There are so many things a person (or company) can do to promote a website, we have only begun to scratch the surface. Your website is a work of art. Like any artistic endeavor, creative ideas are what takes you up the notches toward success. I have compiled a long list of ideas here. Some of which I do, and some of which I admit I should be doing. This is an exercise for me as much as it is for you. In 2015, there are so many avenues to take toward search engine optimization, and none of us know them all or do them all. They may not all be necessary, but if you were to set a goal and really do all these things, you’d see some amazing results, I’m sure. Take a look at this lengthy study, and see how your SEO efforts stack up.
First a little mention of some creative advertizing. I saw a rock band playing in the back of a pickup truck one day in Chicago, and they were pretty good, so I stuck around listening for a few songs. A police officer came along and told them they had to stop, that playing loud music on a public street without a permit was against the law. The band leader disagreed with the cop, saying that they are not technically on the street, they are in a vehicle. So the cop said loud music coming from a vehicle was illegal too. The band said they would move on, and the cop let them go. The next day, that story was in the Chicago tribune.
20 SEO Tips 2015
These are not in any particular order. They may not all apply to your site, but then again they might. Either way, you are sure to get some good ideas reading this. I read several good articles from different genres and came up with this compilation. take a look and see how your SEO knowledge stacks up to what some others are doing.
- Social Networking: There have been many books written about social networking. If you are not doing it by now you are missing out on some major traffic. This should be a no-brainer by now. But just in case you aren’t doing all you can, here is a list of the top social networking sites that you should be using to spread your news on: Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Reddit, Tumbler, Google Plus, Pinterest, Instagram, Vine, Snapchat, Swarm, TVTag, Pheed, MySpace, Digg. If you really want to go all out on social media, check out this long list of sites on Wikipedia.
- Video Sharing: No matter what your site is about, you can make an informative video and post it on some of the popular video sites, and get a ton of traffic. Online video veiwing is more popular than TV now. Get on this bandwagon. Here’s some of the top video sharing sites: Youtube, Vimeo, YahooScreen, DailyMotion, Hulu, MetaCafe, Vevo, Veoh, Flickr, Break. There’s a huge list (again) on Wikipedia.
- Audio Sharing Sites: Almost as popular as video, audio tracks have huge followings. You can upload a simple audiobook MP3 of your lesson or instructional material. Don’t have one yet? Just record yourself reading your website, call it an audiobook and upload it to all these sound file sharing sites: Sound Cloud, ReverbNation, YourListen, BandCamp, 8 Tracks, Playlist.net, Sutro.com, Wearehunted.com. There’s a lot more on BlackHatWorld.
- Podcast Sharing Sites: A little different than the audiobook angle, a podcast is a recorded audio track usually longer and more instructive, like a radio show would do. Interview experts in your field and upload your podcasts to one of these audio sharing sites: Archive.org, Podcast Alley, Google Drive, iPodder.org, Amazon S3, OurMedia.org, Podomatic, BluBrry, Stitcher, PodFeed.net, Lisbin, PodBean, BuzzSprout, DailySplice, CastRoller, LearnOutLoud, Podcast 411. There’s a lot more too.
- Web Syndication: A powerful way to get some quality backlinks is by syndicating your content to another website. Some websites whole business model is based on getting free content from publishers like you. Submit your RSS feed, or a single article for syndication on some of these web syndication sites: Digg, Reddit, Scoop.it, Hacker News, BuzzBundle, SlashDot, OutBrain, Semanta, SimpleReach, Arc, Taboola, Yarp. More on We Syndication from SearchEngineLand.
- Blog Aggregators: Content aggregation is a system to collect certain information on a variety of topics. Aggregate site owners compile data on specific niches (maybe yours). Submit your resources to one of these Blog Aggregators: AllTop.com, BizSugar.com, BlogEngage.com, BloCube, Inbound.org, AffDaily.com, Feedly, GoogleNewsReader, Fark, Pulse, News 360. There are some that specialize in certain topics like news, tech news, etc.
- Document Sharing Sites: Document sharing is a powerful, though not really new way of getting more traffic and backlinks. You can share files with interested people who may be looking for a picture, template, PDF or an ebook like yours. Check out these document sharing sites: Scribd, Gazhoo, ShareSend, ZippyShare, AuthorStream, DocStoc, Issuu. There’s a nice list of document sharing sites on BloggingShout.
