and loose substantial rank.Install web analytics like Google Analytics or Mixed Panel and ensure the integration of tracking code on all the pages (in case of GA)Ensure proper use of “Rel canonical” tagsRegister the canonical variant of the site in Google/BING webmaster Search Console4) Ensure website architecture is seamless:A website with seamless architecture can bolster conversions even if there are only a handful of quality backlinks pointing back to it. Good website architecture encourages and enables Google to understand and present your site in the most efficient manner (it's all about speed). Usually, Google rewards sites with seamless architecture with better rankings. The following factors are critical to ensuring ideal site architecture for your website.A sensible easy-to-navigate menu structure (two-three clicks to the destination is best).Ensure menus are mobile friendly.Ensure the architecture is up to date with current standards.Ensure an optimum amount of navigational links, including on page.Logical subfolder system design (web devs use best practice don't just make up your own folder system).Link the logo back to the homepage.Ensure an HTML or XML sitemap.Make the navigational links descriptive of what they link to.Note: We believe there is a bias to HTML based pages. Technically this should not matter. However, time and time again we see drag and drop style website builders rank lower than they technically should or against their HTML competitors. Platforms such as; Magento and Wordpress have native and/or plugins to optimise for this.5) Produce frequent fresh content and updates:A website which is hardly ever updated is like a stall cold cup of coffee and will give Google little reason to revisit and potentially boost its rankings compared to competitors who always have their content served hot, fresh and regular. On the contrary, a website which is frequently updated will be picked up by Google, in turn, Google will frequent the website more often allowing your content to be indexed quicker and more accurately compared to others. Consequently, creating regular fresh and informative content will see Google index that page and related backlinks much quicker. Your content can quickly turn into a hub of information frequently visited by users, further improving your rankings. The net effect is quicker indexing of new content pages, which are then ranked and rechecked more often against your backlinks and other search ranking factors.6) Ensure high relevance to search terms and always produce high-quality contentThe best rule to follow when creating content is to be substantially better than what is currently ranking, as we explained before. For most industries, there is likely content ranked already. Make sure you check for any existing content and you also check for any relevant search trends using tools, such as; Google trends or buzzsumo. Additionally, check your research against whether users are searching in enough volume to warrant the expense of creating the content. Then create a substantially better piece of content for your website.You can combine this research along with any backlinking opportunities that may be highlighted in your SEO monitoring software. SEO profiler and ahrefs is a great resource for this information.Note: If you are going to outsource bloggers before you post their content, plagiarism test it and actually read it to make sure it is good. Many outsource bloggers are actually just using online tools to scramble other people's blogs. What you end up with is garbage for your home site. It might be ok for some crappy attempt at white hat tactics, but it will put off genuine customers.7) Start Hunting for quality backlinking opportunitiesOnce you have laid the foundation, you need to fully understand the anatomy of a backlink before you can master creating them.What are backlinksDifferent types of backlinksHow to spot a good backlinking opportunityHow to identify the link types that are the most beneficial with respect to your businessWhat are backlinksBacklinks are links (hyperlink in old school speak) that point to your website address from other websites or web apps web address. A backlink to your website on any 'third party' website serves different purposes for user and website owner:For users:A source or reference for contentA link recommendation from another userFor website owners/backlink creatorsTo bring in targeted traffic from a specific audienceTo bring in trust flow or link juiceNote: What is link juice? Is a colloquial term that refers to the equity passed to a site via links from external or internal sources. This equity is interpreted as a recommendation for your site. The equity can be negative or positive based on the status of the referring site and this is where you can be hurt if the referring site is a spammy source.Both of these aspects are really critical to boosting conversions, which is the ultimate goal of any backlink builder. While backlinks seem to be a godsend for webmasters, it is also essential to be aware of the fact that creating backlinks in bulk or creating backlinks via spammy practices can easily have an adverse effect on your website.Different types of backlinks:Backlinks are categorised into different types. Some of the major backlink types are listed below:8) Aim to create Dofollow over Nofollow backlinks:Dofollow (follow) and Nofollow links are the cornerstones of any type of backlinking strategy. Irrespective of the type of backlink (listed below) that you procure, it will be either a Nofollow or follow.The Nofollow tag was introduced by Google in 2005 with the intention of reducing spammy or blackhat backlinking practices. Search engine criteria say any link that is tagged with the Nofollow attribute is deemed invisible to Google. Taken literally, neither any trust flow nor any link juice is transferred via such links. However, Nofollow links are not entirely useless; these links can easily play a vital role in bringing in customers and encouraging conversions. After all, links also serve as a practical reference to users e.g. they will click on the link if it seems useful, which will earn you site visit.Dofollow (follow) links pass link juice to boost the page rank of the website to which the link is directed to. Procuring follow links using outdated techniques are really hard these days because most webmasters have automated systems or rules to automatically tag Nofollow attributes to links in comment sections and forums. That is why follow links are best earned on merit rather than trickery.9) Tag and share images and infographics to create backlinks:[Updated 22/June/2017] Image backlinks are the path or links back to images on your website. These backlinks are easy to build and with image search use being so strong currently, they can be an effective vector for your website. Furthermore, they can rank and bring traffic all on their own.When correctly named and tagged images can be more compelling than text when it comes to convincing the users to take an action. An image can motivate a user to click through to your page just as much or more than a couple lines of text to a search page. Additionally, competition for the image rank is not that fierce regarding trying to build image backlinks when compared to the task of building text backlinks.For example, brands that feature fashionable or trending products like apparel, footwear, tech etc can be really successful with procuring and creating image backlinks. Pinterest, Imgur and Instagram are an incredible source that can help you to create image backlinks with ease. Both Pinterest and Instagram are also mediums with a proven track record of selling for their content posters.For a small amount of effort to descriptively name and brand your images, with logo, website url, price or click bait text before uploading them and perhaps applying a branded watermark and then sharing the links, you can see wonderful results. Additionally, embedding your images in web2.0 sites or other will improve your images keyword ranking.How effective can image ranking