Mobilegeddon is here

Has your website survived Mobilegeddon?

On April 21, a major event took place in the online world. You may not have noticed Mobilegeddon, but the effects were huge. Google updated its algorithm to favor mobile-friendly websites – meaning that if your site wasn’t already mobile-optimized, your ranking dropped considerably. Hopefully by then, you had read this report from Business News Daily and prepared for the changes but, if you still haven’t, here’s what you need to know.

Factors that google takes into account include; readability, ressponsiveness and the use of software such as Flash, which tends to cause issues with mobile devices. Fortunately, Google makes it easy to check our site with their Mobile-Friendly Test, which also has information on how to mobile-optimize your site.

If you use Google Webmaster Tools, you can also generate a Mobile Usability Report and find exactly where possible issues exist.

Get a mobile office and free up your time

When you can work from anywhere, you gain A LOT of time.

A lot of people think that a mobile office just means that you’ll be working longer hours but the truth is that you’re vastly more able to set your own hours, get things done faster and have the lifestyle you choose (that’s not even counting the gaining the time normally spent commuting).

The trick is to focus on using technology to make tasks quicker and cut out distractions so that don’t end up in the same position as before.

The guys from Digital Samurai For Hire recently shared their preferred setup with DigitalShortcuts.net while they were interstate.

The online marketing advantage of being able to work from anywhere is that you can be immediately relevant, create interesting content and interact in real time.

 

How to get recommendations with LinkedIn

LinkedIn recommendations are easier than you think.

The power of referrals is well appreciated by everyone who’s had to claw their way to more clients so it goes without saying that any way you can generate more referrals is worth its weight in gold. That’s where LinkedIn comes in – and it’s free!

So what’s the secret?

Ask.

This probably seems overly simplistic but it’s an incredibly effective approach. It does require a methodical approach, however. Luckily, HubSpot has put together this detailed guide which includes an email template.

The basic idea is to target specific people with the skills to write a high-quality recommendation. You then approach this connection and ask them – making sure to offer some form of value. An added bonus of this approach is that it strengthens your relationship with the people you approach – leading to increased opportunities in the future.

 

Blogging Outside The Box

There’s a whole lot more you can do with your blog than simply publishing it and linking to it on facebook and twitter. For example, if you turn your blog post into a Powerpoint slideshow, you can post it on SlideShare and reach a whole new audience with much less competition.

Or how about turning it into an infographic and publishing on Instagram and Pinterest?

There are so many new platforms out there which can easily be used with a little creativity. Search Engine Journal have a great guide to transforming and spreading your blog even further.

Get The Most From Your Facebook Videos

It goes without saying that video is the most powerful weapon of engagement an online marketer can have so most of you are probably already on board and posting video content on facebook. What you might not know is that the method you use to post a video can have a big impact on your results.

Jason Surfrapp at Jason Does Stuff has put together a great Guide to getting around facebook’s quirks.

Facebook does as much as it can to drive you to upload your video content to facebook and share from there so why do it any other way? Well, that’s where the rocky relationship between facebook and seemingly EVERY other platform comes in. Google, for example, won’t show your facebook videos in its results, which limits your organic traffic.

The solution? The best approach so far is to upload an image and link this to your video. It means your video can’t be played within the News Feed but the numbers indicate that this isn’t too terrible a thing. This also means that you can choose a better converting image (which will also be displayed in a larger format), rather than simply using the classic video thumbnail.

The almighty play button won’t be there either but if you simply post a link to a video, facebook will remove that anyway in the News Feed so you’re no further behind.

The Dreaded Bad Review – How To Come Out Ahead

For online businesses, the time comes when someone eventually isn’t happy about something related to your services and they decide to make it publicly known. This moment can be harrowing, overwhelming, and discouraging – but it needn’t be. The truth is, every online business has to deal with unsatisfied customers in the public domain occasionally and the guys who do it best can even turn an apparent service fail into a huge customer service success and come out ahead.

This task is made even easier with the Online Marketing Dashboard’s “Brand Presence” tool which allows you to instantly track all mentions and reviews of your brand and respond immediately. How you respond, though can potentially have a huge impact on your brand. In this example from entrepreneur.com, you’ll find some great advice on dealing specifically with Yelp reviews.

“Unhappy zone in Three Oaks, Michigan” by Kevin Dooley is licensed under CC by 2.0.

Get ahead of the pack with Reddit

Reddit is famously known for breaking content several days before facebook. Don’t let the super basic interface fool you – some of the biggest players in the online community are heavily involved in this simple bulletin board system, which now boasts Snoop Dogg and Jared Leto as major stakeholders.

Viral posts start here.

It’s often as simple as going straight to reddit.com and skimming through the list of trending posts. Failing that, you can search for keywords more closely related to your area or search for subreddits (categories).

Check out this nifty guide to getting set up on Reddit

The 5 Critical Steps of Digital Marketing

Kim Jones interviews Ronnie Tsunami about the five critical steps of digital marketing, which help entrepreneurs to avoid being overwhelmed.

 

Intro to Market Research

Let’s dive into the basics of market research so that you have a better understanding of how to begin the process properly.