B250 – Lesson Twelve Weekly Reflection

Main Topics: Ranking and link building, Google Analytics

Tools Used: Google AdWords, Google Analytics

Overview

This week was half new content, half reflection. The new content consisted of us learning how to get more traffic to our site through the appropriate use of linking. The reflection portion of our week consisted of us reviewing the progress we’ve made on our site. We were able to review this through the use of Google Analytics.

My Thoughts

Our assignment stated: Link building refers to the practice of getting other sites to implement hyperlinks back to your web site. In broad terms, Google ranks your website based on its link profile (i.e., the quantity and quality of hyperlinks back to your site). Additionally, we were invited to create a plan to implement links around the web and gain more traffic.

Who and When?

Seeing as I am the site admin and the only one working on the site, I will be responsible for getting links out there. The work will start immediately, seeing as I would like to have more traffic to my site.

What and How?

My homepage is extremely important and gives direction to new users (shows them where to find answers to question they might have, shows recent updates on the site, etc.) For this reason, my homepage will be the main link that will be distributed. It will also be important to create links for every update that occurs on the site. For example, when a new commentary comes out, provide that link on Facebook, Twitter, etc. Pages that won’t be distributed will be ones such as the help pages and whatnot.

Where will the links be gathered?

Social media plays a big role in this. It is easy to have content shared on websites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram (share, retweet, re-gram, etc.) These types of sites will be my primary source. Another source will be on news / content aggregation sites like Reddit where I can push updates out and inform thousands of users (without them having to actually visit my site). Getting my information into the “feeds” of individuals is important. Proximity and mere exposure to my updated content makes it more likely for visits to site.

The second portion of our week, we took a look at our statistics as found in Google Analytics. We were asked to evaluate the strength of our keywords, ads, and landing pages. We were then invited to, after having thoroughly reviewed said items, select the worst one. Here is what I discovered:

The absolute worst keyword that I have would have to be “video game commentary”. As of right now (July 16), it has 10 impressions, no clicks, and has a position of 6.0. Also, it has a quality score of 1/10. This keyword has made very little impact, despite being a keyword that I had originally assumed would perform well enough. In comparison to my other keywords, the aforementioned data is absolutely abysmal. For example, one my best performing keyword is “online commentary”. It has thousands of impressions, dozens of clicks, a much higher click-through rate, etc.
What is the difference, really? I did a little research and ran both of these keywords through Google. The results for both of these keywords are radically different. For example, “online commentary” gives results for sites that provide commentaries on movies, the Bible, etc. For “video game commentary”, I am linked to specific articles on blogs, Wikipedia entries, etc. It is the furthest thing from what any user would actually want. I believe that before I selected these keywords, I should have ran through a few Google searches to see the types of results that come.

What Next?

As we increase the traffic to our site using linking, we must continue to keep on our toes and look for ways to improve our current assets. Including, but no limited to, the strength of our online advertisements.

B250 – Lesson Eleven Weekly Reflection

Main Topics: Social Media for SEO, Social Networking

Tools Used: Google AdWords, Google Analytics

Overview

This week we took some to discover ways to implement social media to improve the overall experience users had as well as to utilize social media tools to network, branch out, and reach a greater audience / clientele. Additionally, we completed Project #4 which consisted of analyzing the successes (and perhaps shortcomings) of our AdWords campaign.

My Thoughts

The first part of our week consisted of us discovering how to use social media to better improve our site’s SEO. The majority of this process consisted of planning and looking for ways to implement new techniques. I wrote the following:

First and foremost, it is important to understand what “social media” and “search engine optimization” really are. Social media is the social interaction among people in which they create, share or exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and networks. Good examples include Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of affecting the visibility of a website in a search engine’s results. Ideally, you want users to be able to find your content quickly and when hit with the right keywords and terms. It is very uncommon for web users to go through more than one page of search results.

With an understanding of this terminology, we can better prepare to create a plan of success when it comes to helping our website rise to the top of search results and become relevant. Creating a plan is crucial. Jumping headlong into social media can be overwhelming and ultimately a failure. Using social media to promote a business or product has been described as a “long-term commitment”. Large companies and groups who use social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter are constantly pumping out advertisements, giveaways, and other forms of content. It serves not so much to convince people to purchase a product or use a service, rather, it keeps the idea fresh in their mind. Keeping your site optimized for search engines on the other hand, is a c completely different sort of work. It mostly all happens behind the scenes and away from the eyes of users.