be? Imagine a user searches for bug control and sees a whole bunch of images at the top of the search results with your brand and something compelling written on them. Do you think that will give your company an edge? You bet it does. Furthermore, one of the coolest image rank technics I have seen is stealing the rich snippet image for another website's rank. If you brand the image with your URL it basically gives the impression the snippet is yours (note: this might not be good if users will click through to the other businesses website thinking it's your product).Other types of images to get linked are; Inspirational images are very popular on social media but offer fleeting real value to users. They can give you some good social signals. Infographics, however, can have solid long-term value. They are popular to share on social media and create nicely indexable links from social media sites like Pinterest, Instagram and speciality infographic websites. Ensure you name your image descriptively with url. Recently I have had a lot of outreach enquiry from infographic designers offering their work to supplement a blog post for a backlink it appeared an attractive idea.How to rank images?Recent, research experiments from Matt at Diggity Marketing (M.Diggity, 2017) states they have had a lot of success, including stealing rich snippet images with the following techniques;1) Optimised Alt Text - You need to have a full match or partial keyword match for what you want to rank for. Semantic matches don't seem to work as well from our experiments.2) Topical Content relevance - The content on the page and the website topic you place your image on the need to match. For example, an image for 'best builder' would need to be on websites about building (Note: This could have implications for images hot linked as a means of negative SEO).3) Website Authority - This is so often the case you'll need to have your images on sites with a matching authority or better to steal away a ranking. This is especially the case if you want to take a rich snippet image for your own.Screenshot of Rich Snippit Image StealInfographics are awesome to share on social mediaNote: You can stop users from linking directly to your images from their websites, sometimes this is referred to as a hotlink. However, a better thing to do would be to give users a specific link for sharing, if it's going to cause resource issues or just don't allow it.10) Natural backlinks creation should be prefer over other types:Natural backlinks are the links that look authoritative and enhance a users experience. For instance, an article with a reference or link back to another article which was used as a source of valuable information. Such backlinks can be deemed as natural links. Natural links, in no way, look stuffed/spammy and are a welcome compliment to the host article or post, while sometimes carrying a natural anchor text.Note: Anchor text is the clickable text in a hyperlink. SEO best practices dictate that anchor text is relevant to the page you're linking to, rather than generic text.11) Paid backlinkings can prop up your ranking and backlink portfolio:Paid backlinks are links to your site that you can purchase for a temporary or permanent period. These backlinks used to be really effective in the past. However, Google has worked its ranking algorithm around such paid backlinks in the last couple of months. Therefore, Google can now identify paid links and minimise organic traffic to the pages that host them. Google also has clear views pertinent to judging whether a backlink is clearly paid or compensated for via some other method rather than money transfer, such as link sharing. You can learn more about Matt Cutt’s view of how Google evaluates paid links here.The ramifications for the usefulness, in SEO terms, of paid services such as; Yellowpages, true local, yelp, word-of-mouth etc is somewhat questionable. Especially, when most have Nofollow tags on the links back to your website. After all when was the last time you heard someone say I will look for that service in the Yellowpages... 10+ years?12) Use Social Media as a source for creating backlinks:Social media backlinks are easy to achieve but difficult to stand out. With such huge volumes of posts loaded on any social media site in a given minute makes it really hard to stand out with social media backlinks. This is a further reason why trending, valuable, quality and fresh content plays a vital role. If you plan your content with these factors in mind while applying lots of the “Sweat + Creativity” factor, you are bound to gain some natural backlinks in addition to the surplus amount of shares and social traffic from your social media platforms. Bare in mind engagement is an important factor on social platform analytics and also how search engines rank your site and posts. Posts with high engagement get shown more on social media channels and rank higher in Google. The net effect is more traffic and a better backlink.13) Cautious use of backlinks from Review sites is advised:This is where things can get serious. While all the other backlinks might play a critical role in boosting your site’s traffic or position in SERP’s. Review backlinks outline your services or product on offer and highlight any respective pros and cons, which can influence a potential customer to make a decision. Therefore, review sites and review backlinks can literally have a stronger role at the source with the user, than the actual backlink value in the search engine in regards to encouraging conversions. As per a survey conducted in New York (E Vreeland,2017)(Website Design Agency - Reviews ★★★★★ (117+) - LIVE CHAT, 2016), more than 90% of people who purchase goods online or who plan to visit a restaurant resort to review websites to make the final decision.Also worth noting that for Googles Local business listings, Google is adding the review statistics from major review sites automatically. So reputation management will also need to part of your backlinking processes. Fair or not a lot of negative reviews can put customers off. We will be posting a link to our reputation management guide here.13) The hardest to earn, but well worth the http://effort.Edu http://and.Gov backlinks are gold:Edu and Gov backlinks are considered the king of backlinks by most SEO professionals. Even though we have SEO experts who think otherwise, backlinks from trusted websites have a high value in your total profile. They can play a significant role when competing against another business. Domain names ending http://in.Edu http://and.Gov providing backlinks are really difficult to procure for businesses other than the ones offering voluntary works or non-profit organisation. Edu and Gov backlinks can vouch for your reputation of your website and hence even if you might not get many direct conversions from such backlinks, they play a strong role in convincing Google to list your website for relevant queries. If you find an opportunity to create some go for it.14) External and internal links to Case studies are very powerfulI love creating case study backlinks / Internal Links. Not only does it provide a credible source, but they are just damn good high converting content machines. Case studies are like testimonials on steroids. For just about any business I would recommend spending the time to create a couple case studies. Make sure to include the following;Before and after images or dataObjectivesPlanResultsDepending on your target market you may want to keep it brief or virtually produce a whitepaper on it. Likely whoever write it about may backlink to you and you may be able to submit it to relevant other websites, for example; suppliers, Industry associations, Tech institutes, review websites.15) Genuine Backlinks from blogs are bestSimilar to the case studies, genuine references and anchored links from relevant blogs high authority blogs are gold. Not only is your business being exposed to another relevant demographic, but you also will get some great link juice. The trick is how to get someone to write about you?Ask! If