For the past decade, I have consistently been one of the highest grossing freelance writers on Upwork (formerly Elance and oDesk), the largest freelance job site around. In four of those years, I was the #1 individual in the world for the writing category, and I can only describe those times as a true snowball effect.  I literally went from being slow in the spring of 2004 to having more work than I could ever possibly handle by that summer.  Then in 2005, I had an entire team of writers working with me and countless invitations bombarding my inbox every single day.

In fact, when Elance was transforming over to Upwork, I was the very first freelancer on the entire paltform that they reached out to for feedback.  It may sound silly but I’ve always worn that interaction like a badge of honor.  I can tell you firsthand that the talented people behind the scenes at Upwork really care about you and their clients.

Of course, I’m not saying all of that to brag- I just want to illustrate that I am incredibly good at landing jobs on Upwork.  With some luck, I’ll teach you here today how to replicate my success.  Fair warning though- this isn’t a “get rich quick” or “scam the system” type of guide.  I can teach you how to land virtually any freelance job, but there’s also going to be a lot of work involved as well.

So where do you start?  Let’s find out…

If you wanted to be a lumberjack, then you’d have chainsaws, axes, blade sharpeners, gas, oil and all the other tools of the trade, right?

So if you want to be a freelance superstar on Upwork, you need to acquire those same types of tools.  For instance, take a quick tour of my website- look at the branding, content and calls to action on each page.  This appears to be a huge company, right?  But it’s not, it’s just me and a couple of part time folks that help out.  So whenever someone asks for an example of a site I’ve worked on, you’d better believe that this is the very first place I send them.

Think about that- my best portfolio piece is my own business.  Can you see how that would make sense to a client?

Now, that doesn’t mean that you need an expensive looking website to impress people.  But you shoud have at least a full portfolio laid out somewhere online- even if it’s on Google+.  You need one place where a client can take a look and think, “Oh wow, this person is the real deal.”  This will be your #1 sales tool throughout your career BY A LONGSHOT.

Tools of the Freelance Trade

Likewise, you want to have the other tools of the trade as well.  That means getting certified by Google for development, AdWords or analytics.  Then head over to HubSpot and get certified in Inbound Marketing, design, content marketing, or wherever your expertise happens to be.  Moz also offers an SEO course on Udemy so you can get up to speed there- these are steps that most amateurs won’t bother with.

Then there are the skills tests on Upwork itself- clients actually pay close attention to these kinds of things.

Finally, there is your Upwork portfolio; it should be 100% completed with awesome content.  That means linking to your previous work, providing full descriptions, sharing why you’re the perfect candidate for the job and what to expect when working with you.  My Upwork profile still earns me at least 1 or 2 invites a week from people who find it in Google search engines.

One other thing you need to have in your arsenal- if you send clients SEO/analytics reports, wireframes, work summaries or anything else outside of the regular chat, you need to create branded documents with your logo and business/portfolio info in the headers and footers.

If you don’t have a logo yet, then design one on Canva for free.  It’s the most no-nonsense place I’ve found.

When a client posts a job on Upwork, Freelancer, iWriter or any freelance paltform, it’s almost like a fishing expedition.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve posted an ad to hire an extra writer and every sinlge application was just boring.  Here’s what 99% of all freelancer place in a proposal-

• Their name and how long they’ve been in the biz
• A few generic sentences about how they’re an expert
• The price they’d charge for the project
• End with something like, “I hope that we can talk soon!”

As a client, when you see 15-20 proposals that look exactly the same, it’s almost impossible to distinguish one applicant from another.  And when that happens, the client either decides to not hire anyone or they pick either the highest or the lowest possible bid…depending whether they’re searching for quality or value.  Most of the time though, they just walk away because they’re not impressed.

This also goes back to your portfolios as well (on Upwork and on another website).  When all the proposals stink, then the client will sometimes browse through the freelancer’s job history to see what others have said.  And if you’re not shining in that aspect, then it’s almost impossible for you to ever get hired for anytihng…except crappy jobs for low pay from crappy clients.