What is my plan for social media integration and search engine optimization? Here are some ideas that I have brainstormed:

Social Media

  • Establish my branding. In other words, determine how I want my business to appear on social media. What sort of message do I want to send? How will integrate the available tools in social networks to help reinforce that branding and message? I believe the best way to portray my business would be to be as non-intrusive as possible. Invite users to share their ideas and create content. Don’t shove the content down people’s throat, rather, allow them to explore and experience it for themselves.
  • Branch out. The way my audience looks, the best sources for spreading the word would be Facebook, Soundcloud, Reddit, and Twitter. It is critical to continue to update each of these and allow users to see updates, news, and invitations to explore content for themselves.
  • Measure results. Each of these social platforms have the ability to receive messages from users. (Be it private messages, public posts, etc.) Invite users to share how they feel and what they like. If there is something that has been overlooked and needs to be addressed, their messages will help.

Search Engine Optimization

  • Integrate tools to make content easily shared. This includes options to share on Facebook, post to Twitter, etc.
  • Keep a blog. The more written content that I have, the more likely it is that keywords will line up and allow for even greater search result optimization. I will keep a blog of updates and other pieces of news in order to allow for more words to be floating around the web.
  • Allow for users to submit their own content (and to talk about it!). This will encourage backlinks and word of mouth marketing.

These various bullet points are general ideas, but here’s the gist of it:

Brand my business (approachable, open, and looking for help from the community), create social media profiles (and continually update them!), keep a blog of news and various updates, and allow users to submit their own content. The way I will measure results is by answering questions on Twitter, hosting “AMA” (ask me anything) forums on Reddit, and allowing users to actively participate and express their feelings.

The second half of our week was spent on researching social media platforms and tools to gain a wider audience. Some of the sites I have decided to utilize in this process are: Facebook, Reddit, Twitter, and blogging (one maintained on my actual website).

I have a specific plan to use Reddit as a platform to gain the attention of hundreds / thousands of unknown individuals. Here is what I wrote:

I would choose Reddit to help market my website. Reddit is one of the largest communities on the internet. The formula of Reddit’s website is that there are different “subreddits”, or smaller, more targeted communities. For example, I could post in the subreddit “Music”, “Movies”, “Television”, “Gaming”, etc. Those are the more general subreddits, but there are even more specific, smaller communities that exist that would allow me to tap into groups of people who share interests in the items available on my site. Submitting content to Reddit is easy. I would simply create an account, and submit a post on the subreddits that I would find suitable. The content of the post would be like an advertisement. Simple and allows thousands upon thousands of people to see it.

What Next?

Now that we have discovered ways to use social media to benefit our websites, we must begin using them and measuring our success!

B250 – Lesson Ten Weekly Reflection

Main Topics: Landing page optimization, SEO (search engine optimization)

Tools Used: Google AdWords, Google Analytics

Overview

This week we took a look at how to optimize our websites through fine tuning our landing pages and selecting the right keywords. Additionally, we learned about how to better optimize our websites for search engines (in other words, making sure our site is in the results for relevant searches).

My Thoughts

The first part of our week was focused on optimizing our landing pages. I believe that my landing page is actually on-point at the moment. With that being said, one change that I could make would be to perhaps consider making a page specifically directed at new users. For example, it would allow a user to register on that same page.

One question posed in the review questions for this week was “can people easily find what they are looking for on your site? My response is as follows:

I think so, yes. I have created big, colorful buttons, clean text, and links to guides and content on the landing page.
A few items from the reading that I have employed:
  • Provide useful information on your landing page about whatever you’re advertising.
  • Try to offer useful features or content that are unique to your site.

There are still a few things I can do to better optimize my site, such as changing a few titles and page descriptions… but other than that, I am set for success.

