Image showing what “Walking the Controversy Tightrope” is like

January 18, 20180Comments

How to increase blog traffic with controversial topics

Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics The topic of using controversy to grow blog traffic and generate leads is, in and of itself, controversial. I’ve read articles online that talk about how well

by Kevin Carney

Image showing the numerous tools a company uses for content marketing, and the sheer number of such tools.

Inbound Marketing

October 9, 20179Comments

The Big List of Content Marketing Tools

This post started as a simple rant about how most Content Marketing tools are too expensive and too complicated for small businesses to make effective use of them, and somehow

by Kevin Carney

An image illustrating the creation of data driven content for your audience

Inbound Marketing

October 4, 20170Comments

What is data-driven content? How is it relevant to your audience?

Data-Driven Content: The New Buzz Phrase Data-driven content is when you pay close attention to the analytics of what you publish (blog posts, social media updates, etc), learn what people show

by Kevin Carney

How do you use presuppositions phrases to help sell stuff?

Inbound Marketing

August 30, 20170Comments

How to Sell More Easily and Naturally with Presuppositions

Presuppositional Phrases are the Language of Advertising “Nothing whitens better than Crest” “Why suffer another summer?” “This year, I’ll stop asking ‘Do I look fat’?” Notice the first statement does NOT state that Crest

by Kevin Carney

Optimizing internal website linking to improve SEO

Inbound Marketing

August 27, 20170Comments

What Is Internal Linking and Why Is It Important for SEO?

Overview The internal link structure of your website has a HUGE effect on your SEO. Ideally your internal link structure should be a hierarchy, not a web. The diagram below shows a

by Kevin Carney

Small improvements in conversion rate has a HUGE impact

Inbound Marketing

August 20, 20170Comments

How to choose the right CRO metrics for improved conversions

Conversions and Micro Conversions For a business website, having visitors show up to your website is only the first step. To turn website visitors into prospects, you need some of your

by Kevin Carney

What are the steps to continuous content marketing improvement?

Inbound Marketing

August 2, 20170Comments

How to continuously improve your content with Deming lessons

Who was Deming? W. Edwards Deming was an American engineer, statistician, professor, author, and a management consultant. He transformed Japanese manufacturing after World War II after American manufacturers thought his ideas were

by Kevin Carney

What is the ideal checklist of a great blog post for your business?

Inbound Marketing

July 18, 20171Comments

How to… The Anatomy of writing the best blog post possible

Background We all want to write good blog posts, and most of us fail to do so. The vast majority of what businesses publish on the Internet is crap. While it’s

by Kevin Carney

The quality of your website content is NOT as subjective as you thought, per Google

Inbound Marketing

June 24, 20170Comments

Google Reveals How to Rank High with Quality Website Content

Content Quality? Beyond the obvious idea of higher quality content being “better”, it’s important to understand WHY Google is so focused on the concept of content quality and how this is

by Kevin Carney

It's important that your business blog posts actually say something rather than "just" repeat what others already have.

Inbound Marketing

September 17, 20160Comments

How to Ensure Your Blog Posts Actually Say Someting

Content is King! Yes we know. We've all heard this all before. We don't need to hear this again. I'm not sure anyone believes that more strongly than I do, having direct

by Kevin Carney

Marketing automation companies and software programs

Inbound Marketing

August 31, 20160Comments

Lead nurturing: How to get started with marketing automation

Marketing automation is a form of email marketing that is very sophisticated. It is both the most effective and the most difficult to implement of your email marketing options. What makes marketing

by Kevin Carney

How does social media contribute to the SEO ranking of your website?

Inbound Marketing

August 20, 20160Comments

How Social Media Contributes to Your SEO Ranking

According to Google, Social Media likes and shares are not taken into account when Google presents web pages in a search engine result page (SERP). This was first said by Matt

by Kevin Carney

How do you systematize the publishing of content to your business blog

Inbound Marketing

July 31, 20160Comments

Can (and Should) You Systematize Your Content Creation?

