Carl Ocab https://www.carlocab.com Digital Marketing Thu, 21 May 2020 04:11:55 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.9.3 https://www.carlocab.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/favicon.png Carl Ocab https://www.carlocab.com 32 32 What Are Meta Tags? Add These 5 Important Tags for SEO https://www.carlocab.com/meta-tags/ Wed, 20 May 2020 15:46:28 +0000 https://www.carlocab.com/?p=9505 Back in 2006, when I was just introduced to the world of SEO, meta tags were the “craze”. Everyone was talking about stuffing their meta tags with keywords–and it worked. Meta tags were a big ranking factor back then even though it’s easy to manipulate. Of course, Google was able to detect that right away and gave less importance to meta tags. Even though it’s not a strong ranking factor as before, it’s still an essential part of SEO. What Are Meta Tags? Meta tags are codes inside the <head> tag that provide information about the page to search engines and browsers. That’s why meta tags are still important. Without them, search engines and browsers would have a difficult time figuring out what your page is about. Add These 5 Meta Tags to Your Site The list below is the 5 most important meta tags for SEO. Use these tags correctly and it will help Google rank your sites for…

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Back in 2006, when I was just introduced to the world of SEO, meta tags were the “craze”. Everyone was talking about stuffing their meta tags with keywords–and it worked. Meta tags were a big ranking factor back then even though it’s easy to manipulate.

Of course, Google was able to detect that right away and gave less importance to meta tags. Even though it’s not a strong ranking factor as before, it’s still an essential part of SEO.

What Are Meta Tags?

Meta tags are codes inside the <head> tag that provide information about the page to search engines and browsers. That’s why meta tags are still important. Without them, search engines and browsers would have a difficult time figuring out what your page is about.

Add These 5 Meta Tags to Your Site

The list below is the 5 most important meta tags for SEO. Use these tags correctly and it will help Google rank your sites for your keywords.

1. Title Tag

The title tag tells search engines what a page is about. It’s the title that shows up on the tab of your browser. It’s also the title that usually shows up in the search results. I said usually because sometimes Google doesn’t use a page’s title tag if it thinks there’s a more relevant title it can use in its search results.

Here are some dos and don’ts when writing your title tag:

Do:

  • Add your keywords in the title tag
  • Put the most important keywords first
  • Use 40-60 characters
  • Write attractive titles (Not only will you get more clicks, but you’ll also get better rankings eventually through RankBrain)

Don’t:

  • Stuff your title tag with keywords only
  • Use ALL CAPS on unnecessary words
  • Use repeat variations of your main keyword (Google understands variations of your keywords. That’s why if you optimize for the keyword “seo”, you’ll also rank for “search engine optimization”)

Example: <title>What Are Meta Tags? Add These 5 Important Tags on Your Site</title>

Here’s what it will look like on Google:

Title tag

2. Meta Description

The meta description tag is used for one purpose: to describe the page to searchers as they read through search results.

Meta descriptions can help you get better rankings… indirectly. It’s the text that appears at the bottom of the URL of a result on Google. People read it. It’s part of the copy of your website.

If you write an attractive meta description that gets people to click on your search result, then like the title tag’s influence on ranking via RankBrain, the meta description will indirectly affect your rankings, too.

Example: <meta name=”description” content=”What you put in the meta description tag of the page goes here. The optimal character count is between 120-160 characters.”/>

Here’s what it will look like on Google:

Meta Description

3. Meta Robots

The meta robots tag tells search engines what to do and what not to do on a certain page.

We use this tag here at carlocab.com because there are some pages on our site that we don’t want indexed. For instance, we don’t want Google to index our success page. It’s where our visitors go to after they use our contact forms. It has thin content and we don’t want it part of Google’s record of our site.

These are the most common meta robot commands:

  • noindex – This prevents Google from indexing the page.
  • nofollow – This tells Google not to follow any links on the page.
  • noarchive – This prevents Google from showing a cached version of the page.

If you want Google to index and follow the links in a page, you do not need to use a meta robots tag as Google, by default, indexes and follows links on a page,

Example: <meta name=”robots” content=”noindex,follow”/>

4. Meta Viewport

The meta viewport tag tells Google that the page is mobile-friendly. This is important for SEO as Google has implemented mobile-first indexing on most sites.

Paste the sample code below if your page is mobile-friendly. If you’re using WordPress, this is automatically added to the code of your site.

Example: <meta name=”viewport” content=”width=device-width, initial-scale=1″ />

5. Rel Canonical

The rel canonical tag is crucial to avoid on-site duplicate content. Yes, duplicate content can happen within your site–on the same URL.

Did you know that you can show different content on www.domain.com and domain.com? That’s why Google treats those two as two different websites if you don’t redirect one from the other. Google also treats these URLs as different pages if left with no rel canonical tag:

  • http://www.domain.com
  • http://domain.com
  • https://www.domain.com
  • https://domain.com
  • https://www.domain.com/index.html
  • https://domain.com/index.html

You can tell Google which is the main URL by using the rel canonical tag. Aside from using the rel canonical tag, it’s good practice to canonicalize your domain as well by implementing 301 redirects.

Example: <link rel=”canonical” href=”https://www.carlocab.com/meta-tags/” />

Avoid The Meta Keywords Tag

Forget about it. It only worked before. However, people took advantage of it by stuffing huge amounts of keywords on it so Google stopped using it.

Other Meta Tags

These are tags that you can do without but can be useful for different sites for specific circumstances.

  • Social meta tags – This tag is not important for SEO but can be helpful for social media. If you correctly set up the 5 important meta tags above, your posts will look good on social media so this tag won’t be necessary.
  • Language – There’s no need to use this meta tag unless your site is not in English, which will require you to declare the main language used in pages.
  • Geo tag – This meta tag is not supported by Google. If you want to geo-target your site, verify it via Google Search Console and use the international targeting tool.
  • Site verification tags – If you’re trying to verify your site on Google Search Console or some SEO tool, you may be required to paste a small snippet of meta tag that includes a verification code.
  • Rating tag – This tag indicates the maturity rating of a page. If your website does not contain adult content, you don’t have to think about this tag.