The second half of our week was focusing on optimization for search engines. Included in the lesson was a list of things we could do to make our website easier to find on the web. In the list, here were the items that I found could be employed on my site:

  1. Continue to create URLs that make sense and reflect the content of the page. This will not only help users navigate, but also help search bots find the right page.
  2. Create page titles that include important keywords and help users pick it out of a sea of results.
  3. Make the titles on my pages bigger! (Easier to find content when skimming a page for the part you want) Currently, my pages have fairly small headlines.
  4. Include options to share content via Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, etc. This will help not only with marketing my page, but help users who are keen on sharing things via social media.
  5. Ensure that my pages contain the appropriate meta data and allow for bots to indexing the content of my site. This will allow for my content to be available in search engines.

I believe that after implementing these tools, I will have a much more optimized site and have increased traffic.

What Next?

Now we are ensuring more traffic to our site, we are more likely to make sales. We must continue optimizing and fine tuning our sites if we want the best site possible.

B250 – Lesson Nine Weekly Reflection

Main Topics: AdWords, Analytics, ROI tracking, ad performance

Tools Used: Google AdWords, Google Analytics

Overview

Once again, this week was a little different than previous weeks. I suppose long gone are the weeks of old where two topics were presented and we were to study and propose our own ideas, rather, the time to implement and learn through personal experience are upon us! This week we took a look at ROI (return on investment) conversion tracking and ways that we could improve our advertisement’s performance.

My Thoughts

The first part of our week was focused on ROI and how we could track them on our website. For my “product” (commentary tracks), I chose to make a “conversion” count as visiting a key page on my site. In this case, I chose my “key pages” as the pages that contain commentary tracks. My site will thrive and be successful only if there is user interaction and submission. I don’t have time to make commentaries, rather, I will rely on users to submit their own content, allow them to set a price (if they would like), and make a small margin off each transaction. Without getting people involved, my site will ultimately fail. For these reasons, it is critical that I monitor how many people are getting involved, downloading files, and visiting these critical pages.

The second half of our week was focusing on beginning our fourth project. We were set to analyze and determine the success of our advertisements and keywords. For my campaign, I am seeing a little success, but definitely need to create a new advertisement… I am making hundreds upon hundreds of impressions, but very little clicks in comparison. My keywords are doing fairly well though.

What Next?

It is critical to continue to monitor my campaign, assess Google Analytics, and tailor my campaign and content to my user’s needs.

B250 – Lesson Eight Weekly Reflection

Main Topics: AdWords, Analytics

Tools Used: Google AdWords, Google Analytics

Overview

This week was a bit of a departure from the normal formula. Instead of thoroughly studying two topics, we were given the opportunity to install and begin using tools that some of the webs biggest developers use and rely on to tailor their sites and content to their users.

My Thoughts

We were instructed to begin our AdWords campaign and install Google Analytics on our site this week. The results? Not too much from the get go. I took some time to lean more about how AdWords reaches users and Google Analytics’ features that enable developers and everyday users like myself to understand who exactly is viewing and using their site. As of today… (June 21st, 2014)… I have had 3 users click on my ads and 4 users in total view my site. Not exactly killin’ it, but hey, that’s 4 more users than I ever imagined would visit my site within the first week! I believe that as time goes on, as data is collected, and as more users view my site, I will be able to tailor the content on my site for them and overall create a better site.

What Next?

It is critical to continue to monitor my campaign, assess Google Analytics, and continue making content that is valuable and relevant to my users.

B250 – Lesson Seven Weekly Reflection

Main Topics: AdWords

Tools Used: Google AdWords

Overview

This week’s lesson focused on creating an ad for Google AdWords that would be used on the keywords we selected from last week. We analyzed the rules and methods behind ad creation and used those to help us create our ads. Additionally, we spent the rest of our time this week finishing our website.

My Thoughts

Ad creation was actually fairly simple for website. I don’t really have too much competition and my keywords line up exactly with what I offer (commentaries on various forms of media – bet it movies, music, etc.). The ad I came up with was:

Headline: (Form of Media) Commentaries (Search dependent)
Description Line: Informative user created and professional commentary on your favorite media!
Display URL: http://www.commentari.es/b250

Like I said, it’s pretty straight forward. I am looking forward to implementing this site and getting more traffic on my site!

The rest of my time this week was spent finishing up my week. I took a good deal of time making sure everything looked just right and worked so users wouldn’t be confused when coming to my site. See for yourself:

http://www.commentari.es/b250

What Next?

