Rocketstone

Onsite Solutions for Backup, Recovery and Automated Monitoring in the London Area

Onsite IT SolutionsGetting found online is important, but how do we make sure our computer equipment stays operating for full productivity in your business?

Onsite Remote Support Services, Automated Monitoring and Backup Recovery are all critical services for many businesses.

Today I am talking with Shawne Neal today from Source on Site solutions. Sean is an IT (Information Technology) expert who helps small to medium size businesses with their IT and computer needs whether it be stand-alone computers or complex network systems.

I took a couple of minutes to talk Continue reading

What is SEO – 5 Secret Words To SEO Success

5 Secret SEO wordsWhat is SEO? That is on the mind of so many people I talk to. I know that because if I refer to SEO I notice a glazed look in their eye. I quickly spell it out and say ‘Search Engine Optimization’.

This is still a mystery to quite a few business people and entrepreneurs. SEO really is all about doing whatever you need to do to get found-on-line by the search engines. When I say search engines, I mostly mean Google. Google these days is the powerhouse.

When I refer to getting found on-line, that refers to your on-line presence. Do you have a website? Do you have a blog? Are you on social media? That can include Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest and a whole lot of other great social media tools.

Google wants to send the Continue reading

Blog Like a Pro – 7 Tips to Get Your Blog Found and Read

7 tips to get your blog foundLooking for some tips to improve your blog writing? Sometimes you just need a few more ideas to keep on track and to make sure your blogs are being read and enjoyed.

1/ Think of a Great Title: Did you know that the title is the most important part of your blog? If you don’t have a catchy title, you may not end up with any readers. A question works as an excellent way to grab attention. Have fun with the headline. Tie it in with a current event or with a well-known phrase.

Use words in your headline that you think your potential readers would type into an on-line search. Make sure the title is appropriate for the article but at the same time includes words and phrases that people are sure to type into a search box.

2/ Quality Content: Always make sure your content is of high quality. Is it easy to read and understand? Would you find it interesting if you sat down to read it?

You are an expert in your field and you have information and ideas to share that others value. Don’t be afraid to share that knowledge and information. People have a hunger for good, valuable information and you are the person who can share it with them.

3/ Write for Your Audience: First of all, you need to understand who your audience is. Do you write for University professors or rock collectors? Is your blog about knitting techniques or brain surgery?

Make sure you understand as much as possible about your potential reader. Then write to that person. Imagine you are sitting in the professor’s office or knitters yarn room and you are having a conversation. What would you say! How would the conversation progress? What kinds of language would seem normal and appropriate?

Try this with a colleague and get their feedback. It will be a great way to make sure your blog will reach the intended audience.

4/ Post at the Best Time: Now that you’ve thought about who your readers are, you will know whether they are more likely to read your blog on a Monday morning or a Wednesday night at midnight.

Business People often tend to come to work on Monday morning to a full inbox of messages. Will your blog be lost in those messages and end up in the ‘trash’ file? Maybe publishing your blog around 9:30 a.m. on a Tuesday morning would be a good time for a business person to receive the message in their inbox.

Be aware that many blogging platforms will allow you to write your blog and schedule it to be published at a certain time. This can be of great value to the busy blogger. You may want to sit down and write five blogposts all scheduled to be published at different, pre-determined times.

Some people like to receive notice of a new blogpost at regular intervals like Tuesday and Thursday at noon, for instance. Others are not so specific. All these details should be considered so you will make the greatest impact with your blog.

5/ Create a Graphic: Blogs are a lot more interesting if you add a graphic of some kind. Take a picture which supports your blog content. A colorful, interesting photo can really pique the interest of the reader. You could import your photo into a graphic editing software and add text to the photo. Try www.picmonkey.com to make your photo look interesting or to add some text to the image.

6/ Add a Video: Do you want to pump up your blog to a new level? Add a video. These days it is easy to create a quick video with your digital video camera or even your phone. Iphones and android phones have excellent video cameras built in. Shoot a quick video of yourself or something that relates to the blog you are writing.

7/ Share Your Blogpost: When you are finished writing your blogpost, be sure to share it with others. Share it with people on your mailing list. Post it to Facebook if that is a social media platform you are using. Tweet it on Twitter. Post it on LinkedIn. Would it be something you would like to share on Pinterest? There are so many other social media platforms as well. Share it in appropriate ways, but do share it.

 

There you are. Seven tips to improve your blogging abilities and make sure you get noticed.
Please reply in the comment box below if you have another tip for better blogging you would be willing to share.