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What Are Outbound Links? Are They Good for SEO? https://www.carlocab.com/outbound-links-seo/ Mon, 04 May 2020 09:38:03 +0000 https://www.carlocab.com/?p=9474 Links are what makes the world wide web, a web–sites linking out to other websites. Links pointing from point A to point B. However, there are many types of links. Today, we’ll be discussing outbound links. What are they? Are they important for SEO? How many is too much? We’ll answer those questions below. What Are Outbound Links? Outbound links are links that point from your site to another site. Most, if not all, websites have outbound links. They are used to reference other articles, share information from other sites, link to social media profiles, and more. Its counterpart is inbound links. Inbound links are links from other sites pointing to your site.  They are also called backlinks. These links are extremely important for SEO as these links determine the authority of your website. Inbound links are a different topic altogether. However, if you want to read more about it, here’s a good article on how to build backlinks. (By…

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Links are what makes the world wide web, a web–sites linking out to other websites. Links pointing from point A to point B.

However, there are many types of links. Today, we’ll be discussing outbound links. What are they? Are they important for SEO? How many is too much? We’ll answer those questions below.

What Are Outbound Links?

Outbound links are links that point from your site to another site. Most, if not all, websites have outbound links. They are used to reference other articles, share information from other sites, link to social media profiles, and more.

Its counterpart is inbound links. Inbound links are links from other sites pointing to your site.  They are also called backlinks. These links are extremely important for SEO as these links determine the authority of your website. Inbound links are a different topic altogether. However, if you want to read more about it, here’s a good article on how to build backlinks. (By the way, that link points to another site, that is an example of an outbound link!)

 

Dofollow and nofollow outbound links explanation

What Are The Types of Outbound Links?

There are two types of outbound links. They are dofollow and nofollow.

Dofollow Links

Dofollow links pass link juice. This type of link passes authority. If you have a dofollow link from an authoritative site, you’re getting some of that site’s authority. It’s like a trusted individual vouched for you; most people would think you’re a stand-up guy, too. Generally, this is the type of link that you want for SEO.

Nofollow Links

Nofollow links do not pass link juice. But, it doesn’t mean that they’re useless for SEO. Nofollow links are often used if you’re unsure if the site you’re linking to is trustworthy. This is commonly used on blog comments and other user-generated content that may contain an outbound link.

Nofollow links from other websites can be good for SEO, too. In fact, Google “expects” several nofollow links pointing to your site. These “expected” links come from social media profiles, trusted directories, online maps, etc.

A nofollow link may look like this: <a href=”https://www.site.com/” rel=”nofollow”>Site</a>

Why Are Outbound Links Important for SEO?

Outbound links are a ranking factor. Authoritative sites link to other trustworthy sites. So, always remember to link to other relevant authority sites.  It shows relevance and enhances your credibility.

Aside from its direct SEO benefits, linking to other sites will likely result in those websites noticing you. They are webmasters, too, and they monitor their backlinks. If you have great content, one way or another, they may link back to your content as well.

How Many Outbound Links Per Page?

There is no exact number. However, this study only used two hyperlinks, and they’ve seen definitive results.

In our SEO Services, we usually practice adding 2-3 dofollow outbound links to authority sites per page we optimize. But, whatever feels natural is OK. Take a look at this post, there are more than 3 outbound links here. But it’s OK because it’s the natural thing to do. I’m talking about a lot of topics, and I have to reference a lot of stuff.

 

Are a Lot of Outbound Links Bad for SEO?

If the links point to relevant authority websites and their placement is natural, no. But, if you put a bunch of irrelevant links that offer no value, especially if those links point to low-quality spammy sites, it’s going to be a problem.

What Are The Cons of Outbound Links?

Even if it doesn’t hurt your site’s SEO, you have to keep in mind that outbound links may drive visitors away from your site as it points them to a different website. Determine the purpose of the page first. If it’s for SEO, then feel free to add relevant outbound links. If the page’s purpose is to capture leads like a squeeze page, then you may have to think again.

Key Takeaways

  1. Outbound links to relevant authority sites are good for SEO.
  2. Outbound links to spammy irrelevant sites are bad for SEO.
  3. Dofollow links pass link juice–the type of link you want for SEO.
  4. Nofollow links do not pass link juice, but they still have some positive SEO effects.
  5. Add 2-3 outbound links to relevant authority sites per page you optimize. More is OK, so long as it’s natural and adds value to the page.

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15 Essential Things to Do in Your Website During This Pandemic https://www.carlocab.com/15-things-to-do-pandemic/ Wed, 29 Apr 2020 11:53:25 +0000 https://www.carlocab.com/?p=9418 COVID-19 has been affecting everyone in the world. We are all experiencing significant changes in almost all aspects of our lives. And, it is this pandemic that impacts most companies, if not all of them. Reality hits every part of the economy. Global markets are likely to slow down, and it would be impossible to sustain cash flows. It all looks pretty grim at the moment, but if you want your company to come out of it in good working condition, it’s time to start playing a strategic game. In this article, we’ll discuss different ways on how to improve your business through your website by providing the following: What you need to change on your website What you need to improve on your website How this applies to any business who has a website   1. Add an Informational Banner/Pop-up Adding an informational banner or pop-up is a great way to inform your audience of how your company is…

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COVID-19 has been affecting everyone in the world. We are all experiencing significant changes in almost all aspects of our lives. And, it is this pandemic that impacts most companies, if not all of them.

Reality hits every part of the economy. Global markets are likely to slow down, and it would be impossible to sustain cash flows. It all looks pretty grim at the moment, but if you want your company to come out of it in good working condition, it’s time to start playing a strategic game.

In this article, we’ll discuss different ways on how to improve your business through your website by providing the following:

  • What you need to change on your website
  • What you need to improve on your website
  • How this applies to any business who has a website

 

1. Add an Informational Banner/Pop-up

Adding an informational banner or pop-up is a great way to inform your audience of how your company is operating during this time. Inform them of your operating hours during this pandemic and if your company is applying a work-from-home scheme. Remember not just to position the information on your homepage, because not everyone will arrive on your homepage. That’s why it’s better if it’s a banner or a pop-up so that your website visitors will be able to see it.

