Maine SEO Blog » Blogging

The Best of 2011 from flyte new media: Most Popular Posts on the flyte blog, Maine SEO, and Florida SEO

Nicki — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 13:09:16 +0000

This will be my third year in a row creating a “best of the year” post; feel free to check out posts from 2010 and 2009, too.

This year, I’ve done the best at flyte: from our flyte blog, Maine SEO blog, and Florida SEO blog. Go ahead and browse the archives; enjoy!

flyte blog

Maine SEO

Florida SEO

Photo credit: stockerre

How to Climb Out of a Blogging Coma

Nicki — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 16:38:23 +0000

I’ve been bad. Very, very bad…about blogging. This is the first post I’ve written in November.

You may have had a similar experience. Maybe you got busy with work. Maybe you haven’t had any great ideas. Maybe you feel like you’ve written about everything there is to write about. Fear not, my friend. Perhaps climbing out of my own blogging coma will help you conquer yours.

Luckily, the blogosphere is a forgiving world. You may have missed out on some traffic, but it’s ok. Go ahead and pick up where you left off.

You’re simply too busy

I understand, real work gets put ahead of blogging. But think about it this way: blogging is a form of marketing and another way to ensure you’ll continue having that work in weeks and months to come. Here are a few easy ways to get around the “time” issue:

Figure out what works for you. Is it easier to blog first thing in the morning? During lunch? At home? Over the weekend? Do you prefer writing just one post at a time? Or do you like to create several when inspiration strikes? Regardless, figure out the schedule that works for you…and do it!

Keep It Simple, Stupid. You don’t need a ground breaking, earth shattering blogpost every single time. Use resources like the questions your customers ask you every day for inspiration. Often times, the quick, easy, and simple posts are the best ones.

Now you’re just making things up. Most of us aren’t too busy to watch our favorite shows. Most of us aren’t too busy to catch the game. Try multi-tasking; if you can sit in front of the TV and watch the ball game and blog, then do it! Or, if you need peace and quiet, carve out 15 or 30 minutes and write your post. That’s why they invented DVR, right?

You don’t have anything to write about or you’ve written about everything

Inspiration isn’t going to hit every day of the week – and if it does, you’re lucky – but that doesn’t mean you can’t inspire yourself.

Use tools at your disposal. There are a ton of tools out there from Google Insights for hot, new keyword ideas to Google Alerts for daily or weekly updates about new articles, blogposts, and websites in your industry. There are hundreds, even thousands of these type of tools out there, but these two are my go-to’s.

Listen to what other people are saying. Lean on your favorite writers, bloggers in your niche, or even your competitors. My favorites for SEO are the SEOmoz blog, Search Engine Roundtable, and Search Engine Land. Whatever your favorite blogs may be, make sure you subscribe to them (be it via email or RSS) and read them as often as you can.

Find a new way to spice up old blogposts. Use tricks like checking out your Google Analytics or using a different blogging technique to resurrect an old post you created.

And there you have it. Now get out there and write! But first…what are your tips or tricks for getting yourself out of a blogging coma?

Image credit: xlibber

Nicki Hicks
Really, what’s cuter than a sleeping baby?

What Hiking trails and Web Marketing Have in Common

Joan — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 01:51:43 +0000

Recently, my friends and I have been hiking every weekend. It’s a great way to get some exercise in and it’s a fun activity to explore nature with friends. Not to mention it’s something that I can do with my dog on the weekend to give him a much needed energy release after being cooped up in the house all week. But, it wasn’t until I wrote a blog post for a client on Maine’s Waterfalls that I started to get really inspired.

Maine has a crazy amount of beauty and so many things to discover. But, the caveat to that is, in order to see a beautiful waterfall or awe inspiring mountain view, you first have to make the hike to do it. Hiking is NOT easy. In fact, many of the trails that are required to get to these Mountain Tops can cause you pain and exhaustion. However, once you hit that apex you get to stroll down and the endorphins kick in and it was all worth it.

But, the more you hike, the easier it gets. You develop your muscles, strengthen your heart and lungs and build endurance. In the end, it becomes more natural and more enjoyable.

SO, what does this have to do with web marketing success? EVERYTHING!

Social media doesn’t come naturally to everyone. I can’t count how many times we hear clients say that they didn’t know it was going to be so much work. Blogging is work, creating content is work, posting updates takes time and imagination and it all has to be valuable and interesting information for your audience.