you don't ask you can guarantee you won't get anything. A good place to start is with suppliers and other industry people you may know.Example:Hey, supplier, we have been good customers for years now.Supplier: Sure are, we are very grateful.You: I notice you have a blog, how do you get topics to write about?Supplier: Just whateves', we actually struggle a little.You: Well I have a great customer success story about one of your products. How about we collaborate a little and you profile us a little and we tell the story of this customer. We can share it on our successful social platforms and you could too?Supplier: hmm sounds O for awesomeYou: Damn I'll even write it for you...lol (try to have them write it, but whatever will get the job done).Option 2:Write a great blog then send it to different blog writers offering to let them have it for free long as they retain your link. I get asked to do this all the time and once in a while if I a short on content/time and it really is good I will guest spot the blog.Note: Google representatives are making noises that paid blogs post backlinks are a negative and they claim to be able to detect the spammy; Forbes, Inc, HuffPost type posts and discount them. Something to consider before paying big dollars for a post.16) Using Private Blog Network (PBN) can be highly effective, but risky:I'll qualify risky first. Basically, any Search Engine Strategy has a risk, even the squeaky clean whitehat methods. Therefore, before ever doing SEO work you need to do the mental calculation of, what is the upside of what I am doing and is it work the potential downside of being caught and what are the ramifications of it. For example, if you are the head of marketing for K-Mart, is creating a private blog network for the latest product XYZ worth getting caught and penalised for...ah nope! If you are setting up a new product or service and you just want to sell short term and can afford to loose it, maybe it is.Private blog networks are not a whitehat SEO tactic. At best they are a greyhat SEO and at the extreme, they are pure blackhat SEO. The basic strategy is to create a pseudo-organic network of blogs with the least amount of effort to boost a target sites ranking. Some of these PBN networks can be 10,000 websites/domains strong. I won't go into great detail as PBNs are financially and technically out of range for most of my readers.A brief outline of PBNs: High quality expired domains are bought from expired domain auctions from potentially $7 USD to thousands. The domains are then used as a source or target. For a source website, the SEO Pro then creates a website or blog. Depending on the target or goal the PBN creator will either do minimal content work or the least possible to create a credible source/referring website. The amount of effort they put into the source sites really depends on how much they paid for the domain, who or what the target is, how long do they care the source will last, whether it is a tier one, two, three or web2.0 referring site and whether they want it to be able to pass a real visual google audit.Note: Tier one is a higher quality referring site and the higher the tier, typically the more spammy it will get.Once the source website/s are created the SEO pro will create content, with measured anchor text and backlink to the target website. Then they rinse and repeat as needed. The investment can be huge so PBNs are not really within the reach or interest of many companies looking to improve their SEO. Therefore, PBN services are often sold or are part of a clever (normally highly successful) SEO pro's bag of tricks.Why do blackhats go to the effort of doing this 'BECAUSE IT WORKS LIKE CRAZY!'. To put this in perspective, some blackhats are so good at creating PBNs they have skipped having clients and just target their own websites, which are normally affiliate farms, selling amazon products on commission for example.If you don't know this already backlinks are king of SEO nothing else beats it consistently. Yes you can go viral, but that is more of a unicorn event unless you are Tai Lopez. This is also why a lot of SEO agenciesyou need to be getting them. Moving around content with a splash of keywords on your pages will only get you so far and if someone starts talking about keywords in your meta, just run.17) You need to watch out for negative backlinks:Just as good backlinks do good things weak or downright bad backlinks can kill your website. You need to be on constant lookout for unfavourable backlinks.Negative backlinks can range from the not relevant to the spammy questionable origin, Viagra or Adult site backlink. Part of your SEO strategy should be to monitor and disvow these links as soon as possible.Where do Negative backlinks come from?Normally, they are either good links gone bad or a black hat SEO pro trying to piggyback some link juice off your domain. However, they can also be from that cheap SEO company you thought was great, that Fiverr gig to boost your rankings (oops) or even an attack from a competitor. Either way, use the method to remove them as quickly as possible.Note: Good Quality SEO tools will monitor and pick this stuff up for you. Our favourites are Ahrefs, SEO profiler. Again they aren't really affordable for small business so best to ensure your SEO person has enough scale to afford them.Negative backlinks as an attack:This is a shitty practice. However, business is ruthless and passive aggressive revenge exists. The idea behind it is to hurt the rank of the target by spamming them and bringing down the targets overall backlink profile.So instead of relevance, they link you to the opposite, though the go to is normally spammy affiliate adult site links and Viagra. Some blackhats even have PBNs just for this purpose. A sustained all angles attack a business, especially a small business would surely not end well. However, this is highly illegal and would most likely lead to exposing the perpetrator. The more common attack is the just enough approach by would-be competitors. They create or hire someone to create just enough negative backlinks to hurt the target then stop.This has two effects on the target; Their ranking will drop and they consume resources/time to combat the effect.Do not do this negative backlinking practice. It is illegal and your just kind of a loser dick for doing it. After all, it is honourable to lose on the battlefield to a greater foe. It is not honourable to bash them in the shin before you even compete...Tonya Hardening. Additionally, there is nothing wrong with ranking second, third ...9th on the first page of Google you will still make money. If you are ranking lower than the first 2 pages, you have other issues at play and you are wasting time doing negative tactics because you will not rank anyway.18) Make sure you measure your backlinking placement opportunity vs InvestmentWhen building backlinks for your website, it is essential for you to check to consider the following:Is the backlink you are creating consistent with your brand? Is it on a quality source or will the customer be put off? For example, is the backlink for a fashion item on a respected fashion reviewers website or from a comment section of an adult website. There are many angles to backlinks and context is also one of them regardless of the domain quality or authority.Will it hurt or help your brands positioning in the market? Will your competitors refer to your backlinks as a source of your poor quality and character? For example, why would you buy from someone who advertises education products on porn sites?Social networks are just that, networks of your peers. Are you posting content that will make your mother and friends cringe or will they like others think you are a social media wizard!Differentiating a good backlink building opportunity from a bad one is something that demands an enormous amount of research and innovation. Start by checking domain and page authority. The tools like SEOprofiler, Open Site Explorer, Ahrefs and Majestic can give you a clear picture of the domain and page authority of