Adding a banner/pop-up is not only useful during this pandemic. You can also apply this, in any event, i.e., if you have an on-going sale. Or, if you have an upcoming webinar or event, you can also let your website visitors know by using banners or pop-ups.

UX & SEO Warning on Pop-ups

Be careful when adding a pop-up (especially an interstitial) to your website. Pop-ups or interstitials can affect your website’s SEO and User Experience.

In terms of UX, pop-ups are just annoying. It’s as simple as that. So, make sure that your pop-up is relevant or necessary. Does it provide important information? Does it give anything to the visitor? If yes, then put it on your website.

For SEO, Google penalizes websites with “intrusive” pop-ups or interstitials. First of all, it affects SEO because it affects UX to begin with. Google favors websites that have excellent content and excellent user experience. They always want to show the best websites to its users.

So, how can you not get penalized for putting pop-ups in your website? Here are a few ways to not get penalized by Google:

  • Don’t show the pop-up immediately when a visitor comes to your site. Let them browse for a few seconds before showing the pop-up.
  • Show the pop-up once or twice only.
  • Make it easy to close the pop-up.
  • Avoid interstitial pop-ups. Use a mild pop-up that doesn’t cover the whole page.
  • Make the pop-up simple and relevant.

 

2. Integrate a Chatbot

As more people are spending time online, expect a rise in your website traffic. Integrate a chatbot on the site to make communication efficient to these visitors. The popularity of chatbots is steadily increasing because of its effectiveness. It provides 24/7 online assistance, boosts online sales, and can quickly answer customer inquiries.

With a chatbot, your customers don’t have to wait for a representative to get back to them if a chatbot can answer their questions. Because of this, your potential customers who have doubts about the product or service will be able to go straight to signing up or purchasing with the help of the chatbot.

Chatbot integration is not only helpful during this time, but it can also help at any time of the year. Check out this list of chatbot builders to help you get started!

 

3. Introduce Cheaper Products or Services

As we all know, it is tough to spend money during this time. Many individuals have lost their source of income mainly due to prevention initiatives introduced in various countries. It is not wise to splurge on things that aren’t essential right now. So, it is best if you can add cheaper products or services for your customers. This is also a good time to utilize a downsell.

For example, if you are a retailer of coffee beans who usually only sells half-kilo or kilo packs, you could introduce a new variant of the beans on a smaller packaging like 200-250 grams per package. With this, people wouldn’t have a hard time deciding whether or not to buy your coffee beans because of its lower price.

Apple Introduces Cheaper Phones

Another real-life example is what Apple did this month; they announced that they are going to release a new model of iPhone, which is 40% cheaper than the cheapest iPhone 11 released these past few months. This is good news for Apple fans who want to get a new phone but want to spend much less than usual.

How About Luxury Brands?

Be careful when introducing cheaper products if you are a luxury brand. The example about Apple shows that they introduced a cheaper phone, although it is still much more expensive than the average smartphones like Oppo or Lenovo.

If you are a luxury brand, you might lose your class and exclusivity when too many persons can get a hold of your product. Think about how introducing cheaper products or services can affect your brand.

With this, you can continue selling your products and services during this pandemic. Don’t worry, if your product or service is worth it, customers will still come back for more!

 

4. Create a Landing Page for All COVID-Related Info or Posts

You can create a single page for all your COVID-related information. This is great for both your visitors and yourself! Why?

This helps your guests, as it would be quicker for them to find details relating to COVID-19 on your website. Talk about how your company is operating during this time. Let your website visitors know what your operating hours are, if you are operating at all. You could also add a short paragraph on how your company is reacting to this pandemic and assure everyone that your employees and yourself are all safe and sound.

This is also a great page to talk about why you are open to giving a discount to your products or services. Let people know that you are tackling the obstacle head on as a company and that you are with your customers to get through this.

 

5. Review All Automated Marketing Activities

Every person should always be sensitive to our current situation. Review all your automated marketing activities, such as emails, posts, or ads. Don’t get me wrong; automated marketing activities are useful for your company. BUT, you have to make sure that your emails, posts, or ads, are related and sensitive to our current pandemic. So, to be safe, check ALL your automated marketing activities!

For example, your company sends out automated emails to nurture leads. Now might not be the best time to do some hard-selling. It will turn-off a lot of potential customers. Most, if not all of us, are still thinking about the uncertainty our situation presents. Let’s be sensitive enough to the situation.

 

6. Focus on Discounts & Promos

If you can’t introduce cheaper products or services, you may want to consider giving out substantial discounts to your current products or services. Remember that almost all persons do not want to risk putting out money for things that might not be too valuable for them at the moment.

As a business, take in whatever you can get. It will help your business stay afloat during this pandemic. If you are sure that you have a valuable product or service, customers will always come back to you. So, just take the small hit today for a better tomorrow!

Although, just like introducing cheaper products or services, giving too much discounts for a luxury brand might have more cons than pros. Just remember that if you are going to give a lower price, it should still cater to your company’s buyer personas or target market. If you only target rich people, stick with it.

 

7. Increase Social Media Activity

As more people are staying at home, there is an increase in their time spent on social media platforms. Social media platforms play an essential role in giving out information to people (and keeping us sane during these trying times!). Now is the best time to reach out to your customers online. Know their wants and needs during this time. Just keep in touch with them; let them know that you are still there to help them out. Anticipate the wants or needs of your customers and use those things to create posts that can answer their problems.

You can also create posts that have an uplifting or inspiring message. This will be great for your brand awareness because people will be able to relate that uplifting feeling with your brand. This is a critical time to produce content that is “shareable” to reach more people, which will benefit you in the long run.

 

8. Start Creating High-Quality Content

Although other companies in your industry are reducing or totally stopping the creation of content, keep producing content at this period. But, make sure to go for quality over quantity!

