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Turning Up the Heat. SEO like the PROs.

SEO is very important because every industry needs it and helps build their brand. Once you’ve understood the basics of SEO, you may want to utilize few SEO tools to make the learning curve even easier.
But there are hundreds, if not thousands, SEO tools available on the Internet (some paid and others free). Using each one of them can overwhelm a newbie SEO optimizer, not mentioning you will also have a difficult time find the ‘right’ ones.
So if you have been asking yourself: “What are the best SEO tools out there for beginners? How can I start to SEO like a pro?” we have written this article that address this issue and help you SEO like a pro.
If you find SEO tad bit difficult at first, remember that you are not ‘alone!’ There are plenty of great tools you can learn to use starting today and get familiar with the SEO practice.
You may either take a SEO class (practicing 30-60 minutes a day or week) or learn on your own if you’re like DIY like myself.
No matter which course your take, for you to SEO like a pro, you need to handle all the basics first. That means you need be familiar with SEO terms like “domain authority,” or “PageRank,” “Backlinks” to a page, among many others that will speed up your learning curve.
* PageRank ranks every single page on your website while * Domain Authority” ranks your entire domain.
If you are ready, let’s learn how to SEO like a pro:

a) Publish Good Content.

If there was only one SEO method to use in your on-page SEO campaign, then that would be to fill your website with good content. As long as you have a good content (useful, valuable, and interesting content) on your site, your website will still perform better without any well-thought-out SEO tactics and gimmicks.
It’s the only one thing that is constant no matter how many times a search engine algorithm changes. Good and relevant content is what drives more people to your site in the first place. All other elements such as website layout, graphics, fonts, colors comes secondary.
Good content makes your visitors happy and satisfied once they land one the web pages on your site. So, try to at least come up with original content or content that is not re-written or copies from somewhere else on the Internet.
Also include variety of content types such as infographics, videos, podcast, and articles.
Try to provide useful content to your visitors. Useful content adds value to your people. They are highly relevant to your niche/industry, well-written, and tries to answer almost all types of questions your visitors may have.

2. Optimize Page Titles, Descriptions, Headings, etc.

Do you know what search engine crawlers read when they scan through your web pages? They read your page titles, descriptions, and headlines as well as image text first.
These elements on a web page are very critical as they tell the search engines what the page is all about and how it can be relevant to a particular keyword search phrase.
With this knowledge, search engines will be able to figure out how to properly index your pages in the search engine result pages.
Here’s how you can optimize these page elements:
a) Page titles – Think of unique and descriptive keyword-rich titles for your page so that it is easier for search engines to figure out what your page is about. A good page title would be like, “SEO Like a Pro – Top 3 Things to Do.” Bad page titled is “SEO,” or page having no titles like “Untitled.”
b) Page descriptions – Create unique and descriptive keyword-rich page description. Summarize your page in brief as this section acts as an initial sales copy that plays a huge role in convincing people to click-through to your website and know more about what you do and offer.
For page descriptions, limit its lenght to 150 characters.
c) Page Formatting – Use proper formatting to make it easier for your readers to read content on your web pages. Use headings (H1) and sub-headings (H2, H3, and so on) to emphasize important sections within the page.
Moreover, highlight important points with italics, underlines, and bold faces.

Use easy-to-read fonts (use 12px font size).

Use small paragraph. Do not use more than 2-3 sentence in each paragraph for easier reading experience.

3. Optimize Images on Your Website

While it true that good content can stand on its own, but other web pages elements such as graphics can also make your page stand out and make them more interesting.
For example, original images may help convey the ‘right’ context of the page to the readers so that they know quickly what the topic is about.
* If you’re using someone else’s images, make sure to give a credit to your source.
Next, optimize the image size. Keep your image size smaller without compromising its quality. Use tools such as Photoshop (any version) to quickly optimize your images.
Use a descriptive filenames – Use keyword-rich filenames, as it will help search engines index your images better.
Well there you have it. We just discussed 3 ways you could start to SEO like a pro.
Tell us if they were helpful? Have you used any of these strategies to make your web pages more useful, interesting, and engaging to your audience before? Please share your thoughts and idea in the comment box below.
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Hard at Work Or Time for a New Direction

Sometimes things just don’t feel right. All of our life, we intend to work hard for our business, save loads of money, and then buy a house, go for a long vacation, and live happily ever after.
Isn’t this a complete formula for a well-lived life that most people plan and strive to reach? Sure it does seem great at first but as you walk down the life’s path, you will realize you were meant to do and be something MORE.
Life’s unpredictability and complicated nature can easily heighten our stress and anxiety levels. As a result, we become stuck and paralyzed by the chaos of events, life, and work all around us.
With nothing reasonable to guide us ahead, we become still.
We start to over-think about all the opportunities life presents before us as each path look even worse than the previous ones and thus inhibits us from action.
Spinning down this spiral of anxiety, we become stagnated in life and start to feel hopeless.
I was in the same situation as many of you probably have been. One day, I decided to take an unexpected trip that would change the course of my life. I tool an unpredictable path, where I only learned, adapted, and finally, grew to understand myself better a person.
Although it led me towards a life that wasn’t perfect of grand, but somehow it all made sense.
This breathed a fresh air into my soul. I started to make me feel alive again although the road was full of uncertainty around me.
Over the past few years, in my own journey trying to find out which path I should tread on, I eventually started to learn a lot about those factors that would ultimately help me discore what I was meant to do.
As a result, I left my 9-5 corporate job and transformed myself into a freelance writer, salsa dancer, and a gym instructor. Although I am not sure what new few years will unfold for me, I  am at least open for new and better opportunities.
If you are hard at work, here are 3 things you can learn to find a new direction in life.

1#: Do something new. At least give it a try.

Stop thinking so much about a far off place or an event that is full of uncertainty. Instead immediately take action and start doing things. Not only you will feel better about yourself immediately, but you will also be working towards something that is really certain – i.e. your actions.
Although you may not have control over things that is outside yourself, but you always have control over your actions, words, and thoughts.
Always be asking, trying, moving, experimenting, engaging, and walking forward as these will keep you one step forward than were you were before. And you will never know where that one step will lead you.

2#: Stop Over-Analyzing and -Thinking

So much of life’s anxiety and stress stems from the fact that we spend so much time analysing and thinking. We asks all sorts of questions, countless nights, lying awake, and entertaining those thoughts and wrestling with our soul.
So much time is spent to figure out what it is that we want to be in life that we often get defeated even before we begin. All those over-analysis and thinking gets us nowhere but only waste our precious time.
The truth is that no matter how experienced and smart we may be, we cannot tell what the future holds for us. Life is moving fast and so interconnected that we cannot really predict where we will end up in five or 10 years from now.
There’s just no way to know and that is not a bad thing really! Why? Because we won’t be basing our choices based on some stupid forcast that will likely turn out wrong.
Instead, you will making choices based on what is really important to you. Not tomorrow but right here and right now.
When we start to accept the unpredictable nature of life and stop over-rationalizing and over-analyzing, we will start to live a more fulfilling life in the present moment. This will eventually help us open to all sorts of wonderful possibilities that life has to offer to us today.

3. Learn to Trust Your Gut.

While I was starting out, I thought that the more I read and knew, the more I would be able to make a better decision. But as I tried to dig more information, the hole got so deep that I got buried inside it.
Overwhelmed and confused with so much knowledge, not mentioning conflicting in nature, I just could not understand what or whom to believe.
And then I just let it go. I let go of all those knowledge and started trusting my gut feelings on things.
I started taking chances. I took baby steps walking ahead in the dark. Sometimes I would fall. But then I would get back up and took another direction. I did this over and over again. Of course the first few steps were the hardest but eventually I found my way as I learned to listen my own inner voice.
I am sure I was wrong often, but overtime, they only got better because I wasn’t just sitting there and wishing things. I was out there and doing things.
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8 Ways to Get Your Brand Seen and Heard

It is very important that you put yourself out there and advertise your brand as crucial factor of successful business, so you could announce that your business is alive and working on delivering the top products and services. But, what can you do to get your brand seen and heard? Here are some directions on how to successfully imply your brand existence.

  1. Get involved on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google +

Presence and unbreakable presence on social networks is crucial for your business, but can also be of great help in establishing your brand, so you just need to make few accounts and manage it effectively on daily basis, share your opinion, post and tweet. You can also hire a professional social media manager to manage your social network accounts for you.

  1. Post a video on your web site and on You Tube

You can always make a video where you can describe what your company is all about, which has shown to be very effective in establishing business brands and gaining more personal approach with your clients and potential customers. Since You tube is also a type of a social network with vast number of visitors, it would be great that you also post your video there and establish your brand name.

  1. Promote your brand

There are great ways of promoting your business and reserving your brand name, so you can print business cards, make flyers and other marketing material. It is also very effective that you promote your business brands across blogs, comments and by posting links to other friendly websites.

  1. Make marketing newsletters and emails

Newsletters and marketing emails are another great way of getting your brand seen and heard, for besides looking very professional it also help you advertise your business and engage your targeted audience.

  1. Make presentations

Presentations can really help you depict your business goals and stress out your company’s achievements, as well as aid you in establishing your brand and explaining wide public what your business is all about.

 

  1. Blogging

Blogging is a great way of getting your voice heard and at the same time presenting your brand in the best light, increasing your trafficking and advertising for free. Blogging can take your brand long way ahead if done regularly, so if you don’t have enough time to blog on daily basis, you should consider hiring a professional blogger.

  1. Partnerships and sharing ideas

Meeting new people from your industry and beyond its borders is very important, so you can establish your brand by starting a partnership with a company you have appreciation for, expand your targeted audience and show your capabilities and skills, that way helping your brand in becoming more popular. Always be ready to share your ideas, transforming them to great business opportunities and ventures.

  1. Make your brand name comprehensive and catchy

In order to make a perfect brand name you need to predetermine what are your business characteristics, list important things regarding your services, establish your company identity and decide what your company is all about. When taken all these factors into consideration, you can create your brand and make it sound catchy, but professional at the same time. You should also consider follow these directions when naming your blog and choosing your website host name.
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10 Places Where You Should Claim Your Brand

Social media Networks count millions of visits per day, which makes it a great way to transform your business to more accessible service provider, but social network platforms can also assure your company’s brand identity, so it is very important to be actively involved with your targeted audience and potential customers. There are some places on the network which could effectively help you to claim your brand and reach out to your clients.

  1. Google Maps

Google maps are a great way to claim your brand and show your availability in form of address, country, phone number and email, so your clients can find you easily. Google maps can also help you increase your online visibility, consequently raising your Google rates.

  1. Google +

Google + is actually more than just a common social network, on which you can also share, post, advertize, announce novelties regarding your business achievements, and of course get +1’d. +1 ratings are considered as very favorable at Google, so the more pluses you are getting on your account, the more visible you get on Google search engine. Google + is maybe one of the best ways of starting your online business profiles, claiming your brand and interacting with your potential clients.

  1. Facebook

Facebook is maybe the best social network for getting socially involved as an individual, but that makes it also a great for business owners looking for potential clientele. There are some great apps on Facebook, such as Facebook Places, where you can easily state the place of your business and claim your brand in the way that everyone can see it.

  1. Foursquare

You might already have an account on Foursquare on your name, without even knowing it, so information entered by user can often be misleading and inaccurate. The best way of claiming your brand and preventing this scenario is to make an account on Foursquare, yourself.

  1. Yelp

Yelp is one of the most popular social review websites, where anyone can make reviews on any company’s products and services. If your brand is not registered on Yelp yet, you should probably go ahead and claim it, encouraging your clients to post reviews on your services.

  1. LinkedIn

LinkedIn is great place for presenting your business online, and of course great way of claiming your brand. You can make an account under your company’s name, announce goals and achievements, and share your ideas. You can also hire different LinkedIn account users or get in touch with other companies and start partnerships.

  1. Manta

Manta is very similar to Yelp, but if you have Yelp account and established brand, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t make a profile on Manta, just the opposite. Apparently, the more your brand is talked about, the more you get popular with increased traffic along the way.

  1. Urban Spoon and Dine.com

If you are a restaurant owner or you are running a hotel with restaurant and bar, then Urban Spoon and Dine.com could really help you claim your brands and get your reviews, which might as well lead to more successful business. You just need to make a profile on one or both sites and you are ready.

  1. Blogs

Blogging is a great way of increasing your traffic and raising your rates. Be sure you are actively updating your blog so you could claim your brand and establish good reputation.

  1. Make your own Website

You can hire a professional web developer and designer to make your site for you, so you could claim your brand and showcase your business in any way you want. By choosing the right keywords for your web content and optimizing your site, traffic will be increased and you will be able to get more favorable ranks at search engines, as well as establishing your company’s brand.
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