the website from which you are planning to procure a backlink. Factor-in aspects like trust and citation flow to ensure the website is actually worth it when it comes to earning a link.We have listed relevancy factor fundamentals which will also help you to determine a good opportunity, without the help of any tools,:Is my content relevant to theseThe page you want to link fromDomain topic and content to your pagePage content to your page contentTheir Domain to your domainAlways look for these relevancy factors before you link. Being linked to off topic sources is of little use. While it can improve your Google rank slightly, it will not have anywhere near the effect as if you backlink from a relevant audience. If you find this type of opportunity you are gold and should proceed.19) Always identify the link types that are the most beneficial with respect to your businessIdentifying a link type pertinent to your business can be an easy task, provided you have the time to invest in research. Shadowing your competitors is highly recommended especially finding what their backlink profile is. Tools like SEO profiler, aHrefs,backlink checker, Open Site Explorer etc will give you a detailed look into the backlinking profile of your competitors. Closely observe the types of links they have been procured from and the type of backlinks that have been more effective. Try to craft a backlink building strategy that mirrors these types of sources and of course 10x it.For example, if you are a restauranteur you can look at your competitor's profiles. You may observe backlinks from review site which is highly effective. You would then take the strategy of also being on those review sites and concentrating your efforts to get more positive reviews than your competitors and having a better profile on them.Similarly, you may actually find something completely non-intuitive, such as a lot of traffic coming from a local directory, hotel, forum or Instagram. Sometimes you just don't know. Often your competitors might not know either and you can capitalise big league.20) Always build the easiest backlinks firstBuild the easiest backlinks first, backlinks are usually hard to procure and time-consuming. Trying to attain the toughest backlinks first just makes no sense. Therefore, start building the easiest backlinks first. The more links you get the and the better your site ranks the easier it will be to obtain more. Additionally, you only need enough backlinks to rank on page one there is no other ranking before number 1. So once you have enough for a certain keyword that enough and time to work on the next.Jumping back to creating a good foundation, optimising your website with internal backlinks is an ideal first step. Interlinking your blog post to relevant pages on your main site and vice versa can help you to establish valuable navigation channels throughout the website with anchor text. Interlinks can help you attain the following:Efficient user navigation and fewer click stepsEstablish information hierarchyUniform distribution of link juice with the websiteTag interlinks with meaningful and accurate anchor text for enhanced user experience. Also be mindful not to spam your pages with excessive interlinks no more than a total 100 links per page is acceptable with the bulk of your content being non-linked items.21) Avoid using Subdomains and linking from themIf you have broken your site up into subdomains to gain some extra SEO juice, recent you may have found your sub domain sites have disappeared. If possible you may want to revert back to having everything under one domain. Running different platforms out of a directory, such as a host/ or corporate/ instead of http://host.yourdomain.com or http://corporate.yourdomain.com.Research from Rand Fishkin of MOZ (Fishkin, 2016) illustrates that having everything under one domain is better for SEO. We have also, noticed the same situation with once high ranking subdomains has in the last year become invisible or only ranking in the most pathetic degree. Soon as we moved the subdomain website into a directory of the main domain it ranked within a week or two.22) Piggybacking off links from other your other relevant existing websitesThe easiest way to start building links is to try and procure them from your existing connections. For instance, if you are a distributor, you could offer your wholesalers an authorised reseller brand to add to their web pages. You can then provide a small script to add to their page which will link back to a branded image with anchor text backlink.Another easiest way to build links back to your website is by creating them on the websites you already own. Most savvy online marketers would own more than one website, if you are one of them, you can start creating relevant links back to your site. Ensure that you do not create links that do not fit the ‘link building relevancy factors’ listed above.While creating backlinks from your own websites, ensure that the anchor text used are natural and the end result is really useful for the users to reduce chances of high bounce rates.23) Use Youtube for branding optimising to build backlinks[updated 22/June/2017]Youtube is the second biggest search engine. Not many businesses would ignore ranking in BING, but many neglect Youtube. Making Videos is easy in relatity, but in thought most business owners and SEO artists consider it to be to much effort and then spend 12 months to get to page two. Creating Youtube videos can provide easy rankings, quality in terms of Googles rank brain and provide backlinks, click through and most improtantly more business.If your brand has a YouTube presence, it is very important to ensure that the account profile is optimised with a backlink to your target website. Building backlinks from videos uploaded under the same profile is also an ideal strategy to establish a good backlinking profile. You can easily get a link back to your website by including it in your video description, even though the link will be a Nofollow, it can still help you bring in potential customers, providing the video content quality is good enough (always shoot for x10 better).Additionally, make sure the youtube video is embedded on pages with matching the relevant content.This is a very effective method for eCommerce store product pages, which are typically hard to provide backlinks to all the pages. Ideally, create a professional product video. However, a product image slideshow set to some music and containing some headings will be good enough short term. The idea is just have something.Don't use someone else's video or link from someone else's channel, such as suppliers. All you will be doing is helping them. Make your own so it ranks as unique to you. Duplication can have issues around copyright and simple duplication penalisation even though it is a video (Note: Google is pretty relaxed around this since youtube is its own product, but this could change so be prepared to loose out randomly).The benefits of Youtube embeds on your website [Updated 09/March/2017]What we find in general is Google will rank a website higher if they have their own youtube content on it. So if you are looking for a simple low-cost way to get ahead this is the one. We have seen success in local markets with el cheapo Fiverr type branded explainer videos, Spokesperson videos. However, we would recommend you spend a little more and either create your own or get something original. After all, if Youtube can detect copyright material it eventually will penalise you for a video similar to many others. There are online tools to make your own videos and resources for stock video which you could easily overlay some text and audio, without too many tears. We use Adobe CC Premier Pro to make videos however we don't recommend it.Ranking Youtube Videos For Direct Sales [Updated 22/June/2017]This technique can be whitehat: however, it is a great blackhat technique with not a lot of risk for local businesses.Have you ever searched for something and found a video ranking in number one SERPs position or page one? Three Page