The short answer is yes. In general (there are a few exceptions, but the rule is) Google provides higher ranking for websites that are both updated more often and contain more

by Kevin Carney

Robert Ryan (SEO consultant, Ireland) has proven that blogging is the key to successful SEO.

Inbound Marketing

July 10, 20160Comments

Why Business Blogging is THE CORE to Successful SEO

The discussion of the importance of blogging to SEO can now cease. Robert Ryan, an SEO consultant in Ireland, conducted an experiment whose conclusion is definitive. In summary.... he built up a

by Kevin Carney

Show People That Your Customers Back You Up

Inbound Marketing

July 4, 20160Comments

How to obtain critically important online reviews

Customer tell you they're thrilled with your service. You ask them to provide you an online review. They say they will. They don't. How often does this happen to you? If you're

by Kevin Carney

parallax scrolling websites do hurt SEO, but it's VERY neglegable

Inbound Marketing

June 27, 20160Comments

How to use a parallax website design and not hurt SEO

Parallax scrolling is when the home page of a website is one big page and scrolls up and down and when you select a menu item on the website it

by Kevin Carney

Doing your own SEO is not only NOT crazy, but for small businesses who don't have cash to burn, it can be the only way to launch your online visibility.

Inbound Marketing

March 13, 20160Comments

Doing Your Own SEO is Not Crazy, It’s Inexpensive and Effective

The other day the following post crossed my path on social media. How to do SEO on Your Own (If You're Crazy Enough to Attempt it) The point of the article is that SEO

by Kevin Carney

A structured study now demonstrates that outbound links ARE search signals and do positively impact your website organic search ranking

Inbound Marketing

March 1, 20164Comments

Why You Need Outbound Links in EVERY Blog Post on Your Website

The discussion about should you link to other sites can now be closed. A company named Reboot SEO & Marketing conducted a structured study on the effect of external (or

by Kevin Carney

Low budget small business marketing is possible online when done well. Most do it poorly.

Inbound Marketing

February 18, 20160Comments

How to market your small business on a limited budget: Inbound rescues!

New business? High hopes? Too few leads? You're not alone. The #1 need for ANY business is a steady stream of quality leads. People who both need what you sell and have

by Kevin Carney

Inbound Marketing

February 17, 20160Comments

What is a content manager? Why does your business marketing need one?

Succeeding at generating leads through Inbound Marketing requires publishing useful content at frequent and regular intervals. But... Small business owners are busy, wear many hats, and constantly juggle priorities. Therefore... Most small businesses I've

by Kevin Carney

How do you design landing page form to generate high quality website conversions

Inbound Marketing

February 9, 20162Comments

How to Create Landing Page Forms for High Quality Leads

Before I get to the form part of the landing page, I'll talk a little about landing page design in general. Landing pages should be sparse and contain only what is

by Kevin Carney

The importance of fresh content (blog post topics) can not be overstated.

Inbound Marketing

January 11, 20160Comments

The BEST Way to Find a Steady Steam of Blog Post Topics for Your Inbound Marketing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zva_9p1yPY Start Transcript Hi, I'm Kevin with Inbound Marketing University. Today's Inbound Marketing minute describes the best tip for finding a steady stream of fresh content ideas. It's not what you may be expecting.

by Kevin Carney

Attract More Who Buy by Attracting More Who Don't

Inbound Marketing

January 8, 20160Comments

Attracting More People to Your Website Who Buy, by Attracting More Who Don’t

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9G4YXw4Am0 Start Transcript Hi, I'm Kevin with Inbound Marketing University. Today's Inbound Marketing minute describes how you increase the number of website visitors who are likely to buy, by increasing the number of

by Kevin Carney

Inbound Marketing

December 27, 20150Comments

The Value of Repetition in Your SEO and Inbound Marketing Efforts

Successful Inbound Marketing requires frequent publishing of fresh content. However.... everyone I've taught to do this at some point gets back to me with the feeling that they've said everything. They fear

by Kevin Carney

Inbound Marketing

December 13, 20152Comments

Inbound Marketing and SEO Tools to Help Generate Leads Through Your Website

Let me first clarify what this post is not. It is not a comprehensive list of SEO and Inbound Marketing tools, but rather is a list of the essential tool

by Kevin Carney

What does the perfect Google friendly website look like?

