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Category: Branding

Explore the topics of branding and brand awareness and why they’re important for any business.

  • Boodreaux


    Any recommendations for an SEO friendly social sharing button company? Or ones that provide a good service and also actually helps your brand name in SEO? I think it is important for others to be able to share my pages with colleagues and others. Thank you, UtahTiger

    | Boodreaux
    0
  • activitysuper


    Hi, So looks like SEMOZ just aquired followerwonk.com and that I have free access to this system. I had a quick look at it and it seems like it's an analytics program for twitter. Anyone used it? And can you use it to help grow your list? Cheers

    | activitysuper
    0
  • Ben_Alvord


    Hi All, I am the Web Marketing Manager for a small, yet global, company.  I've just started working at this company and I am focusing a lot of attention right now on link building, as the company is not great there in comparison to competitors. So right now I'm submitting us to directories.  My question is whether submitting to things like Yelp and the Google Local Business Directory make sense for a global company.  I want the inbound links available from those sources, but I just want to make sure I'm not missing something in regards to this.  i.e. a pissed off customer could leave a negative review about the company on Yelp.  That doesn't worry me, because if a customer is pissed off and wants to vent online, they'll find somewhere to do it. Is there anything else related that I might be missing? Thanks, Ben Alvord

    | Ben_Alvord
    0
  • Hyrule


    In a couple weeks our main website (which generates all of the revenue) will be split into two because of a long term branding / identity crisis. So my question is, how can i make sure (besides obvious 301 redirects) that these 2 new fresh urls become a brand as quick as possible in googles eyes? So far i am thinking of things like: press releases, blog posts with brand mentions. I am not ignorant and expect this to happen overnight, but we need a strong foundation to build on, which is why i am asking Anyone got a list / case study / advise so I can really blow it up on launch week? Thanks 🙂

    | Hyrule
    0
  • KyleChamp


    So I have been toying with the idea of creating a twitter / Facebook / Google + Giveaway. Users will just have to like/follow to enter and a random person will be drawing to win the prize. Seems like a solid and easy way to gain followers and such. My main concern is lets say I go the straight up "cash" route and giveaway $250 to the winner. While anyone would love to have a free $250 and I may get a lot of likes and followers, I’m sure most of them would not be interested in my company or services. They just want a free $250 (who wouldn’t). I’m been trying to think of other things to giveaway that people would still love to get but attract more people that would be interested in my services, any ideas? I was thinking maybe the winner could get free SEO for their website for 3-6 months or something like that. Something that people might actually want.

    | KyleChamp
    0
  • BigJoe


    Hi, We have a successful ecommerce site at www.printerbase.co.uk but we are now branching out and will soon be offering services which we are going to do through a different website with a possible URL of something like www.printerbasesolutions.co.uk so my question is, will having two websites containing the word printerbase have any negative effect on the ranking of www.printerbase.co.uk or would we be better having a completely different URL? The new site is not going to have any ecommerce functionality it is going to be more about offering the services we can give to clients and encouraging them to get in contact with us. Thanks BigJoe

    | BigJoe
    0
  • hanv


    Hi, I am hoping some of you my be able to throw some advice my way here. I have picked up an SEO client who has mentioned a web directory called thediscdirectory.co.uk They appear to be a fairly reputable web directory and they have some fairly good extensions like you can add a Review section to your website where customers can add reviews to your website which with the extension will also show the customers your overall star rating etc. Now my question is this, with Google discounting a lot of Directories is it a danger to use these extensions on a site, especially if Google does follow through and make these websites a No No. I am not  fan at all of directories but the client seems pretty intent on using this and I want to see some other pro's opinions so If I put my foot down and say no then I need to be able to back it with a good enough answer to convince even the most determined site owner. Thanks