One Position from my Youtube Ranking - This brings in about 3-5 enquires a month on average. Will I retire on it no, but combined with a couple hundred other rankings you have a busy business.Part of the art of ranking, but getting traffic is to make your links appear attractive and keyword rich. You must admit the ranking links from youtube videos are pretty attractive! Well, how do you get these videos to rank. The technic is actually fairly simple. It was something I was doing back in early 2009 to 2012 and sort of forgot about. Recently I have been reading posts and watching videos from Holly Stark, which have sparked my interest again in this SERPS ranking trick. I am getting great results for local businesses, eCommerce products and How To type videos which lead to sales funnnels.The Method of Ranking Youtube VideosDo keyword research and aim for lower competitive keywords at firstStep one create a video based around the topic or just a basic advertUpload it to your Youtube Channel(Just note if you go too crazy with the blackhat stuff you could loose your channel or get your web pages penalised)Add the keyword/phrase to the title and first in the descriptionWrite a nice long keyword laden descriptionAdd three to five hashtagsPublish the videoNow embed the video to your topic matching web page on your siteNow share the video via social media and ask friends to get click through and watch the video it often doesn't take a lot to rank them locally for low competitive terms that will pay.Blackhat Addons By doing this these you will greatly increase the risk of being penalised by Google. You can also be penalised by Facebook and possibly have your facebook page banned, blocked or your website URL banned or blocked. So you have been warned.Embed like crazy into many web2.0 websites, it doesn't seem to matter who or what they are at this point in time, the more the merrier it seems.Buy views, shares, web2.0 embeds and social signals through horrible spammy services like Konker or FivverEncourage people to search and watch your video ;) Don't use bots for this it doesn't seem to work based on the ones I used.Note: I did get a sad tale of an SEO noob who share his video embedded into his web page hundreds of times through his facebook page and fake FB accounts and got his page banned. Facebook is a fickle platform with no recourse, I have been recommending clients use domains and lead pages as there listed website rather than their actual domain name. There reason is if you do get banned your domain will like not be touched and you can rebrand a new business page without to many tears. Yes it will suck loosing your followers, but having your domain removed from everything on Facebook is much worse. I have seen this happen to legitimate paid adverts too, from just to negative flags so there are other reasons to do this too.24) Sign up for business citations and quality relevant directoriesGoogle prioritises business listing to such an extent that it is even included in the pertinent local search algorithm. Signing up with business directories is an easy task and the real takeaway is that most of these directories, gets you a Dofollow link. (Note: We notice a lot of bigger directories are doing a bait and switch with these links. First doing a follow then switching when they get bigger. Often this was part of a covert link exchange where you have been ultimately duped. This practice especially sucks if you were paying for it.)When you set out in the hunt for business directories, you are bound to encounter many. It is not advised to build links back to your site with just any directory that you come across. Take some time to skim through the directories and determine the quality of the existing websites within the directory. One way of checking the quality of the existing website is by determining the page and domain authority via your SEO monitoring tools. Start with the reputed directories like Google, Yahoo, Bing etc first.Note: Many costly directories have Nofollow links and produce little for most industries unless your market is older or nostalgic.Here is a list of the top 30 Australian directories#Local Citation SourceMoz Domain Authority1https://mapsconnect.apple.com/1002www.yellowpages.com.au873http://www.whitepages.com.au/824www.whereis.com785www.truelocal.com.au756www.yelp.com.au677www.brownbook.net668www.hotfrog.com.au609http://www.startlocal.com.au/5710www.womo.com.au5711www.street-directory.com.au5612www.dlook.com.au5113www.cylex.com.au4914www.opendi.com.au4715http://www.enterprisesearch.com.au/4616zipleaf.auz.net4617www.yalwa.com.au4418www.aussieweb.com.au4419http://bloo.com.au/4020www.aubiz.org4021https://www.bingplaces.com/3922www.localbd.com.au3923local.com.au3824www.localstore.com.au3625www.atozpages.com.au3526www.atug.com.au3427www.superpages.com.au3428www.australianguide.net/3429www.nationaldirectory.com.au3330reviewgoldcoast.com.au33Here is a list of the top 50 for global website directoriesGoogleBingYahoo!YelpFacebookBetter Business BureauAngie's ListMerchant CircleLinkedInYP.comWhitepagesSuperpages.comYellowbookCitySearchMapQuest/YextLocal.comFoursquareCitySlickUSDirectory.comDex MediaBizJournals.comTeleAtlasDiscover Our TownEZ LocalKudzuCityVoterMantaUsCityAdvice LocalInfoUSAInfignosGet FaveMy HuckleberryYelloweeMojoPagesBrownbookMagic YellowCitySquaresMap CreatorJudy's BookTripAdvisorThumbtackYellowPagesGoesGreen.orgHome AdvisorShowMeLocalChamberofCommerce.comYellowbotHotfrogBrownbookInsiderPagesNow, let's review the prep work to set up these listings and signing up with some of the major directories in the above list.Before you start this process make sure you have the follow readily.2-3 Business listing titlesSubmission email addressBusiness contact email addressBusiness phone numberSocial media links2-3 unique business descriptions (Typically 200 words max)Several logo image sizes (150px,300px square and rectangular is good)5 branded and related imagesBusiness ABN for Australian listingsMethod of paymentPhysical addressMailing addressKeywordsIt is very important to keep your address details exactly the same everywhere. We would also recommend creating a spreadsheet to keep track of who you are listed within case you need to go back and make changes.Note: Keep passwords in a password manager program, such as Password Manager, Auto Form Filler, Random Password Generator & Secure Digital Wallet AppMost important setup a Google’s business/place directory listingI gladly consider Google as the mother-of-all-search-engines and hence I strongly believe that the first directory that you need to sign up for should be Google’s business directory. The task of signing up with Google business is really simple, follow the below given steps to accomplish this task.Visit www.google.com/business and commence the sign-up process by clicking on the “Start Now” button.The page that follows will present you a map along with a form, which requests business information like name, country, street address, business category, business phone etc. Fill in the form and click on the “Continue” button.As the next step, Google will require you to confirm the listing. You can confirm the listing via phone or email. However, sometimes they require a postcard be sent with a code to confirm. You can choose one according to your convenience; I prefer telephonic confirmation as it is much faster than the email confirmation procedure.Once your listing is confirmed, you will be redirected to the Google My Business page with a pop-up that asks whether you need personalized tips and recommendations, you can choose ‘yes’ or ‘no’ (it is better to choose ‘no‘ for the time being as getting your link up there is the primary priority) and then click on "Get Started".My Business Page will load with the primary information that you submitted while signing up and you will have additional options to edit the information together with the option to add the website and other additional information.Click on the "Add website" button and enter the website address into the popup the follow. Click “Apply” to get done with