Writing a Killer Proposal

Here’s how I write a proposal on Upwork-

1)  I look through the client’s job history, click on a past job, and find the client’s username (You can’t see it in the current job page until after you apply- this is a quick little workarond.).  Then I Google that username to try to get a clue of who they are, what they do, etc.

2)  If I can find out what the business is, then I’ll visit their website and look at it critically.  What could they do better to impress customers?  Where are they losing out on a great call to action?  Are there awesome graphics, videos, and other stuff to make the page engaging?  How easy is their navigation to use?  I look at all of that stuff.

3)  From there, I use the business website to figure out who posted the ad.  Then I’ll look them up on Facebook and LinkedIn to see if we have anything in common.  If not, is there something there I can use as an ice-breaker?

4)  Finally, I’ll make their job requirements almost an afterthought in the conversation by focusing on what the client really needs.  NOTE- that’s way different from what they want to hear!

What does that mean?  

Let’s say that a client is looking to hire someone to create an email marketing campaign or sales funnel.  In my proposal, I’ll actually tell them NOT TO hire anyone because their website is not optimized for people.  Why would you let a client spend a thousand bucks to get people on their website when it’s not going to help them sell?  You always optimize the website and the calls to action first.  

By not actually bidding on the project, I accomplished something that 99% of all freelancers goof up- I proved my value without ever having to brag.  I also showed that I was loyal to them and not the money.  Clients will reply almost 100% of the time in those situations and they’ll ask me to tune up their website…then they’ll have me do the email marketing campaign afterwards.

Learning to Break the Ice

If that’s not an option, then I’ll use one of those ice breakers to show that I did my homework.  For instance, I sent a proposal the other week that started with, “I see that you just got back from vacationing in Orlando…did you happen to go to Disney Wolrd?”  Of course, I know they did because there was about 50 pictures with their kids and Minnie Mouse.  That’s how you break the ice though…you find something to start a conversation with.

The lesson here is to make sure that you’re completely different from every other applicant by paying attention to the client’s needs, writing a personalized proposal and tying in anything that the average person won’t bother to look up.  You’ll be amazed at how many doors will open for you quickly.

Want to hear about how I landed my first Fortune 500 client on Upwork?  I absoluely love this story.

About seven years ago, I hopped on Elance late one night just to see if anyone on the West Coast was posting a project before bed.  I’ve learned that if you can get your proposal in before anyone else and it impresses, then you have a decent chance of landing the job on the spot without any competition.

So I would check the job feeds fairly often back then- usually 3-5 times a day minimum.

Anyway, I see a project for writing a post card for an upcoming charity event with a budget of fifty bucks.  And I’m thinking a post card?  That’s almost not even a job.  I have a policy of never charging charities anything if I can help it but at the time, the minimum bid on Elance was $25 if you didn’t want to get penalized.  So I bid $25 for a series of five postcards, with visual cues for the front and the copy for the other side.

Now, the client didn’t ask for any of that…she only wanted the writing.  But it was for a good cause so I tried my best to go way above and beyond in any way that I could.  Even so, I spent maybe 30 minutes total on this project before sending it back to the client.  She was absolutely thrilled.

About a week later, the same client emails me and says, “Have you ever written a video script?  I work for <massive, huge company>  and I need five scripts for one of our major clients- I could pay you up to $1,000 if you could complete them within the next 3-4 days.”

Naturally I was blown away- I had no idea who I had volunteered for.  But it made sense; highly sucessful people are more likely to be involved with big charities.  And I happened to get on this person’s good side over a simple $25 project.

Over the last 7 years, I have billed this one client in excess of a half million dollars.  She’s also referred me to two others on the Upwork platform that add up to an additional $175,000 in freelance work.

The Art of Landing Small Projects

Personally, I love bidding on small projects that can show off my abilities because I know for a fact that the client will come right back to me the next time they need something.  So while others only bid on the jobs with $500 or $1,000+ budgets, I don’t pay any attention to the numbers part of the equation.  I just look for users with a history of projects and good feedback- if they have that, then I’ll spend two minutes researching them and try to get them on board.

Here’s the thing though- if I had delivered $25 worth of postcard copy, then that client may have never reached out to me again.  She loved me because I went above and beyond for a complete stranger…that’s how you prove your worth.

So remember this- there’s no such thing as a lousy job on Upwork.  If you earn great feedback and get the chance for more work later on, then it’s a win/win situation.  And you can always decline recurring projects down the road if the money is not adding up.  That feedback and making a great impression is literally priceless though- I initially built my Elance profile $25 and $50 bucks at a time.

The Joys of Scam Artists

In fact, I remember an early job- maybe the worst project I ever accepted on Elance.  It was for a “short eBook” on the driving laws in Australia, and the client said that he would be fully involved with the project and do all the research.  The proposal said to write around 15 pages and he was offering $300.  So even though the money was lousy, I said what the heck.

Only, the client completely lied- he didn’t share any research at all.  In fact, he didn’t do anything but make additional demands.  He changed the page count to 25 pages and then 35…all while promising me a hefty bonus at the end.  The end product was 42 pages AND I did all the formatting for it.

But all of a sudden, the client wouldn’t respond.  I could see that he was logging into Elance, yet he wouldn’t reply, release the payment or talk about that huge bonus he promised.  So I’m contacting customer support and screaming bloody murder…this crook ripped me off!  They did initially get the $300 released to me though since the client was non-responsive.

Nightmare job, right?

Of course it was.  Yet, I received an invite for an eBook job about seven months later from a really, really good client.  This person happened to like my profile and then he noticed that project, which convinced him to reach out.  So even bad projects pay off if you deliver quality work.

I’ve saved the best (or possibly the worst) for last since this is something a lot of people won’t want to hear.  To succeed on Upwork, you only have to do one thing well- impress clients.

Throughout this article I’ve given you almost everything that you need to shoot up to the top of the ranks…there’s only one little thing missing.  Your work ethic.  Are you willing to go above and beyond for evey client?  Have you created an awesome portfolio, stationery and all the other tools of the trade?  Can you guarantee that you’ll never miss a deadline?  Will you research clients inside and out before applying (with a custom proposal)?

These are all the things that the best of the best do on a daily basis.

Over the years, I have literally trained hundreds of writers, digital marketers, SEO professionals and copywriters at all stages of their career.  And if there was one thing that the vast majority were lacking, it would have to be an amazing work ethic to consistently go above and beyond.  They wanted to put out minimal effort and receive great pay…that’s just not how the freelance world works.

If you’re really committed to your craft though and you’re ready to take the freelancing world by storm, then Upwork is certainly a place that you can do that.  The best advice I can give you is to be yourself, work hard and always overdeliver for your clients.  Focus on building actual relationships as well- that’s what clients are ultimately looking for.  The last thing they want to do is scan through dozens of postings every week, they’d rather just hire that last person who did such a great job.

So become that person who always leaves clients with a smile on their face.  Then the frelance world will literally be your oyster.

By the way, I LOVE netowkring and comparing notes!  If you’ve had a different experience on Upwork or see anything that I’ve missed, feel free to share it in the comments section below.

Content isn’t just something nice to have – it’s one of your most tangible brand assets. Use content to build effective backlinks that are going to stick, and actually benefit your business and brand. Content-oriented link building is some of the most effective link building you can do, but it doesn’t come for free and takes real commitment. Here some ways in which you can use the power of great content to propel your online brand.

Build a content asset

Invest in quality content on your domain to boost relevancy and authority.

Asking for a link or a mention is a lot easier if editors and website owners have got something awesome to link back to – not just a boring commercial page with minimal user value. A content asset depends on your niche– it could be a mega guide into a niche topic, an in-depth how to article, or a humorous take on something affecting your industry.