Go all out on your content marketing. Create blog posts, videos, or other social media posts, that talk about your services/products or other vital questions that would answer your customers’ questions.

And if they may not be willing to avail of your services or goods right away, at best you’re more likely to be on people’s minds than other companies. Keeping constant communication with your customers is key to increasing your chances of getting more sales in the future!

 

9. Adjust Your Messaging to Saving Money Instead of Making Money

I can’t stress enough how important it is to be sensitive during this time. Right now, a lot of people are going through all kinds of struggles. It is off-putting if your messaging focuses on making money. It is better that instead of making money, adjust your messaging to saving money.

For example, you are selling software that helps people create videos easily. Instead of advertising it as something that could help them make money faster because users can create more videos daily, show them how using the software can save you money by doing more work in less time. On top of saving money, they will also save time, which can’t be replaced by anything!

Just remember always to double-check any email, post, ad, or any other content that you are about to send out. Make sure that your messaging takes into consideration the on-going pandemic, which is causing a lot of problems worldwide.

 

10. Focus on Improving Your Search Rankings

Search Engine Optimization never yields results immediately. This is something that takes a lot of time and effort to see excellent results. This is why you should focus on improving your search rankings right now! While your competitors are not doing anything, you are starting to improve your rankings slowly but steadily. By the time they decide to resume their marketing activities, you will be far ahead from all of them.

So why is it important to get high rankings? It’s because online searches have always been rising every year! SEO is always an excellent investment (if you are doing it right! If you need help, we offer SEO Services). It’s as simple as “higher search rankings = more traffic = more leads = more sales.”

 

11. Evaluate All Texts and Images

In relation to being sensitive and adhering to the current situation, evaluate all texts and images that your company shows to the public. Check your website first if you have any texts that might be inappropriate during this time, such as asking people to sign up for an event or to go out and go jogging. (If you are a sports website, maybe?)

For example, if you have upcoming events, instead of giving a seminar physically, you could just make it a webinar. With this, people do not have to gather but will still be able to get the information that you’ll share in the seminar. Another thing to evaluate is the imagery that you use for your content. It is not advisable to use fear as a hook during this time. People are already thinking about a lot of things; let’s not add to their worries.

 

12. Update Your Website Info

During these times, people are uncertain of what is going to happen. So, at least let them be sure of the status of your company. Let them know if you are operating, changing schedules, or if you are closing. Even if they know you are closed, it will give them the impression that they could check back again soon.

Why is it important to update your website info? Well, because doing so would avoid wasting the time of your website visitors. For example, your business is not operating. But, you didn’t put it on your website. What if someone orders your product then doesn’t receive anything after ordering? It will be a bad impression. That person would certainly not come back to you.

 

13. Update Your Social Media Accounts

Other than your website, it is also important to update your social media accounts. More people are spending their time online; it is a great way to keep in touch with your customers. Let them know your operating hours or at least tell them what your company is up to during this time.

Use the high-quality content that you’ll create (like we talked about earlier) to post on your social media accounts. Give your customers great content that they could consume to keep them company while we are all stuck at home.

Just remember to keep your language and imagery appropriate. You do not want to cause irreparable damage to your company’s reputation. So think before posting!

 

14. Reach Out to Your Current Customers

Remember that your current customers are the reason why your company is where it is right now. Take time to message or email them to update them of your company’s situation and how it may or may not affect them. Bear in mind that they’re probably worried about a lot of things right now, and it’s better if the message is more reassuring than offering more things to fear.

Talk about how the pandemic affects your products or services. If you can’t deliver products, let them know so they won’t wait for nothing. Or, If your services are affected, inform them how it is affected. Provide answers to all possible questions that are in your customers’ minds.

Just keep in touch and let them know that you are still here. They will appreciate it as long as you make the emails personalized. Don’t send out generic messages that will only fill up their inboxes with useless information and irritate them.

 

15. Continue Your PPC and Social Media Ads

Are you utilizing PPC and social media ads? If not, you should! Even during this pandemic. More people are spending time online, and there is also a surge in search engine searches. Invest in your PPC and social media ads to reach your target audience now.

Even before the pandemic, marketing efforts have been switching to digital! So, creating effective PPC or social media campaigns will always yield good results for your business.

Another reason why it is a good idea to continue your PPC and social media ads during this time is that most of your competitors are cutting or reallocating their ads budgets. Because of this, cost per clicks is lower, while impressions are higher!

Conclusion

These are just some of the things that you should focus on during these trying times to keep your business relevant. What we marketers need to do is adapt to a new, post-pandemic environment with revised tactics and buyer personas. Make moves always to keep improving! Now is the time to learn more things while we have some downtime. And lastly, stay at home and stay safe always!

If you need help doing any of these things, fill out our contact form to get a call from our business growth specialist.

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Importance of Emotional Connection in the Art of Persuasion https://www.carlocab.com/emotional-connection-persuasion/ Tue, 07 Nov 2017 08:07:07 +0000 https://www.carlocab.com/?p=7954 Emotional connection is one of the essential elements of persuasion. Having the ability to make the audience respond through touching their emotions is a good sign that you are able to get deeper into your audience’s decision making. Making them understand that you know their needs, pains and troubles would help to intensify their eagerness to listen because they believe that you have the solution. When the connection is established, they can give you their full trust, and from there, you can fully give your message. It Captures Your Audience’s Attention Like how Carl’s company uses colors, creative headlines, and animations on their web design services, our goal as a speaker is to capture the audience’s attention. They say that the first 60 seconds of the presentation is very crucial. That is why the best way to establish undivided attention is to say important opening statements that will somehow connect you to them. Start by conditioning their minds and hearts…

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Emotional connection is one of the essential elements of persuasion. Having the ability to make the audience respond through touching their emotions is a good sign that you are able to get deeper into your audience’s decision making.

Making them understand that you know their needs, pains and troubles would help to intensify their eagerness to listen because they believe that you have the solution. When the connection is established, they can give you their full trust, and from there, you can fully give your message.

It Captures Your Audience’s Attention

Like how Carl’s company uses colors, creative headlines, and animations on their web design services, our goal as a speaker is to capture the audience’s attention. They say that the first 60 seconds of the presentation is very crucial. That is why the best way to establish undivided attention is to say important opening statements that will somehow connect you to them.

Start by conditioning their minds and hearts that the message that you are about to share is something they can relate to. Tell some specific experiences to get an emotional response, add drama if necessary. Just make sure that the message is simple and clear and they will pick up the cues.

It Makes Selling Easier

Did you know that most customers buy a product based on emotion, simply because it feels right? You can easily upsell or downsell to a customer by using their emotions. In the Art of Persuasion, appealing to the human side of the audience makes them act according to your advice. Some even consider the “connection” is more important than the logic of doing a specific thing.

Salespeople present their products by creating wants, making their prospects feel that they are missing something in their lives and they have the solution. They focus on negative issues and give hope. So, before they would present their product, they have already intensified the emotions of the customer. Few more information about the advantages of the product would lead to a big SALE. In addition, maintaining such connection will earn you loyal customers who would even recommend you, your product and services to other people.

It Helps the Audience Remember

Art of persuasion includes making a blunt message exciting and easier to digest. The audience won’t listen to same old pitches about the company. Make the audience’s emotion as your focal point to make sure that they absorb the message, they respond and soon take an action in your favor. It is not important that they like you as a speaker. What’s important is for them to open their hearts to you and eventually use their emotions to make decisions.

It Increases Engagement

Touching the hearts of the audience will not only give you a response during the presentation. It helps gauge the extent of your influence. When you finish your speech, some would love to mingle with you because you have made connections with them.

They would tell you how they feel about the presentation and you have the opportunity to dig deeper into their hearts and know what’s on their mind. This is where a lasting connection should start. These kind of opportunities are should not be wasted.

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How to Create Engaging Social Media Content That Gets You Higher SERP Rank https://www.carlocab.com/social-media-content-for-higher-serp-rank/ Wed, 17 Feb 2016 05:08:11 +0000 https://www.carlocab.com/?p=6476 Social signals? Does it really help increase SEO rank? Google’s Matt Cutts said that social signals do not affect search rankings. Perhaps. However, if something you posted on social media becomes viral, your page will be talked about, which means that your website gets exposed, which will gather a lot of traffic, which will help you get links. It may not be a search engine ranking factor but social signals still can have significant effects on your SEO. So how exactly do you get a post viral and on top of the SERP ranks, how do you make people like, share, vote, pin, or view your post? Yeah, you can pay advertisements to market your post, but the best way is through making sure that the content you post is engaging, free, and fun. Lucky for you, I know exactly what to do. Know Your Audience for Your Audience Knows Best Make content that targets a specific audience, spy on…

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Laptop Writing Stats

Social signals? Does it really help increase SEO rank?

Google’s Matt Cutts said that social signals do not affect search rankings. Perhaps. However, if something you posted on social media becomes viral, your page will be talked about, which means that your website gets exposed, which will gather a lot of traffic, which will help you get links.

It may not be a search engine ranking factor but social signals still can have significant effects on your SEO. So how exactly do you get a post viral and on top of the SERP ranks, how do you make people like, share, vote, pin, or view your post? Yeah, you can pay advertisements to market your post, but the best way is through making sure that the content you post is engaging, free, and fun. Lucky for you, I know exactly what to do.

Know Your Audience for Your Audience Knows Best

Make content that targets a specific audience, spy on them if you have to, just make sure that you are aware of their demographic data and understand their interests and preferences, this will allow you to create quality content that they can easily associate with. Understanding where you post is also important. People on Twitter and Facebook would love humorous content, but I doubt that comedy would be appealing on Google+ and LinkedIn.

Be Imaginative with Your Content

Explore the various types of content. Use images, videos, infographics, and memes. Also, consider conjuring up challenges or contests, most people are innately competitive, remember the Ice bucket challenge?

Asking your audience a question and making a poll where they can vote is also an excellent way to engage your audience. Lastly, provide some tips and some incentives. These are highly effective ways to make your post get noticed.

Be in the Moment

You need to make a content that is base on recent news and breakthroughs in your industry. Follow trends that your audience is also following. People long for information that is currently hot, popular, and in demand.

Regularly Connect with Your Audience

Don’t forget to reply to comments and provide feedback on inquiries. Be sure to you let your audience know that you appreciate their participation. Flirt a little by liking-back, sharing, and retweeting some of your audience’s posts. Consistently create high-quality content and make updates so that your audience will easily be familiar with your brand. Familiarity is an excellent way to get followers and make fans.

Don’t Fear Controversy

Create controversial content. Topics that most people have strong opinions about tend to go viral. Don’t provide your personal opinion, rather, be neutral. Let your audience square off their views and don’t take sides.

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Google Now Protects Users From Deceptive Pages https://www.carlocab.com/google-protection-from-deceptive-pages/ Tue, 09 Feb 2016 14:18:06 +0000 https://www.carlocab.com/?p=6511 It’s on! The battle between social engineering attacks and Google has begun. Of course, all Google wants is to protect its users. Google’s Safe Browsing initiative have been protecting loads of people from sleazy websites and phishing attacks for 8 years. Last November, they announced that Safe browsing would protect us from social engineering attacks as well. Thanks Google, how thoughtful! What Are Social Engineering Attacks? These are the deceptive tactics that trick users into clicking a button or image which installs unwanted software or make users reveal personal information, such as passwords, phone numbers, or credit card information. These deceptive embedded content are those that disguise like a trusted entity which tries to lure users into making a horrible mistake. They pose as trusted images which make them dangerously deceitful. Here are some examples of deceptive content. Those that mimics a dialogue from FLV software developer: Install button Those claiming that your software is out of date: Update button And…

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It’s on! The battle between social engineering attacks and Google has begun. Of course, all Google wants is to protect its users.

Google’s Safe Browsing initiative have been protecting loads of people from sleazy websites and phishing attacks for 8 years. Last November, they announced that Safe browsing would protect us from social engineering attacks as well. Thanks Google, how thoughtful!

What Are Social Engineering Attacks?

These are the deceptive tactics that trick users into clicking a button or image which installs unwanted software or make users reveal personal information, such as passwords, phone numbers, or credit card information.

These deceptive embedded content are those that disguise like a trusted entity which tries to lure users into making a horrible mistake. They pose as trusted images which make them dangerously deceitful. Here are some examples of deceptive content.

Those that mimics a dialogue from FLV software developer: Install button

fake flv

Those claiming that your software is out of date: Update button

pasted image 0 (4)

And in most file-sharing and streaming sites: download button and play button.

pasted image 0

How many times have you clicked on those only to be redirected to harmful sites which push unwanted software downloads and updates or offers subscription traps, job-opportunityand quick money making schemes. Don’t worry, you are not alone. These fake buttons blend in and are often not recognizable from the rest of the page. They mimic the site’s look.

Thankfully Google, in their newest announcement titled “No More Deceptive Download Buttons“, said that they would be expanding Safe Browsing protection and would be targeting all those issues mentioned above.

While under the protection of Google, those users who use Chrome browser who encounters social engineering attacks will be presented with an image having this kind of message.

Google Warning

Google will flag down websites that contain social engineering content. This protection will create a much safer browsing experience and will protect users from frustration, bad advertisers, scammers, and maybe even viruses.

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3 Link Building Failures Your Business Should Avoid https://www.carlocab.com/link-building-failures/ Wed, 03 Feb 2016 06:46:21 +0000 https://www.carlocab.com/?p=6436 Link building is a challenging task. In fact, the link building tactics of an SEO agency may be the defining factor of an experienced agency to an agency that’s just full of promises. Backlinks are still the #1 search engine ranking factor. That’s why caution must be implemented because search engines take this very seriously. Some people tend to forget that search engines are almost omnipotent these days compared to 5 years ago where there are tons of loopholes to manipulate. Link Building is a strategy. There are numerous ways to get backlinks. There are good ways and bad ways. We must learn the proper guidelines and which strategies to avoid. Misguided efforts to build up links cause more harm than good. Here are 3 Link Building Failures and the ways to avoid them. 1. Spam – Because It’s Only for Eating Spamming is a common black hat strategy, there are numerous kinds of spam and some of the most…

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Rusty Chain

Link building is a challenging task. In fact, the link building tactics of an SEO agency may be the defining factor of an experienced agency to an agency that’s just full of promises.

Backlinks are still the #1 search engine ranking factor. That’s why caution must be implemented because search engines take this very seriously. Some people tend to forget that search engines are almost omnipotent these days compared to 5 years ago where there are tons of loopholes to manipulate.

Link Building is a strategy. There are numerous ways to get backlinks. There are good ways and bad ways. We must learn the proper guidelines and which strategies to avoid. Misguided efforts to build up links cause more harm than good.

Here are 3 Link Building Failures and the ways to avoid them.

1. Spam – Because It’s Only for Eating

Spamming is a common black hat strategy, there are numerous kinds of spam and some of the most common spams are:

A. Forum Spam

This refers to posting on forum threads for the sole intention of getting backlinks. Webmasters who uses this strategy creates profile spams, joins different forums and posts their backlinks on different threads.

Here’s What You Can Do Instead

Don’t join communities just to post backlinks. Simple right. Genuinely join communities, be legitimate and contribute. Also, avoid joining forums that don’t monitor spam content. If the community is full of spammers, then there’s a risk that you will be branded one as well.

B. Trackback and Comment Spam

Trackbacks allows bloggers to communicate between websites. You wish to write a post and link to another blog but also want your readers to see your post. A trackback is a way for you to ping the other bloggers and let them know that you wrote a post that links to their blog. They will receive a trackback notification and will decide whether to display it as a comment or not. If shown, the comment will include a title, excerpt and a link to your blog post.

What spammers do is to generate countless automated scripts or scraped contents to send tons of trackbacks to different websites hoping that they could leave their links on websites where trackbacks are not being monitored. Comment spam, on the other hand, is done by posting random, irrelevant, nonsensical comments on a blog article.

Here’s What You Can Do Instead

If you wish to send a trackback, make sure that what you post and the blog you link with is in high quality, relevant, and is related. Some authors monitor their work so if you post something on their blog that looks spammy they may report you. Avoid this by writing comments that matter. Be authentic. Same goes to your blog. Monitor your blogs and the trackbacks you received and make sure that you don’t get penetrated by spammers.

C. Article Directory spam

An article directory is a site where you can submit articles with anchor texts linking back to your site to obtain backlinks. Once the articles are uploaded users can download it and use it on their own website. If they publish your article, you will get inbound links from their website, this becomes a spam when webmasters upload inappropriate contents, spin-off articles, and uses irrelevant anchor texts, hoping that other websites publish their work, which resulted for search engines to become critical of this link building strategy.

Here’s What You Can Do Instead

If you wish to use article directories, then make sure that the content of your work is relevant, unique, and with an appropriate anchor text. You should also make sure that the article directory where you put your article is a high-quality directory.

2. Buying Links

Buying links are easy, quick, and convenient. Purchased links can get you many links with the proper link text pretty quickly, and could give you a boost in search engine rankings. A powerful link with a high page rank and many outbound links will cost more but will garner better results. It’s an extremely effective link building tactic. Unfortunately, search engines are very strict about it, and we strongly advise against it. It’s not worth risking for the penalties can be severe.

Here’s What You Can Do Instead

Never buy links. Invest in good content instead. Use your money to hire a great writer. Do inbound marketing. Create infographics. Remarkable content is the most effective way to build links.

3. Private Blog Network

A private blog network is a set of blogs that is owned or controlled by a single individual or company. Usually, PBNs are created by getting expired domains that has links pointing to it. A webmaster uses this as a link building strategy. They buy numerous expired domains, and they “revive” those by adding trash content for the purpose of funneling links to their main website which, in return, increase the SEO ranking of that site. This worked for quite some time a few years ago but Google took action against private blog networks and penalizes sites that are using this tactic.

Here’s What You Can Do Instead

PBNs are not entirely bad. It’s only wrong if you create it for the sole purpose of link funneling. There are ways to utilize PBNs without being penalized. Instead of buying expired domains, it would be better if you create new ones. Refrain from making many microsites, keep it to a minimum and make sure that you actively promote and market each, and create unique and valuable content on each of the websites. In fact, the popular blogs LifeHacker, Gizmodo, Kotaku, and more are all part of a blog network.

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5 Tactics Top YouTubers Use When Writing a Video Script https://www.carlocab.com/video-script-writing/ https://www.carlocab.com/video-script-writing/#comments Wed, 27 Jan 2016 06:08:59 +0000 https://www.carlocab.com/?p=6360 When making videos most people are more worried about the actor/presenter, the scenery, the make-up, the lighting, basically the visual appeal of the video, than the script. Yes, those things are important and necessary. However, before exhausting all your energy on those elements, the first thing you should think of is having a great script. To get the most out of videos you have to start with an engaging script, that once turned into video, could captivate any viewer. So do you make a great video script? What are the things you should consider? It starts with the right preparation. Know your audience, your message, and your aim, then follow these 5 tactics that top YouTubers use in making a video script that is precise, creative, and compelling. 1. Be Natural and Use Conversational Tone When writing a script, imagine that you’re just having a conversation with a person or with a group. Don’t be too formal on your script, it’s better to…

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Video Script

When making videos most people are more worried about the actor/presenter, the scenery, the make-up, the lighting, basically the visual appeal of the video, than the script. Yes, those things are important and necessary. However, before exhausting all your energy on those elements, the first thing you should think of is having a great script. To get the most out of videos you have to start with an engaging script, that once turned into video, could captivate any viewer.

So do you make a great video script? What are the things you should consider? It starts with the right preparation. Know your audience, your message, and your aim, then follow these 5 tactics that top YouTubers use in making a video script that is precise, creative, and compelling.

1. Be Natural and Use Conversational Tone

When writing a script, imagine that you’re just having a conversation with a person or with a group. Don’t be too formal on your script, it’s better to be natural it makes videos more engaging.

2. Keep the Script Short

Short and straight to the point sentences will allow you to emphasize more on certain key points and will enable your audience to grasp your message easily. It will also be easier for the actor to memorize and find the flow and natural cadence of the script.

3. Don’t Overuse Jargons and Try to Use Simple Words

Use simple words. Yes, big words make it look more intelligent, but it also makes it difficult for the audience to understand. If the use of jargon is inevitable, use the most commonly used term that the audience would likely understand

4. Tell a Story

Statistics, facts, and other data are good, but unless you want to bore your viewers to death, I suggest that you put some story into the mix. Lifeless content won’t drive your viewers into action. Tell a story or share an experience, it’s real and more compelling.

5. Get Other’s Opinion

Read your script out loud and ask others to read it to you. Listen and make sure it’s pleasant to the ears and that the key points are easily picked out. Also, ask for other people’s opinion. Other people can provide some additional necessities to include. Sometimes we get too familiar with our words that we overlook our mistakes.

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5 Points to Keep in Mind for Content Marketing Success https://www.carlocab.com/content-marketing-success/ https://www.carlocab.com/content-marketing-success/#comments Thu, 21 Jan 2016 14:20:57 +0000 https://www.carlocab.com/?p=6326 One of the trends that marketers have been doing for years now is content marketing. We may think that this strategy is new, but no, it has been with us and have been used for many years. So what is content marketing? Content marketing is a marketing strategy technique directed to the creation and distribution of highly valuable and relevant content that can attract a targeted audience and retain that audience. Basically, the purpose of content marketing is to provide information that can persuade customers to buy your products or avail your services. But how exactly does it work? What are the things you must keep in mind to be successful? Here are 5 points to bear in mind for content marketing success. 1. Use These Popular Types of Content The first point to consider is to learn the types of content, actually, there are numerous types, you don’t necessarily need to try them all since different content types suit different…

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One of the trends that marketers have been doing for years now is content marketing. We may think that this strategy is new, but no, it has been with us and have been used for many years. So what is content marketing?

Content marketing is a marketing strategy technique directed to the creation and distribution of highly valuable and relevant content that can attract a targeted audience and retain that audience. Basically, the purpose of content marketing is to provide information that can persuade customers to buy your products or avail your services. But how exactly does it work? What are the things you must keep in mind to be successful?

Here are 5 points to bear in mind for content marketing success.

1. Use These Popular Types of Content

The first point to consider is to learn the types of content, actually, there are numerous types, you don’t necessarily need to try them all since different content types suit different brands in different ways. But for your learning and understanding here are some of the most commonly used types of content.

  • Infographics – Its name sums it all up. You present certain information or data in a visual manner. Infographics are used to quickly communicate messages, to simplify large amounts of data, to draw out patterns and relationships, and to monitor changes over time. Check out CreativeBloq’s infographics compilation for ideas.
  • Meme – A meme is a growing internet trend that pairs an image with a catch phrase to create humor. It may also include GIFs and videos. Marketers attach brand messages to memes making it easier for audiences to remember and relate to the brand.

Darth Vader Content Marketing Meme

  • Videos – videos are a great way of giving information and the same time it’s great with social media. Uploading a video in youtube or facebook can gather many audiences. You can upload different kinds of videos such as vlogs, explainer videos, presentations, and interviews.
  • Product/Service review – Product reviews can help you build authority in your industry. Every industry has numerous kinds of products and making a review will enable you to engage with key developers and service providers.
  • Link pages – A link page is a post that provides links to great resources around the web. It’s great in providing your own site with authoritative SEO signals, and asserting your thoughts within your industry.

There are still many different types of content I suggest you learn them all so you can utilize it based on your needs.

2. Learn How to Target Your Audience

The second point is to know your targeted audience, before even starting to create a content make sure that you know your audience as much as you know your brand. You will base a portion of your content on the needs and the wants of the audience, that is what sells products.