Now that we have our ads picked out, we can start moving forward with advertising! We will be able to get web traffic and hopefully make some sales!

B250 – Lesson Six Weekly Reflection

Main Topics: AdWords, Keywords

Tools Used: Google Keyword Planner tool

Overview

This week’s lesson focused on how to best get web traffic using Google ads. This includes selecting the right keywords, how to use Google’s AdWords tools and structure effectively, and getting our site some hits.

My Thoughts

The first portion of our weekly assignments was to go through Google’s AdWords tools and start our own AdWords campaign to be used on our site. This included determining where our ads would be shown, on which devices our ads would be displayed on, our bidding method, and our daily budget for ads. My responses are as follows:

What geographic locations do you want your ad to show in? Why?

Primarily North America and other English speaking locations (perhaps Europe), at least to start off with. First and foremost, since I will be in charge of moderation, I won’t be able to effectively moderate or provide content for those that speak other languages such as Chinese or Russian.

On what devices do you want your ad to show? Why?

I would prefer that advertisements be shown only on web browsers. Despite having support for mobile devices (since I am using WordPress), the full experience will be had on a real browser.

Did you choose automatic or manual bidding options? Why?

Automatic. Simply put, I’d rather not have to worry too much about it. I feel that my advertisements are precise enough that they don’t need to be manually tweaked or released too much.

What is your daily budget? Why?

My daily budget is $1.00… seriously. I’m a poor college student and would love to have my free credit run its course before sinking real money into advertising.

The second portion of our weekly assignments was to  research and use Google’s Keyword Planner tool to find and determine which keywords would work best for our websites / products. For me, it was a little difficult to get a variety of keywords. My site plan consists of commentaries… how much variety can you get off of that? Regardless, I was able to create a list of 20 keywords (along with 3 negatives) to help get my website on the map under the “commentaries” category for sure.

What Next?

Now that we can begin advertising, traffic will follow and our business can begin to flourish and move forward. Looking forward to see the results (how many clicks) my advertisements can get.

B250 – Lesson Five Weekly Reflection

Main Topics: Legal structures, licenses and taxes

Tools Used: n/a

Overview

This week’s lesson focused on the process of actually starting a business, including, but not limited to, the legal structure of a business and start-up costs associated with business (including license fees and taxes to be paid).

My Thoughts

The first portion of our weekly assignments was to view websites which gave information on legal structures for businesses. Some of the legal structures listed include: Sole proprietorship, partnership, C & S corporation, limited liability, nonprofit, and incorporation.

We were also instructed to choose which business structure would be best for us. I decided to go with a sole proprietorship. Here is what I said regarding sole proprietorship:

“Sole Proprietorship. At least from the get-go, it would only be me involved in the behind-the-scenes work of the business (creating some content, maintaining the website, etc.). Additionally, I would rather not deal with the headache of actually “establishing” a business (let’s be honest, just about anyone can start up a sole proprietorship business). Perhaps when the business starts to grow, it would be worthwhile to consider a different legal structure. Simply said, the ease of a sole proprietorship is convenient and just for me.“

That just about sums it up.

The second portion of our weekly assignments was to research and become familiar with the licenses and taxes that apply to new and existing businesses in our location. For me, I have am currently living in Idaho, but will be returning to Arizona. So for me, I had to look at both states, as well as how / if there was a process to transfer a business to a different state. Our assignment instructed us to look at how we would go about starting our business, and this is my response:

“I will be starting my business here in Idaho. According to http://www.idahobizhelp.org/legal_ent.htm (A website run by Idaho Small Business Development Center), the only thing I have to do for a sole proprietorship is complete a certificate of “Assumed Business Name”. This form can be filled out online at http://www.sos.idaho.gov/corp/ABNform.htm. There is a $25.00 fee and boom, you’re good to go. If any changes need to be made, I would simply fill out a SS-4 form found here: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fss4.pdf
Afterwards, I need to apply for permits and accounts through the Idaho Business Registration System (https://labor.idaho.gov/ibrs/ibr.aspx). And there you have it… Annually fill out a FORM 850-U (Idaho Self-Assessed Use Tax Worksheet and Return) if I owe less than $50 in use tax (very likely for my first year or two), and enjoy the ease of a sole proprietorship in the state of Idaho.”