the process.Google demands a moderation period of at least 24 hours to process your listing and acknowledge it. Once it is done, you will have a Google Business Listing for your business.Signing up with Yelp directoryAdding your business to Yelp directory is really easy. The first step is to check whether you are already listed on Yelp, visit https://biz.yelp.com/ and perform a search with your business name and location.If your business is not listed in the directory, you will be redirected to a page with the option to add your business listing.Clicking on the “Add your business to Yelp” brings you an online form which requests business information like Country, Business Name, Address, City, Email Address, Phone, Web Address etc.Once you have filled out the form, click on the “Add business” button to receive a confirmation mail.Click on the “Confirm email address” button embedded within the confirmation mail to confirm you listing.Akin to Google, Yelp also demands some moderation time, as soon as your business listing is live on Yelp, you will get an email confirmation. If you can fight through Goole and Yelp you will be able to deal with the other listings without to much hassle.25) Ask for niche specific guest post opportunitiesJust like blogging on your own website guest posting is great for creating an online profile and further backlinks. The bonus is you are talking directly to a potential audience relevant to your business or website. Guest posts are an ideal strategy to foster authority throughout the web in addition to bringing in potential traffic to your website. The backlinks can be gold in the beginning; however, akin to all the other link building strategies, the use and abuse of this strategy placed it under the Google’s watchful eye. So quality again is the name of the game.Today, Google’s search algorithm is designed to identify and penalise spammy guest posts. Therefore, it is essential to put in a bit of additional effort to find guest posting opportunities from websites that hold the good page and domain authority. Ensure that you really do add value and don't half ass the opportunity, as it can lead to more opportunities. The most valuable information via your guest post can come from anchor text within your post. Also, make sure your guest post author profile contains a backlink. That way users who like you can follow you from your websites.How do you find guest post opportunities? You can use specific search queries in Google to find guest posting opportunities. For instance, if your business revolves around fashion and you would like to find pertinent guest posting opportunity, you can use the following search queries.Fashion + "guest post"Fashion + "guest writer"Fashion + "contribute to"Fashion + "write for us"26) Build backlinks from your social media profile/sBuilding backlinks from social media profiles are one of the easiest and important link building strategies. After all social media sites are now basically the new major search engine, a source of traffic and a metric for ranking. However, you must create a business social media account to do it. (How to Setup Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+ for SEO)If you maintain a vibrant profile on social media, you are bound to get tonnes of followers> If your posting reflects nothing but quality, useful and new information you will generate plenty of click through and lots what is called reach (when someone shares your post to their followers). Additionally, often users will view your social profile as a sort of police check to see how you operate.All the great content you create and perhaps other sources of content you find you should share through your social media network. The extra click through from social will improve your website's authority and in turn rank. You will also improve your search results within the social media sites themselves. Many people now use Facebook and twitter etc as their primary search engine.Encourage staff to create their own work social media profiles Staff are often the biggest and most invested people in your business. Encourage them to create profiles as an extension of customer outreach. Have them link from their profiles and perhaps even27) Building links from broken domains and linksBuilding links from broken domains and links is an old but effective SEO strategy still today. The advantage associated with this strategy is that it is difficult to manipulate. What we mean here is, another SEO practitioners will find it really hard to replicate your backlinks so you will have a permanent edge over your competition.The ideal means to go about this type of link building strategy is to find expired domains relevant to your niche and redirect them to your website. You can either buy it directly from the owner or buy the domain from an expired domain clearing website. Then you just need to redirect the missing content in the backlinks to your relevant pages with 301 redirects.Another strategy of getting links back to your site is by finding broken links to other websites, mainly blog posts. There are several tools/plugins that can be used to identify niche specific broken links on third party websites, some of them are listed below:Check My LinksDomain Hunter PlusXenu’s Link SleuthUse these tools to find niche specific broken links and the next strategy would be to create an awesome piece of content relevant to the broken link. Once you have created the respective content, you can reach out to the webmaster via email and mention you found the missing link and that you can offer this suitable replacement. Yes, it does work because the webmaster with the broken link is in the same position as you. They don't want to be hurt for having a broken link but also don't want to loose the index for the page they have.28) Post and engage in niche relevant forums and blog comment Sections for backlinksBacklinks from forums and blog comments are really frowned upon. They mostly fall into the spammy category at best. If you overdo this, you may be penalised heavily by Google. Additionally, almost all forum and blog comment backlinks are tagged as “NoFollow”. However, if done correctly these backlinking strategies are still effective. The key is to appear to be genuine, slipping in buy from me all over the place is not going to work.You need to have a few key things, a profile with some age and activity relevant to what you plan to post. The content you post needs to appear to be a genuine attempt to add to the conversion. It is a long-term strategy as creating trust worth profiles takes time on forums.Putting it into action: If you are sharing valuable insight via blog comments or forum posts, you have no reasons to be concerned about getting penalised by Google or any search engine. Blog comments are one of the better ways to interact with niche influencers, you can always find the top influencers in your niche, interact with them, exchange ideas and probably learn more from them. This is something that will open up the opportunity to procure a link or even a mention from the respective influence, which can do wonders for your business. While commenting on a blog post, just focus on interaction with the author and forget the necessity of bringing visitors back to your site as that will come.Taking this a step further you could create other accounts or involve staff in the process. I don't want to advocate deceitful activity. However, it has been used to get many a startup off the ground. The basic strategy being to highjack the comment section with your own conversation and steer it for your own means. Reddit since the Donald Trump saga has been constantly highjacked by fake or coated commenters trying to steer conversations away from something negative or planting/controlling positive spin.Similarly, establishing 'yourself' as a niche Guru works well in forum websites. You can find beginners or intermediate professionals with different kinds of doubts and concerns with respect to different niches in most forum websites. Find forums relevant to your niche by using the search tactics like “your keyword + forum”. Join create a profile and provide find the right answers for the queries belonging to your niche and contribute in such a way that your insight adds value. Do a lot of research and post valuable threads and do not hesitate to post threads and ask questions, provided you have done sufficient research. This is not only a good way to network and gets new clients in the trenches, but it allows for you to post a sneaky backlink when relevant. The more you can interact with that thread the better it will rank and the juice will follow.Posting a link within your comment or forum thread/reply is not recommended unless and until it turns out to be an absolute necessity. Trying to win visitors via forum signatures is also not a good idea. The forum and the blog moderators will be keen to take down links which don’t seem natural. Just stick with the profile links and if you are successful in adding value to your conversation, people, especially potential customers, will not hesitate to do some research and find your website perpetuating the cycle of content, click, rank, search.29) Building backlinks via testimonials and reviewsEarning backlinks to your site via testimonials and reviews is a smart backlink building strategy. The first step is to get a list of products or services you have purchased in the past. For instance, if you own a beauty salon and if you have purchased any of the cosmetic products via Amazon, leaving a professional opinion about the product and comparing the same with its counterparts and outlining the pros and cons is a brilliant way of marking your professionalism and bringing back people to your website and eventually encourage walk-ins.Gifting testimonials to webmasters from whom you have purchased a product or service is another tactic to earn a backlink and most probably from the homepage of the respective website. If you have hired a web development company in the past, performing a background check on their profile and sending a testimonial that highlights their unique selling points or how efficient they were in listening and satisfying to your requirements is something that the webmasters will find too good to resist.It is all about quid pro quo, perhaps you suggest someone does a white paper, review or case study on your business ...along with said causal backlink! A lot of people who generate content struggle for ideas and giving them any easy one often means they will take it.Strategically places reviews on local citation websites [Updated 22/June/2017]If you look at any well ranked popular businesses their Google My Busness listing will have reviews from other high ranking sources in the SERPs view. Google calculates these reviews in its algorithm, especially for local and voice searches. You will be extremely downgraded if you have a high ratio of negative reviews to positive ones.Therefore, where possible direct your review funnels to the different citation sources you see on competitors listings in order to out review them on each. What you need is at least 5+ reviews on each source and a preference for most reviews going to Google. To outrank your competitors you want to have at least 5-10 more reviews than they have on each of the citations. Then direct reviews to the next source and repeat the cycle trying to keep them regular. If you do have an abundance of reviews just keep spreading them around as it does help to protect against the inevitable few negative reviews.In Australia, the best places to direct your reviews are; Google my Business, YellowPages, Truelocal and Facebook. All will positively and negatively affect your rankings. I'll note I normally recommend clients turn off the Facebook review feature even though it can be a very easy place to collect reviews. The reason is Facebooks appeal process is extremely slow and generally useless. If you combine this with an extremely easy method of posting negative reviews on Facebook it can be a major issue. Before you discount this because all your customers are happy and you do a great job, just remember negative reviews aren't always honest. One urgent reputation management job we had was a business who had a stellar 200+ FB reviews, then one morning they woke to find 500 negative reviews. The appeal process took forever even with evidence. The whole time the clients business had completely disappeared from Googles search results, as it was their only source of reviews.Note: Reviews left on your profile really need a reply to count.30) Earn backlinks by submitting to blogs and RSS directoriesIf you create content 10X better than your competitors, then submitting it to blog directories in addition to promoting them on social media will help you increase your conversion rates. In turn your backlink profile and ranking. The rule of thumb is to stick with the reputed and relevant blog directories if you wish to keep yourself away from the spammers; you can sign up with some paid directories. Most paid directories are free of spammers, choose a couple of directories which seem really relevant to your niche.You can also create content on sites like Medium – Read, write and share stories that matter, which is a mini blogging platform social media site. If you create a following you can boost your backlink profile and direct click through.Submitting to RSS directories is another innovative means to bringing in a large volume of traffic to your website. You can start by submitting to some of these reputed RSS directories:http://www.1abc.orghttp://www.bloghub.comhttp://www.addfreewebdirectory.comhttp://www.aaf14.orghttp://blogville.ushttp://fuelmyblog.comhttp://www.linkroo.com31) Earn backlinks to your website using infographicsInfographics are really an extension of image backlinking. However, they are more as they convey more content, which means they should get shared more on social media and visited more on your site.So when the information you want to convey is not too in-depth, infographics are a better means to present to readers. After all, an image can say a thousand words? As a matter of fact, infographics can impart information much more quickly and efficiently than a written piece of content. Consider these factors while creating infographics:Is the topic selected, the latest one?Does the topic require a really in-depth exploration and presentation? (If yes, creating infographics may not turn out to be a potential solution as you may end up confusing the readers or find it really difficult to incorporate a great volume of content).Does the infographic present a strong call to action?Have you done detailed research on the topicMost infographics mirror statistics, double check through research to figure out the statics are correct. Quality is key!Ensure your infographic is formatted as JPEG and format the dimensions to work for the platform you will post to. For example, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter all use different sizing. What will look great on Facebook may look rubbish on Instagram.There are lots of cool tools for creating infographics so you don't need to be a top graphic artist. Canva is great and currently our favourite after adobe's CC suite.Once you have created an infographic that presents 10x valuable information effectively. The next step is to submit it and get it shared. Obviously, post it to your own site and share it through social media. Additionally, there are specific infographic-friendly sites which we have listed sites.Premium Content Creation for Better MarketingSlideShare.netInfographic Database: Share the Info, Love the GraphicBest Infographics - Infographics blog - Infographic finderBusiness 2 Community - Top Trends, News & Expert Analysishttp://amazinginfographics.comBlog About Infographics and Data Visualization - Cool Infographicshttp://designyoutrust.comhttp://good.ishttp://infographicjournal.com32) Link building by email outreachTrying to build links via email, social media or even old school phone outreach is an effective strategy, provided you are contacting the right webmasters with the relevant website