SEO Blog Post- Week 10 (Advanced SEO Techniques)

According to http://www.seocertification.org, there are many advanced SEO techniques to take into consideration as a digital marketer. The top three techniques that I have learned include pointers on how to earn high rankings on local search engines, how to use HubPages to promote websites, and how auto-pinging a blog can be beneficial for a user.

There are four major pointers to consider for earning high rankings on local search engines:

1. Include your clients' websites to local search engines 
• Google Local Business Center
• Yahoo! Local Merchant
• Ask Business Search
2. Submit your client's website listings to popular directories and Internet Yellow Pages
3. Set your geographic location in Google's Webmaster Tools 
4. Add contact information to your site

Another important technique to utilize for SEO is to use HubPages to promote websites. In short, HubPages aim to allow users to publish content and gain information about a specific topic or submit content via one-page websites referred to as "hubs". In addition, HubPages can increase customer traffic by adding links to a website and attracting readers to a hub by constantly updating them. 

Lastly, auto-pinging can be used as an advanced technique for SEO to improve blogging and its RSS. Essentially, pinging is a tactic in blogging that tells Google that changes have been made to a website or its corresponding pages, and that it should come back to that site to have a look. Therefore, auto-pinging is considered the consolidation of all pinging into one common location that is completely disconnected from someone's blogs. 

SEO Blog Post- Week 9 (Marketing Strategies)

From http://www.seocertification.org, I have learned a lot about marketing strategies as they relate to SEO. To begin, I learned about local search marketing, which is considered search marketing in a limited geographical area. Moreover, local search marketing tends to involve keyword research. For example, keyword research could contain zip codes, city names, county names, state names, or even streets. Essentially, keyword research aides local search marketing in adding geographical and local language qualifiers.

Another important marketing strategy related to SEO is link baiting, or the process in which you use a bait or hook to attract back links. This may include but is not limited to:

• Resource Hook
• News Hook
• Contrary Hook
• Attack Hook
• Humor Hook

Finally, another useful marketing strategy useful for SEO is Google Webmaster Central and its corresponding tools. In short, Google Webmaster Central provides tools to diagnose, analyze, and solve crawling and indexing issues. In addition, the service can also submit content to various Google services, enhance site functionality, and analyze traffic.

Google Webmaster Tools form the central and most important part of Webmaster Central. The tools related to Google Webmaster allow you to do the following:

• Analyze robot.txt files
• Set geographic target for website
• Enable enhanced image search
• Remove a URL from Google's index
• Set preferred domains
• Set a crawl rate
• Re-verify site with Google Webmaster Central  

SEO Blog Post- Week 8 (Emerging Trends in SEO)

From material on http://www.seocertification.org, I have become more educated on emerging trends in SEO. In short, there are many emerging trends that revolve around SEO. I have decided to discuss some of the trends that I believe are the most important to improve SEO practices. Therefore, I will be explaining the appeal of blogs, blog optimization, content duplication, branding, affiliate marketing, web analytics, and RSS.

To begin, I believe it is noteworthy to mention that writing a blog and practicing regular blog optimization are both major emerging trends in SEO. Moreover, a blog is a user-generated website with journal style entries that are diagnosed in reverse chronological order. A blog may contain text, images, or even links. Furthermore, blog optimization tactics may include simple content, search engine submission, keywords, optimizing blog templates, and conducting routine updates. It is also important to create a brand for a blog, that is, increase the traffic to its website.

Another emerging trend in SEO is content duplication, which is referred to as the presence of the same content on two different websites. Typically, search engines consider the following factors for content duplication:

• Product Descriptions and Manuals
• Alternative Print Pages
• Pages that use Duplicated Syndicated RSS (Real Simple Syndication) Feeds
• Canonicalization Reasons
• Article Submission or Syndication 
• Mirrored Websites

Finally, affiliate marketing and web analytics are both popular trends related to SEO. Thus, affiliate marketing is considered the method of promoting web business in which an affiliate is rewarded for every visitor, subscriber, or customer. I would also recommend researching web analytics, which is the process that involves the measurement of visitor behavior to a particular website. I personally believe that becoming familiar with web analytics is crucial to improving your marketing portfolio in today's business world. 

HubSpot Blog Post- Week 8 (Cultivating Happy Customers)

For the last training session of the semester on http://www.hubspot.com, I learned more about how to successfully cultivate happy customers. Moreover, this involves building trust with customers to develop long-lasting relationships. In turn, more trust can translate into more promoters that can attract prospects to your business. Even more, trust is a crucial component to creating an inbound experience, which is one of the ultimate goals of a marketer. In addition, I found it interesting that customer delight can be viewed as a competitive advantage. Therefore, if you are able to consistently delight your customers and satisfy their wants and needs, then it will put you at an advantage over your competition.

Additionally, I believe it is important to discuss how to properly delight customers. Thus, any business should strive to make serving customers its number one priority. As a result, a foundation of trust can be built. Since the customer experience is such an integral piece of building trust, it is vital to make the most of every interaction to ensure incredible customer service is being offered. Furthermore, I have learned that customer delight should include both pre-sale and post-sale activities   to fully assist customers through the buyer's journey.

Most importantly, there are three major pillars of customer delight to abide by. The following list explains the three pillars:

1. Innovation: "Change is better than the Status-Quo"
2. Communication: "Personal is better than Impersonal" 
3. Education: "Empowering is better than Ignoring"

Overall, to successfully delight customers it is important to make customers feel like the focal point of your business. Also, recognizing that customers and employees are a business's greatest asset can contribute to success as well. Finally, developing and establishing trust is critical to creating a rewarding inbound experience. 

Consider the "Seven Customer Delight Guidelines" for additional ways to ensure customer satisfaction and a polished overall inbound experience: