Free Top Ranking Keywords Report from SEO Link Wheelers

Over the past few months I’ve been getting back into the game I love, and that’s focusing on building web sites and killer content. As much as I love building web sites, it’s never fun to work on the backlinks and social bookmarks it takes to truly get a web site indexed and getting the search engines to love you. With that said, I’ve been looking at a lot of different solutions for link building and bookmarking management.

I remember when I first paid a few hundred dollars for a company to help with building links and getting my site ranked in the search engines. It was complete crap… I rarely ever hear from them and I don’t recall seeing any results. This was around seven years ago, but it’s just a reminder of how horrible the link building industry can be if you don’t know where to go. With so many to choose from, how are you supposed to know where to go? One of the most trusted solutions around is SEO Link Wheelers, and they are actually heavily promoted and used by ShoeMoney as well.

How SEO Link Wheelers does Link Building

There are many different methods for link building, such as article marketing, social bookmarks, backlinks, using anchor text and forum posting. Trading links with other web sites may seem like a good idea, but one way backlinks is where the link juice really flows. Everyone has a different concept on what works best, but SEO Link Wheelers takes a bit of everything and builds actual “link wheels” to increase backlinks to their customers web sites. In addition to backlinks being spread across article directories, blogs, and web 2.0 directories, SEO Link Builders also creates original content and YouTube videos to build quality backlinks.

SEO Link Wheelers gives you a 100% guarantee that any links they build for your web sites will be Dofollow, all content will be relevant, unique, and created 100% by hand. The video below was created by SEO Link Wheelers to give a better understanding on how their service works, and why it’s important to cover all link methods when building the right link wheel for your web site.

What are Your Target Keywords?

Before even jumping into the SEO and backlinking game, you need to take a look at what your web site is ranking for and how you can improve your results. Head over to SEO Link Wheelers and submit your url into the box on their main page. You will quickly see a report with three of your top ranking searching terms. If you want the full list, just click the “Full Report” link and confirm your email, then you will have free access to a report like the one below.

This report is an excellent summary of how your web site is listed and ranking in the search engines. You will see up to 100 keywords and rankings, along with the average CPC, traffic volume and the url of your site that is ranked for that search term. This report is completely free to access. You then have the option to choose a link wheel package to improve your rankings.

Building Your Backlinks and Putting It All Together

Taking everything we’ve covered, SEO Link Wheelers will build a link wheel and campaign just for your web site and the keywords you are looking to rank for. With three different packages available, you can choose from 37 links ($379), 74 links ($479) or 119 links ($664). When you first look at these prices, they may seem high to you, but that is because SEO Link Wheelers is actually building a link wheel with original content just for your web site and backlinks… these aren’t just links thrown around on Twitter, Facebook and dead forums. The value in these links is that they are spread across high content sites with pagerank and original YouTube video is also created. You can see a breakdown of what links are included in each package below.

At the very least, I highly recommend you head over to SEO Link Wheelers and grab your free report on what search terms are sending you traffic. If you decide to signup for a backlinks package, be sure to use coupon code “ZACJOHNSON” for 12% off your first order with SEO Link Wheelers.

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NBA Social Media All-Stars

Professional sports has been one of the industries that has best embraced and utilized social media. Fans now have unparalleled access to their favorite quarterbacks, 1^st basemen and point guards, and in turn, athletes get direct access to their fans without having to participate in a staged event. So in honor of the upcoming NBA All-Star weekend (my favorite All-Star event of all professional sports), I chose my NBA social media All-Stars - one from the West and one from the East.

Representing the Western Conference, from the University of Texas and featuring quick Twitter hands, Kevin Durant!

By taking one look at Durant’s website, you’ll instantly realize that he not only has a great all-around game on the court but also in interacting with his fans through his various social media platforms. His website features prominent links to his YouTube page, Facebook fan page, Twitter handle and a link to vote him into the All-Star game.

On his Facebook page, which has over 800,000 “likes,” he provides his fans with a behind-the-scenes preview of his new sneakers, posts links to his interviews and encourages his fans to upload pictures of them in his jersey or with his signature sneakers.

Meanwhile, on Twitter, Durant not only regularly replies to his nearly 500,000 followers but he gives his fans a glimpse into what his thoughts are after a tough loss and what he does with his free time, which, not surprisingly, often consists of watching basketball, joking with friends and listening to Jay-Z.

Lastly, Durant takes social media full circle by promoting and inviting fans to in-person events. Durant is hosting a Nike event in Santa Monica on Feb. 17 and fans can RSVP for the event via his Facebook page, and he is even providing a livestream for fans who can’t attend. In addition to all of this, Durant has his own URL shortener, tag cloud and a “partners” Twitter stream that features tweets from his corporate partners.. I would argue that no NBA All-Star has a better presence on social media than this rising superstar.

Representing the Eastern Conference, standing at 6′8″ and better known as King James, LeBron James!

Although LeBron is still being criticized for his “Decision” fiasco last summer, he has been trying to make up for his misstep by providing his fans with a wide variety of ways to interact with him. LeBron does a lot of the things that Durant does on Twitter and Facebook but he steps his game up when it comes to providing his fans with inside access to his life beyond basketball. On LeBron’s website, he has a “gift guide” of his favorite things interviews with people in the fashion and music industries, and insight into what he eats and how he stays in basketball shape.

His Facebook page, which has over 5 million “likes,” asks his fans engaging questions to encourage discussion such as “What’s the better Super Bowl snack?” and “What is your favorite Jordan moment?”

Additionally, although his website is graphic heavy, his team made sure that it was accessible via mobile phones, in particular iPhones, which a number of websites from his fellow All-Stars did not take into consideration. LeBron may have some detractors but his social media presence will win over a lot of fans.

Bonus All-Star Honor

Hoopism - Because the NBA has allowed fans to post and edit their own video clips of games and highlights (unlike some other leagues), it has allowed for the emergence of a video visualization of every NBA Slam Dunk Contest video by year and a collection of the NBA’s Greatest Shots, which is organized by where it was taken on the basketball court. If you have the chance, take a look and play around with both gifts from hoopism.com.

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Top Marketing and Sales Execs Jump Ship to Facebook and Twitter

There is always plenty of talk about Twitter and Facebook and their money making potential. Well, actually Twitter’s is more about potential where Facebook is already a considerable success.

Now both are looking to ratchet up their efforts and they have each turned to interesting competitors to get new talent.

As reported by Kara Swisher at BoomTown, Facebook has taken the top Microsoft global advertising executive, Carolyn Everson, and made her VP of Global Sales. Awkward! She was just hired by MS last June after a long search and now has quickly jumped ship exposing some frustration with how Microsoft does business (are you surprised?). Facebook and Microsoft have a pretty serious relationship with Bing powered search results and Microsoft being an investor in Facebook from back in 2007. ‘The Book’ tried to make nice with this statement:

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg addressed that issue in a statement:

“Microsoft was one of our earliest partners and is still one of our most valued. We have a long and strong relationship that includes search ads on our site, a social layer on Bing search results and a deep and popular integration with Xbox. They are a leader when it comes to unlocking the power of social for their already popular products and services. We look forward to continuing to expand our relationship with them.”

Isn’t that special? This is just another in a long line of Facebook moves that is followed by a coy flutter of the eyelashes and a completely insincere “Oh, did we do that? We’re sorry!”. Looks like they treat their partners much like their account holders. If they need to screw you, they will and they won’t blink or lose a minute of sleep over it. Heck, it’s just business, right?!

Twitter on the other hand has saved the top marketing executive of Yahoo, Shane Steel, from languishing in a dead end marketing position. I say dead end because Yahoo is still mired in mediocrity and is still calling major cuts a success. All of this while losing market share and respect. If you are Ms. Steel you have to be relieved to be getting off a slow boat and onto a bullet train in Twitter.

All Things Digital reports:

Shane Steele, previously VP of global marketing for Yahoo, started at Twitter today as director of sales marketing. She’ll be reporting to Adam Bain, the company’s president of global revenue, who joined last year from Fox Interactive Media.

Steele is a longtime marketing exec with previous stints at the video ad start-up Tremor Media and Coca-Cola. She comes to Twitter at a time when the company is finally focusing on turning its service into a business.

This is much more challenging role than going to a Facebook because people have been incredibly patient with Twitter and its revenue generating efforts but that patience could go away in a heartbeat. The pressure to perform and to move Twitter from a “Are they making any money at all?” industry mindset to a “See, we knew they were going to be a revenue machine!” mindset is going to be great.

So while the rest of the world tries to figure out how best to use Facebook and Twitter for their business, both social media giants are staffed up to sell something to someone even if it isn’t all figured out just quite yet.

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Twitter for Customer Service? Fortune Puts it to the Test

The answer to a customer service question should always be accurate, as simple as possible while still covering the problem completely and it should arrive in a timely manner.

For most companies, this means running customer service phone lines or responding to email, but some intrepid explorers are giving Twitter a whirl. It’s a logical step, seeing as how people love to use Twitter to complain about companies, so why not use the same method to turn the consumer around?

The folks at Fortune decided it was time to put this new option to the test, so they took their problems to eight companies known to have customer service agents manning Twitter. They dealt with banks, airlines, shopping sites and even got technical assistance for their cable TV. In each case, they delivered the question by Twitter, Phone and through the company website.

Care to guess which method was most effective most of the time? It was our old friend the telephone.

Of the companies tested, only Microsoft, Rubbermaid and Comcast Cable were able to completely solve the problem by Twitter but it wasn’t a short process. It took Comcast twenty minutes and several replies before the rep offered to refresh the box. Seven minutes into a phone call, the reporter got the same result and it took only five minutes when he connected through online chat.

What’s clear from their first hand testing is that poor customer service often stems from a failure to communicate and that’s hard to get around when you only have 140 characters. Simple answers and answers that can be solved through a forwarded link, are really the only kinds of customer service problems Twitter is equipped to deal with. Anything more complicated and the required amount of back and forth posting is simply too great.

Now if you’re thinking, not my end of the company, doesn’t matter. Think again. Poor customer service can undermine everything a good marketer puts out there and it can happen in a flash. We’ve talked about this before and it can’t be emphasized enough. Acquiring a new customer is hard work, keeping that customer is even harder, especially if you have the rest of the company working against you.

As a marketer, you may not be directly responsible for customer service issues, but you should still make it part of your routine to scan social media for problems. Sending a “how can I help you” tweet to an unhappy customer might be all that’s needed to prevent a public blowup. Just make sure that you actually do help them once they contact you or you’ll be compounding the problem.

The other thing we can take away from Fortune’s test is that social media isn’t the solution for everything. Yes, it feels like it’s the key cog in the works these days, but there’s still no substitute for talking to an actual human. Don’t let your social media drive keep you from practicing tried and true marketing and customer service techniques.

Now, let me get that door for you and if you need a place to stay, I can recommend a great hotel where they give you a hot, chocolate chip cookie when you check-in.

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Facebook Won’t Go Steady With Only One Phone

The Mobile World Congress in Barcelona is really heating up. Today, it’s all about Mark Zuckerberg and his plans for mobile phone domination.

For a long time, it’s been rumored that Zuckerberg was backing a Facebook-branded cell phone, but the man says it’s not going to happen. Instead of going steady with only one manufacturer, Facebook is going to play the field, working to develop increased social networking capabilities in all the top brands.

Sticking with the software side of the business seems like a pretty smart move. Facebook may technically be a “tech” company, but electronics is a little out of their line. By spreading the love around, Facebook will further cement their social media domination and that’s gotta be a bigger money maker for them than a warehouse full of phones with a big blue F on the case.

Says Zuckerberg;

“Phones are inherently social devices and the industry is just beginning to discover what’s possible.”

It’s kind of funny, actually. When you think about the fact that phones were initially designed to allow one person to communicate by voice with another. Now it seems that only a small percentage of mobile usage is dedicated to voice calls. We’re all too busy texting, checking email, playing Angry Birds and watching missed episodes of “The Big Bang Theory.”

Right now, iPhone and Android users can access Facebook through an application that allows them to easily connect photos and friends. The Windows 7 phone, however, is more of where the company is headed with Facebook “baked in” to the system allowing for an automatic flow of data from FB to your phone.

Do we really need to be this connected to our social networks? Of course! Have you seen the OnStar commercial where the guy has his car check Facebook to find out if his date enjoyed their evening together? I don’t know. Sometimes I miss the good old days of “reach out and touch someone.”

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Where in Social Media are Young Teens?

Last week, first lady Michelle Obama explained that Facebook is not something her daughters need. More specifically, when asked if Sasha and Malia are on Facebook, Mrs. Obama joked that she’s lucky to be under a lot of constraints, stating the United States Secret Service as one of the obstacles preventing her girls from obtaining a personal Facebook account. I couldn’t help but wonder, how many people share Mrs. Obama’s sentiments? More notably, does parental disapproval affect the way young teenagers use social media?