A key in sales is knowing what your customer needs more than what he believes he needs. Learn your audience’s interests and preferences, remember that your targeted audiences are your prospect buyers. So how will you determine your targeted audience? Simple, create an audience persona, this is an imaginary profile for your buyers. Aside from the interests and preferences, age, gender, language, income bracket, and social values would also matter.

3. Be Meticulous on the Content You Put

The third point is to analyze exactly what you put in the content. Your content should be able to answer any question that a customer might think of. Information is good, but a story would be better, so don’t just include details about your products, self-reference would be counterproductive, rather impress them through compelling stories that illustrate the benefits your business has to offer, people will be more attracted to view your content if it’s creative and exciting. You should also include visual aids in your content. Pictures and videos are some of the most effective types of content. Not only will this help you attract audiences it will also increase your SEO authority.

Now you know the types, the audience, and the content, would that be enough? Of course not. A great content is nothing without a great marketing strategy. So the 4th and 5th point is all about the marketing strategy and the relationship you need to build with your audience.

4. The Marketing Strategy

justice-strategy-advice

The fourth point is the basic internet marketing strategy. Here you have to consider the schedule, the team, and the allotted budget. You have to create a marketing plan. Follow marketing schedule, this will enable you to be consistent with your marketing plan. You should also have a management team that can create, monitor, and distribute content. A team that can handle the SEO, manage social media and email marketing, advertise, and target an audience. These will help you distribute your content and will allow you to expand the reach of your brand. More audience, more authority, more sales.

5. Consistency Is Key

The fifth point would be maintenance. One great content and that is marketed very well is never enough. If you really want to sell your product you must consistently make great content and market it in a strategic manner. Go beyond the basics and don’t rely too much on direct promotion. Build relationships and be authentic in online interactions this will allow you to maintain your customers. Having loyal customers means making money without even selling, so make sure that you retain your old customers and constantly seek for new ones.

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Restaurant SEO: 6 Things You Can Do Right Now to Improve Your Rankings https://www.carlocab.com/restaurant-seo-6-things-you-can-do-right-now-to-improve-your-rankings/ Fri, 20 Nov 2015 16:21:08 +0000 https://www.carlocab.com/?p=6215 It’s APEC week here in the Philippines, and traffic is at its worst. That’s why we went out of town for a while and avoided the busy streets of Manila. Tonight, I’m in the City of Vigan. Home of the guilty pleasure Bagnet and Vigan longganisa. I know the city’s specialty, but I don’t know what restaurant serves it best. What do I do? You got that right, I search Google. Gone are the days where “word of mouth” was really word of mouth. Now it is word of mouth through Facebook, blogs, and Google. So I thought I’d share with you some of the stuff we do to improve the search engine rankings of our clients who own a restaurant. 1. Create A Google My Business Account Google My Business was created by Google for people to have an easier time locating businesses. One of the benefits you get when you create an account is that your restaurant’s details will appear on…

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It’s APEC week here in the Philippines, and traffic is at its worst. That’s why we went out of town for a while and avoided the busy streets of Manila. Tonight, I’m in the City of Vigan. Home of the guilty pleasure Bagnet and Vigan longganisa.

I know the city’s specialty, but I don’t know what restaurant serves it best. What do I do? You got that right, I search Google. Gone are the days where “word of mouth” was really word of mouth. Now it is word of mouth through Facebook, blogs, and Google.

So I thought I’d share with you some of the stuff we do to improve the search engine rankings of our clients who own a restaurant.

1. Create A Google My Business Account

Google My Business Listing

Google My Business was created by Google for people to have an easier time locating businesses. One of the benefits you get when you create an account is that your restaurant’s details will appear on the right-hand side of a desktop search result for your business. Google maps will also show all your necessary information such as your address and contact number.

2. Create A Google Alert

When you create a Google Alert for your restaurant name, you will receive an email every time Google sees a page with your restaurant’s name on it.

What does this mean to you?

You can recover unlinked mentions. There might be some people who blogged about your restaurant but didn’t realize that you have a website they can link to or someone who simply forgot to link to your website. When you’ve set upped a Google Alert for your restaurant name, you can recover these links by emailing them and asking for a link. Simple. Cunning. Effective.

3. Start A Blog

A blog is a great way for you to talk to your customers, announce discounts, and set events. A blog could also make them feel closer and connected to you and your business because you can talk in a more personal way.

On the SEO side of things – A blog can help you get better rankings because you can easily publish new content – and Google loves sites that are often updated. With a blog on your restaurant website, you can update your site regularly.

4. Create A Facebook Page

Having a Facebook page is as common as being able to breathe. Almost everyone is on Facebook. When you create a Facebook Page for your business, you could easily share your website and blog posts to get shares and likes.

Social shares as a ranking factor is a controversial issue. There are lots of studies that prove that there is a positive correlation between social shares and rankings, but Google did not confirm it. Nevertheless, most content that gets shared is quality content, and quality content is what you should be posting. So even if social shares are not ranking factors, it could only do you good because you will be producing quality content.

5. Implement Structured Data

Screen Shot 2015-11-20 at 11.43.54 PM

By having a structured data for your address and contact information, your search result would look better. A person who searches for your restaurant could easily see your address and contact information under your search result.

Structured data is not limited to your address and contact information. Your page title, description, and other details should also be structured. By doing this, it would be easier for Google to determine what your page is about, helping you rank higher in search results.

6. Encourage Online Reviews

Screen Shot 2015-11-20 at 11.51.10 PM

Encouraging online reviews are good for your business because other people would get an idea on how other people liked or disliked your business.

That’s why Google is displaying restaurant reviews on their search result as well. Reviews is a local SEO ranking factor. So if you have extra desserts, offer them for free to your customers in exchange for a review.

P.S. – This post is NOT sponsored by Gordon Ramsay. Though, it would be awesome if it was!

P.P.S. – Check out SEO Philippines. Maybe we can help you rank your restaurant’s website. (Shoutout to my bud, Dirk, at Serpshake SEO. If you’re in Singapore and need SEO, hit them up!)

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