Waterfalls were my inspiration, what’s yours? What is going to get you excited to put the work and effort in to get the web marketing and social media results that you want? You can look for inspiration for your posts in many places, did someone say something to you today that sparked an idea, did you hear something on the radio, did you read a blog or magazine article that got you thinking? Anything you hear, read or do can be used to spark an idea for a blog post or Twitter update.

Like with starting a workout or starting to hike, it takes time to adjust and adapt to your new activity until it becomes easier or a habit. This also goes for web marketing. Right now it may not seem like it fits in your schedule or it may not feel natural to you. But, the more you do it the easier it becomes. Create an editorial calendar for yourself and stick to it. Commit to posting one blog post a week or making 3 updates on Facebook a day. Do that until you master it and then add on the next phase of your web marketing plan. Like with taking a hike, the first trail is the hardest and with every new trail (or marketing step you take) the easier it becomes.

Results! We all do this because we want the web marketing results. With a hike it’s an amazing view, endorphins released from exercise, fresh air or a waterfall, with web marketing we want to get our message to the right people resulting in our end goal. Whether that goal be more leads in the sales funnel, more people attending your event, more traffic to your website or better customer service web marketing and social media are just our tools to help us achieve those goals.

So, what are you waiting for? Find your inspiration, make the commitment, and take the first steps.

If you’d like help developing a social media plan for your business, or a personal trainer for your social media marketing to help you stay with it, flyte can help. Just contact us to get the ball rolling.

Joan Woodbrey Crocker
Hiking Web Everest

How to Use Google Analytics to Inspire Blogpost Ideas

Nicki — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 00:28:44 +0000

This is one of my favorite blogging tricks and regardless of whether you’re running out of ideas or not, this little tip is great wayto re-kindle some traffic and re-inspire using your most popular posts. That said, let’s get right to it.

Start by logging into your Google Analytics account and going to Traffic Sources > Sources > Search > Organic.

If you’re looking at statistics for just your blog, then you’ll probably already see some great ideas for blogposts. Regardless, change the number of rows shown to the maximum number (500), then continue scrolling down for more keyword ideas.

You’ll start to see limited searches for the same term (1, 2, maybe even 3). These longtail search terms are the perfect start for additional blogposts. Sure, people already use these to find you, but why not use what works? Here’s a quick snapshot:

I might take some of these keyword phrases and create posts like:

The 100 Most Like Pages on Facebook (similar to this post)
Alt Tags and Image Descriptions in Facebook (similar to this post)
How do Alt Tags Help with Google Image Search? (similar to this post)
What’s the Difference Between an Alt Tag, Image Title, Description, and Caption? (similar to this post)
Analytics Decreasing? Here’s Why.
My Bounce Rate is Really High. I think… (similar to this post)

So if you haven’t already run off to check out your Google Analytics, go ahead and try it out now and let us know what type of posts you come up with in the comments below!

Nicki Hicks
Creatively using GA

What to Do When You Have Too Many Blogpost Ideas

Nicki — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 19:34:55 +0000

More often than not, I get questions about what to do when you haven nothing to blog about, but what if you have too many post ideas? What if you’re so inspired that you’re overwhelmed with ideas? [Don't laugh. It's a serious medical condition and researchers are currently looking for a cure!]

Having too many post ideas can be just as troublesome as having no ideas at all. It could lead to long, drawn out posts that no one will spend the time to read. It could lead to losing some of those ideas without making the right arrangements. Never fear, there are a few easy ways to manage all of these ideas!

Write them down

Sounds pretty simple, right? But I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been driving or at the gym and thought of an idea for a blogpost that I ended up forgetting because I never wrote it down. Having a running list of ideas is a great way to have some inspiration for those times when you are feeling less than inspired. Whether it’s just an idea for a post, the title of the post, or even some notes on what it will include; you’ll never regret jotting your ideas down!

And when there isn’t a piece of paper handy…

Record them

These days, most phones have a recording application on them. I find that while driving tends to be the perfect time to record ideas – or even full posts – to later write down. Thinking out loud is a great way to get your thoughts together, or maybe it’s easier for you to…

Outline, outline, outline

A great number of blogpost ideas may start out general, with no direction, and have to be whittled into something far more specific. Having been a slave to thinking I have the perfect post, only to realize it’s far to vague or far too long; it’s best to outline your thoughts beforehand to see where this post is really going.

Break them up

If you find that your post ideas are going to be upwards of 750 or even 1,000 words, that’s great news! Why? You’ve got yourself more than one blogpost, my friend! Break your post idea up into 2, 3, 4…however many parts it takes and now you have a series.

Nicki Hicks
More is better, but only if you prepare