Bruce Langford is an author, entrepreneur and SEO expert and teaches seminars as part of his business – ‘Success Business Training

2 Effective SEO Tools to Help You Get Found On-Line

Tools for SEOYou have likely been following some strategies to boost your SEO. You probably have a plan in place. Search Engine Optimization in business is crucial. I’m sure you’ve realized that a long time ago.

Now let me share a couple of really worthwhile tools that can help you even more with your SEO. The two tools I’m going to talk about today are: Google Authorship, and Schema. Org.

1/ ‘Google Authorship’ is Google’s initiative to connect authors with their content. Content will rank higher on Google if the authors to each piece of content are validated. In other words, the most evidence Google has that the author is actually qualified and credible, the better the rankings will be for that content.

This method of connecting authors to their content is just another way Google is boosting its own credibility. Way to go, Google. This makes perfect sense when you think about it. If you are an author or a business or a brand, this is one more tool that will help Continue reading

What are permalinks and how can they help your blog get found?

permalinks can get you foundWe talked about choosing a catchy title for your blog that will attract interest and get people intrigued in your blogpost.  A really good title will get more clicks on social media and more search engine results.

Very often a blogpost will use the title text as the article’s permalink.

What is a permalink?

Answer: A permalink is simply a URL (blog address) that points to a specific blog entry after it has passed from the front page to the archives.

For example, the address (the url) of this blogpost is:

http://www.rocketstone.ca/permalinks-help-blogs-get-found

The part that comes after the .ca/ is called the “slug”

In other words: permalinks-help-blogs-get-found

How can we improve the permalink so that it will result in better SEO?

Answer: Try to make the Continue reading

The Importance of Online Reputation Management

Online Reputation Management RocketstoneOnline marketing can be a lot of work, and include multiple strategies depending on how you want to sell. It can include search engine optimization, video, email, social media, and text message marketing. You want to attract customers to your site, and sell them with what you have to offer. A major component of this that many businesses overlook is their online reputation.

Reputation management is critical in attracting potential customers whether you own a local business or a growing business. If you are not active online, you do not know what your customers think of you online. You should communicate to your customer’s online, through blogs, online videos, emails, or social media. This keeps your customers thinking of you, as well as letting them know about any updates, sales, or new products or services that you offer.

Social media is a fast way for customers to find out if you Continue reading

What can SEO do for You?

SEO RocketstoneSEO (Search Engine Optimization) is extremely important in today’s society. You want to be found online, quickly and easily. This means coming up on search engines such as Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc. and being on the first page. SEO can allow you to target local, specific customers, who want your product. You want to be found before your competitors, and look more professional. SEO can grant you all this and more.

SEO increases your website or brands visibility and allows you to sell at any time of the day. Your customers can research you to find what you sell or what you have to offer. You can now offer your customers a chance to find you 24×7. However, getting high ranking on search engines can take Continue reading

Video and Online Advertising

Video Advertising RocketstoneVideo Advertising:

Video advertising is a very efficient way to advertise to target audiences. You can connect with your customers online or through TV advertising and there are many advantages to this approach.

The first advantage is that this is a very affordable form of advertising. All you need is a camera and video editing software. Then find TVs in restaurants, line-ups, waiting rooms, and any strategic areas that your ad will get attention.

You can do many things to make your video or ad stand out from others. For example, add humor, trivia about the product or service you are selling. Your ad will connect with the people watching because of the strategic places you choose to show your video.

Online Advertising:

Online advertising is very beneficial to do with Continue reading

SEO on the beach? 6 tips to get SEO done from almost anywhere

Seo on the beachCan I do my SEO from home? Or do I need to do all of my search engine optimization from my office? Many people ask me these questions. The answer is, with a little help you can easily do your SEO from almost anywhere, even the beach!

Here are some tips to help you do effective SEO from wherever you are.

  1. Close the door to your home office and put a sign on the outside of the door that says: please do not disturb, I’ll be available at … and fill in the time.
  2. Put your dog in the garage. This is what Continue reading

4 SEO tips to boost your business online

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) takes time to get working, so if you haven’t started already, make up your mind to do that first step to boost your business in the online world.

Here are the 4 tips for your on-line search engine optimization:

1/ Identify your website’s most important pages. This may include your homepage or popular landing pages. It could be the pages you expect your customers visit most often.

Maybe it is a page featuring some information that is most popular or an item that sells well at this particular time of year. You can check out your number of visitors at google analytics and that will give you feedback on how many visitors your pages are getting.

2/ Choose three or four keyword phrases for each page. Choose a keyword that isn’t too competitive, but one that does have some search volume. The more detailed the keyword is, the more competitive it is.

Do an on-line search to see how many results your keyword is Continue reading