It seems that everyone’s a blogger now, or at least runs their website on WordPress or other similar content management software. Now that many markets are saturated with the same kind of site, sporting all the cool SEO plugins, SEO friendly features, and maybe even some great content, we’re all on more equal footing compared to 5 years ago.
Back then if you just slapped up a blog and half-heartedly went at it, you could outscore older, more linked sites. I did it every day. And I knew it would all equal out at some point.
Today, Google still loves blogs, per se, but what they really love is what “the people” love. The focus has gone from “wow that sure is a nice, seo friendly site” to “wow that sure is (or isn’t) some good content you got there!”
Not only that, but serious weight has been increasingly given to social indicators for relevance. In short, if people are talking about your site, it counts now more than ever toward your rankings. (Hint: Get active on Google+)
So what is the order of the day in getting noticed above all the noise in your part of the web?
It’s quite simple really. If you’re from the old school SEO days, you know how much easier it has gotten to rank in some ways. We used to be spreadsheet millionaires. Data geeks. Now, we’re laying some of our best content out in public for the engines and humans to fawn over and rank us.
Simple, if you can make a clean break with the past and really start sharing, engaging, and offering up what used to get locked up in paid products and services. Back when the web was a different beast and high quality content wasn’t stacked so deep, and available for free.
Here are 4 easy tips to stepping into the new web with your blog marketing:
1. Get active on Hangouts on YouTube.
This is easy with Google Hangouts on Air. Have a Hangout and choose to broadcast it live. When you’re done, it automagically uploads to your YouTube account, and, you’ll usually notice a spike in your Circle (follower) count as a result!
Remember to go and add a description to your YouTube recording of the Hangout, tag it, and embed it on your site and any other site you control. Make sure you link your G+ and YouTube accounts together in your YouTube settings.
2. Get Networky
Links still play a big role in your rankings. But the only links worth spending time getting are the harder ones to get nowadays. You have to show up on other sites’ stages, in front of your target market, to get the right kind of link love and direct traffic to your site. So guest posting is kind of a big deal now, even though the Titans of guest posting have been doing it for years.
Make friends with people in much higher places than you currently hold on the web, and contribute to their success by contributing some of your best content for their exclusive use. The rewards are some of the greatest rewards available on the web for any blog marketer.
3. Chill out on the heavy SEO
Google is not so fond of people doing the old school SEO anymore. Make sure that whomever is giving you advice on SEO is talking about the new stuff and not just parroting the old junk that doesn’t work anymore.
4. Figure out your social angle
I don’t care if you just sell three-legged stools. There is always a way to be engaging on social networks without boring people to death about three-legged stool history and construction. Find your place and study others who have taken a boring product, like insurance, and made it into something exciting. (Hint: Don’t talk about insurance all the freakin’ time!)
Today’s web demands that everyone who formerly hid behind their products and services be more out front. We are people before we are business or blog owners. This is just the way it is nowadays and there is no alternative to being social and “real” on the web. That is, unless you just don’t like getting ranked and getting traffic without paying for it.
Take my word for it, this crazy social web we have today is a lot more fun to market on than the clunky one-way conversations we used to have in the old days. We have a lot more opportunities to get in front of our ideal audience now than ever before. You just have to decide to have some fun with it and learn from people who have obviously cracked the code to get noticed in a big way in their niche.