• This is an investment – it will take time and money to do a content asset properly. Don’t think that you can just throw up any old content in a day in an effort to be ‘influential’.
• Think about what would really appeal to your audience. Do in-depth keyword and audience research and use content research tools like BuzzSumo for inspiration.
• Don’t forget to promote your content through all channels available to you. Got something really great? Your content could be of interest for people doing industry roundup posts, or maybe an influencer you’ve mentioned may want to know about what you’ve created? Send out friendly emails or social media posts. Use the power of great social media promotion to give your content the edge.
• Now you’ve built your asset – leverage it to help you build links and impress editors.

Get creative

Don’t be held back by any format – there are literally thousands of different types of content assets out there you could build on your domain.

• Visual content like SlideShares, memes and GIFs can all be used for link building.
• Image attributions mean that you can attract backlinks by publishing high quality images and image galleries online.
• Video content is super engaging and people love to share online videos.
• Custom development means you could even create a custom calculator, a browser tool or interactive quiz – the sky’s the limit.

Sponsored content

Not everyone’s favorite, getting sponsored content spots from bloggers and websites is an easy way to raise awareness, but content quality varies and advertorial posts tend to get less engagement.

• Certain industry publications, magazines, and directories will give you a spot on their publishing platform if you are a signed up member. This can be a great way to share relevant content with your peers, or update potential clients on new business developments.
• Bloggers work with brands and businesses over sponsored content, and some offer a lot of value, but others aren’t always such a good opportunity. Product reviews and giveaways are some of the most popular forms of blogger collaborations, but content also comes into in the form of sponsored posts.
• Tread carefully with this link building tactic, it can potentially get you in hot water if not managed properly.

Guest posting

Really good guest posting adds value, bad guest posting is basically spam.

To build effective and long-lasting links and to raise brand awareness, it’s always best to focus on quality over quantity. Reach out to sites you admire and approach sites where you know you can add a lot of value.

• Be selective about the sites you go for – invest your time in finding high-quality, relevant sites.
• Good guest posting starts with figuring out where the crossover lies between your site and theirs – find that relevancy hook and go for it with a well-timed and relevant guest post email. Keep it simple.
• There are various different levels of difficulty here – depending on editors and their guidelines. Generally posts that are sloppy and obviously just made for link building efforts won’t be appreciated by anyone.

Ego bait

Everyone likes to know they’ve been mentioned online, right? Think about it – if you’ve been recently interviewed for a publication or mentioned in a post, wouldn’t you in turn share (and link to) that content? Creating content that includes other people and uses their expertise is a great way to help you build links.

• Expert roundups are very popular because people love to hear what challenges other people have had and how they have overcome them. Getting people to answer a simple question is a great way to get the attention of a busy influencer – just make sure you ask the right question! Spend loads of time brainstorming your initial outreach request.
• You can also do more traditional roundups if you don’t fancy asking people to contribute – “the best B2B business writers to follow on Twitter”, “my favorite wedding bloggers” etc.
• If your site has relevancy and authority, you can even create a badge saying “I’ve been featured on X” that people can use on their sites. This works best if you feature junior to mid career people who are more likely to include this in their professional portfolios.
• Reaching out to the real leading lights of the industry is risky, but it may be worth it if they get back to you!

Do it better

You have all the research tools out there to help you find out what content other people are linking to and finding compelling – so why don’t you go up a level and outdo your competitors?

• If something has been successful once it shows there is an appetite and a desire for that content – use that knowledge to your advantage. Try to go for different variations on the same theme and use a backlink analysis tool like Majestic to start building a list of potentially interested sites.
• This isn’t about blindly parroting stuff that’s already been done – but about genuinely improving and adding value to content that has already proven popular with people.

Open up your blog

Bring relationships into it.

If you fancied nurturing some content talent on your blog, you can let budding writers and other industry experts write for your blog. This opens up an avenue for natural collaboration and synergy – which both often lead to links.

• Exchanging views over reciprocal blog posts should be a natural process – not something you see as the default. This isn’t just about building links – it’s about building a brand.
• Getting to know people (both offline and online) is a worthwhile exercise that yields results in surprising ways. Many great links and pieces of content have started out as a simple ‘hey’.

Finally – don’t forget your on-page content

Think of it like this, if you are asking for big authority website to work with you on content, whether that is linking back to you or working on a guest post, wouldn’t you want them to see a site that impresses, not scares them?

• Spelling mistakes, grammatical errors and thin and poor content will turn off editors and reputable websites.
• Make sure your website is well-formatted and updated and that you are following all the latest web & SEO practices. People these days are careful who they link to – don’t mess up your chances of a fruitful partnership with a poor website.

Still not sated? Here are some more content marketing lessons your brand should take on board (including how to write authority articles and clean up core content).

It’s no secret that search engine optimization has changed drastically over the years as Google continuously adapts to reward the most helpful websites with coveted first page rankings.  And for the average small business owner or entrepreneur that’s on the outside looking in, it can seem like executing the perfect SEO strategy is nearly impossib

What if I told you, however, that everything you need to know about search optimization is summarized in the very first sentence on this page?

Go ahead and look again if you don’t believe me- I’ll sit here and wait while you do it.

The websites that go out of their way to help their customers the most are the ones that SHOULD rank at the tops of the search engines.  That was the goal in 1991 and it’s still the goal today.  The only thing that’s really changed is that Google and Bing have become much better at detecting unsavory tactics that allow websites to artificially rank, but the goal still remains exactly the same.

So as we work through this guide together, I want you to remember one universal truth that can guarantee your excellent search placement for the next fifty years- the site with the best content should always win.

That means that as long as you’re making serious efforts to bolster your customer’s online experience, you will remain in favor with the search engines and continuously see improved results.  It really is that simple.

Since this is an official SEO Strategy Guide, however, then you’ll probably want a little more detail than that to work with.  So let’s get down to some key points of interest for your search optimization strategy.

Old-school search optimization depended largely on stuffing keywords, cranking out tremendous amounts of content and getting any form of backlinks to your website.

The Internet back then was like the Wild West; everything was available for the taking if you didn’t mind being called an outlaw.  And that’s why quality was almost an afterthought over the past two decades, the search engines did not have a strong enough algorithm in place to properly identify what we now call spam.

I won’t lie to you- some of those tactics still perform well with the major search engines these days.  You can still take a few shortcuts building backlinks and almost any form of traffic is still considered a positive signal, even if it comes from spammy sources that have no interest at all with your brand.  These black hat methods are becoming harder and harder to execute properly though, and there’s one crucial thing you have to remember about being an outlaw-

Outlaws eventually end up dead or in jail.  So stop trying to be an SEO outlaw, even if think you’re the quickest draw in the West.

• DO create informative content to educate your customers
• DO update your FAQ and core information pages
• DO commit to a weekly blog about your industry
• DO share your blogs on social channels to increase engagement
• Do focus on a quality over quantity approach
• Do update or remove poorly written pages
• Do post content that leads to additional actions (read more, call, opt-in, etc.)

So when it comes to content for your website, don’t even think about taking shortcuts in 2016 and beyond.  Everything you post should engage your audience and help them learn a little bit more about your brand.  That means you should be getting down to the nitty-gritty and sharing precise details about anything and everything your customers have questions about, and it should be written in a way that just makes sense.

Let’s talk about backlink building as a search optimization method for a moment…and I’ll start with an obligatory, “Ladies and gentlemen, please make sure your seat backs and tray tables are in their full upright position.  We are about to experience some severe turbulence.”

Over the past few years, creating a solid backlink profile has become increasingly difficult.  Let’s just look at what Google tells you not to do-

• DO NOT guest post on websites with questionable ethics
• DO NOT leave random comments with your link in it
• DO NOT buy backlinks under any circumstance
• DO NOT swap backlinks with other websites
• DO NOT associate yourself with any spammy site
• DO NOT use the same anchor text across most of your links

That’s where we reach the turbulence part of this journey, because chances are pretty darn good that you’ve violated some or all of those guidelines over the past few years.  If that’s the case, then we strongly recommend that you disavow your less-than-reputable backlinks since your website is likely facing penalties because of it.