    | hanv
    0
  • esztanyo


    Hi All, I'm helping a client build an e-commerce store from the ground up, which sells class rings to high school students.  Not a novel product, but they have a nice URL - WearMyStory.com, and are thinking through creative ways to reach the market by letting users share their stories with UGC. I have some ideas, but could use some help.  I think using video/picture/essay contests for students to share their stories is a great way to get buzz and grow socially.  What I don't know is how to capture all of this great UGC for SEO purposes.  Do you know of any great sites with brilliant UGC strategies (outside of reviews, etc.)?  Do you have any examples of software companies who help you leverage the UGC into SEO gold?  I'm trying to find great examples of frameworks where sites are leveraging the UGC. The other wall I am hitting is how to create a community when it is simply a one time purchase e-commerce product.  If a customer buys a ring (or any product for that matter), what would keep them coming back to the site?  Any good examples out there that you can think of? Thanks!

    | esztanyo
    0
  • NiallSmith


    Hey MOZers, I currently work for a company with several other offices in other countries. Is it possible to set-up Google 'Business' and Google 'Maps' pages so when a user in a given country queries 'our business' on either Google 'Search' or Google 'Maps' they will receive the relevant business information for that country. For example, if an internet user in Canada enters a query for 'our business' in Canada (and we have an office in Canada) is there anyway to set up our Google Business page and Google Maps page so that user receives the contact information for the Canada office, rather than the US office? Conversely, if someone in the United States enters a search query for 'our business' is there a way to set it up so that the user receives our address in the states?

    | NiallSmith
    0
  • networkelites


    A client's business just recently changed addresses.  Even though they are physically less than a mile from the previous location, the city has changed.  This has resulted in our Google Places results dissappearing (no surprise).  What is the best practice for people searching for <product><metroplex-primary-city>to still get our Google Places result, even though we are technically in a suburb of this metroplex?</metroplex-primary-city></product> Already added the primary city name to the description.  What else can I do?

    | networkelites
    0
  • CJSmiles


    Are there press release distribution services that you Mozzers would recommend? I see a lot of, "don't use this service, this service or this service", but I rarely see anything touting good PR release services. Followup Question: Are these services still effective after Penguin? I am being much more careful about anchor text (inserting a lot of branded or phrase match instead of just head terms). Are there other ways to be effective but also cautious when using these services? Thanks for your help!

    | CJSmiles
    0
  • NaescentAdam


    Hi Guys, I hope I'm not breaking any rules here by requesting commercial services, but a client of mine has asked to have a book they are doing to be taken viral. I've not done any viral campaigns myself, and I think he has just heard the word and grasped hold of it without any real meaning to himself, but could anyone offer any companies that would be willing to attempt it or some similar marketing? Thanks, Adam

    | NaescentAdam
    0
  • ciznerguy


    Is there any value in getting a youtube channel without any original video contnt? off course using pre-approved authorized content. I see tha value for the potential clinetelle but I was wondering if there is any SEO value?

    | ciznerguy
    0
  • rozier


    I am trying to decide on a domain for a real estate site in Utah where the area code is 801. My choices are utahhomes801.com, the search term "utah homes" get 3600 exact matches, utahrealestate801.com with "utah real estate" getting 22,200 exact matches or forget the 801 and go for a shorter domain Utahnow.net or utahhomeboy.com.  Is there any reason to stay away from 801 in the domain? Any thought or direction would be appreciated. Scott

    | rozier
    0
  • powerup


    Google has added an information sidebar to its SERPs for public figures, including artists of all stripes. Search for "Coldplay" and you'll see what I mean. I'm wondering where Google pulls this information from, and how to keep it complete and up to date. The sidebar includes basic information, including Birthday, Education, Awards and Works (albums / books etc.). In representing an artist, this is now the first encapsulated information presented to user searching for my artist, and I want to make sure it's accurate. Any insight on how to edit this info would be truly appreciated.

    | powerup
    0
  • TheDude


    I am trying to help a friend add quality content to their site.  It's been determined that video is a great medium for much of it.  However, their budget and time is limited.  Here are some ideas I've had so far and comments on each. Outsource to a budget production company Pros: $500/min or less (I hope), time saving Cons: Quality, possibly boring Sock Puppets Pros: Doable in-house, creative and engaging, multiple characters possible for a conversation rather than 1 actor Cons: Does not fit the corporate theme/feel of the site GoAnimate Cartoon Animations Pros: Doable in-house or hired creator at $500/min or less, creative and engaging, multiple characters possible for a conversation rather than 1 actor Cons: Off-limits, as this is being utilized by a subsidiary partner site that we need to differentiate from Slideshow Video Pros: Doable in-house, no actors required Cons: Possibly boring, only suitable for certain topics Does anyone have any additional ideas to throw out there or comments on how to implement the above in a suitable way for this corporate site?

    | TheDude
    0
  • NoahsDad


    I'm wanting to get a few things designed for our site, and I was curious if anyone has any experience using any of the companies online where you can hire graphic designers. It looks like a lot of these companies use people over seas, and although some of them are talented, I don't think their styles are the same as I'm used to here.  (Hope that doesn't sound bad...I'm not meaning it like that.) Does anyone have any suggestions for a good company to use online? Thanks.

    | NoahsDad
    1
  • PeterAlexLeigh


    What's the forums opinion on using Sponsored Tweets (i.e, sponsoredtweets.com) to drive traffic,links and/or followers? Has anyone had any experience with it they can share?

    | PeterAlexLeigh
    1
  • MangoMan16


    I have thought of using craigslist and other classified ads, social media and of course good old SEO. What else can be done to drive traffic to a used car website?

    | MangoMan16
    0
  • uniquegifts-277879


    In light of so many Google changes are press releases with PRWeb or the like still worth using?

    | uniquegifts-277879
    1
  • mosaicpro


    Hi, I am going to start a new website What I want to know is: www. keyword1 and keyword2 . com If I buy www. keyword1and . com And I put /keyword2  will this get any value? Or is it better to find  a shorter more branded domain name.. rather than chasing for value from Google.

    | mosaicpro
    0
  • Blobe


    If I install a Facebook Like Button on my Root Domain, How can I have the likes accumulated from that button augment those already on my brand's page? Thank you fellow knowledgenies of the Book of Face.

    | Blobe
    0
  • EwanFisher


    Hi Guys I am looking to outsource some design work to have infogrpahics designed, this will also include the gathering of data and distrubution etc... Can anyone recommend any agency's, specialist infographic design company's? Matthew

    | EwanFisher
    0
  • NoahsDad


    I've heard different thoughts on this and wanted to see what you the seomoz group thought. I have been leaving my "brand" out of my titles so I could create longer titles (without my "brand" taking up precious space.) I've also read that adding your brand can take away from the words you want to optimize for in the title / post. I've read other places that you want your brand in every page title to "strengthen" your brand. Long story short, I'm trying to figure out if I should add my brand to the my page / post titiles, or leave them as is. Feel free to check out my site and current title template if you'd like. Thanks!

    | NoahsDad
    0
  • kqkq


    Let's say your customers company name in the real world is "Foo Bar Baz Inc." and if it is read (and understood) as "foobarbaz inc." by someone hearing the name it does also make semantically sense (like "Dog Food Market"). Customer owns a lot of domain combinations, but notably foobarbaz.com foo-bar-baz.com Would you recommend to dedicate "foobarbaz.com" as main brand and domain for all SEO efforts and do the proper redirects from the other domains? Or would you do it the other way around, redirecting to the foo-bar-baz.com domain? Thanks!

    | kqkq
    0
  • clotairedamy


    I'm optimizing my personal website which display my portfolio and the services offered for my city, Colorado Springs. The first 5 content keywords in webmasters tool in order of the signifiance  are photography, clotaire, damy, colorado, springs.  Should I change the order of the keywords by emphasizing more on the targeted area or on the services offered? http://clotairedamy.com

    | clotairedamy
    0
  • PathMarketing


    You've probably seen that for some searches (most commonly for specific product types) that Google offers something like the following in the SERPS: Related searches for widgets: | Stores:   | Widgetland Widgetworld Widgetbarn Amazon |
    | Brands:   | Widgetdog Superwidgets Widgey | I'm working with a reputable brand of widgets - they're not just a supplier or a retailer, but a company that designs and builds its own. Does anyone know how Google decides which brands are worthy of being recognized in these related searches, and how I can encourage them to recognize our brand similarly? So far I've done the following: Knowem.com brand protection Add products to Amazon Sell our products on eBay List our products on Google Shopping In other words, do what a popular brand would do - appear in many channels, with a large and diverse footprint. Does anyone have any experience with this sort of thing, and how to help a brand get recognized as a brand?

    | PathMarketing
    5
  • JonathanRolande


    Hello, I have recently joined here to read up about SEO and to access the tools for my in-house “SEO guy” who has just started. So I’m a little bit green to all of this and have a quick question regarding guest posting. He says that there is a lot to do with my sites; building links, correcting errors on some of my sites, etc.  He showed me from the reports on here and he is an honest trustworthy guy, so not worried about being scammed. A lot of this stuff goes over my head though, so he directed me to the question and answer area/blog if I have any worries or queries. He wants to put a section on the home page of my blog promoting the fact that I accept guest posts. I understand that this will help me rank higher (hopefully!) and also he says I should be trying to post on other blogs to get these links for my sites. I think this might be a good idea because I have a few websites and not a lot of time or money to do a great amount of content (which I’m told needs to be regular and of high quality), perhaps a post a week on each site I can manage at the moment. I think that some competitors might want to use this opportunity to get a link from my website to theirs. I must admit I’m a little bit hesitant about doing this if it helps them. He is telling me that just one link in the author area of the post is fine, and only to accept good quality posts. But I just want some other people’s opinions as well. Are there any ground rules that someone can recommend I stick to? Along the lines of, how many links I allow them to have in their post, where these links should be, how long the content should be as a minimum, etc. Thanks in advance. Jeff

    | JonathanRolande
    0
  • JohnParker2792


    About a month ago Google contacted one of my clients to inform them that the Google places is discontinued and their Google plus page will be the new Google places. They gave my client an $100 adwards credit for adwords express so their location will still show up for their business name during the change from Google places to Google plus.. When you type in the business in a local area or on a GPS now.. It is no where to be found. You have to know the address to get directions or go there on a mobile devices. The Google plus page for all of these locations is not currently showing up either. I have contacted Google and Once again something has been released without implementing it correctly. No one seems to know what is going on... after talking to three people. Does anybody know what is going on ???? This is a huge deal when being a local company.

    | JohnParker2792
    0
  • optimalwebinc


    We have a client that's changing the name of their medical practice from the doctor's name to their region + "eye care."  However, they recently told us they're changing it from "eye care" to "eye center." Many of their direct competitors use "eye care" in their name.  I ran a quick keyword analysis and it shows "eye care" gets a million US searches a month, whereas "eye center" gets 450k searches a month. While that alone would make me suggest they keep "eye care," I ran a keyword difficulty analysis and found that "eye center" has a KW difficulty of 41 and "eye care" has a KW difficulty of 78. Should we recommend they stay with "eye care" because it gets more searches?  Or is it better to go with "eye center" because it'll be easier to rank for?

    | optimalwebinc
    0
  • optimalwebinc


    Traditional Share of Voice (SOV) used to be calculated by how much your industry on the whole spent on marketing and how much you're spending on marketing. But how do you calculate SOV for the web with different page rankings for multiple keywords, social mentions, and so on? Anyone have any ideas?