Inbound Marketing

December 12, 20150Comments

How is the perfect “Google friendly” website built and what does it look like?

The perfect "Google Friendly" website is a very large repository of information that many people find useful and is updated multiple times a day. To illustrate this point have you ever

by Kevin Carney

Inbound Marketing

December 7, 20150Comments

The Importance of Publishing to Website Ranking, Visitors, and Shares

What is the relationship between publishing and SEO? The relationship is very direct. All things being equal (which of course they never are): Websites with more content rank higher. Websites that

by Kevin Carney

Can Jenna Marbles teach us something important about content marketing?

Inbound Marketing

November 22, 20151Comments

What can Jenna Marbles Teach Us About Content Marketing?

Jenna Marbles may be the most famous person you've never heard of. The story goes that a little over five years ago she started making videos both for someone else and

by Kevin Carney

SEO efforts done in house absolutely can succeed and for small business may BEST be done in house (due to cost)

Inbound Marketing

November 19, 20150Comments

Can SEO succeed in-house?

Absolutely. Most big businesses do in house SEO. Some do some in house and outsource specific tasks (for example the in house staff may create and manage the editorial calendar and

by Kevin Carney

Measuring the success of a content marketing strategy

Inbound Marketing

November 18, 20150Comments

How can you measure the success of a content marketing strategy?

Bear in mind the financial goal of a content marketing strategy is to sell goods and services. However unless your website is an eCommerce site that directly sells goods (or services)

by Kevin Carney

The best way to increase organic search traffic is to publish a steady steam of high quality content.

Inbound Marketing

November 12, 20150Comments

What is the best way to increase organic traffic?

In short, by publishing. The more you publish quality content the more visitors your site will attract through organic search traffic. I know that sounds conceptually easy, and it is. What makes it

by Kevin Carney

The first rule of website conversion is one step at a time. Website conversion generates leads for the business to follow up on.

Inbound Marketing

November 9, 20150Comments

Online Lead Generation: What is the first rule of website conversion?

This has never really be formulated into a law of marketing, but it should be. People will take actions they are willing to take, and will not take actions they are

by Kevin Carney

Including a transcript in blog posts that contain videos strengthens the SEO of the blog post and makes it much easier to find.

Inbound Marketing

October 13, 20150Comments

For SEO purposes, should I put the transcript of my videos in my blog posts?

In a word, Yes. Google is good at searching text. The ability of Google to search video is only as good as their ability to convert speech into text. For now,

by Kevin Carney

Attracting huge traffic to your website takes time, energy, focus, and money.

Inbound Marketing

October 11, 20150Comments

How do I get huge traffic for my website and how should I market?

An important follow up question relative to traffic to your website is how huge is huge? The question was posted by someone who a built a marketplace website for freelancing. His main

by Kevin Carney

What hat SEO consists primarily of publishing good stuff and promoting that stuff to others.

Inbound Marketing

October 6, 20150Comments

What are the most effective White Hat SEO Methods?

White hat SEO activities can be reduced to two words: publishing and promotion. Have you ever noticed that news type websites (even for industry specific news) tend to rank higher than

by Kevin Carney

What is most important? On page SEO or off page SEO?

Inbound Marketing

October 4, 20150Comments

What website will get more traffic if one website will have only on page SEO and another site only off page SEO? Why?

This question was submitted by someone on Quora. They're under the impression that on page SEO and off page SEO are separate and distinct and can be be done independent of

by Kevin Carney

Buying website traffic is the easiest way to get traffic, but it's expensive and also of low qality

Inbound Marketing

October 2, 20150Comments

What is the easiest way to market/drive traffic to your website?

I saw this question on Quora and wondered how many others might think attracting traffic to your website is "easy". There is an easy way, but it's generally too expensive for

by Kevin Carney

Inbound Marketing

October 1, 20150Comments

What do websites gain in asking us for sign in even though we can browse their pages and content for free?

Principally websites gain two things: The ability to better track where you go and what you do on their site. The ability to follow up with you via email (provided the required

by Kevin Carney

obtaining a first page position in a Google SERP matters

Inbound Marketing

September 28, 20150Comments

How to know if first page seo results for a certain keyword are “outrankable” or not?

The question is flawed. The question pre-supposes your desire is to rank on page 1 for "a" keyword. Mature websites rank for hundreds of keyword phrases. A better question is how do you

by Kevin Carney

Inbound Marketing

September 27, 20150Comments

When can you expect seeing your first SEO results and steady organic traffic to brand new blog website on 14 years old domain name with 2-3 new posts a week and ~10 pages (pages remain same)?

It depends. On various things, but mostly: How specialized is your niche (and hence your content)? How competitive is your niche? How much commercial opportunity exists within your niche? At the risk of giving

by Kevin Carney

How to be an SEO, how to become an SEO analyst

Inbound Marketing

September 18, 20150Comments

How do you start your SEO career? It is always interesting to know how people understand that they want to do SEO. Why you start SEOing? What is your background?

Without exception, both myself and everyone I've met who does SEO got into the business out of necessity. In my case it was to generate leads for a small business. Other

by Kevin Carney

Inbound Marketing

September 17, 20150Comments

Is ASO the new SEO? Lately I am hearing a lot about app store optimization and is often mentioned as the new SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

SEO and ASO are similar in concept, but not the same thing. SEO stands for Seach Engine Optimization and is the processes of attracting visitors to your website via organic search. ASO

by Kevin Carney

Google hires human search quality raters to help them improve the quality of their search results

Inbound Marketing

September 15, 20151Comments

How does Google test their search engine? And verify algorithm updates are “better”?

I do not work at Google and I do not have a full and complete answer. I sometimes wonder if anyone, even the people working at Google do. I say

by Kevin Carney

Vetting a potential SEO agency is not easy as there is an enormous amount of false information about SEO being shared on the Internet.

Inbound Marketing

September 14, 20150Comments

What are the Tips for Finding a Quality SEO Service?

The #1 criteria is have they successfully done SEO for others before before. Are they basing their advise and strategy on something they've successfully done (preferably multiple times) or are

by Kevin Carney

A list of 9 WordPress plugins with SEO benefiits and 3 additional plugins with other benefits.

Inbound Marketing

September 13, 20150Comments

What are SEO experts’ top 10 SEO tools for WordPress? Why?

As the question is WordPress specific my list is mostly WordPress plugins. 404 to Start This plugin eliminates 404 errors when someone attempts to access a page that no longer exists (or

by Kevin Carney

mobilgeddon, mobile friendly, website ranking

Inbound Marketing

September 10, 20150Comments

Was Google’s Mobilegedden Algorithm Update Hype? Is Mobile Friendly Not Required?

Prior to Apr 21st, 2015 the Internet was a buzz with news of the upcoming Mobilegedden update from Google. If your website was not mobile friendly, you were truly going

by Kevin Carney

Inbound Marketing

September 9, 20152Comments

How will we can cross-check whether our SEO campaign is working or not?

The first tool I use in Google Search Console (the URL of which is google.com/webmasters/tools). The other is Google Analytics. See a large image of any of the images, click in

by Kevin Carney

Grey hat SEO techniques are risky. Just publish good stuff and a lot of it!

Inbound Marketing

September 8, 20150Comments

What is Grey Hat SEO, what are the Grey Hat SEO techniques, are they riskier for our website or not?

It's useful to think of what are called Black Hat SEO and Grey Hat SEO as speeding. If one person goes a little faster than the posted speed limit, the odds of

by Kevin Carney

Do you need to focus on keywords to achieve SEO success?

Inbound Marketing

September 7, 20150Comments

Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Why do I need to set keywords and focus on them if good and fresh content is enough for Google searching?

Believe it or not you don't need to set keywords and focus on them. Keyword research and a focus on keyword phrases is NOT essential to success. Never was. Below are Google

by Kevin Carney

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