There’s an ugly side to local search engine optimization through Google My Business (GMB). A major flaw in how GMB accounts work can compromise a brand’s reputation. Most organizations aren’t aware of the issue until it affects them. By then, it’s a complicated mess to resolve (if you’re lucky enough to settle the matter at all). So, what’s this 5-alarm fire raging over on the Google My Business platform? Well, did you know that anyone can create a GMB account for your business, even if they don’t work there or have any affiliation with it? Worse yet, that same person can then run the account, posting anything they’d like about your brand. Scary, innit? If this is news to you, then brace yourselves for the ugly truth. In this blog, we delve into this potential nightmare and offer tips on what to do if your organization becomes an unwitting victim. What is Google My Business?Google My Business is a free tool provided by search engine giant Google. It allows businesses to manage their online presence through Google, which includes how prospective customers find them through another popular Google service called Google Maps. By creating and verifying a business listing, you can update your information—address, hours of operation, phone number, website—and post other information like updates and photos. Customers can review your products or services and you can respond to those reviews. Google My Business guarantees your brand gets found during a Google search when industry-relevant keywords are used for your products or services. The GMB listing appears in the top right of the search engine page, helping your organization become front and center for searchers. Why do organizations need a Google My Business account?Brick-and-mortar businesses and other organizations that want to boost their local visibility on search engines rely on Google My Business to get found online. At least, that’s the trick if someone is using Google to search for a product or service your company provides. Rival search engines like Bing and Yahoo don’t bring up GMB accounts (imagine that!). Some of the benefits of creating and managing a GMB account for your brand include:
Who can create a Google My Business account for your brand?Before you can get the full benefits of a GMB account, you must either create one or take control of one already created by another person. Herein lies the rub. You might go through the steps to create an account, only to find out someone has already established one for your business. This recently happened with two of The Write Reflection’s clients. Navigating through this unfortunate situation felt like being trapped in the 9th circle of hell from Dante’s Inferno. If you’re lucky, it was one of Google’s bots that created the listing. Sometimes they do that because they think they’re being helpful little AIs. They come across your website or social media while crawling the web and discovering your information. A quick scan shows you don’t already have a GMB listing, so they create one for you. That’s the best-case scenario because it’s easier to claim the listing and control it. You’ll know if this is the case if you see a “Claim This Business” option on the GMB account. However, sometimes a direct competitor or disgruntled former employee or customer can create a GMB listing in your business’s name. When that happens, buckle up because you’re in for a bumpy ride. Navigating the 9th circle of GMB hellWhat can you do if you discover someone created a GMB listing for your business and Google denies you access to it? Contacting Google Help directly is highly recommended. You must speak to a real person at Google. Otherwise, you’ll find yourself banging your head off your desk in frustration. Here are two scenarios The Write Reflection’s clients recently encountered with GMB and how we resolved the issue. Scenario #1: Someone has created a listing in your name.Let’s take the worst-case scenario. A former employee who involuntarily left your company decides the best way to get some sweet revenge is to create a GMB listing and populate it with disinformation. To make matters worse, they convince a few of their friends to get onto the listing and create horrible reviews of your products or services. When Joe Schmo starts typing in an industry-relevant keyword for your brand, the GMB listing is the first thing they see. It doesn’t exactly leave a glowing impression of your business, so they keep scrolling until they find a competitor instead. This was the case for one of our clients who depends on local SEO to find new customers for his business. The GMB listing came up, but it was filled with incorrect information. So, searchers moved on to one of the three other businesses in the area that provide the same services. Our client was hemorrhaging new leads and needed to stop the bleeding. The solution We first tried to request access and verify our client as the authorized representative for the account. Google had us jump through several hoops in the name of verification, and finally granted us access. However, the victory was short-lived, because within a few minutes of authorizing our control, Google suspended the GMB listing without further explanation. As a final resort, we contacted Google Help directly. A detailed explanation of the situation, plus providing information that proved our client was the legitimate owner of the business, finally did the trick. Google reversed its suspension and handed over full control. Problem solved. Scenario #2: Someone has hijacked control of your account.Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but there’s something even worse than having an unaffiliated person create a GMB listing in your business’s name. It’s possible to hijack a GMB account simply by asking Google for permission, and then hoping the authorized person doesn’t intervene in time to cancel the request. All someone must do is go to an existing GMB listing and request Google add them as an authorized manager. There’s a handy feature to make this super easy, which only encourages nefarious actors to engage in this kind of behavior. Once you request access, Google sends an email to the GMB account manager on record. Here’s where it can go downhill quickly. You only have 3 days to respond to that email to refute the request for access. If you don’t see the email in time, Google assumes your non-response is an A-OK sign and hands over the keys to the kingdom. The solution We had a local business come to us for assistance in this situation. The first thing we did was request access. However, the hijacker made sure they denied our request, so Google wouldn’t let us in. Because the information posted to the account was potentially damaging to our client’s reputation, we reached out to Google directly and explained the situation. Once again, we jumped through hoops to verify our client was the legitimate owner of the business. Google removed the other individual from the account and authorized our access. What are some other hidden issues with Google My Business?Unauthorized access to your account is just one issue you can experience with Google My Business. Failing to keep your GMB listing updated can prevent customers from finding your brick-and-mortar location or reaching out to you. If you have a phone number, address, or website change, it’s critical to update that information on your GMB listing immediately. Consumers get frustrated quickly when they can’t find you to do business with you. They’ll simply move on to a competitor who cares enough to keep their online information accurate. Another potential landmine is negative reviews and low ratings. Sometimes competitors and former employees get onto GMB listings and cause problems by leaving negative feedback. Failure to monitor and respond to this issue can harm your brand’s reputation. AuthorShari Berg has known she wanted to be a writer since she was old enough to hold a pencil in her hand. She believes everyone has a story to tell, and it’s her job to discover it. Shari owns The Write Reflection, a Pittsburgh-based copywriting and content writing company that empowers small business owners to wield the power of words.