- eBook Publishers: A slight variation from file sharing above, eBook publishing websites specifically look for PDF eBooks. Ten years ago we thought eBooks would die out. Today they are bigger than ever and still growing. Don’t have one? Just take one of your best articles and convert it to a PDF- wala, you now have an eBook. Check out these eBook publishing sites: eBookJungle, TheFreeSite, E-Library.net, eBookDirectory, eBook88, Howto.co.uk, ChangeThis. To find more, just Google “free ebooks” and you’ll find a plethora of sites that will gladly post your eBook.
- Business Listing Sites: Busniness listings are so popular right now, it’s sick. leading the way is Yahoo Local, Linkedin, WhitePages, YellowPages, Kudzu, StartupNation. Find your angle locally. And this is a good list to start with at HubSpot.
- Paid Directories: Of course, some of the best business listings are paid directories. Give these a try if you have a budget: DirJournal, Yahoo Directory, ExactSeek, and of course, DMOZ. DMOZ not ony is one, but they also have an extensive list of business directories too.
- Paid Advertising: Of course we like to get things free, but sometimes you just have to pay for it. All the big search engines and social sites offer some of the best paid advertising rates for targeted ads. Here are some of the big ones: Google Adwords, Yahoo/Bing, Youtibe, Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin.
- Slide Sharing Sites: Much like an online version of a PowerPoint Presentation, slide sharing is a new and powerful way to get some publicity. Take a look at some of the top players in the slide sharing boom: Slideshare.net, SlideBoom, SlideWorld, PowerShow, SpeakerDeck, SlideSnack, Slides.com, SlideRocket.
- Make Another Blog: Com,monly referred to as web 2.0, you can make a mini-version of your website on a blog network, like; WordPress.com, Tumblr, Blogspot, Weebly and LiveJournal.
- Artist Portfolio Sites: If you are a photographer or an artist, this is a no-brainer. But web designers and writers are artists too. Submit your artistic creations to some of these portfolio sites: DesignRelated, FolioHD, CoroFlot, Glossom, Sortfolio, SiteInspire.
- Infographic Publishers: Not only are there sites that would love to publish your infographic, you can also offer individual sites to publish yours. Don’t have one yet? Just like an eBook, you can make an infographic out of one of your best articles with a free online infographic maker. Then submit it to some of these: Graphs.net, Reddit, NerdGraph, InfoGraphicsArchive, FlowingData.
- Design Galleries: Mostly for web designers, there are tons of gallery submission sites that would love to showcase your work for free. Of course you get a powerful backlink in return. DesignShack.net, Awwwards, The FWA, HTML Inspiration, Site Inspire, Admire the Web, UnmatchedStyle, StyleBoost.
- Image sites: Free public domain pictures are available for web developers who want to add some eye-candy to their websites. I use them all the time. You can also submit your pictures to any of these sites, and require a link back from anyone who uses them: Flickr, PhotoBucket, MorgueFile, Pixabay, Panoramio, Twitpic, and many more.
- Press Release Publishers: There are tons of sites that do nothing but publish press releases. Just write one and submit it to some of these: PRLog.org, 24-7PressRelease, i-Newswire, BetaNews, PR Leap, Free-Press-Release.
- Use Social Media Management Tools: These sites check how many times your site was shared or mentioned. It’s a great tool to find out how popular you are on one network, and where you need to work a little harder: SocialMention.com, Klout, Buffer, HootSuite, Mention.com.
- Use Other Website Tracking and Analysis Tools: Just Google some of these keywords and you will find a bunch of competing sites offering some powerful tools for you to take advantage of: Site Audit and Analysis, Keyword Analysis, Keyword Rank Checkers, Moz Rank Checkers, Page Authority and Domain Authority Checkers, Backlink Checkers, and Link Management Tools.
Thank you for looking at my 20 SEO Tips 2015 piece. Now get to work!
Creating and managing a serious SEO Campaign in 2015 is no easy task. It is a full-time job to try and do all this stuff.
But just think, if you do, how powerful your site can be. This is why SEO experts charge so much money- It’s a very time-consuming task!