What Next?

Our business is coming together. It is fairly easy to start a business (acquire a business name / license and pay appropriate fees)… We are nearly ready to start making money!

B250 – Lesson Four Weekly Reflection

Main Topics: Site design, PayPal

Tools Used: ColorSchemeDesigner.com, PayPal.com

 

Overview

This week’s lesson focused on both the aesthetics behind site design (what websites with certain business models had in common with others) as well as how PayPal can be used to accept digital forms of payment.

My Thoughts

The first portion of our weekly assignments was to view websites who had the same business model as ours and to observe the design decision they had in common. I chose to look at RapGenius.com and SoundCloud.com for some inspiration. Taken from my assignment:

“As a community business model, they take the steps necessary to create a user-friendly site. They both have user accounts, pages of content created by users, user submitted content (annotations, music, etc.), clean, easy to navigate site designs, and heavy user features (ability to have our own page, messaging system, etc.)”

After taking these decisions into consideration, I made my own designs on which ideas to incorporate. Taken from my assignment:

“I chose to do a hybrid of the two, since both have concepts that would be good to incorporate into my idea (mostly on the user friendliness / features). SoundCloud has the right features, but a more straight-forward layout that wouldn’t work too well with my idea. RapGenius has a nice, dark theme with a similar layout to my idea. So a hybrid will work best.”

I believe that this hybrid style will work best for my business concept as it takes the best features from both. Why settle for one style when I can create my own? Unfortunately, one style I can’t compromise on is the style that is provided by PayPal when selecting a “button” for our site. Through PayPal, we can accept digital payments and allow our business to truly be web-based (who would want to wire cash to some shady website that doesn’t accept card payments?). The PayPal button I chose would be the “Buy Now” button which allows users to click and purchase a single item. I don’t believe a cart will be necessary for my website as there will be very limited items for purchase anyway.

What Next?

Now that we’ve got a website builder, a hosting service, a design, and PayPal on our site… it’s time to start putting it all together! Our website should start coming together and looking like a real business soon enough.

B250 – Lesson Three Weekly Reflection

Main Topics: Site builders, content management systems, HTML editors, web hosting

Tools Used: Weebly.com, WordPress.org, SquareSpace.com, etc.

 

Overview

This week’s lesson focused on the options to be considered by new businesses when looking to get their business online. Most of our class time was spent researching and using site builders first-hand. The reason for this was to help the fabricated group come to a decision as to which site builder they should use, as well as which web hosting service would fit their business.

My Thoughts

The first portion of our weekly assignments was to weigh the differences / pros and cons of three different site builders / editors. I decided to look at Weebly.com, WordPress.org, and Dreamweaver. Having had experience just all of three of these (although in same cases, very limited), I was able to get a good look at each. My suggestion to the group was to use WordPress.org. My reasoning for this was because 1) the ease of using WordPress.org (there are many free yet professional templates available), 2) the wide array and availability of plugins, 3) the seamless integration that WordPress.org has with may web hosting services, and 4) the power of open-source that other site builders do not offer.

Taken from my assignment:

“WordPress is a powerful, full-featured, fully customizable tool used in creating websites for Fortune 500 companies as well as the average Joe. Open source is appealing and useful in creating a website exactly as you envision it. There are no hoops to jump through, and very few “strings attached” (the business upgrade isn’t nearly as essential as it is for Weebly). With that being said, it does require a little knowledge if you really want to make full use of what WordPress has to offer.”

The second portion of our weekly assignments had to do with selecting web hosting for our site. I went with GoDaddy when taking into consideration price, having a free domain or not, and Google Adwords credit. Weighed against its competitors, GoDaddy only stands out with its price and ease of use. I can do it all through GoDaddy – purchase a domain, web hosting, site builder, etc. Other services offer web hosting and maybe a domain, but having all three in one place, especially with a big name like GoDaddy is something I couldn’t pass up.

What Next?

The group needs to get itself online! Even if it’s something simple. Additionally, they need to select a domain name that works with their intended product / service / name. Establishing themselves on the World Wide Web will be a bit of a task, but the free Google Adwords credit will help a little bit.