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It’s the age-old question most website content writers dread: which comes first, the copy or the design? Depending on who you ask, you can get wildly differing opinions on the matter. Prospective clients who ask me this question get a straightforward answer. Websites must lead with content, not design. It’s a bold statement. One that can be backed up with evidence for naysayers who argue that design is more important than content. Design needs to work for the content, not the other way around. If you’ve followed me for any amount of time, you know that I believe in a “people first, SEO second” approach to content writing. Putting people first requires an emphasis on content over design. Now, I’m not going to argue that website design isn’t important. It’s part of creating a seamless user experience (which search engines like and reward). Websites must load fast. They need to be visually appealing. But none of that matters if the meat of the website – your content – is subpar. What role does design play in search engine ranking?Remember when I said I wouldn’t argue that website design wasn’t important? It’s because I know that a poorly-performing website hurts ranking with search engines like Google. Think about the last time you visited a website on your mobile device. Did it load quickly, or did you end up abandoning it because you spent far too much time watching that swirly “loading” icon on your screen? Even worse than a website page that loads slowly is one that is so jam-packed with visuals and text that it’s difficult to navigate or read. You need both a well-designed, user-friendly website design and high-quality content to perform well with search engines. Giving a website designer content to inspire the design is one of the most effective ways to ensure you have both. What is effective website content?Website content extends beyond the written word. Yes, your website needs an About Us section and a landing page that converts traffic to sales. However, effective website content can – and should – include graphics, photos, and videos that complement the words on the page. One of the quickest ways to boost engagement on your website (or social media) is with a high-quality video. That’s because the human brain processes visuals 60,000 times faster than text. Just one minute of a well-scripted video can replace 1.8 million words. Another way to boost engagement (and credibility) is with infographics that illustrate a point you’re making in your content. Visuals speed up processing time, which is crucial for decision-making. The sooner a visitor to your website (or social media) determines you’re credible, the quicker they’ll decide to do business with you. One caveat about graphics: go original when possible. Using stock photography and other graphics can hurt your search engine ranking because you may be using the same visuals that thousands of other companies are using on their websites. Custom photography and graphic design make your content stand out, increasing your brand’s credibility. What is the role of content on a website?Educating and informing visitors to your website is the role of content. Through blogs, case studies, and other content strategies, you can let people know what you stand for and how they can benefit from doing business with your brand. It’s not an exaggeration to say that content is the key to your marketing efforts. All forms of digital marketing—blogs, case studies, eBooks, infographics, videos—can be incorporated into a website that leads with content. Quality content:
What if the website is already designed?It can be trickier if you’re asked to create content for a website that’s already designed. I’ve been in this position more than once. While not ideal, it can be done with some consideration. First, if the website design looks and feels cluttered, don’t be afraid to make recommendations for necessary changes. No one wants to redesign their website from scratch, but sometimes there are practical adjustments that can be made to help your content streamline seamlessly with an already-designed site. One of the most important aspects of design that can easily be altered is graphics and videos. Too many can bog down the loading time for a web page, which frustrates visitors to your site. Graphics can be optimized for faster loading using website plug-ins (or by writing HTML code). For videos, stick to no more than one per page. While videos can draw attention quickly, they also can affect the user experience if they are awkwardly positioned on the page or take too long to load and play. Make sure all videos are compressed to prevent this mistake. Next, look at the visuals provided and craft content that complements it. Remember, when it comes to website content, more is not necessarily better. Keep your descriptions short and to the point. Use H2 headers to separate ideas if the website design lends itself to them. Doing so can boost your search engine ranking. Inverted pyramid methodOne of the most helpful tips for crafting content for your website is to use the inverted pyramid method. It works by placing the most essential pieces of information at the top of the page and declining in order of importance. Using a traditional storytelling method can help you organize your content in order of importance. Start with a catchy title that grabs visitors’ attention. Follow it with a compelling introduction to your brand that is clear and concise. Don’t forget to include a conflict and resolution section to demonstrate how your products or services add value. The conclusion of your story must feature a strong call-to-action that prompts visitors to take a specific action. What do you want them to do now that they’re hooked on your brand? Subscribe to a newsletter? Click the “learn more” option? Whatever it is, make it clear so you don’t lose a prospective customer who’s already on the hook. How do you get quality content for your website?Everyone thinks they can write—until they try. Then they quickly discover that creating compelling website content that converts is harder than it looks. Working with a content specialist can improve your chances of meeting your content marketing goals. Don’t leave your website content to chance. Reach out today to schedule your complimentary consultation to get your website content producing sustainable growth for your brand. AuthorShari Berg has known she wanted to be a writer since she was old enough to hold a pencil in her hand. She believes everyone has a story to tell, and it’s her job to discover it. Shari owns The Write Reflection, a Pittsburgh-based copywriting and content writing company that empowers small business owners to wield the power of words. “I find it interesting you claim to have done SEO for more than 20 years when Google hasn’t been around that long.” That was the statement I was met with two weeks ago from someone claiming there was no such thing as an SEO copywriter. It came after I tried to explain what an SEO copywriter is (and is not) and how the most skilled in the trade work their magic. After my helpful explanation – which included my years of experience – I was challenged to prove my credentials. To make a long story short, I gave the person a brief history of search before Google came along. Yes, search engine optimization, or SEO for short, existed before search engine giant Google entered the scene in 1998. As hard as that is for some to imagine, Google isn’t the “OG” search engine. It got me thinking that maybe others truly do not understand how search worked before Google launched. Maybe they’re too young to remember the days of clunky dial-up internet and even clunkier search engines. Or maybe they simply never thought much about SEO because they don’t need to use it. If you fall into either of these categories, then this blog is for you. What is a search engine?Before we can talk about search engines, I should probably define them. If you want the techy explanation, here goes. According to our friends at techopedia, a search engine is, “a service that allows Internet users to search for content via the World Wide Web.” Here’s the more exciting explanation, courtesy of me. Users (that’s you) sit in front of their electronic devices that are connected to the internet. If you’re among 59.72% of internet users globally, that device is your cell phone. Let’s say you’re searching for an auto repair place to fix your car’s muffler. You might ask Google (or Bing or any other search engine) “find car repair places near me.” And just like magic – POOF – a list of mechanics close to your home pops right up. Neat, innit? You can thank search engines for that capability. They’re designed to scour the internet to find exactly what you’re looking for and deliver a handy list of possibilities right to your device. SEO copywriters also have a little something to do with how search engines work, but we’ll get to that later. Why do you need search engine optimization?Do you want to be found? If you answered no to that question, then you can stop reading this blog. However, I’m willing to bet if you own a business, I got a resounding yes to that query. You can’t scrimp on search engine optimization these days. With 85% of Americans going online daily for something, you’re missing the opportunity for new and repeat business if you’re not coming up in search. Search engine optimization is a complex beast. There’s SEO content strategy, link-building, local SEO, on-page SEO, and off-page SEO (to name a few). It’s best to hire an SEO expert who can help your brand navigate through the SEO process if you want to achieve success. Now that we know what a search engine is and why you need to include search engine optimization in your digital marketing plan, let’s dive into how people managed to find anything before Google hit the search engine scene. How did people search before Google?It can be difficult to remember a time B.G. – Before Google. Alas, it existed, and people were searching for things online even back then. User intent isn’t a new concept in SEO. It’s always been a thing. However, how search engines ranked content was entirely different in those prehistoric days of the World Wide Web. Back then, it was all directory-driven. If you’re wondering what the heck that means, let me explain. Directories were human-driven. There were editorial teams for early search engines who decided on content ranking. They would manually explore website pages and other online content and classify it into a category. Directories were super for local search. You could call them the early version of Google My Business. There were more than a few early search engines. Some are worth mentioning. Others, not so much. Here are some of my personal favorites. AltaVistaAltaVista launched in December 1995. To this day, I have fond memories of this search engine. It was the first fully searchable, full-text database that was both accessible and user-friendly. Don’t get me wrong – AltaVista certainly wasn’t fancy. But it got the job done. The search engine was bought out twice – once by Overture, again by Yahoo – before it went offline around 2013. I could be wrong, but I often suspect Google’s creators were taking notes on how smooth the user experience was on AltaVista to incorporate some of those features into their search engine. ExciteExcite launched the same year as AltaVista. Designed by six students from Stanford University, it was one of the first search engines that did more than simple searches. It had portals for news and weather, an email service, an instant messaging service, and a fully-customizable homepage. Its creators continued to expand and improve services, including the 1996 purchase of WebCrawler and exclusive agreements with technology companies like Apple and Microsoft. Excite was bought out by AskJeeves (now Ask.com) in March 2004. It still exists in some form today but is not nearly as popular as it was during its heyday. Yahoo!Yahoo! was one of the most well-known search engines before Google became a household name. It went live online in 1995 and still survives to this day. Starting in 2021, it added other services to its search engine capabilities like Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Mail, and Yahoo News. It may not be Google, but Yahoo is still one of the most popular websites by web traffic in the world. The Wild, Wild West of SEOBack in the early days of SEO, it felt a lot like living in the Wild West. Competition was fierce. Someone was always challenging your brand to a duel online to see who would come out on top. What made it tricky was most of the SEO tools that exist today weren’t in play back then. You had on-page SEO and that was it. Unfortunately, the lack of SEO strategies contributed to shady practices like Black Hat SEO. SEO keyword stuffing was a big thing in those days. If a competitor used an SEO keyword for your industry 50 times in a piece of content, the only way to beat them was to use it 100 times (or more). You can thank those limited SEO practices of yesteryear for most of the spammy, crappy content floating around on search engines today. Thankfully, Google finally has seen the error of its ways and launched its Helpful Content Update. Thankfully, I never engaged in that nonsense, even back then. I knew then, as I know now, that quality content is the best way to rank well online. My early on-page content that’s still floating around on the interwebz today ranks just as well now as it did back then. Journalism: the key to SEO geniusOne of the things that made me so good at on-page SEO back then was my journalism background. I knew how to tell a story. People got hooked early and stayed until the call to action (even when the CTA was subtle). Research was my thing, so I didn’t spew random and unverified “facts” in my content. I regularly included industry experts in my pieces so that readers felt like they learned something from a person who had been there and done that. I still use my journalism skills to create top-ranking SEO content today. My clients are amazed at how fast I can get their pages ranking at the top without cheating the system. I don’t need luck to continue the winning streak. All I need to do is stay the course while producing high-quality content. Search engine algorithms are fickle. They change at the drop of a dime. It’s why while I pay attention to SEO industry trends, I never stray from the journalistic formula for creating content because it works. If you’re ready to stop paying SEO shillsters for subpar content that doesn’t convert, reach out to me today to schedule a free consultation. AuthorShari Berg has known she wanted to be a writer since she was old enough to hold a pencil in her hand. She believes everyone has a story to tell, and it’s her job to discover it. Shari owns The Write Reflection, a Pittsburgh-based copywriting and content writing company that empowers small business owners to wield the power of words. Building brand authority requires creating quality content that establishes your credibility. Think of it as street cred for the internet. Many organizations struggle with this part of establishing their bona fides because they try to take a short cut with their content creation. They get sucked into the game of producing SEO keyword stuffed drivel that prioritizes search engines over the humans reading it. It’s nearly impossible to shape a stellar impression of your brand if visitors to your website and social media feeds are greeted by inferior content. Google finally has realized the error of its algorithm’s ways and has set out to correct course. By now, most people have heard about Google’s Helpful Content Update. If you’re among the few who missed the newsflash, here’s the long and short of it: Google is going to start rewarding content that puts people first, not search engines. Good thing for me that my business motto is, “People First. SEO Second.” I’ve always put readers first when writing content for myself or any of my clients. Getting people to your website or other online content is only the first part of the battle. If your content sucks, they won’t stick around (or come back) for more. Building brand authority takes time and skill. One of the tools in your growth strategy should include HARO. We’ll talk more about that later. First, let’s break down why you should care about brand authority. What is brand authority?Brand authority is all about trust. Not just trust in your product or service, either. Brand authority should extend to include how your current and prospective customers view your organization as a trustworthy source of information. You may have heard branding strategists and other marketing professionals talk about establishing yourself as an industry leader or niche authority. That’s just a fancy way of saying when you post something online, people believe it. Let’s say you’re a physical therapist with a large customer base and online presence. If you create a social media post about a new product to help with stretching that can reduce the risk of injury, your followers won’t doubt your recommendation because they believe you’re an expert on the matter. That’s brand authority. Why do I need to build brand authority?Organizations that want to be successful care about brand authority. If no one trusts your brand or has doubts about buying your products or services, they’re going to spend their money elsewhere. Trust goes beyond encouraging people to try your brand. It’s a critical component of keeping customers once you have them in the fold. Brand authority mustn’t be confused with brand awareness. You can know a brand exists, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you want to buy their products. An organization can be stellar at getting their name and products out there. However, that doesn’t mean they have a good product or service that people trust and rely on. Unilever is a great example of brand authority. Under former CEO Paul Polman, the company redirected its focus from profitability to sustainability. The result was a positive social impact through its Unilever Sustainable Living Plan that reinforced the company’s business integrity and resonated with consumers. Although its focus wasn’t on profitability, Unilever managed to increase its earnings over the eight years it spent concentrating on profit through purpose. What is HARO?As previously mentioned, HARO is one of the most effective ways to build brand authority. If you’re wondering what the heck HARO is, let me explain. Help A Reporter Out – HARO for short – pairs journalists and other media outlets with reputable sources they can quote in their articles. Media outlets like ABC News, Chicago Tribune, Fox News, Reuters, The New York Times, Time, and Wall Street Journal all rely on HARO to find industry experts for their articles. You must sign up for a membership to reap the benefits but it’s worth the effort. There are four membership levels from which to choose:
How does HARO build brand authority?Now that you know what HARO is, you’re probably wondering how you can use it to build brand authority. It’s quite simple. Depending on the plan you’ve chosen, start looking for opportunities that fit your niche. Let’s say you’re a pediatrician interested in growing your practice. You could use HARO to find opportunities to speak to local reporters about health and wellness issues affecting children. Once you see a good fit, submit a response to their query through the platform and wait to see if they select you. The Write Reflection™ has had great success getting clients featured as industry experts using HARO. We’ve matched brands with journalists from high authority web domains, bloggers, and sites with the most interactive followers. Tips for increasing your chancesAs you can probably imagine, there are a lot of brands vying for attention on HARO. You must find a way to help your brand stand out in a crowd if you want to be chosen as the industry expert. Here are some tips for making it happen:
How do I use HARO to build brand authority?It’s all about the backlinks, baby. A lot of organizations take short cuts when trying to get backlinks, including using Black Hat SEO techniques. Quick results can end up hurting your brand authority in the long run. It’s best to avoid them and build links the right way. Some HARO journalists and media outlets provide backlinks to your business website or other online presence in their stories once published. Known as an earned backlink, it redirects their readers to your website or social media accounts to learn more about you. Not only can you use HARO to establish yourself as a brand authority, but you also can use it to boost your SEO rankings with Google the right way. It’s a win-win! How do I get started with HARO?While it’s entirely possible to set up your own account and pitch yourself to reporters in HARO, you might want to consider hiring a professional to help you navigate the platform to increase your chances of success.
The Write Reflection has helped other clients build brand authority using HARO and other reputable methods. Reach out today to schedule your no-obligation consultation. Dishonest. Sneaky. Unethical. Call it whatever you want, but the strategy remains the same. When businesses manipulate SEO practices to deceive consumers, they risk harming their reputations and customer base. Unethical SEO practices extend far beyond Black Hat SEO techniques like keyword stuffing and paid backlinks. They are more duplicitous, often deliberately misdirecting consumers to websites or other digital content that have nothing to do with their user intent. These tactics blatantly violate search engine rules and best practices. What is SEO?SEO is short for Search Engine Optimization. Great, so what does that even mean? To make it simple for those outside the industry, SEO just means you’re engaging in certain strategies to make your digital content more visible to your target audience. SEO keywords are one component of an overall solid SEO strategy. Using specialized software can help identify which SEO keywords you should be using for your brand. Long-tail keywords often correlate with questions consumers type into search engines when they’re looking to solve a problem. For instance, if you wanted to know if it was safe to take Tylenol and Advil together, you might ask Google, “How much Tylenol and Advil can I take together?” Why do businesses use bad SEO practices?Bad SEO practice cuts corners and cheats the accepted code of conduct with one goal in mind: to achieve immediate ranking results. Sometimes the purpose of bad SEO is even more nefarious. Some businesses use SEO keywords that have nothing to do with their industries to deceive consumers into thinking they’ve gone to a site that has what they need. What are popular bad SEO strategies?Like every industry, there are bad apples in SEO. They don’t want to take the time to organically rank well in search results. To do so requires content development, keyword research, and on-site optimization. There are many bad SEO strategies companies can use to cheat the system. Here are two of the most deployed tactics. Blackhat Google AdsGoogle Ads is a marketing service that allows businesses to pay to boost their rankings in search results. When you pay to boost an ad about your business, it can appear in Google search, Google Maps and across all partner sites. Google Ads clearly are marked as such; however, some consumers don’t notice or don’t understand the designation when they see it. They trust they’ve been directed to a reputable site with information relating to their search. The problem is that Blackhat SEO practitioners use a technique called cloaking. It tricks crawling bots on search engines into promoting sites containing specific keywords. Users can find themselves on a website that has nothing to do with their original search query because the website used cloaking to trick Google into sending them there. Clickbait titles are a perfect example of cloaking. A website may create an attractive headline about a specific topic to attract visitors. However, the content below the headline has nothing to do with the title. Negative SEO campaignsNegative SEO campaigns target competitors to tarnish their reputation and steal search engine rankings for important keywords. Sometimes this Blackhat SEO technique involves hijacking a website with questionable banner ads. Other times, it can be more complex and sophisticated. Here are a few other ways negative SEO campaigns work.
How do search engines spot bad SEO?Search engines like Bing and Google have ways to spot when a web page is deceiving an end user. We already discussed cloaking, which is one of the most common forms of deception. If search engines catch you cloaking your site, they can penalize you. In Google’s case, its PageRank algorithm can downgrade or delist your site from its search engine. Another way search engines discover bad SEO practices is through reports from end users. If you suspect clicking fraud, you can file a webspam report. Suspected negative SEO campaigns can be reported using the Disavow Links Tool. Sometimes businesses unintentionally cloak their websites. For instance, they may be using alt text for images on pages that do not accurately describe the content on the page. Check your alt tags to make sure you’re not an accidental offender. How can you spot deceptive SEO companies?Deceptive SEO companies exist, and they entice businesses with promises of quick results. When asked about their methods, they may mention some of the following bad SEO practices. Bolded textBolded text signifies to a search engine that the words are important for your readers. Maybe they answer a direct question. Maybe they are a critical SEO keyword. Using this technique isn’t bad unless you overuse it. If your SEO provider is bolding entire paragraphs or multiple sentences throughout the copy, it can ruin the user experience. Write for people first and search engines second. It’s our mantra here at The Write Reflection® for good reason. Complicated link schemesLinking schemes come in many variations. Any SEO company that guarantees they can get you thousands of links back to your site in a few days is using deceptive SEO practices. Some companies have networks of blogs that exist for the sole purpose of supporting these complex plots. Hidden linksAnother devious SEO technique is hiding links in the code or footer of a website. They’re hidden because coders make them the same color as the website background so they’re not visible to the naked eye. They often are unrelated to the website on which they appear and can get you banned by Google in a hurry. Keyword stuffingYes, my friends, there is such a thing as too many keywords on your site. How do you know if an SEO company you’ve hired (or are thinking of hiring) engages in keyword stuffing? Well, the practice seriously downgrades the quality of your copy. There are only so many times you can use the same long-tail keyword in a 600-word piece of copy before it becomes unnatural sounding. Keyword stuffing also makes it difficult to provide value to your end user. What’s the best way to use SEO?If you’ve found yourself involved with a company that does any of these things, run – don’t walk – away from them as quickly as you can. White Hat SEO may take longer to achieve results, but it’s worth the wait. Here are just a few of the ways The Write Reflection® uses SEO best practices to grow your audience and boost your search engine ranking. Claim and maintain a Google My Business listingIf local search is important for your brand, a great way to achieve results is by claiming your Google My Business (GMB) listing. Make sure all the information in the listing is accurate. It should include hours of operation, your website and contact information. GMB listings also can support customer reviews. That’s another White Hat SEO way to attract more visitors to your website. If you or someone from your business takes the time to respond to customer reviews, it can boost engagement and your brand reputation. Focus on mobile firstRoughly 90 percent of Americans access the internet from mobile devices. If your business hasn’t updated its website to prioritize mobile quality, you’re hurting your SEO ranking. Google has emphasized mobile-first websites in search results since 2016. Most website development platforms automatically optimize your website to provide a smooth experience for mobile users. If you’re not sure how yours is performing, access it from your own mobile device. If there are too many display ads or email opt-in pop-ups, you could be annoying the crap out of your website visitors. Prioritize people, not search enginesGoogle and other search engines have finally come around to the notion that it’s best to reward quality content over keyword-bloated drivel. Consumers don’t want to be directed to a website that is full of a keyword but doesn’t answer their query. At The Write Reflection®, we strike a delicate balance between using the appropriate number of keywords and crafting high-quality content that adds value. We satisfy user intent and leave your visitors eager to return to your site. Need help figuring all this SEO stuff out? You’ve come to the right place. Drop us a line. We’d be happy to schedule a hassle-free consultation to discuss your SEO needs. AuthorShari Berg has known she wanted to be a writer since she was old enough to hold a pencil in her hand. She believes everyone has a story to tell, and it’s her job to discover it. Shari owns The Write Reflection, a Pittsburgh-based copywriting and content writing company that empowers small business owners to wield the power of words. Unconscious bias is normal. Read that again, then sit with it for a while. It can be quite a shock if you think you’re the kind of person who loves and accepts everyone. How many times have you said you’re not biased? I know I’ve said it many times because, in my heart of hearts, I truly believe it. Guess what? I’m wrong. So are any of you who think you’re unprejudiced. Unconscious bias is normal and unavoidable. The reality of that statement hit me like a ton of bricks when confronted with it during a recent Unconscious Bias presentation from the amazingly gifted Cassandra Cooper. Ms. Cooper is the manager of the UPMC Center for Engagement and Inclusion. It’s quite literally her job to help employees of this Western PA healthcare giant embrace and value diversity, equity, and inclusion. Families in the Pine Richland School District were fortunate enough to have her join us for an evening of education and sharing important truths. I attended with my 16-year-old son, and neither of us regretted the decision. Her workshop included the following objectives:
As a professional communicator, I knew this workshop was a must. I can’t be effective in my job if I am unwilling to tackle obstacles that can impede my progress. I wasn’t disappointed. I want to share with my readers the truths I learned because I believe tackling our unconscious biases makes us all better human beings. Prepare yourself for one of the most candid blogs I’ve ever written. What the heck is unconscious bias?Brains work in mysterious ways. One of the things your brain does involves registering unconscious biases and acting on them without so much as asking you first. That’s great, but what the heck is an unconscious bias? According to our wordy friend the dictionary, unconscious bias includes thoughts, feelings, or beliefs that you’re unaware of that influence your judgment. Your brain takes in 11 million bits of information every second. Of those millions of pieces of data, it can only process three or four things. Appearance is one of them. That’s why it’s scary to learn it takes your brain less than 30 seconds to register an opinion about someone based solely on how they look. “We all have these unconscious biases,” said Ms. Cooper during her recent presentation. “It’s a human thing.” Not all unconscious biases are unfavorable. Let me give you an example. Say you meet a group of people for the first time at a social event. These new folks look, talk, and act like you. Unconsciously, your brain registers that it’s OK to feel safe around them. That’s still bias, even if it’s favorable to the people with whom you’re interacting. How do people form biases?Now that you know what unconscious biases are, how do you form them? According to Ms. Cooper, our inner judgy-pants form biases based on several factors:
When do biases start?For most people, biases form at a very young age. They’re rooted in characteristics or preferences and even in our upbringing. Let’s say you’re raised in a home where racism is openly celebrated. Racial jokes are commonplace, and you’re fed daily with the notion that people of color are somehow less than you because of the color of their skin. Hearing unfair judgments like that can skew your view of Black, Indigenous, Persons of Color (BIPOC) later in life. I grew up in very white, very rural America. The only BIPOC I encountered when I was young was the foreign exchange students my school rarely hosted, and the Fresh Air Fund kid my neighbors took in for a few summers from Puerto Rico. Other than that, I was ignorant of the reality that everyone did not look, think, and act like me. That all changed when I enrolled in college. I was surrounded by people who challenged my unconscious biases and introduced me to a whole new world. I had a lot of uncomfortable interactions, but I confronted them and grew from them. I couldn’t help how I grew up, but I had complete control over whether I chose to expand my horizons. What’s the science behind unconscious biases?The good news is if you have unconscious biases, you’re normal. “We see people who are different than us as a threat,” said Ms. Cooper. “We gravitate toward what we know. We fear what is different.” Whether real or perceived, we all have triggers that make us more susceptible to unconscious bias, she said. Your background plus your life experiences equal your story. To understand the science behind unconscious biases, you must first recognize how your story impacts the way you see things, said Ms. Cooper. Once you have a handle on your story, only then can you start the difficult task of managing your behavior. When do my biases sneak out?It’s different for everyone. For me, it happens every time I’m faced with the difficult decision of getting on an elevator alone with a man I don’t know. Weird, right? Maybe some of the other women reading this are shaking their heads and saying, “Yes, ma’am, right there with you on that one!” What might seem like a commonsense safety decision can be an unconscious bias. Sure, women can and do need to worry about their safety (because that’s just the world we live in). Is it fair to assume every man we encounter is a threat? Nope. Some lovely gentlemen in the world would never think of harming any woman. Yet, I toss them right into that same category with all men who dare get onto an elevator with me while I’m alone. Why? From a very young age, it’s drilled into women’s heads to automatically mistrust any man they don’t know. Heck, I’m trained in Eagle Claw Kung Fu. Technically you should fear me, not the other way around. Still, every time I get on an elevator with a man I don’t know, my brain kicks into survival mode. It’s that unconscious bias sneaking out. Take a few minutes and think about how you act in certain situations. If we’re all honest about it, we can identify at least one area where our unconscious biases have snuck out and controlled how we’ve handled a situation. Right or wrong, it happens, and we must own it. Letting it all hang outI’m very aware of my unconscious bias toward strange men, so kudos to me for knowing it’s a problem. “Being able to admit you have biases and openly discussing them is the first step toward managing them,” said Ms. Cooper. “We have to be able to talk about it because it’s real.” Ms. Cooper was very candid about her unconscious biases during her presentation. Her willingness to share her struggles made others more comfortable having an open dialogue about theirs. “I thought the most powerful thing Cassie did last night was share her own biases, as it normalizes talking about them and reduces guilt and shame about talking about them,” said Dr. Allison Bashe, a Pine Richland parent (and licensed psychologist) who attended the workshop. “I also think it’s important to be aware of and name our own identities in both minority and majority statuses, as I think this complements the work on unconscious biases.” Honest conversations with our youthI mentioned earlier that my 16-year-old son attended the workshop with me. He didn’t have to come. As any of you with teenagers know, they have things to do and places to be (that do not involve hanging out with their lame-o parents). I am grateful my son chose to spend 90 minutes of his life listening to Ms. Cooper. Her presentation sparked an interesting discussion between us on the way home. My son is autistic. Diagnosed at age 3, he’s spent his entire life navigating the world of the neurotypical. Every therapy he’s had was designed to force him to assimilate to what society deems normalcy to be accepted. I’ve always thought it was a crock of horse manure, but that’s a blog rant for another time. My son has an Individualized Education Plan (IEP). All sorts of things get put into this plan, including a long history of his perceived behaviors by educators he’s encountered during his public education journey. Imagine what it would be like if everything you ever said or did was documented and presented to every person as part of your formal introduction. Let’s be frank: it would suck. Reading about things my son has done over the years out of frustration because of his communication deficits from autism has unfairly biased people against him. I’ve had many conversations with teachers shocked at how intelligent and attentive my son is because “that’s not what his IEP says about him.” Once they took the time to get to know my son, they realized he presents quite differently than his IEP suggests. My son and I had a very poignant, yet painful, discussion last night about how his disability triggers unconscious biases in others. It helped him realize that if people can unfairly judge him based on his autism, they can do the same to others simply because their skin color or gender identity differs from theirs. It’s a hard lesson for kids to learn, but one that shouldn’t be avoided. “Diversity exists, so we must help our kids navigate it,” said Ms. Cooper. How do you control your biases?Sadly, some people don’t. I’m sure we can all think of a time or two when we’ve encountered that person. You know the one I mean. They are loud and proud about their biases – race, gender, gender identity to name a few – and make zero effort to control them. If you’re like me, and you give two figs about not coming off like a bigoted and mean-spirited jagoff, there are things you can do to get your biases in check. Being aware of your unconscious biases is the first step to controlling them. “The world is no longer black and white, it’s evolving,” said Ms. Cooper. “Differences are uniquenesses, not deficits. It all comes down to who we want to be. Everyone is treated with dignity and respect. That’s who we want to be.” Ms. Cooper used a groundbreaking commercial from beer giant Heineken, aptly titled “Worlds Apart.” If you’ve never seen it, I highly suggest watching it. In just 4 minutes and 25 seconds, it perfectly depicts the hard work you and I must do if we’re serious about dragging our unconscious biases into the light of day. Only openness, not shamingHaving tough conversations is a contributing factor in managing our unconscious biases, said Ms. Cooper. “I like to say that we need to be comfortable at times being uncomfortable. Being able to talk about these things means growth. Valuing, supporting, and appreciating differences is the way to move forward, not pretending that they don’t exist.” Ms. Cooper said the key to confronting our own and others’ biases is being willing to do the “heart work” necessary to explore the roots of the behavior. Part of that involves creating a safe space where everyone feels comfortable sharing their beliefs and perceptions without judgment. Parents who attended the workshop agreed on the concept of creating a safe space for sharing as part of moving forward with the hard work of diversity, equity, and inclusion. “It’s really important not to attack or shame someone for sharing their biases, even when shared unintentionally or without knowledge of it being a bias, as I think it limits our ability to educate,” said Dr. Bashe. “In fact, I would meet this by sharing a bias we have to normalize it further. It helps no one if people are afraid to share these.” How do you assess your unconscious biases?Thankfully, Project Implicit makes it super easy to assess your unconscious biases with this insightful Implicit Association Test (IAT). Remember when I said earlier that I believe myself to be unbiased. Yeah, no. The IAT would have some strong arguments against my assertion. I already told you about my propensity for judging strange men in elevators. Apparently, my unconscious biases go beyond that weird fear. I was happy to discover my results indicate I have no automatic preference between Black people and White people. I still have some work to do in other areas and am prepared to have the hard conversations needed. There are 15 different IAT test categories from which to choose. You can take them all or just the ones where you might be concerned you have hidden biases lurking. Some other things you can do to assess and address your unconscious biases include:
AuthorShari Berg has known she wanted to be a writer since she was old enough to hold a pencil in her hand. She believes everyone has a story to tell, and it’s her job to discover it. Shari owns The Write Reflection, a Pittsburgh-based copywriting and content writing company that empowers small business owners to wield the power of words. Conducting a content review should be at the top of every brand’s list of goals for 2022. Whether you launched your website within the previous year or a decade ago, content reviews can ensure your brand voice is relevant and engaging and all material updated. Your website is the first glance a prospective customer gets of your brand. There is no such thing as a second chance at a first impression. A brand’s content is its secret weapon. It doesn’t matter if you have a fast-loading website with a user-friendly design if it lacks quality subject matter. Yes, your website must be optimized for search engines so it can be found online. SEO is critical for directing prospective clients to your brand. What will they find once there? Answers to their questions and a quality product or service that solves a problem should be the priority. Otherwise, they will leave your site without ever engaging with your brand. Using a content-first approach can make websites more useful for visitors, which in turn, leads to higher conversion rates. Here are five reasons it pays to work with a content review service to get your website content up to snuff in 2022. #1 - Attract search enginesSEO copywriting is crucial for attracting search engines to your online content. Do you know what else search engines like Bing and Google like? Fresh content. One of the quickest and easiest ways to incorporate new information is with a blog. Customers have questions about your products and services. One of the easiest ways to provide answers to their questions is with regular blogs. Each post can address a specific topic. Posing blog titles as questions, then providing a basic answer as your opening paragraph is a surefire formula for attracting web crawlers to your site. The leading SEO factor for search rankings worldwide is on-page elements, according to research conducted by Statista, a leading provider of market and consumer data. On-page SEO components include:
#2 - Focus on clientsA website is your most powerful marketing tool. An overwhelming majority of consumers – 81 percent – conduct online research about a brand before making a purchase. Businesses without websites need to correct that costly error in 2022. The team at The Write Reflection™ can recommend reputable website developers to help launch your new site. Once you have a website, where many brands go wrong is focusing on themselves instead of their target audience. There is only so much tooting of your own horn you can do before you turn off a prospective lead. Converting visitors into customers depends on whether your brand positions itself as the authority for solving problems and meeting needs. Conducting market research and creating customer profiles and market segments identifies the current and future needs of your customer base. Keep in mind that customers’ needs may change over time, so periodic surveys and other assessments are necessary to ensure your brand is providing the most relevant content. #3 - Provide new informationOnce you develop brand loyalists, they will crave new and exciting information about your products and services. They may return to your website frequently to find the latest news. Clients who continually find old and stagnant content on your website have no reason to keep returning to it. Eventually, they may forget all about you and move to other brands with more effective engagement techniques. Adding high-quality content at least once a week to your websites can keep current clients loyal while attracting new leads. Committing to a weekly blog posting from a top-notch SEO copywriter is one of the best investments your brand can make in 2022. Your brand also can focus on case studies, project portfolios, service-related content, and testimonials from clients to keep things fresh and informative. #4 - Remove outdated contentOne of the quickest ways for a prospective customer to lose trust in your brand is to find incorrect or outdated information on your website. An example is one of the oldest websites for a business called Interrupt Technology Corporation. According to hover.com, the site was registered on September 18, 1986. It exists solely for one purpose. According to the scant information found on the page: “We do not actively seek outside business. This Web page exists primarily to satisfy the needs of those who expect every domain to have a Web presence.” They get kudos for originality and snark, but not much else. Obviously, this is an extreme example of outdated website information from a company that clearly doesn’t need new clients. If one of your business goals for 2022 is to increase sales and build your customer base, having an outdated website is detrimental to meeting that objective. Businesses that fail to fact-check and keep updated websites leave visitors wondering if they can believe anything else they claim about their products or services. If they don’t trust you, they won’t buy from you. #5 - Stand out from the competitionYour website uniquely positions your brand to stand out from the competition. From the minute a visitor lands on your site, there should be little question about what makes you different. Prominently and proudly display your mission, values, and vision in every piece of content you produce. Adding client-centric content like FAQs, instructional videos, and webinars increase your brand’s value among your target audience. Depending on your industry, covering critical news, events, and innovations can help establish your brand as a subject matter authority. A content review expert can examine your competitors’ websites to see what they are missing, then make recommendations for how your brand can fill the gap. Schedule your content review for 2022Start 2022 off right by scheduling a content review with the SEO copywriting experts at The Write Reflection™. With more than 25 years of experience in the industry, Shari Berg can help spot weaknesses in your content and make actionable recommendations for improvement. Contact us to schedule your complimentary consultation.
A brand without a blog is like an Oreo cookie without its creamy center. I know what you must be thinking. What about social media? Podcasts? Email newsletters? All these communication tools have their place in your marketing plan. Still, none have the power to build your business the way a well-written blog can. Blogging remains one of the most effective ways to boost brand awareness and reach target audiences. A business blog gets twice as much traffic from content than email campaigns. Authoring content relevant to consumer searches guides consumers to your products and services while establishing your brand as an authority. Do you need more convincing that a brand blog is the way to go in 2022? Here are some reasons to compel your brand to give blogging a go. Blogs help search engines find your brandSearch Engine Optimization (SEO) is a tricky skill. Just when you think you have mastered it, search engines like Google change their algorithms. Using SEO when you blog is worth the effort. Professional bloggers and SEO copywriters rely on keyword research to discover which keywords will help your content rank higher organically. For instance, let’s say you want to blog about choosing an air purification system to reduce the spread of germs in residential settings. Using a keyword tool identifies words relating to the topic based on search engine activity. Plugging in the phrase “air purification system germs” and optimizing for Google produces a list of potential keywords to include in your content. Some of the suggestions:
In addition to SEO, you also can find out what searchers are looking for by doing a search yourself. Go to your search engine of choice and enter “air purification system germs” again. The results will produce a list called “Common Searches” that reveal the key phrases others are using to find information related to this topic. Include those in your blog as subheadings to maximize your searchability factor. This is super easy to do in a blog. Blogs target your audience with relevant contentHard as it is to imagine, businesses did not always have the advantage of touting their wares online to a global audience. Once upon a time, they had to print ads, buy mailing lists, and send those mailers out to potential customers in their service area to entice them. Direct mail campaigns have not completely disappeared. They can be quite effective under the right circumstances. However, they can eat into your advertising budget. The average cost to produce and send a direct mail advertisement is between 30 cents and $10 per mailer. Cost varies and depends on whether you use professional copywriters and designers to produce the advertisement and a printing/publishing company to mail them. Blogging eliminates much of the cost associated with targeted mailing campaigns. Hiring a professional writer to plan and produce the content can cost between $50 and $2,000 depending on the blogger’s experience level and length of content produced. While you certainly can find writers who will crank out a blog post for $30, you likely will not get the kind of quality that tickles the fancy of Google and other search engines. Copywriters that charge low rates tend to produce “copy mill” content that is recycled from other information they find online. Search engines look for relevant content that adds value. Producing copy that helps your target audience solve a problem attracts both prospective customers and search engines. “How to” blogs featuring your products or services can attract an audience and eventually convert them into valuable customers or business partners. Blogs establish brand authorityBuilding your brand requires earning the trust of your customers. This is known as brand authority. An effective method for gaining customer confidence is to provide relevant content that solves problems or answers questions. Establishing brand authority is easy with a well-crafted blog. Choose topics to which your target audience can relate. Then, commit to producing the kind of quality content that will have them returning to your site for more tips and tools. Brands that provide accurate and compelling content build lasting relationships with their target audience that convert to eventual sales. Once consumers realize your blog is a source of valuable and trustworthy information, you can build rapport. Helping customers solve a problem before do business with your brand convinces them to return when they need your products or services. After repeated exposure to your blog, they will view you as an authority. They enter the sales funnel with pre-existing knowledge of what you bring to the table, making it easier to convert them. Blogs help with brand storytellingConsumers today want more than impersonal sales transactions with a brand. They want to connect with your products or services and the people behind them. Blogging is an effective way to tell your brand story and give target audiences a reason to return to your business. You can feature news about team members doing incredible things in their communities or announcements about the launch of helpful new products or services. Best of all, since it is your blog, you can control what information is shared and verify its accuracy before publication. Blogging allows businesses to show their human side. Customers never want to feel like they are nothing more than dollar signs. Humanizing your brand can help flip the narrative. There is no limit to what kind of storytelling you can do on a brand blog. Blogs drive long-term resultsBlogs are the gift that keeps on giving. Sure, you might spend $1,000 on a professionally crafted piece of content, but it has the potential to drive long-term results. Once you hit that post button, blogs can continue to drive traffic to your site and convert customers eager to do business with you. Blogs that perform well in search engines offer the best return on your investment. Once your blog begins ranking, it remains relevant in most search engines for months or years, depending on the topic and how much competition there is for the SEO keywords. Well-written blogs continue to work hard for your business. Copywriting professionals call them compounding posts because they contain evergreen content that continues producing leads. Hiring a pro to help with your brand blogBefore you rush off to your computer and start writing your first blog, you may want to consider bringing in a pro to assist. Just because anyone can write does not mean they should write. Content production is not as easy as it sounds. First, you must develop a content strategy that aligns your mission, vision, and values with any copy produced and published. Then, you must identify your target audience. Your brand cannot provide value without fully understanding who it is serving. Other aspects go into content planning, including competitive analysis and researching information from credible sources. A professional blog writer can assist with these steps required to establish your brand authority through blogging. Reach out to the brand blogging experts at The Write Reflection™ to learn how we can leverage the power of blogging for your brand. First-time customers receive a 25 percent discount on their first blog order. AuthorShari Berg has known she wanted to be a writer since she was old enough to hold a pencil in her hand. She believes everyone has a story to tell, and it’s her job to discover it. Shari owns The Write Reflection, a Pittsburgh-based copywriting and content writing company that empowers small business owners to wield the power of words. |
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