    | optimalwebinc
    0
  • Superinks


    Hi guys, I sell cartridges for printers and i'm struggerling to rank a lot of printers. I've been told it's all about domain authority and it'll pass down to these pages, however I can't see it happening, nor can I wait for it to happen. Should I rethink my categorys? I've got subcategorys in subcategorys in subcategorys - probably not advised because of link juice right? e.g Epson Stylus SX130 Ink would be located below. Epson > Epson Stylus Series>Epson Stylus SX Series>Epson Stylus SX130 Ink

    | Superinks
    0
  • SEOTGT


    My old logo did not fit well in the new Google+Local page and so I resized it and uploaded it a couple weeks ago using the Google Places admin tool. I have tried it on multiple locations but it does not show up on the actual Google+ page. The images do show up in the admin tool (so it wasn't that the logo didn't upload properly). I changed the description text to see if any changes were going through and those appeared after about 24 hours. Anyone been able to successfully upload new images to Google+Local?

    | SEOTGT
    0
  • Superinks


    As the title says, how can I compete with competitors that have a domain authority of 60-80? (Only around 2-3 major competitors) However I would like to compete with them. Is anyone else in this situation? What did you do? I've read a lot about building backlinks etc etc but surely theres more to it. I've got to rank 1500+ subcategories for my niche and it's nearly impossible to do so. Thanks to all who reply!

    | Superinks
    0
  • RogerElliott


    After being hit by the Penguin stick, like good content marketers we are trying to focus on improving brand signals for our site. But I keep coming up against what exactly brand signals are. I can understand that if you are called 'Ziggle' and someone links to you with that in anchor text or mentions that name, that would be a brand signal. But we're on a generic domain (descriptive of the produt type), so what would constitute brand signals in our case?

    | RogerElliott
    1
  • barnst


    We have a client who is looking to increase the number of results on page 1 of google for their brand name to essentially force some historical negative comments off page 1 of google. I am thinking of things like a twitter page, Facebook page, YouTube page etc. plus optimising their site to try and get multiple pages on page 1. Does any one have experience of doing the same sort of thing?

    | barnst
    0
  • petewinter


    I have created a business blog purely to gain higher rankings for particular keywords which then has links pointing to the product that I am trying to sell. My question... Is it better to have this blog hosted on the same domain or shall I move it to a separate domain which will help with backlinks? Any advice would be appreciated?

    | petewinter
    0
  • JohnW-UK


    Is it me or are the usual places you used to go for to find quality blogs to guest post to seem to be full of low quality spammy blogs. And doing a search brings up loads of poor quality sites/blogs too. I was thinking of creating a high quality content site for link bait. Any suggestions on "refreshing" a tired link strategy. Where do you find your guest blog/posts?

    | JohnW-UK
    0
  • MangoMan16


    SEOMOZ inspired me to try to build links pre-launch by making an amazing pre-launch product. Check it out guys: http://vitamob.com My team and I are very proud of this one. We put a ton of effort into making this remarkable "splash" page to build up hype before our launch. It was inspired by a story we read on the SEOMOZ blog. What has SEOMOZ inspired you to do?

    | MangoMan16
    2
  • ConservationM


    Duplicate content

    | ConservationM
    0
  • SEODinosaur


    After reading this SEOmoz thread http://www.seomoz.org/q/getting-reviews-to-stick-on-yelp-google I have learned that one cannot leave fake reviews because Google and yelp can see if the users are real by the user behavior. If one of your clients is happy with your service and they have never left a Google review or yelp review and you have them leave your company a review it will be filtered and not count. Google’s +1 is fairly new and I am not sure if many users use it. IMO a user is much more likely to Facebook "Like" something. Same goes for Yelp, I feel like many local services don’t have a high enough search volume to benefit from these areas. If a company cannot have a satisfied customer leave a review on Google + or Yelp because they are not active enough on these networks, the company does not receive the credit they deserve. I'm assuming SEOmoz has the contacts to make a change, well here is my idea: How about Yelp and Google + send a letter to the address of the review... (Same as a Google places listing, reviewer will receive letter and enter a pin number online to confirm review) this solves the issue and businesses can receive the credit they deserve. In all fairness if a company does right by someone, the company deserves the review, right? Otherwise this should not be a ranking factor IMHO!

    | SEODinosaur
    0
  • d8v15


    Dont want mozbot messing with analytics. How to filter with GA?