Pew Internet Research released last Wednesday displayed teenagers ages 12-17 ranking in second of all age groups in social networking website usage at 73%, following their 18-29 adult counterparts at 82% .  Over the course of the past three years, Pew Internet Research suggests that the number of teens using these networks has increased overall, while youth activity on Twitter and blogs has significantly decreased.

Within the past year, a total of 8% of teenagers ages 13-17 used Twitter, compared to an overall 7% of adults ages 50-64. This is a significant drop for young teenagers, considering only 47% of these adults use social networking websites. Not to mention, Pew has also conveyed that youth activity on blogs has dramatically decreased in the past two years. Compared to 2006, the amount of teen blogger activity halved in 2010.   This statistic is strengthened by Pew research regarding how frequent of teens comment on blogs. In 2006, 76% of “teen social network users” accounted for commenting on friends’ blogs, whereas only 52% of teens declared doing so in 2010. If young teenagers are not as active on Twitter and blogs, where are they active?

Last July, Candytech’s SocialBakers.com, an analytics outlet specializing in Facebook statistics, released this 2010 infographic revealing the general breakdown of Facebook’s then 500 million Facebook users by region and age.

15% of Facebook users were teenagers ages 13-17, totaling to almost 73 million teenagers  using Facebook. What I found most interesting is that when these two studies are compared side by side, the number of teens using Facebook climbed, despite the decrease in Twitter and blog use.  Similarly, the number of young teens who use Facebook has also soared.

As a Digital Strategist and as a word-of-mouth marketer, one must ask, how  are these teenagers using Facebook? In the same Pew study, the amount of teenagers using social networking websites for messaging purposes have steadily risen from 21% in 2006 to 25% in 2010. Teenagers are progressively relying on Facebook as a means of communication and they are increasing as a demographic on  Facebook.  Off the top of my head, I can list robust Facebook campaigns geared towards moms, sports fanatics, families, and frat boys. However,  a compelling Facebook campaign targeting younger teens does not come to mind.

Is it just me? When I was drafting this post, I had wondered what statistics I could find regarding youth teenagers and their use of social media. While these statistics exist, I had found far more data for age groups between 18 and 64. As young teens are becoming increasingly visible on Facebook, we should allocate the time to learn how to reach them as an audience.

In your opinion, should Facebook be integrated into teenage marketing campaigns? If so, how?

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Citysearch Enters Daily Deals Fray

It’s getting pretty crowded in the daily deal space these days. Groupon and LivingSocial are big enough and backed by big bucks but the hundreds (maybe thousands) of variations on the theme are making it pretty messy in the deal of the day space.

Today add to the list Citysearch. They are taking a slightly different approach in that they will serve as a deal aggregator. MediaPost reports

Citysearch plans to unveil a daily deals offering and mobile platform Tuesday that automatically pushes coupons to consumers based on location.

As more businesses drive consumers from the Web into physical stores through local coupon campaigns, Citysearch will tap its CityGrid Media advertising network, which includes thousands of advertisers, to aggregate deals. It also signed with Groupon and The DealMap for the same purpose. The company plans to expand its network in the future.

Skyhook will integrate its location engine into the deals by Citysearch for Android. At launch, the mobile application becomes available on Android and iPhone.

As this social media phenomenon of daily deals continues to evolve this will not be the last of many variations on the theme. How Citysearch approaches the space will likely determine its success although, honestly, it is not usually top of mind like it once was for consumer information. Will this type of offering put it back on the map, so to speak?

Despite a crowded field, technology built into Citysearch’s app, which automatically pushes the coupon to the consumer after opting in, could provide the key to success. JP Bedoya, senior director at Citysearch, says the application also relies on “smart type ahead” technology, which makes suggestions on possible places and deals, based on location or topic.

“Smart type ahead” technology, huh?

There will be the opportunity to opt-in for location-based offerings automatically or a user can do the old-fashioned type in their location. Honestly, I sure hope that the mobile identification aspect works better than the desktop locator which gave me deals in a town that is 45 minutes from where I am typing this (and I have never been to but who’s counting).

How much room is there in the daily deal space? What are you interested in with regard to a daily deal offering? Is the Groupon way good enough? Are you looking for as many options as you can handle or is this starting to feel a bit cluttered already?

Your thoughts?

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