and with the right piece of compelling content. Relevance is key here.For instance, you can send a backlink request email, by pointing out some suggestions to improve the website of your target webmaster, foster a good relationship with them by sharing your suggestions to improve his blog or other insights on the site and earn yourself a position, from there you could ask for a link back to your site, guest post or collaboration.33) Conduct interviews for content and link sharing of the contentInterviewing the professionals in your niche is a great strategy to get some backlinks with high PR in addition to extra social media credibility. When you interview a professional in your niche and post the interview on your blog, he/she will link to the same from their website and/or social media channels. The website of the so-called influence from which you get a link is bound to be a high traffic and authority website.In addition to earning a link, you also stand a good chance of earning some additional shares on social media. You might need little or no convincing for the influencer to share the respective interview blog from his/her audience.This can also be done as a paid interview and it can be well worth it. Just choose your expert wisely they are not all equal. The best times to approach them are when they are looking to promote one of their own offerings.Create link bait posts for high volume sharing and authority earningCreating a link bait posts or blog is one of the better ways to earn backlinks with authority. While easy said than done there is a process which can be broken down into several steps.Finding an intriguing or trending topicWriting 10x better content than the content already present on the web regarding the topicOptimising the headline and images for different social media platformsIdentifying the right hashtags and mentions to post with your topicGetting a list of influencers to reach out for procuring more shares and backlinksFinding relevant communities within the social media platforms to circulate the topicPerhaps spending some advertising money to share your post of social mediaJoining or paying to be part of a co-promotion collective for blogs/content, like copromote.The task of finding an intriguing topic can be achieved in different ways:One way of finding a high potential topic is by shadowing the blogs or social media profiles of your most successful niche stars. Figure out what they are working on and how they are presenting it and try to establish an awesome piece of content that beats their content from all the perspectives. The 10x method.Another means to find an interesting topic is to follow the social media profiles of top officials, brands or accepted influencer. For instance, if you are a sports shoe retailer specialising in limited Nike Jordans and other cool shoes, you can visit the Nike home website, social media profiles and join exclusive mailing newsletter lists to learn about the most recently offerings and news. You can then break this news and expand on it to your audience faster and better than others. Often who breaks the news first wins.My favourites are Google trends, Twitter hashtag trends and Facebook trends. These sites present and track what is trending on their platforms. If you can predict a trend you can capitalise by righting matching content. Last year we predicted heavily on Donald Trump and got huge gains from it.Lastly, using tools like Buzzsumo gives you an idea of the most shared content on the web with respect to keyword topics. Being able to measure the predicted potential audience can save a lot of tears when you spend hours writing something to get 2 people read it. If you research a topic and the max shares it has ever attracted is under 10, you know not to spend 2 weeks on it. However, if the share value is potentially epic and current you know to put the special sauce on it. I don't want to discourage you either, it is possible nothing share-worthy has been created on the topic.34) How to Create Google Stacks and do they work[Added 22/June/2017] This seems more of a sales pitch at the moment, but the idea is you can create Google based docs, slideshows, images, website, Map listings in a public Google Drive folder and backlink them to your target website or page using anchor text. They are supposed to be powerful because you are using the Google domain.We are still testing this currently, the results so far are mixed, but we haven't found any negative effects thus far. The logic is somewhat correct however Google is way ahead of the game so I don't believe it to be the massive loophole it's being sold as.How To Make A Google Stack1) You'll need a Google Account, don't use anything important.2) Create a Google Drive Folder and Share it publically.3) Now create 1-5 Maps, One Document, One Spreadsheet, One Google Website, One Image, one PDF.All using one keyword only and link to your target site.My suggestion is to spend time on these and make them good if it is to be directed and ranked towards your brand.Now share, link, embed your docs.It is fairly simple to execute and likely the more genuine the better if it does work. Comment or email me if you have any concrete data on Google Stacking.35) Ranking PDFsI haven't used this for a long while, but it should still work. The idea is to publish your content in .pdf format. In its basic whitehat SEO form you can just provide a link to the pdf off a topic related page in its notorious format you could be spamming it everywhere from torrents to forums.Techniques of ranking pdfs1) The title should be H1 heading and start with your keyword2) The first paragaph will get picked up as the description normally2) Share awayBack in the day, I used this to out rank a couple big financial institutions for loans to great effect.36) Charity / Donation BacklinksThe concept here is very simple you make a donation to a worthy site and in return they give you a link back to your target site and maybe some naming rights, such as this site http://www.seopanel.in/donate, Australian one is AWIA or the Retired SEO workers gild ;). For this to work you want a website with a strong domain authority upwards of 40-50+. Also you want to see that they rank. You don't want to be parting with money for a link that will drag you back down the rankings. Setup is pretty straight forward.The hard part is finding the buggers. Some good Gogle search terms to find them are;'donation list’ + ‘contributors'*'contributors page’ + ‘donate.’Happy donatingSummaryThat was epic, I am exhausted! Now you know the best possible means to manually create backlinks for your website in 2017 (Note: look to understand the manual process of backlinking and then look to automating and outsourcing as much as possible. The strategy takes brains the execution not so much). The trick of the trade is to be creative in addition to investing lots of time and effort. Remember to have patience and do not be discouraged by failures. A backlink building strategy like email outreach can be a real patience tester. The secret to success here is “Sweat + Creativity”. Always focus on high-quality backlinks from a reputable website as they can do the job of 1000 low-quality backlinks. If you need any assistance or want to hire us for your SEO just leave a comment or send an email.Download a this blog as a document hereThis article was originally posted here, at the Mebsites’ // Medmedia’s blog. If you have any other questions, feel free to contact me here or on my website. Also we don’t robo post or respond we watch all our posts and respond swiftly in person.Bibliography:Website Design Agency - Reviews ★★★★★ (117+) - LIVE CHAT. (2016, 30 Jul ) Correlation between conversion rates & user generated reviews [webblog] Retrieved 7 March 2017, from http://mebsites.com/blog/correlation-between-conversion-rates/Mozcom. (2017, no-date). Technical Site Audit Checklist: 2015 Edition . [Weblog]. Retrieved 17 January 2017, from https://moz.com/blog/technical-site-audit-for-2015Fishkin, R. (2016, August 02). 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