    | d8v15
    0
  • InkCartridgesFast


    Hi guys, I've focused on building my domain authority for a while now, it's stll low but i'm sure it'll increase. My competitors have 0 backlinks to most of there products which is good, i guess. However they have a domain authority of around 70-80. Which is really high. There product pages get a page authority from 60-70+ which means they rank very high with no backlinks. I can easily out rank them by getting backlinks but it's a very time consuming and costs quite a bit of money to out source it. My question is... is it really all about page/domain authority? I can't see any other factors that allow them to rank high for the products. Also my mind is blown as you can create a blog with a high Domain authority such as Wordpress but that doesn't mean your blog will instantly rank high right? Is there something i'm missing with there website? I'm so confused right now! Any help would be great. Main competitor is: http://www.stinkyinkshop.co.uk along with http://www.cartridgesave.co.uk (Stinkyink to be a member here actually)

    | InkCartridgesFast
    0
  • xoffie


    Hi, Is there a way to get the benefits of rel=author for protecting site content but to disconnect that from the face photo on the SERPS? We added rel=author to our unique and individually written product descriptions and reviews. This has led to a decrease in click thru thus far. I suspect this is because when searching for a product to buy the user sees the face and thinks "review" or at least "not corporate". I don't nec. want to dump rel=author in the sea yet for our ecom pages, has anyone had success with product page rel=author? Four our keywords, we are the only company of 10 well known travel sites that have the face in the SERPS, far from improving our CTR, it has trashed it. Any ideas?

    | xoffie
    0
  • pauledwards


    For seo reasons is it better to have: +1's on your profile on google+ +1's on the website +1 button I believe both are different, getting a +1 on your site does not add to the number on your profile and vise versa? Any advice much appreciated.

    | pauledwards
    0
  • bronxpad


    Recently I've been reading a lot about the benefits of Google + for SEO. The problem is that for local sites their might not be that many people in my niche who are signed up for google +. Now obviously I'd like to get a lot of +'s but whats the best way to go about it? How do I get people to one sign up for a google acount to create a google+ profile and then + my site? Sounds like a double campaign. Any body have any experience with this?

    | bronxpad
    0
  • NormanNewsome


    I have an idea for a new "socia"l website. No its not a facebook or anything like that, but I feel it fills a void in a particular niche. The problem I am having is figuring out a marketing plan to get people to sign up. When you're starting a new social website like this its kind of important for it too feel popular and you need users to make it feel popular and useful. Which kind of gets you into a chicken or the egg type scenario. There are a few keywords I intend on doing SEO for, but I don't think pure SEO will make this community popular. Some ideas I have: Creative "tell a friend" strategy that builds incentive to get friends signed up like win an ipad or something like that. I also want to make it easy to tell friends, so you can import contacts from facebook, twitter, and email contacts rather than typing in all those emails by hand. Targeting a few blogs related to this niche hoping that they will interview me about the website. Advertising on forums and blogs related to my niche. Making the site simple, visually appealing and intuitive so users can dive right in without thinking. Making a good enough product to where the site can get buzz on active subreddits and hackernews. I'm a software engineer by nature, so marketing isn't a strong suite of mine, but I'm no rookie to building popular websites either (just been a while). I'd like to get some ideas from the seomoz community on this. Thanks.

    | NormanNewsome
    1
  • Jbla


    I'm thinkink about submitting my company website and some of our clients websites to contest sites like FWA and Awwwards. They offer paid submissions and they claim that for 50€, more or less, my site will be manualy submited to 50 web galleries. What do you think?

    | Jbla
    0
  • TheGrid


    When you are optimizing Google places campaigns what do you find to be a better way to appear for more searches? No, all customers come to the business location or Yes, this business serves customers at their locations (45 mile radius) **? **

    | TheGrid
    1
  • rhutchings


    For those of us that operate business in other areas that we technically dont have an "address" in... are there any creative ideas/ways anyone has run across in securing a physical address that you can use for local listing? I have already tried the virtual office type of companies, and their inventory is limited to major metropolitan areas.

    | rhutchings
    1

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