With that said, link building strategies have not changed much over the past year other than to avoid the ComLuv’s of the world that Google has clearly blacklisted.  In fact, you should probably forget about any form of guest blogging where you’re permitted to insert a backlink straight to your website, unless it’s in an author bio.  There are still tens of thousands of quality content sites to write for out there as well- just use a little more caution this time around.

Social media is still a powerful way to receive natural backlinks as well, and Google vastly prefers this approach since others are choosing to talk about you on their own sites.  Other solid opportunities for gaining backlinks are creating highly-sharable content like infographics or case studies, utilizing directories within your niche, press releases and blogging about authorities within your industry.

One more word on backlinks before we move on.  Remember that your profile does not need dozens of backlinks to every possible page in order to achieve solid overall rankings; this is the old-school formula for grey hat SEO and it is completely unnecessary.  The search engines would rather see a handful of natural high authority links to your domain over thousands of weaker ones, so make sure your focus remains on quality partnerships.

Let’s talk about backlink building as a search optimization method for a moment…and I’ll start with an obligatory, “Ladies and gentlemen, please make sure your seat backs and tray tables are in their full upright position.  We are about to experience some severe turbulence.”

Over the past few years, creating a solid backlink profile has become increasingly difficult.  Let’s just look at what Google tells you not to do-

• DO NOT guest post on websites with questionable ethics
• DO NOT leave random comments with your link in it
• DO NOT buy backlinks under any circumstance
• DO NOT swap backlinks with other websites
• DO NOT associate yourself with any spammy site
• DO NOT use the same anchor text across most of your links

That’s where we reach the turbulence part of this journey, because chances are pretty darn good that you’ve violated some or all of those guidelines over the past few years.  If that’s the case, then we strongly recommend that you disavow your less-than-reputable backlinks since your website is likely facing penalties because of it.

With that said, link building strategies have not changed much over the past year other than to avoid the ComLuv’s of the world that Google has clearly blacklisted.  In fact, you should probably forget about any form of guest blogging where you’re permitted to insert a backlink straight to your website, unless it’s in an author bio.  There are still tens of thousands of quality content sites to write for out there as well- just use a little more caution this time around.

Social media is still a powerful way to receive natural backlinks as well, and Google vastly prefers this approach since others are choosing to talk about you on their own sites.  Other solid opportunities for gaining backlinks are creating highly-sharable content like infographics or case studies, utilizing directories within your niche, press releases and blogging about authorities within your industry.

One more word on backlinks before we move on.  Remember that your profile does not need dozens of backlinks to every possible page in order to achieve solid overall rankings; this is the old-school formula for grey hat SEO and it is completely unnecessary.  The search engines would rather see a handful of natural high authority links to your domain over thousands of weaker ones, so make sure your focus remains on quality partnerships.

Here’s a statistic worth remembering- almost 80% of all mobile searches in the United States directly lead to a purchase.  Since almost 73% of those purchases occur in local brick and mortar stores, local search optimization (AKA Google Maps) should definitely become one of the most important parts of your overall SEO strategy in 2017 and beyond.

How do you optimize for the local search engines?

• Create/verify your listings with all the major search engines
• Complete the certification process to show that it’s your business
• Complete your profile 100% (photos, categories, descriptions, etc.)
• List a local contact phone number in your profile
• Repeat this process on major directories (Yellow Pages, Yelp, etc.)
• Ask your best customers for honest reviews/ratings
• Build backlinks from social and authority sites
• Focus on your main website’s core engagement levels

Essentially, Google and Bing want to see you treat your local search profiles exactly like you would your own website, so remember that the little things really do matter in this instance.  Also, make sure that each of your local search profiles uses 100% unique content for the spiders to crawl, but all of the other information should be exactly the same.  In other words, do not list different addresses, phone numbers and other information that the search engines could see as a conflict, and avoid toll free numbers altogether since they signal that you’re probably not seeking local business clients.

Quick question- why are you worried about your website’s SEO in the first place?  And before you answer, let me point you right back to the very first sentence on this page once again.  Because the answer you’re looking for should not be, “So I can make lots of money.”

Honestly, Google could care less if you are making income through your website or not.

Their only worry is that your site’s content makes visitors happy, and it is a huge red flag for the search engine giant if they see just a few paragraphs of text and a dozen or more ads.  Without even looking at anything else, they know right off the bat what your real intentions are.

• DO use appealing calls to action in contact forms
• DO ask users to visit your social sites
• DO monetize your pages in natural, logical ways
• DO offer freebies and giveaways to generate leads
• DO NOT lose focus on making great content the top priority

Now, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t use ad banners and email captures on your website; just don’t do it in a way that would make people question your motives.  Remember, this is not so much about the amount of advertising, but about how much actual content there is to balance it out.

So don’t be that guy who posts 12 flashing ad banners per page- not even John Chow does that anymore…and you’re no John Chow.  That is, unless you are actually John Chow and you just happen to be reading my blog.  If that’s the case, then I guess this last section doesn’t fully apply to you.

But for everyone that’s not named John Chow, then you may want to reconsider limiting your ad-space and focusing on your actual visitors instead.

Even though you probably have a web developer that handles the heavy lifting when it comes to the back-end of your website, there are several minor issues that could cause you to lose appeal to the search engines.

I won’t dwell here though, just scan through this list of miscellaneous items that could be harming your search ranking-

• Slow loading times/not enough bandwidth
• Poor navigational structures
• Missing pages that do not properly redirect
• Broken inbound and outbound backlinks
• Images not properly labeled
• Missing H1 (main title) tags
• Lack of meta keywords & descriptions
• Plugin conflicts that affect functionality
• Suspicious redirects (possibly by hackers)

So if you see any of these issues, contact your system administrator and tell him that he stinks at his job.  Then call me to fix the issues and we can make fun of that other guy together!

You may have heard some of the experts mention that keywords are officially dead, and to some degree they are absolutely correct.

You should no longer be focused on things like keyword density or packing in as many combinations of key-phrases as you can in any given page.  This is no longer a valid tactic since the search engines have made it abundantly clear that they are more focused on your visitor’s engagement levels.

At the same time, keywords certainly do still matter, so let’s go straight to our bullet points-

• DO mention on at least one primary keyword on each page
• DO use keyword software to find popular phrases with low competition
• DO hyperlink your targeted keyword to other parts of your website
• DO hyperlink your targeted keyword to authority sites within your niche
• DO include your targeted keyword in the title, meta title, and description
• DO NOT repeat keywords just for ranking purposes
• DO NOT ever use a keyword unless it fits naturally within the text
• DO NOT forget that quality and engagement are the most important factors

To prove that, let’s do a little experiment and talk about our famous SEO Keyword Spatula, which is something that I just completely made up for testing purposes.  It does sound like a pretty cool product name though and since I bolded it, the search spiders will likely see it as being important.  Notice that we’re not actually keyword stuffing though, since the phrase is only being used twice total.

If you take peek in AdWords, the phrase “SEO keyword spatula” has zero natural competition (as expected) but it is also somewhat related to almost 600,000 similar monthly searches containing both “SEO” and “keyword” within the phrase.  And if our little experiment here works, then I should have the #1 ranking not only for the worthless phrase I just made up, but also have the opportunity for getting noticed in dozens of similar search terms that people are actively searching for.

Does that make sense? It’s sort of a backdoor ninja approach to capturing the easy stuff and possibly getting noticed in the ultra-competitive niches as well.

You should be doing the exact same thing with all of those long-tail keywords within your niche that others are not actively targeting.  And the long-term benefits of consistently searching for and using new long-tail keyphrases within your website copy can pay serious cumulative rewards.

Many people are on the fence about video marketing since Google cannot actively see the content contained within your embedded multimedia players.  Hopefully by now you’re not going to make me refer you back to the very first sentence again though; modern SEO is not about what Google sees.

It is about how your visitors react to the core content on your domain.  And if a video captures their attention while they’re visiting you, then Google doesn’t have to understand what they’re watching.  It helps you anyway.

• DO use videos to explain core products and services
• DO share videos on social sites
• DO share other videos on your site that resonate with viewers
• DO keep the majority of your videos under two minutes
• DO focus on lighting and sound quality
• DO NOT hesitate to shoot simple, first person videos with a smartphone

Here is another incredibly important piece of the puzzle for video though– the most influential video hosting website on the planet is owned by Google.  So not only does video marketing get the benefit of its very own search stream for consumers, but Google also prioritizes YouTube videos within both the natural and the video types of searches as well.  So you literally get three streams of exposure by posting one video on YouTube and embedding it into your website…and your customers will love you for it.

What does a homeless young Korean man in a singing competition have to do with SEO and video marketing?  It’s almost impossible not to be moved by his amazing journey…and that is engagement at its very finest.  However, if your videos happen to answer the specific questions that your website’s visitors are contemplating, then it is an extremely powerful sales technique as well.

So while video marketing is not a core SEO factor all by itself, the engagement that it creates certainly matters.

Throughout this guide so far, we’ve talked about the term “engagement” in almost every single section.  It is certainly one of those buzzwords that are tossed around frequently by experts, but it hardly ever seems to get properly defined either.  So let’s define it now by search engine standards.

Customer engagement refers to any positive action that is taken by a user on a website.

Any when I say “any positive action”, that’s exactly what I mean.  Think about this for a moment- the average smartphone user visits a website and qualifies it in the mind in a mere three seconds.  So if you manage to tick over to that four second mark, it’s a positive.

Not a good one, mind you, but still a plus in your favor nonetheless.

And your entire job as a website owner is to create more and more of those positive experiences so the search engines know that people are finding good stuff there.  This can include any combination of the following-

• Visiting multiple pages
• Clicking on a backlink
• Filling out a contact form
• Leaving a comment
• Sharing on social media
• Watching a video
• Downloading a file/app
• Users revisiting to your website
• Opting in for email alerts
• Giving likes, +1’s or other nods

If you look in your Google Analytics account, the search giant has been tracking these types of metrics for years now, so it only makes sense that you should keep up with these key metrics as well.  Every chance you get to create additional engagement helps your website overall, so know that your on-page metrics are as important as ever in the eyes of the search engines.

If you’re wondering how to boost your on-page statistics, just try to make each page as pleasant of an experience as possible for your visitors.  Here are just a few techniques to do that-

• DO focus on using only top notch writers
• DO keep your navigation simple
• DO add lots of visual elements to your website
• DO incorporate video, charts, and infographs
• DO use bullet points and subtitles to break up text
• DO use bold and italics to make key points stand out
• DO link internally so users have easy access to more content

If you haven’t realized it by now, search engine optimization is all about the consumer.  The more you go out of your way to provide great information and make your visitors happy, the more Yahoo, Google and Bing will reward you with a boost in natural rankings.  And even though some of the things I’ve shared so far may seem super technical and difficult to implement, I’ll tell you one more time to read the first sentence of this article- that’s close to 85% of today’s SEO right there.

As long as you’re putting forth a genuine effort to become more helpful online than all of your competition, then you will eventually outrank them…even if it’s purely by dumb luck.

So let’s recap real fast with the highlights-

1. Write great content.
2. Optimize for mobile users.
3. Focus on quality backlinks.
4. Use local to your advantage.
5. Don’t be that guy with too many ads.
6. Make sure your website loads smoothly.
7. Continue to focus on keywords.
8. Post a few videos on your site.
9. Use smart page layouts to increase engagement.
10. Always focus on pleasing your consumers.

That’s not so hard, is it?

If you have any questions about modern search optimization or want to point out a tip or two that I missed, please feel free to reach out through my contact form or leave a comment below.  I’m here to help.